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The small town I grew up in never looked brighter. I had changed in ways I didn’t fully understand yet. I feared I would never fully discover what I was now. My body no longer felt like my own and yet I pushed it forward for a girl I barely knew. My newly improved eyesight made it so I could see every corner of the dark streets. I heard people sleeping in their beds, the murmur of their heartbeats just background noise under the wind blowing past my ears. I knew it was cold, and yet my skin didn’t register it.
I didn’t want to kill someone, let alone do what the asshole that attacked me wanted. But I felt like would be able to tear apart a tank if I needed to. The church where my targets waited was over an hour away by car. I made it there on foot in under an hour. I’d run to the next town over only slowing in the last few moments because my leg started to dully throb in pain.
I stopped to catch my breath. Soon the pain faded away. Normally my leg would stop me if I tried to even briskly walk anywhere. So far, I’ve discovered heightened senses I’d adjusted to immediately. The other vampires had claws so I looked down at my hands expecting to see them. I felt a little disappointed to see my normal nails. It wasn’t as if I focused hard enough claws would appear.
I did try mentally forcing my hands to become weapons knowing I would need them in the upcoming fight. To my shock, my fingernails grew black and pointed. Maybe I could get claws if I focused hard enough.
I’ll admit, I tried to imagine a set of wings or transforming into a bat. No such luck. Looks like I didn’t get as many abilities as I would have liked. I waited outside the church to debate on my next move. If these two were vampires, then it was all right to kill them? I thought back to Summer showing her fangs. She wasn’t a bloodthirsty monster. There had to be good vampires out there. What are the chances these twins were like her?
I walked up to a stop sign by the church. I tore it from the ground without much effort. If those two were good vampires killing them would make me a monster. Which was fine because I wasn’t exactly a good person even before getting bitten.
I walked up to the stone steps, weapon in hand with my mind made up. I would become any kind of monster needed to save Summer.
The large wooden doors weren’t locked. No force kept me outside without an invitation. This was a church after all. Everyone was welcome. The air felt stale. I didn’t burst into flames or have any negative reactions from being inside a house of God with terrible intentions.
My targets were in plain sight. They were in the middle of lighting a mass of candles at the far side of the large room when I walked in. They froze, crystal blue eyes wide in fear. Another person sat in a pew nearby them. I focused on the figure to try and get information.
Male, breathing steady. My senses told me he wasn’t a threat. His heart rate was low as if he was sleeping. I may need to deal with a witness, but I’ll figure that out when it happened.
I didn’t let the twin vampires move first. Something snapped inside my chest. I threw the metal sign clear across the room, narrowly missing their heads. It embedded itself in the wood behind them cracking the shelf where the candles were sitting.
I heard a deep growling echoing through the church I wasn’t aware came from my throat. On all fours, I crossed the room in half a second, fangs and claws out. I leapt into the air aiming for the pair. For some reason, my jaws snapped against nothing. My stomach lurched as something caught the back of my shirt sending my body painfully flying into the wooden pews.
I cracked one in half from the impact. I thought I felt bones break, but I stood up seconds after the impact without any issues. I was confused as hell. The twins weren’t the ones who attacked. My eyes flew around the room looking for the threat the rest of my senses didn’t register.
The man who I assumed to be asleep stood calming with a gloved hand outwards. My mind swam trying to figure out what he just did. Everything told me he was human. Not dangerous. My body moved against my own will wanting to tear open his throat. The dull thirst I felt since I changed overtook everything at that moment.
A wooden pew came flying from the side to crash into me. I screamed in brief pain. I thought I saw a flash of light, but this man didn’t move. Did the twins have some unseen powers? I couldn’t back out now, so I doubled down.
I recovered to skitter around on all fours again. With insane speed I reached the man, my body twisting to deliver a bone-breaking uppercut.
His foot came down on my shoulder shattering it. I was now certain I healed broken bones within seconds. They still hurt like fuck. I came down on him again, my punch stopped as he took one step back. His counterattack landed so fast I didn’t see it. He hit the right side of my face so hard that a terrible cracking sound ripped through the church. Blood poured from my mouth from the impact. A second hit came half a second later. The impact on my left cheek rattled my brain so hard I saw stars.
