Chapter 1
Ukraine late 1800s. End of October. A vampire is turned against and trapped in a mirror, but she remains, causing little chaos she can while she waits to escape.
A strong wind blew over the field, heavy with the promise of early winter. The lanterns swayed and flickered as a mother stood and closed the heavy windows. A fire crackled in the hearth, its warm orange light reflecting in the small mirror across the room. The mother took the lantern and moved through the house, checking on the two young boys sleeping in their room. She circled the house twice more, each time pausing at the front door and checking outside for any sign of her husband. He should have returned hours before, as the forest because nearly impossible to navigate once the sun vanished. The mother sighed, her breath forming a cloud of white in front of her. This wasn’t the first time her husband failed to return home. On those nights, he would build a camp in the forest and return the following day. The mother checked once more before sliding the lock into place and retreating to her room to sleep.
A loud hollering awoke the family the next morning. A pair of boys were in tears within the town square, screaming and hollering about a beast in the forest. Unable to understand the boys, a group of men followed their pointing into the woods and came upon the gruesome scene, just inside the tree line.
Blood coated the trees. Streams of scarlet raced down branches and dripped into the thin layer of frost that covered the forest floor. In the center, five bodies laid in the dirt. Their throats were gaping holes. An investigation ensued immediately, and it was found that the five hunters had been attacked by some sort of beast in the woods just before they reached the safety of the town. The only question that remained was, what attacked the group?
Hunters gathered to examine the bodies. Nearly all of them agreed that spare for wolves, no other creature would rip out a throat that way, and wolves were rare in their neck of the woods. They also agreed that the beast had to be fairly large to deal with the wound. Something human size, at least.
The small town avoided the forest for some time, but food had to be gathered and hunted, so hunters returned to the worn paths. Then reports of strange occurrences started to emerge. Shadows following hunting groups through the forest. People appearing and vanishing in the distance. Dead animals in the woods had the same gaping neck wounds as the five dead hunters, but no more hunters were attacked. Until the following winter.
Two hunters vanished from the forest. A group went out to track them, but their footsteps disappeared in the drifting snow, and the team returned to the town empty-handed. The entire village became on edge. Windows locked at all times. People refused to walk alone, even in the daylight. All the stories around the hearths were plagued with the fear of deadly shadows with sharp teeth hunting the entire town. Children refused to sleep without candles lighting their rooms. Once again, a lull followed the missing hunters for the following year. By the time the first frost hit, the town had grown tired of being trapped in fear. The remaining hunters, wives and mothers, gathered to discuss the attacks. They spoke until the fires grew low and dawn began to spread across the sky. By the time the group dispersed, the hunters knew what to do when the creature had returned.
The hunters returned to the forest. Once again, hunters failed to return to their homes the following night. The next meeting only contained mothers and wives. The group looked at each other and decided whatever the creature was, it wasn’t an animal their husbands and sons were used to hunting. It was something far more dangerous. A new plan emerged. The next night, only one person entered the forest while her sons laid asleep in their beds. In her hands, a mirror crafted by her father and her mother’s bag swung against her hip.
The mother settled in a clearing. She opened the bag and spread the contents around the mirror.
She lit six candles and set them in a circle. Their dancing flames reflected in the old mirror, which threw their light far into the forest. Far enough that the creature could see it. Most animals would run from fire. This wasn’t an animal.
Within seconds, the woman spotted a shadow creeping through the trees out of the corner of her eye. She didn’t move as it grew closer and closer. Instead, she focused on a trapping spell her grandmother taught her mother, and her mother taught her. One to trap evil spirits within mirrors.
The woman laid the mirror down on its back and picked up a candle, tilting it, so wax dripped onto the reflective surface. She watched the shadow grow closer and set the candle down again. Her hands trembled as she picked up a bag of dried sage, lavender and rosemary. She sprinkled the herbs over the still cooling wax and bowed her head. Finally, the shadow reached the clearing. The woman raised her head and met the dark gaze of the demonic creature. Blood coated its lips, and pale white fangs glinted in the firelight. Its skin was as pale as a corpse and stretched over its bones like old leather.
The woman bolted to her feet and backed away. The creature ran after her, crossing the clearing and stepping on the mirror. Then it stumbled. The mirror shifted, clinging to the creature’s foot like a shoe. Then the mirror began to pull the beast inside.
Howls filled the air that night, waking children and adults alike. They remained in their beds, clinging to each other as the screams echoed through the town. For many, the screeching would haunt their dreams and waking moments for the rest of their lives. When dawn broke, the woman returned, an old, slightly damaged mirror clasped in her hands. From that day on, all hunters that ventured into the forest returned home to their families when they intended to.
The woman and her two sons left the town, a mirror tucked deep into their bags. They immigrated to a new land overseas. Halfway through the voyage, the woman dug out the mirror and glanced it over, her eyes lingering on the discoloured corner, then she threw it overboard and watched it sink beneath the blue ocean. The following night, she prayed she would never again see that mirror.
The family moved into a new house in another small town. As they walked in the door, the mother’s eyes landed on a too-familiar mirror with a discoloured corner. She swallowed hard but made no comment to her sons. The secret of the mirror and the creature would die with her, she vowed. To be safe, she wrote the tale on a piece of paper and hid it between the mirror and its backing, in case the future held a way of completely killing the creature that stole the lives of so many hunters. Until then, the beast remains trapped within the mirror. Trapped and waiting for its freedom. Until then, it would cause what little trouble it could. Knocking over nearby objects. A pale face appeared within the reflection without warning. Slowly, the mirror wears away, and slowly the creature’s reach grows. One day, it knew. One day it would escape.
