Ascension (Powered)

by Zachary Stone

  We walked into the buffet silently. A waitress led us to a booth, and we both proceeded to fill our plates with salmon, sesame chicken, coconut shrimp, and sushi.

  “You’re amazing,” Cathy said while we ate.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve never felt anything like that before,” she said.

  “I haven’t either,” I said.

  “Do vampires ever glow?” I asked.

  “I’ve seen the queen glow once, when she was very angry,” she said. “But not as brightly as you.”

  We continued to talk, and she told me about her past. She’d been married a couple of times, but the relationships fell apart. It had been years since she’d dated anyone, but she had a few jealous ex-boyfriends in town. They were all vampires.

  “If they see us together they may try to start something,” she said. “I want you to just let me do the talking.”

  “I don't want to fight with anyone,” I said. “But if they lay one finger on either of us I'll let them have it.”

  “Please just use discretion,” she said. “Mostly, I think they’d just run their mouths.”

  I decided to change the topic.

  “What do you do for a living?” I asked. “Do most vampires work?”

  “Well, I’ve accumulated a small fortune in my life, mostly due to help from my mother,” she said. “So I don't really need the money, but I do help out at the Loving Arms home.”

  I remembered that the Loving Arms home was a place where unwed, expecting mothers could get help. Back in college, a group of us from the Baptist Student Union went there to mow the grass one day. Their house was huge, and I’d known a few nurses who worked there as counselors.

  “What do you do there?” I asked.

  “I do various different things. Sometimes I cook, sometimes I clean, and other times I help the girls in other ways,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Well, I sometimes give them small amounts of my blood without them knowing,” she said.

  “Won't that turn them into vampires?”

  “No, only the poison will. However, our blood can heal humans of most illnesses. Some of the girls have STDs or other diseases. If I can relieve their suffering, even a little, I'm going to,” she said. “The blood also strengthens their unborn children.”

  “You’re not supposed to do that?”

  “No, we’re not. It’s against the queen's rules. If humans start being healed of diseases then they’ll start to ask questions. It could lead back to us,” she said. “However, the girls there are poor and destitute. If they’re suddenly cured of an illness, they aren’t going to investigate.”

  “You’re an amazing person,” I said.

  “Thank you,” she said with a smile.

  We continued to eat. I went up for a second plate, a third plate, and then a fourth.

  “You’re eating like a pig,” she said.

  “No, I'm eating like a vampire,” I said.

  “But you’re not only a vampire,” she said. “You’re also something else – remember what the doctor said.”

  “Does that scare you?” I asked.

  “No,” she said.

  “I hope it’s not why you like me,” I said. “I don't want you to like me because of my powers or what I’m becoming. I want you to like me for me.”

  “I do,” she said. “You’re the nicest, kindest, and sweetest guy I’ve met in a long time.

  “You know,” I said. “I think I could fall in love with you quickly.”

  “Let’s take it slow for now,” she said. “We don't even know if we’ll survive the next few days.”

  “Absolutely,” I said. “If this works out and we fall in love, we’ll have all eternity to be together, if the queen doesn’t kill us.”

  “May I hold your hand?” I asked.

  “Of course,” she said.

  I took her hand in mine and looked at her flawless, manicured fingernails.

  “Can you show me your claws without turning white?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  I looked around and made sure no one was looking.

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  Suddenly, each of her finger nails grew about an inch longer. The tip of each nail came to a razor sharp point.

  “If this works out and we do end up together, I want to love all of you,” I said. “Your human side and your vampire side.”

  She retracted her claws.

  “Let me see yours now,” Cathy said.

  I gave her my hand and I carefully focused to make my claws come out. There was no burning pain this time.

  “They’re looking great,” she said.

  We continued to eat, and when the meal was finished I reached into my wallet to pay.

  “No, I’ll pay,” she said.

  “Hey, this is our first date and I want to pay,” I said.

  “Eli, you’re unemployed and your bank accounts are closed. Save your cash,” she said.

  I couldn't argue with her. I was probably fired from my job at the restaurant, but my current life was much more exciting than washing dishes for minimum wage.

  “Okay,” I said.

  She paid and we walked outside. I shouldn’t have been surprised by what I saw, but I was. Ralph and Francesco, the queen’s servants who had originally captured me, were standing on the sidewalk outside the restaurant door.

  “The queen wants to see both of you,” Ralph, the shorter of the two said.

