by M. D. Bowden
The morning drifts by and I get a decent amount done before I hear Alfie stretching and look up to see him looking at me and smiling.
“Hey dude,” he says.
“Hey sleepy-head. Hungry?”
“Sure am.”
I turn off my computer and turn on the oven, then walk over to Alfie – who is still sprawled out over the entire sofa – and sit on his legs.
“Hey!”
I laugh. “Where else am I supposed to sit?!”
After we’ve eaten he takes me back out of the city on his motorbike (I’m getting used to the bike now, when we’re on it together it’s exhilarating and makes me forget about everything that’s going on) to his camp where we pick up a couple of guns and some ammunition (and snacks!) and then he takes me out to the place where we camped last week. The sky is a clear blue and the air frigid, near the hedges there is a crisp frost where the grass is still in the shade. I help Alfie gather up sticks and then sit back and watch while he lights the camp fire.
Alfie gets the guns out of his bag and passes one to me. It is made of black metal, and a bit larger than the kind of guns you see FBI agents with on TV shows, and much more old-fashioned looking. It feels heavier than I thought it would.
“It’s not hard to operate these things, look, open it up here to put in the bullets. Copy me.”
The wooden bullets are larger than standard bullets – not that I’ve seen bullets before in real life, I am again basing this on what I’ve seen on TV – and they are encased in metal so only a couple of centimetres of the wooden tip is exposed. I toss one into the air, feeling its weight in my hands. “It’s pretty light, can they really hurt a vampire?”
“Yep, it’s the speed they hit them that’s important – and the fact they’re wood. No idea why wood hurts them, maybe because it’s nice and pure – the exact opposite to what vampires are. Wooden bullets aren’t as fast as lead ones unfortunately, so they are really only good at a shortish range.”
I do exactly as Alfie does and release the barrel and then push in the bullets one at a time. It takes eight.
“If I shot a human … like, err, myself … or if I shot you, umm, by accident … would it kill us?”
He laughs. “It wouldn’t kill me – but it would hurt like a bastard. It could kill you, depends where you were hit. Best to be careful,” he says, and laughs again.
Even though his laughter is teasing he has such a nice deep laugh that it lifts my mood.
“So … now what?” I say.
“Take off the safety, like so.”
I copy him.
“This is the trigger.”
“I figured.”
“Hold the gun steady, aim, and shoot. Come on, let’s practice over there. You can try and hit a tree.”
“Will I … hurt the tree?”
“It will be fine,” Alfie says, and rolls his eyes. “Don’t stand too close to the tree though, as the bullet will bounce off and it could hit you.”
“Great.”
“Don’t worry, this bit isn’t too hard. What’s harder is learning to shoot accurately and at something that’s moving fast – like a vampire. Stand here,” he says, stopping about eight metres from a large oak, “hold the gun like this, make sure the safety is off – and just have a go at firing it – like this.”
There’s a loud crack as Alfie pulls the trigger. The bullet hits the tree and bounces off so fast I don’t see where it lands.
“Your turn,” he says. “Hold the gun steady, so you don’t drop it when it goes off.”
I aim the gun at the same tree and squeeze the trigger. At the same time it makes the crack noise a force travels back up my arm and I nearly drop the gun, but I keep my gaze on my target.
“Yes! I hit it!”
Alfie chuckles, as I put the gun in my other hand and shake my arm.
“I didn’t expect it to feel like that,” I say.
“Brace yourself more next time, your muscles will get used to it with practice. Try again.”
I stretch my arm out then get ready and aim again.
“No!” I say, as the bullet sails past the tree and embeds itself in some undergrowth. “I guess I’m going to need to practice quite a lot.”
“You’ll be awesome at it in no time.”
We spend the afternoon practising until my arm can take it no more, and then we do the same every afternoon for the next two weeks, while I make slow progress. I am getting better though. Unfortunately, in the meantime people are still being killed. The police presence in Exeter is increasing by the day and there are posters warning people not to go out alone all over the city, my parents ring every day to check I’m still alive and to try and persuade me to come home; I can’t tell them what I’m up to though, so I don’t think they really understand why I want to stay. I think they think it has everything to do with Alfie.
