[The Shifters Committee 05.0] Sensual Hero

by Rebecca Foxx

  He collapses beside me on the little couch, and he curls up next to me with his large biceps wrapping me up in a tight embrace.

  What a lovely evening this has turned out to be. I kiss him several times, enjoying the intimate aftermath of our lovemaking just as much as I had enjoyed the act itself.

  He tells me I’m beautiful, and in the moment I enjoy his affection even knowing it was greatly influenced by vampirism hypnosis. After lying there for a few minutes, I realize that I did not bring anything to protect me from the sun.

  I sigh, kiss my newest lover goodnight, and I hurry back to the underground caves to hide away for another day.

  Ch6

  Thomas

  I wake up early in the morning. My body aches, and there is a slight breeze entering into my home. I sit upright and stretch, realizing that I am on my couch.

  Just as I am realizing that I am naked the previous night’s memories come flooding back to me. I slept with Sahara! Why did I do that? What about Abigail? I stand and rush to get my clothes back on. As I am turning the corner, I realize that my front door is wide open. Briefly I recall that Sahara had broken my doorknob.

  I close my door and run to my bedroom to find some appropriate clothes. Abigail is supposed to be coming over today to hang out.

  I see the time of the clock by my bed, and I start to panic. She is supposed to be here any minute. I throw on some clothes and kick dirty laundry into the closet, rushing to clean up. I run to the bathroom to rinse out my hair and hide the evidence of bed hair. I definitely don’t want her to think I slept in.

  As I am rushing to the kitchen to start preparing a lunch, I hear my front door open. “Thomas! Did you know your doorknob is broken?” I hear her voice call out for me, “Your house didn’t get broken into, did it?”

  I turn around to go to the door, but Abigail is already standing in my kitchen. “Hey beautiful.” I say.

  “Thomas, what happened?” she asks.

  I’m not really sure what to say to her. I feel like I should not lie to her, but I cannot fathom a world in which she would believe me. “A vampire-” I say.

  Immediately a confused look appears on her face, “A vampire?”

  I suddenly break down. I feel like I must look like I’m crazy as I speak. “The other night I was in the cemetery and this vampire attacked me, but another vampire who didn’t look like the other vampires saved me.

  I mean, she did not dress like the others I guess. She was the woman with the umbrella from the park, well, she showed up here last night. She broke into my house, and, geeze, I don’t know, I think she put a spell on me or something because I slept with her, and I’m so sorry, baby!” I rambled that off faster than I thought possible.

  Abigail is staring at me with her arms crossed, “Thomas, are you trying to tell me you cheated on me with a vampire?” There is a long pause, and she starts laughing.

  “Listen, Thomas, I hate to do this to you, but I have to cancel on our plans for today. I got called into work, but I still wanted to come by and see you.” She steps forward and kisses my cheek, “I’ll see you tomorrow. That okay?”

  “But… the vampires…” I grumble.

  “You’re so weird.” She says and gives me another kiss, “I got to go.”

  And just like that she is gone. I sure as hell got off easy. What other guy admits an affair and his girlfriend just laughs it off like it didn’t happen? My head is still spinning. I can hardly comprehend the past few days, but it’s not like I can keep denying what had happened.

  I spend the rest of my day circling my home and reinforcing all of the entrances. I feel like I’m going insane, but I don’t want any more vampire intrusions.

  By the time I’m done, I’m staring at house with bolted up windows on the outside and a ridiculous amount of furniture pushed up in front of the windows on the inside. Yes, I must be going crazy.

  With all the plywood on my windows you would think that I was preparing for a storm. Well, I guess in a way I sort of am.

  I look at my watch and I can hardly believe that I spent the entire day reinforcing my home. My neighbors are probably going to think I’m crazy.

  It’s like a constant balance of trying to decide whether or not to tell everyone the town is infested with vampires or to go on pretending. If I told people what I had seen they would probably lock me away.

  It’s late in the afternoon now. Abigail would probably be getting off work in a few hours, so I decide to make up for cheating on her with a member of the undead and surprise her. I go and pick up dinner and flowers and head to her apartment. I have a key, so I let myself in.

  She’s not home yet, so I make myself comfortable. I had not been to her apartment very many times; we normally hang out at my place. It seems as though she had cleaned up some; normally Abigail’s apartment is an absolute nightmare. One corner in particular always has a pile of clothes there.

  Awkwardly enough, it just seems as though the pile of clothes has just been moved from one corner to the other. I make my way over to the corner where the pile of clothes normally sits, and I see a chest. I have never seen the chest before. It’s almost like her pile of clothes had been hiding it.

  I look over at the pile of clothes and confirm this fact. She had uncovered the chest and had thrown the clothes into another corner. The chest is unlocked, so I decide to be nosy. Inside I see a cluster of freakishly old books.

