by Hood, E. B.
I came out the other side on fire; my clothes were melting to my skin. The wizard froze in mid sentence as I jumped through the air at him. I bet he didn’t see this stupidity coming.
I slammed into the wizard, and grabbed hold of him; when we hit the ground together, I began to roll us down the alley to put out the flames. When the last of the flames went out and I stopped rolling, I was face to face with the freaked out wizard.
He lay on top of me; before he could do anything else, I pushed him into the air. He was falling back down on top of me; I brought my legs over my chest. The wizard landed on my feet with a thump. Before he could catch his own balance, I kicked him towards the wall of the alley with all my force. He slammed into the wall hard, and it knocked all of the air out of him.
The wizard was now on his knees, dazed and trying to catch his breath. I jumped to my feet and ran over to him. I grabbed the back of his head with my left hand and grabbed his face with my right hand. I twisted his head until I heard this horrible cracking noise.
Then I pulled up with all my strength; I had to put my knee onto his shoulder to keep his body from lifting into the air. Then, with another terrible sound, I ripped his head right off.
Blood was everywhere, and that made me all excited. I tossed his head, and it bounced down the alley with a strange hollow sound.
My burns were already healing, and I tore what was left of my new clothes off. Damn, I really liked that outfit.
My second sight warned me to a new threat. The large black man had stood back up; he was looking at both of his dead friends. I better finish him off, I thought; when the man doubled over like he was in some kind of pain, he let out a yell and his clothes started to stretch.
He was expanding, and his clothes ripped and tore, as he got bigger and bigger. His skin stretched, and his shirt was all but gone, then he stood up. There stood a giant; instead of a black six foot man, now there stood a ten foot monster. The guy just Hulked out on me; he didn’t turn green but still, his muscles were swollen, and the only clothes that managed to stay on were his jockey underwear, and his blue tie.
Welcome to the world of… what the hell is that?
It charged me with amazing speed, but I was faster. I moved between its large arms and feet. It swung at me, but it missed.
I clawed it on its arms, legs and back, but it did no good. Every time I clawed the monster, it cut right through the flesh, but the flesh was thick and spongy. My claws were not long enough to really hurt this thing.
I decided to go for the monster’s head, so I jumped on its arm, bounced off its arm into a flip and landed on its shoulders. I grabbed its head and tried to twist it around; I wasn’t ready when the monster smashed his head into the wall of the alley.
I smashed into the wall face first; it only stunned me for a second, but that was long enough for the monster to grab me by the throat.
It had me by its right arm; I tried to pull free, but it was too strong. It slammed me up against the wall, and it was squeezing my throat. Lucky for me I didn’t need to breathe. The monster grabbed the top of my head with its free hand; it began pulling. It was starting to rip my head off.
Gee, I wonder where it got that idea from?
I was trying to get free to no avail, and I could feel my neck starting to rip apart. I guess my luck finally has run out.
“LET HER GO NOW,” I heard David yell.
I looked down to the right and could see David was standing four feet away, with some blood trickling down the side of his head. He had a look on his face of rage, and his green eyes had power.
The monster stopped trying to pull my head off. It let go with his left hand so that it could turn its body towards David. It was still holding me around the neck, as it pushed up against the wall.
Then the monster spoke in a low deep voice. “Ready to die little man?”
David shook with anger, and then his face went black with shadows. His eyes burned a green color; his face looked like a skull with green eyes; before my mind could really process what was happing, a green light burst from David, it covered me and the monster. I felt the monster drop me and my body fall…
* * *
I woke, and all was white… white sky, no buildings, no monster, no David, just nothing but white as far as the eye could see. “Hello,” I said. No echo, my voice sounded flat.
Go figure, David killed me! I sat down on the white ground. I felt like I should be afraid, but I wasn’t. Then, as my eyes adjusted to the surrounding light, I could see figures moving about. I got up and went toward them, but, as I did, they ran away from me. They were afraid of me in death too.
“Melabeth, Melabeth are you okay?” It was David’s voice, but it sounded far away. “Please wake up; how can I even tell if she is dead? Wake up damn it, wake up.”
I could hear the desperate pleas of David through the air. I closed my eyes, and then it felt like I was falling again. This time I opened my eyes to find David holding me in his lap.
“You alright? I thought I hurt you. You scared the shit out of me. Are you ok? You look badly burned,” David said with deep concern.
“I am fine; the burns will heal soon enough.” I noticed him gently pulling his fingers through what was left of my hair. Most of it was burned off, not that I was worried about that.
The blood on the side of David’s head now had my attention. I just realized it had been a while since I had a chance to feed, and that fight had taken a lot out of me.
I felt my teeth in my mouth become longer, and my ever increasing hunger was kicking in.
“Are you sure you’re ok, Melabeth?” David said, “You look like something’s wrong.”
Don’t bite him; get control over yourself. I sat up; David was still holding onto me just in case I fell back down. What he didn’t realize is that falling back down wasn’t the issue, and I needed some space.
“A little space, please,” I said tight lipped; I didn’t want him to see my fangs.
