Powers

by Elaine Waldron

time to realize her brother was in danger. And she couldn’t believe Amber had come up so fast without her ever seeing her. And she was beautiful!

  The older man turned around and saw Amber standing there, and she was looking at him with a look that completely unnerved him, but he wasn’t about to admit it. “Where the hell did you come from?”

  “Hell…” Amber replied succinctly.

  The boy was taking it all in, but grabbing all the money out of the register at the same time with his free hand. He wasn’t frightened by the woman, neither was his sister, who was moving towards her with her own gun.

  “Back out slowly, Judy,” Amber ordered.

  “But what about you?” She asked, confused. “She’d never seen anyone looking like Amber was looking right now – Fierce as the angel of wrath!

  “Just get out!”

  “She ain’t…” the young woman had intended to say Judy wasn’t going anywhere, but she didn’t get to finish.

  Amber had her by the throat with one hand, grabbed the gun from her and gently pushed Judy aside, and slung the girl out the door so fast there was no time to think about it. All happened in one swift move.

  Seeing this, the older man dropped the can of beans he had in his hand and yelled at his son, “Let’s get outta here, boy!”

  Having seen his sister fly out the door, the boy dropped the bag he had stashed with money and started to run out, but Amber had both of them by their throats and pinned to the wall before they could move.

  “Jesus!” the older man cried. “Who are you?”

  “Just your friendly neighborhood vampire.”

  Paul hadn’t missed a thing. Had he not known what had been going on in the community, all the killings, he would have been even more shocked than what he was. And he was stunned. But he also knew now why Amber had chosen Dorian.

  “Call Grady!” Amber yelled over her shoulder to Paul. “These guys aren’t going anywhere.” She let them down slowly and grabbed a ball of yarn off a nearby shelf and tied them both up together. She went to go get the girl, but she saw Dorian bringing her in, and she was looking very stunned. Amber tossed the twine to Dorian, and he tied the girl up.

  “Yeah…Grady…” Paul said, heading for his phone by the register.

  Amber turned to Dorian. “I told you to keep out of sight!”

  “We’re a pair, Amber. We work together.”

  “Okay…if you say so?” she grinned.

  He grinned back. “I say so.”

  Paul got off the phone. Amber walked up to him, Dorian right behind her.

  “I’d appreciate it…if you don’t tell Grady who helped you. For old time’s sake?”

  Paul stared at this beautiful creature with porcelain skin that stood in front of him, realizing that she could rip him to pieces at the slightest whim, and then at her boyfriend who could do the same, but he also saw in their faces that they meant him no harm. They had saved him and his sister and their money.

  “After what you just did, Amber…and you, too…Dorian. Of course, I won’t tell Grady…Thank you!” And he knew at the moment that he loved her even more than ever. But she belonged to Dorian, and he strangely was okay with that.

  Judy came up behind them. “And I won’t either.” Judy reached out to Amber. She wanted a hug. Amber accepted and folded her in her arms.

  “We need to get outta here, Amber,” Dorian said.

  “Okay…” She released Judy.

  And they were gone in a breeze.

  “Shit!”Paul exclaimed. “Shit! Never saw anyone move so fast!”

  “The cameras, Paul.” Judy said, pointing to the one over the door to their living quarters. I’m sure the camera’s got them….outside and in.”

  “Glad you thought of that. Grady will want the tape.” He ran into the house and pulled the tape out of the machine, threw it in the floor and smashed it with his boot. Then ran outside behind the house and buried it in one of the full bags of garbage and stuck the bag underneath the others. He went back inside and stuck an old tape in the machine. He would say it malfunctioned somehow.

  Grady was getting Paul’s story when Sheriff Brooks arrived. Judy was trying to help customers while Paul talked to Grady.

  “So…” Grady said, scratching his mustache… “Paul if it was anyone else…telling me what you just told me…frankly, I wouldn’t believe it.”

  Brooks stepped up and nodded. “Want to fill me in?”

  “Paul here…and Judy…” he glanced over and waited for the customer Judy was checking out to leave. The woman walked off… Grady continued, “Paul and Judy tell me that a woman vampire and her boyfriend stopped our little gang here.” He nodded to the three people sitting up against the wall.

