Jonas took a sip of wine. The man sitting across from him stared, his menacing eyes staring straight through his soul. But Jonas was not afraid. The man looked like he was in his thirties. His hair was black and slicked back with gel. Typical psychotic con man look.
“So you’re 833 years old, and you’ve been here in this cellar for more than 800 years?” Jonas asked. He rested his wine glass on the table.
The man said, “Only 264 years. I was once free.”
“Uh huh,” Jonas grunted as he looked down at his notes. “And all this time you’ve been here, what… 364 years, and you say the rats bring stuff to you?”
“264 years,” the man said, looking annoyed. “I am lord over rats. They do my bidding.” He strummed his fingers on the table in front of him nervously.
“Mm Hmm.” Jonas could tell that the man was a fraud. He had an air of desperation about him, like he was trying to convince Jonas of something that he knew wasn’t true.
“I think you’re lying to me,” Jonas said, narrowing his eyes at the man. “But I want to know what’s really going on here. Tell me the truth, the real story. The people don’t want to read the ravings of a mad man. I can tell you’re smart. And if you were smart, you’d tell me what really happened. Here’s your chance to get the true story out to everyone.”
The man laughed bitterly. “You think this is a joke,” he sneered. “You think you can walk in here and walk away without consequence. You won’t be able to stop what’s coming.” He raised his voice, “You are here because I willed it. You will not leave unless I will it.”
Suddenly, Jonas felt a strange sense of unease. Had he miscalculated the danger of this man? He looked around the room, trying to figure out what was going on, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked down and saw that several rats were gnawing at his jacket. He reached for his gun, but found that it was missing from his holster. In a panic, he tried to push the rats away from his body, but they were too strong, and he felt their sharp teeth sinking into his skin.
As he struggled to pull the rats off of him, he knew that he was in serious trouble. The man behind the table was laughing, and he knew that he had been tricked. He cursed himself for not seeing through the man’s lies and realizing that he was in danger, but it was too late now.
The rats continued to gnaw at his flesh, their razor-sharp teeth tearing through his clothing and biting into his skin. He screamed in pain, but the man didn’t seem to care. He just kept laughing.
Fight or flight. Jonas had a burst of adrenaline. He flung the rats off of his body and made towards the cellar stairs. The man stood up suddenly. He stared directly into Jonas’ eyes and all at once, Jonas was in awe at the man’s power. The man’s eyes penetrated into Jonas’ soul, and Jonas could not move.
In a commanding voice, the man shouted, “You think you are the first? Pitiful mortal. Your blood and bones will sustain me for another four years. I am lord over you!”
Paralyzed by the ancient man’s power, it finally sunk in for Jonas that vampires are real, and he was about to die.