Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

21

Nine in the morning, and Lincoln and Ronnie walked to Helsing's house to hold a casual rendezvous. She knocked on his door and it opened up by itself, revealing a drunk Helsing that lay spread out on the floor with a bottle in his hand. "Helsing?" Lincoln asked. "What the hell happened to you?" He responded with a groan and another swig from his bottle. He tries to sit up but his arm loses balance and he slips back down. "Christ, Helsing," she says, "you're supposed to be responsible! If you're getting drunk, how am I gonna contact you if something important happens?" He groans again but more loudly and drawing it out more. It's like he has something to say, but his intoxicated mouth can't spit out any coherent words. She rolls her eyes and walks inside. Lincoln does as well with a mix of pity and disgust. "God Helsing... I thought you only smoked." To this, he holds an answer that is clear enough to understand. "Couldn't sleep."

"Oh, I know what this is," Lincoln says. "It's about last night, right? You were too scared to sleep? Is that it?" Helsing doesn't say anything, but Lincoln takes his silence as a sign of confirmation. "Hah! I knew it! You're drowning yourself with alcohol because you're scared of that Zayus Greek guy!" Helsing pushes himself onto his wobbly feet, still gripping the glass bottle. He stomps up to Lincoln and grabs him by the shirt. "Hey! What the hell are you doing, you psycho?!" Helsing pulls Lincoln's face closer to his own and speaks in a low, menacing whisper. "I'm not scared of anything. You hear me? Nothing! I'm a goddamn soldier and all you and your townsfolk are, are miserable little weaklings that couldn't find their way out of a two-foot hole. They NEED me. You all need me." Lincoln swore that Helsing's eyes were different and had lost a sense of humanity, which was replaced promptly by the gaze of a werewolf's pupils. That's how visceral this terror was inside him. Helsing felt powerless and was now attacking the people he meant to defend. He dropped Lincoln and walked to the front door, readying himself to leave. "Pieces of goddamn shit. I ought to just leave you all. I don't need this. I don't need any of this."

Ronnie Anne desperately called out to him but he wasn't receptive. "Helsing! Wait! Come back, we do need you! Please!" Then he slammed the door behind him, leaving a powerful and sorrowful silence. Ronnie looked at Lincoln with a dejected expression. He scoffed at her. "We don't need him. Come on, let's go." He started walking to the door but she didn't follow behind him. "Lincoln... I'm scared. The town is scared. I think I'm just going to tell everyone to evacuate." He hissed at the suggestion, quickly remarking, "If you do that, you'll be letting them all down." Memories started arising again. Lincoln began picturing his own family and what happened to them. "You can't let them down Ronnie, they are normal people with friends and families. If we throw in the towel, then what message does that give them? What if this all happens again, and again, and again?" She waited a minute, then nodded. "Okay. So what do we do?" Lincoln grinned. "Let me lead. I can do better than Helsing." He held out his hand to her, and they shook on it, solidifying his position as lead "vampire hunter."