Hunting The Past

by J. C. Diem

  He couldn’t step onto hallowed ground, so he dug a shallow grave next to the cemetery and placed me in it. I slipped in and out of consciousness as he loosely covered me with dirt. Even when it was covering me completely, I could still hear his voice when he spoke. “Tell the Devil that Alakay sends his regards.” With a sound that might have been a rusty chuckle, he left me to die.

  Chapter Three

  Every breath I took felt like I was being stabbed with a knife. I breathed shallowly through my mouth and grains of dirt caught in my throat. Gagging, I didn’t have the strength to cough them out and had to swallow them down. The vampire’s noisome blood still coated my tongue. It was vile enough that I almost wished I would die just so I didn’t have to taste it anymore.

  Regrets flashed through my mind as I lay in my grave. I shouldn’t have tried to take on Alakay alone. I wasn’t the first hunter to try to end his unnatural life. When I’d recognized him through my binoculars, revenge had blinded me. Now I was going to pay the price for my stupidity. No one would ever find my remains here. It hadn’t looked like the cemetery had been used in decades. My cell phone was in my backpack, miles away at the torched cabin. When no one heard from me, my mentor and foster father, Jake Everett, would try to track me down. The undead leech would already be long gone by then. Alakay was like a shadow; impossible to catch.

  Tears gathered and spilled from my closed eyes. My only consolation was that I would soon get to see my family again. It was luck that had spared my life five years ago. Alakay had almost drained me to death, but I’d summoned the strength to press my silver cross against him as he’d fed from me. The creature had let out an unholy screech and his flesh had smoked as it had burned him. He’d fled with his minions hot on his heels, probably expecting me to die from blood loss.

  Jake had just happened to be passing through Kansas at the time. He’d heard rumors that there were bloodsuckers in the area. He’d offered his help to the local hunters and they’d been out in force, searching the isolated farmsteads where some leeches had been sighted.

  A bloodhound had smelled the vamps and had led a group of hunters straight to me and my slaughtered family. I’d been taken to a hospital and had been given a transfusion that had saved my life. Jake had come to visit me when I’d been well enough to receive visitors. He’d explained that he and his people hunted monsters for a living and offered to take me in. With no other close family to take responsibility for me, I’d accepted and had moved to his home in West Virginia.

  During the past five years, I’d trained hard to learn to defend myself and to kill monsters. Restless, I rarely stayed in one place for long these days. I moved from state to state and from group to group, searching for Alakay and his nest. Vampires were far more numerous than I’d known. They were responsible for more deaths than ordinary humans realized. Locating one particular nest hadn’t been easy. Any time I heard of bloodsuckers being spotted, I joined the hunters who were sent out to kill them.

  Not all missions went according to plan. A couple of years ago, I’d been cornered by a young vamp. The undead female had been gravely wounded by silver bullets, but she’d still managed to latch hold of me. She’d drained a few pints of my blood before I’d managed to stake her through the heart.

  Wracked with a shiver, I realized that vampires had fed from me three times now. If a master fed three times from a human, the unlucky person became enthralled for life. If Alakay had fed from me each time I’d been attacked, I would have become his servant until death. Since he’d only been responsible for two of the episodes, I hoped I would be safe from becoming his slave.

  Swallowing down more grains of dirt, I winced at another stab of pain that came from somewhere deep inside me. The rancid taste in my mouth seemed to be getting worse. My breath hitched and what was left of my blood tried to run cold. I hadn’t just been nearly drained three times, I’d also tasted the dark essence of a master vampire. It had only been one small swallow, but the implications were dire. Being drained three times and drinking from a master vampire invariably turned humans into bloodsuckers rather than just their thrall.

  “No,” I whispered in horror at that prospect and more dirt entered my mouth. I closed my lips tightly as terror stole through me. The fact that I hadn’t died yet wasn’t a good omen. Hours had passed and my internal injuries should have finished me off by now. A hunter’s worst fear was that they might become the very thing that they hunted.

