by Rob Shepherd
“To us,” Bronte and Flame said in unison.
Kiana sat down next to Bronte, propping her feet on the footstool in front of her.
“Oh, change of plans,” Kiana said excitedly. “I am departing at Queenstown and will be meeting up with you again in due course.”
“If that is what you would like to do,” Bronte smiled, “then my darling, that is what you will do.”
The servants knocked on the door for dinner and he women made their way to the dining room.
Bronte looked around at all the humans: women, men, and children of all sorts, such delicious treats. Kiana and Flame flanked Bronte as they made their way to their seat. It wasn’t too long until three men across the room bought them drinks. Bronte looked over and smiled at them, begging them to join her with her eyes.
“What fools,” she laughed.
Bronte, Kiana, Flame and the three men made their way to the top of the ship. The ladies each had a glass of wine and were merry. Each acting like lusty twenty year olds that they definitely were not. But for now, to these men, they were. They had no idea what was about to happen, the Vampire ladies made certain the males felt a sense of control until those last minutes.
Bronte was pushed up against the wall and her lips were invaded by one of the drunken men, she had no intention to stop him just yet, but the way he kissed her was disgusting. Soon the other two men followed Bronte’s friend’s lead and began kissing Flame and Kiana.
Bronte opened her eyes and pushed the man against the railing of the ship, smiling slightly as she realized how fun this could be.
“You like a bit of control?” the male asked, holding on to her tighter.
“More than you know.” She laughed, snapping his neck, sucking his blood and throwing him overboard.
As she finished, she looked over to her friends who had were disposing of their corpses in unison.
“Oops, man overboard,” Bronte said.
Kiana had enlightened at Queenstown, England and the ship was off towards America. Bronte could not have been more excited, she had not been in America in years. It would be good to get home and have a fresh start. The hills of Montana sounded quite appealing.
“It’s that time of night again,” Flame said smoothly as she slithered through the door.
“That time of night again?” Bronte asked.
“I have found a couple of lovely dates to lure in to a false sense of security.”
“Amazing,” Bronte laughed. “But I do not think it will be a late evening for me.”
“Getting too old, Bronte?” Flame taunted.
“I have not had this much leisure in a long time, there are not as many opportunities to feed on this ship,” Bronte informed. “I cannot afford to be out too long while thirsty.
“I was joking,” Flame laughed.
Bronte stood and looked in the mirror. “God, I cannot wait to have my next meal.”
Bronte walked out the door and Flame nervously walked next to her, not sure whether she should talk or not. Bronte could get nasty when she was in a mood.
Suddenly, there was a shudder that sent Bronte to the floor. Screams echoed through out the boat.
“What the hell was that?” Bronte growled as Flame dropped to her side.
“I have no idea” Flame rushed over. “Here let me help you.” Flame held Bronte’s arm and helped her stand.
“That was embarrassing,” Bronte sighed, fixing her clothes. “I may go check it out.”
“It was probably the propellers stopping,” Flame laughed.
“I know, I just want to be sure.”
“All right, leave it to me to secure our meals,” Flame said as she walked away.
Less than a second later, Bronte was on the deck watching as twenty stories of ice passed her by. What the hell had just happened? Bronte thought to herself.
A second later she was walking into the dining room as her eyes met Flame’s. She picked up on the urgency.
Flame met her half way.
“The ship hit an iceberg,” Bronte whispered.
“Hmm, sounds tasty,” Flame smirked.
“I am going to find out how bad the damage is,” Bronte sighed.
“Don’t be silly.”
“I’m serious,” Bronte said, beginning to walk away. Flame grabbed her arm tightly and spun.
“Bronte, you do not need to be a part of everything that happens in this world,” Flame snarled.
Bronte pushed Flame against the wall. “No one is to speak or touch me like that, what makes you think you’re any different?” Bronte snarled and walked away.
Bronte walked down the hall until she reached the water. It became deeper and deeper. She paused for a moment, listening. She could hear everything from one side of the ship to the other. There where the voices of people drowning, voices of people screaming. She listened as the water burst through doors taking peoples lives before they even realized what was happening.
Bronte shook the noises away as she felt water rush past her, she knew it was cold from its color and the way her hair was forming ice droplets. She looked back the way she came, water engulfed everything. She closed her eyes and swam, using her beyond human strength and speed, not caring about the repercussions. She found an area of the ship where she could stand.
“Bronte, Bronte,” she heard coming towards her.
“Flame, are you all right?”
“What are you doing? We have to go, we can get away.”
“I don’t know, it’s…”
“I don’t care, you’re coming with me, we can be on land before daylight,” Flame snapped, dragging Bronte towards the deck.
Bronte couldn’t help but listen to all the chaos. She was no stranger to chaos. She was no stranger at causing it either. But so many innocent people…
Bronte stopped and looked down a hallway at a man in a beige beret and a suit to match. She looked next to him at a small child. He out stretched his hand to open the door.
“Sir, I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Bronte called. He looked back and called something out in a language she didn’t know.
