The leader had finally had enough, he pulled his pistol and started firing on Serafina. She easily dodged the shots and made sure to do it with as little movement as possible, as quickly as possible when needed. To the other bandits, she was practically at a standstill, they were shocked she wasn't hit. For them, they figured it was proof she was actually a ghost. Several dropped their weapons and attempted to make a break for it.
"You think you can get away? How cute." She laughed with a small nod no one noticed except the man lurking in the shadows.
Red took that as his signal and began cutting the throats of the ones attempting to run. As quickly and efficiently as possible and there were 8 bodies on the floor with stunned expressions and hands clasped to their gaping necks trying to stop the bleeding. They had failed in their escape. Soon their bodies lay motionless.
More men began firing on her. So she decided to join Red. It was quick work for the two of them. Red just went as quickly as he could so he still wouldn't be seen. Serafina stopping just in front of them so they could see into her eyes just before she went for their throats, then quickly dodged the spray of blood. She only did this to leave them with that last bit of fear before their deaths. Now there were only about 5 left; they had slowly huddled together out of that instinctual need for comfort. Those were their thoughts, but really, Serafina and Red had herded them there like cattle.
"Come here," she motioned to the leader to come to her. The fear was too much, and he was frozen in place. She raised her brow in her surprise at his neglecting to fulfill her command and snapped her finger and pointed down in front of herself as though summoning a dog. This woke him up and he slowly walked towards herself back at her "stage", almost completely opposite the prisoners.
Once he was fully in front of her, he took her features in. At first, shock from her natural beauty, then as he went over her features a bit more and looked into her eyes, that shock turned into anger. Serafina had seen the changes in his expression. She wasn't sure what caused the anger; she much preferred the fear. She cocked her head to the side, "don't look at me like that." She simply stated.
The leader's face turned red and contorted in anger, he pointed straight at her face, "You're one of his freaks! You're one of Benny's freaks! That son of a bitch went back on our deal! I knew he would! Shit! I thought I had more time." He began breathing heavily.
She smacked his hand away from her face and stared him down, "I don't know this Benny. So I can assure you that I'm not one of his." She crossed her arms looking him in the eyes. "But you only assumed I was one of his after looking into my eyes. Does Benny have eyes like mine?" she asked.
His breathing slowed and his coloring began to return to normal, "you're not one of his?"
She slowly shook her head 'no' in response.
His body slowly relaxed from his aggressive stance, "yeah, his eyes were red like yours. His people were quick too, like you. They were monsters that started rippin' people's necks open and drenchin' themselves in blood. Guess you are different now that I think 'bout it, not a drop on you. I remember it pretty clear, it was a nightmare. But Benny grabbed a good chunk of our crew and their families before they were ripped apart like the others and told us if we wanted them back we'd have to make a deal. They have my family." He whispered the last bit, eyes red. He was tired and resigned himself to his fate.
"So the deal was to trade strangers to have your people released?" she asked. She watched him nod with his head down, not even looking at her anymore. She felt bad, but they were still in the wrong. She sighed, "You said they were monsters. I'm sure you already know that your family and friends are most likely dead already, right?" she looked at his head nodding in agreement. "But you were still going ahead with their deal? They were just making you do their dirty work and were more than likely going to kill you too." She noticed how still he was.
Her eyes widened in realization, "Oh, you knew. This was a suicide mission. Did your men know?"
The leader began to shed tears, he kept his jaw clenched to keep back the sobs, "most knew." He finally choked out. He wiped his eyes, cleared his throat, and looked back up at her with a pained smile on his face, "Most knew the score and were pretty much in the same mindset as myself. There's nothin' else for us here. But we were gonna try to at least cause a diversion with the prisoners. Maybe make some of them bleed. I noticed the monsters were pretty normal up until Jamison cut himself on his knife when trying to defend himself. That was when all hell broke loose. The monsters just started to swarm and just ignored Benny's immediate orders. So we were gonna cut a prisoner or two and have half the men try to sneak in from the back of the town to try and see if there was anyone from our crew or families they might be able to sneak out."