It would have been very nice if he stopped it at that. I found myself barely able to keep up with an utter beating. I was forced back, blinded by blood and pain. Even the blocked punched shattered bones that healed. The thirst grew so intense it almost overshadowed the pain.
Finally, a kick to my stomach caused me to bounce downstairs I hadn’t seen before. During the beating, one of the twins opened a trap door on the floor. For some reason, I couldn’t see in the darkness of the church basement. A single light sat in the middle of the room. I got up waiting at the bottom of the stairs ready to ambush anyone who came down.
The ambush didn’t go well. The man jumped down and I raised my arms to block his kick aimed at my face. That one kick hit harder than any other attack he brought down. I was out for a few seconds. Long enough to kick me across the floor and into a circle with odd symbols written around it.
The thirst overtook my mind. I thought of nothing else but using all my power to sink my teeth into his neck. I got up letting out a screech that would have peeled paint. I felt my face turn into something else for a moment. The man didn’t even flinch. He swiftly pulled out a pistol and fired. It landed on my shoulder. I had thought I knew what pain felt like. That was nothing compared to the fire coming from the bullet wound.
How long had I been inside the church? One minute? Two? This man utterly tore me apart in less time than it took to microwave a hot pocket.
I lay on my back, gasping for air. Warm blood pooled under my body. I prayed for death. Anything to stop this humiliation. My vision was unfocused. I sensed that man getting near, and then more pain came from my shoulder. The bastard was digging around in the wound. I mentally cursed him with every word I knew as I felt the bullet that somehow felt as heavy as the sun get ripped from my shoulder.
For some reason, once it was removed the pain became manageable. My body started to heal, and yet it felt like it was shutting down. To my horror, it was healing itself to death. I didn’t have the energy to recover from my injuries and yet I slowly kept healing. My eyes got heavy. I wanted to just sleep. I forced them open with thoughts of Summer. I couldn’t give up on her.
I witnessed a confusing sight. That man had taken out an empty syringe to draw a small amount of blood from his arm as if he’d done this a thousand times before. The small scar on his inner arm made me realize what Summer’s scars were. Those bastards had been draining blood from her for who knows how long.
An even more confusing thing happened. He forced a knee down on my chest as he stuck the needle in my mouth. When the blood touched my tongue, my entire body jolted. A rush shot through my veins as if I had just been injected with an overdose of caffeine. My heart raced and my mouth watered, wanting more of what I just tasted. As disguising as it is to admit, that blood was the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.
I needed a full minute to collect myself. My wounds healed without any traces. My hands shook from leftover energy even though he gave me a small amount of blood. I wasn’t able to stand, so I just sat on the ground shaking feeling confused as hell.
Who the ever-living fuck is this guy?
He appeared to be in his mid-forties. Each ear pierced with a simple black stud. His greying brown hair was neatly trimmed and his face as cold as stone. He wore a black Victorian trench coat over a simple gray sweatshirt and jeans. Nothing about him appeared special. He had cheekbones that would make women swoon, but I thought he needed to eat more.
“Why…?” I choked out in a shaking voice. “What did you just do?
Why heal me after beating my ass? And why was he protecting the twins? I glanced around to see them huddled next to each other. I had tried to kill them, but they didn’t enjoy seeing the one-sided fight.
“Virgin blood gives supernatural creatures all sorts of benefits for a currently undiscovered reason.” He spoke in a short and to-the-point voice.
His heart rate didn’t change even after I laughed at what he said.
“A virgin? At your age?” I prodded unable to help myself.
“Aside from my blood being useful for my line of work, I simply have never felt the desire for sex.” Again, a very sharp answer.
“Yeah, sure. Whatever you want to tell yourself. I mean, how do you know if you’ve never had it?”
I was pushing my luck. It still didn’t stop the shit-eating grin from my face. I should have expected to get forced back to the ground as he used his foot to crush my chest. I gasped for air. He let up on some of the pressure but not enough for me to escape.
“Prove me wrong. Let’s do it right here.” He said with a voice colder than the stone walls around us.
I sputtered, never expecting that response.
“I’m into girls!” I shot back.