The crack of water burst through the door, making Flame cower. Bronte ran to the man and grabbed hold of his child, pulling them to safety.
“Bronte, what the hell?” Flame asked as they found their feet again.
“Can you speak his language?”
“Yes, it’s Italian.”
“Tell him to follow us,” Bronte said, grabbing the small boy’s hand and running towards the deck with the father. Flame walked behind them talking in Italian.
By the time they got to the deck, the whole ship was in panic. There was only the icy water or the ship rising and rising, causing people to tumble down in to the sea.
It seemed as though there where only two people who where going to survive this, Bronte and Flame. She couldn’t have that.
She slid down the deck when a force almost as strong as her own stopped her.
“What are you thinking?” Flame yelled, digging her heals in to the timber flooring holding Bronte in place.
“I just need to help,” Bronte told her.
“Why do you care?” Flame yelled.
Bronte searched her eyes; Flame wanted them both to get away, immediately, while they stood a chance. Dawn was too close and they would have no chance of getting to shore in time to find shelter from the sun.
“I don’t know, I just feel that this is what I need to do,” Bronte yelled.
“You’re crazy, you will never make it to shore in time unless you leave, right now, with me.” Flame spoke as if she could hear Bronte’s own thoughts.
“You find your own way, I will be fine,” Bronte promised. “I always am.” She smiled looking up at the ship that was getting more vertical by the second.
“Bronte…” Flame sighed.
“Go, I will feel better knowing you are safe, it will be easier to find shelter for one, there may only be caves out here.” Bronte looked firmly in to Fla
me’s eyes. “Trust me.”
Flame nodded and hugged Bronte for the first time since they had known each other. Bronte stood again and slid in to the rest of freezing cold water. She looked around at all the people.
“Get as far away from the boat as possible, tell as many people as you can,” she demanded to couples that were bobbing up and down near the railing.
Bronte made her way through the crowd telling anyone she could, not many people were willing to listen, they where hysterical. The water was forming ice particles in their hair, on their clothes, and around their noses. So long as Bronte kept moving, she would be fine.
People were ignoring her and trying to swim in any direction. Some people were praying for a miracle, others where begging that the lifeboats would come back and rescue them. Others accepted their demise and just waited, watching the show before their eyes.
Bronte swam past most of the crowd in the water and looked back. For a moment, Bronte wondered if she would have caused this chaos would it be more enjoyable to watch? No. Not this time.
Across from her, a group was looking back at the doomed ship. Bronte knew what she had to do. She could not save all 3,000 people on this vessel, but she could save a few. She made her way over to the group.
“We need to keep moving,” she said. They looked at her in disbelief, how could anybody possible know what to do right now? “If you don’t keep moving, your body will freeze and you will die,” Bronte said bluntly.
“But land is days away,” someone cried.
“It is only two or three miles in that direction,” Bronte told them, nodding her head behind the crowd. “It’s worth a try; this is your life we are talking about.”
They didn’t need much more convincing to start on their way.
Bronte made sure to stay behind so she could use her strength to make the water help the humans travel faster. Bronte pulled the last human to shore. Each set of eyes she met where fearful, yet thankful.
“How did you manage?” a woman asked, clinging to her husband.
“I have no idea, I just did,” Bronte lied, looking out to see the ship that was sinking wouldn’t have been visible to these humans. “You must all stay here until dawn; people will find you in the morning.” Bronte said walking to a rock.
“What about you?” A man asked after he got a feeling that she was about to leave.
“I’ll stay as long as I can,” she said. “Stay close or you will all freeze.” She sat on a rock and looked at the dozen humans she had saved - each one so sad, thankful, confused and scared at the same time.
Bronte noticed the blood on one of the women’s knees.
Suddenly everything started pulsing. Bronte put her head in her hands she felt like pulling her hair out.
“She looks in pain,” a man said to the person sitting next to him.
“Maybe she is exhausted, it had to have taken a lot out of her.” Bronte tried so hard to ignore what the humans where talking about. She wasn’t exhausted or tired. She closed her eyes and zoned them all out. She had her head in her hands for what felt like hours.
“Excuse me, Lady Bronte,” a woman’s voice asked. Bronte felt a shoulder rest on her shoulder. “Are you alright? May I be of any assistance?”
Bronte took a deep breath; all she could smell was blood.
“Lady?” the woman said so elegantly adding a smooth melody to the beat of her pulse.
Bronte looked out of the corner of her eyes.
“You have blood on you,” she said looking up her body.
“Yes, it happened when I got out of the water, I grazed it on the rock,” she smiled. “It’s nothing compared to what could have happened. Well, should have happened if it weren’t for you.”
“Right,” Bronte sighed, trying to hold her breath, trying to will the sun to rise faster so she could leave these humans to their own devices.
“We are all so grateful. If there is anything any of us can do to help you feel a little bit more comfortable, we would all be incredibly happy to oblige.”
