Monsters of Galloway

Illustration by Caio Corsini Filho

The Diary of Lindsey Kate McIntosh

July 15th 2001

It’s funny how quickly your life can change. I’m sure you all know that by now, but I wonder how many of the people reading this will be able to relate to what I’ve been through these last few weeks? I hope for your sake you’ll just look on this entry as the scribblings of a mad woman and nothing more. Whilst it has been quite an adventure for me, I’m not blind to the fact that the life I am choosing for myself is one of loss and horror. The enthusiasm I have right now to fight the good fight is probably just a coping mechanism, that will wear off in a few weeks time.

I’ve already seen good people die at the hands of those monsters, and I doubt they’ll be the last I’ll lose in this fight. (Assuming I’m lucky enough to not be next myself.) Still I know that I can’t go back and I know that there is an entire world out there waiting for me to explore that I simply can’t resist.

Writing this down will not only hopefully help me process everything I’ve been through, but it will also let those of you who do care about me know the truth if anything ever happens to me. Again I don’t doubt a lot of you will think I’ve gone insane, but one day the truth about what’s really out there will be known. Perhaps sooner than even I realise. I know that it’s not even the same world than when I was a little girl.

Looking back on it, I had a really easy life growing up. Granted I always did feel quite privileged given my job and my family and friends, but considering just how dangerous I’ve learned the world really is. Even I had no idea I was so well off.

I was born in Wemyss Bay to a fairly upper middle class family in the year 1975. My father was a Dentist and my mother was a Doctor, and we lived in a big fancy house overlooking the bay. Growing up I was taken all around world. Germany, Switzerland, France, Poland, the Netherlands, I’d visited them all with my family by the age of 15. Sadly however as a young un I could never really take in just how rich my experiences truly were. I often marked these holidays more by what videos we watched in the hotel than the beautiful culture and scenery around me. We were among the first people even in Wemyss Bay to have a VHS, and I remember my dad in particular being angry that I only ever remembered my first holiday in Poland for being when I first saw “When Harry Met Sally” that my mum had taped off the tv. Fortunately I’ve visited Poland many times since and know for sure what a lovely country it is, though “When Harry Met Sally” is still one of my favourite films.

At the very least these holidays began my love of travelling that would carry on to this day. In my early twenties I was fortunate enough to be able to turn that passion into a profession, when I got a job writing for travel logs. I must admit that when I started I hoped It would be a stepping stone to something bigger. I’ve always wanted to write, though I’m not exactly sure what about? I had such an eclectic range of interests, everything from middle eastern history to Dinosaurs, I could never settle on just one thing! Still I guess I was hoping inspiration would come from visiting so many different parts of the world, but instead I think I just became too cosy and secure.

It was a very comfortable and rewarding life though. I got to see so many wonderful cities and places and meet so many amazing people on my travels, but there would be one quaint little area in my home country of Scotland that would end up becoming my true home away from home. The Galloway regions.

I was there during Wigtown’s first book festival in 1999, which they brought back the following year and from what I gather they plan to this year as well. Here’s hoping it carries on for a few more years to come. In actual fact I had only arrived to see the book festival, but Wigtown was such a welcoming, beautiful place that I ended up coming back here whenever I could for the next almost two years.

A place like Wigtown, surrounded by the most beautiful scenery, with the friendliest locals and fuelled by a passion for the arts truly did seem too good to be true. I knew there had to be a catch somewhere. Sadly I would have never guessed that would be the undead.

For the past few months according to the locals there had been rumblings of something happening near the beaches of Galloway. A few teenagers going missing, a shark showing up mangled by something in the water. I was shocked to hear of such things happening here of all places, but I foolishly wasn’t scared for myself. As tragic as it was I assumed that it was something the authorities could handle and I wasn’t going to let any potential danger spoil my visit.

It would be on the 20th of June however when the evil brewing in this seemingly quaint area would reach me. It was late at night, I’d just been enjoying an evening out in my favourite pub, The Smoking Fish with my friend Lucy, a resident of Wigtown I got to know on my very first visit here. On the way home through the long road back to Wigtown, which lay next to a field leading out to a small forest behind. We spotted someone staggering about, seemingly hurt in the distance. Normally I loved the walk back from the Smoking Fish, The countryside was just so beautiful even at night, and I’d hardly have to worry about anything in a place like Wigtown.

Sadly however this time would be different. When the figure came into view more clearly, we could see that he was holding his neck, which was bleeding.

He tried to say something to us before collapsing on the road. Lucy instantly went for her phone, but before she could call the emergency service another figure came jumping out of the bushes at the side of the road. He was dressed in similar clothes and carrying a wooden stake. At the time I assumed it had to be something else and I just couldn’t see it very clearly in the dark.

He said to the first figure. “I’m sorry brother. You now that I’m sparing you from being with them forever.” Before he stabbed the stake into the bleeding mans chest.

Me and Lucy both screamed and instantly ran back the way to the Smoking Fish. Lucy was so scared she couldn’t think straight and started shouting at everyone else to call the police even whilst she was actually holding her phone! She’d never been very brave, mind you neither had I. I’d like to think that Lucy like most of us, if faced with no other choice would be brave. If I can, anyone can.

Most of the customers tried to calm her down, whilst one of them, a large burly man named Kent went outside to look.

“There’s no one there.” Kent said.

“I’m telling you there’s a psychopath with a wooden knife!” Lucy shouted, only to be met with some mild sniggering from some of the patrons.

“Well wherever he was he’s” Before Kent could even finish he was suddenly pulled up by something above. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was one of them. The undead demons, that feast on human blood that we know as, vampires.

Kent’s corpse dropped to the floor in front of us less than a minute later. His neck had been cut open just like the man on the street and there was blood everywhere. I didn’t know Kent that well. He was a lot older than me and generally tended to just stick to his own little group whenever he went to the pub, but I still can’t believe that his entire life and identity were just taken so quickly and so easily. His friends didn’t even have a chance to try and fight to save him, not that there would have been anything they could have done anyway. The whole bar started to panic, but as the patrons all got out of their seats and headed to the back door, they were suddenly stopped by two ghoulish figures that dropped from above just outside the back.

The one that killed Kent meanwhile also dropped just outside the front door. Standing roughly six feet tall, he was dressed in ratty, filthy clothes, and looked human from a distance. When he walked slowly through the door and into the light of the pub however, we could all see the monsters grotesque face more clearly. Its skin had a greenish tint to it, whilst the ridges above its eyes were thick and scaly like a reptiles. It also had bright red eyes, with a small black pupil and long, thick blood stained fangs in its mouth.

The creature screamed at us, with its roar sounding more like a lion’s than a person. We were all so transfixed and repulsed by this monster we failed to notice that several more of them had gathered by the windows with the others by the back door slowly advancing too. There was still only five of the bloodsuckers in total, but that was more than enough to take care of all us. The demons started ripping as many people as they could apart. A few of them fed on their victims, but most either just tore their limbs off, or punched their fists through their stomachs and heads. Fortunately I didn’t get a good look at the gruesome spectacle for long, as I just ran as fast as I could through the slaughter, as did Lucy. I felt like a coward, I still do for not trying to help anyone there. I even left Lucy on her own, as she did me. Still I know that if I’d stayed those blood thirsty monsters would have ripped me to pieces too. They were more like sharks at a feeding frenzy than people. Me and Lucy only managed to just slip out of the slaughter and no more, but once we were outside we saw a dozen or so more of the monsters walking through the fields slowly towards the pub.

In an act of panic I ran as fast as I could down the road towards Wigtown, whilst Lucy was too scared to even move. Several of the vampires however cut me off and with nowhere to go but into the open field where another six of them were waiting, I ran that way hoping I could run past them in time.

Lucy meanwhile took her chance and ran up the road and back to Wigtown whilst the vampires were distracted with me. I don’t blame her. I had done the same thing after all. Fortunately the bloodsuckers were so preoccupied with me and the slaughter in the Smoking Fish, which they eventually burned to the ground, that they didn’t chase her down. She managed to make it home safely and alert the authorities, though by the time they arrived everyone else in the pub was dead and the vampires were gone.

I would speak with Lucy a few days after all of this was over. Sadly she wasn’t ready to face the truth yet. When I tried to tell her what I saw after, and what those men really were, she just assumed I was in a state of shock. Even though she saw them, their inhuman faces, the way they tossed fully grown men around like babies, the way they acted like animals rather than people. Deep down she knows what they are, but she just isn’t ready to face it. I’m certainly not going to push her into this life. I just hope that she is able to cope with it in the best way for her. Maybe denying it is for the best after all. I’d imagine more than a few people have done that throughout history and gotten away with it. Still if more didn’t then maybe those people at the Smoking Fish would be alive.

Whatever the case, I managed to make it a short distance into the field before the vampires caught up to me again. They had superhuman speed as well as strength.

They soon gathered around me in a circle, some of them baring their fangs and hissing at me, others cackling like Hyenas at my plight. I genuinely couldn’t believe I was even in this situation. I had no idea what the hell these things were at this point, if they were really monsters, or just gangsters on some really weird shit. Either way for it to happen in Wigtown of all places seemed even more insane. I even tried pinching myself to make sure it wasn’t some horrific nightmare, though I’d hardly need too as I’d soon be in enough pain to let me know I wasn’t dreaming. The largest of the vampires reached out and grabbed me by the arm. It’s strength was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. My arm would be covered in bruises afterwards just from its grip, though I know that bloodsucker could have either snapped my arm in half or ripped it out of the socket if it wanted! It’s grip was also freezing to the touch and a little bit slimy too. It reminded me of holding a slug or a snail. Not that I have ever held either animal. They give me the creeps almost as much as vampires, but if I were for some reason then I’d imagine it would be like touching a vampires skin.

Before the vampire could begin feeding on me, another one of the crazed bloodsuckers snatched me by the other arm with just as much force. The two monsters pulled so hard I thought I was going to be ripped in two until another one of the Demons grabbed my hair from behind and nearly sunk its fangs into my throat, but it was stopped by yet another, that struck me across the face in its effort to get at my neck. I was briefly knocked out, and when I came too just a few seconds later I was on the ground, covered in mud, cuts and bruises made by the vampires trying to get at me. All of the bloodsuckers in fact were fighting over me again like a group of crazed animals in a feeding frenzy, and I tried to crawl along the field in the commotion, until one of them noticed and mounted itself on me, pinning me to the ground.

