Screams from the Darkness (Volume One) Vampires of the Yule Manor by Kimonno Rose

Chapter One - The Manor

Screams from the darkness (Volume one)

Chapter One

In the forest far beyond the lighthouse a young woman ran. Men chasing her with fire torches and wooden stacks closed in on her trail. Try as she might there was no escaping the death that awaits her. But isn't that the price you must pay for being a vampire, aren't you considered a creature from hell.

The trees flew by as the screaming of the villagers got closer and sparked her fear to its peak and she ran as fast as her wounded body could go the trees only appearing as dark blurs in the night. There was no moon tonight so everything was twice as dark. The flames on the torches provided the only light in the darkness.

Her fears were realized when her running had come to an end. Her speed carried her to the edge of the cliff that leads down to the ocean below. With no where to go she new that this was a dead end, literal meaning on the word 'dead'. She was going to die.

But not by the hands of the people who wished to take her life, no she would not die by the hands of a human. If this was the end she would make it so herself. Turning her back to the rampaging villagers, she took a step to the edge of the cliff and looked at the water down below as it crashed onto the rocks. One more step. Her body plummeted to the rocks below.

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The beautiful white house stood alone in the darkness. The lord had left it long ago and all the furniture was gone. The eerie house was empty form head to toe. On the shelves in the library, not a single book was left. There was no wine in the wine cellarer the kitchen had been torn apart. The wood from the tables and chairs were nothing but mere splinters of wood now scattered around the tiled floors. The doors had rusted and now barely stood. Though the outside was untouched, the inside was gone. The magnificent staircase was nothing but pieces of cracked wood and the railings of once polished cherry wood were rusted with pieces of wood sticking out of the once smooth surface. But what would expect after the house had been abandoned for over 200 years. No one dared move for fears of the house being haunted. Yeah right. A haunted house. Laughable.

Never underestimate the vengeful spirits that lurk the halls of the Yule Manor. There thirst for revenge is what makes them wander the halls with no hope of crossing over. Waiting for the cover of night to take the lives of those foolish mortal souls.

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The year is now 2007 and Kagome Higurashi, a world-renowned actress, sat on the red couch of her private jet looking out the window, enjoying what scenery she could see. The clouds blocked her view from most of the land but she was able to catch glimpses of the lushes green grass that lay thousands of feet below. The flight from Tokyo to Scotland has been around fourteen hours and Kagome was ready to get out and explore her native country. Kagome was half-Japanese and half Scottish. She got her Scottish heritage from her mother, who had passed away four years earlier when she came her on vacation. She vanished without a trace one night and Kagome was devastated. Though back than her acting career had just taken off the young superstar sank into depression when she heard the news. Her father died not that long after from an alcohol overdose, because of his wives disappearance he drank himself to death. Now all alone in the world Kagome got a letter from her great, great uncle on her mothers side and was asked to fly down to the Yule Manor in Elgin, Scotland immediately. Though Kagome was a bit skeptical at first, wondering why she would be hearing from this great, great, uncle now. His letter stated that he was on his deathbed and it was time for her to inherit the manor that belonged to her Scottish family. Kagome only came because her friend Sango Taijai convinced her that it would be a great adventure to see the Scotland coastline and go see the 'old windbag' as she so kindly put it.

"Miss, we are preparing to land," said the stewardess as the seatbelt light flashed on.

Kagome buckled up and watched the plane descend. She was able to fully see the green grass and open fields full of cattle and small glimpses of the surrounding forests. The sky was a magnificent blue and white puff clouds flouted over the green grass planes casting shadows on the farmland. Kagome had never seen anything more beautiful, for she was used to being in the big city and seeing towering skyscrapers and busy city streets.

The plane landed smoothly and Kagome exited out into the clean country air. She took in a large breath and smiled as she released it. Looking up to the blue skies, listening to the birds calming melody, and feeling the wind blow softly through her raven locks. Kagome knew that she would like it here.

She was brought out of her little episode when a man with short brown hair wearing a black Armani suit approached her. She was able to recognize him as her mothers close friend who was with during the time of her disappearance. He was very close to her family and now was the only person she had left, besides her friend Sango. Kagome excluded this uncle of hers from the picture seeing as how she had never known he even existed.

"Kaido!" she greeted happily as she ran to the young man and hugged the life out of him. Not literal of course, but it could have been had she applied a little more force to the bone crushing hug.

