by Atha, DL
“I guess that depends on who’s doing the smelling,” I replied quickly. “I think I would take the aroma of anemia over decay any night.” I didn’t believe for a second that he didn’t already know what his decision was going to be, but telling me now would no doubt spoil part of his perverse fun.
“It is my professional opinion that you could become a first-rate vampire. All you really have to do is hold it together tonight, enjoy the kill, and then we will wake up together tomorrow night,” he intoned into the night air as he dropped me down roughly onto the ground, the worst of the thickets behind us.
Before he turned away, our gazes locked again for a brief second and I looked for my future in his eyes. But they were blank. Unreadable. Was he trying to show some mercy by not telling me outright that he was going to kill me at the end of the night, or did he really plan to turn me? Was it possible that I had changed him just slightly enough that he felt something, even if only pity, for me? Would he kill me so quickly that I would never know the outcome? Finally breaking his gaze from mine, he turned back to the scent trail.
The human pressed on and soon the horizon changed as we broke into the native woods as the new growth pines gave way to the oak trees that made up the native forests of this area. Shortly thereafter, the ground started to slant upwards as we climbed into the lower elevations of the foothills that slowly transformed into the mountains.
Although I could tell the human was slowing somewhat because of the increasing elevation, Asa kept the same pace. The scent of the other two humans had become quite faint and I knew that they were no longer in the vicinity. We had the young man all to ourselves and despite my best intentions, I felt a small wave of anticipation as we began to close in on our prey.
Continuing up into the foothills, neither Asa nor myself was winded at all. With his attention fully focused on the man ahead, he didn’t notice that I climbed just as easily as him. We had reached a small cliff of rocks, about ten feet tall, that stretched on for one hundred feet in both directions. We could have skirted it easily enough but Asa didn’t deviate away from it.
Leaping flat-footed with no effort, his attention stayed riveted towards the scent ahead of us. It took all of his focus to pay any attention to me at all. Blood lust was shockingly clear on his face. During my many nights with him, I had never seen him this hungry.
Pretending that I couldn’t get a handhold to pull myself up, I stood looking up at him hoping he would go on ahead. “I’ll go around,” I whispered up at him, but he lay down on his belly, reaching for my hand. Stepping up onto the tallest foothold that I would normally have been able to reach, I stretched my hand out to bridge the gap between us. By rising up on my tip-toes, he was able to grasp hold of my hand and hoist me very easily onto the top of the small cliff.
For the split-second that I was poised on the foothold, I considered using the momentum of his strength to bring my stashed stake into his chest, but my courage failed me in the last millisecond.
Regret nagged at me momentarily as I landed beside him with his heart intact and my stake still hidden. That might have been the perfect moment and I had just missed it. I could have kicked myself, but something had held me back.
As I looked into the face of my possible maker, I asked myself whether or not I could really do this. My mind flipped through random memories of the last week. I couldn’t deny that he had loved his mother and still did. He had even shown me an occasional tenderness and even now was considering keeping me.
Didn’t that mean that there was something salvageable inside him? Could he ever become more than what he was now? Had he not been changing, at least a little, over the last few days? Could it become more? And did it matter if he couldn’t change because in the end, I might not have it in me to kill him anyhow?
“I’ve never seen you like this, Asa. You’re, I’m not sure how to describe it. But you’re more dangerous than I’ve ever seen you.” My voice trailed off leaving the answers hanging in the air.
Letting go of my hand, he nodded his agreement and lifted his head to take in a deep breath. A broad smile spread across his face. “I am ravenous and the hunt carries with it a certain thrill. It fulfills a need that is more than just blood. It satisfies the predator within us. I wanted to be really thirsty tonight although even I did not realize how hungry I was getting by spending so much time with you. I have drank from you for the last week but your blood has not touched me for the last two nights. Very strange. The smell and color were right up until last night, but it has lost its zing. Never spending this much time with one human, I had no experience with how weak your blood would get. But this will work out even better. I will be at my best for you tonight.”
Feeling my heart miss a few beats at his words, I froze in place thinking he had finally put it all together. Hoping I could distract him, I whispered in my lowest, most seductive voice, “Let’s go then and not waste my opportunity to see you at your finest.”
Taking him by the hand, I turned back towards the direction we had been heading; the direction of the human I was helping doom to a gruesome death. I had never had such a low opinion of myself.
As we continued to walk deeper into the woods, the clouds began to dissipate, putting to an end the lovely display of snowflakes that had drifted down slowly while we trailed the human. I could feel the temperature had dropped since we left the house, but it didn’t bother me, it was merely an observation to me now.
With each step we took deeper into the forest, the human’s scent became stronger and soon I could make out a low earthy sound that I recognized immediately.
Rhythmic and strong, the beat of his heart struck a chord deep within me, reaching down into my bones and marrow. His strong pulse seemed to be pulsating within me, making me want him and I could taste him on my tongue.
Beating at a rate well over normal, his pulse was elevated because of the climb up the mountain that we had begun about a half a mile back. And its speed only made its resonation within me that much more intense.