I tried to scream to alert the others, but they were so caught up in their blood lust it didn’t do any good. The monster smiled as it sat atop me. Up close it was even more disgusting, with slime and blood dribbling from its mouth and into my face which stung as much as it stunk. In fact the monster stank badly overall. I closed my eyes and prepared for the brute to sink its teeth into my neck, when suddenly the monster let out a scream and fell off me. I got up and saw him lying on the floor, with a wooden stake straight through his heart. Within a few seconds my attacker exploded into a cloud of dust before me. I couldn’t believe it. I almost fainted again, but fortunately my rescuer helped me to my feet. It was the same man who had stabbed the figure on the road earlier who looked even more beat up than I was. The other vampires meanwhile were soon drawn by the sound of their comrade dying. Though from what I’ve read when they are that close they can feel one of their own kind dying as its soul is dragged to the other side, that is the other side for them.

The monsters charged at us, and I tried to run away again, but my rescuer held me with one hand and whipped out a crucifix with the other which caused the demons to instantly cower. I had by this point already put all the pieces together in figuring out what these things were. I think anyone could a this stage, but even then I was still having trouble taking it in. Not that it was uppermost on my mind. I was more concerned with just getting the hell out of there!

As I tried to pull free from my former rescuer however I saw that several more, similar creatures were emerging from the pub that was now in flames.

With no other choice, the man who has just saved me ran the other way into the country side and woods ahead, whilst still holding my hand. I didn’t fight him this time as well I’d have been stupid too. Even if he was a psychopath, fighting off one guy with a cross would definitely be easier than taking on 10 guys with super strength and fangs!

We made our way across the field and were soon lost in the forest, but the vampires hadn’t given up just yet. They could see in the dark just as well as we could in the light, but my new friends cross would always ward them off when they got too close.

Unfortunately just as we were nearing the end of the patch of woods, which ended in a cliff leading to the ocean, one of the vampires descended from the trees above. It knocked us both down, sending the cross flying through the air and over the edge of the cliff. The monster then picked up my former rescuer by the lapels of his ratty, torn coat and smiled as it prepared to bite him.

Rather than simply run, which I’ll admit I was tempted too, this time I was able to muster up the courage to try and fight the monster, though fight might be somewhat of an exaggeration. I simply threw myself at the bloodsucker. I obviously didn’t have any fancy moves, and I’m pretty sure that one of my “punches” would have hurt me more than it would it, so I hoped that if I rugby tackled the vampire I’d knock it off its feet. All of the vampires were insanely thin. They almost looked like skeletons, with some of the bones almost poking through the skin and muscle. That didn’t mean they were weak, but hopefully they’d be easy to topple because they were so slight. Sadly my gambit didn’t work and I simply bounced off of the vampire that remained as sturdy as a rock. The monster simply turned round at me and sniggered, but little did he know I’d bought my new friend a few precious seconds to pull out a bottle of holy water from his pocket which he used to splash in the vampires face. The bloodsucker let out a scream that spread throughout the entire forest as he sank to his knees, clutching his smoking face. The other vampires meanwhile had now caught up with us and with nowhere else to run, the vampire hunter grabbed me by my arm again, and pulled me off the edge of the cliff with him. We both fell about 30 feet into the water below.

For the record I can swim. In fact on my travels I’ve swam in some of the most exotic oceans around the world. However the panic and shock I was in from, well everything meant that when I hit the water I flailed around wildly until the vampire hunter pulled me into a nearby cave inside the cliff. There I took refuge on a rock whilst the hunter sprinkled the holy water into the ocean leading into the cave.

“Don’t worry. It’ll affect the water for the next few hours until the sun comes up.” He said as he pulled out another stake.

I meanwhile was so scared I honestly felt like jumping back into the water and just swimming. I didn’t even know where, just anywhere away from here. Wigtown had suddenly dropped in my estimation.

Fortunately however I knew that wouldn’t get me anywhere and after a few minutes I mustered up the courage to talk to the vampire hunter I owed my life too, who was still constantly on the look out.

“I think I know what those things were, but just for confirmation.” I said, trying to sound as cool as possible and not like I wanted to scream to the high heavens.

“They were vampires. Of the Dehona breed. Not common around these parts. They’re here for something big. Me and my friends. We tried to stop them, but it was, well as you can see above. They were feral, desperate. We also underestimated just how many of them there were. It was a massacre.” He said without even looking back at me.”

“Lucy” I suddenly thought to myself. In all the panic I didn’t even think about what could have happened to her, I’m ashamed to admit. I tried to push past the vampire hunter but he stopped me. I tried to explain frantically to him, but he warned me that the vampires might not be away yet. They were tenacious and above all else vindictive, hateful creatures who would never let prey escape from them if they could.

We argued for about five or so minutes before we were interrupted by a hand reaching out of the water which soon pulled the vampire hunter below the waves. I screamed for all the good it did, but within a few seconds the water started to turn red. Soon after the culprit emerged. It was the vampire that had been burned with holy water at the cliff edge. The other vampires were smart enough not to jump into the ocean, knowing the hunter would have come prepared with holy water, but this vamp clearly didn’t care. He was so enraged that he wanted to tear the hunters heart out no mater what. However the pain of the burning holy water was too much even for him and he soon crawled onto the rock next to me. His skin was burnt to a crisp, whilst his hair had almost been completely singed off. One of his eyes even appeared to have melted out of its socket, whilst his nose was nothing but a stump. He also had a stake embedded in his right shoulder, yet in spite of this he still jumped straight onto my rock and tried to bite me. I was told later that human blood can help a vampire of his breed heal from almost any injury, besides a wooden stake through the heart, decapitation and direct sunlight. As he tried to bite me however I managed to twist the stake in his shoulder before pulling it out which made him wince in pain. I then dug my nails into the wound which made him scream. I can’t deny feeling just a twinge of satisfaction at finally turning the tables on the monster and with a further slash to his face from the stake, I sent the undead abomination tumbling back into the water.

He instantly rose back up, his flesh boiling and reached out for me, and before I could get away, he got me in that iron, slimy grip of his, but with my stake I kept slashing and slashing blindly until he eventually sank back beneath the water and swam out of the cave. A few seconds later the hunter emerged from the bloody pool beside me, though I almost stabbed him at first in panic. The vampire had managed to bite him, but the wound wasn’t serious. He assured me that he wouldn’t turn either. In order for this breed of vampire to make someone into one of their one, they had to drain a substantial amount of the victims blood and then force them to drink the vampires blood, which is what happened to his friend above.

Though as I said to him at the time that is what someone who would have been infected would say and the next few hours were rather tense, not just in waiting for any of the vampires to attack, but also for the hunter to potentially change.

He was also waiting for me to constantly try and run out to save my friend too. Though deep down now that I had time to think about it, I hate to say that I wasn’t as eager to go out there and look for Lucy whilst those monsters were running around.

The hunter tried all night to contact other members of his team on his phone, but he either got no response or they were preoccupied. Vampire attacks were happening all over Galloway it seemed. One of the hunters allies, a woman named Sophia was holed up in a resturant a group of the bloodsuckers were trying to tear apart near Stranraer, whilst another was holed up in a cinema.

The hunter who saved me, who spoke in an Irish accent revealed to me that his name was O’Brien and he explained that Scotland was something of a hotspot for demons and vampires. Apparently it was all to do with the Roman empire. Centuries ago, Trajan, the most celebrated of the great Roman emperors led a crusade against vampires and other supernatural creatures to the point where they were forced to flee to the one place in Europe that Rome hadn’t conquered yet. Scotland. The monsters soon built a unified force there that lasted for many centuries, even after the Empire collapsed. O’Brien meanwhile belonged to a organisation founded by Saint Columba. You might know him as that priest who famously fought off the Loch Ness Monster in the old legend? At least that’s all I knew him for before this. Anyway apparently that wasn’t the only monster he fought off. Saint Columba had been sent here from his home in Ireland to try and clean up Scotland’s monster problem. Needless to say despite his skill, Columba knew it would be too much for one person to accomplish and so he set up a secret order known as Scathach, named after the famous warrior woman who had taught him everything he needed to know about the supernatural and had served as his mentor, before she was called back to Scotland and died in battle with the Turok Han. It was her death that motivated Columba to desperately try and save her homeland of Scotland in the first place.

O’Brien also however explained to me that the number of demons from the Galloway and other regions of Scotland had dropped dramatically. Round about the same time these vampires had first arrived. He didn’t know why. Demon and vampire communities were known to fight over resources, namely people and vampires were shunned by many other demon species and communities, being viewed as too evil and corrupt even for them. However this was again an organised massacre of many different demon species, even those who didn’t compete for humans.

In a few hours dawn broke and O’Brien assured me that the vampires would be gone now. This breed like most would die in direct sunlight.

Sadly however the hunter still didn’t let me go. He explained to me that this wasn’t just a random vampire hunt, hence why the monsters had been so bold. These bloodsuckers were preparing something huge and that until they were dealt with, I couldn’t simply go back to my old life. I had been marked by them now. and the monsters didn’t like to leave loose ends. I protested, telling him I could just leave Wigtown, but he told me that he didn’t know how wide this vampire cult’s reach spread, and that there was no guarantee that there weren’t humans secretly in league with them all throughout Galloway.

I soon came to see he was right. I’d only survived because of his knowledge. At the very least there was clearly more I needed to know about these bloodsuckers that were apparently all over Galloway.

After a few more minutes O’Brien was finally able to contact another member of his team. Only three more had survived the vampires rampage last night. Close to 100 civilians meanwhile were butchered. It’s incredible how in spite of this staggering loss of life, people still won’t accept the truth about what is really out there. Not that I am judging. Had I not been caught up right in the middle of it I probably would have bought the official cover story too. O’Brien would assure me that it was for the best that humanity not discover as the way things were now it would be like throwing gasoline on the fire that is humanity’s problems. I’m not sure I quite agree with him, but I’m in no position to change that now anyway. I’m happy to write this journal that no one would believe, but if I were to try and go public, then not only would most still look on me as a crackpot, but O’Brien and others like him would do their best to undermine and silence me, and I’d also be a target for every demon and vamp in Scotland and beyond, all of whom rather like their anonymity. Again though given how bold the vamps were in this attack I do wonder how long this powder keg can go on without exploding.

We soon met up with the three survivors of the attack. Sophia was one of them, whilst the other two were a young man and a woman my age called James and Elizabeth who were in a relationship.

There had been twelve units sent in to deal with the vampire infestation last night, and this was all that was left.

“There were just so many of them. They didn’t even feed, they just slaughtered their victims. Even when they were feral, they knew exactly where to target, what they were doing. This is not just an ordinary vampire hunt. This is part of something huge.” Sophia said she patched up a really nasty vampire bite on her arm.

“Agreed and that’s why I think we need to talk to the Great Caradon.” O’Brien argued.

The others were clearly a little taken a back at his suggestion. None of them were what you would call cowardly, but the thought of going to see this beast put the fear of god into all of them and they soon started arguing. Elizabeth preferred waiting for reinforcements, whilst James felt they needed to question the locals, maybe see if they could find any of the vampires human servants. He figured an operation this big could only work if there were people to shelter the vampires during the daylight hours. At one point he even turned his suspicion towards me just for surviving.