Mark hasn’t come back to university, or even Exeter. I’ve talked to him on the phone but he’s obviously not dealing well; part of me feels I should go and visit him, but that would mean sacrificing a day of shooting practice, and I feel the sooner that I’m out there, the sooner I can help; I might save a girl’s life. I can’t let this opportunity to do something go. Mark has asked what I’m doing, but I’ve had to evade the question – I can’t tell him about this over the phone!
I’m back on the edge of the woodland with Alfie and preparing to take aim at an array of paper cups he has positioned at various places on the trees. Some are a lot nearer and easier than others, but my confidence has grown with my ability and I feel ready for this. Alfie points at the first cup and says, “One.” I aim for the nearest cup and knock it off first attempt. That one was easy.
“Two.”
I aim higher, a cup he had to climb the trees to place, partially obscured by brown autumn leaves. I shoot and the cup falls to the ground.
“Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.”
I shoot after each command. “Yes!” I shout, and punch the air, then Alfie wraps me in his arms and lifts me off the ground. I hit each cup with my first attempt.
“I reckon you might be good enough to come out with me tonight,” he says, grinning.
“Really?”
He nods, still beaming.
“Yes! Yes!” I do a victory dance while he laughs with me.
“You know that it will still be dangerous though, right? Vampires are a lot harder to hit than paper cups.”
“I really do know, and I’m willing to take the risk. You know I am.”
The afternoon passes quickly and we prepare for our night out hunting. Alfie has made me practise putting a holster on my belt and drawing the gun from that position over and over. Tonight I re-load the gun and put it in the holster again and over it I wear a loose long coat that will cover the gun from sight, but that I can easily push out of the way to grab the weapon at a moment’s notice.
Prepared, we leave my flat and go out into the night.
CASPER
We have been given a different agenda tonight – we are to hide in the woods near to where I was attacked and watch as people walk past. It makes sense – unfortunately it would appear it is frequently visited by vampires; two days ago an eighteen-year-old boy was found drained of blood in the river, and a week ago a thirty-year-old woman was found in the woods near the river, too near where I live for comfort. I’m not sure I found the safest spot to call home.
We are sitting on the ground, hidden behind an evergreen bush which is surrounded by trees that have scattered their leaves around us. Regardless of this I have a pretty good view of the river path. It’s not scintillating work as we can’t talk as we would give away our location, plus now the murders are so well publicised people are taking the warnings more seriously. In the early evening we still see people out alone though, walking along beside the river, wearing suits and carrying briefcases.
As it gets later we see far less people, and I have to make a real effort to keep watching the path. I brought a flask
of coffee with us and a spare cup, and we are both sipping at it to keep us going, and to keep me warm. Walking around is more tiring, but all this sitting still outside in winter is freezing work.
For a second I close my eyes, but light footsteps makes them snap back open. The guy from the club, the one I kissed, saunters into sight. My heart immediately starts racing and I feel my face heat. I know that Alfie recognises him too as he turns to look at me, but he doesn’t say anything. I don’t meet Alfie’s eye, I just keep watching the guy walk past. He’s all on his own, does he have a death wish or something? Hardly anyone else is walking alone now it’s this late. He passes by unscathed by vampire activity, and my heart rate returns to normal.
The hours pass and when I can hardly keep my eyes open any longer Alfie insists on walking me home – I’ve nearly managed to make it until dawn this time. I wait outside my front door and wave to him before he goes out of sight. I’m just about to unlock the entrance to the block of flats I live in when movement catches my eye and I turn around. From the other direction the guy I kissed wanders into sight. My heart leaps and suddenly I’m wide awake. He looks straight at me and his eyes open wider in surprise, and he slows down.