  Abigail was not exactly a reader, so I become exceptionally curious at this discovery. I pick up one of the books and open it up. The title page reads A Brief History of the Vampyre.

  A cold chill runs up and down my spine. I continue digging through the chest and find a crucifix, additional books, and what looks like a steak. There is also a large piece of parchment which I unroll to examine. There is a list of names, many of whom I recognize as members of Abigail’s family.

  Each name has several dates and locations next to them. I find Abigail’s name and read what is written next to hers, “December 14th 2011 at Yorktown decapitation. February 26th 2012 at Chicago steak to the chest and decapitation (2 vampires). March 5th 2012 at Chicago decapitation (3 vampires). March 25th 2012 at Chicago burned alive. March 26 2012 at Chicago tortured for information on other clans followed by decapitation- additional clans located in the south. May 3rd 2012 Atlanta decapitation (2 vampires).”

  I keep reading the list through the years up until present day. I cannot be sure, but it seems as though Abigail has racked up a number of vampire kills. I try to convince myself that what I am seeing is completely insane, but I am not so sure.

  Could Abigail be a vampire hunter? Her family had always been a little strange.

  Were they some sort of league of vampire hunters? From looking at the list, Abigail was one of the best. She also clearly preferred the method of decapitation.

  How the hell did I wind up in this mess? Surely I’m not dating a vampire hunter… while being pursued by a vampire. My life seems to have gotten incredibly complicated. I’m not sure why, but I feel like I have to warn Sahara and her clan that there is a vampire hunter in town.

  According the list of kills, Abigail was not above torturing her vampire victims. A part of me does not understand why I am sympathizing with the blood suckers, but Abigail’s long list of kills is making me equally as uncomfortable. I hurry out of the apartment and head straight for the cemetery just as the sun is starting to set.

  Ch7

  Sahara

  I cannot believe how incredibly guilty I feel. I used my powers to hypnotize someone who clearly actually liked me. There is no way my powers suddenly got so strong that Thomas would have jumped me the way he did.

  He did not even resist the hypnosis even a little bit. So I made a guy who actually liked me cheat on his girlfriend and sleep with me when it could have happened on its own? There is something seriously wrong with me!

  Sure, vampires do this sort of thing all the time, but not to someone they actually like! I realize I do not kn
ow him particularly well, but there is something about him that makes me so happy to be around. The thought that we could have been together is out the door now; it’s hard to gain back that sort of trust once you lose it. Humans are very sensitive creatures.

  “I do not understand why you are so upset, Sahara.” Loraine says as she is sitting atop a tombstone with her nose in the book that she had borrowed from me.

  The sun has set, so the two of us are enjoying being out in the fresh air instead of hiding out in the cave. “You don’t get it! He actually liked me, and I forced him to act on it instead of just letting it happen.”

  “So?” Loraine questions.

  “So!” I snap, “Loraine, he is going to hate me now. I like him.”

  “You don’t even know him,” Lorain says as she turns a page in the book, “This is ridiculous, what is wrong with this werewolf character? Why does he hate the vampires so much?”

  “It’s just a book, Loraine.” I say, “Just enjoy it for the story.”

  “It’s hard to do that when the author has everything wrong.” Lorain huffs and turns up her nose.

  “Maybe you should just read something else.” I say.

  “I cannot.” She says, “I have already committed to reading the book now. I’m over halfway through it.”

  I laugh, “You know that is a series, correct?”

  “Damn it!” Loraine says and closes the book, “It seems as though I have a lot more of reading to do.”

  I laugh at her. She takes certain things far too seriously. “Ladies,” I hear Damion’s voice as he comes out of the underground caves, “Are we enjoying this night?”

  “Go away, Damion.” Loraine says angrily.

  Damion huffs, “So very cruel.”

  “I thought you two were back together.” I say.

  “Tell her what you did, Damion.” Loraine angrily taunts.

  “I laid with a human.” Damion says almost proudly, “She says that as though she has never slept with one while they were under a spell.”

  “I have, but we weren’t together when I did it!” Loraine jumps up from her seat and hisses in his direction.

  “Seriously, Damion?” I ask and cross my arms. I take Loraine’s seat on top of the tombstone. “You are such a horn-dog.”

  “A what?” he asks.

  “It’s an expression.” I say.

  “Let me guess,” He says, “an expression from this century of humanoids, yes?”

  “Leave her alone.” Loraine says angrily, “She’s cute and quirky and I like it. You, on the other hand, are an ass!”

  “Well-” he starts to shout, but he pauses. He is looking past us both, so I turn to see what it is he is looking at.

  I spot Thomas’s girlfriend standing behind us in the cemetery. All three of us straighten up anxiously at the sight of the crucifix hanging around her neck.

  We try to remain calm. “Having some sort of a lovers quarrel?” she asks, “Awfully weird place to do it.” I go to speak, but Abigail continues, “I thought there was something off about you when I met you in the park the other day.”