Sophia meanwhile who was clearly the leader of the group didn’t like any of their ideas.

The Great Caradon was a legendary beast that lived below the Castle of Saint John in Stranraer. It was an 80 foot tall shark man. The Caradons from what I was told where a race of magical shark men. They are born using a spell that works in the following ways. An area of water is doused in magic, after which a shark and a person are then placed into the area and the shark will then under the influence of the magic, devour the human, after which their souls will both merge together into one monstrous entity. A Caradon.

Just as there are different species of sharks, then there are multiple different Caradons. The Great Caradon as he is known, was the result of a human, or rather several humans and a Megalodon being merged together. (The Megalodon had been brought back using magic first as they went extinct before humans evolved.)

For centuries the Great Caradon had been a fierce warrior under the ocean who had taken part in the great mermaid wars, but eventually he grew tired of that life and retreated to a massive cave beneath Stranraer, where he now resides in a beautiful garden he created and sustains with magic. There are just two entrances to the garden. One from a cave leading out to the sea, and the other from above, contained in a hatch beneath the castle.

The creature will kill anyone who uses the entrance leading out from the ocean. You are only allowed to enter via the castle. Even then however, you have to bring the shark something or else he will eat you, and even then if he doesn’t like it he will still devour you! If the gift pleases him however he will give you vital information and maybe even some magical power. The shark has no alignment generally and has been known to help both hunters and demons. Though he has a special dislike for vampires, viewing them as the ultimate filth and has never been known to help one.

Naturally O’Brien hoped that with this in mind he might help us against the new and improved vampire horde, but even then Sophia was still unsure as the shark was notoriously difficult to please. About 80 percent of people and demons who had gone to him asking for a favour had never returned. The shark had very eclectic interests. Much like me. Sometimes he would be happy with a film taped off the television. (Though my suggestion of When Harry Met Sally was shot down right away.) Other times he’d eat you for giving him something so common. A lot of hunters and demons had come to the conclusion that he just liked messing with people.

Still his help was always valuable and given the unprecedented vampire attack last night it seemed that we had no choice. Elizabeth’s suggestion of waiting for reinforcements didn’t seem likely as they would have to wait hours for people from the offices in Aviemore and Glasgow to arrive, assuming they weren’t dealing with their own crisis. Sadly the Galloway office had been destroyed by the vamps last night too. Meanwhile even if we did find the vampires human minions there weren’t enough of us here to deal with them.

The question was just what gift to offer the monster? Sophia was dead set on a lubrins demon. These disgusting creatures were a favourite prey of the Caradons that lived in the waters near Scotland. It was really the safest bet. Added to that these creatures, though known to prey on humans, were relatively easy to catch and draw out too. Really it would take about half an hour at the most to draw one out and restrain it.

James and Elizabeth were still unsure, thinking it would be suicide to even consider the great Caradon, but with no other options. (My other suggestion of just running like fuck out of Galloway was also shot down.) Me and O’Brien went to the castle, whilst Sophia and the others went demon hunting. The owner of the castle (which was open to the public.) A man named Harris, knew all too well about the giant shark living in his basement and was also familiar with O’Brien’s little organisation too. The castle had been through about 20 different owners in the last five years. All of whom had foisted it on their successor without telling them about the monster in the basement. To be fair I doubt any potential buyer would have believed them. The Great Caradon isn’t actually that bad a roommate though. He generally just keeps himself to himself, it’s more the demons and the hunters who constantly come barging in, threatening the owner and sometimes even wanting to use him as a sacrifice to the giant shark below that are the problem.

Harris had not dealt with any visitors in a long while, but he was still always prepared for them and knew to step aside when the hunters arrived.

As we waited above the hatch, O’Brien tried to make some small talk with me. Not surprisingly however we didn’t have much in common. I was interested in his job to some extent, but sadly that was the one thing he didn’t really want to talk about, not just because he wasn’t allowed too, but I’d imagine the trauma of seeing so many people be ripped to shreds by those monsters isn’t something he’d be eager to revisit. Having said that though it was incredible how much he and all of the others were just getting on with business after seeing so many people they’d known for years be killed by those things last night. Clearly this was just another day for them.

Eventually the others arrived after half an hour or so of awkwardness, complete with a demon bound and gagged. It was even more disgusting than the vampires. It’s skin was not only slimy, but dripping, whilst its eyes were jet black, and its teeth almost looked too big for its mouth. Its hands meanwhile only had three fingers, all of which were covered in sucker cups whilst its body was also covered in barnacles and a long thin fork like tongue, writhed in between its dagger like teeth.

Sophia assured me not to feel any sympathy for the beast as it had caused quite a fuss a few days ago, when it tried to devour a small child. One of their agents chased it away, but it still managed to take the child’s foot off with that nasty set of teeth. The increase in vampire activity caused the monster to sadly slip the hunters minds until now.

All of the hunters went down the hatch, and I was forced to come as well. Apparently the Great Caradon will not talk to you unless everyone who is there with you comes. That way he can be more sure of who he is giving advice too.

When the shaft opened up there was a large, glowing, yellow light that we just stepped in, and within a few seconds we all found ourselves in what looked like an underground jungle.

The demon tried to wriggle free along the floor whilst we were all still in shock, but it was soon stopped by a horde of Velociraptors that emerged from the trees around us.

They must have stood about six feet tall, were scaly and blue in colour, though their eyes were a piercing red. They soon surrounded all of us. The hunters instantly raised their weapons, but I was completely transfixed on the Dinosaurs.

I definitely should have been scared. Those animals could have torn my guts out and come back for seconds in the blink of an eye. Still I’ve had such a fascination with Dinosaurs since well before I can remember. There’s literally a picture of me dressed in Dinosaur pyjamas when I was just a toddler. To see one in the flesh like this, unlike with the vampires, fear was replaced with wonder and amazement, though granted when the Dinosaurs started to roar and bare their blood stained teeth, I did get a bit scared.

O’Brien later told me these Dinosaurs were not quite as they were in life. Very rarely are resurrection spells able to recreate someone exactly as they were and these Dinosaurs (who the Great Caradon had brought back from their bones using magic) were therefore altered somewhat. This explained why they had no feathers and the raptors were huge. Still they looked realistic enough to me.

We soon saw however that there were other horrors living in the jungle. Several Pterosaurs started to circle us above, and the Raptors began to scatter, though they still remained close by, when a giant frilled lizard came into view. It must have been close to thirty feet long and quick as a flash, its long tongue pulled a Pterosaur into its mouth, which it then swallowed whole in an instant as a normal lizard would a fly.

At this point I was starting to get scared, but fortunately and I can’t believe I am saying this, the Great Caradon soon emerged from the trees behind us.

He was even larger than O’Brien had described. He must have stood over 70 foot easy. He was far bigger than any of the trees around us that is for sure. The Raptors meanwhile ran up to their master, like affectionate puppies. They even started to playfully lick his feet, with the giant shark reaching down and patting the largest member of the pack on the head. Clearly they were his favourite pets in the forest, as the Pterosaurs and the Lizard both just retreated instantly.

Given the close relationship between vampires and Dinosaurs it’s quite surprising that the Great Caradon likes Dinosaurs so much, but I guess he doesn’t hold that against the great reptiles.

The giant Shark man looked down at us for a few seconds. It’s always hard to tell what’s going on behind a shark’s blank, lifeless eyes. Granted normally there isn’t anything going on under there, but after a few agonizing seconds, the shark reached down and picked up the demon that was still trying to wiggle its way across the forest and held it upside down.

“THIS is what your brought me?” The monster said in a booming, but otherwise human sounding voice, before he chewed the demon up in a single bite and swallowed its remains.

“Not bad. I would have preferred it if you’d got me at least three of those things. Normally I’d eat one of you. The most useless member for getting me too little.”

I suddenly started to look scared.

“However I know why you are here. The Children of Khastran are gathering.” (Children of Khastran by the way is a really pretentious name for vampire.)

He then led us through the jungle ahead. At either side of me I could see more Dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures, some of which I didn’t even recognise. I got distracted however by a fight between two male Tyrannosaurus Rex’s tearing into each other near a lake. I almost didn’t realise that the rest of the group were about twenty feet ahead of me until Sophia thankfully noticed and shouted on me.

We soon reached the Great Caradon’s, I guess living quarters which consisted of a massive red and golden chair sitting in front of a glowing purple sphere, which he could apparently watch the world above with.

He sat down on his throne and started to show us footage of the vampires rampage last night on the sphere. The entire team had to watch their failure to protect both the civilians and their team mates from the blood suckers last night, as well as many other attacks they didn’t even know about. I meanwhile saw myself running away and leaving everyone behind in the pub, though fortunately none of the others it seemed judged me. I guess they were all too upset about their own failures or maybe despite only knowing me for a few hours they didn’t expect anything different.

After it was over Sophia was the first to speak.

“I don’t understand why you bothered showing us the horror we already lived through? Is it just some form of torture before you finish us off for not bringing you enough demons to eat?” Sophia snapped. James and Elizabeth meanwhile both looked at her with a combination of disbelief and anger. Hell I felt the same way. For a supposed expert of the occult, she didn’t seem to realise that it’s probably not a good idea to shout at the giant shark god that keeps Dinosaurs as pets! If she was at the end of her tether and not caring anymore, well she could at least not drag us into it.

The shark however thankfully wasn’t angered and stood up from his throne.

“I just wanted to see what you were made of, and I must say that your track record is not impressive.” He said to the hunters, who all meekly accepted it, again except for Sophia.

“Well you know you can’t judge us by just one night, I actually have killed two Turok Hans.” Sophia protested.

The shark responded to her boasts meanwhile by picking Sophia up, which caused the others to lift out their weapons. Even Sophia didn’t back down and reached for her weapon for all the good it would do.

“You have courage. Well most of you.” The shark said in what I’m sure was a little dig at me. I let it go however, which sadly proved his point I suppose, but still.

“I’d prefer someone else like the Circus Family or Professor Fang to deal with this, but since you’re all that’s here. You’ll have to do. You’re all right these vampires are not just killing for the fun of it. Their slaughter last night was part of a wider sacrifice. That’s what all of these killings have been. The slaughter of humans, demons, even animals like that shark that washed up on the beach. It’s all part of a resurrection spell designed to bring a vampire back from the grave.” The shark said as it placed Sophia back down.

“I knew that some vampire species have the power to come back to life, but in our experience when most of them die, they stay dead.” Elizabeth said.

“Whenever a vampire dies its soul is sent to a pocket dimension created by Khastran. The demon that created every single vampire species on earth. There their souls hunt each other for all eternity, dying but constantly coming back within that dimension. It is theoretically possible to bring any vampires soul back from that world, but in order to do so it requires incredible power that is beyond even most witches and warlocks.” The shark replied as he sat back in his chair.

