She is Fatal to Death (Standalone Story)

Chapter 7 (Two Daughters)

          He removed his prized sword. The handle was infused with white marlin bone dust and black dyed, cattle bone dust. The lightweight blade itself was a mainz gladius. The entire border of the metal shone with ultraviolet light. The most powerful vampires could withstand daylight with little discomfort, as long as they continued to maintain most of their blood from their human lifetime. But stranglers, and especially the crazed ones, were extremely sensitive to any kind of light, but ultraviolet light was deadly to them.

           Keone sniffed the air and had his weapon at the ready.

          He briefly looked at his gloved hand for the second skin on his body. There was no way it could disappear, but he still couldn't kick the habit of checking.

          His boots barely missed the broken glass as he stepped through the shattered doorway. A welcome sign dangled before Keone from the ceiling like some sick joke made by the universe. The distinct sound of suctioning and squelching rang out, creating a breadcrumb trail for him to follow.

          Stragglers were always consumed by their need for fresh blood, so much so they only presented threats to humankind, who were ignorant to the vile presence of the undying world.

          Keone breathed through his mouth as he reached the old, walk-in freezer. The door was left ajar. This one was becoming more careless as each second passed. Disgust flashed through his body as he saw the outline of the creature engorging itself of its latest victim.

          He tapped his weapon against the door.

          It froze. From the back of its profile, it was hard to guess their gender, not that it mattered. Their spine was protruding, outlined by their flesh that was veiny and crimson from the excessive blood consumption. Most of their hair had shed. They snapped their head at an awkward angle instead of turning around, revealing a skull-like face, razor sharp teeth, and hollow, crimson eyes. It sniffed, eyes widening—even in this state, they knew who Keone was and why he was there.

          They tried to flee from his bright weapon, screeching out ungodly noises.

          Keone would have tried to get some exercise out of this once upon a time, but these days he just wanted to get the assignment completed and then forgotten. Not wasting any time, he cut off the creatures path and with one heavy swing of his sword, their stuff-of-nightmares head went rolling. Its body caught fire instantaneously, until the embers burned into nothingness.

          He dusted off his pristine outfit.

          Instead of setting the diner ablaze immediately, he went over toward the cadaver. A woman. Keone recognized her as the missing mother from the last house he visited. Ai Goh. Twenty-four. Two daughters (two and four years old). Hard-worker—she was abducted on her way home from work. The children were staying with a foster parent.

          He rubbed his chest as he recognized how tragic it was for her to have died so brutally. The head was already gone, but Keone noted the merlion tattoo on her shoulder and it confirmed her identity without a doubt.

          Keone had to do something.

          He looked around. It was quiet, with the distant sound of mechanical life the only sign that there was anything at all past these infested walls.

          Stay the fuck away from me, you murderer.

          His shoulders hunched. He realized what he was doing and straightened himself.

          Keone had a fire to start.

Renata

          Two hours. She arrived at the DMV around seven in the morning. Her phone read a little past nine. All for a temporary ID. This was what she got for being careless with the original one. It was somewhere out in the world, just not anywhere she knew.

          The sun burned brightly that day, hitting Renata's bare face. It was because of the heat that she decided against makeup while getting ready. Acne scars it was.

          Renata unlocked her car and got inside, planting herself on the scorching leather seats. Her half-consumed iced coffee was warm in an unappetizing way at this point. She sighed in disappointment, inhaling her new air freshener called 'rainforest mist'. The tips of her fingers pushed against the hot steering wheel with the lightest possible touch.

          A call popped up on her dashboard. Renata's eyebrows just about disappeared into her hairline once she recognized the phone number. She began driving and contemplated whether to answer. What the fuck did they want? She cursed a couple ugly words and pressed the green button. "Rocio?"

          One thing about Renata's sister, she always sounded so unbothered, like a lake as the waves rippling through it eventually calmed once again. "You know, it would have been nice to have been told you changed your number. I had to bribe a couple people to get it."

          Why did Renata answer again? She began heading in the direction of her office building. "I forgot to program a lot of the numbers from my old phone. I was getting around to it... eventually."

          There was Rocio's classic and not-missed sarcasm. "I bet you were just about to do it tonight? Dying to talk to your big sissy."

          Renata tried to think about Rocio's face. Dark brown skin. Pierced nose. Broad chin. Pouty mouth. Black locs down her back. But that was years ago. Too many at this point. Rocio could look completely different. Renata hadn't seen her sister since her teens. "How long has it been?"

          Rocio sighed. "Too long."

          "What do you want from me?" Renata was only mildly curious and severely pissed. At least traffic was better than she anticipated, considering she was navigating the heart of the city, where her office was located.

          "Well, I actually have a job in your town for the next two months. When I saw where, it just felt like it was meant to be."

          Renata didn't see the point in entertaining Rocio considering how much was on her plate already. "You've sent me a birthday card every year. A text for each holiday. You called maybe a handful of times. You don't even know me anymore. I don't know you—"

          Rocio's voice finally had some liveliness in it, maybe even hurt? That's rich! "That's not true, Nata. I'm your big sissy. We grew up—"

          "That was years ago!" Renata snapped, driving with a heavy foot against the gas pedal and a palm hovering over the horn. "I really don't understand why you called after all this time."

          "I'm sorry. I really am." Wow, that actually sounded genuine. "Let me fix it."

          Renata scanned the cars around her as she changed lanes. Her blinker sound was so loud as she didn't say anything for a beat. "When are you coming?"