by ID Johnson
She approached the top of the stairs. Inhaling deeply, she put her foot down gently on the top step. No creak. After a moment, she slowly picked up her other foot and put it down on the next step. Again, not a sound. Grasping the handrail to steady herself, she repeated the process, one step after the next, pausing each time the lightning and thunder shook her soul, and cautiously made her way down the stairs.
When she reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs, something brushed against her arm. Jumping, she flailed her arms out wildly, catching a branch of her mother’s fichus plant as she did so. Her heart pounding, she pressed her hands to her chest, still grasping her cell phone. “It’s just a plant,” she thought to herself, afraid to say anything out loud now.
It took her a few seconds to regain her composure. Once she had calmed down a bit, she slowly entered the living room. She surveyed the room cautiously. Even with the help of the lightning, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The sofa stood between her and the front door. As she carefully stepped around it, she glanced back over her shoulder. She noticed then that the closet door was slightly ajar, which seemed odd. But as she turned to peer into the dark space about ten feet behind her, she didn’t see anything alarming.
It wasn’t until she returned her attention to the front door that something caught her attention. She wasn’t sure what it was at first. Holding her breath, and feeling her heart stop mid-beat, she slowly took a step forward, squinting in disbelief as she attempted to confirm that what her eyes were seeing was really there. She took another step forward, and then, she was certain. There, in the glass of the front door, she could clearly see a face. But this was no ordinary human face. This was something else entirely. The skin was so pale, it was practically glowing in the dark, the lightning disclosing bloodshot, steel gray eyes. Long stringy black hair framed the ghoulish features, the lips were blood red as well, and though the expression was frozen in a grimace, the teeth were elongated and sharp, the nose wrinkled in a snarl. It was as if someone had propped a Halloween mask outside on her porch. The cell phone slipped from Julia’s trembling hand, and with another crash of thunder, the sudden realization that this face not only was no mask, but that it was not on her porch at all, invaded her very soul, and a ripple of terror swept through her body. Just as she opened her mouth to scream, she saw the creature step fully out of the closet and lurch quickly in her direction, arms outstretched.
As Julia turned to defend herself, the glass in the front door came bursting in, the shards showering down on her. Instinctively, she ducked, covering her head with her arms as she did so. Unsure as to whether or not she was being attacked from both sides, she dropped to the floor, screaming in terror.
It all happened so quickly, it was difficult for her to see, but as she peered at the monster before her through her splayed fingers, she realized it was now engaged in hand-to-hand combat with what appeared to be a beautiful woman dressed all in black. In just a few seconds, the woman had the monster pinned to the floor, and then, as the lightning brightened the room almost to daylight, Julia watched as she grabbed the creature by the head and twisted. With a shriek that jarred every fiber of her being, the monster was decapitated, and before Julia’s eyes, it turned to ashes there on her living room floor.
It was all over in a matter of seconds, and then the woman was looking at her, nothing but kindness in her eyes. Julia was still huddled on the floor, her arms around her knees, rocking and crying. Suddenly, she heard a gentle voice behind her, and even though she was beginning to feel a bit safer, she still jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Julia, you’re okay, I promise,” the voice was saying. She turned her head to see a nice looking man, also dressed all in black, kneeling behind her. “We got him. There’s nothing else to be scared of. Are you all right?”
He had very pretty eyes, and he was looking at her like they were old friends, like he’d always been there to protect her. Her heart was still pounding, but she managed to ask, “Who… who are you?”
“We’re the good guys,” the lady was saying. She was next to her now as well. “Hold still, sweetheart. You have a little bit of glass in your hair.” And then she slowly began to pick pieces of glass out of Julia’s long blond tresses. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked as she took out the last piece.
Julia couldn’t answer, but she nodded a sharp yes.
“Good. Why don’t you have a seat on the couch, and I’ll get you a glass of water. Your mom will be home in just a minute,” the woman was saying as she stood and crossed to the kitchen.