I crawled at his leg with both hands. He didn’t budge.
“How do you know you’re not into guys? Have you ever tried being with one?”
Yeah, I should have seen my own words being thrown into my face a mile away. I snapped my mouth shut not wanting to dig a deeper hole. A slight hint of humor glimmered in his eye. It faded as fast as it appeared. He got down low, adding slightly more force to his foot. I reached out aiming for his throat with claws. My nails hit his coat. Instead of fabric, the sharpened nails scratched something as hard as steel. I chipped a few then got smart and pulled away.
“Are you religious?” He literally pressed.
I played along biting back smart remarks.
“No.”
“Have you read the bible? Do you fully understand it?”
Why was he asking me something like that after I said no to his first question? He saw the confusion in my eyes and then kept speaking.
“Even though you’re not religious and don’t fully understand it, you still respect people devoted to their faith.”
I let his words roll around in my brain for a few seconds.
“Yeah but… Sex is different.”
A crushing weight came down breaking a few ribs. Lesson learned. I needed to keep my mouth shut.
“Hunter, that’s enough. You’ve been too cruel.”
The twins came to my rescue. They ushered him away, the man appearing as calm as before. Noir had forced what they looked like, their location, and their names into my mind. I couldn’t tell them apart but I knew one was named Uma and the other was Mauhus. They wore black robes of some sort. Even though they were vampires they acted kinder than the only human in the room.
I stood up ready for Hunter to try and stop me. I took a risk and sharply turned to start running. My face slammed into an invisible wall. I was getting tired of all these unseen powers bullshit.
“What the fuck!” I shouted holding my bruised face.
“Magic.” Hunter spoke without a hint of humor.
“Cut the shit!” I snapped.
The twins took a step back into Hunter. I was trapped and yet they were acting like a pair of rabbits ready to run. They calmed down when Hunter put a hand on their shoulders. For an asshole, he was a comforting figure for those two.
“So, you’re clearly a new vampire.” Hunter said giving me another look over.
The twin’s faces lit up. They acted as if someone just mentioned a niche interest of theirs. They got closer to my prison, blue eyes shining.
“We’re always glad to show the new ones the right way. How old are you?” Uma, I think, asked.
I stopped to think, not aware of how much time had passed since I got bitten. I could take a guess though.
“What time is it?” I replied.
The twin’s reaction wasn’t a comforting one. Even though I’d come in here ready to kill them, they both appeared remorseful for my current situation.
“We’re sorry. It seems like you’ve been dragged into Noir using you as a pawn. We had wished to resolve this peacefully.” The other twin spoke.
“I met a girl. From the looks of things, they were using her as a blood bank for a few years until that nutcase turned her. I was bitten because I let her crash at my place. I don’t regret meeting her. I just want to help her.” I told them while hoping Summer was still alright.
I found it odd that a vampire wanted to go the peaceful route. I didn’t get any kind of bad feelings from them. What could they have possibly done that pissed off Noir enough to try and kill them?
“You got lucky. Normally bitten vampires go feral. It takes a while and a few victims before they regain their senses, but they’re never the same person they were before. The kind of vampire you turned into is so rare I doubted it happened.” Hunter said as he pulled a package of cigarettes from his coat pocket.
The smokes were stolen from him by the slightly shorter twin. I hadn’t smoked in years but the sight of them and the stress of the night made me want to start. Instead of asking for one, I pressed for more answers.
“Special? How so?” I asked having no idea why I was so different.
Hunter appeared annoyed as if he was dealing with a child. He humored me enough to give a hint.
“What are you doing that the twins aren’t?” He asked.
I focused hard on them. I still didn’t understand my new senses. We were both standing and looking at each other. I felt something from them, an odd force hidden away deep inside their bodies. I guessed that was how much power they held. Even if Hunter didn’t beat my ass, I didn’t have a chance against these two. I let out a frustrated sigh. The loud sound made everything click.
“They’re not breathing?” I asked, shocked over that observation.
Hunter gave a sarcastic clap. I focused harder. Their hearts beat only once or twice a minute. From what I could tell, they only took in air to speak.
“Instead of the normal systems, Born Vampires use magic to make their bodies function.” Hunter explained.
