Fear Of The Dark

Entering the surgery, I looked around. I hadn't been here for a while, due to the recent events, plus my Uncle had gone to France for some kind of lecture. Looking back at the door, I watched Zack walk in and look round him.

"It's not that bad," he said with a soft smile. I rolled my eyes. "My Uncle caters for the more well off, but if you can afford it, he'll treat you," I said, closing the door behind him. The condition of coming back to work here was having someone with me at all times.

And of course Zack jumped at the chance.

I walked towards my Uncle's office, and knocked on the door softly. He allowed me to enter, and looked up, smiling gently when he saw it me. "Hello Sarah, I hope you are well," I nodded and smiled graciously.

"Erm, you know that I moved from home? And am living with some friends of mine and Kirsty?" He nodded. I thanked whoever was up there that my family where so understanding. They didn't mind me living with five men whom they knew nothing about.

"Well, in light of the recent, well, events. One of the men I'm living with will be coming to work with me, to walk me home and make sure I am safe. Will he be able to stay in one of the rooms?" I asked hesitantly. My Uncle considered it for a moment.

"Yes, I think that will be fine. If he's protecting you he can do what he wants." I smiled and nodded, exiting the room and closing the door behind me, smiling at Zack who was leant against the wall outside. I gestured and he followed me closely. To other it would seem too close.

But there was no one around.

I looked behind me and noted his proximity and laughed softly. "Zack, could you get any closer?" I asked, a silence came from him, but I knew he was smirking. As I opened the door to a room, he pulled me back, so he and I were pressed against each other. "Yes I could," he whispered in my ear before letting me go.

I chuckled softly and shook me head, leading him inside. This was the room my Uncle would use for his breaks, or if he was arguing with my Aunt. It contained two sofas, and a table. There was a tap and a cup next to it for drink.

"Err, there's not much here unfortunately. Sorry," I said looking at me. He shook his head and laughed, closing the door behind me. "It's okay, I'm not bothered. Admittedly this isn't to my liking, but I shall live," he smiled at me. I nodded slightly.

"Besides, as long as you don't get nearly murdered again, I'll be fine. We need to get rid of the Ripper so I can have your hand in marriage safely. Being dead doesn't fit into those plans," he said smiling. I hadn't been paying attention to him as I opened the windows of the building, and suddenly froze when I realised what he'd said.

Turning round slowly I looked at him, just staring at him. "You?" Was all I could get out. He nodded his head slowly, smiling at me, letting this information sink into my head. "You want to marry me?" I asked, completely shocked by this. He wanted to marry me?

He laughed and came up to me, his arms on my shoulders as he stared straight into my eyes. "Yes, I, Zachary James Baker, want to marry you, Sarah Elizabeth Drayton. Can you understand that?" I nodded slowly, still shocked. Excitement began to bubble inside me.

"But I can't properly ask you until everything is safe. That involves the Ripper being gone." I nodded, accepting this. That was evident, the whole Forbidden Law bollocks was still in play.

"But apart from that, yes. I have decided that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and only you." I bit my lip and smiled, hugging him. He laughed, his chest vibrating against my head as he hugged me back.

"When do you start work?" He asked, looking at his pocket watch. I took a peek at it and smiled, "In five minutes, that's when it opens." He nodded and smiled at me, before leaning down and kissing me gently. My eyelids fluttered at this, and he had to wrap an arm round my waist to stop me from falling over.

He pulled away and steadied me, laughing softly at me dazed expression. I glared at him slightly. "You've got to give a girl warning before you do that. I'm not used to it, and well, it, well it stops all brain function for a moment," I scolded him, he chuckled and nodded, before sitting on the sofa.

"But what if I like doing that?" I glared at him. He laughed. "Dear Lord, if you lose control over yourself from kissing, I can't wait to see what you'll be like during-" I covered his mouth up and glared at him, "Hush." He laughed, seeing the pink tinge to me cheeks.

"Aww you're adorable, go to your job," he said, pushing me away. I smiled and rushed out the room, opening the door and sitting behind my desk and waiting for the first patient.

It was still pretty early in the morning, as the surgery was open early and closed late. The first patient came rushing in and my eyes widened as I saw blood rushing down her dress. Instantly I stood up and came over to her, seating her.