  Out of all the evil creatures that existed, bloodsuckers were the worst. They killed for fun and without remorse. They sometimes tortured their victims first, like cats toying with mice. I would rather die than be turned into a leech, but I feared it was already too late.

  As the day wore on, I became more and more lethargic. I slipped in and out of consciousness and was frightened and disappointed every time I woke to find myself still alive. More shivers wracked me as the heat of the sun began to fade from the dirt that loosely blanketed me. Soon, the sun would set. Then I would find out if I was going to become a monster, or if I would remain human.

  My breaths became even shallower as a bone-deep chill entered my body. As the sun went down, I felt my soul stir. It began to pull away from me and I cried out silently, begging it to stay. If it left and the vampirism took hold, I would surely be doomed.

  A muffled voice began to speak. For a moment, I was terrified that Alakay had returned. I couldn’t make out his words, but his voice sounded different from the vampire’s. Battling to hold onto my soul, I was mesmerized by the sound of his chants. The chill had spread to my insides and I was shaking from the cold. My soul had almost become untethered and it was trying to drift away.

  As the chanting grew louder, I heard strange sounds coming from the nearby cemetery. Scratching and digging noises came from the old graves. A strange sensation took hold of me, urging me to leave the shallow burial place. I sat up and the loose dirt fell away. My soul hesitated as strength seeped into me. It was coming from a nearby source and it was filling me with warmth again.

  The chill faded and my soul decided not to leave my body. I jolted when it settled back inside me and I became whole again. Gasping in air, I became aware that a man was gaping at me in astonishment. He was somewhere over thirty, had a potbelly, thick glasses, thinning hair and was far from handsome. His wrinkled yellow button up shirt and brown trousers were stained with food. It looked like he’d been wearing them for several days.

  He grinned and pumped his fist in the air in triumph. “Yes!” he crowed. “I’ve finally hit the jackpot!” He let out a whoop and I watched in amazement as he held his hand up to what appeared to be a resurrected corpse. The withered, badly formed and rotting person dutifully raised its hand so the man could high-five it. Their palms slapped together so hard that the corpse’s hand broke off and fell to the ground. The zombie looked down at it, but made no move to retrieve its missing appendage.

  Gaining control of himself, the man walked over to me and offered me his hand. “Rise, servant,” he intoned.

  I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet. I was still feeling woozy and more than a little confused. I’d been on the brink of becoming a vampire, but my soul hadn’t left me. I wasn’t sure what that meant yet. “Who are you?” I croaked.

  He blinked at me and shook his head. “Zombies don’t talk. You’re supposed to be a mindless minion.” He leered at me and tried to grab my boobs. I knocked his hands away and he staggered backwards. “Whoa,” he said and giggled. “I used a lot more of my strength than usual raising you lot. I must be hallucinating this.”

  “You raise zombies?” I asked, just to be clear that I wasn’t seeing things.

  “Uh, yeah,” he replied as if it should have been obvious and gestured at the dozen or so undead corpses that stood nearby. “There’s a bunch of them standing right there. See?”

  I studied them and they looked back at me with eyes that were even deader than a vampire’s. Withered, emaciated and unclothed, they looked like
mummies, but without the wrappings. I’d heard of necromancers, but I hadn’t met one, or seen zombies myself before. He wasn’t a very powerful necromancer if these were the best he could produce. “What do you intend to do with them?” I asked.

  “Oh, you know, exact revenge on my enemies and other stuff,” he replied and giggled again. “But I have different plans for you.” He leered again and staggered forward with his hands aimed at my breasts. “You’re so fresh it’ll almost be like having sex with a real live woman.”

  “Something tells me that would be a first for you,” I said dryly as I pushed him away again.

  He staggered and went down, biting his tongue when he landed on his ass. “Ow,” he complained and spat blood on the ground. The slightly milky eyes of his zombies zeroed in on the red splatter. “You’re not a very compliant minion.” He looked at me reproachfully and didn’t hear the creaking of bones and joints as his thralls closed in around him.