“Magic?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Duh. Why do you think you’re stuck in that circle?”
Uma silently scolded him for being so mean. I took a few steps testing the trap I was still stuck inside. I accepted vampires being real so quickly, but I almost drew the line at magic. It explained how a human took down a vampire, even a new one as easily as he did. It felt like he was cheating a little.
“Am I like that one guy, from you know… Those movies? Shoot, he had cool swords and sunglasses…. Blade! Right! He was turned into a half-vampire too, right?” I asked thinking back to the movies I watched years ago.
The pair didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. Hunter appeared offended by my suggestion. His face looked like he had just eaten something sour.
“Blade was a half-vampire because his mother was bitten before she gave birth to him. Get it right.” He spoke in a tense voice.
“Why are you so defensive about that?” I commented but got no answer. Hunter had already moved on.
“No, you’re not a half-vampire. You’re called a Living Vampire. You can be out in sunlight, but it’ll give you a sunburn that will take a month to heal. You can eat small amounts of food, and you don’t need an invitation inside someone’s home. If you don’t get one, you’ll become so unsettled you can’t stay inside for long. A half-vampire is when a vampire has a child with a different species. In theory, vampires can mix with a great deal of creatures. The birthrates have dropped in the recent generations so lately there has only been half human, half vampires.”
This was all a bit much. It was good to know more about what I just became, but did I really need to know about other vampires?
“That’s good and all, but I need to save my friend. I only came here because he said I could get Summer back if I killed those two. You all seem strong so why don’t we work together to kick Noir’s ass?” I offered.
Hunter shook his head and the twins frowned. They wanted to help, but only if they weren’t using violence to solve their problems.
“I’m not as strong as you may think. I’m only human. We don’t have powers and need to rely on magic items to fight on an equal term with monsters. With the right training, you could beat me in a fight. The twins are powerful. They’re from a very important family and sixteen generations removed from The Three Sons of Noph. If you knew about vampire lore, you would realize that’s a big deal. But they’re not fighters.”
I listened again wondering how much of this information was actually important. So far what I’ve found out is that with enough training I could repay Hunter for how he greeted me. And I might even be able to take down the twins despite the power difference. But after spending a little time with them I already found myself between a rock and a hard place. It would be easier if they were downright evil. Killing them felt on the same level as killing Summer with my bare hands.
“Why does Noir want them dead? Is there a way around all of this?”
I had started to pace within the small written circle on the floor. Could I kill these two if it came down to it? I was ready to become a monster but now I started to question if I had the stomach for all this.
“We had hoped to be able to talk this out.” Uma started. “It all comes down to messy politics. As you now know, there are two kinds of vampires. Born Vampires, and Bitten Vampires. The Born Vampires all belong to a handful of dwindling families. Due to the low birthrates, there may only be a Born Vampire every hundred years or so. Twins like us have only happened five times since vampires came into existence. Because of our pride, nearly all Born Vampires are…” She stopped trying to think of the right word.
“Stuck up.” Hunter finished.
Uma sighed and agreed with him. The other twin started speaking.
“Born Vampires consider Bitten Vampires as lesser. Noir has been trying to prove he’s just as powerful as any other vampire, but the families won’t give him respect. He’s started to take down as many Born Vampires as he can. So far, he’s killed two. He picked us next because we do not like to kill others. Life and Blood are valuable after all. He’s also targeted us because we hold the means to summon our ancestor. Our family is directly connected to the Youngest Son of Noph. If we die and we lose that ability to summon him, it’s as if he’s died as well. That deals a great blow to our family’s power.”
This felt like a stupid reason for Summer to get hurt. Who cares about Noir’s pride? If he didn’t care about what others thought about him it would save him a lot of grief. After hearing what they had to say, I understood why the twins were so kind. Unlike other animals, they didn’t need to kill what they drained the blood from. Keep it alive and you have a replenishable food source. I doubted most vampires had the same outlook. Noir would gladly kill as many as he could get away with. There would be no way he and the twins could meet eye to eye.
“Why don’t you summon this impressive ancestor to have them deal with the problem?” I suggested.