She was surprised they noticed the difference when blood was involved. He was fairly clever. But she shook her head, "I could almost respect you and your men for this plan. But you involved innocent people. Now I'm no saint and have killed plenty before. As you saw, it comes pretty naturally to me. But to knowingly throw children to the monsters. That's disgusting. Now I'm sorry, but obviously, I won't allow you to go through with your plan. I'm pretty sure your people are dead anyways if that's any consolation."
He nodded and hung his head down again, "Now Ms. Doña, I'm not sorry for what I've done and what I was plannin' to do. I know I'm not a good person. But I was more than willin' to do anythin' for my little boys. My brothers here would do the same for their young'uns. I know I have no right to ask you for anythin' but I'm gonna. Please, please go down south and see if there's anyone left and save them. You like kids right? There were a bunch before. From sweet baby girls to some boys barely startin' to grow their whiskers. Please! I'll take my punishment. Send me to hell where I belong. But please promise you'll go look!" He dropped to his knees, clasped his hands in front of him and bowed his head on his hands on the ground at her feet.
His men had overheard everything, and their leader was right. They knew the score; they were willing to do all they could to save their families and friends. So they immediately ran over and dropped themselves in front of her as well. All except the disgusting Rich. He looked confused as though he wasn't aware of any of what they had planned. She narrowed her eyes at him with her lip curled showing her contempt for him. "You." She called, staring at Rich. The men at her feet looked up at her to see who she was calling; when they saw her looking past them, they all turned their heads and saw Rich. Their own disgust and hatred for the man littering their faces.
Rich dropped to his knees and started to crawl forward. He even grabbed her feet attempting to kiss them, she kicked him away in disgust. "Now when I said you all were disgusting for throwing the children to monsters, I didn't just mean the red-eyed ones. Why should I save your children when you knowingly allowed this disgusting beast near them? I shouldn't have to protect them when you allow this filth near them." She directed at the leader.
"No! No one likes that piece of shit! But he's our boss' little brother. Boss always held him in check so we never had to worry. But Boss was one of the ones who was captured early on when he was tryin' to get the kids out. We try to keep this piece of shit in check, but he's not really scared of us. He knows we won't kill him since we have too much respect for Boss. If you killed him, no one would give a shit." One of the men blurted out.
"That's not true! They're lying! I'm a good man!" Rich argued while standing back up.
"No, no that's pretty much it. We fuckin' hate your perverted ass. We thought of 'accidentally' shootin' you in your head while sleepin' many times. I had to stop several of our guys from doin' just that, but damn was it temptin'!" the leader responded. Annoyance shown in his furrowed brows. He kicked Rich back down.
"Prove it," she calmly interjected. Looking the leader in the eye.
The leader simply raised his gun, extended his arm towards Rich, and shot him in the head without looking away from Serafina's face. "Boss would understand." He shrugged, justifying his actions. The remaining 3 men nodding in agreement.
"I don't know Miss Hart, I mean, he said monsters. Maybe we should see how many they have before headin' out? We're supposed to be harder to kill right? Better to know how many other vamps we're dealin' with," Red said from his spot sitting back against a tree in the shadows past the prisoners. No one else able to hear him.
"You're right. I have a soft spot for children. I'll go meet this Benny and see what I can do about getting any children out of there. How many monsters should I expect?" she casually asked.
"I don't know. Maybe a hundred? They just rolled into town and took over. Slaughtered just about everyone. There were more than three hundred living in that town when they went in. My gang ran the area closer to here, we ran the north of town. I think only our group of forty and the thirty they held hostage were left." He responded.
"Good to know," she said leaning back a bit. "We have a deal. But it's going to have to wait until after I get my children home, just so you know. I'm sure their families are missing them after all. Also, this doesn't mean I'll let you live. It's the principle of the matter at this point. But I'll give you a choice. You can take care of it yourselves," she stated looking at the leader's gun in his hand, "or I'll take care of you all like I took care of your friends. So figure it out. I'll give you 5 minutes to decide." Serafina had a blank expression, arms still crossed, looking down on them.