An ache, so deep and so severe that it bordered on painful, flamed up deep in my pelvis. I tried to suppress it, but I found I couldn’t because the more I concentrated on not noticing the desire, the less I could keep my mind off it. It was a lust, not just for blood, but for him in his entirety. Individually, each lust was strong, but together they were inescapable and it was paradoxical that I didn’t want to hurt him yet my skin tingled with the thought of Asa bringing him down.
Looking ahead and to my right, Asa had taken on more of a stalking stance and I shifted automatically into the same stance in response to him. We were close enough now that I could see the focus of our attention between the barren trees of the woods. Asa paid me no attention whatsoever, so deep was he in the lust of his hunt.
Dressed in camouflage that did nothing to hide him from us, he was tall and heavily muscled. His hair was blond, streaked through with brown, and cut short. His smell was strong, musky, of the earth and the woods where he obviously spent a good amount of time. In his right hand he carried a shotgun with a well-polished but well-worn stock, and in his left hand an LED flashlight. Its penetrating beam danced off the trees up ahead as he followed his hounds.
Comfortable in the woods, he paid little attention to his surroundings, as equally intent on his prey as we were on him. Continuing to catch up with him silently for another hundred yards or so, we quickly closed the gap between us.
Sensing a terrifying and unnatural sensation behind him, I saw the fine blond hairs on his neck rise in response as simultaneously an intense contraction of the muscles that ran the length of his spine overtook him in a cold chill.
For a moment, fear paralyzed him as it had me the first time I became aware of Asa’s presence. Stopping in mid-stride, he cautiously turned towards us in the dark.
Glancing around to identify the source of his unease, his eyes found nothing amiss. “Dad?” he called out into the quiet of the woods, his voice shaking slightly. The silence of
the woods was his only answer.
Calling out again, he lifted his flashlight up, his arm shaking just enough that I could tell he found it a bit difficult to focus on what the light fell on. Moving it defensively in front of him like a weapon, I saw the relief wash across his face when the bright LED beam landed on Asa. Standing diagonal and a bit back from Asa, I was out of the range of the arc of light and he didn’t see me.
But the relief he had momentarily experienced was short-lived as he took a closer look at Asa. In the LED light, his skin was paler and more alien looking and the young man jumped back in surprise. Trying without success to regain his composure, he was spooked and it showed on his face.
Recognition of the danger that he was in was clearly evident in his expression, along with the fight for reason and logic. “Man, you scared me,” he called in Asa’s direction. His voice shook slightly and I could smell the fear that colored his words.
Asa, silent, stared intently at the young man, locking the young man’s gaze in his. The man stood uncomfortably, his hands no longer just trembling, but shaking uncontrollably. He waited for a moment before saying anything else.
From where I stood, I could see logic warring with his instincts, expecting Asa to smile and wave, explaining that he had heard something and came to check it out. And then ask a few friendly questions about how the hunt was going tonight. But instinctively, he knew the entire time that he was in great danger.
Taking a couple of steps forward unintentionally, I found myself in the glare of the beam. My pupils constricted only a little in the glare of the light and I found myself staring into the dilated pupils of the young man.
Assuming that my presence would make us appear less threatening, I found I was wrong. Hearing his heart rate speed up and smelling the surge of fear that saturated the air around us, I could see in his eyes that I was no less frightening to him than Asa was. Looking down at my skin as the LED light landed on me, I looked alien even to myself.
“You guys out hunting?” He tried to diffuse the situation he found himself in as Asa began to walk slowly towards him, still saying nothing. Backing up, the young man lifted his right arm up, leveling the gun at Asa’s chest. Not flinching at the sight of the gun, Asa continued his painfully slow stalking of the young man. I supposed the gun was of no consequence to him, but I dropped back and to the right as I could likely still be killed.
“This gun’s loaded, man. I’ll use it. Stay back! I mean it. I’ll shoot. Son of a bitch! Are you listening?” He was yelling now while he continued to ease back rather clumsily.
Changing his tactics, the man began yelling for his dad, for help. What was left of my heart ached for him. Ached for his father and for the son he was going to lose.
I could imagine, one parent to another, what this was going to be like for him, because there was only one reason I was standing here watching his son die, and she was as important to me as this boy was to his dad. But there were no humans close enough to hear him.
Seeing that Asa wasn’t going to stop, the man buried the gunstock in his right shoulder. I could see his left hand, knuckles squeezed white trying to steady the shaking weapon. It made little difference, the gun still danced around in his hands.
Asa continued his advance and the human sucked in a deep breath, gathering his nerve before firing off a shot. Watching the bullet erupt out of the barrel, I followed its course, watching it arc through the air and implode in a tree, bark exploding into the air, about twenty yards behind us. The space where Asa had stood was now empty. Even with his shaking hands, the human was a good shot, but he never stood a chance. Asa could simply move too fast.
I watched as true horror spread across his face when his eyes found Asa again. I could see the fetters of logic break in his mind by his facial expression. He stood slack-jawed, unable to think clearly.
