This story is one of the winners of WattpadVampire's "Vampire Write-Along" 2022 contest.

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Maybe it was a trick of fate. Maybe it was destiny. Or maybe it was just by chance. But, contrary to what others might think, William was glad he entered this haunted place.

Intending to go to a town nearby, a couple of confusing paths lead him straight to this dark, cursed town instead. And the people living in it needed him. As soon as they saw a slayer come into their place, they begged him to kill the beast terrifying them and holding them captive within the land.

One of William's wrinkled hands reached for his cowboy hat and took it off from his balding head as he looked at the haunted mansion before him. Bats asleep rested all over it. Though already at his ripe age, William would not back away from a fight, especially against those blood-sucking monsters that plague the country like darn roaches. He had promised Eleanor, the love of his life, that he would battle against every evil he encounter until the day he dies.

The gigantic door gaped open to let him in. He swore he felt living, sinister eyes watching him as he entered the beast's lair. Not from the monster he was seeing atop the staircase, no, but from somewhere else.

The slayer stood still in the middle of the dingy hall, listening to the creaking of the staircases' boards as a teenage girl -- the beastess and mistress of the mansion -- went down it, one careful, calculated step after another.

And though she had bloodshot eyes and pale, pale skin and her lips opened to reveal sharp teeth to hiss at him, William didn't miss the stark resemblance of this evil vampire to his sweetheart Eleanor.

His heart was moved again after half a decade of coldness.

"Ellie? I-is... is this true? A-are you really... But that's impossible. You died." Gently, he tried caressing her unkempt brown hair, but the vampire, angered, only hissed at him again. No. He shook his head. "You're not true. Just a trick, an illusion." The monster tried to grab him by his sides. She was quick but William was quicker. Mercilessly, he shot at her foot and jumped away from her as she shrieked, black liquid oozing from her wound.

Distance between them was important. Vampires were only deadly in close combat. So William ran as fast as he could around the halls and through every corner of the mansion while firing at the monster. But no matter how much damage he caused her with his silver bullets, she wouldn't die.

Why?

Then, he noticed something. All the shots he fired on the walls left no mark, like they were absorbed by it. Testing his theory, he shot the wall. He heard a groan and saw the bullets being swallowed by the old panel.

"Well, damn you to hell." Wiliam knew then that the master of the house was not the teenage-looking vampire, but the castle itself. Or, rather, the sorcerer possessing it -- a powerful sorcerer who refused to die. It wasn't the first time he encountered such a case and his experiences taught him that he only needed to find the sorcerer's soul hidden somewhere inside the mansion to end the bastard's life.

He ran as fast as he could and searched every room he could find while keeping a distance from his persistent pursuer. And when, alas, he saw a glowing jewel of gold inside one of the chambers, the vampire caught up to him.

"I don't have time to play with you, little girl. Just let me set this village free by killing this beast. Then, its bat minions and you will die peacefully with it. Happy ever after, eh?" He reached out for the orb, but so did the vampire.

In one quick moment but was like forever, the three of them joined souls -- the sorcerer, the vampire, and William. Their memories overlapped with each other and they peeked at each other's lives. They saw the sorcerer who refused to die made sure that the only way to destroy his orb was by strong magic. They saw William's sad life as a slayer and his happy life with his Eleanor. And, they saw the vampire's past life as the only woman William ever loved, reincarnated as an orphan left at the front door of the cursed castle.

William was in tears. Eleanor, shocked, didn't realize that, though raised as a monster, she still had a heart. And now that she knew who she was, it bled for her dear William.

She looked at him with softened eyes. "W-wi... yum." Oh, if she could only speak.

The old slayer dried his tears and, determined, he looked back lovingly at his darling wife. "My poor Ellie. You're not spending another second in here, love. Never." Then, before the vampire could protest and the nearing bats could strike, he took the orb and swallowed it whole as he pushed Eleanor out of the window.

The sorcerer needed only one mortal to guard his jewel.

He should set Eleanor free.

And, he did.

Eleanor watched while she fell how her body transformed into a human and how William shouted as his skin became so pale, his eyes turned bloodshot, his nails became sharp and long, and his mouth grew fangs.

For the very first time in this lifetime, Eleanor's heart broke.

Then, years passed...

It took her a very long time to find it. So long that her hair had grayed and her skin already wrinkled. She isn't a helpless human anymore, but a powerful sorceress who has learned much and has watched generations after generations live and die. She is now capable of killing the beast in his lair and is determined to rescue her beau.

Old Eleanor now enters the ancient doors of the mansion that was once her cage. "I'll take you back home, Will."

The castle growls.

"And this time you'll die, beast."