"Why the fuck do I have to push this piece of crap?" Sophie whines for the umphteenth time.
I almost groan out loud in annoyance but think better of it, as it's best not to piss off an already grumpy vampire.
"Because a) you're much stronger than I am, and b) I can barely walk properly because my body is too sore from dragging you here in the middle of the day." I explain lightly.
We've been walking through the Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve for several hours now. It's pitch black outside, despite the starry sky and moon shining brightly down on us. We have to rely on our last remaining flashlight, that I'm carrying, and Sophie's ability to see in the dark.
It would have been a somewhat pleasant trek if it wasn't for the occasional howling heard in the distance. I tense up, freezing in my tracks each time I hear those howlings. I frantically flash the beam in every direction, as if I'm expecting a pack of wolves to be standing there in front of me.
Sophie snickers. "They're not going to hurt you," she remarks casually.
I don't believe her. To make it even worse, she throws back her head and makes a howling sound, mimicking the howling of the wolves. It echoes around us and I wait, holding my breath and clutching the flashlight in sheer, fearful anticipation. Silence, then a distant howling coming from every direction.
"I thought you were used to camping and hiking in the wilderness," Sophie laughs viciously as she pushes forward, paying no further regard to me as I'm rooted to the ground.
I exhale shakily and wobble towards her, even though my body wants nothing better to do than to lie down. It hurts with every step I take, but I bear with it as I have no desire to be left alone in the middle of the woods.
"I am," I wheeze, panting and painfully aware of the sweat-soaked clothes that are clinging uncomfortably to me. "But we camped in places where there is no obvious danger of wild animals attacking us."
"Don't worry. They wouldn't attack you," says Sophie.
I frown as I catch up with her, noticing within the beam of the flashlight that she hasn't even broken a sweat. Damn her and her vampiric strength! "Why not?"
Sophie pinches her nose and her sneers come out nasally, "Because you stink! They wouldn't touch you with a ten-feet pole!" She cackles loudly.
The childish insult shouldn't hurt me but it does nonetheless. I become more self-conscious of my physical exertion and the puddles upon puddles it produces. My cheeks grow even warmer and I wish I could hide my face (and my body odor).
"You don't think something else can smell me?" I ask as the realization hits me like a punch in the stomach. Most predators rely on scent to hunt their prey. Do vampires do the same?
Sophie glances at me for a moment before facing forward. "Maybe," she replies nonchalantly.
Shit!
I stop and get ready to undress when she puts a cold hand on my own.
"Don't."
I blink in surprise. "Why not? The vampires, they could smell me, you know?"
Sophie shakes her head. "They're going to be looking for my scent, not yours," she explains and gently straightens my woolen sweater. "Your stink actually camoflauges mine." She winks at me.
I grimace, mumbling "how convenient," under my breath as I trudge along beside her.
"Besides, you should be more worried about bears prowling the night," she points out cheerfully, ignoring my look of horror. "They usually come out of their hibernation around this time of year, right? They wake up awfully hungry, you know?" She gnashes her teeth playfully as a silly demonstration and I can't help but to gulp a mouthful of stress-induced saliva at the thought of it.
"You're not making things better," I moan as my brain begins to conjure up horrific scenarios about being mauled to death by a bear.
"Relax, Leia," Sophie sneers at me, the tone of her voice is laced with irritation. "They're not going to attack you as long as I am with you."
I try to feel reassured but images of the time she assaulted that mugger invade my mind and I'm yet again reminded what Sophie really is and what she's capable of doing. Suddenly the thought of her protecting me against a bear doesn't sound so appealing anymore.
Everything around us is eerily silent, except for the occasional shuffling in the grass, made by small animals, and hopefully not bigger animals. I'm not much used to the silence as I'm more accustomed to the every day hustle and bustle of city life. Even when we went camping, I would always have an easier time sleeping if I was listening to music. My dad always scolded me for doing that, claiming that I wouldn't be able to appreciate nature in its finest form.