  “Heck no,” I responded.

  “Run!” Cathy shouted. “There’ll be more of them.”

  Francesco rushed towards me, but I managed to quickly power up and dodge. In an instant, Ralph had his hand around my neck. Looking beside me, I could Cathy wrestling with Francesco. I had to act fast.

  With all my might I head-butted Ralph. I heard his nose crack, and blood began run down his face. Ralph fell to his knees, blood running down his face. I rushed over to where Cathy was fighting with Francesco. They were slamming each other against the front exterior wall of the restaurant – their bodies had made impressions in the stucco.

  I saw Cathy pull a knife out of her black leather boot and stab Francesco in the chest. It barely startled him, and he lunged at her again.

  “Pick on someone your own size,” I said. “Or do you want a reputation of beating up on women?”

  Francesco turned my way, looking very angry and rushed towards me. He tried to punch me, but I once again dodged. Repeatedly, he tried to punch me, but I’d move out of the way each time. When I saw an opening I punched him in the face with all my strength. It sent him flying into the windshield of a parked car.

  I turned around and the Ralph was coming towards me, still bloody all down his front. He pulled out a gun and fired it at me. Amazingly, with my new powers I was able to see the bullets exiting the gun. My focus was so good that the bullets looked like they were in slow motion. I managed to dodge all but one of them – which barely grazed my arm.

  In a flash, I saw Cathy stab Ralph in the eye making him even bloodier. As he staggered wildly on the sidewalk cops started to show up at the scene. The injured vampire flailed wildly.

  “We have to go,” Cathy said.

  “Okay,” I said.

  Turning around I saw a police officer pointing a gun at me.

  “Get down and put your hands on the ground where I can see them,” he said.

  “Jump,” I called out.

  Cathy and I leaped as high as we could and ended up on the roof of the restaurant. We ran from rooftop to rooftop. When there was a gap between buildings, we’d leap across.

  “Keep moving,” she said. “Now we have the queen and the cops after us.”

  Looking back, I could see that a woman was following us. She was moving almost as fast as we were.

  “It's June,” Cathy said. “That's the queen's favorite daughter.”

  “Is she going to try and kill us?” I asked.

  “She�
�ll try and eat us,” she said.

  We continued to run. The shot and vitamins the doctor had given me seemed to help me expanding my powers. It took almost no effort to leap twenty or even thirty feet. On many occasions, I seemed to be almost flying. Cathy had a little trouble keeping up with me, so I tried not to get too far ahead of her.

  “How is she so fast?” I asked Cathy as we leapt across the gap between two office buildings.

  “She’s older than Sarah,” Cathy said. “She’s very powerful.”

  “Do you think the two of us could take her?” I asked.

  “I don't know, but I have an idea,” she said.

  She took the lead and I followed. With June only a few hundred yards behind us, we ran towards the river.

  “Vampires don't really have to breathe,” she said. “We’re going for a swim.”

  I could hear police sirens in the distance as June pursued us. People must have seen us jumping from building to building. Our landings were making loud thuds, and I was sure that the occupants of the buildings could hear us.

  As I raced after Cathy, I realized she was heading to the bridge that led to South Carolina.

  “Get ready,” she said. “I hope you don't mind getting wet.”

  Chapter 9

  Cathy and I jumped down from a rooftop and landed on the top of a container trailer being pulled by a large truck.

  “Hold on,” Cathy said. “We’ll ride this to the bridge.”

  Looking behind us, I could see that June was still in pursuit. From a rooftop she launched into the air and landed on the back of a pickup truck and then started hopping from vehicle to vehicle crushing roofs and shattering windshields, which caused a string of accidents to take place.

  “She’s completely nuts,” Cathy said, watching the scene with me.

  As she neared the container we were standing on, the truck started crossing the bridge.

  “Get ready,” Cathy said. “When she gets close I have a surprise for her.”

  I saw Cathy transform into her vampire form. Her hair was once again black, her skin was white, and her eyes looked like something from a horror movie. But she was still beautiful to me, in a creepy sort of way.

  “You're not supposed to do that in the daylight,” I said.

  “Don't worry, it’s a cloudy day -- it only hurts a little,” she said. “When I say so, jump off the bridge with me, but whatever you do, don't let go of me.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  I felt her power level rise. She took my hand, and as I did so we both started to glow with a white aura.

  “You destroyed my home!” June yelled. “I'm going to kill both of you.”

