Split

by J. J. Westendarp

Four

  The alleyway behind the shops was deserted, which was to be expected since it was slightly after midnight. Adonis was out there somewhere, watching over her, though Erika still felt nervous. The entire idea of hunting something that fed on your blood had yet to sit well with her. Still, unlike before, she felt a little more confident in her abilities, and was almost positive she could walk away from the scene with fewer injuries than usual.

  Adonis was alone out there though, adding to her nervousness. Mitch had called shortly before she had left for Papa's, and said he wouldn't be able to make it on account of being laid up at home. "Now you know why I ultimately had you stay behind," he'd said after detailing the debacle that his Hunt the previous evening had been. He'd sounded terrible, with his voice so hoarse she'd had a hard time understanding him. That was on top of his words being broken up by a wracking cough. All because of five dead vampires.

  "How long do you think you'll be like this?" she'd asked.

  "Who knows," he'd said.

  "Well, you keep me updated on how you're doing," she said. "I'd come visit you if I could."

  "I know you would, but I look like run over shit right now, so it's probably better this way. Besides, Adonis will keep your training going. It's probably time to start looking into your ability anyways, and he's more capable of doing that than I am."

  "See you soon then."

  "You know it," he'd replied, then hung up.

  When she'd gone to meet up with Adonis, he had already been informed of the change in plans. "It won't change the fact that I can step in to stop what's happening if it gets out of control," he'd said. The confidence in his voice assured her that would be the case, so instead of calling things off until Mitch was better, she'd decided to keep going.

  And so, here she was, strolling down a dark alleyway in the middle of the night.

  When the figure stepped out of the shadows Erika jumped, though it was only partly for show. Adonis had said this was a popular spot for people looking to take a shortcut, which made it a prime spot for vampires to sit and wait for victims. Not all the time of course, as even vampires aren't so far gone from humanity that they forgot caution, but enough.

  "You seem to be lost," the figure said. He walked slowly toward her, as if he were stalking prey.

  "J-just trying to get to the train," she said.

  The figure, which had been in shadows, stepped into the tiny bit of light provided by a nearby street lamp, and said, "I think you might be late for the next run." His face was evil. She had no other way to describe it. The look in his eyes was one both of hunger and of a slight madness, as if the demon had yet to fully infiltrate its host. The vampire's fangs poked out over the bottom of his thin lips, the only true indication that she had run into one. It bothered her how much they appeared to be human, and except for this one's brazenness, she never would have known. The figure could just as well have been the standard psychopath stalker. She took small comfort that was not the case. She didn't have some mysterious power to protect her from them.

  The first attack was clumsy, or maybe Erika was better prepared than she had been before, as when the vampire lunged for her, she was easily able to duck away. He tried again, this time attempting to grab her, but Erika grabbed his wrist and used his momentum to cause him to stumble and fall to the ground. The vampire looked back at her and growled. The next attack was too fast for her to counter. As if for payment for attempting to fend him off, the vampire threw her up against the building wall. Her head rapped hard against the brick facade, causing stars to appear in her sight.

  With a snarl, the vampire rushed in to pin her arms against the building and moved in to feed. A peculiar sort of lethargy came over her, almost as if she were resigned to her fate. To be food for a demon. The adrenaline that had initially set in went away, and all that remained was peace.

  The snarl cut off, and the pressure on her arms disappeared. The sound of a body collapsing to the ground reached her ears, then only silence filled the air around her. She opened her eyes and looked down.

  The face was no longer evil. Instead it looked peaceful, at rest. The fangs were gone, as they always were when this event happened. It was as if the demon within had simply ceased to exist. The eyes were still open, so Erika knelt down and closed them. Then she stood and waited for Adonis to appear.

  When he did, his face was lit up like a storefront. The glee in his eyes was unmistakable. "That was amazing," he said. "He simply collapsed." He knelt down and felt around for a pulse. Not finding one he stood up. "Amazing," he repeated. "It's as if the demon never existed."

  "Mitch said the same thing," said Erika. "When he managed to get a good look at what happened, that is. My first meeting with him, he thought he was rescuing me."

  Adonis chuckled. "That's Mitch. Ever the knight-errant." He toed the corpse and asked, "And he never thought your ability was important enough to focus on?"

  Erika shook her head. "No. He said it was more important for me to protect myself before we started trying to experiment."

  "Well, I'm not Mitch," he said as he looked at her. "I definitely think we need to explore this in more detail." He paused, and added, "You did good on defending yourself though. With more practice you might even be able to anticipate their moves and avoid getting thrown into a wall. Hmm, I think we'll have to see if your ability has a range limit. If it does you might be able to take care of them before they get close enough to hurt you."

  She reached back and rubbed at the spot on her head where it had hit the wall. It definitely smarted. After checking to make sure she wasn't bleeding, she looked at the body and shivered. The cold was starting to get to her, and the conversation was going back to something she didn't feel comfortable with. "Did you get what you wanted?" she asked. "Nothing personal, but I pretty much just killed this guy so I think it's best if we move on."

  Adonis mocked slapping his forehead, then grinned as he held out his arm for her to take. "But of course," he said. "Allow me to escort you." His playfulness didn't feel appropriate, but Erika decided to ignore it and reluctantly took the arm. They walked out to the street and started toward his car, which was parked a couple of blocks away. "Now, as to how we can test your ability, I have an idea but I'll need some time to put it together."

  Erika stayed quiet for a moment and paid attention to the street they were walking down. It was in an unfamiliar area of town, near the University of Buffalo, and she found it odd that there was so little foot traffic, even at such a late hour. "It's quiet around here," she remarked.

  Adonis, who had continued talking, his exuberance taking him far beyond what she considered the proper bounds for celebrating a death, even if the death in question was a vampire, turned to her and said, "I'm sorry?"

  "I said it's quiet. Shouldn't there be more people around?"

  They reached the car and Adonis took a look around, then shrugged. "It’s pretty late Erika. Plus, there can't always be people around."

  Something about the way he phrased the answer, a casual dismissal to her concerns, caused Erika to take a good look at Adonis. He didn't notice, but Erika's stance on him took a slight swerve. Adonis was a dangerous man. He didn't put off that sort of vibe, in fact he appeared to be nothing but helpful toward her, and did his best to be accommodating to her needs. But as she went over their conversations in her mind, she realized it seemed fake. Forced. As if he did want to help her, but only as a means toward his own ends as opposed to anything resembling a true desire to help.

  She opened the car door to climb in. Once she had her seat belt on, she said, "I wonder if Mitch is going to be okay."

  "I'm sure he will be," he said as he turned the key and the car churned to life. He looked back to be sure no traffic was coming, then pulled out onto the street. "He knew what he was getting into by only going in with two people. He is a big boy after all, and big boys have to pay the consequences of their mistakes." Adonis chuckled at his remark, which only reinforced Erika's n
ew, altered opinion of him.

  "Well, even still, you two are the only people I talk to nowadays, and I'd hate to lose him just when we're starting to become friends."

  Adonis was silent for a bit, then said, "If it'll make you feel better, I'll head over to his place in a couple of days and check in on him."

  "If you could?"

  "Anything for you," he said, a friendly smile on his face.

  She heard the words, but her mind translated it into, "Anything to shut you up." Maybe it wasn't fair, but the man sitting next to her had gained her trust by pretending to be something he wasn't. She silently prayed that Mitch would recover quickly. If not, her options were limited. An underlying fear invaded her thoughts, and told her that if Mitch didn't get back soon, she was going to have to play out Adonis' experiments with her ability. She didn't really want to, but she didn't know what he would do if she refused, and that made her nervous.

  She didn't like being nervous.