Episode 1: Welcome to Wheldrake College: Part 1

Worse first day of college ...ever!

Jacob McCall pulled himself through the dead leaves in the woods outside of his new college. He tried to use his other arm to push himself up to his feet, but the broken bone screamed in agony, dropping him back to the earthy floor. He thought, maybe, if God willing, he could get to a tree and use it to get himself to his feet, then he could run away. He could get away from the monster to get help and save -

                May, she is dying

                He landed against the ground, his heart drumming to his back. He could feel the running of his heart in his spine, his ears filled with the pounding of fear. His dark brown eyes, the ones May loved so very much, filled with the night, letting him see a bit more than he believed he should, but the rush had sent his body into a race of terror.

                No, May can't be dead. 

                He glanced back over his shoulder, seeing the tall, long man on top of May. Her tiny Asian body, no longer trying to fight him off. Her skin had gone pale like the hidden moon and a dark halo surrounded her head. The man with the pearl skin tone and the burning red eyes sucked hard on her neck. If it hadn't killed her, she might have enjoyed the action, but death had stepped into the woods with them. 

                Jacob bit back the scream of the pain from his arm, the shock over his new girlfriend's fate. Their first night of going to college shouldn't have ended with her death. 

                He still - had to - believe he could make it out of this, but when he looked down at his leg, the knee had been pushed the wrong way. He saw the keen bone, not meant to be broken, but the oddest thing about it all was, it didn't hurt. It should hurt …

                "Jacob," May whispered before all the air in her lungs dipped out for the rest of her life. A short and quick death, my turn?

                He looked up past the tree in the August heat of the fading summer. Soon, fall would bring the horns of winter, changing all the colors of the tree. Jacob loved Autumn, the changed trees, the cool winds, and the promise of Halloween. He couldn't wait until Halloween. He and May planned to get a couple's costume together and hit the parties on campus. They were both living at the school, and they were already talking about getting an apartment together.

                It might have been a bit too soon. 

                They had only been together for a few weeks, but things were moving fast. May, sweet with her lovely smile, a smile which he would never see again, didn't want to waste any time. She wanted to fall madly in love with him. He didn't mind the idea. He already believed he loved her too, a bit too soon, but you know when you know.

                They were heading back to his room but -

                "Ah, Jacob," the monster man said, kneeling over him. 

                "What are you?" Jacob asked him, stuttered a bit, and the man smiled at him with fangs longer than normal like all those old vampire movies.

                "That I am, Jacob, old boy," the vampire said, tapping the side of his head. "I called her to me, and you both came."

                They were walking along the path when suddenly May had dashed into the woods. Jacob raced after her, shouting for her to stop, but she didn't listen to him. When she did stop, she stood in front of this monster. The living shadow with burning red eyes moved with a wink, breaking Jacob's arm and leg. He fell to the ground screaming but lost in the sound of his pain, he was unsure if May had made a cry. The snapping of his bones overshadowed everything. 

                "I must thank you," the vampire said. "I was famished; I haven't eaten in a month." The vampire locked his jaws around Jacob's neck. Everything started to go cold, and Jacob found himself smiling a bit. In the haze of his last moments on earth, his mind thought it had fallen into a dream of Autumn. He wished he could see the leaves changing colors before the end, but the night around him only started to grow deeper in darkness. He wanted to call his mother one last time. He wanted to kiss May again. He wanted …

                "Get off him," someone shouted, kicking the vampire in the side. The monster hissed, jumping away from him like a cat being chased off from a mouse. 

                Jacob looked over at the man standing there, but he couldn't take his fading eyes off the dull golden bracelet around the man's wrist. It seemed to shine in the dark like someone had placed a flashlight on the gold, but there were no lights anywhere in the woods; even the stars seemed to hide from the horror. 

                The man, tall and powerful, held a knife in his hands, and the light from the bracelet seemed to pull over it. 

                "What is one of the Twelve doing here?" The vampire asked.

                "I'm here to kill you," the man grinned, and the vampire jumped at him. The man rolled, making the monster miss him and putting the knife between the spine and the skull. He gasped, not in pain but shock, and then turned into a flame flashing his body into ashes. By the time a body should have hit the ground, there had been nothing left. 

                The man fell to the side of Jacob, "Hang in there, kid."

                "May, get to her," Jacob said. 

                The man looked over at her, but before he could tell Jacob there was no chance of helping her, everything went dark, and Jacob met his end the night before his first class of freshmen year in college started.