He continued. “This spell is used to bring back one of the most powerful types of vampire. It first requires the souls of several hundred mortals and several hundred demons. They have that now after the last few weeks. All they need is the life of the killer of the vampire they wish to bring back.”

“Well how on earth are we supposed know who that is?” O’Brien asked, before realising that he was perhaps a little too blunt with the shark.

“I suspect the vampire these leeches want to revive is none other than the Blue Devil. The former vampire king of Scotland. He was the only member of his kind. Unlike all other Alpha vampires created from the book of Khastran who sired and spawned other members of their kind. The Blue Devil famously didn’t make any others like him so that no one could ever figure out his weaknesses by killing his lesser eh children.” The shark explained.

He also went on to tell us how the Blue Devil had been a vicious Pict warrior who collected the heads of Roman centurians before being turned into an Alpha and how he had a greater command of dark magics and demons than any sorcerer. He also explained that if the Blue Devil was reborn, the souls of all the people the vampires killed as part of the ritual to bring him back would be sent into the book of Khastran in his place to be hunted by the vampires forever. If push came to shove the shark said he would destroy the Blue Devil himself, but he did not want it to come to that and hoped we could prevent it. Even he it seemed was appalled at the idea of anyone being condemned to the vampires dimension forever.

Finally the shark told us who killed this monster. It was a sorcerer who morally speaking wasn’t much better than the Blue Devil himself. They had both killed each other in a final duel, and so the vampires were planning on reviving her before killing her again to complete the ritual.

Unfortunately however her soul had been placed in an interdimensional prison. Ironically of her own making. This place was a mini hell dimension where the souls of the her enemies were banished. Men, women and even children were imprisoned in this nightmarish dimension. The portal to this mini hell was contained in Glen Luce abbey of all places. The Great Caradon had a spell to access it which he fused to our very bodies. It had taken the vampires over 20 years to try and break into it using all the magics they had. The Caradon warned us that as soon as we broke into the portal, the vampires would follow. (It would take them another day to break in otherwise.) He also warned us not to try and help any of the other spirits in the dimension. By this stage most of them will have gone crazy after exposure to the black magics of the place for centuries. On top of that, if too many spirits were freed at once, the dimension would try and stop them from leaving.

It wasn’t the most enviable task I’d been given I’ll admit, but we evidently had no choice, and after giving us the spell, the Shark warned us that if we failed he might just eat us before the vampires could.

Once he was done explaining, the shark whisked us back to the castle. I honestly wondered if I’d just dreamed what I’d seen. Hell I still wonder it, but with no time to waste I was soon forced into a car along with the other hunters and taken to Glen Luce Abbey. I’d always found the place a bit unsettling to tell you the truth even on my previous visits. The gateway was in a hall in the abbey that always had an echoing sound to it. We simply entered the hall and when we came out the other end we where in a dark, twisted, nightmarish version of Galloway.

The woods were dark, withered, the sky was red and there were howls and screams in the air. As we walked through the woods we saw ghosts and spirits wandering around aimlessly. Some of them were just children and there was a temptation to try and help them, but I heeded the sharks words and they all failed to notice us. To be honest I don’t think any of them knew what was in front of them either way. As we made our way deeper into the woods of this nightmarish caricature of Galloway however, we started to notice the ghosts getting more agitated. It was the vampires who had arrived in the hell dimension thanks to our actions, as by entering we had finally broken down the last of the barriers for just a few minutes which allowed the vampires, who were trying to break in from another area to instantly be pulled in too.

The vampires very presence was enough to disrupt the hell dimension. Vampires were made from the very darkest power from Khastran, the former god of all demons and it conflicted with the magic used to contain that reality, due to its creators hatred of vampires.

The ghosts all started to become crazed and attacked each other, and whilst they still didn’t seem to pay much attention to us. (Even as they were phasing through us in their panic.) One of them did eventually reach out and somehow manage to bite James. I don’t know how a ghost can bite with no teeth, but apparently there is some metaphysical explanation behind it all? Anyway, Sophia soon told us to scale the nearest tree. I’d climbed a few trees as a little girl, but I still needed some help from Elizabeth to get to the top of this one because it was absolutely disgusting to touch. It looked dry, but was actually quite slimy when you put your fingers on it and if you held onto the bark long enough then horrible little insects would start to appear over your fingers. When you got to the top among the bare branches meanwhile large featherless birds with human or should I say demon faces would start attacking you. I was useless in holding them off, but Elizabeth and James had plenty of demon repellents with them.

Below meanwhile I could see the vampires in the distance slaughtering their way through the ghosts. The vamps had knives made from the claws of another race of demons called vandals. James filled me in that apparently vandals are the sworn archenemies of vampires and that they feed on their victims souls rather than their blood using their claws. The vampires were actually capable of harming and even killing ghosts on their own. Again by harnessing the dark power inherent in all vampires from Khastran, they could easily destroy a persons soul. This however was a lot quicker and the monsters sliced and diced their way through dozens of angry spirits no problem.

Little did the vampires know they were actually performing an act of kindness by freeing these ghosts from their torment, though a few of the bloodsuckers had overpowered a spirit and were torturing it with the vandals claw for information about where the witch’s ghost was. I can’t imagine though it would have made any difference for the ghost whose entire existence in this place is nothing but torture.

As the vampires continued to hack their way through the barrage of ghosts, I suddenly noticed the lake in the distance beginning to rumble. It was completely black, in fact it looked more like mud than water so it was hard to tell, but soon it became obvious as the water started to bubble furiously. I thought there was maybe a lake monster or something in it. After all O’Brien had mentioned Nessie earlier. However it soon turned out that the lake itself was the monster.

The entire lake soon rose up into the air and formed into a massive demonic face which let out a hideous cackle before sweeping its way across the forest. Our trees stood above the water so we were safe, though only just.

The vampires meanwhile were instantly swept away, with the water slowly burning them until they were nothing but dust. All of the ghosts were also swept up in the water too. I could see them very clearly through the black water as it flowed all around the tiny tree top I was on. They were all reduced to nothing but skeletons, though they didn’t vanish completely like the vampires and they were still able to move and in some cases still desperately tried to swim to safety. Those who managed to poke their hands and heads above the surfaces’ flesh was restored, though only on the parts above the water, which melted off again when they were dragged back down with the current.

Thankfully in a few minutes the water retreated back to the lake, whilst all of the skeleton ghosts fell to the earth and slowly began to regenerate their flesh. Unlike the vampires who the water beast wanted to destroy instantly, clearly the ghosts had been through this unimaginable agony thousands of times before. I wanted to help, I still do, but sadly there was nothing any of us could do. At least for now. According to O’Brien the team at Scathach are constantly trying to find a way to bring an end to not only this mini hell dimension, but sadly the many others that are scattered around Scotland, but with so many other distractions. Their efforts haven’t been quite as successful as they’d hoped.

After a few more minutes to make sure that there were no vampire survivors, we all crawled down from our trees and continued to search the forest. Mindful to keep away from any large body of water.

We reached the witch’s prison. She was locked in a cage, so small she could barely move that was contained within a cave at the edge of the forest. As she would later tell us, she was trapped in here for centuries, barely able to move, with the souls of all the other people trapped in here coming in once a day to spit on her. (In what was ironically their only reprieve from the horrors of this place.

Her jailer was a large, red skinned demon with small tentacles covering its head and no other facial features. It did however have a massive eye in its chest, whilst its arms and legs had no joints and could move in every direction. Instead of hands it also had two massive suction cups.

The monster started to attack us the second we got within the cave. Elizabeth learned the hard way what those suction cups were for when the monster used them to strip two large sections of skin from her arms. I nearly puked at the sight of it, but soon the monsters eye caught me in a large beam of light. It kept me completely frozen and in a state of pain so severe that I was completely knocked out, and when I came too a few minutes later I saw that my companions had dealt with the monster. At least that’s what it looked like. They were covered in red goop, and bits of the demon were splattered all over the cave. I think it’s safe to assume that it wasn’t suicide.

The witch we had come here for meanwhile was surprisingly calm, in spite of having endured centuries of torture. She didn’t say a single word to us, but happily went along with us nonetheless.

As soon as we got out of the cave however, all of the ghosts, (whose flesh was still regrowing.) Walked towards us slowly, as did several other demons like those in the cave. More demon birds also began to circle above, and even the monstrous Lake was beginning to rise again.

As I faced certain death all I could think was how on earth did I get into this situation? Just last night I was going for a drink with Lucy and now I was in a literal hell? I honestly just gave up and waited for the monsters to kill me, but this time time the witch incased us all in some kind of magical bubble which then elevated us above the dying jungle. It then flew us across the forest in a matter of a seconds and through another swirling portal that was surrounded by a circle of large stones. She warned us it would hurt and oh dear god!

Every single part of my body, even my eyebrows were in constant pain. When we finally came through the other side we landed in a small dirty little chasm that went on and on for ages. The witch then imprisoned us in the very same bubble she had used to pull us out of that hell dimension.

“Not that I’m not grateful for rescuing me from that torture, but forgive me for being a little suspicious. Nobody would ever want to rescue me out of the goodness of their hearts as I’m not a very nice person. I am however extremely powerful and foolish people who don’t know I’m not a very nice person have thought I’d help them if they helped me.” The witch said.

“Believe me, under normal circumstances we’d be happy to let you rot in the very hell you created. However as it is, we need to protect you. The vampires who I trust you must have sensed when they entered are looking to resurrect you, so that they can kill you and complete their ritual to bring back the Blue Devil. ” Sophia said back to the vile spectre.

The witch instantly released us from the sphere.

“Nothing unites people better than hatred. For now we’re allies.” The witch replied.

I was surprised she believed us so quickly and I even asked her why she did.

“I know vampires. Most of them are just degenerate bloodsucking monsters, happy to maim, torture and kill for their own amusement. The fact that some of them were able to enter my hell dimension however shows that they must all be working together on something big. You don’t access that place easily. The Blue Devil and his servants were always a cut above the average little blood rat.” She replied.

“I know we had to go to that big shark man to get in.” I replied.

“The Great Devourer? I’m shocked he didn’t eat you. He must have gone soft in all the years I was locked up.” The witch replied.

I almost laughed at her idea of him going soft, but looking back on it now there are worst things for a giant shark man to do than potter about in his garden.

After some more discussion about how we were going to help the witch, we made our way through the long cavern ahead. Suddenly however Sophia stopped us in our tracks. She could sense it. Ever since it almost swept her away to the netherworld on a previous mission, and just a few seconds later we could all hear its engine roaring. It was the Ghost Train of Old Galloway.

