The Chronicles of a Vampire Hunter (Book 1): Red Ashes

by Justin A. Moore

  “Whoa now.” I heard the gruff voice of my newly acquainted uncle next to me and felt the vice-like strength of his hand on my shoulder. I fought against it, outraged that he had kept a woman locked in his cellar. I turned to face him and his eyes locked on mine and I instantly felt terrified. The look of the man next to me was that of a ravenous beast. I saw the eyes of the vampire in the desert, clad in black, teeth filed down to points. Blood caked in layers on his ruddy face. The eyes came closer, I saw his mouth open and felt the cold breath stinking of smoke against my neck. I was petrified. I couldn't move.

  Stars swam before my eyes as I sank to the ground, my forehead throbbing painfully. I heard a boisterous laugh and felt the hand that had moments before been on my shoulder lift me by one arm to my feet. I looked at him and he was smiling at me, chewing on his cigar, the cherry glowing in the semi-darkness. His eyes were full of kindness and understanding and he rubbed my head. Sudden realization came to me.

  “Did you just head-butt me?” I asked, hearing the confusion in my own voice.

  “Well I wasn't gonna spill the cup, bud.” He replied.

  I reached up and rubbed my forehead. “What the hell...” I turned and saw the girl again, and immediately I felt myself growing more and more fascinated with the details of her body and her face, now smiling at me.

  “Help me, please...” she begged, but in a playful tone of voice now, almost mockingly. I felt burning hot fingers clamp onto my shoulder, and the heat pulsed through me for a moment, and a curious sensation washed over me. It was like someone had closed a curtain in my mind and dumped a bucket of boiling water on me, though for just a microsecond. The girl in front of me looked no different, and was still incredibly beautiful. Shackles still bit into her arms and ankles, but the chains hung loosely about her, granting her limited movement. She stepped forward until her chains went taught, a couple feet in front of me. She smelled like flowers, but also something else I couldn't quite place. She put her hands on her hips and cocked one leg, a classic pose totally not in character with what I noticed was a well-worn long t-shirt, the logo on it long faded and obscured by time.

  “What's the deal, Magnus?” She asked, turning her eyes to my uncle, “Here I was thinking you were bringing me a snack. Who's the chump?” She spoke with a faint accent, vaguely European, French maybe.

  I felt the fingers painfully digging into my shoulder loosen slightly.

  “Hey there Lily, this is my nephew John. Johnny, meet Lilivera Romenski. Ain't she a cutie?”

  “What?!” I said as I turned to look at him. “You have a vampire locked in your cellar. Am I the only one here who thinks that's a bit strange? You both seem awful... casual about this.”

  I heard Lily giggle girlishly and my uncle stepped forward and handed her the cup.

  “Yeah, Lily and I go way back, don't we?”

  She slurped it down loudly then wiped her mouth. “I wouldn’t say all that, but this isn't the first time I've been locked in your basement is it?” She said with a wink at me.

  I stared at her, amazed with how human she looked, but it had to be some sort of trickery. Even the vampires I’d killed in the desert hadn’t looked so human. More like zombies, if anything.

  “Now Lil, shut down the mojo or I'll thump ya.” My uncle said. She made a pouting face and my uncle lifted his hand from my shoulder. I instantly felt tense and on alert. The warm feeling that had suffused my body was gone, and I felt like I had just waked from a dream. Nothing had really changed, but I no longer felt the urge to throw myself on the vampire girl like I was a dog and she was in heat. She was still gorgeous—even in the threadbare shirt which, from what I could see, was all she was wearing. I gulped. I’d been doing that a lot lately.

  “Why'd you bring junior down here, Magnus? Staking lessons?” She reached up and pulled her shirt collar down, revealing a portion of her left breast and looking at me with a wicked smile. “You've got to hit right here...” she said, prodding her chest with a finger. “Make sure you get all the way in, it can be a tight fit.”