“We don’t know how.” They both shrugged. “Our father has a very ‘sink or swim’ mindset. He only told us the means to summon The Youngest is within ourselves. If we hadn’t hired Hunter, we would have been dead by now.” Uma honestly admitted.
“And why is that?” Hunter asked them.
“We’re a little too trusting.”
I could see that. I bet if Noir asked them to come out and talk, they would fall for it. Even if Hunter was only hired to help, he truly seemed to care about the pair. Who could blame them? They were nice. Totally they needed to be protected at all costs.
Suddenly all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Alarm bells went off in my head as my body sensed something before my mind caught up. The rest noticed the threat as well. A shrill ominous laugh echoed through the darkness. The twins stiffened, and then their bodies turned into a white ball of mist. Both flew off to hide somewhere letting Hunter deal with the threat.
He turned his back towards me, a gleaming silver sword suddenly in his hand. For a second, I was so distracted by where the hell he pulled that out from I didn’t notice the one walking closer to us.
A beautiful woman stopped just on the edge of where the light could reach her. She had a very dangerous air about her. Long fangs poked over the top of her lips when she smiled at us. Her red hair matched the dress she wore and her glowing red eyes. I guessed she was another vampire Noir sent because he doubted I could finish the job.
“You all do talk so much. How boring. It was interesting to watch this baby get taken apart but then you stopped to just go on and on about vampires. Who cares? Let’s get to the fun part. First, let’s kill you, Hunter.” She said with a cruel voice.
“Do you know her?” I asked Hunter because she used his name.
“Nope.” He answered, ready for an attack.
I then realized Hunter wasn’t his real name, just what he called himself because of his profession.
She moved faster than my eyes could see. A blast of heat tossed me back. I was blinded by white light for a few seconds. I blinked trying to recover and to see what happened. The circle I had been trapped in was destroyed. I could move around freely, so what? I looked over just in time to see the vampire hit Hunter in the stomach so hard he went flying. The guy that took me down so fast had just been knocked out in two hits. His sword clattered to the ground near my hand. I dove to pick it up. The damn thing was heavy as hell. I could barely keep it at waist height.
“Hunter! Get the fuck up!” I shouted at him.
The jerk stayed down. My mind was racing unable to think of what to do. Fear tore apart my stomach as my eyes darted around looking for flashes of red. My body reacted before my brain did again. I moved out of the way of an attack. Sharp claws cut the left side of my face. The weight of the sword caused my feet to keep going and I ended up on my ass. The cuts healed within seconds. I got back up, heart racing trying to see where the next attack would come from.
“I heard Living Vampires can kill us without much effort. Something about their energy disrupts our healing abilities.” The voice echoed through the room.
I looked up to see her standing on the ceiling looking down with sharp teeth showing. If that was true, then I just needed to land one good hit on her. I doubted I could. She knew what she was doing, I didn’t.
“I know what you’re thinking. But I won’t give you that chance!”
She dove down, her face transforming into something monstrous. It felt like time stopped. My mind swam with intentions. I thought through my next move but decided to let instinct kick in. I dropped the sword and then swung my arm as hard as I could. I landed a punch directly on the side of her face that hit her so hard she went flying but it also broke every bone in my fist. I growled in pain pulling my hand back. It took a minute, but the bones started to heal. Once one snapping back into place. The pain was worse than breaking them.
The vampire got on all fours and hissed; her face dented from the blow. She started to heal but I guessed it was slower than she liked. I didn’t want to risk hurting myself again and turned to using the sword. She straightened up, face bruised as much as her pride.
“I didn’t want to pull this out for the likes of you.” She growled and reached into the small pouch attached to a belt.
She pulled out a small vial I assumed to be blood. The look she gave me sent chills down my spine.
“Did you know Bitten Vampires can get more powerful if they drink the blood of other supernatural creatures? Depending on how powerful the creature is, the vampire can gain their abilities for a short while.”
Vampires sure do like doing their villain speeches. Fine by me. It gave me time to get mentally prepared. She tossed back the liquid, The blood taking effect immediately. Fur grew over her arms as her hands turned into sharp claws. Her legs transformed into what appeared to belong to a wolf. Her body grew denser and her eyes glowed yellow instead of red. She wasted no time charging in my direction. Her mouth is open and claws ready. If she landed one attack, I would be dead.