I’d heard stories about it, I think everyone in the region had. One time I even overheard some children playing a game of Ghost Train. Obviously I never thought it could be real, but after fighting vampires, well running away from them and talking to a shark man I should have been prepared for anything.

As Sophia later explained to me. The Ghost Train was a result of the witches mini hell dimension, albeit unintentionally. It created a great spiritual upheaval in the local area, hence why ghost sightings in general are a lot higher here. Fortunately most of the time they were harmless. The ghosts would be dragged into our reality for a short while where they would be dazed and disoriented only to vanish back into the netherworld again. The Ghost Train however was a special case. Due to being a large concentration of spirits, it was capable of dragging still living people back with it. At the same time the Train did not come from the Netherworld, which was the natural resting place of all natural beings like humanity. Over the centuries numerous, witches, gods and even demons had found a way to channel souls into their own pocked dimensions or in the demons cases, their home realities (leading to different myths and legends of the afterlife.) Evidently the Ghost Train for whatever reason was sent to one of these pocket dimensions. No one knows exactly where. Apparently Sophia and her team of people have been trying to exorcise it for years now, but the Train pops up at random and is here for such a short time that no one can ever find it for too long. Given we were near an open portal to the witch’s hell it made sense that it would arrive here.

It wasn’t even running on any tracks it was just blindly driving its way towards us through the cavern. There was no way we could have outrun it and for the first time Sophia, Elizabeth, James and O’Brien actually looked helpless. None of them feared death. Even when going up against the vampires. Clearly wherever this Ghost Train was going to take them, it was worse than death.

Fortunately however the witch who having no idea about the train’s history, but sensing the dark power from the ghostly apparition whisked us high above cliffs and the cavern as it sped past us and eventually faded into thin air.

We soon saw from above that we had arrived on a small island. Apparently this had been the witches own personal island when she was alive and it was where she built the pocket dimension in the first place. She said it was concealed from the rest of Scotland by a magical fog. Indeed the fog was so thick it looked like night time as the entire sky was completely black above. Fortunately however she had a boat that could take us all away from it. She lowered us back down into the cavern however telling us she was using almost all of her power just to manifest and not fall back into her own hell and that she wouldn’t be able to even life us up in the air again like that.

After about half an hour walking through that cavern we reached a beach on the other side, where there was a single old fashioned boat washed up. The beach was also covered in the corpses of sea creatures, including octopuses, and small sharks.

As we made our way to the boat however, several large, hideous creatures began to emerge from the ocean around the boat. They all must have stood about eight feet tall and were covered in slime and sea weed. They had a vaguely humanoid shape, though it was hard to tell under the green slime. The only facial features I could make out were two large black eyes.

The witch stood before the creatures calmly and said.

“Do no worry my children, these people are with me. They may leave this island and.” Before she could even finish, one of the monsters grabbed her in its stumpy, slimy hand and soon absorbed her into its grotesque body.

We all backed away a little bit from the monsters as they plodded towards us, until I suddenly felt something biting down on my foot. I screamed and pulled away only to see one of the dead sharks had taken a chunk out of me! It couldn’t have been any longer than about three feet. Its skin was so decaying it had turned completely white, its guts had already been torn out by either whatever had killed it in the ocean or a scavenger and yet it moved, or rather wriggled along its side very slowly, but determined to take another chunk out of my foot.

As I looked around the beach I could see all of the other corpses had started to move, or at least squirm. Whilst I was distracted by the horrifying spectacle before me, a zombie octopus’ tentacle wrapped itself around my foot and sent me head first into that filthy sand. Dozens of other monsters then started to crawl their way towards me. Crabs, small sharks, and a jelly fish like creature, all decaying, all squirming. I tried to get back up, but the octopus wrapped another tentacle around my throat and pinned me to the beach. I tried to pull free, but its strength was immense. A few more sharks started to nip at my arms and feet, whilst the crabs crawled over my face. One of the crabs tried to stick its claw down my throat and rip my tongue out, but I manage to wrestle one arm free from the Sharks and pulled it off, though the little bastard then grabbed onto my thumb and very nearly pulled it off instead. I thought I was done for when I saw a much larger zombie shark, it must have been about five feet long slide along the beach on its belly towards my throat. It could easily have taken my head clean off with those chompers, but Sophia saved me by impaling the octopus holding me down through the head with a silver knife. I jumped up, with some of the crabs and smaller sharks still holding onto my legs and arms. I pulled them all off, though in the process the little bastards took whatever it was they were holding with them. At least I didn’t lose any fingers or toes, but it hurt like hell. Well maybe not quite as much as the portal to that actual hell dimension, but it was a lot more disgusting.

The rest of the gang meanwhile had their hands full with the slime monsters. They were throwing all the weapons they had at them, silver knives, wooden stakes, but none of it was working. In fact as soon as one of their weapons touched one of the monsters, it was sucked into it, just like the witch had been. Those monsters were like black holes that would just consume everything they touched. I got to test that theory when one of the abominations zeroed in on me. I call out for help, but sadly none of the rest of the team were able to respond. They were all doing their best to not be absorbed by those monsters themselves. With no other choice I picked the large shark that just a minute or so earlier looked set to take my head off with both hands and I threw it into the slime beast. Unlike the witch, the shark didn’t go down so easily. It appeared to swim about inside the slime monster and even poked its head back through and clamped its jaws around the Demons head, before finally disappearing into the larger abomination. Whilst I was distracted by the spectacle another smaller shark clamped its jaws around my foot. I pulled him off, losing a chunk of my foot in the process, though when I held him up by his tail, he swung back round and bit my arm again. I was only too happy to throw the little bastard into the monster after that.

Unfortunately as I tried to throw more zombies in, they seemingly got wise to my idea and started to flee. In desperation I tried to run to the boat, but three more of the slime beasts came crawling out of the water in front of me.

Just as all hope seemed lost the witch suddenly crawled her way back out of the monster that had consumed her. She had managed to absorb parts of the creature into herself, creating a temporary, but extremely frail body. That wasn’t her plan all along. These monsters as she later explained, belonged to a group of ocean dwelling demons, who were normally her servants. She used them and the zombies on the beach to guard her island and prevent any souls from escaping her hell. However she had been trapped in that dimension for so long, the beasts now had difficulty telling her apart from any random prisoner.

Still she had at least turned the tables on the monster that ate her and drained it of its life force, leaving it nothing more than a puddle of green sludge on the beach.

With her new, squishy body that allowed her to use more of her powers for a short while, she blasted her way through the demons and led us to her ship which soon made its way through the fog. Outside the fog it was still bright daylight outside and the ocean looked rather lovely. Though I kept expecting some kind of giant shark or serpent monster to come leaping out and try and eat us.

When I looked back to see the island it was gone. It was obviously part of the spell. The witch said that no one she didn’t want could enter the island, though apparently the spell wasn’t full proof, and sometimes ships would inadvertently pass through the forcefield and end up on that godforsaken monster beach. I can only shudder to think of the poor sailors who stumbled into that hell hole unaware

The witch meanwhile spent the whole journey trying to keep her new body together. For the most part she looked normal, but her skin started dripping in certain places.

“This is only temporary. When we get back to my castle I’ll have a new body in.” Before she could finish Sophia slapped cuffs around her, which bore a strange symbol, that was designed to hold ghosts and would keep her trapped in her body. Fortunately for us, as a spectre she didn’t have enough power to break them.

“What treachery is this.” The witch said, yelling so loudly that he whole neck began to sack until she put it back into place.

“This is to make sure that you don’t go off half cocked trying to take down the Blue Devil’s minions. We don’t know how many of them there are or how powerful they are.” O’Brien explained.

“I can reach my castle in no time. At full power I could blast those puny bloodsuckers away to nothing.” The witch protested.

“Well last time you lost. Badly to them. Hence why they pushed you back to that godforsaken island. Besides we don’t like you anyway.” O’Brien said before walking away.

The witch stopped the boat in its tracks as it had been powered by a spell of hers, but fortunately Sophia, O’Brien and the others did not back down and after a few minutes the witch gave in and started the boat up again. She simply had no choice and the longer she waited her in an unstable body, the bigger the danger that it would collapse, and she was barely struggling to keep her spirit without a body from falling back into that hell. She gave in to their demands for now, but was adamant that she would easily escape from them soon.

Eventually we reached Port Patrick. The Scathach organisation always had a special room reserved in the hotel overlooking the bay. We could use it until their reinforcements arrived. I loved Port Patrick personally, but sadly I was given the task of babysitting the witch. Sophia, rightfully felt the vampires would be able to track the witches presence and would be here soon. Fortunately the room, at least Sophia assured me was warded against vampires. The entire grounds of the hotel were in fact. Still that didn’t mean that the vampires wouldn’t try and cause havoc in Port Patrick to draw us out and Sophia wanted to be ready for them.

Unfortunately however the vampires sent one of their strongest minions to attack Port Patrick. A white wolvron. This beast was the offspring of two werewolves, born when the female was in wolf form. They looked like nine foot tall bipedal wolves with snow white fur and a more twisted, demonic, but still human face, though they were completely devoid of any humanity in terms of personality. They were savage, vicious animals who killed without reason. According to Sophia, they were also still capable of taking a kind of perverse pleasure in torturing their victims and they were also fiercely loyal to vampires. Contrary to what many of us have been told in the media. Vampires and werewolves are not sworn enemies. In fact ironically werewolves are among the few species that vampires don’t instantly view as as trash or food.

This is because the creator of the werewolf race, was a loyal follower of Khastran, the father of the vampires, creating a bond between them. Whilst some werewolves who retain their humanity do have a problem working with vampires, because you know they’re homicidal bastards. Wolvrons who have no humanity at all make the perfect pets and foot soldiers for vamps.

I was lucky enough to be spared an encounter with the wolvron at least at first. The vamps let it loose in Port Patrick, in another display of how bold they were becoming. O’Brien and Sophia instantly rushed down to the village to try and help, whilst James and Elizabeth searched any nearby areas for vampires.

Sophia told me that going in, they knew they couldn’t prevent any casualties. The best these two professional monster hunters could hope for would be be to try and distract the wolf demon and lure it away from the village. They certainly couldn’t kill it. Only decapitation or fire could destroy a wolvron, and it would take a lot of fire to do that, whilst their flesh could only be pierced with a weapon made of silver, or the claws of the strongest earthly demons.