  My uncle laughed loudly next to me and I heard a rattling as he kicked a set of shackles linked to the opposing wall. “Do this for me Lily and I'll owe ya one, provided you get out of dodge quick enough.”

  She crossed her arms and let her head hang to one side. “What exactly do you want me to do?”

  He shrugged, “Just do your thing, but not until I say. Sound good?”

  “I never know if I can completely trust you, sweetheart.” She kicked her foot against the floor, making a surprisingly hard thump.

  “Uh, do I get a say in this?” I asked, looking back and forth between the two. They both looked at me.

  “Well kiddo, I suppose you do. Do you want to kill the bastards that ripped your friends apart and killed your parents, or do you want to go live as just another face in the crowd who smells like the vampire version of fresh barbeque?” My uncle said to me, frowning. I hadn't realized it yet, but it made sense. That vampire sought me out in the desert. My family hunts vampires, and my parents died in an “animal attack” when I was just a toddler. The pieces clicked into place pretty fast when my uncle said that, and it fairly made my head spin for a minute.

  “Yeah, I guess I do,” I said, still trying to wrap my head around my new reality. The shock of the last hour had fallen like a ton of bricks, and all of it culminating at this moment. But now I knew I didn't have the option of sitting and thinking about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I couldn't mope and bemoan my fate. I had to do something, anything. It's just the kind of person I am.

  The vampire girl looked at me, a curious expression on her face. I looked back at her and she smiled at me. I thought the expression was odd in its warmth, considering what lay just under her lips.

  “Where do we start, Unc?”

  “With this.” He said, lifting a shackle from the ground. “Every day ‘til she can't compel you anymore.”

  “Is that what she did? Is that why I... tried to go to her?”

  He laughed at me and clapped me on the arm. “Just their way of saying ‘hi.’”

  I nodded. “Let's get started.”

  Lilivera the Vampire giggled and backed up against the wall as my uncle locked the shackles onto my arms and tested them by pulling against the wall until veins throbbed on his arms. Satisfied, he went back through the doorway and closed it. I heard him shout from the other side.

  “Alright Lily, do your thing!”

  She winked at me, and that single gesture promised a thousand things no human girl could ever deliver.

  CHAPTER THREE

  I pulled as hard as I could against the chains. My arms felt like they would shred themselves, like the bone would erupt from my skin. It would all be worth it if I could just get to her. She stood nearly the middle of the room, just looking at me and saying nothing. Each time I looked into her eyes fresh fire would course up my spine. I screamed for my uncle and begged him to unshackle me. I don't know how much time had passed for sure, but each time my uncle came down to give me water he would say “One more day down,” each time. He had come down to give me water four times. On the second day, Lily had taken her shirt off and let it hang around her wrists, unable to remove it completely because of the chains. I pulled against my restraints crying, trying to get to her, trying to hold her, to feel her flesh against mine. My uncle had come down that day and told her to “make herself decent.” She hadn't removed it since. I'd never hated anyone as much for anything as I hated him then.

  That was the strength of her compulsion.

  It felt like a dream the entire time. I never felt tired, I never felt hungry, and I didn't even feel the pain of the shackles biting into my arms and ankles. I absently noted that I must not have been pulling that hard, because the shackles never drew blood. My uncle came down for the fifth time, saying nothing, and forced me to drink the five bottles of water he carried. I hadn't properly relieved myself since being down there, but my body took
charge when it needed to—without regard for my clothing. Sweat poured from my body each day, the cellar feeling like a sauna. In my mind, though, I began to feel detached. The detachment grew each day, until I just felt I was watching myself lunge at the vampire girl, struggling to get to her. That fifth day, it changed. I was tired of dreaming. I was going to either get that girl, or get control of myself, one way or the other. I realized that I hadn't spoken to her the entire time I had been down in that room. My body was tired, but I felt fire coursing through each muscle. I forced myself to sit against the wall opposite of her, and her eyes widened.

  “Hey Lily,” I wheezed. “Why are you holding back?”

