Harsh Light of Day

by Jaye A. Jones

  **

  Lena ran up to Will, a hint of mania in her pale eyes. She grasped his forearms and then looked over her shoulder at the tall, vampire woman across the room. Will had been awake, overly aware because of fear and anxiety. He tried not looking at the creatures, but that didn’t make the terror induced sickness go away even a little.

  But when Lena finally awoke, Will had something to focus on that wasn’t scary, which calmed him down a little. A very little. For only seconds.

  He didn’t know what was happening, but knew something was coming. All he had to do was look at Lena’s face and he knew.

  “Whatever happens,” she said, turning back and standing with her cold cheek on Will’s warm face, “don’t watch.”

  “But what—” he started, but Lena pulled away and took a step into the center of the room.

  “Just,” she began, but her usually sturdy tone faltered. “Close your eyes.”

  And a tall vampire woman with a boy’s haircut pounced without warning.

  Will flinched even though they were both far from him now. He watched horrified as Lena crumbled under the woman’s weight. She stood on her, Lena’s body twisted into an unnatural position. The woman’s bare feet sank into Lena’s side and back, and Will heard the crackle of bone on rock.

  Close your eyes, the thought screamed into his mind and he squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could.

  The array of sounds chilled him and made his body shiver out of control. The noise came from all around the room. Knowing the little he knew about vampires, Will couldn’t stop his brain from imagining what was happening.

  The woman was tossing Lena around the room. That was the only explanation for the sounds Will heard. Bone and skin and thick, cold blood crunched and clapped and splattered. Little Lena with her tiny waist and tentative smile was getting the snot kicked out of her and all Will could do was hang there and tremble with his eyes closed.

  But he knew that was all he could do. His wrists were in chains built into the stone wall so he couldn’t move. Besides, if he tried to do anything to stop this woman, he’d be snapped in half. And that would be literally. And no one in the house, except Lena would give it a second thought.

  What was strange was there were no words being spoken. No sounds of anger or fear. No gasps of breath or grunts of pain. The room was silent but for Will’s rapid breathing and the consistent thud and crackle of a body being thrown against the wall.

  Will had never felt real fear before. Not like this. He’d had close calls, mostly while driving, but never any major accidents. He’d never even broken a bone. His life had never been in any real danger.

  The horror Will felt now was crushing him. Today was the first time he’d screamed from pure horror in his life. It was the first time he was sure, without a doubt he was in mortal danger.

  It infected every part of his mind and body. It sank into his flesh and bone and wiggled inside his stomach.

  And now he understood what Lena had asked before. Will remembered the little things that made his life worth living. His answer to her question came so easily.

  At the high school football field, huddled under a blanket with his then-intact family and watching the game which looked magical under the haze of the big lights and the dampness of the cold night.

  Driving his first car for the first time, and knowing it was all his. He had earned the money and bought it himself. It was the first thing in his life Will had been able to call his own.

  Spending lazy Friday nights with his friends, knowing there were two whole days before he had to get back to work.

  Root beer floats.

  His mom’s lasagna the first time he went home after leaving for college.

  The smell of the first warm day after a long winter.

  Even being lectured about his aimless life by his father the last time they spoke, almost two years ago.

  It wasn’t about any of these moments in particular, but how they made him feel. Loved, hopeful, and alive.

  That was what she had meant.

  In that blood-curdling moment, with the chilling certainty they were killing Lena, Will felt loved. And hopeful. And alive.

  And pretty sure today was the day he would die.