  She is looking straight at me, “I have never known a vampire to be so… colorful.”

  “Vampire?” I laugh, “That’s such a horrible thing to say. I’m, uh… very sensitive about my pale skin.” Not the best line I’ve ever thrown out there, but it’s all I can come up with at the moment.

  Abigail chuckles, “Please, don’t lie to me. I’m really good at picking up on lies. You, and your friends there, are all vampires.”

  “How do you… how do you know we are vampires?” Loraine asks.

  I had not noticed the katana on her back, but she draws it and grins at us all, “Because I’ve been doing this since I was a little girl.”

  “Shit.” Damion says and turns around to flee, but before he can make it back to the cave entrances, Abigail pierces him through the back like a shish kebob. Loraine screams, and I feel like I am frozen in place.

  “Run, Sahara!” Loraine grabs me by my wrist, and we run past Abigail and Damion just as the vampire huntress is sliding the katana out from his back. Damion falls to the ground; Abigail evidently has amazing aim because she had pierced his heart from behind to kill him.

  Abigail is fast- scary fast. You would think that she was a vampire with how she is able to keep up with us with such ease. Clearly, she is a very experienced hunter- which means we are pretty much screwed.

  Suddenly I feel something pierce my leg, and I fall to the ground. I look and see a small knife in the back of my calf. Loraine is beside me in an instant. She whispers, “We have to lead her away from the clan.”

  And she yanks me to my feet. Without giving me any warning, my sister yanks the knife from my leg. I hiss and shriek, but the two of us hurry to flee to the opposite side of the cemetery. I have my arm over his shoulder, and the two of us run.

  Flying takes far too much concentration to do in the amount of pain I am feeling, so the two of us are grounded for the time being. Even with my injury, I am still able to run faster than most humans.

  Unfortunately, Abigail is very experienced. She is on us in a matter of seconds after my legs gives out and the two of us wind up falling over. “Get out of here, Loraine,” I say to my sister, knowing that she could still fly off, but she has no intentions of leaving me behind.

  Despite our differences, we always have had each other’s backs.

  “So did you really sleep with Thomas?” Abigail asks as she descends on us. She looks incredibly curious by that fact, “You should have seen him this morning. You really freaked him out.”

  I nod, but I am too frightened to say anything to her. Things are not looking good. “How many of us have you killed?” Loraine asks and hisses.

  “Your friend Damion makes four hundred and ninety eight. I’m pretty excited to make my five hundred mark.” She lunges forward, and I am not so sure if this is going to end well.

  Ch8

  Thomas

  After seeing all of the vampire hunter gear at Abigail’s apartment, I decide to book it to the cemetery.

  She had been hiding that chest under a pile of dirty laundry; she had clearly moved the laundry to access the chest for a reason.

  If Abigail is as experienced of a hunter as her resume claimed, then Sahara and the others are in trouble. No doubt that Abigail already knows where they are or is at least on the trail after I told her about Sahara.

  As I am arriving at the cemetery, I spot Abigail’s car in the parking lot. Damn, she’s good. I rush into the cemetery and towards the crept where the cave entrance is.

  It does not take me long to there, but I become horrified when I see a dead vampire lying by some tombstones. I recognize the vampire as the first vampire I had ever had the displeasure of knowing; he was the one who tried to make me his dinner. I began looking around frantically, “Sahara!” I shout.

  “Thomas!” I hear Sahara’s voice, and I rush in the direction from which it came. Soon I am coming upon a rather disturbing seen; Abigail is standing over Sahara and her sister with a katana drawn. I can tell that both of the vampire women are injured, and Abigail is loving it.

  “Abigail, stop!” I run up behind them. From the looks of it, both of the vampire women have taken several slashes from Abigail’s sword. She had evidently decided to toy with them before killing them. As I am coming up to them, Abigail flings her sword-wielding arm back and the tip of the sword is inches from my nose. “What are you doing?” I cry.

  “You think I am going to have anything to do with you after you tainted yourself with one of these things?” Abigail asked, “Besides, our relationship was never anything other than business.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask.

  “You obviously have no idea your parents were vampire sympathizers,” Abigail says, “I was sent to you to try to find out what you knew. Obviously you don’t know a damn thing. Your parents must not have told you their ties to the cult.”

  “You�
�re crazy.” I say, but suddenly it’s like my entire life is being replayed in the back of my mind. I can recall my dad once writing a note to my teacher back in high school stating that I would not be participating in the study of the book Dracula. It had seemed really weird at the time, but I had not thought much of it.

  I can also remember one Halloween in elementary school wanting to dress up as a vampire, but my mom would not let me because she said I would offend someone. Was it possible that my parents knew about the undead being more than just folklore? I am definitely going to have to call them later.

  “I’m not crazy,” Abigail says angrily, “What’s crazy is allowing vampires to hide out in your attic when they are passing through town.”