  She leaned forward, her hands on her hips. “I'm not.”

  I felt something like an explosion in my mind then, like a string of fireworks popping off with smoke that smelled like cherries and honey.

  “Come here, boy.” The girl took her hands off her hips and walked to the end of the length of her chains, drawing them taught.

  I felt myself rise, but I didn't want to get up. I watched myself through my own eyes get up. There was no longer a specific desire for the girl looking at me now, but an all-encompassing yearning for everything she represented. It was a hunger so pervasive that it demanded satisfaction in every cell of my body, and yet, I slowly walked towards her. I couldn't stop myself, but I didn't run and try to pull the chains out of the wall.

  “That's it... come here...” She moved her hips forward and stretched her arms out behind her, leaning forward as far as she could. I felt myself try to do the same, but stopped myself just short of her face with an effort of will. I knew in a moment what she was, and what would happen if I leaned close enough for her to touch me. My body shook and I took a step back.

  “Come. Here.” She locked her eyes on mine and I noticed the veins of her face standing out in relief under her skin before a fresh shock of primal desire rocked my body as the attraction ramped up with renewed vigor. That urgent need washed over me again, as painfully as jumping through a window. I surged against her mentally, forcing back the feelings of agonizing lust and pushing away. I felt a wry smile crawl over my lips as her eyes glazed over and she struggled briefly against her own chains. My mind felt raw and bloodied, but somehow razor sharp and eager to fight—but I was too close now, and I knew I couldn't pull back fast enough.

  So I went with the next best thing, and giggled as I did it.

  I discouraged her.

  “I pissed myself.”

  She recoiled as the mental whiplash of that single statement—spat in the face of the rushing tide of her compulsion—shattered any illusions. It must’ve hurt, because she flung herself against the wall and slumped down with a tortured groan.

  I pulled back slowly, feeling the weariness in my bones as I gingerly rotated my shoulders. I'd nearly dislocated them, I figured. I backpedaled to the wall and fell against it, sliding to the floor. I took a deep breath and laughed weakly; my voice, which I now realized was hoarse with my screaming, came out sounding like it carried a pound of sawdust with it.

  “Whew. It took your uncle a whole week to break my hold, and I was just a fledgling then.” Lily sat up a little straighter and mopped at her forehead with the bottom of her shirt. Her body was covered in sweat, her shirt soaked through. “I threw it all at you that last minute. I've never had anyone fight like that before,” she said as she puffed hard and tried to catch her breath, the rhythm doing interesting things to her chest. She caught my glance and smirked. “My eyes are up here, big guy.”

  I laughed again, and tasted blood in my throat. I felt a thump and saw Lily kicking the ground with her heel. I didn't have more than a moment to consider it before the door next to me opened and my uncle stepped through.

  “Well I'll be damned. You didn't take it easy on him did you Lil?” He said, bringing her a bag of blood and an empty plastic cup.

  “Are you kidding? Look at me. I haven't got any juice left. In the end he was stronger than you.”

  My uncle looked at me and then back at her, an odd look on his face. “You sure?”

  She nodded, and gestured at me before filling her cup from the bag. “Big battery on that one, Magnus. Don't know where you found him, but there's more than just potential there.”

  My uncle nodded and turned to me while I sat and wore what I can assume was a stupidly confused look.

  “What's she talking about?” I asked, and then turned to her, “What are you talking about?”

  She looked at my uncle and raised an eyebrow. He lifted me to my feet and put my arm around his shoulder, which was awkward because he was a good foot taller than me.

  “Don't worry about it. We'll talk about it tomorrow, go upstairs and take a shower, then get some rest. I'll bring up something to eat while you're in the shower.”