The wolvron had already killed about six people before the two hunters arrived. Every time the mass of fleeing people tried to escape one way, the wolf would descend and chase them back the way they came. Sadly when Sophia and O’Brien arrived, it didn’t make much difference. Even though they only had silver bullets, the monster was a lot faster than its 900 pound body would suggest and they weren’t able to land a hit on it. The monster enjoyed toying with them and all of its victims by swooping down and picking them off slowly. The first two it killed in front of Sophia and O’Brien were a young couple. It stabbed its clawed hands through their spines, breaking them in half, and then lifted their corpses up and used them as shields to protect itself from Sophie and O’Brien’s barrage of bullets, before fleeing. Less than a minute later the monsters next victim was an old man that had struggled to try and get into a nearby cafe through the crowd, hoping he’d be safe indoors. The wolf however grabbed him from above just as he reached the entrance and took him to the top of the cafe where it ripped him apart in front of the whole village, before throwing several pieces into the panicing crowd, all of which it did whilst easily dodging its enemies bullets. It’s next victim meanwhile, a young woman who was closer to the bay, it jumped over 70 feet towards and clamped its jaws around her entire head which it then crushed it to pulp. It then landed on a crowd of young teenagers, about five or so of them who it completely tore to pieces. Arms and legs and other body parts just flew into the crowd and the hunters before the beast again seemingly vanished into the sky.

O’Brien and Sophia stayed close together. I mean really close together, like back to back as the monster continued to toy with them. Sadly however the beast still managed to catch them unaware and knock both monster busters to the ground. Fortunately however, O’Brien who had held onto his gun was able to fire six rounds of silver bullets into the wolvron’s chest as it lunged towards him. It didn’t kill the monster, but it was enough to make it shriek in pain and stop for a few seconds, after which Sophia shot another five or so rounds into the beast. Not used to pain of any kind, the wolf monster fled, but just before it did, it grabbed hold of a civilian named Jonathan. Holding him up as a shield to the hunters who held their fire, the monster then ran its claws down his chest before seemingly vanishing.

Unfortunately as soon as she was sure the wolf was gone for good this time, Sophia shot Jonathan in the head. Those who white wolvrons bite or scratch transform into dark wolvrons themselves, though those who are created via infection are always less powerful than those who are born wolvrons. Furthermore, those who are created by infection can only transform others into dark wolvrons who are smaller and considerably less powerful.

Still either way there was no cure for this strain of the poison of lycanthropy, and unlike other breeds of werewolf, when a person becomes a wolvron they remained the wolf all the time. Jonathan would have died anyway and Sophia couldn’t take any chances. Like many demonic infections, including vampirism. The curse of Lycanthropy can be unpredictable in how long it takes to infect the victim. Sometimes it can be days (though its always within a week.) Other times it can be hours, and sometimes there have been cases of people changing within only a few minutes. Sophia couldn’t let any more of these creatures loose in Port Patrick. Sadly however and not surprisingly, the rest of the locals who witnessed the gruesome sight didn’t see it that way and they instantly surrounded both Sophia and O’Brien. Since their explanation probably wouldn’t have been believed, even with what they saw. O’Brien fired his guns into the sky scattering the crowd. Unfortunately however they couldn’t make it back to the hotel as the police soon cut them off and with nowhere else to go, Sophia and O’Brien were forced to jump into the harbour and swim to safety.

This had been part of the vampires plan however. They had ordered their dog to not only attack a crowded area to draw any hunters out, but to infect someone, knowing that even if the wolf didn’t get all of the hunters, the survivors would be forced to kill the infected in public. Whilst the bloodsuckers may have been acting more boldly than ever before, at the same they hadn’t lost any of their craftiness either.

Meanwhile back in the hotel I did my best to try and strike up a conversation with my captive. Though to be honest in a way we were both captives.

I tried to amaze the witch with examples of modern technology but A/ she knew about them, as ironically some of the demons who had been torturing her for years had enjoyed them. (With one of her demon captors being a big fan of the tv show Gladiators in particular.)

Still I was at least able to find out the witch’s name. It was Higressa. I was also able to find out a tiny bit about her past and what made her tick. To be honest I think she just wanted to rant about all the injustices she felt she had suffered. I’m not saying that being locked up in a hell dimension for hundreds of years isn’t a horrible thing to happen to anyone, but let’s just say she pushed the limits of my sympathy.

It was quite fascinating in a way how she talked about how slaughtering people the same way I would about what I had for breakfast, whilst even the slightest thing that happened to her was told with such unbelievable self pity.

Apparently she was once the Roman empire’s leading expert on black magic, and had even helped design weapons used in the Trajan wars. She was also responsible for casting one of the blackest spells over Scotland as a revenge for it resisting Roman rule. Her spell was so strong that it very nearly dragged the country into a hell dimension.

This action horrified the Emperor Hadrian, who had succeeded Trajan and who had made a concentrated effort to conquer Scotland, not just for the good of the empire, but to take care of the supernatural creatures who had made it their home. Higressa’s actions were designed to take us and the demons out completely in one blast. I guess however she overestimated her sway over the Emperor and the fact that she had committed this war crime, and failed to eliminate Rome’s enemies at the same time, (either Scots or demons) just made the members of the senate who had secretly backed her betray the witch.

She was ironically forced to flee to Scotland to escape. She lost everything. Her family, her coven, who she was forced to abandon, or who betrayed her. She had genuinely believed in the Empire for all of her then 300 year old life and to be cast out from it and erased from its official history was the hardest blow of all. Even more than the torture she endured in that prison. At least that’s what she told me.

It amused me no end the way she kept talking about how if only her spell had worked and Scotland, MY country had been reduced to an uninhabitable rock, then it wouldn’t have gone so badly! I almost felt like shouting to the vampires “she’s here, promise you’ll hurt her real bad.”

In the end she was able to create the nightmarish hell dimension we found her in from the excess dark magic left behind from her weapon, which just made her imprisonment there all the more fitting. Still from what I would later experience about the monster whose minions trapped her spirit in her own hell, the Blue Devil, incredible as it may have seemed, she really was the lesser of two evils!

I’d get an unpleasant reminder of how awful the monsters we were protecting her from were soon when one of them came crashing through our window. It was a totally different type than the ones who had chased me earlier. It had grey, rotting skin, long hair, crooked fangs and black sockets where its eyes should have been. Despite you know not having any eyes it could see us very well, and charged for us. Unfortunately Higressa couldn’t use her magics to fight it off, as they were all being used to hold her together. Instead, she pushed me into the vampires arms and ran like hell out of the room. And to think I let her moan on for ages about how hard it was that she failed to carry out a genocide of my people?

The vampire however luckily for me just tossed me aside and went after its main target. It took me a few seconds to work up the courage to follow it and even when I did I hoped that it would be so fast I wouldn’t be able to catch up to it. At least this way I wouldn’t look as cowardly as I actually was I thought.

I picked up a stake (I wasn’t even sure if that was lethal to this breed) as well as a gun loaded with silver bullets, that had crosses carved into them, and headed out down the hallway. Surprisingly no one else had been alerted from their rooms by the noise, though downstairs I soon heard some screaming as the melting woman and the vampire pushed past people in the lobby.

When I got outside however I could see the vampire and the witch facing each other. Her body was already beginning to break off into bits of slime on the floor, but the vampire at least seemed to tread more carefully in case she had any more tricks left. In a few seconds however a prehistoric, flying reptile, like a Pteranodon suddenly swooped down and grabbed Hegressa in its talons. Its wingspan must have been over forty feet and its skin was bright green and scaly, again signs that it must have been brought back with crude magics as real Pterosaurs were furry and in Pteranodon’s case a lot smaller!

The animal picked Hegressa up as though were a child, but the flesh she had made from the Demon’s slime soon dripped through the flying reptiles claws, until eventually her entire body melted into nothing more than a huge, really, really disgusting puddle of slime on the floor.

However the Pterosaur, somehow still held onto her spirit with its claws. She tried to pull free as best she could, but the winged horrors grip appeared to be too strong and it flew away with her over Port Patrick.

The vampire meanwhile turned his attention towards me. I shot him twice in the chest, but it did nothing. Thinking quickly I ran to the beach as I didn’t want to drag him back to the hotel where innocent people could be caught in the crossfire. (So much for the hotel being vampire proof.)

On the beach below however I saw a young family, who had retreated to escape the commotion with the wolvron above. The vampire naturally seemed to pay more attention to them, roaring and slabbering in their direction, so this time I shot him in the kneecaps. He collapsed to the floor in pain at least right in front of the cliff we had both just climbed down. It was then I got an idea. I needed to at least try and get this stake through his heart as it was the only real weapon I had, but obviously there was no way I could overpower him, so I decided to shoot at the rocks on the cliff behind, whilst he was on his knees.

The blasts from the gun were strong enough to create huge boulders which after enough shots buried the vampire and trapped him. It wouldn’t hold the demon for long, so I took my chance and rammed the stake into his chest whilst he was down. Sadly it wasn’t as easy as they make it out in the movies. I had to hit it several times with the butt of my gun and eventually one of the heaviest of the boulders I could lift. I managed to hammer it through his heart just as he had pushed the largest boulder away from his right arm.

Fortunately this was lethal to this breed of vampire unlike the silver bullets and he soon crumbled into a tiny pile of ash on the floor.

The family were in complete shock, and I didn’t bother to explain it to them. Who knows maybe they’d have been open minded and would have become among the greatest vampire killers of all time if I’d shared the truth, but in hindsight I think it was probably better to get the hell out of there.

I crawled back up the cliff and ran into the hotel. I couldn’t believe I’d actually taken the life of something. Even a vampire. Just before it crumbled to dust there was a look on its face, as though for a moment I could get a glimpse of the person it had been when it was a human. The line between the human they once were and the demon they have become can get blurry depending on the breed, at least according to O’Brien. Maybe in that moment the man came alive one last time as the beast lost its control. I don’t know, but that look will stay with me. Somewhat disturbingly I’ve already found it gets easier to take a life. Since then I’ve killed another four vampires and I’ve never experienced anything like the first one. Hell I even made a little joke after the fourth staking. I don’t have any regrets over my actions though. Had I not staked that monster he would have killed me and the family and god knows who else for fun. I just hope that I’m not too quick to jump in there with a stake in future, given how easy I apparently find it.

I waited in the hotel for the next 20 minutes or so trying to contact any of the team. It was absolute chaos down in Port Patrick as the authorities struggled to keep everybody in line. James and Elizabeth were the first to respond to me. Whilst they hadn’t found any vampires, they’d had a run in with another Pterosaur. A red, from the sound of things Rhamphoryincus that was similarly oversized. They had not only managed to shoot it, but tossed its corpse into the sea. A pity as I would have liked to have seen it, but still I told them that the hotel wasn’t safe. They later told me, based on my description, that the vampire that had entered the hotel came from a fairly rare breed that prior to today had last been seen in Scotland over 100 years ago. It like the others had arrived here to help the Blue Devil’s resurrection. Sadly due to its rarity, they hadn’t been able to gather data on what magics could harm it, allowing the bloodsucker to slip through their defences.

