by Atha, DL
He was wearing light gray and black tennis shoes with a lot of wear to the point that most of the tread had given way to a smooth rubber sole. He was handsome and in some ways beautiful, but not so much that he looked feminine. He was all male, not human, but all male.
Lifting my gaze back up to his face, I could see he knew I was appraising him. The corners of his mouth lifted in a sardonic smile that wrinkled his skin only slightly and I wondered how many other women had stared at this same man and saw that humorless smile before he ripped them to shreds. My heart rate picked up a little at that thought.
“Your name.” His voice was so quiet as to almost be a whisper and the innocence of the words coming from him after the previous mocking threats caught me totally by surprise. It was not a question, more like a command though not threatening, but even so I sat there dumbly for a few moments. Never looking away from his face, I watched as he lifted one eyebrow up in surprise that I dared to withhold the information he wanted. I gathered my wits up before he could speak again.
“Annalice,” I found myself whispering back, unable to lift my voice above his.
“Hello, Annalice. What a lovely old-fashioned name you have. It matches your house. I spent some time upstairs looking around. Hope you didn’t mind.” His voice was low and almost calming and I didn’t know what to say so I just continued to sit there staring into his dilated pupils. Doubtless mesmerizing, but not hypnotic like in the movies. No loss of free will, but definitely hard to look away from.
He sat back at that point and stretched out both legs in front of him, leaning casually back against my couch without breaking eye contact. “Do you accept what I am now?” he asked quietly.
I nodded very minimally, my subconscious subduing my movements, suspecting that sudden or large gestures might bring him hurtling across the small distance at me. I knew I had to die to protect my daughter, but since my previous attempt had failed, I just couldn’t seem to find the strength at the moment.
“You know how our encounter will end. You have proven that, but I do hope the time of prayer and theatrics is over. You cannot force my timing as I am in control of myself. Your blood will not control me and spilling it will not bring this to a quicker or different ending.”
His words hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt a black cloudy haze of fear for Ellie’s life form in my mind. It clouded my vision and left me nearly paralyzed, hampering my ability to breathe let alone acknowledge the creature sitting across from me. My eyes glazed over and I dropped my forehead into the carpet as I focused on breathing in and out. Other than that action, I had yet to acknowledge his words, but instead lay there in silence.
Finally looking up at him, I found that he had looked away and was staring at something to my right. Out of curiosity, I followed his gaze and with a sickening realization saw he was staring at Ellie’s picture.
“She is beautiful.” His voice was icy now and held a perverse undertone. I noticed then that he had a slight southern accent. Those pretty words wrapped up in that slight drawl only added to the effect.
I felt his gaze on my face, but I hadn’t been able to tear my eyes away from Ellie’s face. Her innocence stood out like a beacon to me. Surely there must be something he wanted, something I could use to bargain with. But was it possible to bargain with the devil? “Let’s make a deal,” ran through my head but I had nothing to offer except my death and I couldn’t even control that.
As I sat there, my mind grasped at straws. Was there no way out for Ellie? My mom would never bring her here if she were unable to get a hold of me. That I knew for certain. And she would call. She always did, frightened that I, her only daughter, lived in what she considered the remote parts of the world surrounded by dark forests. Mom had imagined every kind of evil lurking in those woods. Well, probably not this kind, I admitted to myself but she was not far off since the outcome would be the same. She would never dream of driving to the house without a definite game plan and so he would never get her or Ellie.
Unable to stop it, a slight smile of satisfaction spread across my face and with a little defiance, I met his eyes.
“I can find her. I will find her. That is what you were thinking about, right? Stupid human to think I cannot track down one insignificant child.” His voice held some anger now and his face went hard. “I already know so much about you. Give me twenty minutes in a house and I can tell you almost everything about a human. So naïve to think your home is really that private. I know where your mother lives. Or at least I know the general direction.”
He smiled again and continued, “You do not give up. Still looking for some way out for your daughter.” He nodded his head in my direction as he went on, “You love her. An endearing quality.” He paused there for a few seconds, letting the words sink in. “I have killed many people. Couples, entire families, friends. Very seldom does anyone truly sacrifice himself for someone, even a family member.”
He paused again and I could still feel his eyes on my face, but I had closed my eyes, my confident smile gone. I didn’t even acknowledge that he was speaking to me at all.
“As it turns out,” he intoned, “you do have something I want. Nothing material like money or cars, mind you. Something that is much harder to give.”
This caught my attention and, opening my eyes, I allowed him to catch my gaze once more. I stared into the deep wells of his pupils, rimmed by the intense green irises. These were the words I had been dying, literally dying to hear. His eyes, so riveting, compelled me to come to him and although I didn’t move, I didn’t try to look away either. This was what I wanted, something to bargain with and I would happily lose my soul in those eyes if there was a way out for my child.
“What?” My voice was cold and hard and the word came out as a demand. His chin lifted slightly at what must have sounded like defiance to him.
