He Laughed.

“Ah, the new costume is complete!” he exclaimed, his voice rising and rising and rising with each word that he spoke. He threw his head back and laughed a terrible, ear-piercing, glass-shattering laugh as the storm raged on outside, water droplets pelting the window of his basement laboratory. A crack of lightning illuminated the sky and with it his features, causing eerie shadows to dance about his form.

 

He placed his white-gloved hand on the cool steel handle and yanked the door open with all the strength he could muster. There it was-in all its glory-what he had worked so very hard to create, spent so many late nights perfecting. It was beautiful, brilliant, everything he could have hoped for, maybe even more. Yes, yes it was more. Of course it was more! More than anything he ever could have dreamed of. He loved it, adored it! The shiny metallic gauntlets, the embroidered, velvet blue cloak, the raven feathers laced into the fabric, the thick leather belts- Oh, it was wonderful! Beautiful, brilliant and wonderful!

 

And the body that rested within it, oh he was sure it was that of a vampire, that of a beautiful, brilliant, wonderful dark creature of legends. He was ready, he was so ready to bring that creature to life within the garments he had so carefully constructed.

 

How he hoped it would work. How he hoped his machine, which had took him so long to build, would be able to bring to life such a magnificent creature of myths. There was only way to tell if it would, only one way to tell if his machine would be able to animate the beautiful, brilliant, wonderful, magnificent creature. He went to the lever, which protruded from the floor, and curled his fingers around it. When he pulled the lever the machine would activate, and the power from the earth, in which the machine’s most vital and important parts were embedded, would rush through the wires that connected to the metal box in which the vampire’s corpse lay.

 

Thunder rumbled outside and was followed by flash lightening, and then the rain began to pelt the windows harder and harder and harder. He threw his head back and let out his laugh, which seemed to rise above the sound of the rain, above the thunder. He laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and forced the lever down as another bolt of lightening viciously struck the ground.

 

The lights in the laboratory flickered once, twice, then went out completely, and his laughter stopped but his wild grin remained. The floor shook violently, knocking test tubes and beakers off of tables, causing pens to roll to the floor, and he couldn’t tell if it was from his machine or from the thunder. In a few minutes time, a few long, dragging minutes, all the noise stopped. The lights came back on.

 

“Have I done it, then?” he asked no one, his grin fading only slightly, and he slowly approached the large, metallic box. “Has it worked?”

 

He was quiet, almost afraid to go to the box and look at what he believed to be a vampire for fear of discovering failure. He watched it for a long while, holding his breath, waiting. And then it happened. The box shook, a small tilt to the side, a sudden motion that made him gasp. He waited and waited and then it shook again. And then again. His face lit up and he ran to the front of the box so that he could see the corpse and when he did…Oh, he was overjoyed.

 

“Success!” he shouted, his voice so high-pitched it could barely be heard. There it was! He had done it! The corpse was no longer a mere corpse sitting idly. It was alive, fully alive, struggling against the restraints that had kept it upright in the box. It tilted its head back and cried out, and he could see there in its mouth fangs, slightly discolored from what must have been years without use. His grin widened as the corpse- No! As the vampire tore its bindings down and pushed the walls of the box away from itself, the metal bending so easily to its whim, as if it were clay under its palms.

 

Laughter bubbled inside him as the vampire stepped out of the box, swaying slightly and needing to catch its balance for it was not yet used to using its legs. This would show them! All of them who had doubted him, all of them who had called him crazy, insane, and mad; this would prove them all wrong.

 

The vampire groaned and looked at him with blazing golden eyes and his laughter trickled out of him in short fits. Yes, this would show them! Wait until they could see what he had done. He could picture their awe-stricken faces, their voices quavering when they were the ones proved wrong. Oh he could not wait! He laughed and laughed, so amused by proving them wrong, by proving everyone wrong. He was so enveloped in his hearty guffaws, so distracted by his incredible success, that he did not notice the vampire gaining its balance; he did not notice the way it clenched its teeth and growled at him. He just laughed louder and louder and louder still, the sound filling the room, his body shaking. His hears rang from the sound of his own cackling and so he was not aware that vampire was intending to attack him until it leapt at him, and because of his distraction he did not have time to prepare and so he ended up pined against a cold, metallic table; the vampire’s long, sharp claws dug into his shoulders. He was face to face with a beast brought to life by his very own hand.

 

He stared into its eyes, which were narrowed in fury at him. He smiled, a small one, as the vampire loomed over him, taking in the scent of his blood, growling, pulling back its lips to show off its deadly fangs. A burst of laughter exploded out of him and angered the vampire. It screeched, its voice loud and deep, and lifted him slightly off the table before slamming him down again with such an immense force that table, which was supported by four small wheels, rolled away and in its absence the two came crashing to the floor. The vampire grunted and flew back to its feet while the scientist remained on the ground, rolling over, chuckling and chortling. The beast’s strength- it was remarkable!

 

How dare anyone ever tell him such a creature- such a beautiful, brilliant, wonderful, magnificent, remarkable creature- did not exist? Oh, this would surely show them. He couldn’t wait to have them look the vampire straight in the eyes. He couldn’t wait to see their faces flush red with embarrassment.

 

The vampire kicked him with enough force to slide him across the floor and although it caused him to pause and cough and hack his thrill, his excitement, his merriment, all came flooding back. He pushed himself up, supported by his arm and the vampire kicked him again, forcing him back down and getting another snigger to escape his lips. He flipped onto his back and spread his arms on the floor and heaved chuckles from his chest and gasped for his breath. Oh…Oh how brilliant he was to be able to give life to such an amazing creature, one thought to be only existing in the legends. He was right, he was so, so right. The legends were not just legends, they were true, real, as real as he was, as real was the vampire in his laboratory was.

 

The beast of true legends hovered over him, its lips in what seemed like a permanent snarl, but he could hardly see them through his squinted eyes has he tried to subdue his laughter. The vampire picked him up again, this time its claws breaking the skin and causing blood to trickle onto its own hands. It pinned him against the wall and leaned close to him. It pressed down on his shoulders so that he was forced to elongate his neck, which only made it harder for him to continue to laugh but it did not stop him from doing so.

 

The vampire opened its mouth and gently rested its fangs on the flesh of his neck. It paused, allowing him to catch his breath as he slowly realized what was happening to him. Then it pressed down, letting its fangs sink deep beneath his skin. He screamed as his blood stained its teeth as it slowly drew back. His vision blurred and he slumped against the wall and the vampire put its fangs back into his neck and pressed down harder and brought him to his knees, and although he was hardly coherent, although he felt himself slowly slipping out of consciousness, out of body and mind…

 

…He laughed.

Author's Note

Yes, I did abuse adjectives. It was all for the sake of madness. I can point out a million things wrong with this, but I love it anyway. It was written for my school's creative writing club. The prompt given to us was "It's raining and someone says 'The new costume has arrived'." Comments? Crit?

Reviews

[Tallulah]

omg i remember that prompt. I wonder where mine went or if i ever finished this. I loved this. It was amazing, THey way it was written was so exciting. I completely called that guy dying. it was sooo goood.