By popular demand — and by “popular demand” I mean the desire of two of the only fans I’ve ever known, Dave and Jack — I post the second (and final) excerpt from “The Bloodlines of Rollinsford,” The Trial of Seid:
“Where are we gonna go?! They’re gonna release the teams soon!” Seid yelled frantically. He panicked, rushing up to each of his fellow hunted as he belted out his useless insecurities. They all huddled on the train tracks a short walk from the train yards of Rollinsford’s business district, discussing possible plans for survival.
“We,” started one of the hunted in the gathering whom Seid could not identify in a deep masculine voice, “are going nowhere – if we all stick together they’re gonna find us easier. We have better chances alone, even if we can’t get out of these orange suits.”
“Nah, it’s hunt or be hunted, man. We got a betta’ chance at killin’ a few of ‘em if we stick togetha’,” a black vampire named Rucc spoke. His head was shaved bald, and he was very scrawny despite his height.
“Wh-wh-what are we gonna do?! I can’t be alone right now!” Seid moaned like a child. He shivered in fear so intense that it seemed to the group that his eyes would soon pop out of his head from all the pressure.
“Shut up, man!” Rucc commanded angrily, walking over to where Seid stood by the edge of the tracks, “they’re gonna hear ya’… we ain’t in any position to give you any special attention right now… we gotta get our asses movin’ quick. We split up at the train yards… deal with it!”
“N–n–n–no you can’t! Why won’t you guys HELP ME?!” Seid’s hysteria was now beyond tolerable, and the volume of his voice caused echoes to bounce off of the various boxcars in the train yard.
“You gotta ask yo-self one question, man: do you want to shut up and live for a while… or be killed by me right now?” The black vampire’s eyes burned with frustration.
Seid closed his eyes and began wheezing as tears began flowing down his cheeks. He placed his hands over his eyes and fell to his knees on the ground for a brief period before he realized that the group had left him and entered the labyrinth of boxcars. He panicked, running as fast as he could to catch up.
As Seid reached the group they were already deep within the arrangement of boxcars. He was panting heavily, relieved to have caught up, and able to slow down to a walk.
“Say… a wut you boys doin’ ‘ere? Y’all a kechin’ da one er clock?” Came a raspy voice from atop one of the boxcars. The heads of each vampire in the group instantly looked up, curious as to the origin of the voice.
Rucc was the first to see the hobo, grinning down with his mouth open revealing a smile lacking most teeth. He wore tattered, ragged clothing, and his hair grew down to his shoulders except for his facial hair, which extended even further down to his chest from sporadic patches on his face.
“That’s a fuckin’ mortal!” Rucc exclaimed as if he had never seen a human being before. He dashed toward the boxcar, followed closely by Zelexa and Teped, two very pudgy women who had been suspected to be lovers.
Rucc reached the bottom of the car and jumped into the air, floating up toward the hobo, still pursued by the two women. The rest of the group simply watched, knowing what would develop from this.
As Rucc reached the top of the car he slugged the hobo in the temple with his right hand. It was enough to send the hobo backwards toward the other edge of the car.
“Wh–Wha’ da’ f’wuck?! Ya’ flew’d up ‘ere, an’ hit me!” The hobo looked briefly at the bottle of whiskey he had dropped when Rucc punched him. He shook his head at the bottle.
Rucc reached down toward the hobo, attempting to pick him up by the neck. He was able to lift him, but barely. Rucc whirled him around, sending the putrid stench of urine and whiskey into the air.
Rucc began coughing and dry heaving as he tainted scent began to sting at his nose. He let go of the hobo who fell hard, but didn’t tumble off. He mumbled things about the “one er clock” and “don’ en flewed up ‘ere.” This was the time when panic and hope mixed within the emotional thresholds of the hunted vampires, turning allies into enemies. This was evident as Zelexa and Teped reached the top of the car after struggling with their floating abilities. Zelexa threw punch at Rucc, the flabby fat of her arm jiggling as she did so. He fell off the car, seemingly unable to escape the fit of coughs and dry-heaves that he was having. He vomited as he fell headfirst toward the ground.
Zelexa didn’t wait to see Rucc’s hit the ground, incapacitated in a puddle of his own vomit still oozing through his clenched teeth. No, Zelexa instinctively turned on her former lover, Teped, causing what mortals would call a catfight to erupt. The fight ended when both women struggled through the hobo, sending all three tumbling to the ground.