James and Elizabeth naturally didn’t want to take anymore chances and they met up with me outside of Port Patrick, making sure I brought plenty of weapons from the hotel first. All the while they continued to try to contact O’Brien and Sophia, who eventually did respond, after they’d both managed to swim to safety and settled back in Glenluse.

When we met up, Sophia revealed that one of the bullets she shot into the wolvron had come equipped with magics that could allow them to track it. She always kept one of them in her rounds in case her gun didn’t work.

The wolvron had retreated back to Morton Castle presumably with its vampire masters. With no other choice, we were forced to steal a car, as it was too long on foot and time was of the essence. To be clear I didn’t hotwire the car in case they ever figure out who did it! O’Brien promised that he would pay back whoever’s car it was.

Anyway once we reached Morton Castle, the vampires who could go out in the daylight soon emerged to confront us. This breed were hideous, green skinned, bat like creatures. According to O’Brien they were common in Norway, but almost unheard of in Scotland. Vampires from all over the world really were coming to witness the Blue Devil’s resurrection. They ended up being the least of our problems however as a giant Dinosaur soon emerged from the lake by castle Morton.

It didn’t look like any Dinosaur I’d ever seen, either in a museum or in the Great Caradon’s garden.

For one thing it was bigger. It was over 70 feet tall and stood completely erect, like a Kangeroo and dragged its tail along the ground. Its skin meanwhile was chalk white, whilst its eyes were bright red. Its roar on the other hand sounded almost a snake hissing and a bird screeching at the same time! I’d later learn that this monster was known as a Vyrkosaurus Rex “undead lizard king.” It was a Tyrannosaurus that had been brought back via magics, but deliberately tampered with to be larger and more powerful. Vampires revered and worshipped the Tyrannosaurus Rex most of all. To be fair we all do. I know it’s the most boring and predictable answer you could give, but they’ve always been my favourite Dinosaur. Still in the vampires case it was because Khastran, the Demon who created all vampire species was possessing the body of a Tyrannosaurus Rex when he did so.

The magic used to create the Vyrkosaurus however was unstable and dangerous, even for vampires and so these creatures were very rare. Again it said a lot about how much the vampires looked up to the Blue Devil that a Vyrkosaurus was here. It had been brought by a vampire king of a region in South America who had used the Vyrkosaurus to stamp out opposition for decades. He had also been the owner of the two Pterosaurs that had attacked Port Patrick.

Despite the fact that we were literally ants to the undead reptile it still went for us above all else. Vyrkosaurs are completely and utterly loyal to their vampire masters after all.

With one swing of its enormous tail, the Dinosaur sent our little car flying through the air before O’Brien could reverse. The Dinosaur didn’t even do us the courtesy of trying to eat us. Instead it simply placed its giant foot on top of our car and slowly started to crush it while we were inside.

As I struggled to crawl free from the roof of the car coming down on me I could hear those hideous bat like creatures cackling in the background.

Help however soon came in the form of the Great Caradon himself, who burst out of the ground from under the Dinosaur, knocking it off balance, though thankfully not on top of us.

The giant shark man had been monitoring our progress for some time and had hoped he wouldn’t have to interfere, but evidently he didn’t have too much faith in us to escape from that sticky situation it would seem. Not that I had a problem with that.

The shark man picked our car up, ripped it open and gave us a quick scolding for being useless before telling us to stop the resurrection which was almost complete.

He also gave us help in the form of twelve of his Raptors who emerged from the hole in the ground he had come through. The Dinosaurs instantly started to attack the vampires.

Meanwhile the Vyrkosaurus started to engage the Great Caradon in a truly brutal fight. The shark man seemed to have the upper hand at first, tripping the Dinosaur up and delivering a flurry of punches to its stomach, but the giant reptile was seemingly able to shrug off the shark man’s attacks and delivered a devastating kick to the Caradon’s chest which sent him flying about 50 feet into the lake. It was obvious who was stronger between them, but we didn’t have time to worry about the Great Caradon now as ungrateful as that may have sounded.

We made our way into the castle with six of the Raptors, as the others were too busy fighting off the vampires, though as more vampires of numerous different breeds descended on us, five of the Raptors were soon distracted battling the bloodsuckers ,leaving us with just one of the Dinosaurs before we even reached the second floor.

As soon as we made our way to the next level of the castle we were set upon by a hideous white skinned, red eyed vampire, that I am told is known as the Nosferatu breed. One bite from these creatures and you are placed under their thrall for good. Fortunately however, James took care of it with a splash of holy water, which caused the bloodsucker to retreat, though before it could, the Raptor pounced on the vampire, causing both to go tumbling backwards down the stairs.

Before we could help the Raptor however, several more vampires emerged from down the hall and surrounded us. They all belonged to different breeds. One had no eyes, yellowish, orange skin, wore no clothes and had a mouth full of razor sharp teeth too big to fit in its mouth. Incredibly enough, it wasn’t even the most repulsive looking one there! Another was bloated, had green slimy, dripping skin, three black eyes like a shark on its forehead, another three that were yellow with a red pupil each, on its stomach and four arms. When I say it was bloated I don’t mean he was overweight. I’d never be that judgemental, just to be clear. I mean that literally every single part of his body, from his fingers to his nose, to his stomach, to his teeth were about three times the size of a normal person. It wasn’t simply that the creature was giant either. It honestly looked swollen and puffy. Another vampire meanwhile walked on all fours, with a row of spikes down its back and a long, serpentine neck, which the spikes also ran down, with a small oval shaped head and a tuft of yellow hair at the back, two yellow eyes with no pupil, and long, almost silver teeth, fixed into a permanent hideous grin.

Finally the largest there, that appeared to be in charge stood over 7 feet tall and had an incredibly muscular body that was covered in what looked like hair. (In actual fact it was feathers.) Whilst his hands looked more like the talons of a bird of prey, whilst his face was scaly like a reptile, though he had no lips, whilst his long fangs retracted from an otherwise toothless mouth that slabbered constantly.

I think it’s safe to say that these types of vampire didn’t ever recruit willing people. Sophia was the first to defend herself, throwing a strange chemical over the feathered vampire that made his skin boil.

Meanwhile James and Elizabeth tried to attack the others with stakes, whilst O’Brien held off the serpent vampire with a silver sword.

I quite naturally stood on the sides. I’d have just made things worse had I jumped in, though I did at least provide a distraction of sorts when the serpent necked vampire knocked the sword out of O’Brien’s hands. I tried to tackle it like I had done to the vampire near Wigtown, but he was too fast for me and managed to wrap his neck around me like a snake. Up above I could see him open his jaws, wider than my entire head, but luckily O’Brien seized his chance and sliced straight through the vampires neck.

He then asked me if I had been bit and made it very clear that it that thing had sunk its teeth into me he would have killed me straight away, as that breed spreads vampirism through its bite. I knew that it wasn’t an idle threat from what I’d seen outside the Smoking Fish, but to be fair to him he asked me to do the same thing if he was bit too. In a way it was quite flattering that he trusted me to slay him if that ever happened. To me it was the first indication that I was ready to join the team rather than just being the load.

A few seconds later the walls of the castle suddenly came smashing down. Two of the vampires who were exposed to the sun, the feathered vampire and the eyeless bloodsucker instantly burned up, whilst the green skinned brute reached for the shadows just in time, though not without gaining some serious burns.

The great Caradon had been knocked straight through the wall of the castle. For a second I thought he was dead as his body was so cut up, though when I looked outside I could see the Tyrannosaurus was as equally roughed up. The Caradon soon got up and charged at the Dinosaur, causing both to go tumbling back into the woods behind. The Caradon actually managed to lift the Dinosaur up over its head for a few minutes before slamming the Dinosaur’s spine down on its knee.

For a second I thought the Dinosaur was dead as it lay there motionless, but when the Caradon move a little closer, the Dinosaur used its tail to smash many of the sharks teeth out of its mouth, before tripping it up, after which it then smacked its tail down on the shark several more times.

As much as I would have liked to continue watching the two beasts clash, we had to press on. Two of the Raptors from below joined us. Sadly that was all that seemed to be left of the group downstairs and outside, but they still seemed to be better off than the vampires at least.

We made our way into the main hall where Higressa was bound to an altar. The bloodsuckers had completed the ritual to restore her to life. (If there was one thing vampires seemed to be experts on, it was raising the dead.)

The leader of this gathering of the undead soon morphed from a red skinned, scaly, yellow eyed, bald headed demon into a human form when we arrived. The funny thing was. I knew him, I’d even looked up to him. His name was Lord David MacKenzie and he was a patron of the arts in the Galloway region. I’d even spoken with him during my last visit in Wigtown. The fact that he could assume a human form unlike the other bloodsuckers and therefore blend in with humanity and gain influence in the real world, was clearly how he had managed to gather the resources to put this plan into action. O’Brien would later tell me that the more human looking vampires, though sometimes looked down on as inferior in the modern world were ironically often the leaders of vampire clans and sects. It was all Lord MacKenzie’s plan meanwhile. He had used his resources to find out all he could about the Blue Devil and the old legends of the area, and he had even bought Morton castle a few years back.

There were eight other vampires in total surrounding him, including two more serpentine vampires, two winged vampires, two yellow creatures and two of the green, bloated creatures. They all advanced towards us, whilst the leader assumed his vampire face and prepared to bite Hegressa’s neck. The Raptors tackled the two flying vampires, with one of the Raptors actually managing to jump at a flying vampire whilst it was in mid flight, over twenty feet off the ground!

The other members of my team were both cornered by two vampires each, leaving me to face the leader by myself. Well I say face, he didn’t even pay me any attention at first. I couldn’t help but take it as an insult that I wasn’t any kind of threat. I mean I wasn’t, but he didn’t know that for sure.

To save both my pride and the world, I lifted out my gun and fired at the vampire. I hit him twice in the chest and he didn’t even flinch. My third shot however missed and by sheer luck, the bullet fired through the nearest wall of the castle, causing a ray of sunlight to shoot through and catch one of the vampires that was cornering Sophia. Its body instantly caught fire. I then shot more holes in the wall, which scattered the other vampires, apart from the bats. The Raptors however had already dealt with both of them easily, and in the confusion, Sophia freed Hegressa. Unfortunately however the vampires had supressed her bodies ability to harness magics when they resurrected her. She was sure she could break the block, but she would need help to do it.

We headed back down the castle stairs, but on the next floor we were cornered by the white wolvron. I can’t believe I’d forgotten about him, considering he was what we followed here. Our two Raptors jumped on him at once but the monster instantly batted them away, sending one outside of a window to its death, before slowly advancing on us.

We all, including me, fired dozens of rounds at the wolvron, but it was too fast and dodged our shots. Still one of the Raptors managed to surprised the wolvron and jumped on its back and dug its claws into the beasts neck as well as clamping its jaws around his skull.