“Oh, ok sorry… just trying to help” David said, as he moved away.
Then I heard crying, I looked over, and there was the black man curled up in a ball crying. He was no longer a giant; he lay on the ground in his jockey underwear and his blue tie.
David will figure out soon enough what I am. Why try to hide it? Why pass up a meal? Still sitting on the ground, I slid over to the man and helped him sit up.
“What are you doing, Melabeth?” David said, sounding a little worried.
Not answering David, I said to the big man, “Shh… it’s ok; everything will be alright.”
I leaned him back and opened my mouth… the pleasure, the peace, I loved to feed.
After a little while, I felt the man die. I dropped his body on the ground and stood up. During the feeding, all my burns had healed, and my hair grew back down to my waist.
I looked down at David, who had never stood up and was still sitting on the ground. He had a look on his face of horror, fear, and disgust.
I smiled at him and said, “I knew it. By the look on your face, this is the first time you have ever seen a naked girl.” I laughed at my own joke, but David still just stared at me.
“Come on, Goliath is dead. Stand up, David,” I said as I helped him to his feet. “We need to get out of here.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Ok let’s go.” David said with a really shaky voice. “You’re naked.”
“Yeah, I mentioned that; I will need some clothes.” I looked around. The only option was the bloody trench coat the wizard had been wearing.
David said, “Let’s try breaking into one of these buildings. Maybe we’ll be able to find something for you to wear, before someone sees us. How would we explain…?” David looked around in dismay. There were three dead men: one of them without a heart, and one without a head, and there was blood everywhere, splattered against the walls and puddle up in the middle of the alley. “All of this?”
“Suicide” I said, as I headed for one of the doors in the alle
y.
With great strength, I broke the steel door open. “Follow the white rabbit, David, or the naked girl. Now that I think about it, it makes more sense than following a rabbit.”
“You have been reading my Journal,” David replied grumpily.
“Hurry, let’s go” I said. I reached over, grabbed David’s hand and pulled him through the doorway.
David was still in shock; he had this dazed look, like he wasn’t sure which way was up. We had entered a warehouse. It looked like it was full of furniture; I was hoping for clothes.
At least it didn’t seem like anyone was around. We hurried through the warehouse until we came upon some office doors. I went into the first office, but found nothing to wear. The second door ended up being a broom closet full of cleaning supplies. It’s in the broom closet that I got lucky; there, hanging on a hook was a dark blue work suit.
I pulled it off the hook; it was dirty and smelled, but I couldn’t run down the street naked. Holding the work suit in my hand, I looked over at David. He was staring at me; no, he was staring at my body. If he was looking higher than my chest, he would have noticed I was looking back at him; if his tongue fell out of his mouth, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
“Do you like?”
David jumped as if I just caught him sneaking cookies. “Yeah, everything is ok.” He looked away and his face turned the color of a tomato. “Sorry, Melabeth.”
“It’s ok.” I said. “You didn’t answer my question. Do you like? Do you like what you see?”
“Yes,” he said quietly.
“Then I don’t mind you staring, but I think it’s only fair if I get to see you naked. So take off your clothes, please,” I said teasing.
“What… Now?” David looked really nervous all of a sudden. I liked that; it made me more comfortable to be around a man that wasn’t experienced.
“Just kidding, we need to get out of here.” I slipped on the work suit.
It took us at least five minutes to work our way to the front of the warehouse without being seen. The warehouse was open, and there were people working. We slipped out the front, and, then we walked really fast to the bus station.
About the time we were going in the bus station door, we could hear the sirens in the distance. With no time to waste, we grabbed our bags from the lockers. I rushed into the girl’s room, tossed the work outfit in the trash and put on one of my new outfits. I took out the only pair of jeans that I bought and a white top. All I had left were my knee high boots; they would have to do until I got another pair of shoes.
We ran to get on the bus; the bus driver gave us an irritated look, as we found our seats. We both let a gasp of air out as the bus started driving out of town.
I sat next to the window looking out. I could hear David’s heart beating over the noise of the bus. We were quiet for a little while.
I was not sure what David was thinking; finally he looked over at me and said, "You killed three men."
"Yep" I said. What does he mean by that?
David looked at me with a pained look on his face. Then he said, "Yep. That’s your answer for murdering a man?"
"Murder? I didn’t murder them; I killed them!" I said. That hurt; how could he be thinking badly of me? "I did it to save us."
"I don’t know everything that happened," David said. "I was knocked out; when I awoke, you were ripping a man's head off. Then, before my eyes, the other man turned into a giant. You both started fighting, and then the giant got a hold of you. I was afraid he was going to kill you. I felt the fear in me, and, at the same time, I knew I could stop him. I got his attention, I felt fear for myself. I pushed all my fear into him, and it also went into you."
"Is that what that was… fear?"
I wasn’t sure how I felt right now. Was he calling me a murderer or not? He said he was afraid for me; I will let him finish before I lose my temper.
