Bramble Burn

by Autumn Dawn

  Patiently, I shook my head and said, “No. I’m not afraid. Besides I have pepper spray in my purse.”

  He turned back to Gus, shaking his head, “I thought you said she was smart?”

  Listen here, malakas.

  Tyler smirked at me, “Lot a good pepper spray is going to do you in your purse. Besides what if it was a vampire or one of those animals? Does pepper spray even work on them?”

  “They’re called Therians, Tyler,” I said sharply. “It comes from the Latin word Therianthrope meaning “man beast”. Therians can change form any time of the month and they are always in control of their actions. They’re not animals or mindless beasts frothing at the mouth, but people with an extraordinary talent. And no, pepper spray wouldn’t hurt them much but it would slow them down.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I suppose you’re pro-tick as well?”

  “Tick? Don’t ever say that in my presence again or I’ll use the pepper spray on you!” I snarled.

  “Vampires need the same stuff from food that you and I do,” Gus said. He and I had talked about this before. “Consuming blood is a separate matter. Lizzy says Vampires don’t even feed on humans. They feed on one another.”

  “What about the blood junkies?” Tyler challenged.

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Human blood is dangerous. We’re like walking meth labs carrying lethal doses with the potential to drive them insane before they expire. The smart ones prefer to leave us alone.”

  Tyler scowled and grumbled under his breath, “Ought to just get rid of 'em all I say.”

  He supports eradication.

  It was an extremist stance and I hadn’t met someone in person who admitted to believing in it.

  “That is exactly the kind of mentality that causes Cryptid crime. Why should humans get to decide who lives?” I shook my head vehemently. “It isn’t right.”

  “I’m not afraid of any of them,” he patted his taser. “I’m locked and loaded. Any of those freaks comes near me and I’ll leave them twitching on the ground.”

  “I hope you never have to use that, Tyler. Truth of the matter is you’re gonna piss off whoever you fire it at.” I tilted my head and smiled coldly. “If you’re lucky, they might kill you quickly on reflex.”

  I left Tyler gaping like a fish and heard him ask Gus, “Is she serious?”

  You’re supposed to be dispelling stupid superstitions, not creating new ones.

  Rarely did I loose my temper but fatigue and Tyler’s ignorant remarks had hit a raw nerve. I loathed the prejudices against the Cryptids. The country was already divided on the subject of what ought to be done.

  I mentally scolded myself for my rash comment. What I said to Tyler was out of line. I knew the reasons why preternaturals were feared, but it angered me. They were not the monsters we painted them to be in our stories. Since going public, we’d learned Therians and Vampires were much like us, with families and jobs; they just wanted to live. And in return we had been experimenting with them. The stories about the Richland Institute were nightmarish.

  Don’t think about it. You’ll freak yourself out.

  The parking lot was surrounded by trees and bushes. During the day it was nice because I could enjoy the nature trail but at night it was dark and frightening. The dense vegetation obscured the view of the security guards making it harder to police. I fumbled with my car keys for the right one to unlock the door. They slipped through my fingers and I lunged forward to catch them. The second my body dipped low I felt something barrel into me like a freight train. If I’d been standing upright, it would have flattened me to the side of my civic; instead my temple bounced off the metal door and I was knocked to the pavement. It felt like a rhinoceros had run over me. Dazed, I tried to shake the stars from their orbit around my head but I wasn’t given a chance. Cruel hands curled into my dark hair and yanked me up. I was thrown against the unforgiving metal of my car. The force of the blow pushed the air from my lungs in a rush and my back screamed in pain.

  I saw my attacker for the first time. Not a rhinoceros at all, but a woman.

  Are you kidding me?

  I was equal parts surprised and insulted she’d gotten the better of me. Her slight frame was smaller than my own 5’5’’. I wondered how she packed a wallop like an elephant into her tiny package. My answer lay in eyes too bright to be human, they danced with sick delight. Her hand squeezed tight around my throat.

  “Hello, lovely.” Her smile was feral.

  All the times I’d chastised people for refusing to go out on the Blood Moon was coming back to bite me, literally. While others believed Preternaturals to be monsters, I’d gone to the other extreme and forgotten they were predators. A mistake I’d pay for in spades.

  “Out on the Blood Moon? Mmm, not smart. For a college girl, I’d expect a little more common sense. Not that I’m complaining. It’s become so hard to find a good meal with everyone locked up in their homes.” Her broad smile revealed a double set of fangs.

  Vampire.

  The stereotypical vampire with its elongated canines inspired fear, but the reality was worse. Four teeth, not two, doubled the sharp bite on each side. Researchers for the ISR, like myself, still hadn’t puzzled out why they needed four.

  “I bet you’re gonna taste sweet.” She leaned in closer to me, nuzzling my cheek with her own.

  My palm stung from the bite of my keys, I squeezed them too tight.

  My keys!

  I adjusted my grip, securing them between my middle and ring fingers and balled my hand into a fist. I put all my strength into my swing bringing the makeshift weapon up to stab her in the face. The vampire backed up, stunned, but didn’t let go. I slashed at her blindly, gouging her cheek, eyes, and neck repeatedly until she released her grip on me. She screamed in pain and rage, covering her ruined face with her hands.