Despite the pain, Kaido managed a weak smile and returned the hug just as hard. A little joke between the two. See who would give up first. And as usual, Kagome always won.

Kaido was now red in the face as he gasped for air. "Ka...Kagome you can le...let go n...now." he managed to get out.

Kagome quickly let go of the poor man and put her hands over her mouth pleading that he forgive her for almost crushing him to death.

He smiled at the girl "It's nothing I'm not used to after all these years." he said while he straightened his back, so he could stand straight.

Kagome returned the smile wholeheartedly. "It's so good to see you Kaido-chan I missed you so much. How long has it been?"

"The last I saw you, you were starting out as a big movie star."

Kagome's smile widened as her old friend led her to the black stretch limo that was awaiting them.

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The drive to her uncles was silent for the most part. Kagome would make a comment occasionally about the landscape or something like that. They were passing by a cattle ranch when Kagome broke the silence yet again.

"Look" she said while gluing her face to the black window "cows." she stared in awe at the looks she was receiving from the cattle as they passed by.

Kaido could not help but laugh at her childish antics. She was just so cute, always this way ever since she was a small child. 'Just like her mother.' with that thought his mood saddened a bite as he suddenly went silent 'if only things didn't have to happen the way they did.'

"Kaido-chan, are you ok?" asked Kagome as she curled her legs underneath her and stared at her friend.

Kaido snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the slight amount of worry in her voice. He nodded his head before looking out the window to see a large estate coming into view. 'Well, now it all begins.'

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"My lord, the girl has arrived," said a man with long black hair dressed in all black. The room he was standing in was dark but not as dark as to where you could not see, there was enough light to make out the room to be a bedroom with a large canopy bed in the middle. In the large bed was the weak form of a man more than 90 years old.

The old man spoke in a weak and almost silent voice "Bring her to me."

"Yes, my lord." and with that the man exited the room and quietly shut the door behind him.

With a sigh, the elderly man laid back against the headboard of the bed. His heavy eyes closed and a smile came across his wrinkled features 'At last, I can see her. It has truly been far too long.'

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The limo had just gone through the main gates of the large estate and Kagome marveled at the manor that lay ahead. It was huge. Beautiful as well, with it's pure white color and stone pillars that were at the top of a large stair case that lead to two large front doors, there was a tower to the left that could have been ten stories tall made completely out of stone, with a large old style window at the top. Behind the large manor, there stood a lighthouse that was an eggshell color with a maroon color outlining the rim of where the lantern house was, at the very top. The slim building appeared to be about twice as tall as the manor because Kagome was able to see the top from such a distance. The entire estate was probably around 4,000 acres large. There was a deep wood surrounding the large open field of farmland.

Kaido was watching Kagome from his position on the seat across from her. He was quite pleased when Kagome stared in awe at the property around them. It was good that she liked the manor, seeing as how it was going to be hers in a matter of time.

The limo came to a stop Kagome quickly began to unbuckle her seat belt. "Well, aren't we excited?" Kaido said as he took off his own seatbelt never taking his eyes off the young woman who acting like a child that had just arrived an amusement park not wanting to wait to get out off the car.

Kagome giggled like a schoolgirl and smiled brightly. "Well, yeah. This place is so wonderful I want to go exploring now. Especially the forest..." that was when Kaido went deaf on the rest of her words 'The forest. NO! I will not allow her to go out there.'

"NO! Kagome you can't go out to the forest." he exclaimed in a panicked tone.

Kagome blinked once in confusion silently asking for an explanation.

Kaido sighed; he knew this time would come. "That is the forest where your mother vanished four years ago."

Kagome gasped and felt the tears in her eyes as she looked out toward the trees finally noticing the eerie presence it gave off. She nodded her head in understanding, finished unbuckling herself, and stepped out of the car. Her first sight was a man who was about two maybe three years older than her standing by the door dressed in a black business suit with long black hair to match. The thing that got Kagome's attention was his eyes, they were a reddish-purple color, and it gave Kagome the creeps. He had a look on his face Kagome was unable to identify. She shrugged it off and walked up to the him with Kaido behind her.

"I am assuming that you are Higurashi-sama, correct?" he asked.

Kagome nodded and extended her hand for him to shake. He shook her welcoming hand while saying that his name was, Naraku.

'He is so creepy.' she thought but maintained her cherry smile. She did not fail to notice that his hands were cold as ice.

He let go much to her relief and lead them into the manor.