  She jumped onto a white sports car, destroyed its hood, and then lunged at us. Before she could reach us, Cathy let out a deafening scream which knocked June backwards and onto the road.

  “Jump!” Cathy shouted, and we both leapt off the bridge.

  On the way down, I pulled Cathy close to me. Somehow, our fall started to slow and we hit the water with barely a splash.

  We swam down the river in the murky water. Most of the time, we kept below the surface so we couldn’t be seen. About a half hour later, we crawled onto the river bank covered in mud, I helped Cathy get onto shore.

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “We’re not too far from Tybee,” she said. “We have a house there. It’s where we’re supposed to meet the family in the morning.”

  Cathy was covered with mud, but she was now in her human form.

  “Did it hurt being in the daylight?” I asked.

  “Yes, but my burns have already healed,” she said. “At least we lost her.”

  Even though she was soaking wet and filthy, Cathy was still gorgeous. Her brown hair was wet and mud covered her face, but she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

  After a scrambling through long grass and weeds for a few minutes, we found ourselves coming out on a road.

  “Let’s run to Tybee,” Cathy said. “I need to get some new clothes.”

  I suddenly felt a pain in my mouth.

  “Ouch,” I said.

  “What's wrong?” she asked.

  I could feel that I was transforming.

  “We have to get you out of the sun,” she said.

  “I’ll be okay,” I said.

  “No, you’ll burn,” she said.

  I reached into my mouth, and I felt that a tooth was very loose. I pulled it, and I could feel a fang emerging from behind it. I threw the old tooth on the ground.

  “Does it hurt?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You’ve transformed,” she said.

  I looked at my hands and I saw they were totally white. The sun was out, but it wasn’t hurting me. I felt stronger than ever before.

  “I don't feel any pain,” I said.

  “That's impossible,” she said.

  “Well, the sun is out and I don’t feel any pain whatsoever,” I said.

  “Let’s get to Tybee,” I said.

  I picked up in my arms and ran down the road at high speed. The force, power, or magic that I was tapping into felt incredible – like a drug without side effects. I felt like I could do anything. In my vampire form I felt invincible.

  A few minutes later, we were at Cathy’s house on Tybee Island. It was a huge three story home with a view of the beach.

  “I have a key,” she said.

  She pulled out a set of keys from her pocket, and she unlocked the door.

  There was no one home. The house was spacious and comfortably furnished, with pictures of Cathy, Lizzie, Bobby and Ruby displayed around the living room. I saw a piano in a corner.

  “I need to go shower,” she said. “There’s another bathroom down the hall. Go into the guest bedroom and you’ll find some spare clothes.”

  I walked into a bathroom and looked into the mirror. For a moment, my face startled me. I was still in my vampire form. My skin was as white as a cloud and when I opened my eyes I was surprised to see how prominent and sharp my fangs were. I shut my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I tried to power down by consciously relaxing my body and mind. I began to feel limber and restful, and upon opening my eyes, I could see in the mirror that I’d transformed into my normal human form.

  I went into the bedroom, opened a dresser, and found a set of clothes that would fit me, and changed into them.

  I went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. I saw a package of lunch meat, and I tore into it and as I was eating Cathy came in wearing a white dress. I was stunned by her beauty.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked.

  “Yes, very.”

  “Let me cook you something,” she said.

  “You’ve been cooking for me ever since I met you,” I said. “Why don't you let me cook for you?”

  “Okay,” she said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

  “What would you like?” I asked.

  “How about spaghetti?” she said.

  “No problem,” I said.

  I opened the fridge door and looked for ingredients. I found ground beef, mushrooms, cheese, and sauce. In a cabinet, I found the noodles.

  “Go heavy on the beef,” she said.

  “Absolutely,” I said.

  I got to work browning the ground beef and boiling the noodles

  “It smells good,” she said after a few minutes.

  When it was ready I served her a plate, and I watched as she took a bite.

  “It's very good,” she said.

  I made myself a plate and started to eat. It was good.

  Before long, the whole dish of spaghetti and sauce was gone.

  “Why don't we try a game I know,” she said.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “It's called concentration,” she said.

  We sat down at a table in the living room. In front of us, there were a dozen glass cylinders of different sizes.

  “The object of this game is to use
your mind to put all of these cylinders inside of each other without allowing any of them to touch. The glass is shatter proof, by the way.”