• The stillness of the trees outside slightly scared Violet, who was used to watching the wind whip around plant-life as well as people. She silently closed all of the curtains in her house. She waited for her mother to come home from work. Night had fell hours before, and Violet was short of ringing her mother and asking where she is. Violet closed all of the doors upstairs, and locked both back doors, holding her dog on a leash in her hands. She looked out through a crack in the front room’s blinds. Nothing stirred outside. Her neighbour, Old Mrs McNamara, had a cat that would be usually seen perched on a wall across the road. The cat was not there. Instead her luminous yellow eyes could be seen underneath a car. A click could be heard from the front door. Violet hadn’t locked that door. Her mother burst in.
    ‘Violet, get away from that window!’ she whispered, though it was obvious that she wanted to shout. Violet fell backwards, a loud crash scaring her. Her mother forced her down to the carpeted floor. ‘Violet, honey, I want you to get to the basement. Take Lily with you. Lock the door behind you,’ her mother hissed into her ear. Violet nodded, wondering what her mother was planning. Lily, her dog, crawled with Violet to the kitchen. From where her mother was, she heard a sickening laugh and a scream. Fear struck Violet’s heart, if it had not already. She could feel it beating in her throat. Violet opened a cupboard door. Another door met them on the floor. She opened it, thanking god that her mother oiled the hinges regularly. Lily scuttled down the steps under the door. Violet closed the cupboard door as a splatter of red liquid hit her in the face. Violet began to cry as she fumbled with a sliding latch lock, her mind imaging the worst things. She felt as though she was about to loose all control over her bodily functions. Something banged on the door as she locked it with a padlock. Violet stumbled down the steps, closing the trapdoor and locking at as she did with the cupboard door. Her hands groped for a torch. Lily could be heard pining slightly. Violet found the torch and shook it hard, and clumsily. She flicked the switch. Blue light spilled from the bulb inside. Darkness clung to the corners of the small room. Lily was trembling in one of them. The banging was still happening up in the kitchen. Violet backed into the same corner as Lily, pointing the beam of light at the steps, not daring to move, apart from wiping her face with her sleeve. She cried, from the loss of her mother, from the attack that she was put through. How had this happened, she asked herself, and why was it happening to her. The noise stopped, and something creaked in front of her. Lily started growling, the fur on her neck standing on end. ‘Please,’ she whispered, jumping at the sound, ‘what do you want?’ Nothing answered. Lily suddenly led down, placing her head in Violet’s lap. Violet gently tickled between Lily’s ears, mostly for her own comfort. She whimpered, the torchlight quivering. She could see her breath forming in front of her. Her body was shaking more than it was. She could feel her hair being brushed from behind. An eerie voice echoed in her ears. ‘I never thought that I would get two for the price of one.’ Violet jumped once again, giving out a high-pitched scream. Lily ran away from Violet, startled by her outburst. Sweat dripped from Violet’s forehead. She felt a thin, cold finger drag across her cheek. She turned her eyes down, finding nothing but a thin trail of her own blood, after her skin being sliced by the fingernail. A face pressed to hers, clearly taking a sip of her blood. ‘You taste like nothing I have ever tried before, yet I am full,’ the voice whispered to her, ‘you will do well for another, sadly.’ Tears joined with Violet’s cut. Her hands were forced behind her. Lily barked at Violet. She could feel her head becoming thick. Her eyelids started drooping. She felt as though she had been knocked out. Lily’s barks were fading into the distance. She could feel Lily’s wet nose nudging her face. She lost her feeling, as her mind slowly lulled away.