I inhaled and focused. My legs wanted to run. Thoughts of Summer kept my feet in place. I followed her movements and let her claws sink down into my shoulder as I brought the sword up. She backed up but I was faster. I neatly cut off her left arm, then nearly dropped the weapon because of the pain and its weight.
She backed off screaming. Her face twisted in hatred and anger. Again, my wounds started to close but I felt dizzy. I didn’t have enough energy to fully heal. Any more attacks and I was done for.
“You bitch!” She shouted.
I wanted to say the same thing about her. I gritted my teeth while staying silent. She decided to no longer mess around. A few more vials came from her pouch and I knew I was for lack of a better term, fucked. She drank them all at once, some blood spilling down her face but it didn’t matter. The mixture of so much power contorted her body. Cracks and groans came from her bones and her flesh shifted around trying to accept the magic from so many different sources. Her body grew so massive I didn’t understand how it fit inside the room. I suddenly thought we weren’t really in the basement of the church. The twins must have used some sort of power to create a safe space for them that this monster broke into.
When her body finally settled it had become something I held little hope of defeating. The face turned into something almost rat-like with rows of teeth. Her body was long with small wings tucked against her back. A tail as sharp as a whip cracked behind her as she ran across the ceiling, the long claws digging into the stone sending debris falling to the floor. I was too scared to move. Yesterday I had worried about my life being in a rut and now I was facing a monster made of nightmares.
The twins must have known how outmatched I was. A pair of white shot out across the room distracting the monster’s attention. Ribbons made of fog gracefully avoid attacks thrown their way.
“Run.” Came a whispered voice.
I saw a set of wooden stairs that led into the ceiling I could have sworn weren’t there before. The orange glow of safety came from an opening at the top of them. My mouth became dry at the thought of just running away.
My heart skipped a beat when I heard a terrible wailing sound. The monster had caught one of the twins in her teeth. She bit down on the fog that transformed back into Uma; her stomach ripped open from the fangs. The other twin screamed seeing their sibling get tossed to the ground, blood pouring from their wounds.
Fear took over my body. I could only repeat a single word in my mind.
Run.
Just run and save Summer some other way. I struggled to take in air when a simple fact fully sank in. If I ran the three of them would die. I didn’t like Hunter, but I couldn’t leave the twins to be devoured.
“Hey! Come and choke on this!” I shouted trying to get the monster’s attention.
To my horror, it worked. She dropped down landing hard on the floor. No logic was behind her glowing eyes. The vampire had turned feral when she transformed. She came barreling towards me and I did what my body wanted to since the start of this fight. I ran.
We met in the middle, her mouth open ready to take me out in a single bite. I sidestepped the attack and swung the sword as hard as I could as if it was a baseball bat. It caught the side of her mouth, her legs unable to stop from charging forwards with such sort warning. The sword was heavy and it burned. My muscles strained so hard I thought I heard some snap. Whatever weapon I was using it was clear I shouldn’t be able to carry it. It rejected me. A burst of heat came from the hilt, burning away layers of flesh on my hands. I screamed in pain but pressed on. It took muscles ripping, flesh burning, and bones breaking under the weight of the sword to finally cut along the entire side of the monster.
I collapsed the moment the blade tore through the last of the monster’s flesh. She was dead before I reached the end, but I couldn’t get myself to stop. The sword clattered to the ground, covered in blood and gore. I fell face first, body broken. The pain was overwhelming. I wanted to roll over and die. My hands smoked as fresh skin started to creep back over the exposed bone. I used what strength I had to lift to raise my head enough to see Mauhus go over to Uma. At least one of them was still alive.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, my eyes drifted shut after I saw Hunter next to me.
“I believe you. We’ll go and save your friend.” He said just before I blacked out.
I wasn’t out for long. He forced fed me some more of his blood when I was on the verge of death. That kicked in my healing enough to wake up. He handed over a bag of blood that wasn’t his. It tasted fine but knowing what I was drinking grossed me out. I could sit up, but it would take longer for me to fully recover. It felt like I had been hit by a truck.
“Are they…?” I slowly asked looking for the twins.