His arms and hands went limp. The gun dropped quietly to the ground, muffled by the thick layers of rotting fall leaves. The forgotten flashlight hung loosely by a strap around his wrist and it swung out in an arc as he turned and began to run deeper into the woods and into the foothills
Laughing his quiet and sadistic laugh, Asa began to walk quickly to keep up. It wouldn’t have taken a vampire to follow the man as his flashlight created a bobbing light trail through the woods, along with the noise as he crashed through the underbrush.
Continuing to walk at my earlier pace, I trailed after them, again not wanting Asa to see the ease with which I moved.
Asa could have taken him in no more than a couple of seconds, but he was letting the man run wildly in front of him. His speed despite the fact that he was moving uphill was getting faster.
Asa sped up only slightly, however. Why was he running the human? Was it to cause more terror for the young man? Did he want to prove something to me? I wasn’t sure and as much as I hated it, I had a morbid curiosity so I sped up to catch him.
Stepping out of the woods into a small clearing, I saw Asa’s right hand reach out and with a flick of his wrist, he knocked the young man to the ground. As he fell, his right ankle twisted in a depression in the frozen ground and he went down hard.
I suspected that Asa had chosen to make his move in the clearing so he would have more room. It appeared to be a natural break in the trees and not man-made. About thirty feet in diameter, it was more ovoid than circular and was situated in a less steep area of the mountainside.
Turning my eyes back to our victim, I watched as he tried pulling himself along the ground, his hands grasping at the knotty roots of the oak trees, partially exposed through the leaves. His nails cracked with every grasp as he inched along on the floor of the forest. Bleeding from hundreds of scratches and lacerations, I realized how much sweeter he smelled now. The run had simply made him tastier.
Crying now, his words were essentially incoherent as he struggled to pull himself along, trying desperately to find some escape from this hell.
Asa walked purposefully behind him until finally the human had inadvertently worked his way backwards down the length of the clearing and had pinned himself up against a large oak tree. His strength had given out at this point and he lay on his belly waiting for the end, crying and praying quietly to himself, his soft sobs releasing breaths of fog into the night air.
Asa stood over him and pushed him with one foot, rolling him over. Reaching down with his right hand, Asa caught the man behind his neck and pulled him to his feet, his ankle making a sickly pop as his weight was forced onto it. The human cried out louder for a second before continuing his mumbling prayers. I could barely make out what he was saying.
Asa, supporting the man’s weight, pulled his head up and stared him deeply in the eyes. The man’s frantic breathing blew small puffs of fog into the space between them. Meeting Asa’s gaze, the young man’s forehead rose slightly and his eyes went wider. “You’re not breathing.” His voice suddenly calm, reconciled.
Asa, arching his eyebrows up in response, countered, “Well, I have to say you are the first to have noticed with me this close.”
“Why…” His question cut off as the force of Asa’s bite crushed his larynx.
This bite was meant to kill; it was completely different than what I had experienced. I was shocked at the viciousness of the attack. Rooted in place, I could do nothing but stand and watch. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the horror that was occurring in front of my eyes, nor from the blood that leaked out of the corners of Asa mouth as he leaned over the young man.
My mouth watered at the sight of the blood and although I was disgusted by myself, I longed to feel the human’s blood on my tongue, to taste its combination of sweet and salt. Wanting to join Asa, I reached out to my side, digging fingernails into a nearby tree to help hold me in place.
But before I could get my nails deeply embedded, an intense pain emanated from deep within my maxilla and mandible. It felt as if the bones in my face were exploding from the inside out. The pain burned its way downward into my gums. Reaching
up, I cupped my right hand over my mouth and immediately brought it back down again to see it was full of bright red blood mixed with an inordinate amount of saliva.
Bringing both hands back up to my mouth as my teeth begin to give way, I caught several of them in each hand. Staring at them, I recognized a couple of them as my upper canines. Bleeding freely for a minute, it stopped spontaneously, leaving long strings of coagulated blood hanging from my lips. It took several swipes with my cupped hands to wipe the blood away from my face before I was able to spit three large mouthfuls of clotted blood onto the ground.
Asa had turned from his victim to look at me with a disgusted look. He probably thought I was vomiting at the sight of what he was doing. He hadn’t drained him yet as I could still hear the heartbeat pounding in my ears. It was slowing, but for the moment it still beat if not for much longer.
Asa had turned his attention back to the man and was drinking again. The human was draped backwards over Asa’s legs as he knelt on the floor of the forest. Asa’s mouth was at his neck, the young man’s arms thrown back above his head. It might have appeared quite intimate if a stranger had passed by, but it was pure deceit.
I struggled to remember this was a person. A person that I couldn’t protect, but a person just the same. Probably someone I had seen once around town. A friend of a friend. A person with family, friends, and hobbies. A family would be searching for him tomorrow. He deserved better than this and I tried to focus on his mother, who like me with my child, probably remembered his birth as the greatest day of her life.
But I wanted his blood. I craved it with a growing intensity. My right foot moved forward in my first step towards giving in to my cravings. My left foot followed and before I knew it, I had taken a couple of steps to what I wanted so badly.
Managing to stop, I resolved that I wouldn’t do this. I needed blood. I wanted it. But not like this. I wouldn’t be part of this.