I am stronger than this. Bronte sighed to herself dropping her head in her hands. “But I am so thirsty!” she said breathlessly, looking out to the ocean, digging her fingers in to the rock she was sitting. She closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, then opened her eyes again looking at the woman.
The woman jumped back. “Your eyes,” she said so softly even for Bronte’s sensitive ear to hear.
Bronte stood and walked to the woman who was now looking like a confused child.
“Yes, my eyes.” Bronte laughed waving her hands in front of her acting scared. “They’re orange!” She smirked. “You can thank the witch trials for that.” She laughed again, her cackle sending chills down the spine of the humans.
“You’re a witch?” someone asked from the back.
Bronte laughed again. “Absolutely not, I am smarter than those things.” She leaped forward, snapping the neck of the woman who wanted to assist her, then drinking blood until she was dead. “I’m a Vampire.”
She dropped the lifeless body to the floor, glaring at the humans in front of her. Smiling, she thought of the irony of this situation, how scared these humans must feel. She felt more joy than being on the ship.
Three men slowly built a defensive wall in front of the five women.
“Pathetic, you are no match for me.” Bronte laughed.
“Nonsense, you are only a woman.”
Bronte laughed.
“Obviously you have never heard of my kind.” She smirked, leaping forward and killing two of the men, and then sucking their blood.
The men looked on in surprise at the speed she moved, at the speed she killed, and at the speed she sucked these men dry.
“First of all,” Bronte said smoothly dragging another woman to her feet. “I am no woman.” She said snapping the woman’s neck and drank from her.
“I am a lady, not a woman,” she said, taunting the male who had been stupid enough to try and stand up to her. Her smile grew wider and wider as the male grew more frightened. “Second of all,” she said picking off another victim, “even if I thought you were brave enough to try and kill me, which by the way, you’re not…” She circled around the group. “You have no idea how to do so, so now I am going to make you watch while I enjoy these other two tasty treats.”
“Leave them be,” the male begged. “Kill me, you don’t need to murder them.”
“How noble,” Bronte laughed. “And leave witnesses? I don’t think so.”
“Rest in peace.” She giggled as she snapped the last humans neck and drunk his blood.
Bronte walked back to the rock where she sat and looked down; her hands had made hollows on either side of the rock from where she had tried to resist the urge of human blood. She looked back at the bodies, smiling proudly at herself. She loved to feel the fear in the air, and to see it. Lady Bronte was a master in her own right. There was no guilt, no remorse.
“Stupid humans.” Bronte laughed as she dived in the water ready to make her way to another country where she could be part of another tale in history, tales that no matter how they were told, she would be the only evil Lady. The only Lady Bronte.
At 25, Australian author Monique Diplock has written for over half of her life. She loves seeing the joyful journey of her characters as they come to life. When she is not writing, she is studying Graphic Design, reading, or loving pets and family.
Door to Door
By Lori King
October 03, 1996. Fourteen year old Michael and his best friend Troy were walking home from school. The air was cool, but not quite in need of a fall jacket. They still wore shorts and tee shirts. The leaves on the trees had started changing colors ranging from green to brown and various oranges and reds. The boys were doing what they had always done when school let out which was walk home while discussing the latest news on video games. This week’s discussion consisted of Tomb Raider and whether or not Lara Croft could hold her own against Resident Evil’s Jill
Valentine. Troy would always tease Michael about having a crush on Lara Croft versus a real girl, although Michael did have a crush on a real girl…Amanda Langston, the new girl who sat next to him in home room.
“l think Lara could take Jill any day,” Michael said. Troy just laughed, his shaggy brown hair covering his brown eyes.
“There’s no way! Jill faces horrible, scary monsters like zombies and Lara faces regular real people. She doesn’t stand a chance! Besides, I bet you wouldn’t think Lara would win against Amandaaaaaa…” Troy teased, prancing in a way that he thought all girls did at that time, arms prettily to his side and swaying his hips.
“Hey! So I like Amanda, what’s the big deal?” Michael asked. Troy smiled; he always loved giving his friend crap over something so innocent.
“She’s nice and all I guess but…she doesn’t even seem to know you’re alive, dude.” Troy was being sincere and did not mean to hurt his friend’s feelings with his words but he knew Michael understood him, he always did.
“Yeah…but I can’t help it. She’s smart and really pretty and she’s the only girl who has not made fun of me,” Michael said gloomily. The thoughts of Amanda were a bit upsetting, as he really liked this girl but yet had no way of expressing it without feeling like a loser.
“Yet,” Troy teased once more. Michael smiled. Troy was his best friend and they had been together since pre-school. Michael knows he had given Troy enough problems over liking Sadie Perkins, a chubby redheaded girl with a lot of freckles and glasses. She definitely was not considered one of their most beautiful girls but Troy liked her anyway.
The boys walked along the sidewalk and arrived at Benning and Briar Street. Normally Troy would keep going straight and Michael to the left but since it was Friday Troy would be going home with Michael for the usual sleep over. The one thing that they did not like about this particular block was passing by the abandoned Victorian home that was just down the street from Michael’s house.