"Yes," David responded. Then, with a little hesitation, he went on to say. "Remember I told you I can feel what you feel?" I nodded my head yes. "Well I felt you dismiss the fear. And when you awoke, I felt your hunger. Then you killed that man in the alley. You didn’t have to; he wasn’t going to attack us again. So my question to you is, do you have to kill a person to eat?"
"No," I felt tears building up in my eyes.
"Then that’s murder." David said bluntly.
One of my tears betrayed me and jumped down my cheek; I turned my head back toward the window, I didn’t wish for him to see my tears. How could he make me cry? I saved his life, the ingrate. "You don’t know shit David."
"When you killed those men, you almost felt nothing, and if you did feel something, it was excitement; I know that," David said with a soft voice. "I now know what you are, and after seeing you do what you did, should I fear you?"
Tears fell down my face as I responded to his assessment of me. "If you had something to fear, you would be dead. Those men were not out to get me; they were out to kill you. And yes you’re welcome,"
"Well, if I didn’t say thank you…" David started.
"And another thing, what do you believe I am anyway," I said; my pain was turning into anger.
"Please don’t get mad at me. I don’t mean to be ungrateful to you. I am sorry for hurting your feelings, because I am scared of you." David held his head down. "I am having a hard time putting it into words; I know I am not making a lot of sense. Let me try to explain this to you… please don’t get mad."
"I'll try," the way he kind of begged helped me calm down, but I still felt like crying. I didn’t move my face away from the window to look at David. I still didn’t want him to see me cry.
David started to talk. "Where do I start? I guess first I should say that I know you’re a vampire. I think I have always known."
I couldn’t help myself; I turned to look at him; the tears were still threatening to show themselves. David went on by saying, “I know you saved my life today, and I will always be thankful for that. I can feel a great darkness in you, but, at the same time, I can feel a great… love. You need to be careful, or else that darkness will swallow you up. You can’t just kill people.”
“Do you trust me?” I asked.
“Yes and no. I trust you wouldn’t hurt me. I trust you as far as I am concerned personally. I don’t trust that temper of yours.” David said. "I can feel your pain, and it’s greater than I have ever encountered."
I think he still likes me as a friend, and that made me feel better; I was still afraid he didn’t want anything to do with me. I don’t know why, but I needed him.
So I said, “David trust me when I say that killing bothers me. I think you are misreading me with your powers. In the moment, like in the alley, I always feel nothing, or sometimes I feel excited to fight and kill. You need to understand that it bothers me; I don’t want to be what I am. I have only been like this for a few days. I have no friends or family. I don’t know where to go, or where I have been. I don’t know who to trust, and, in four days time, five men have tried to kill me. I know I am a vampire, but I don’t know shit about vampires. My master left me by myself to find my own way. The weird guy I fought in the alley, his hands were claws that I have never seen before. He told me with one swipe that I would die. Why would I have died? What the hell was he? And will more come after me for killing him? I have questions, no answers. And I am alone.” Now I was crying; tears ran down my face freely, and I felt ashamed.
David quickly wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight. I cried into his shoulder as he held me. For the first time, in a long time, I didn’t feel alone.
After I cried some more, David whispered in my ear, “sorry for not understanding. You would think, out of all people, I would understand. I don’t even know what I am… or how to control my powers; I could have killed that man myself. Hell, I could of killed you.”
I held him tight, and then said, “It’s ok. You are my only friend, and I need you. Also you are right; I murdered that man. I did it without even
thinking about it. I need someone to tell me that; I don’t want to become any more of a monster than I am already.”
David pulled back from the hug, and then he looked me in the eyes and said, “You are not a monster. Trust me when I say, I have seen monsters. I can see people’s souls, or something like that. I understand their emotions; I have felt terrible things from men and women. They were monsters, monsters in human clothes.”
“Really?”
David wiped my tears from my face. “Do I look brave enough to lie to you?”
I laughed, then David smiled brightly and said, “I love the sound of your laugh, and the way you sing; makes me feel like my soul is on fire with passion. I had no idea you were new to this… life. I will help you make your way, I promise.”
“Thank you; you don’t know what you already mean to me.” As I said this, I looked at David’s hands. That’s when I noticed he had blood on them. Confused, I said, “Did you cut yourself?”
“No” David said, and then gave me a small smile, “your tears.”
“Oh, my tears.” I wiped my hand across my face. When I pulled my hand back, I noticed that my tears had blood in them. “Crap, I am making a mess.”
“Don’t worry about it.” David said, as he started to pull a shirt out of his bag.
He pulled off the shirt he was wearing, because there were bloodstains on his shoulder. Wow, he had a lot more muscles with his shirt off, nice abs with a very tight chest; it took willpower not to reach up and rub my hands all over his body.
Unfortunately, he put on his clean shirt. Then he used the dirty one to clean me and him up. Finally I have a friend; deep down I know I need him. Lucky for me he needs me too. Someone is after him, and he doesn’t know why. He has powers that he does not understand, and they are most likely the reason those men came after him. He and I are kind of in the same boat.
We both are something more than human, yet we don’t know the rules of what we are. I have a feeling that we both need to figure out what we are, and how it all works. We need to find out as fast as possible. At least I don’t have to figure it all out on my own.