Well, dad, I don't know about you but the quietness and the darkness is not something I appreciate about nature, that's for sure!
I shake my head as the familiar pang of guilt rises within me. I have to stop thinking about my family so I push it to the farthest realms of my mind and lock it up. I can deal with it some other time.
The silence is finally disrupted by the distant sounds of cars and commotion, and the darkness slowly melts away from the illuminating pollution of lights. We've reached the city limits of Tok.
Sophie cries out in joy and I feel relief wash over me like a welcoming shower. One of the hard parts is hopefully over.
"Then we don't need this anymore!" Sophie gleefully exclaims and throws the cart away which lands sideways with a thud on the soft patch of grass.
"Yeah," I nod. "It's served its purpose dutifully." I almost want to give it a proper goodbye but Sophie is too eager to end our forest hiking and enter civilization.
We walk at a brisk pace through the remaining density of trees and cut through to the main road that leads into the city. It's around 10 pm so there's not much activity on the roads or streets, which is quite beneficial for us. The less people are around, the better.
Sophie wants us to keep to the alleyways and the narrow dark streets to avoid detection and she isn't sure if there are any sangues communities here.
"Do you think they've already been notified of your crime?" I ask.
Sophie shrugs. "No idea," she replies as she looks cautiously in every direction before sneaking into an alley. "But word tends to travel fast, both in my community and theirs. I once heard that it took 2 days to find a sangue and execute him after he was caught delivering info to hunters." She nods grimly at my shocked expression. "The network is vast, I'm telling you. Which is why we can't take any chances and we can't trush anyone, do you hear me?"
She grabs my arm and squeezes it for emphasis. I shut my mouth to stifle my squeak of pain and nod vigorously.
"Good," she releases my arm.
"Why are you so afraid that I will betray you?"
The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them. I didn't mean to say it out loud, it was supposed to be kept in the bottomless pit that is my mind. I go rigid and the lump of clay in my stomach hardens painfully as Sophie turns to glare at me.
"Because that's in your human nature," she replies matter-of-factly. "Self-preservation, it's engraved in every human, hell, even us vampires heavily rely on that." She leans against the brick wall, sighing. "In the end, it's all about survival."
I'm surprised that she looks more stoic than mad; her stance is relaxed, her shoulders aren't tense, and she doesn't have that blaze of anger shining in her eyes.
"I won't betray you, Sophie," I promise her.
She grins at me somberly. "Well, if you do, I'll try not to hold a grudge."
My eyebrows narrow in confusion and a small flame of anger erupts in my chest. I hate it that she doesn't trust me. But then again, I don't even know if I can fully trust her. . . My stomach decides to make its presence known at that moment and growls in hunger.
"We need food," I mumble as I try with feeble attempts to mask my audible sounds of hunger, my face growing hotter by the minute.
Sophie snickers. "Well, you do."
"Can we look for a cornershop or something so we can buy more supplies?"
Sophie's grin fades and she hesitates for a while before she relents in the end. "Fine, but you have to be quick and it can't be near a populated area."
I grimace. That doesn't leave a lot of options and it will be harder for us to search for a remote one since we don't have a map of the city.
We search nonetheless, sticking to the outer limits. There are a few apartment complexes strewn around but most of the buildings seem to be built for industrial factories or offices. Not many grocery stores or 7-11's for that matter. And even if there are some located here, I doubt they'd be open at this time of night.
Finally I spot a small store on the corner of a mechanic's garage and my stomach rumbles in anticipation.
"I'll be real quick," I assure Sophie and she grunts something of the lines of "I'll stay watch."
I take large steps as I approach it. Luckily the store's open as I detect lights shining from the windows. My mouth fills with froth as I begin counting all the wonderful food I'm going to buy and stuff my face in; bananas, blueberry muffin, oatmeal cookies, hotdogs, burgers, coffee, sodas. I don't even care if it's going to cost a fortune, I'm famished enough to eat a whole pig!