Julia looked at the man, and he smiled softly at her, handing her phone to her. “Don’t worry. We won’t leave you alone until she gets here. Okay?”
“Okay,” Julia agreed. With his help, she pulled herself to her feet and managed to step over to the couch. He pulled the throw blanket off the back of the sofa and wrapped it around her. Julia realized she was still shaking. As the woman offered her the glass of water, she did her best to steady her hand, but it was useless. With the woman’s help, she was finally able to get the glass to her lips.
“I’ll get the Exstracto,” Aaron said quietly as Cadence sat down next to Julia on the couch. She was slowly rubbing the young girl’s back. Julia’s eyes followed as he unlocked the front door and stepped out onto the porch. The glass in the top of the door was almost completely gone, the wind whipping in, but very little of the rain thanks to the overhang.
He was only gone for a moment, and then he returned with what looked like a Dustbuster in his hand. “Julia, this is going to be a little loud, but it will only be on for a second, okay? You might want to cover your ears.”
It wasn’t particularly loud, but under the circumstances, Julia’s nerves were shot, and as he turned on the device, her hands flew to her ears. The woman still sat next to her, her arm around Julia’s shoulders protectively.
When he was done, Cadence asked, “What’s the plan?”
“I saw a piece of plywood leaning against the garage we can use to cover the door, but as for the explanation, I’m not sure. We could maybe call in a local,” Aaron replied.
“What about…” Cadence asked, nodding her head in the direction of the porch.
“Do you think?” Aaron asked.
“Worth a try,” Cadence replied.
Aaron seemed to consider the idea for a moment before shrugging and going back out the front door, Exstracto in hand. In a moment, he returned, and this time he wasn’t alone. There was another man with him. This one looked younger--and maybe a little frightened himself. “Hey, Julia! I’m Brandon” he said quietly, gently. “How are you?”
Cadence kept her arm around the girl, and Aaron went out to get the plywood and begin to patch the door. Julia’s eyes shifted from one face to the other. “I’m… scared,” Julia replied. “What was that thing?”
“That thing?” the boy asked. “Oh, no! Has someone been watching too many Halloween movies?” he asked as he sat down next to her on the couch.
Julia’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?” she asked, turning to face him.
“The glass in your door was broken by all that hail that was falling a few minutes ago. You came down to see what was happening, and it broke right in front of you. That must have been really scary! But that’s all that happened. And then, we stopped by to help you. We live in the neighborhood, and we just wanted to check and make sure you were okay.”
Julia was puzzled. She looked at the door. The glass was broken, but now that man--her neighbor--was fixing it. He was nailing a piece of plywood over the hole. The hole that was made by… by… hail. Right, it was made by hail. And this lady--she was Julia’s neighbor. She had just stopped by to check on her. How nice. “Oh, right,” Julia said quietly. “Hail broke the door.”
Cadence’s eyes widened. It was working--it was actually working! Behind Julia’s back, she smiled at Brandon. “That’s right,” she agreed. “Hail broke the window. But everything’s o
kay now.”
There was a noise in the driveway, the flash of headlights, and the slam of a car door. The rain was dying down now, but the footsteps to the back door were still hasty. The key in the lock caused all three of them to turn their heads. “Julia?” her mother yelled. “Whose car is that out there?”
This would be the true test. With a hard swallow, Brandon stood. “Hello, Ms., uh….”
“Cannon,” Cadence offered.
“Cannon,” Brandon repeated. “We are your neighbors. The… Steins. I’m Brandon. This is my sister, Cadence, and her husband Aaron is currently fixing your back glass.”
“What the hell is going on?” Ms. Cannon asked, tossing her purse down on the kitchen table and rushing into the living room. The power was still out, and she could use only the fading lightning to ascertain who was in her living room.