  He helped me up out of the cellar, pointed out the shower and guest room, and then went back down. I steadied myself against a wall and went back out into the shop. The street outside the glass front door was dark, lit only by a street lamp. Five whole days, I decided, was how long I'd been down in the cellar with Lily, and I was amazed that I wasn't terribly hungry. I was tired, but not because I felt like it was time to sleep, but because my body was so amazingly weary. I turned down the hall in the back of the shop and found the stairs along the wall. I went upstairs and saw a series of rooms, two doors were open. On the left was a bathroom, and on the right looked like a guest bedroom would look. No real amenities, just a dresser, a bed, a nightstand, and an empty closet with my duffel sitting on the foot of the bed.

  I turned and went into the bathroom, peeling off my filthy clothes as I went. I looked at myself in the mirror, and grimaced at the beard that had grown while I was in the basement. I opened the medicine cabinet and found an unused disposable razor, figuring I'd use it while I took a shower. I finished stripping down and stepped into the tub, turning on the water and letting the shower wash over me cold before it warmed up, and the shock of the cold spray woke me up a little. I grabbed the bottle of body wash and lathered my face as the cold water slowly crept up in temperature. I scraped the beard off quickly, rubbing my face in search of stray hairs, and then washed the rest of my body, letting the soapy gray grime slide down my legs into the drain as steam started to rise. I turned around and plunged my face into the now pleasantly hot water and closed my eyes.

  Instantly I was met with the vision of ice blue eyes staring right into my own, and the feeling of cool lips on mine. I opened my eyes and took a shuddering breath—I wasn't expecting the “training” to have such a lingering effect. Then again, I wasn’t expecting any training at all. I shook my head and plunged my face back into the water, and this time when I closed my eyes only darkness filled my vision. I admit I felt a bit nervous after the experience; like something may have happened that I didn't want. On the other hand, I wasn't sure yet exactly what I had subjected myself to. I figured I'd ask my uncle in the morning.

  Chalk it up to being tired, but somehow I didn’t feel that worried about the more subtle issue of being trapped in a basement for five days with a vampire by someone I’d just met—family or not.

  I turned off the water and stepped out into the steam-choked bathroom. I kept my mind blank—not a big challenge there—as I reached for the nearest towel and dried myself. Mechanical motion, muscle memory, they would be enough to get me dry and then get me to bed. I felt almost half asleep right then and there, and then I opened the door.

  Lily stood in front of me, a towel wrapped around her chest hanging down to her thighs. Her hair was pulled back from her pale shoulders, and the grime I remembered on her from the days spent in the cellar was still smudged around her arms and face. She smiled and stepped up to me, pressing her body into mine. She still smelled like flowers and that other far off feminine scent that I couldn't quite place. My heart felt like it would jump out of my chest as the reality of what I was looking at struck me, a vampire standing skin to skin with me, I could feel her to
es against mine. I looked around quickly for something to use as a weapon, and I almost reached for the wooden towel rack before I felt her fingers grab my cheeks and turn my head to face hers. She stood up on her toes and kissed me on the cheek. It was personal and fierce, like the kiss you'd expect a lion to give a gazelle before going for the throat.

  “Johnny,” she said. “I want you to remember something for me.”

  “W-What's that...?” I stammered, my heartbeat making her cold skin against my chest even more noticeable.

  She cocked her head to the side and smiled, her gleaming white teeth taking me by surprise. Honestly, I expected to see fangs or something, not teeth a dentist would be proud of.

  “We're not all bad, you know. I just want you to remember that. Stop and remind yourself of that every once in a while.” She giggled and pinched my cheek before slipping past me and pushing me into the hallway.

  “No peeking, Johnny.” She said with a final wink before closing the door. I stood in the hallway stunned and not a little bit tense. My brain worked for a moment trying to come up with something manly to say as excitement that had nothing to do with vampiric power danced along my nerves.

  “Don't call me Johnny...” was all I managed to mutter before turning around and walking into the bedroom. A large plate, covered in personal-size frozen pizzas fresh from whatever heavenly device had cooked them, sat on my nightstand. I didn’t feel hungry, and I don’t remember eating them, but right before I fell asleep I remember looking over at the empty plate and wiping sauce off of my mouth.

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