"Miss, can you tell me what's wrong?" I asked concerned for her. She cried out and brought her hand away from her neck. My eyes widened seeing the blood rushing from two holes in her neck.

"Miss what happened? How did this happen?" I asked her urgently. She coughed and cried. "I-I was walking home, when, thi-this man appeared and he-" she sniffed and wiped her eyes, crying out as I tried to stop the bleeding. "He followed me before pushing me against a wall and biting me!" She cried out. I pulled her up and ushered her to my Uncle, who immediately took action.

I wandered back out to the reception area, seeing a small queue already. Instantly taking out paper and the fountain pen, I began the days work, still dazed from what I'd just experienced. I noticed the frowns of people seeing the blood on my clothes.

The day wore on, and I found that it was time to close the shop. The final patient walked out the door, and I locked it behind her. As usual I finished my work, before getting up and walking to my Uncle's office.

Knocking on the door, I entered and noticed the girl from earlier was gone. I frowned softly at this. My Uncle looked up and sighed softly. "If you're looking for the girl, she's been sent to the hospital." I nodded slowly, not remembering seeing her go.

"We took her out the back door, so as not to worry patients." I nodded understanding. "What was wrong with her?" I asked softly. He frowned. "I don't know, it was quite unusual, I've never seen anything like this before. He sounded like the Ripper, but she said he bit her. They definitely weren't bite marks."

I nodded, before taking my leave as he said I could. Walking to the room Zack was in, upon seeing me he smiled and stood up. I frowned at him. "Have you not been bored in here?" I asked. He shook his head. "I can entertain myself in dire situations." I nodded slowly as we walked out of the building.

He suddenly stopped and turned me round, staring at my clothes. "What the? Why do you have blood on you?" I rolled my eyes. "Zack, I work as a receptionist, sometimes situations are a little dire as you so eloquently put it earlier." He frowned, not believing me.

Our walk was silent as I pondered over things. It wouldn't be impossible. I mean, Zack can turn into a damned dog. Looking at him, I frowned softly and sighed. He looked at me confused.

"What's troubling you?" He asked concerned. I shook my head again. "I'll tell at the house," I said as we neared our destination. Zack suddenly stopped me, and kissed my harder than usual. Pulling away he froze. "Sorry, I forgot. Tell you," I laughed at him and shook my head.

"No it's okay, I suspected you would do something along those lines judging how close we are to the house now." He smiled and nodded, and in a matter of minutes we were walking into the sitting room, seeing everyone sat there. Perfect.

I sat down in the chair closest to the fire, as night had fallen now. "Good day?" Matt asked smiling. I nodded silently. My plan couldn't be completely stupid now, not with what we'd seen recently.

"There was one thing. It was unusual I suppose," I said, thinking about it for a moment. They looked at me, encouraging me to go on.

"Well you see the strangest thing happened earlier today. This morning in fact. A girl came in as soon as I opened up. And, she had the strangest injuries." They looked at me; I could see suspicion in their eyes.

"Her story was that she was being followed when she walked home this morning. And then, he bit her. Now of course you may be thinking 'that's preposterous' but no, she had two nice holes on her neck. Gushing blood might I add. Hence the blood on my clothes." By now the guys had frozen.

"And so I thought to myself all day, what could have caused those injuries? A bite? And then, I thought. 'Well the only thing that causes those kind of bites is a vampire, but that's silly their not real' and then I remembered. In the back room. Why, there was a werewolf in there. He was very real, and so there was no reason why a vampire couldn't be real."

They stared at me.

"And then I remembered hearing about how much werewolves and vampires hated each other. And it all slotted into place. Evidently I knew that it was the Ripper. So I think you five have some explaining to do," I said, pointing at them.

Their jaws just dropped.

"Erm, there's nothing to explain. You've, well you've figured it all out. You're right, the Ripper is a vampire. I don't really know what else you want us to say to be honest," Brian said, rubbing his head with his hands. I shook my head.

"That's all I wanted to know. And now, I can officially say, nothing will scare me less. I've just found out I was nearly murdered by a vampire, and I'm living with five werewolves. If that can't scare me, nothing will," I said softly, leaning back in the chair.

"Oh I don't know, there are some things out there scarier than us," Zack said, staring intently into my eyes. I frowned at him, before nodding.

"Most likely yes, but let's hope I don't see those now shall we?"