“We were driving by and noticed that the hail broke the glass in your front door,” he continued. “So, we decided to stop and see if everything was okay. Julia was here alone, and she was scared. So, my sister decided to come in and make sure she was okay. You remember us. We live in the … white house...down the street. We met at the school picnic last year.”
Cadence held her breath. This seemed like a huge stretch--he was offering too much information.
Ms. Cannon did not look like the type of person one was trifle with. She had a scowl on her face, and yet, as soon as Brandon stopped talking, her expression changed. “Oh, yes, of course!” she exclaimed. “Brandon! How are you?”
“I’m good,” he replied, smiling. “I’m so glad you made it home safely, what with all the rain.”
“Oh, my goodness!” she said, crossing her arms. “It was pouring! But, yes, I’m home now. I’m so glad you all happened by. I bet that was terrifying, Julia, hearing that glass break.”
“It was really scary, Mama,” Julia agreed.
Aaron was done with the door now and he entered the living room. “Hello, Ms. Cannon,” he said smiling. “Sorry about your door, but that should hold until you get someone out to replace the glass.”
“Thank you so much for patching it up for us!” she replied. “We’re so lucky to have such great neighbors.”
“No problem,” Aaron said, nonchalantly. “If you have a broom handy, I can sweep up this glass for you.”
“Oh, no, that’s okay,” she assured him. “You have done enough. We’ll wait until the electricity comes back on and that way we’ll make sure we get it all. For now, we should get to bed. I’m sure you guys want to get home, too.”
“Well, it is really late,” Cadence agreed.
“I am pretty tired,” Brandon added.
“All right then,” Aaron nodded, as the other two made their way over to the door, patting Julia on the arm and telling her goodbye as they did so.
Ms. Cannon stepped around the glass and followed them to the door. “Thanks again for all of your help,” she said as she opened the door to let them out into the mist. “If there’s ever anything we can do to help you out, just holler.”
“Will do!” Cadence assured her. “Have a good night!”
“You, too,” she said, closing the door.
As they made their way down off the porch, they heard Ms. Cannon say, “Hmm, why is the closet door open?”
Increasing their speed, they hustled to the SUV Aaron had parked under the trees near the driveway, hopeful that Julia wouldn’t remember why the closet door was open and that Brandon’s spells were as long-lasting as his father’s.
“We definitely need to send a local in to check on her tomorrow,” Aaron said as he swung the SUV out onto the road.
“For sure,” Cadence agreed. “She could potentially be scarred for life.”
“Does that mean you think my lying to be subpar?” Brandon asked, defensively, from the back seat. “Because I thought I did a pretty damn good job for my first attempt--on the fly.”
“You did a great job,” Cadence assured him, turning to look at him. “Chances are, she’ll be fine. But I’d hate to see anything happen to that sweet girl.”
Brandon didn’t look completely convinced, but he didn’t continue the argument. After a moment he finally said, “Well, all I can say is, you’ve made a believer out of me. Holy hell! What was that thing?”
“Uh… a Vampire,” Cadence said sarcastically. “Just like we’ve been telling you.”
“Okay,” Brandon replied.
“Just like I said all the way there. You’re going to see a Vampire. A real Vampire.”
“I get it.”
“Try to refrain from breaking out into tears or shrieks of terror….”
“I remember!” Brandon exclaimed. “I just .... didn’t believe you.”
“Well, you should have. ‘Cause I was telling the truth.”
“Clearly,” he acquiesced. “But… did that thing used to be human? How did it get so messed up?”
“Yes, he was a human just a few weeks ago,” Aaron confirmed looking at him briefly in the rearview mirror. “But he was bitten by another Rogue Vampire--that’s one that consistently breaks the rules--and he never came in to be trained or tagged. Once he began to prey on Innocents, like those two kids and the truck driver, he was marked as Rogue as well, which means he had to be destroyed. As for his appearance, well, most Vampires are not quite as attractive in real-life as they are in the movies.”
“They’re nasty,” Cadence confirmed. “Almost every single one of them. And they can contort themselves to be even more frightening.”