“Hi,” he says. And bloody hell, his voice is silky smooth and delicious.
“Hello,” I reply, and I’m glad it’s dark because I can feel my cheeks glowing.
Without thinking, I step away from my door and towards him, and he walks towards me, a wide sexy smile on his face. I stop walking, my heart pounding, even though I’ve waited for this, I’ve wanted to see him again, it’s like my heart is racing in warning. I take a deep breath to steady myself. I’m being silly, I know; I’ve been with this guy before and he didn’t hurt me. But now I’m outside, not surrounded by other people, and it’s the end of the night. What’s he doing here?
He stops a couple of paces in front of me, his eyes smouldering. His face is just as beautiful as I remember. He tilts his head to the side, looking into my eyes. “I hoped I’d see you again.”
“You too,” I say, hardly daring to breathe.
He takes a step closer and touches my waist lightly with his fingertips. “What’s your name?”
“Ava,” I practically whisper. “What’s yours?”
“I’m Casper. What are you doing out here so late, Ava?” he says, touching my waist on both sides with his fingertips, and edging closer still.
I shrug. “Walking,” I mutter.
His lips are on mine before I can ask him the same, kissing me gently, tenderly – making me feel like I’m the most precious thing he’s ever encountered. As I kiss him back I feel like I’m in an old fashioned movie, and I might actually swoon – my heart is racing and I feel giddy and weak at the knees. He tightens his hold on my waist with one hand, pulling me against his cool body, and with his other he cups the back of my head, then runs his hand down my hair, twisting it between his fingers. He pulls my hair to one side and starts kissing my cheek, my jaw and then my neck. It’s heavenly. I hear him inhale deeply, breathing me in. I copy him and he smells so, so good. I grip his upper arms, feeling his strength, holding myself steady, and kiss his jaw – which is slightly rough with stubble breaking through, but the feeling of this against my lips is just amazing.
He kisses my neck some more, running his lips up and down from my earlobe to the base of my neck, and breathes in deeply again.
But then he stops and looks up at the lightening sky. If his eyes weren’t already so dark and it was possible for his eyes to darken – I swear right now they would.
“Next time, Ava,” he whispers in my ear, and then saunters away, turning and winking before he’s out of sight.
A quiet groan of longing escapes me as I stare after him. No-one has ever made me feel like that before. Casper – like Casper the ghost. I smile to myself, turn away, and reluctantly go back into my flat to sleep. I lie in bed feeling like I’m in a bubble of happiness; Casper is so beautiful … and into me. The way he kissed me … it made me want to melt into him. I’ve never been kissed like that in my life.
I don’t sleep much, even though I’m physically exhausted; I’m too invigorated by my encounter, so I’m pretty tired when Alfie arrives to pick me up again at seven in the evening, and we go back to the same spot to hide in the bushes. I know I’m more smiley than normal; I feel so dazed and happy after what happened with Casper – I can’t stop thinking about him. Alfie looks at me sideways and raises his eyebrows when he catches me grinning stupidly, but he doesn’t say anything.
Hours pass as we watch the evening quieten and the city go to sleep. A young couple walk along the river path holding hands and I smile to myself, thinking it so romantic, but then she wrenches her hand out of his and they start to argue. She pushes him, “You bastard!” I hear her yell, and then she storms off on her own. He sighs and sits down on the steps by the path and lights a cigarette. After a while I can’t hear the girl’s footsteps anymore and the guy rests his elbow on his knee, and his chin on his hand, and stares at the reflections on the water. There is a blur of movement and suddenly someone is standing in front of him, someone who moved so fast that he must be a vampire.
My chest tightens and Alfie is out of the bushes in an instant, becoming a blur himself. I jump out after him, drawing the gun so I’ll be ready if the vampire comes at me. It’s not the same vampire who attacked me – this one is nearly as tall as Alfie and has lovely deep brown skin. As I run forwards I watch as his attention switches from his victim to Alfie, and he snarls, baring his teeth.
