Chapter 2: Unnerving Cemetery

"Are you feeling a bit better now?" inquired the prudish voice with a hint of concern. Despite the formal tone, there was an underlying warmth in the voice that conveyed a genuine desire to help

The air carried a strong smell that was formaldehyde and phenyl. There was something strange about this place, an awful smell, and it wasn't the hospital. It was the smell of death.

Scott Anderson opened his eyes to the bright sun rays.

“Where in the hell am I?” he mutters. His head was still reeling from concussion and it hurt badly to move his limbs.

“Well, it’s not heaven if that is what your mind is thinking,” another voice answered from behind. “You have to take a guess, Deputy Anderson.”

Scott at this time could make neither head nor tail of the situation he has found himself in. What he could vividly remember was a bloody red-eyed man with vicious claws and fangs of some kind of a beast tearing him. He was supposed to be dead because the doctor had just signed the death certificate. But now he found himself waking up inside the underground tomb, surrounded by coffins. He felt something hammering inside his head and everything around him seemed blurry and messy.

He lifted his face, his eyes made out the profile of a beautiful lady with glossy skin, mercury-red hair, and with sculpted figure. Her pencil-thin eyebrows eased down gently to her eyelashes with a pointed nose. Staring at her mercury-red hair that tumbled over her shoulder, Scott couldn’t resist staring at her honey-sweet lips that were lilac soft. She was putting on a mini gown that exposes her side thighs and her boobs were well packed in but exposing the top part of her boobs that feels thick inside of her mini gown.

“Who are you? What happened to me?” Scott asked with curiosity. His voice was still groggy and incoherent. After a fit of coughing, he stared at the lady as he resumed his inquiries. “Something or should I say someone attacked me in the alley. What am I doing here with all these coffins around me?”

The lady leaned back on one of the coffins curled her arms together and crossed her legs. “Deputy Anderson, you seem confused. But it’s all simple and no complications,” she grinned. “You are inside an underground tomb because that’s where dead bodies end up.”

Unable to make any sense of what he just heard, Scott stared at the lady in wide-eyed surprise.

The beautiful lady continued in her refined voice. “Take your time, I can assure you, I am not in a hurry. It always takes a while to accept things as they are, especially for a dead man.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Are you fucking saying that I am dead for real?” Scott asked impatiently as he stared down his body.

“You were…” Fixing her searing gaze on Scott, the lady sized him up in her mind. “A 28-year-old Deputy working under the Sheriff’s Department with a surprisingly flexible and well-maintained body. I must confess, I envy you because almost all the ladies in Bailey County desire you. You are such a very strong handsome young man but not when it comes to death. No one can defeat death but here you are standing because you tricked death.”

“You still are making no sense to me. What the hell is going on?”

“You still don’t understand, do you?”

“Fuck! You are driving me insane. Who the fuck are you and what the fuck am I doing in a graveyard?” Scott reached for his pistol only to realize that he had been stripped of everything and was only clothed in a loose sky-blue gown.

“I also must confess, you have a hot temper.” The mysterious lady suddenly disappeared from his view.

Scott became terrified as he looked around searching. “I must be dreaming. I don’t drink, I would have said I have taken much drink that is making me see things,” he muttered under his breath.

“You are not drinking neither have you gotten drunk.” The voice of the lady came from behind. Scott swiftly turned around to find the mysterious lady standing behind him. “Your department took you to the hospital but they came in late. You were declared dead on arrival. That’s a pity.”

“You are a nasty liar! As you can see, I am alive. I can feel myself, I can speak and I can blink!”

“You have me to thank for that. I do believe a bit of gratitude would go a long way.”

“Get off my head, you aren’t real. None of this is real!”

“Deputy Anderson, I am real as the one that attacked you in the alley. If it hadn’t been for me, you would have been lying below 6fth, inside a coffin.”

Scott’s eyes widened with disbelief. “What are you trying to say? Did you save my life?”

“It appears you haven’t been paying close attention.” The lady rushed towards Scott like a speeding train and lifted Scott off his feet. Hoisting him in the air by his collar, the lady tore open his sky-blue gown. “As you can see, all your wounds have healed and you can no longer feel any pain. I didn’t save your life. You were declared dead on arrival. However, I did bring you back from the dead.”

“That’s not possible. No one can trick death. Are you saying you are a goddess?”

“I am not a goddess.” The lady released Scott from her grip and let him slump down on one of the coffins. She bent down and brought her face closer to Scott’s. “My name is Jasmine Dracula. I’m a descendant of Dracula. I am one of the Original Vampires that have walked the earth for many centuries.”

Scott swallowed a lump in his throat and spoke in a quivering voice, “What do you want from me?” A look of puzzlement crossed his face.

“We will eventually come to that. But first, do you know why I brought you back from the dead?”

Scott spoke again in a quivering voice as his trembling arms crossed his chest. “I am not sure.”

“There are far too many contradictions in you. You are indecisive and afraid, but you are also impulsive and selfless. When you called for backup, you waited for backup to arrive at the alley because you were afraid of what you might see. Nevertheless, you rushed to the lady’s aid after hearing the gunshots because you care too much about saving people.” She drew in a deep breath and backed away from Scott, who was still sitting on the coffin petrified. “I need your help, Scott Anderson.”

“My help in what way?” Scott piped feebly.

“For preserving the balance and making sure darkness did not fall on Texas. If we don’t act now, then it will be too late for the good people of Texas. Hell will break loose on Texas and all your souls shall be damned in hell for all eternity.”

“I am not sure I follow what you are saying, Miss Dracula.”

“Just call me Jasmine,” she sighed. Rolling her eyes on him, she continued. “There will be time to talk later. For now, all you need to know is that terrible things are about to unfold and it will all be let loose in Texas. Some blood-sucking vampires do not go by the new rules all of Dracula’s descendants have set. They will prey on Texas and they will bring malevolent beings with them. There will be more if they aren’t stopped.”

Placing her right hand on Scott’s shoulder, she asked, “Deputy Anderson, do you believe in vampires?”

“I don’t. Vampires are not real,” he replied with hesitation in his voice.

Jasmine closed her eyes and sighed, “That’s too bad for you, they certainly believe in you and they are coming for this county and the whole of Texas.”