The light aroma of various pastries mixing with the scent of rotating hotdogs fills my nostrils as I step inside and I feel like I'm in paradise. It's amazing what food can do to a person's mood and general wellbeing. I smell something else as well. It smells metallic and rough, clashing hard with the sweet-inducing fragrance.
But that isn't the first thing that sets me off. There is no one behind the counter. In a small store such as this one, there should always be someone present to make sure the place doesn't get robbed. Raising an eyebrow, I move further into the narrow aisles, figuring that the owner might be restocking the shelves nearby.
„Hello?" I call out tentatively, even though deep down I know that I will not receive a reply. The metallic odor increases the further I walk. I gaze around and notice that a lot of the stuff has been forcibly removed from the shelves and are all scattered on the floor.
Suddenly my eyes catch a glimpse on a pair of legs lying on the floor. My heart starts beating rapidly in my chest; my palms are moist from cold sweat and I keep swallowing the saliva until my mouth is utterly dry. My brain tells me to turn and run away but I'm on the fence. What if the man suffered a heart attack? I could help him by giving him CPR until the paramedics arrive.
I inch closer to the feet and the stench is almost suffocating me. I mentally steel myself to see the worst but nothing could have prepared me for this.
The owner is on the floor, its body horribly mutilated. The skull has been cracked open like an egg, his brain matter oozing lazily from the wound. Chunks of flesh has been bitten or torn off in various places of the body. His stomach is ripped open like a grotesque piῆata. The entrails and organs have been torn out and are scattered on the bloody floor.
I stare at the floor in downright horror. So. Much. Blood.
That's the smell that's wafting through the air, choking me.
I'm frozen solid, an ice cold quiver envelops my entire being. I plead with my eyes to focus on something else but they're glued to the horrid display of devastation on the floor.
A sharp intake of breath, followed by a stream of curses, unlifts my spell of immobility and I turn around to see Sophie looking aghast.
„Shit, I thought I smelled blood," she growls in a low tone and immediately begins to search the place, looking for the culprit.
„D-Did a vampire d-do this?" I stammer hoarsely, backing away from the body as fast as I could and knocking into one of the shelves.
Sophie shakes her head. „We're not interested in body parts nor do we eat human flesh. We may be beasts but our sole interest in humans is their blood." She informs me casually. "I mean, look at this mess! What a waste!" Pointing to the pool of blood that encircles the body, she kneels beside it and studies the wounds. She bents low and sniffs them carefully, a grim look appearing on her concentrated face.
„I'm afraid this is the work of something worse than vampires."
I've started to shake uncontrollably and I fight the urge to throw up. Memories of the decapitated homeless man come flooding up in rippling waves. I cannot fathom that there's something out there that's worse than those heartless beasts.
Sophie cautiously touches the skin of the body. „It's not cold yet," she tells me, although I almost can't hear it due to the massive thumping of my heart. My brain is preparing to shut down its systems and go into auto-pilot again and I'm willing to let him do just that. I can't handle this much gore in my life.
Sophie grabs my arm and pulls me up with surprising ease. I always forget how strong she is.
„We can't stay here," she says urgently and hastily leads me out of the store. The smell of gasoline and autoparts outside is a welcomed delight from the putrid stench of gore inside the store of horrors. I take gulps of air, breathing in through my nose and exhaling out of my mouth. My teeth are tightly clenched in case I vomit.
„C'mon, this thing probably hasn't gotten very far," Sophie says, scanning the neighbourhood for signs of anything abnormal.
I nod absent-mindedly as I feel a numbing sensation coursing through my legs, threatening to become jelly. I support myself by holding on to the wall and I notice big, dark flecks of blood stained on the ground. They make a trail of sorts, coming from the store and going along the street until the bloody path takes a right turn at the next corner.