  I fumbled with the keys, trying to get the car door open so I could drive away. My hands were slick with blood and the key ring slipped from my fingers. Panic triggered my flight response and urged me to flee instead of retrieving the keys.

  Run, run, run!

  I ran as fast as I could into the wooded path next to the parking lot. My time to escape was limited and I prayed I would reach the campus security building before she recovered. The guard shack was closer, but with only Gus and Tyler inside I didn’t want to go there.

  She’d rip them apart in a nanosecond.

  My best bet was the well-lit building with close to a dozen people inside. The shoes I hated with their tiny heel made it hard to run so I paused, kicked them off, and continued barefoot. Rocks and sticks cut the soles of my feet, but I barely noticed. A deafening crash from the direction I’d come from scared a whimper from me.

  She’s done licking her wounds.

  I looked for the lights of my destination as a beacon of hope, but they were still too far away. I’d never make it in time. Hiding was a useless endeavor because the blood on my injured feet and trickling from the head wound were a flashing dinner sign to the vampire.

  It didn’t matter anyway, she’d already found me.

  She dragged me towards her until we were nose to nose. Only one dark brown eye filled with hate glared at me. The other socket was a hole where my keys had impaled her eye. Blood ran down her cheek until it dripped off her jaw.

  “You’re a stupid bitch. You think you’re smart 'cause you go to a fancy school but you’re wrong.” Her voice was calm and controlled. She spoke as if we were two people having an ordinary conversation.

  Her hand around my throat tightened. Gasping for air I tried to claw at her remaining eye. All I managed to do was to rake my nails down her cheek leaving bloody furrows in the skin. She gave a short yell and then threw me. One second I was on my feet and the next I was laid out flat on the grass. I made contact with the ground hard enough to make my teeth rattle. An exposed root caused a nasty blow to the back of my head. Warm blood oozed from the wound.

  My attacker threw herself on top of me. Te
ars streamed from my eyes and all sorts of horrors flashed through my mind. I tried not to imagine what was going to happen next. She straddled my waist and I attempted to buck her off while slapping at her face, but she caught my hands. Her bruising grip on my wrists as she held them down on either side of my head was so tight I lost feeling in my fingers. She looked horrid, I’d done a number on her face.

  Good. Too bad the wounds will heal.

  “You’re in for it now,” she hissed, slurring her words from the cuts to her cheek. “I wouldn’t have been too rough with you before but you decided to be difficult!”

  “Ai ston diaolo,” I wheezed in Greek, finding it hard to breath with her weight on top of me.

  Go to hell.

  She chuckled at me then leaned over to lick the tears from my cheeks. Her unwashed body and greasy hair stunk to high heaven. “The fighters are always the best.”

  With the lightning speed of a cobra she struck the left side of my neck. I wanted to fight her but I couldn’t move. The advantage of four fangs over two became apparent, more teeth meant a better hold. The slightly angled backward curve prevented me from pulling away. If you’ve ever seen a Burmese python’s mouth you’d get the idea.

  She drank deeply and with each drag the strength left my body along with my blood. The greedy gulping noises by my ear were obnoxiously loud. Her promise to deliver a painful death didn’t go forgotten. Out of sheer spite she tore a piece of my throat out. My breath gurgled and I choked on my own blood and hers as it dripped from her wounds onto my face. An earthy taste filled my mouth, like chewing on dirt. I struggled to breathe as blood ran up my nose.

  I can’t stop her. I can’t get away. There’s nothing I can do to save myself.

  When a vampire bleeds you dry you can actually feel your heartbeat slowing down. The thumping in my chest was erratic. Death hovered over me and I was no longer afraid. Maybe it was the realization there was nothing I could do to escape my fate. Sadness was the foremost emotion in my mind.

  I’ll never see my parents again. Never hear Μάμα when she laughs or Μπαμπάς tell his jokes.

  Granted, I didn’t see them too often with all the traveling they did but being dead was different.

  Through the canopy of the trees overhead I watched the stars shine. I’d spent a great deal of my life afraid of the dark; I still didn’t particularly like it. I didn’t have a rational reason for my fear, kids don’t need one to be frightened. As a woman on my own I was afraid of how vulnerable I was. The stars were never bright enough to illuminate the night for me. I knew all the constellations because they were another part of my scholarly Μάμα’s world of ancient mythology. She loved to point them out to me and tell me their stories.

  That one is Orion and there is Cassiopeia. They’re named after…

  I’d never looked up and enjoyed the stars for being stars; I’d missed out on the beauty. First I was too afraid and then I was too busy.

  Now, I’ll be too dead. Hardly seems fair.

  I heard Μπαμπάς’s rumbling voice in my head say, “Anyone who promises you fairness is lying.”

  He was right. The world was cruel and unjust, so my death would be nothing more than a cosmic blip. I prayed my parents would find peace and comfort in each other and thanked whoever was listening for giving me a beautiful starry night in my last moments.