  “That’s because I’m not a zombie,” I said. Even from a few feet away, I could smell his blood. It should have repulsed me, but I found it disturbingly tantalizing. “I think your minions are about to eat you,” I warned him.

  Turning his head, he let out a shriek when he saw his zombies shambling towards him. Cringing away, he hastily chanted something in a foreign language. His small army of undead grudgingly halted, then returned to their graves. Their hungry gazes remained on him until they sank into the ground. Even the dismembered hand vanished into the soil. I felt no compulsion to obey him, which put my mind at ease that I hadn’t died and just hadn’t realized it.

  More strength seeped into me and I realized I was somehow stealing it from the necromancer when he used his power. My soul became cemented more firmly, but I still felt a bit colder than usual. “Who are you?” I asked.

  “I’m Gerald.”

  “Why do you raise zombies?”

  “Because I can,” he said with a shrug. “I found an old book in an abandoned house and thought it looked interesting. It turned out to be full of spells. I happened to be sitting next to a cemetery when I tried one out and a few corpses rose from their graves. It freaked me out a bit at first, but then I got used to it. It’s fun to send them out to terrorize people. I’ve killed seventeen enemies who treated me like crap over the years, but there’s still so many more out there yet.” His gaze became distant and he smiled dreamily at the thought of using his zombies to cause havoc.

  “Sorry, Gerald, but you just signed your own death warrant,” I told him. He seemed drunk on power, or maybe he was just exhausted because I’d somehow stolen his energy.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked in a slurred voice.

  Searching the pockets of my cargo pants, I found a knife and pulled it out. “I’m a hunter,” I said and he blanched. He knew I wasn’t talking about the type of people who killed animals for food or sport. I tracked down and eradicated anything that proved to be a threat to humanity. Sometimes, monsters also came in human form. Although I didn’t like killing people, I’d make an exception this time. He was too dangerous to be allowed to live.

  Chapter Four

  Gerald tried to scramble to his feet, but I was on him before he could stand. Faint pain flared inside me when I entered the graveyard, but I ignored it. Dropping to my knees, my knife sliced across his throat and blood spurted. Staring at the bright red liquid, I licked my lips and swayed towards him as he gurgled in horror and tried to staunch the flow with his hands.

  My gaze latched onto the gaping wound that I could see between his fingers and I couldn’t stop the compulsion to taste his blood. I leaned in and flicked my tongue over the small river. Instead of being horrible, it tasted like heaven. Before I realized what I was doing, I bit into his neck. My incisors elongated and sheared through his vein. I drank a few mouthfuls, but he’d already mostly bled out and the blood dried up.

  Hearing a strange sizzling sound, I glanced around and realized the noise was coming from me. My skin was smoking and it looked like I was about to burst into flames. Grabbing Gerald by the arms, I backed away, dragging his corpse out of the cemetery. The moment I left the hallowed ground, the pain receded and I stopped smoking.

  Eyes wide and horrified, the necromancer stared up at me. Even dead, his orbs contained more expression than any vampire I’d ever met. I couldn’t leave him out in the open like this. If he’d found the old graveyard, then it was possible someone else could stumble across it as well.

  I used my hands to scoop dirt out of the grave that I’d been called from. Gerald was a few inches taller and much wider than me, but I crammed him into the hole and covered him up. When I was done, I realized I wasn’t breathing hard from the exertion, but at least I was still breathing.

  It hit me then; I’d become something new and strange. Hands shaking, I collapsed next to the grave. Checking my pulse, my heart beat slower than usual and my skin seemed a little cool. My broken bones and internal injuries seemed to have healed completely. My soul stirred, but it didn’t seem to be about to detach itself from me. “What am I?” I whispered. I’d tasted a man’s blood and it had been wonderful rather than repulsive. Yet I didn’t feel the need to hunt humans down and torture them for sport.

