In all my years of vampire hunting, I have never seen anything like this.
In fact, I thought witnessing a vampire feeding ‘normally’ was horrible. But this--this was more than horrible.
The man’s cries grew softer as the life was drained from him by this bloodsucking motherfucker, and all I could do was stand and watch.
The shock was too much for me. It had me frozen in my spot. Where did this vampire come from? He surely wasn’t a local. Because other than my siblings' killer, I’ve never seen a vampire feed so…wild.
It was like watching an animal devour its prey. It was so carnal and messy. The vampires in Consok knew how to keep themselves a secret. They compel before they feed, and send their victims on their way alive.
But him...he killed that poor man.
And I just stood there and watched.
I yelped in horror when the vampire dropped the man’s lifeless form in front of him, and the sound I made alerted the killer to me. I wasn’t scared of him, but I was still recovering from shock.
I was in no way prepared to witness this, and the immense guilt I felt as I stared at the man that the vampire killed almost swallowed me whole.
I could’ve saved him. I should’ve saved him. But I just stood there and watched as a vampire--the things I live to kill--drink the life from his body.
I stepped back on impulse as I shook my head. He’s dead.
My chest rose and fell as my heart rate increased, and my vision became blurry with an unfamiliar sting of tears. One of my people--the people I protect--is dead and it’s all because of me.
Well, it was 90% because of the actual killer, but the fact still remains that he was alive when I found them, and I didn’t help him. I didn’t save him.
I failed one. And it felt like I failed them all.
“No, no, no,” I mumbled as I pressed my back against the wall. I was very much aware of the vampire who was eying me as if I was his next snack, but I was too deep in grief to pay much attention to him.
Get a grip on yourself Amber! My inner voice screamed in my head, partially snapping me back to life. Looking up, I saw that the young man was inching closer to me as if he was about to have his next meal.
Little did he know that he wouldn’t be the one killing me tonight. I’d be killing him.
Becoming somewhat focused on the task at hand, I fumbled with my chives gun that was sitting in my duty belt. But I soon discovered that my hands were shaking like a leaf. I knew it was still my body’s reaction to the pain that was surging through me, but the vampire thought that I was afraid of him.
As I gripped it in my hand, I held it and aimed straight at him, but with his vampire speed, he was in front of me in what seemed like a millisecond and my gun was snatched from my hand as if it was never even there.
My eyes grew wider as I blinked a couple times. I’ve never seen a vampire move that fast before. Ever.
Not even Drew.
“What were you trying to do? Stupid girl,” he taunted with a smirk, my hand still in his grip. I flashed him a perfectly raised eyebrow as I glared at him.
Stupid girl? Does he even know who I am?
“You’re about to find out, you killer,” I spat as I grabbed my dagger and sank it in his neck. The pain of losing an innocent man and my anger towards this man was fueling me, and I smirked in satisfaction when he winced and pulled away.
My gun was still a few feet away, but in his distracted state, I could easily end him. And that was exactly what I was going to do.
From my holder, I grabbed my second golden dagger and moved closer in an attempt to sink it deep in his chest as he attempted to pull my second dagger from his neck. His blood was on my face and everywhere, but I didn’t care. He murdered an innocent man and he will pay dearly.
However, he caught onto my movement, and in the blink of an eye I was slammed against the wall, sending my dagger flying from my grip at the blow. I winced in pain as it felt like I shattered every bone in my body.
Warm, thick liquid trickled down my neck from where my head took the blow, and by far, this had been the worst fight I’ve ever had with a vampire.
A minacious laugh sounded from in front of me as he stooped down to the level that I slid against the wall. If only he hadn’t seen when I raised my chives gun at him. I’m a mere human after all. I’m terrific at fighting and killing vampires, but only while they were at human speed and strength. And for that to happen, I always had to give them a dose of chives from my loaded gun. I always led with it and ended with my dagger.
But to my demise, I didn’t catch this one by surprise, and so he discarded my only leverage over him. For all I know, he could kill me right now.
“Hey, I know you.” He drawled as if he’d just discovered something, before pulling my dark kerchief from my face.
I used it to cover half of my face so that I don’t get recognised, but he was too close for too long.
“You’re the princess,” he said in fake amazement as he grabbed my chin to pull my face upward to meet his gaze. I knew mine was filled with venom as I glared at him. I was too weak to fight back, and I had no more chive with me, so I was at his mercy even though I would never admit or accept that.
