by Stina
“And the boy with you?”
“Oh, him?” Lina chuckled. “It turns out that he was a vampire the whole time. A rival of theirs. He used me to infiltrate them and steal something.”
“What did he want?”
“A small vial. I don’t know what was in it, though. After he ditched me, so did Adirah. She ran to save her boyfriend and left me to fend for myself in a house full of hungry vampires.”
“How did you get away, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“They were all so distracted, I managed to slip out the back door. I didn’t stop running until I was back inside of my dorm. But they knew me. They could find me if they wanted to. I left that day. Lost my scholarship, and my future went down the toilet.”
“I’m sorry,” Ramel said.
As she was talking, she didn’t even hear or see him get up from the bed. He was now crouched in front of her, holding her hands sympathetically.
“Yeah.” She gave him a sad smile. “Well, me too. Nothing I can do about it now.”
“But there is.”
“Like what? Hunt them down like you?” She expected him to laugh at her words. When he didn’t, her eyes grew wide, and she pulled her hands away. “You can’t be serious.”
“Listen, it’s not as hard as it sounds,” he said taking her hands back again. “Also, I will be the first to tell you that once you have seen what goes bump in the night, you will never have peace of mind again. Unless . . .”
“Unless what?”
“Unless you do something about it.”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know the first thing about hunting a deer.”
“I’ll show you. What do you have here to lose? Maybe this was your destiny. Imagine how many lives you’d save. Plus, this job gets kind of lonely. All the other hunters I know are pairs. They have each other’s backs. So, what do you say, Lina?”
“I don’t know, Ramel. I’m scared.”
“I was too, on my first time. But I promise I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ve kind of become an expert.”
“An expert.” Lina chuckled. “I’m talking to an expert vampire killer.”
“Damn right,” he said and shrugged. “If it makes you feel better, I can let you shadow me on a job just so you can see what it’s all about.”
No! Lina, tell this crazy-ass man no! Go back home to the safety of your apartment and forget that you even had this conversation at all!
Lina ignored the voice inside her head. It was what had gotten her into that situation in the first place. Maybe if she’d never gone into that frat house that day in the first place . . . But the past was the past. There was no changing it. Slowly, she nodded, and she saw Ramel’s lips curl upward.
“Okay,” Lina agreed. “But please don’t get me killed.”
Chapter 10
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Lina’s heart was trying to escape through her chest. That night she only had plans to go home and catch up on her favorite reality television shows, but there she was, sitting in the parking lot of a nightclub in Ramel’s all-black 2017 Jeep Wrangler. The clock read forty-five minutes past eleven and the scene she was watching looked pretty standard. Girls were trying to talk the bouncers into letting them in for free since they’d missed the deadline by fifteen minutes. Men were outside smoking cigarettes, eyeing the same girls trying to get in.
“My God,” Lina said under her breath. “They might as well be naked!”
It was true that she’d grown out of wearing nothing but black, being that she knew for sure about the things that went bump in the night, but that didn’t mean she was down with the skimpy look.
“You don’t like their outfits?” Ramel smirked and cocked his head, as if he was trying to get a better angle of one of the girls.
“I mean, if you like women who dress like they want you to fuck them right then and there, hey,” she said, shrugging, “more power to ya.”
“I’m just kidding.” Ramel chuckled. “I like my women a little more reserved.”
That time he looked at her and, from the way his eyes spoke to her, she fidgeted in her seat. They were both wearing comfortable clothes, black, with a pair of boots to match. Lina suddenly felt like the neck of her hoodie was choking her and she was happy when Ramel finally looked away.
“So, did you think about how we are going to get in there?” she asked, changing the subject. “These types of nightclubs definitely have a dress code. We look like we’re about to go in there and shoot up the place.”
“We are.” He reached to pop open the glove compartment, revealing two big black guns there. “About to shoot up the place, that is.”
“Is that a pistol?”
“Glock 19s to be exact. With a few upgrades,” he said pulling them out and handing her one. “The bullets inside are pure silver. When they hit their target, they will explode, giving off an ultraviolet light.”
“What happens after that?”
“The vampire turns to ashes.”
“Well, what happens if you miss?”
Ramel gave her a hard stare. “Don’t miss.”
“I don’t know anything about aiming a gun. Let alone using one!”
“If a vampire is coming at you with its fangs out, you’ll learn how to use it.” Ramel turned the car back on and pulled the Jeep around to the back of the club, where the Dumpster was. “We’re going to go in through there.”
He pointed at a door that was clearly only supposed to be for employees. However, the closer Lina stared she could see that there was a rock holding the heavy door slightly ajar. She gripped the gun in her hand and was surprised at how it fit perfectly. She glanced down at it and breathed deeply. She could get out of the car and make a run for it, but just as that thought came to her mind, her wrist began to tingle. Ever since it healed, it always tingled at the most random times, reminding her exactly of what happened to her.
“I have a question,” she said with her eyes still on the weapon.
“Shoot.”
“You said these guns are special, and the bullets are special. That means somebody made them specifically for this purpose.”
