The muffled double thump of the concrete divisions were the only indications that they were moving over a bridge. Marie slowly returned to conscious thought as she remembered where she was.

She was in the back of some van, tied from the waist up in a hessian sack. The sack smelled of old grease and car oil, and something else. Something she cared not to recognise.

Abruptly the womb sound of the bridge gave way to gravel road. She could smell the river and hear the music. She recognised it easily. Rob Zombie “Dragula”. The sound was strained and distorted, as though the cheap radio couldn’t deal with the tremendous volume and bass of the music.

The doors of the van were swung open and Marie felt herself being pulled out by the feet. No care or consideration was given to the fact that her head and shoulders thumped heavily onto the ground. In fact the childlike chuckles that filled the air seemed to enjoy it.

Dragged roughly to her feet, Marie was pushed towards the sound of the noise. The song had changed now to some industrial techno beat. The pneumatic beat thrummed as best as it could with the tinny speakers losing all control on the bass output.

Marie could smell the fire before she felt it. In fact she could sense it before she even smelled it. The ancient fear rose within her and she began to struggle. Rough hands swept her legs from under her and she landed heavily. Pain shot up her right shoulder and she bit her lip. The blood was warm yet offered no succour. Despite herself, Marie began to cry.

The toe of a steeled capped boot silenced her sobbing as it cracked at least three of her ribs. Searing pain shot up her right side again as she was dragged to her feet.

“One more peep out of you sweetheart and I’ll cut your F%$#ing heart out!” The accent was East London. Marie was pushed forward toward the fire. The sack was torn from her body. Her eyes fell upon the scene in one horrible sweep.

There was about twenty of them. All dressed in biker leathers and ripped jeans. All were drinking from jewelled bottles which clinked against their enormous silver rings that adorned their hands. Handcuffs and studded leather arm bands, Sex Pistols shirts and Slayer shirts were all present. Some had shaved their heads and wore stylised silver bones through their noses. Studded dog collars and leashes were worn as fashion accessories as were mohawks capped with silver spikes. The scene was like some gathering of punks, bikers and sado masochists, all dancing around this massive bonfire.

Easily 2 stories high, the heat from the blaze kept everyone back at least thirty feet. Every now and then someone would move closer to the blaze, encouraged by the chants and cajoles of the throng. They would get close but something drove them back. Brawls broke out between those who encouraged and those who failed, as encourage gave way to taunts and jeers.

Marie realised at one horrible moment, who these creatures were. Sabbat. Vampires of unspeakable evil and malice. Fear gripped the pit of her stomach. There was no one here to save her. There was no where to run. Again she began to cry.

A group of punks noticed her tears and began to taunt her. All of them moving their hands down their cheeks in mock tears, laughing at her terror, exhaulting in it. Marie couldn’t look at them anymore, and closed her eyes. The taunting soon dies away as the game became boring.

A cry came up from the assembled throng. Marie’s head snapped up to see a Vampire leaping toward her through the flames! His eyes red and fangs bared as he landed. He was shirtless and Marie could see where the flames had licked his skin and left angry red welts. The crowed began to chant a name. “NI-CO! NI-CO! NI-CO!” the Vampire raised his arms in victory and pumped them to the sound of his name. He half ran over to one of the groups and grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels. Striding towards the flames he took a deep pull on the bottle and spat the contents on the fire, the flames racing along the stream almost to his face. The chanting became a deafening roar. Soon others began to take the lead of Nico, and they were leaping through the flames. The victorious gathered together on one side congratulating themselves.

The scene was disturbed by the Dixie land trumpet of a car horn. A convertible full of leather clad Vampires drove up in front of the bonfire. The Vampires careful to get out of the car on the opposite side to the blaze. The chant went up again as the driver stepped up on the bonnet of the car and pulled his jacket off. “MA-LA-CHI! MA-LA-CHI! MA-LA-CHI!” The new Vampire then bounded over the bonfire, and immediately jumped back over! He grabbed a small branch and set it alight. Taking the bottle of Jack Daniels he drank from it and breathed out the fluid. The branch ignited it and the crowd squealed in delight at the macabre parody of a circus. Malachi then call a hush to the crowd. The captors holding Marie chuckled at the showmanship. Even the distorted music was stopped.

Malachi then placed the flames over his bare chest. Howling in pain he seared his pale flesh. Marie couldn’t watch, yet was transfixed by the horror. Malachi then extinguished the flames with his mouth. The crescendo was fever pitch. Now he had their attention. He signalled to the other Vampires who arrived with him. The ran to the boot of the car and dragged out three high school cheerleaders. Their outfits splattered with blood and grease. Terror was in their eyes as some of the other Vampires grabbed their pom poms and parodied their cheering routines.

Malachi indicated to a pit off to the side. Four Vampires stood their with six pit bull terriers. One by one the dogs were drained by their handlers and then given a small portion of blood back. Marie was disgusted at the scene. The Ghoul dogs were then thrown into the pit. Marie watched as the cheerleaders were dragged over to the pit. The Vampire cheerleaders were cheering all the way much to the sadistic delight of the gathering. The girls voices were hoarse from screaming and despite the hopelessness of it all, they continued to struggle. At the edge of the pit, they were roughly embraced. As they became conscious for the first time as Vampires they were cast down into the pit.

The crowd went berserk. The pit bull handlers quickly began filling in the hole! Marie screamed - they were being buried alive! Screams and yelps came form the pit as the sand was thrown in quickly. Obviously the Vampires possessed the same type of preternatural speed that Marie had, as the hole was filled quickly. Money was changing hands. They were betting on something. Marie dry retched, the graphic horror of what was happening around her was sinking in. All she knew is she had to escape.

She was thrown to the ground as Malachi approached her. Squatting down in front of her, her roughly grabbed her chin and raised her blood-tear stained face to his. Leaning in, her licked the blood from her face. Marie tried to struggle but he was too strong. Grinning he pulled Marie along the ground by her hair. Marie reached up to his hands but could only slightly release the pressure on her scalp as he dragged her towards the fire.

“You are one of us Marie, and by being one of us, you must do as we do.” Malachi laughed at her yelp of pain as he pulled her to her feet.

“Now you must jump through to the other side”

Marie was more terrified now than she had ever been in her life. All she knew now was that she must leave, she must escape, and if that fire was the only way, then so be it. Stealing herself against the fear Marie took one step towards the fire, and stopped. The Red Fear had her. She tried to turn but Malachi and two others stopped her. She fell to her knees crying, unable to go on. Malachi kicked sand at her and his scathing remarks filled the air. Reaching down he grabbed her by the hair and pulled he back towards the van.

Two Vampires stood guard as Malachi went back to the blaze. Five other Vampires joined him and they all bit their wrists. They each poured blood into a ornate chalice. Once they had all poured some blood in, they licked their wounds and stood in a circle and joined hands. Malachi stood in the middle. The hush fell over the crowd as Malachi went to each Vampire and said something, satisfied with the response, he allowed the Vampire to drink a little from the chalice. Malachi went around the entire group and each drank from the cup until finally Malachi himself drained the remainder. They then embraced each other warmly and kissed each other on their foreheads. A cheer went up from the crowd again.

Marie just sat helplessly watching the whole scene. She couldn’t move, or speak. She was broken. Malachi didn’t even register until he pulled her to her feet. “Soon I will come for you again and you will join us fully” he snarled between blood soaked teeth. Signalling to the other two, they pulled her into the van and climbed into the front of the van. Marie looked out the back of the van to see Malachi smiling at her, mocking her by waving. Behind him the gathering continued as a crowd gathered around the pit. Marie slumped back onto the van floor, and allowed the darkness to consume her.