The men looked to each other, their fear melting away. They nodded in silent agreement, then looked to their leader once more. "We have your word right? You're not just sayin' this? You'll try to get our families out?" the leader asked Serafina.
"I have no reason to lie to a dying man." She responded.
"Thank you," he responded. Then lifted his pistol to his own temple and fired. His men repeating his actions from 'thank you' to the gunshot.
She didn't hear anymore heartbeats from the men near her.
Red quickly went over to her, "so you're gonna go against a hundred other vampires?" she could hear the hesitation in his voice.
"Yes, but thank you for your help with this. You can go now Red. I appreciate it. I owe you one." She smiled at him.
His shock was written on his face. "But Miss Hart, I can help! I mean, I don't know how much. I don't have abilities like you do. And there are a lot of them. Oh! Tell me what to do like we did now! I'll do whatever you say! We make a good team, don't we?"
"We did make a good team. But that's alright Red! Seriously. I don't know what's going to happen either. But if anything- I can defend myself. But it's just that if that happens, I may lose control and you might be killed too. So it might be best if we go our separate ways." She replied.
"Well be careful! If so many vamps are slaughterin' towns and lettin' the regular people know monsters are around, it might bring down those vultures from Italy! They don't mess around! Only law I remember Sire tellin' me was to never expose ourselves to people. I told him I don't go 'round flashin' myself to people but then he smacked me upside my head and explained it to me! He said we can't let people know monsters exist. That if we did, the vultures would come down and kill us. So he said if we ever did somethin' in front of people with our speed or strength, or somethin' that's more than normal, then to leave no witnesses. Now I think you're good, cause these people all think you're a ghost, not a vampire. But I don't know 'bout that Benny fella. So many groupin' together doesn't seem like a good idea. A whole town disappearin'? Nah, that looks pretty bad." Red rambled on.
"Vultures? Are they like the vampire police?" she raised her brow in question.
"No, I think, I think they're like. Huh. Like the bosses of vampires? The kings? I don't know. I just know we have to make sure we don't break their rules and we need to stay out of their way." Red said, scratching his head in his own confusion.
"Understood. I'll be careful. Thank you Red." She had a soft smile on her face.
Red swallowed, this was the first time she looked at him like this. "So uh, that favor. How 'bout we just try sleepin' together just once?" he asked.
She raised her brows in surprise, then sighed, "Red, you were doing so well." She shook her head in mock disappointment, "Now the favor is gone, you just traded it in for your life. See, I was going to kill you for that comment, but with you cashing in the favor now I don't have to. You are so very welcome! We're now even." she grinned back at him.
"Right! Sorry Miss Hart! It just slipped. You know how I am. Meant nothin' by it." He gave her an innocent smile and put his hands up and slowly started walking backward away from her. "It was nice meetin' ya though." Smile only getting wider on his face, "I'll try to be more respectful to the people I meet and I'll try not to be so cocky. Next vamp I offend might not be as understandin' as you."
"Before you go, I think you're forgetting something," she calmly replied.
He gave her a confused look. So she pointed up at her own head and cleared her throat.
"Aw, you sure? I think I look good in it, plus it's hard to find a cowboy hat in this color. A nice white." he pouted.
"Give it, it's mine. And it's cream thank you very much." She responded.
"Whoa, really? You have a big head Miss," he gave her an incredulous look.
"It's because of my hair, you idiot!" she laughed, "Now hand it over!"
He gave it back, then did a little bow, "you're a lot prettier when you smile" he winked at her and finally left.
She put the hat on her head and watched the direction that Red had left. She'd actually miss that idiot. He was just starting to grow on her. But at least she now knew she wasn't a demon and that there were others. She hoped that she'd get to hopefully speak to some smarter vampires in the future.
But she needed to get back on track. The children needed to go home before she got down to business. She was going down south to visit this Benny after all. She'd rather do it sooner than later.