“Right.”
“So exactly how many hunters are there in the world? And exactly how much money do they have? These weapons had to have cost a fortune. Not to mention that you don’t have a job, but you’re in a brand-new Jeep.”
“If tonight goes well, I won’t need to answer that question with words. I’ll be able to show you. Come on. It’s almost midnight.”
He reached in the back seat of the Jeep and grabbed a backpack. Lina tucked the gun in the back of her pants and put her hoodie over it. By the time she got out of the vehicle, Ramel was already halfway to the door.
“Midnight?” Lina asked when she caught up to him.
“Yes. I heard rumors that midnight is when they feed in secret rooms. The guests are usually so drunk they don’t know what’s going on when they are escorted back. Wait.” He had opened the door for Lina, but he put his hand out to stop her before she entered. “Always have your weapon ready when entering a battlefield.”
“Right,” Lina said wanting to slap herself. “Rookie mistake.”
“A rookie mistake that could cost you your life.”
His voice was so serious that Lina felt chills go down her back. Once inside, she took notice that they were in the kitchen of the club. A gust of cold air hit her, and the aroma of bleach filled her nostrils. The music on the dance floor was so loud she could sing along word for word with the music being played if she wanted to.
The coast looked to be clear, and Ramel motioned for her to follow him to a long hallway. There were two ways to go from the kitchen: one led to where the party was, and the other was the one they were going down. It was dark, and the only light was coming from the eerie red bulbs on the walls.
Lina began to feel anxious, so anxious that without even realizing it she fell far behind Ramel. She turned around in a circle to get a be
tter look at the walls. They had strange pairs of claw marks on them, nail claw marks, as if someone had been dragged against their will down that hallway. The thing that made her sick to her stomach was that they were everywhere.
“Ramel, I—”
She turned back around to tell him to look at the walls, but he was nowhere to be found. She had a sinking feeling that maybe she’d been duped again. Narum’s double cross entered her mind, and suddenly she remembered that she didn’t even check Ramel’s finger for a ring. He could have been a vampire the whole time, leading her into a trap.
“What are you doing back here?”
The gruff voice startled her, and she whipped around in the direction of the kitchen. There stood a tall, skinny man with short black hair. Physically he didn’t look that much older than her, but his eyes . . . his eyes looked like they’d seen a world of hurt. There was a thirst in them that she recognized all too well.
“I got lost.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “You don’t look lost. You look like you’re looking for something.” He then moved so fast and, by the time Lina blinked, he was already behind her. “Or maybe, just maybe, you’re looking for me?”
The gun! she thought.
“Gun, what gun?” the vampire said and grabbed her right hand. “Oh, this gun. Now, what were you going to do with this? Kill me? Hunter!”
The vampire ripped the gun from her hand and threw it before he whipped her around to face him. His long fingers wrapped around her neck and cut off her air. She watched him transform from a human to an all-out beast right in front of her. When his sharp white fangs lengthened, she knew that it was the end for her. The vampire hissed violently and reared its ugly head back in preparation to take a big chunk from Lina’s exposed neck.
“Not today, you ugly motherfucker!”
Behind the vampire, Ramel had resurfaced and had his gun pointed at its head. He fired one time, and Lina flinched when the monster’s head exploded into burnt ash. Its entire body turned into the same kind of ash and fell to the ground. Lina fell back, but Ramel caught her before she completely lost her balance. She caught her breath, suddenly realizing that this was for real. Whether she liked it or not, vampires existed, and it was either her or them, no matter what path she took.
“Thank you.” She let go of Ramel and went to retrieve her gun. “Next time I won’t be so easy. I thought you left me.”
“I thought you were right behind me.”
“I was, but then I got distracted by the marks on the wall,” she said.
“I wouldn’t leave you,” he said with sincerity. “And I am definitely not a vampire.”
She nodded and looked back at the claw marks on the walls. “It’s like people, humans, were fighting for their lives.”
“We are,” he responded. “I found something. A door leading to the basement.”
“Are we going down there?”
“Uh, hell no. That would be a suicide mission,” he said. “Plus, they would sense us way before we attacked. This way.”
She was confused, but she followed him. When they were in the large kitchen area, Ramel took the book bag off his shoulders and pulled out a vial. He took a swig from it and made a face at the taste of it.
“Here.” He tried to hand it to her, but she hesitated. “It’s a special concoction. The main ingredient is garlic. They won’t be able to smell our blood or read our thoughts. In other words, we will be undetectable by them for a short while.”
Lina thought back to how that vampire had read her thoughts and how invaded it made her feel. She grabbed the vial and took a swig from it. It was warm going down but, other than that, Lina didn’t feel any different. Ramel took the vial and placed it back in his bag. He knew they wouldn’t have much time before the vampires made their way upstairs to roam the streets at night.
Unbeknownst to Lina, not every vampire obtained a ring to be able to walk around during the day. There were the rogue vampires, the ones who didn’t belong to a clan. They were more brutal, and they terrorized the streets the moment the last lick of light escaped the skies.