  Whatever I was, I was something that had never existed before. Or if it had, I hadn’t heard about it. Hunters had existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Records were kept in several locations all over the world. There were several Archives here in the States where I might be able to find the information I needed. Unfortunately, they were heavily guarded with spells designed to keep evil out. While I’d been able to enter hallowed ground, it had been painful. I might still have my soul, but a higher power no longer thought I was pure.

  Expelling a weary breath, I stood and tried to get my bearings. My sense of smell had increased dramatically and I caught Alakay’s scent. It was tempting to follow him, but he would be far away from here by now. Vampires could move like the wind when they needed to. It used a lot of energy, but they could sprint so fast that the sun couldn’t fry them if they stayed in the shadows. Once their energy ran out, they needed to feed to replenish their strength.

  Following the older trail of my own scent and the dry and unpleasant scent of the vamp, I began to run. I could move much faster now and with far more grace than I’d ever displayed before. My agility had increased and I easily dodged around trees and leaped over roots and fallen branches. It would have been awesome except for the fact that I was no longer human.

  In just a few minutes, I reached the burned-out cabin. The piles of ash that was all that remained of the undead had been scattered by the wind. By a streak of luck, the nearby trees hadn’t caught on fire and the flames had been contained to the building.

  My backpack and gun were still where they’d fallen when Alakay had attacked me, but I couldn’t find my necklace anywhere. My Ruger was dirty, but intact. I slid it into the holster on my right hip and opened my backpack. I had a missed call on my cell phone. It was from Raymond, the head of the hunters in this area. He’d been expecting me to arrive last night and he was probably worried. At least he hadn’t notified Jake that I hadn’t turned up. My foster father would have created a state-wide manhunt for me.

  I called Ray and he picked up after a few rings. “Arienna,” he said in relief. “I was beginning to think you’d gotten yourself killed.”

  “Nope,” I said nonchalantly, trying hard not to break into hysterical giggles. “I’m still alive.” Mostly anyway.

  “Where are you? I thought you’d be here last night.”

  “I heard about some vamps who grabbed a family of four,” I replied. “It took me a while to hunt them down and set fire to the cabin they were using as their lair. I wanted to wait to make sure none of them escaped.” That would explain why I hadn’t left the area yet.

  “Did you fry their asses?” he asked in a hard tone. Vampires were his least favorite monsters.

  “Yep. They’re toast.” I felt guilty for lying
, but I couldn’t tell him the master had escaped and had that he’d fed from me. If he knew what I’d become, he would hunt me just as unmercifully as I’d hunted Alakay and his nest.

  “When can I expect you?” Ray asked.

  “I was just about to head out. I’ll be there in four hours or so.”

  “I’ll be waiting for you, kiddo.”

  We hung up and I took stock of myself. I was covered in dirt from head to toe. It was encrusted beneath my fingernails from digging Gerald’s grave. Changing clothes and getting cleaned up was my first priority.

  Following my own scent from yesterday, I took the path back up the hill. My night vision had increased to the point where the darkness was almost like daylight. Sounds were amplified and animals went still and quiet as I raced past them. To my relief, they didn’t flee from the area, which I hoped meant I wasn’t completely evil.

  I paused when I reached the road and saw the truck with the man tied in the back was gone. Either he’d managed to free himself, or someone had found him and had released him. It was probably good that he was no longer here. Seeing him helplessly tied up might have ignited my unholy instincts to feed.

  Taking off again, I reached my car in less than a minute. I opened the trunk and took out a bottle of water, then did my best to scrub my face, hands and arms clean with a wet cloth. Stripping off, I bundled my filthy shirt and pants into a ball. They weren’t salvageable, but I wasn’t going to leave them behind. I would throw them in a dumpster somewhere along the way to Ray’s place. Pulling on a clean pair of jeans, t-shirt and a light jacket, I brushed the dirt out of my hair. It was the best I could do without taking a shower.

  Now that I’d reached the safety of my car, it was time to see if I could even still use it. The vehicle was protected by spells that were designed to keep evil out. The interior of the nondescript white sedan was covered in arcane symbols that my foster father had taught me.