Giving Way to the Light

Chapter One

Swish, flick, click, pause. I leaned in the window carefully, pulling the shadows in tight around me as I closely examined the bedroom. It was empty— or so it seemed at a glance. I knew the little boy who slept in here was only in the bathroom, and I had about 25 more seconds to move in, do my job, and slip out.

I slid easily into the dark room, avoiding the dim glow of the nightlight, and crept towards the end of the bed. I stole a peak underneath and there it was. A phantom. No wonder this kid was having nightmares, this thing was huge, and probably gorging itself on his energy.

The ghoul glared at me hatefully and dared me to make it move with its large glowing red eyes. It obviously already knew who I was and was readying itself for a few rounds.

 How nice it is to have a reputation that precedes me.

"Get out now and no one gets hurt," I hissed at it, making sure my fangs were visible as I spoke (not that they're easy to miss). In the paranormal world, the bigger and sharper your fangs, the more others have to respect you, and mine are vampire grade beauties. Apparently. that meant nothing to this guy.

"Make me little girl. There is nothing you can do to make me give up such a lovely little morsel, Reaper."

I growled heatedly. There is just no reasoning with people like this. A flush from down the hall alerted me to the little time I had left and I drove under the bed, claws first. The fight didn't last very long, but it was definitely loud. The phantom put up quite the hissy fit when I scratched his face, but he was obviously new, and unchained to this realm. I made quick work of him.

"Vos uagum, tolluntur Angliae. Eorum coelo manet sua vos amenitate iudicandi call," I chanted. The phantom gave a hollow wail and in a flash of sulfur scented smoke, he was gone.

"I hope it's toasty where your going," I muttered, dragging myself out from underneath the bed. My claws and fangs were gone now (replaced with the mother of all splitting headaches) as they were now unnecessary.

I was so preoccupied with pulling myself out from under the bed without disrupting the carefully arranged stuffed animals on the floor that I didn't notice the little boy standing in the doorway. Not until he dropped his faded yellow teddy bear that is.

As the bear landed with a soft 'thump' on the wooden floor, I jumped up, ready to fight off any friends the phantom might have had, only to see a little boy. He couldn't have been any more than 7 years old, with wide browns eyes and a mop of brown hair. I relaxed knowing he couldn't hurt me, and definitely couldn't see me, but his staring was a little disconcerting—almost as if he could see me... but I'd long since accepted that it wasn't possible. I was a Lunar spirit. I had no believers, therefore he could not see me. I was invisible, and that's just how it was always going to be.

How wrong I was.

"Are you the monster under my bed?" he asked timidly. I started in surprise, looking around the room for who he could be talking to. There was no one else.

"M-me?" I asked.

He nodded, and I'm sure I gasped like a fish for several minutes before gaining enough control of my vocal cords to form a sentence.

"No, I- I made him leave. He's gone now."

The little boy smiled shyly up as me, and if my heart weren't beating a mile a minute, it would have melted.

"Thank you," he said sweetly. "He wasn't a very nice monster- not at all like the heffalumps." I cocked my head in confusion, the creature he was speaking about unfamiliar to me.