We all opened fire at the wolvron whilst it was distracted with the Raptor, hitting it this time and causing it to slump to its knees, however before we could knock the monster out, another Raptor emerged from the lower level.

The Dinosaur ran our way and we thought it was going to help its comrade, but instead it jumped at Hegressa. It was over in a second as the Dinosaur crushed her skull in its jaws.

This was the Raptor that had fought with the Nosferatu. The vampire had managed to land a bite on the Raptor in the struggle, allowing it to take control of the Dinosaur.

After all we had went through, vampires, Dinosaurs, shark men, seeing our friends, comrades die, literally travelling to hell and back, and it had all been for nothing. Worse all of those people killed to bring this wretched monster back would now be condemned to the vampires hell dimension.

As soon as Higressa was killed the earth, literally began to shake and Morton castle began to crumble.

The wolvron, having been badly wounded jumped through the castle wall, and fled into the woods outside. We soon followed, though we jumped into the lake instead to break our fall.

Only the raptor that had fought with the wolvron appeared to escape the castle besides us and the wolvron. It engaged the Raptor the vampire was controlling in a brief fight before fleeing, with the vampires Raptor subsequently being crushed.

In a matter of minutes not only had Morton’s castle collapsed, but the ground had also begun to open, and the Blue Devil soon crawled out, before it sealed up again!

The Blue Devil stood proudly in the sunlight as a sign of his superiority to the other bloodsuckers.

He was over seven foot tall, incredibly muscular, his skin was bright blue, his hair was long and flowing, his eyes, yellow with no pupil and his fangs were massive and white.

He actually looked more human than some of the other brutes all things considered, but right away you could deal there was something different about him. The other vampires, though cocky when they had their prey trapped, or at least thought they had it trapped, had always deep down seemed like desperate creatures, even to me. They came over less as powerful immortals and more blood rats forced to live in the shadows for most of their miserable existence. The way that first pack almost killed each other just to try and rip my throat out proved that. Clearly they weren’t used to hunting out in the open as much.

The Blue Devil on the other hand, radiated confidence and arrogance. He looked as though he thought of himself as a god who showed no fear of anything. Even the sight of the Great Caradon and the Vyrkosaurus wrestling with each other in the background made him laugh more than anything else.

He spoke, with a loud, booming, deep voice.

“Caledonia, I see nothing has changed in the centuries I’ve been gone.” He said with a smirk at the sight of the two monsters fighting. Suddenly the Raptor that had escaped Morton castle jumped on him, but not only did the Blue Devil not even react when the Raptors sickle like claws dug into his flesh and drew his disgusting yellow blood. He simply batted the Dinosaur away with one hand into the ruins of the castle, with the impact killing the beast stone dead.

Sophie soon shot the Blue Devil in the head and chest in response, but it did about as much to hurt the former vampire king as the Raptors claws had done.

She then threw holy water at the beast which again did nothing but make it laugh, after which she then lifted out a gold knife, which for the first time made the bloodsucker back away a bit.

“You couldn’t hide all of your weaknesses. This changes things now.” Before Sophia could even finish, the Blue Devil, despite his size darted towards Sophia as fast as he could and and grabbed her hand holding the knife. He then literally pulled her arm out of its socket, and stabbed one of his hands through her stomach before literally tearing our commander in two.

He then threw her top half into the lake and advanced on us. We all shot at him, but it did nothing, The only thing that stopped him was the the Great Caradon who intervened. Covered in blood and barely standing, the Caradon nevertheless reached out for the blue devil, who not only kept his cool, but roared back at the shark beast, that was soon pulled back by its Dinosaur foe’s tail, that wrapped itself around the Caradon’s throat like a boa constrictor.

We meanwhile all dived below the water in desperation and fear. It’s safe to say that having to swim through Sophia’s blood and entrails has probably put me off swimming for life!

When we went back to the surface, the Blue Devil was gone. I’m guessing that he must have felt we weren’t worth pursuing and had other things to do? Or maybe he realised that it was a good idea to run away from the big shark man? Whatever the case the Great Caradon was now on his last legs. He’d put up a great fight against the Dinosaur, but the vampires pet Tyrannosaur had proven to be just too strong.

It was now playing with the Great Caradon, allowing the shark to barely haul itself up, only to push it back down. Finally growing tired of its game, the Dinosaur placed its foot on the sharks back and prepared to finish him. We all shot at the Dinosaur but it did nothing. Thinking fast, O’Brien used his zippo to light up the tree next to the Dinosaur, which drew its attention.

We then got in front of the Caradon and continued to fire, with O’Brien telling us to aim for the inside of its mouth as no bullets could penetrate its scales. Unfortunately however the giant Dinosaur was faster than he looked and quick as a flash he scooped up Elizabeth in his mouth and swallowed her whole.

James screamed in anguish, as tears filled his eyes. The Dinosaur then swung its massive tail at us. I only narrowly missed it thanks to O’Brien who pushed me down in time.

Poor James however wasn’t fast enough, and the Dinosaurs tail smashed him to a pulp, before nearly coming down on me and O’Brien.

The Tyrannosaur then turned round, jaws open and ready to devour us both. It could have easily chomped us both up at the same time with that frightful set of teeth, but the Caradon having had time to regain his strength, ripped the flaming tree out of the ground and wielded it like a weapon, despite it burning his hands. He smacked the Dinosaur in the face with it three times knocking the giant reptile on its back. The Caradon then used what few teeth it had left to rip a chunk out of the Dinosaurs chest, which it then impaled the still burning tree right through. The Caradon lifted the tree, with the Tyrannosaur on the other end of it, up over its head, whilst the reptillian beast still struggled before it slammed the Dinosaur hard onto the ground. The shark finally, with its remaining teeth bit into the Dinosaurs throat, whilst it was writhing and finished its rival off.

The shark man instantly collapsed after that last bit of adrenaline wore off and for a few minutes we thought he was dead before he crawled back towards the hole in the ground he had made and dropped down it, with the hole then vanishing instantly afterwards.

O’Brien and I got out of there as fast as we could before the fire could spread throughout the forest. Thankfully no one else was in the forest at the time. The Scathach would have a very hard time trying to cover this up. The destruction of a famous castle, a forest fire, and several dead Dinosaurs isn’t easily explained.

After O’Brien returned me home, he told me that someone else would be in touch from Scathach soon. He didn’t think I was in any immediate danger as with the Blue Devil free, the vampires clearly had bigger fish to fry. Still he told me to keep a low profile which I did for the next few weeks.

Things ironically seemed to quieten down after the Blue Devil’s resurrection, or at least I didn’t hear anything for the first week or so. I tried to get on with my life as best I could, but how can you after something like that? Every little jump made me scream, anyone who looked at me for longer than a split milisecond I became terrified that they were a vampire wanting to kill me to keep quiet. Everywhere I went I carried a massive crucifix, that I’d make my friends touch all the time, and I’d also make sure to have a bottle of water blessed every day by the local priest (who fortunately knew the truth.)

The week seemed to go on forever, until finally O’Brien and another agent from Scathach arrived at my house, to make sure I wouldn’t try and reveal the truth.

O’Brien told me that strangely there had been no sightings of the Blue Devil. There had however been a few sightings of Hegressa’s ghost, showing that she hadn’t gone back to her own wretched hell dimension yet. The Great Caradon meanwhile was still recovering from his fight. He was deeply embarrassed at his performance. All those years in his garden, he really had felt he’d gone soft and was determined to make up for it. Though what that means for us, I don’t know yet.

O’Brien was shocked when I told him I wanted to join Scathach. I guess he felt based on my performance during this whole debacle that I wasn’t cut out for this life. It was a little hurtful as I had already killed one vampire, and I stopped them from sacrificing Hegressa. Granted that Raptor killed her two minutes later anyway, but that was as much his fault as mine.

The other agent meanwhile was more willing to give me a chance, as the recent vampire attacks had depleted their numbers all over Scotland. I was given a trial run for a few weeks, where we went after a few vampires. It seems not all of them had been killed in the destruction of Morton castle after all. Lord McKenzie was sadly among those who had escaped.

I killed four more vampires during these hunts. One of them had already been taken down by my partner and I just finished him off. Still that seemed to win me some praise as most people don’t have the will to stake a vampire in general. I wonder what that says about me.

After my initial training period was done, it was decided that I was to go to their main office near Aviemore, where the final, more extensive stage of my training would take place. O’Brien sadly wouldn’t be joining me, though given he didn’t think that I was cut out for it, maybe it was for the best. In spite of what he said however, I feel that he had shown great trust in me during our ordeal and I do hope one day we can work together and he can see I am cut out for this life. O’Brien was sent to their office in Glasgow, which had all but been destroyed by the vampires. Most of their hunters are being sent up to Aviemore in fact, as after a few weeks there has been a sighting of the Blue Devil there. O’Brien was their only senior hunter down in Glasgow to make sure at least someone is manning the post down there. It’s most likely that Blue Devil will be preparing an attack on the main office in Aviemore meanwhile.

Tomorrow I will be moving up to the highlands. My accommodation has been set by Scathach. I’ve got a nice little chalet just outside of Aviemore. Under normal circumstances I’d be thrilled at going to Aviemore. I used to go there all the time when I was a girl. My parents enjoyed holidays there every new year. I know it’s a cliche, but there really is no better place to spend the new year than the Scottish highlands. Again though as a young un, my favourite part of it wasn’t the beautiful scenery, it was a tacky little amusement park called Santa Claus land. There was one ride on it, the Dinosaur Ride, that was like a haunted house ride where you’d get driven through this dark room with Dinosaurs (obviously) on the wall, roaring. It was just the most thrilling, amazing thing I’d ever seen as a child, I honestly felt like I was seeing real life Dinosaurs. If I went now, I’d probably find it to be either quite tacky, or who knows maybe it would trigger some form of PTSD?

Still clearly this visit to Aviemore won’t be all fun and games. I don’t mind telling whoever reads this, I’m absolutely terrified. I’m still not sure why I’m going, if it really is to explore this new fascinating world, or to save people, or if it’s just to make sure I don’t ever feel as scared and trapped as I did in the first week after that ordeal?

Either way like I said at the beginning. Things are changing. The vampires are moving together for something bigger than even the Blue Devil and I want to be there when it happens.

Scathach have assured me that should anything ever happen to me, then this will reach my friends and family who I probably won’t be seeing for a long time regardless. (Though you will also be told and threatened if need be not to reveal any of it to the public, not that they’d believe you anyway.) I’m hoping that it won’t come to that, and that perhaps one day you’ll be able to read this when I am still alive.

Whatever the future may hold however, I know that I and all the other agents in Scathach will give our lives to protect the rest of the world from monsters like the Blue Devil, as Sophia, James and Elizabeth were. Here’s also hoping we can also finally free those trapped in his and that monster Hegressa’s hell dimension too.