Hendricks’ eyes go pitch black and his fangs lengthen with hunger. It’s then that the woman twitches and turns her head. She sees us closing in and a delicious scream rips free from her soon to be dead throat. Her brain is a sludge of crimes that I flit through easily. She might be pretty and smile easily in her real life, but that only masks her true nature. I might be considered a monster, but the things these two have done make me look like a fucking puppy.
“Are you seeing this shit?” I ask Hendricks, as I flit through her memories. Each one more vile than the next.
“There’s nothing I love more than ripping apart child molesters,” Hendricks says with venom dripping in every word.
I lean down, gripping onto the woman’s hair aggressively making her yelp. Her entire body is shaking. Her blood is pumping throughout her veins hard enough that I can hear it whooshing along her jugular.
“Please, please, stop! I’ll do anything! I can give you all the money you want!” She shrieks. Her husband is still passed out from all the blood loss. Shame he won’t be able to witness his partner in crime’s last moments.
“We don’t need your money. But I fear we do need your blood,” I say running my tongue along the sharp ends of my teeth. She watches in horror, realizing that I mean to bite her.
“Oh, you fucking piece of shit. I plan to do so much more than bite you,” I say reading her fear like a book— my words heavy with distain. Leaning right next to her ear and holding onto her hair so close to her scalp that I know it’s hurting. I can smell her fear, and it’s like a shot of adrenaline hitting my veins. “I plan to murder you for what you’ve done to all those children. Your time of torturing innocents is over. Your luck’s run out and now it’s time to pay for all your sins. Burn in hell, vermin,” I say before chomping down hard on her neck. My fangs penetrate her flesh, ripping into her carotid easily. Her scream is cut short by the life draining from her with every gulp of her blood. Some of it spills down her back and front, making an absolute mess of my meal. I don’t care though. She deserves to hurt for all she’s done.
The blood hits my tastebuds. It’s warm and fills my senses with its coppery, metallic taste. I fucking love it.
The man begins to stir, and Hendricks is there, flipping him over without caution. He jolts awake with a yelp, eyes wide and full of terror.
“What the f?—”
Hendricks doesn’t give him a moment to finish that thought before pouncing on his meal.
He’s dead within seconds as Hendricks feasts.
We leave the pair of corpses where they lay devoid of their blood. They’ll make excellent leftovers for the zombies.
My body feels energized and ready to take on the world. I crack my neck
Walking out of the room, we take the tunnel that leads back to the main house. The air here smells of rot and damp earth and something else.
I realize it’s smoke after a moment.
Hendricks realizes it at the same time I do, looking behind us where a trail of the scent emanates from. We lock eyes before turning back at vampire speed, trying to find the source.
The room we’d just left is ablaze. The corpses charred to a crisp as flames lick the ceiling. Hendricks and I move to close the door, hoping to shut away the fire, but it’s only a temporary solution.
There’s no one around. No source of what started the inferno. All I know is that fire is one of the only other ways us vampires can die, and we need to run.
The fire begins to spread up the ceiling and along the ground as we take off, knowing that the tunnels lead to all areas, and if we don’t contain it, the fire will destroy this place we call home.
It’s nowhere close to dark, but the only option we have is to head towards the lake. Maybe we can use the water to stop the spread somehow.
“Grab the bucket!” Hendricks calls to me, gesturing to the discarded pile of odd junk that’s spread along the wall. I do and pull my arm through the handle, climbing up the ladder tucked against the end of the tunnel.
The trapdoor under the pier is covered with algae and mud making it difficult to pry free, but once it gives way, I’m able to crawl through on my belly. Sunlight streams through the small slats in the wood. I do my best to avoid it, but there’s no time. Army crawling, I pull myself towards the edge of the water. I manage to dip the bucket under the water, but my hands pay the price. They sizzle and burn under the intense rays of the sun. It takes everything in me to not cry out as I fill the bucket up to the brim and pass it down to Hendrick’s waiting hands.
It’s not enough, but it’s better than nothing.
The bucket does little to stop the spread of the fire, and I fear that we’ll lose to quickly growing inferno.
Hendricks passes the bucket to me again and again, making me fill it with water as fast as possible. Even with our combined vampire speed, we aren’t able to make a dent in the destruction.
Just as I’m about to give up, Talon’s energy becomes palpable, and the alarm is raised.
Monsters from every corner of the woods come running to help and within minutes, the fire is nothing but embers and residual smoke.
“What happened here?” Talon roars once I’m back inside, coughing and wheezing, my hands burned to shit so badly that I can see bone.
I shake my head and struggle to take in a breath.