I knew he wasn’t a local. He had an accent that sounded Australian. No wonder he doesn’t feed the same like the others. He wasn’t from here.
I wanted to send him right back to where he came from, or better yet, hell.
I glanced in the direction where my gun laid as I calculated the odds of reaching it. But it was no use. The gun was too far.
“No no, my darling princess. Look at me,” he mumbled as he yanked my head back in his direction. “This will be fun.”
A grin spread on his face as he trailed a finger down the back of my neck, before bringing the bloody tip to his lips. The sight made me completely sick to my stomach as he moaned as if it was the best tasting thing in the world. He reached for another swipe, but I quickly slapped his hand away.
“I will kill you,” I gritted out which only caused him to laugh harder.
“You really think you can kill me? With what? This?” He dangled my dagger in front of my face, and I stared him dead in the eyes as if I wasn’t interested in grabbing it. But when I did, I was yet again too slow, and his cold, wet fingers wrapped themselves around my wrist. My body stiffened when a loud snapping sound followed by a terrible jolt of pain filled my every nerve. He broke my wrist.
He broke my fucking wrist.
I bit on my lip so that I didn’t scream, but I could feel the dislocated bone dangling out of place as he dropped my hand to my side.
“Tough one, aren’t ya?” He snickered like a sneaky cat before pulling my head closer to him. “But I’m done playing.”
My eyes closed on instinct. I hated that I had to go this way, but there was absolutely nothing else I could do. I was growing dizzy from all the blood lost, my hand was useless and I was literally pinned to the wall.
I took quite a beating, and I had hoped to accomplish much more with my life. But at least I could reminisce on all I actually accomplished rather than what I didn’t. Still, I felt like I didn’t deserve the luxury of going peacefully when my mind drifted to the lifeless man who was still in front of us.
It was my last night on earth, and I couldn’t even save his life.
I squeezed my eyes shut as I waited for his teeth to meet my neck, or at least graze it. But it never came.
Instead, a sudden wind tickled my ears and a horrible sound of skin being torn filled the silent night before the vampire’s grip on me became loose.
I knew he was no longer holding me, but I didn’t suspect that he was dead until I heard a loud thudding sound in front of me as his body fell. I suddenly knew we were no longer alone and so my eyes snapped open in shock and anticipation of all that just happened.
In front of me, laid the lifeless form of the man who almost killed me with his eyes still wide open, but his head was no longer attached to his body.
I gagged at the sight as I hunched over to release the bile that rose in my throat at the sight. I was used to blood, but this was on a different level of gruesome.
My eyes searched for my saviour when I returned completely back to reality, and I couldn’t describe the feeling that erupted in my chest when I saw Drew standing over the dead vampire’s body.
His chest rose and fell rapidly and his eyes were dark as night as he eyed the man with pure contempt.
I had never seen him this angry before. His fist was covered in blood and balled so tight that it seemed as if his knuckles were going to tear his skin open.
He seemed as if he wanted to raise the man from the dead and kill him again. I didn’t even know for sure if the vampire was dead. As far as I know, only a golden dagger to their hearts can kill them. But then again, I couldn’t decapitate a vampire any day with my human strength, so I couldn’t know if it actually killed them too. There was a high chance though. It didn’t seem like he was coming back alive anytime soon.
“Drew,” I breathed out as I stumbled over to him. My feet wavered as I moved away from the wall, and I felt my body swaying before Drew’s strong arms caught me.
Gazing up in his eyes, I watched as they slowly returned to their natural grey colour. He reached up to push some knotted hair away from my forehead, and I saw regret and guilt swimming in his stormy eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” he mumbled almost inaudibly. I didn’t bother to ask for what, since I could feel myself drifting away. The blood loss was too much.
Drew rested me carefully on the ground which confused me a bit. But then with my eyes barely open, I saw that he was picking up my gun and daggers, after which he stuck the dagger into the vampire’s chest, making his body disintegrate into ash almost immediately.
My eyes fluttered closed as I felt Drew’s hand picking me up again. He mumbled something that was too low for me to hear, before I felt myself moving at inhuman speed.
I no longer fought the sleep. The pain in my body had become numb, but I felt like I needed to escape, even if it’s only for a minute.
So, I let myself drift into a deep, dark slumber.