“Your cooperation.” Startled by his answer, I looked at him in surprise. I’m not sure what I was expecting but that certainly wasn’t it. I had already split an artery so if that wasn’t cooperation, I didn’t know what was. Did he mean cooperation where Ellie was concerned? I felt nauseous again and my head ached harder at the thought of what he could mean. I felt my hands form into fists and didn’t even try to keep them at my sides.
“I will never willingly give her to you,” I hissed the words across the short distance separating us.
A slight smile touched his expression and he laughed out loud. “You have made yourself abundantly clear regarding your daughter and lucky for you, it is not her that I really want.”
I was starting to get more angry than scared now, which was dangerous since he could kill me as an afterthought. “Then what is it? Tell me and let’s get on with it. There’s nothing I won’t do to protect her so spit it out. What is it?”
I searched my brain trying to remember every vampire movie I had ever watched. What did they need? I could think of nothing I had other than blood that he might want. The fear for my daughter’s life and my dwindling patience combined allowed me to pull myself up onto my knees. Reaching over, I hauled myself over to him. “Tell me, you son of a whore!” I spat the words into his face.
With lightning speed and with only a blur caught by my eye, his hands held my face and throat with a crushing force. “My mother was no whore.” His voice rang with rage. His eyes flashed with the emotion in his voice as his hands continued to crush against my bones. I was sure they would snap at any moment and my vision was starting to tunnel at the lack of oxygen.
“She was a good woman.” His voice was softer with those words, his face gentler and his hands relaxed slightly, just enough that I could breathe shallowly.
I saw in that moment a trace of humanity, the first that I had seen in him. As both a mother and a daughter, I could understand his pain. His grip loosened and I pulled myself out of his hands, falling backwards on the floor.
“It was you that I was trying to insult, not your mother.” My voice was raspy from the force of his hands.
I tried not to let my voice shake too much, but I couldn’t control it completely and if he noticed it, he didn’t show it.
“Yes, I sometimes forget that semantics have changed over the years.” The rage had left his face just as suddenly.
Taking a moment to calm my voice, I went on to the main point. “How can I cooperate?”
He had me now and he knew it; the victory showed on his face. “Occasionally, I long for a short period of human company. Very short, mind you. To understand, you must know something of vampires, our cravings, and you must know something of me. Blood is my main objective. It controls my every thought. I crave it, long for it and there is nothing more important than finding it. However, I do have other desires.”
Here he held up a finger for emphasis. “Although they are all colored by the desire for blood. I am essentially a loner as all vampires are, I believe. A nomad as I said earlier, roaming night after night rarely doing anything more than skirting the human world except to feed. Occasionally, it grows mundane and I choose a human with whom to spend a few days. To reacquaint myself with humanity, it helps me understand my prey better. Keep up with the changing of times and the human race itself. It is good for our kind to be able to drop our guard from time to time and be known for what we really are. To not have to conceal our most base desires if only for a few days. I do this very seldom, but it seems that now is a good time.”
“I will benefit and so will you and that is why I have chosen you. You have something I want and I can give you something that you want. Please do not think it is because you are special or different from the thousands of other humans I have killed. You are not different. You are not special. You will most certainly die when our time is up. You are alone, however, and will be alone in your home for some time; so it provides a convenient opportunity. I give this opportunity to you in exchange for your daughter’s life. Do you accept the terms?”
I studied his face looking for a hint of what he was really thinking as he spoke, but it might as well have been cast in stone. I wasn’t quite sure what he was saying or maybe my mind just refused to accept what he was offering. After our previous encounters in the evening, I was fairly certain that I understood the talk of blood, but could I cooperate and be his companion? And what did that even mean? I was sure there would be more to it than I was capable of realizing in my current condition.
I started to speak but he held up his hand, placing his right pointer finger on my lips, cutting off my questions.
“Do you accept the terms? Your cooperation in exchange for your daughter’s life? It is a simple question. Yes or no? The specifics will be explained later. And by the way, I killed old lady McElhaney. Ripped her throat out and left her dying body to rot. You are totally alone.” He waited now for my answer.
My mind was on what he had said about Ms. McElhaney. I realized he must have overheard the conversation with my mom on the phone. It all came together then. The sensation of panic and terror that had chased me from the woods and then what I had felt upstairs had been him.
“Yes. Of course. Anything for her.” I nodded my head as he pulled his finger away from my mouth.
I grasped his hand as he pulled it away. “But answer me this. Why didn’t you just kill me in the woods?” I was curious. None of this made any sense. “You didn’t know I was alone until you heard me talking to my mom.” Having many more questions, I started to ask more as he pulled his finger out of my hand and placed it back over my lips.
He clearly didn’t like my questions but answered anyway. “I surveyed your house out just before dawn on my way to my resting spot for the day. I could hear only two defenseless hearts beating and one of those was a child. I wanted to take you then. To wake you with my fangs at your throat.”
