Bound by Blood

Nicolas Winters had taken a long time to get everything together, including a storage unit locker from a place no one would go snooping. He'd also need someone who would take care of it in his place. Who, though, could he give it to? Nicolas remembered that he had a cousin on his brother's side of the family who had a son. They would be the perfect person to inherit this curse he had gotten himself into.

Moving the large coffin into the hearse, which held Cyprian Vaseres, he closed the doors. The vampire was currently in a deep hibernation, which he counted his lucky stars for. Nicolas had lured his last human into a dark alley that evening so the vampire could feast. It would be the undead man's last meal until he would wake up a few years from now. By then, he planned to be long gone from here.

He was careful to set up things just as he had found them so many years ago. The coffin in the corner of the room, wrapped in chains and padlocks. A small table with an old leather-bound book. It was Nicolas's journal and those who came before him. Those who were cursed to care for this vampire until the end of their human existence.

Taking one more look around the room, he pulled the string to the single flickering light bulb overhead. Nicolas pulled the shutter down and slipped the padlock on through the loop. Into an envelope with a letter, he tossed in the ring with four keys. He'd leave this at the front desk and set it up so that that relative would get a call. They would come here confused about who had left them an inheritance in a run-down storage unit in the middle of nowhere.

Handing over the envelope to the young woman behind the desk, Nicolas stepped out, never turning back.

Years later, Glenn received a call from Value Vault about something left for him by a Nicolas Winters. A distant relative on his father's side of the family. He would need to come by the building and clear out its contents since it was no longer being paid for. Finding the place was a bit of a challenge in a highly crime-ridden area. His retired female police officer neighbor gave him directions, stating that crime lords used it for various activities.

To be careful, and if he found a body, he should call 911 right away. What if he found a body? Would Glenn even handle it all by himself? As he walked through the door of the office building, Glenn strode up to the counter where a young woman was flipping through a magazine. “Excuse me, I'm here to pick up an envelope,” he said, clearing his throat.

“You must be Glenn Winters. I have an envelope for you to one of our storage units. Was Nicolas a relative of yours?” she questioned.

“A distant relative…I don't know much about him.” Glenn replied.

The young woman nodded not having changed a bit when Nicolas left all those years ago. She opened a draw and took out an envelop with the name WINTERS written in all capital letters. “You're looking for unit 126.” she instructed. Accepting it Glenn nodded and he went to find storage unit 126 located in a private building away from the main one. Once inside he saw that it contained three other units that were boarded up making them inaccessible.

Glenn unlocked the padlock and pushed open the shutter. Squinting in the dark, he found the strong and pulled. The light flickered to life, humming overhead and covering everything in a dim light. Ahead of him was a coffin leaning against the wall. Next to it was a small wooden table with an old leather-bound book placed on top of it.

He slowly approached the coffin, watching it rattle as if whatever someone inside was trying to get out. Picking up the book, he opened it, flipping through its yellowed pages. It looked to have been a journal. Belonging not only to Nicolas but to other people who had it before him. It was a set of instructions on how to take care of the person contained within the coffin.

Remembering the letter in the envelope that the keys were contained in, he unfolded it.

My apologies to whoever has inherited this curse from me. If you have received this, it means my end finally came. Death was my only escape from Cyprian Vaseres. Pay close attention to what is written in the journal, as it will save your life.

Glenn stepped over to the front of the coffin, examining the chain. He took a deep breath and began removing the chains, pulling off its door. Glenn stepped back, placing the door against the wall. A figure stepped forward out of the coffin, running a hand through his hair and squinting at the dim light above them. Glenn could not speak, looking at the person before him.

“Hello, boy,”

A grin formed on the man's lips as he stood to his full height, looming over him intimidatingly. Glenn was shocked, seeing that the man, Cyprian Vaseres, was a vampire. Nicolas Winters, his relative, had been this man's minion, and now he would become the same. He had been right to call this a curse, as now his life would be ensuring that this vampire was fed. For if Cyprian were to be left on his own, there is no telling how many humans would suffer a painful death.

As Glenn loaded up his truck, covering the coffin in a tarp, he was surprised to see the vampire get into the passenger side of his vehicle. Wasn't a creature of the night such as Cyprian hurt by the sunlight? Having turned in the key and padlock to the woman at the desk, he got into the driver's side and started the car. A curse of being a minion to a vampire whom he didn't know. Or how his family was cursed to take care of him to begin with.

It could be quite possible that his family was responsible for Cyprian becoming a vampire in the first place.

Glenn Winters would carry this curse until he could find someone else in the family to pass this onto. He just hoped that it wouldn't be his own family that this would be passed down onto. The vampire motioned with his hand towards a couple hanging around an alleyway. He stopped, and the vampire stepped out casually, walking up to them. Glenn watched them go out of sight and never once heard a scream. With the leather-bound journal at his side, he opened it.

Something inside surely would tell him how to clean up after a starved vampire. Or he'd have to get creative.