  “You’ve got to be shittin’ me!” Brooks said, looking at Paul first, then Judy and then at the not so happy threesome sitting in the floor. “Vampires?”

  “You know. The kind of creatures we’ve been trying to hunt down for the past few weeks.”

  “But they’re killers?” Brooks said.

  “Evidently…these particular ones saved Paul and Judy…and their store from being robbed…at gunpoint.”

  Brooks indicated with a nod towards the three thugs. “What’s their story?”

  Grady sniggered. “Same thing… This beautiful woman came in and literally threw the girl over there out the door. And then pinned both men up to the wall by their necks with her bare hands. Both the girl and the boy had guns. But that didn’t even faze her.”

  “That’s really interesting. Took me a while to get with this whole vampire thing. Now we have good vampires among us?” He reached up and scratched the top of his head, glancing at the three in the floor. “You think they were vampires?”

  “She weren’t no normal human!” the older man said. “She moved so fast she was just a blur. And she lifted us up like we were nothing more than paperweights. And the way she threw Jill out the door, like she was a toy doll…I never even seen a man that strong. And when I asked her who in hell was she…she replied that she was… ‘Your friendly neighborhood vampire’!”

  “Well! Got tape of this?” Brooks asked.

  “That’s another funny thing…There’s nothing on the tape. In fact, the tape in the machine is from yesterday…I’m thinking the vampire changed it out…so we wouldn’t get a look at her…or her boyfriend. And I’m assuming he’s one too.”

  The girl nodded. “Yes! He is! He snarled at me when I tried to run… saw his fangs! And he grabbed me like I was nothing…just like she did. Hope I never see either one of them again!”

  Neither Paul nor the two officers saw the girl glance questioningly at the older man, who tilted his head slightly and winked.

  “Okay, Grady. What do you think?”

  “I think we should keep this one quiet. No one was killed. And we’d be a laughing stock if it were to get out on the news…with no tape to back up their stories.”

  “Just what I was thinking. Let’s just say Paul managed to overcome them and leave it at that.” He looked at the three. You willing to go along with that? Cause no one’s going to believe you anyway.”

  “Fine by me,” the older man said. “In fact…Right now I think I’d rather go to jail than risk tangling with her or her boyfriend again.”

  Grady chuckled. “Okay…I think you’ll get your wish.” He noticed the time on the clock. It was getting late, wouldn’t be long before dinner. “Why don’t you just close up early tonight, Paul? You and Judy probably could use a little time to unwind after your ordeal.”

  “Think I will, Grady.”

  Brooks and Grady headed out the door with their prisoners.

  Paul was right behind them to lock up, as there were no more customers in the store. “Evening Grady. Brooks…”

  Both men bid Paul a good evening. And Brooks assisted the prisoners in the back of his unit. Grady ambled off to his Jeep.

  Paul turned to his sister. Let’s just shut off the store lights and take i
t easy the rest of the evening. “I’ll phone Sally and tell her she has the night off.”

  “Sounds wonderful! We could take Bebe for a stroll?”

  “Okay. Lets do that.”

  He turned over the closed sign and took out his phone to call Sally.

  Dorian and Amber took a walk in the woods with Star when they got home, just to take in the sounds, scents and beauty of the forest. “You know,” Dorian said, proudly looking Amber’s way. “You really surprised me today!”

  “I did?” she said. “Are you complementing me?”

  “Sure am. You moved like a pro… handled those would-be robbers like you’d been doing it for years. I’m proud of you!”

  Her face lit up. “Really? I did that good?”

  “Better than good!”

  “Maybe it’s because you turned me…You’re over three hundred years old. Strong. And I got my strength from you.”

  “That could be it…But you may just be a natural for this kind of life.”

  “Didn’t know there could be such a thing.”

  He chuckled. “Why not?”

  “I don’ know…Natural or not…It’s what I am now.”

  “You think Paul will keep our secret?”

  She nodded in the affirmative. “Yes! Yes I do! Judy, too. I am so glad I woke when I did. They might not be here right now. And that would be terrible. They are two really wonderful people.”

  “I’m sure they are, Amber. And I’m glad you wanted to help them. I admit that I was leery, but after the way I saw you handle it…I won’t be leery again.”

  “Is that right?” she said, facing him and kissing the corner of his mouth. “You know…We haven’t made love since I changed.”

  He grinned