He reached over with the other hand to run one cool finger down my neck while he spoke, his right index finger still on my lips. Both of his hands were on me as if we were in an embrace. “That is the best time, you know. You would have smelled so much more human after an entire night in your bed before you covered your skin and hair with all of the fragrances human women are so fond of. But I would have been pressed for time. I would have had to spend the day here and I could not take the chance that some nosy human would come poking around, despite the isolation here, while I was incapacitated.”
He casually lifted his shoulders now when he spoke further like we were talking about the weather. “So I was fairly certain that you were essentially alone. I decided to let you sit and I would come back the next day. Besides, why would I want to kill you in the cold dirt of the woods when I could defile you and kill you in the comfort of your own home?”
The bleakness of his words startled me and I knew my shock was evident on my face. He was enjoying it. I felt a pit in my stomach, cold and empty.
What had I agreed to? Giving him my blood, my body, or something more important? Would he drain my soul as well? It took only a second for me to realize I would give up anything for Ellie so it didn’t really matter; he could have it all. Pulling his hand away from my mouth, I whispered, “Defile me then.” In return, he flashed me another predatory smile.
The chiming of the clock made me jump slightly at the first strike; it chimed five in the morning. The heavy oak that housed the mechanism of the clock gave it an ominous resounding boom that echoed throughout the emptiness of the house. The clock had been in my family for at least three generations, but I had never noticed before how lonely it sounded. It now reminded me of a death knell.
This hell of a night would soon be over but I still wasn’t exactly sure how it would end and his face still held that smile. A smile that confidently said he had won.
“So let me explain the rules of our engagement,” he began. “You are mine during the dark of the day, which means you will sleep when I sleep. You will do as you are told without question. Most importantly, you will contact no one and you will not leave this house unless accompanied by me. I expect to not have to repeat myself and, remember, any disobedience will make our agreement null and void. Ending your own life intentionally will also nullify our agreement. Do you understand?” He waited now, prompting me to answer with the full weight of his eyes on me.
Nodding my head yes, I vaguely realized I did have several questions, but I suppose my thoughts were racing too quickly for them to be coherent.
“Then I will see you at the setting of the sun.” His voice was low when he spoke.
He was suddenly standing before I realized his movements and reaching down, he grasped my hands and pulled me quickly to my feet. My head swam with the sudden movement, but I was locked in his grip so I didn’t falter. Leaning down, he placed one cool touch of his lips to the back of my right hand and then he was gone. A second later, I heard the back door close and I was alone.
With his leaving, I also lost control of my legs and I sank back down to the floor. I knew it had been pure adrenaline that had kept me going for the last couple of hours. But now I had nothing left and no reason left to even attempt to regain my footing so I just lay there. It hurt to think and I attempted to completely empty my mind.
It didn’t work because my every thought was of him or of Ellie. Like watching a movie, each bad moment replayed itself like poorly scripted drama scenes from a horror film.
And like many poorly made horror films that I had watched, this one couldn’t keep me awake either and I eventually fell asleep. I don’t remember drifting away and how I remained asleep is beyond me with the images of what I had experienced still playing through my mind.
They were even worse in my dreams. More distorted and slowed down even further in that eerie way that is only possible in dreams. But despite the images flashing through my mind, I slept deeply and it took the incessant chiming of the clock striking noon to rouse me.
four
Awareness came before the opening of my eyes and I knew it was noon because of the glare coming from the picture window in the living room. I was tempted to stay there and not
move as I couldn’t see any point to getting up, but even when you know you are going to die, you still have to contend with the bladder, so move I did.
Pulling myself up to a kneeling position, I gave myself a minute to let my spinning head slow down before I stumbled into the bathroom. To my surprise, I managed to make it to the commode without passing out by using both hands to steady myself as I walked. It was still a relief to sit down even if it was only a toilet.
After several minutes of convincing myself, I got up to the bathroom sink. Luckily it wasn’t too far away. Looking into the oversized mirror, I gasped a little at my own appearance. I looked like hell and that was putting it mildly.
Reaching up to pull at the snarls in my hair, I took a second to pull one of my lower eyelids down. Paler in color than it should have been, I was surprised to find that my inner lid still held any color at all. An old school method for determining a blood count. Not terribly accurate, but at least it gave you an idea if someone was anemic or not.
Turning on the faucet, I reached both hands into the cold water, splashing it up onto my face and then running my fingers through my hair trying to tame it down a little. Looking back in the mirror, I couldn’t tell much improvement.
The vanity of the situation hit me then. Primping in front of a mirror when my killer would be returning in less than six hours hardly made sense. What did it matter if I looked like crap? Like most women, I had spent numerous hours in front of a mirror and for what? It had been wasted time. He was here for blood and not the way I looked. So deciding not to waste the few remaining hours of my life that I had left, I gave up on my hair.