“This is the only way out from that way,” Ramel told her, checking the clip of his gun.
“And they’ll have to run right into us when the club lets out.”
“Exactly.”
“How many do you think there are?”
“Don’t know,” he said. “Could be a little, could be a lot. That’s why I brought extra clips if we need them.”
“I guess now we wai—”
A bloodcurdling scream behind her interrupted her statement. She heard panicked breaths and feet running toward the kitchen, followed by more screams. The night wasn’t over yet, but the action started earlier than expected. Lina stayed behind Ramel, and they watched as a young woman ran into the kitchen. The makeup on her face was smeared due to the tears coming from her eyes, and her entire body was bloody. She looked around frantically, and her eyes found Ramel and Lina before they made an exit.
“Please, help me.”
The whimper was barely out of her mouth when a vampire ran into the kitchen after her. It moved quickly, but Lina was shocked that she could see it. Before, their movements were like a blur to her; they were too quick. Now she had no problem keeping up with them with her eyes.
Bang!
Ramel wasted no time using his weapon on the monster, and he disintegrated it. He did the same thing when another came into the kitchen.
“Lina!” he called and glanced back at her. “They’re coming! Get her and stay behind me.”
“Get behind me,” Lina said and grabbed the petrified girl. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
The kitchen was suddenly swarmed with vampires whose faces were covered in blood. It was apparent that they had just finished feeding but were upset their dessert had gotten away from them. They hissed with their long, sharp fangs out and they crouched low in battle positions. Lina, Ramel, and the girl the monsters wanted were surrounded, with a wall behind them.
“Three for the price of one,” one of the female vampires said.
Lina was used to them being beautiful, but at that moment all she saw were the beasts they all were. Their brown skin glowed and as they moved and growled. The blood on their faces dripped to the floor.
The vampire who had spoken focused her attention on Lina. She stared into her eyes so intently, as if she was searching for something. When she didn’t find it, she turned to Ramel and did the same thing, before she sneered.
“Hunters!”
At the sound of the word, the other vampires sneered even more ferociously.
“Yeah,” Ramel said. “We’re hunters, and it looks like you’re going to be the second to die tonight.”
Bang!
His bullet caught her right in the chest. She blew back as she disintegrated and the other vampires jumped to action. They came at Ramel with all that had.
Lina watched in awe as Ramel battled all of them. He was not only shooting them; he was fighting them. Actually fighting them. He moved with the same speed, meeting all of their attacks with blocks and knocking them back with powerful punches of his own. There were six vampires, and she knew that he would not be able to fend them off by himself.
It was like she felt something inside of her chest. It wasn’t fear; it was more identical to hunger. Not a hunger for food, but a hunger to fight. That was the reason she wasn’t shocked when a vampire attacked her, and she stepped out of the way with a speed she did not know she had.
“Agh!”
Her cry filled the air as she delivered an uppercut to the vampire’s stomach, and followed through by twisting his arm behind his back and placing her gun on his temple. When she pulled the trigger, she didn’t even wait before going toward a vampire trying to sneak up on Ramel.
“Behind you!” she yelled and ran so fast that the kitchen around her meshed together.
The vampire woman jumped toward Ramel, and Lina did the same, catching t
he vampire in midair with a powerful side kick.
“Bitch,” Lina said as the vampire crashed into the cabinets behind her.
She put two bullets in her chest and continued fighting alongside Ramel until there were no more vampires standing. They fought like gladiators against a den full of lions. When Lina got into trouble, Ramel’s guns got her out, and vice versa. They fought as a team, and one would be surprised to learn that this was their first time fighting together.
When all the opposition was defeated, the two of them stood in a kitchen full of dust, panting and trying to catch their breath.
“We need to get out of here,” Ramel said, tucking his gun and turning his back to the long red hallway. “Let’s get her to the hospit—”
“Ramel, look out!” she shouted and aimed her gun.
A final vampire stood behind Ramel calmly. He had appeared out of nowhere, and he slowly eyed the battle floor. He didn’t have any blood on his face, nor was he transformed into his monster form. Lina knew he was a vampire because she saw the ring on his finger and she would recognize his face anywhere.
“Lina,” he said in a voice that Lina remembered all too well.
Ramel moved out of the way and backed up to where Lina was. He glared at the young-looking vampire and wished that he hadn’t put his weapon away. He looked to Lina, trying to understand how the monster knew her name, but her eyes were transfixed in front of her. She recognized the vampire, he could tell, and it was like she was frozen in place.
“Narum,” she breathed.
Their eyes connected for a few moments and there were many unspoken words exchanged between the two of them. He was still as handsome as she remembered and he still dressed like a normal young adult. The last time Lina had seen him, he had led her into a suicide mission and left her to die. So why was it so hard to pull the trigger? Was it because she was just shocked? Or maybe it was because she often thought about the intimate moments they shared together. In her mind, she thought that the two of them would have started dating and even more would blossom from that. But he’d just been using her the whole time.