„Sophie?" My voice is barely a whisper but Sophie hears me and follows my shaky finger that points at the blood.
She grits her teeth. „Fuck," she mutters under her breath, raking her finger through her hair. She starts pacing around, arguing with herself, or with me. I'm not really sure beccause I'm at this point of my panic attack that renders me incapable of paying attention to my surroundings. I'm on the brink of sinking down to the ground but I'm terrified that I will come into contact with the tainted blood.
Sophie storms inside the shop one more time, I distinctly hear her throwing stuff on the floor and opening doors before she emerges, holding a metal shovel in her hand. It's probably used to shovel snow from the entrance during winter, I muse to myself. It's one of my coping mechanisms in dealing with my panic attacks: dishing out useless information to divert my brain from collapsing. No amount of mints can solve this.
„Here, hold this," Sophie makes me grasp the shovel in my shaking, sweaty hands.
„Why? There's no snow around," I mutter quietly and motion limply at the absence of the white slush.
Sophie appears alarmed at my current state of mind; I can see the worrisome creases form on her forehead when she's this close to me. However they vanish quickly and both her eyes harden and her jaw sets as she grabs me by the shoulders and gives me a harsh shake.
„You need to snap the fuck out of this – this stupid panic attack of yours!" she hisses sharply, baring her fangs at me.
I cower before her, slinking lower to the ground from her penetrating look of contempt and pathetic whimpers escape my lips. But her grip on me is as strong as a squid and she pulls me up to her level, where I'm forced to bend my knees slightly.
„Listen to me," she snarls in an authorative tone, banging me against the wall for good measure. I yelp in pain, my shoulderblades throbbing. „That thing is probably just around the corner," she tilts her head in the direction of the blood path, ignoring my frightened whimpers. „Some vampire asshole must have forgotten to finish it off once the binge was over."
Despite the whole physical and mental mess I am in, I force my mind to calm down and listen. „What do you mean?" I croak faintly, wanting nothing more than to cough due to my shriveled throat.
Sophie chews her bottom lip hesitantly before she speaks in a low but rushed voice: „You remember the humans I drank from?" I nod, grimacing. Drinking from them is putting it mildly. „Well, I went a bit out of control those times and drained them. We have a rule that we must follow whenever we feed: If we drain our prey, we must be sure to cut off their heads afterwards."
The memories are becoming clearer in my mind, especially the CSI photos that leaked online. „What happens if you don't do it?" The question leaves my quivering mouth, in spite of me having no intention of wanting to know the answer. Because I already know.
Sophie's mouth twitches into a weird combination between a grimace and a smirk. „The prey becomes something that we call a ghoul," she explains. „A wild, mindless, animated corpse whose sole purpose is to feed itself. On everything. . .fleshy." Her voice trails off as she listens intently to any sounds that might be coming from the corner.
It's faint but I hear rustling, like someone or something rummaging in the trashcans. I gasp, the blood freezes in my veins and my heart lurches. Sophie clamps her hand over my mouth, silencing me. „Keep it down," she hisses near my ear. „Ghouls have very acute hearing and they're surprisingly strong for a dead body. It will rip you apart like it did with the shop owner if it hears you."
My dry throat hurts from excessive heaving and I clutch the shovel in my hands so tight my knuckles grow white and numb. „So let's get out of here," I wheeze, gazing desperately at my friend.
Sophie shakes her head slowly. „I'm afraid we can't," she bemoans. „It's gonna cause a lot of massacre if someone doesn't it kill it." She locks gazes with me and I'm stunned to see her steely resolve reflect in her violet eyes. „That job solely lands on us."
My spiral of nightmares just keeps whirling.
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That's it for chapter 16!
Yay for blood and gore! There will be more of it in the next chapter :)
Leia will see for the first time what a ghoul looks like! I hope you'll be excited for the next one!
Thank you for reading and thank you so much for your patience and support!