To my relief, Uma was doing better than me.
“Vampires have good healing abilities. I’ve heard that even some of the older more powerful ones can live after getting their head cut off.” Hunter told me.
I set aside the empty blood bag, my stomach churning as I tried to keep it down.
“I don’t like how I just drank some blood someone donated for a better cause.” I mentioned.
“It wasn’t donated. Born Vampire families had a system to get their blood through. They trade some vampire blood for medical reasons, and they pay people for their blood to consume. They also make sure that every bag they drink, another is used for transfusions.”
Well, that made me feel a little better there was a system in place instead of vampires leeching off an already limited medical supply. I bet this only happened in certain areas and with trusted organizations. I doubted doctors were aware of the whole vampire blood exchange thing.
“What’s the plan to save Summer?” I asked, still feeling sore as hell.
“I’ll call an organization who deals with this kind of stuff. They’re swamped so I doubt they’ll send anyone to help for another week. It’s nearly sunrise. You go home and get some rest. I’ll meet you before sunset tomorrow. We’ll take care of Noir together.”
I wasn’t entirely on board with Hunter’s plan. It was far too simple. But there wasn’t anything else we could do. I didn’t have the time to train. If Noir hadn’t hurt Summer yet, he would have killed her the moment he found out I failed my task. If I didn’t rest during the day, I would stand no chance of fighting tonight.
“Doesn’t sound like much of a plan.” I told him.
“You didn’t have much of a plan when you came here and look at where you are now. Alive and with someone on your side.” He replied.
Well, that was true. He walked over to the sword and picked it up. He cleaned it off and then noticed I was watching him.
“What’s up with that? It is cursed or something, because it nearly killed me.”
“It’s made of pure silver. Supernatural creatures are weak against silver. It’s a miracle you were able to even pick this up. Don’t try it again. I’ll let you use a silver dagger tonight.”
I thought I heard vampires didn’t like silver along with werewolves. What other creatures were out there? And how had they gone undercover for so long? My brain hurt too much to think too much about that.
“I wish we could just summon their super great grandfather and be done with all this.” I grumbled.
Hunter suddenly appeared serious. He had softened a little after I got my ass kicked a second time. Now he stiffened at the suggestion of wanting to get some help from an Ancestor of the twins.
“You’re new to all of this so you don’t understand what kind of monster Noph and his sons are. He’s not like Dracula. The novel describes a weaker generation vampire. The original is… impossible to comprehend. He has lived longer than our sun. He has the power to destroy universes with a flick of his fingertip and has. The scariest thing about him is he feels love and that makes him unpredictable. His sons are a slight step down. If I could remove the power to summon The Younger Son without harming the twins, I would. I’ve even considered killing them if they ever discovered the method of summoning to avoid even a chance of bringing that beast to this world.”
Again, my head was swimming. Some of the things Hunter was saying were impossible. How was a creature that I assumed looked human older than the entire human race? Was this monster something else that slowly changed over time?
“Wait… Are you implying a multiverse theory.” I said my voice sounding as tired as I felt.
“It’s not a theory. There are countless universes like our own all dealing with different kinds of supernatural creatures. Some of them can use magic to travel between them, but don’t worry about it.” Hunter said shrugging off a bomb he just dropped.
“What.” I said with as much emphasis as I could on each letter.
“Don’t worry about it.” He said again.
He helped me to my feet to start half dragging my body towards the stairs.
“Tell me where you live. I’ll meet you tomorrow. Get some rest.”
He left no room to disagree. Within a few minutes I’d given him my address and we agreed on a time to meet. I felt too tired to do anything but start to head home. My jogging pace was faster than most people’s running speed. It took double the time to get back than it did arriving at the church. The sun was rising by the time I came up to my RV. The bright light stung my eyes and already burned my exposed skin. Shattered glass was still littered inside my small home. I wanted to pass out but I did a quick clean of my bed. I taped up some cardboard to block out the light. Then my body gave out. Before I drifted off, I set an alarm so I would wake up before sunset. Writing down what happened helped put my thoughts in order. I silently prayed Summer was alright. I didn’t care if I lived or died tonight as long as she was safe in the end.