The foyer was amazing to Kagome and she couldn't help but marvel at the stair case that was obviously the Grand stair case for the maroon colored rug lead up to the wall where a large portrait of what must be her uncle hung and than went to the left and the right both leading to different parts of the manor no doubt.

The black-haired man lead her and Kaido to the east wing through a series of corridors and long hallways each with walls filled of portraits and paintings that all dated back to the early 1700's. The women were all dressed in extravagant gowns of red's and gold's with pearls and different forms of jewelry that hung from there necks. But the picture that caught Kagome's eye was a picture of a young woman no older than herself wearing a dark forest green gown with a black necklace hanging off her neck. In the middle of the black chain there was a cross pendant. Her eyes were dark and seemed almost lifeless for she held no smile or showed any signs of emotions. Her face was completely blank and Kagome could not help but stare at the girl. For she looked exactly like her. 'This is too weird.' Kagome thought as she stood in a trance.

"Kagome, are you coming?" she heard Kaido's voice say snapping her out of her trance to look at his figure that was slowly disappearing down the long corridor. Kagome looked back at the picture once more to notice that the girls face had disappeared and now there was a picture of a horse running through the many fields of grass that surrounded the manor. She looked away and ran down the hall trying to catch up to Kaido and the strange man he was following dismissing the picture as her imagination. 'I guess that I do need a vacation after all. Now I'm hallucinating.'

Kagome short train of thought stopped when they halted in front of a large pair of wooden double doors. The man known as Naraku pushed the door opened slightly and made a move to tell her to go in. Kagome got the message and walked into the room noticing that there was just barely enough light to see her way around the room. She noticed a man who was sitting up in bed with his eyes closed. Kagome thought that he was asleep and walked over to his body on the bed not prepared for when his eyes jolted opened and looked right at her. She shirked and fell back a little but not losing her balance all too much.

"I am guessing you are Kagome," the man said. He was obviously sick from the way his voice sounded; it was barely over a whisper.

"Yes, I Am." was all she said.

"Than..." he cringed as a pain shot through his body he curled over for a moment in pain.

Kagome put a gentle hand on the mans shoulder "Are you alright?" she asked.

He grabbed her hand and pulled himself up to his previous position leaning back on the headboard. "Yes, just a slight pain from the medication." he reassured her.

Kagome took this as a good enough answer and sat on the chair by the bedside waiting for him to continue.

"I am sure you have guessed that I am the great, great, uncle that you received the letter from." she nodded "I have called you here to talk about your mother." Kagome's eyes began to tear up again at the mention of her mother but she stayed silent as not to interrupt him "She was hear four years ago and disappeared without a trace. It was late at night and she was seen by a servant walking out into the forest surrounding the estate. The next morning no one found a single trace of her. There were no tracks to follow. It was as if she vanished into thin air." Kagome was on the brink of breaking down into tears now. "But I know what happen to her." Kagome's sobs stopped and she looked at the old man in surprise.

"What happen to her?!" she asked frantically "Please tell me!"

"She was called." was his only answer.

"Wha...What does that mean?" Kagome was now beyond confused, first he said that he knew what happened to her, and now he was saying this. What on earth?

At that moment, he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her close to where he face was only inches away from his. She was so close she could see his almost toothless mouth on the inside as he spoke his breath making her eyes water.

"It was her time. Mine is coming, and than it will be your time. Do not listen to the voices..." his voice was desperate " do not listen." he shaked her neck and Kagome struggled out of his grasp. The moment she was freed the doors opened to reveal Naraku and Kaido rushing in to grab her hands and pulled her out of the room shutting the door behind them.

Kagome sighed as she looked up at her saviors. "Thank you." she said "That guy was creeping me out."

Naraku eyed her carefully before he spoke "What did he say to you?" he asked in a monotone voice.

"He talked about my mother." she looked down at her feet as a silent tear made it's way down her cheek. " He said that he knew what happened to her." she said in whisper.

Naraku had to hear more so he urged her to continue but the moment he did Kagome shed the tears that she had held back for so long. Kaido pulled her into an embrace whispering comforting words into her ear.

Naraku knew that was more to tell but it was obvious that he would have to wait to hear the rest of the story.

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AN: Well there's the first chapter. I hope you like it. I'm not very good at writing ghost stories. This is my first one. I hope you enjoyed it. Please Rate and Review.

If anyone has a better name for the story please tell me and if there is anything you want me to add to the story please feel free to tell me your ideas. I might just add them to the story.