Brandon was shaking his head in disbelief again. “Well, I may have some nightmares myself tonight. That was unbelievable.”
“Just remember,” Aaron cautioned, “you cannot tell anyone what you just saw. Not even your mom.”
“Don’t worry; she wouldn’t remember anyway,” Brandon muttered.
“What was that?” Cadence asked, wrinkling her brow.
“Nothing,” Brandon replied. “Secret’s safe with me.”
“Good,” Aaron replied. “So, do you have any questions?”
After another moment of contemplation, Brandon admitted, “More than I can even articulate. I don’t know. I mean, how does this Transformation thing work again?”
Cadence and Aaron exchanged glances, and he nodded at her as if to say go ahead and answer, so she said, “Well, it can happen one of two ways. Back before we had Transformation Serum, Guardians and Hunters were activated to Transform through stressful situations, like confronting a Vampire. You may have actually started the process yourself, although since you were never in any danger, you’re probably your same ol’ loveable self.”
Brandon snickered. “I feel pretty normal,” he assured her.
“The other way is through the Transformation Serum. It basically puts you in a trance-like state and activates the coding in your DNA while you take a nap. When you wake up, you’re all done, and you’ll be a Guardian. Or, in my case, a Hunter.”
“So, it’s just like a shot or something?”
“Yes,” Cadence confirmed.
“Does it hurt?” Brandon asked.
Cadence looked at Aaron, waiting to see if he wanted to answer since her response might be biased. He didn’t, so she finally said, “It can be painful. It isn’t for most people. It was for me.”
“Did you cry like a little wussy schoolgirl?” he asked, smiling.
“No,” she replied, wishing he was close enough to reach back and smack him. “I cried like a full-grown man passing a kidney stone. It hurt, man. Badly.” Aaron cleared his voice beside her, getting her back on track, and so she clarified, “But for most people it’s really not a big deal. I’m just … special.”
“You got that right,” Brandon mumbled just loud enough for her to hear him.
“Hey!” Cadence yelled shooting him daggers again. “You don’t have to be so mean. I just kicked that Vampire’s ass. I can kick yours too, you know?”
“Is that normal?” Brandon asked, crossing his arms. “Is that
how y’all typically operate? Break through the window, rip the sucker’s head off?”
“No,” Aaron replied. “Most Hunters would have shot him through the window. Cadence isn’t most Hunters. She likes to get up close and personal.”
“Well, your way looks like more fun,” Brandon admitted.
“It is,” Cadence agreed. “Honestly, Brandon, I’ve been doing this for almost a year, and there’s so many things I didn’t know at first. There are still things that I find out almost every day that surprise me. There’s a lot to know. The only way you ever start to figure it out is to just do it. I think you’d be great, but at the same time, the more I think about it, I was worried with you out there. I definitely don’t want anything to happen to you. So, if you don’t want to do it, or you’re not ready, that’s cool. You’ve got another three years to make up your mind.”
He was silent for a few moments, taking everything in. The rain had stopped, but it was still misting outside. They would be back to the place where they left his truck soon. If he had any more pressing questions, he needed to ask now. “And what happens if I don’t Transform before I turn twenty-one? I just can’t do it?”
“Likely no,” Aaron responded. “That’s not to say that no one has ever Transformed past the age of twenty-one. There have been a few anomalies. But for the most part, you have to be older than seventeen, younger than twenty-one.”
“There’ve been anomalies?” Cadence asked. This was the first she had heard of this.
“Yes, and occasionally Transformations have happened younger than seventeen. You know Priscilla, on our Cabo team?”
“Yes,” Cadence confirmed.
“She Transformed at twelve,” Aaron explained.
“Really?” Cadence asked, shocked. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, she was being chased by a Vampire, and she was in a do or die situation, so she was able to Transform early. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. I only know one Guardian who Transformed late, and he was twenty-three, but it can happen.”