“They’re coming,” shouted Ghout, a male with hideously jagged teeth. The remaining vampires in the group all looked down the tracks, horrified at the sight of several blazing torches about a mile away. Rucc, Zelexa, and Teped were as good as dead, disabled beside the box car.
“C’mon, let’s get the hell outta here!” One of the male vampires urged.
As the five remaining “mice” dashed along the tracks toward the mills, Zelexa and Teped each tugged at a limb of the dead hobo’s body in a demented tug-of-war. Both of their repulsive faces were contorted in agony and aggression toward each other, though neither was about to let go of the lifeless hobo. They wanted his head, and were too concerned with obtaining it that they didn’t realize that two heads were needed, and by the time they had his, the hunters would be on them.
“They’re as good as dead… the stupid lesbos,” Gerra noted, tying back her long black hair back with an elastic as she ran.
“We gotta split up! There’s no sense in staying together… they will overpower us no matter what!” Yelled Sdimlou, spitting out a gob of yellow phlegm. His navy blue Boston Red Sox baseball cap flew off of his head as it was caught by the wind. He made no attempt to retrieve it, he simply ran his right hand through his orange-tinted hair, smoothing it down… still running.
“No! We can’t… don’t you get it… that J stalks the business district!” Seid pleaded.
“And you would rather be caught and dismembered by a hoard… while still alive… rather than take a chance in the business district? You’re nuts!” Yelled Sdimlou, annoyed with Seid’s incessant whining.
“From what Hahl says of the J guy, he sounds worse than the hoard… he does things to vampires!” Seid screamed, sounding like a frightened little girl.
“That hoard does things to vampires too! Besides, council members don’t fraternize with us drones… you’re full of shit!” Sdimlou responded, shutting Seid right down.
Seid screamed in horror as he forced himself to keep up with the other four, headed down the tracks toward the business district. As they reached the heart of the district, shadows of the various gigantic mills came into view. Sdimlou broke away from the group, running off of the tracks and toward the mills. The others broke apart as well, each going in a different direction, while Seid followed after Sdimlou.
As Seid tracked Sdimlou through the various alleys between the mills, shadows began to fall around him, causing the weak vampire’s fear of the dark to rise, and overpower him. “I’m being CHASED! Sdimlou! Oh my GOD! OH, PLEASE HELP ME!”
Sdimlou continued running, barely acknowledging Seid. The lights of various merchant shops were coming into view, illuminating the area along with various street lamps that lined the road.
One of the street lamps lit a factory loading dock, the garage-type door of which was open, offering access to the dark interior.
Sdimlou began to run toward the factory, much to Seid’s dismay. “Stop! Don’t go in there… he could be in there!” He halted, trying to decide what to do. He spun around, and was relieved to see just an empty street. He turned back to the loading dock in enough time to see Sdimlou disappear into the shadows within.
Seid slowly, and fearfully, walked toward the dock, stopping just outside the entrance. He could not go in. He ran a nervous hand through his short, blonde hair, and wiped the sweat and tears from his face. Rubbing his eyes, he inhaled deeply, wishing that he had a cigarette… just one. He was overcome by a mixture of fear and nervousness, and his eyes blinked constantly as they darted from building to building, studying every shadow. Nothing there.
Seid jumped in shock as he suddenly began to hear a clip clop sound of approaching boot heels in the darkened alley to his left. His panic increased to the point of virtual mania. He began to breathe heavily as he noticed something else: torchlights floating above the train tracks at the other end of the parking lot. The hunters were coming… J was coming…
Seid turned and sprinted into the factory, quickly hiding himself in the shadows as Ezeth descended the hill, leading the group into the business district. In Ezeth’s right hand he held the severed heads of Zelexa and Teped by the hair. Hahl walked beside him, carrying the head of Rucc tucked under his right arm.
Seid dashed further into the warehouse before he had finished digesting all that he saw. Ezeth had seen him run in… he was sure of this. It wouldn’t be much longer before Ezeth held Seid’s own head like some demented trophy. He began to cry, thinking about how the severed heads of Zelexa, Teped, and Rucc looked so choppy at the line of severance… almost as if they were beheaded with a goddamned butter knife.
Seid’s tears of dread flowed like a river.
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October 3rd, 2005 
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