“Run!” Alfie says to the guy, who looks from the enormous Alfie to the snarling vampire and then legs it after his girl.
Alfie lunges at the vampire, who dodges him, spots me, and smiles slyly, and then moves in a blur towards me. But this is what I’ve been waiting for. I am already pointing my gun at him; I fire straight away, crack after crack echoing around us, and I know I hit him as with each bullet he slows, then the chamber is empty and Alfie launches himself onto the guy’s back, taking advantage of his weakness. The vampire struggles beneath him, trying to buck him off, but he’s been weakened by my shots and in this state he’s no match for Alfie. Alfie pulls a stake out of his back pocket and drives it straight into the vampire’s back, applying so much force it goes right through his clothes and skin and deep into his body.
Alfie leaps off as the body starts to smoke and then a second later it turns to dust – the vampire and all his clothes. Gone. I stare, unable to take it in – he just … disappeared. Wow.
“Awesome!” Alfie says, “We took him down. High five.”
I hold my hand up and he smacks it with his palm, but I’m still wide-eyed and wide-mouthed, staring at where he disappeared. I’m feeling such a surge of emotion – this guy, this vampire, was going to kill the man by the river. We saved his life, and the lives of other future victims. And between us we did it – we took him down – and I actually helped! What an amazing feeling.
“You did so good, Ava,” Alfie says, wrapping his arms around me and holding my head against his chest. I can hear his heart beating hard.
“I have to sit down,” I say, sinking to my knees.
Alfie goes down with me and sits on the floor by my side.
“He really turned to dust. He’s really gone. We did it.”
“Yep, what a rush!” he says. “You were crazy accurate with that gun, Ava – don’t reckon he really thought you’d fire it – or realised it would have wooden bullets. He underestimated you, that’s for sure.”
I smile. “He did, didn’t he?”
“Yep, it was definitely worth training you up. Reckon he would have got away without your help.”
The adrenaline rush makes me last until dawn, and the sun is rising by the time Alfie gets me to my front door.
“Do you want to stay here?” I say.
“Nope, thanks though, but I better get back and let the pack know the great news.” He leans in and hugs me, then walks away with a spring in his st
ep.
I stay outside for a bit … wondering if Casper might come by again. But no luck. I take another look out of my window, just in case, before I close the blinds, but I don’t see him. I collapse onto my bed and fall asleep still wearing my clothes.
The next night Alfie says he’s been told to stick to the streets surrounding the city centre clubs; his pack think that after last night we’re less likely to see another vampire down by the river. The night is uneventful though, as is the following one.
I’m getting much more used to staying up until dawn which means I get to stay out helping Alfie the entire night, and he’s slept on my sofa the last couple of days. He disappears back to check in with his pack in the afternoons, while I get on with my work, and then comes back in the evening for our vampire hunt.
He rings my buzzer at about seven and I buzz him up, and then open my door and watch him bound up the stairs. It’s good to see him even though we’ve only been apart a few hours.
“Hey, Ava,” he says, smiling at me.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good,” he says, as I close the door behind him. “Mic, our pack leader, has had some success. He fought one of the bloodsuckers last night and let him get away, but he stuck a GPS sensor in his pocket and they tracked where he went as the sun came up. And they were right, they’re definitely using the underground tunnels – and now they will know exactly where this one sleeps.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah, but we need to do the same on a couple of others to work out whether they all hide out together – and whether an ambush would be possible – before we get to act on it.”
“Won’t the vampire find the tracer and realise what’s happened? They might move the whole coven if they do.”
“Nah, it’s a pretty good disguise, look; I have one. We’re all supposed to be trying to tag the vamps now.”
He pulls something out of his pocket and tosses it to me. I catch it and take a look.
“It’s a key,” I say, stating the obvious.
He grins. “Pretty cool, huh? Doesn’t look like a GPS sensor at all, they’ll prob toss it aside once they find it though – if they find it. Not everyone checks their coat pockets every day.”