In the Shadows

by Jill Nolan

  My wrists are way past screaming in pain, my upper arms bruised from when the man grabbed them, my knees bruised from when I fell. On top of that, I have a headache, the skin around my mouth feels raw and tender, the inside of my mouth feels disgusting and dry, and there’s the sharp pain around my eye, which I know is black and swollen.

  Well, this is by far the worst shape I’ve ever been in. All I want to do is cry from the pain and helplessness I feel, but I know that won’t help. Still, a few tears slide down my face as I struggle to get free.

  I hear people talking in the distance. I freeze, fighting my rising panic while straining to listen. They’re too far for me to discern what they’re saying, but it sounds like they’re coming closer.

  I return to the screaming idea. I don’t have the time to keep trying to get out of the rope. They’ve probably tied me in the middle of nowhere with no one nearby to help me. But my captors may have underestimated how far a scream can travel, even a gagged one. At least I hope so.

  What if they hit me again? I feel the pain of the blow to my face all over again.

  Doesn’t matter. It would be worse being stuck here. Who knows what they’ll do to me?

  I take a deep breath, and then I scream as loud and high-pitched as I can. It’s a bit muffled by the gag, but I’m still able to get a decent volume. When I pause my scream to take a breath, I hear footsteps coming my way and fast. I scream over and over and over—

  My last scream is cut off by a sudden sharp coolness pressed to my neck. My guess is that’s a knife at my throat.

  “Enough. You got your screaming out. There's no one close enough to hear you.” Is this the guy who punched me? Or the guy I stabbed?

  The knife leaves my throat, and I exhale in relief at its absence. He made his point with it though, so I stay quiet. I can only hope he was wrong about no one being within earshot. Maybe somebody is calling the police right now. Please, let someone have heard.

  “I’m going to take the gag out, but I don't want to hear you scream again, okay?”

  I nod. He pulls out the gag, not at all gently. It feels so good to be able to close my mouth all the way. I almost say thank you. Maybe I should say it? Just to play nice?

  “Thanks,” I force out. It was harder to say than I thought it’d be. It would have been easier to have done it out of habit, but since I took the time to think about it, I had to push the word out of my mouth.

  I work on trying to ease the horrible dry feeling in my mouth. It’s weird to know people are staring at me, watching as I try to re-moisten my lips. As much as I want to know who’s out there, I know it’s a good thing that they’re not allowing me to see their faces. I’ve got to hold on to as much hope as possible that I’ll make it out of this.

  It sounds as if I’m surrounded by people. There’s a heavy breather on my right, someone who is constantly shifting in front of me, and there’s the occasional cough, throat clearing, or sniff.

  “Sorry about the gag,” he says, not sounding very sorry. “And about hitting you there. Didn’t realize it’d take two of us to take you down.” So, he's the one who punched me. He doesn't sound sorry about that either. Asshole. Fucking asshole. He didn't need to punch me full force while I could barely fucking walk. “You put us down a man for this.”

  “Is he dead?” I honestly don’t know which I’d prefer – to have my attacker be dead or to know that I didn’t kill someone.

  “No, he’ll survive. He just can’t help us tonight.”

  “Tonight?”

  “We’re going hunting.” The way he says it makes me believe he isn’t talking about hunting deer. I swallow. Oh my God, are they going to hunt me?

  I hear a cough and then another guy says, “We are sorry for all this. There just… there wasn’t much other choice. It was supposed to go smoother.” His voice is kind, and he sounds sad, like he actually regrets what’s happening. But what is happening? What do they want with me? And what does he mean by no other choice? How is kidnapping someone the last option? How is it an option at all?

  “Alright, let’s get straight to the point. Two weeks ago, Saturday night, something scared you in those woods,” Girlpuncher says, then pauses, possibly for dramatic effect, but it gives me a chance to catch up. This is about that night, about what I saw. I think of the vampire, the dead guy, the blood. “You screamed about a monster that was trying to kill you. What did you see?”

  How do they know that? Fucking Tom. I know of at least three people who knew because of him. How many more did he tell? How many people did those people tell? Whoever these guys are, they obviously took it seriously.

  Are they vampire hunters? Would that be good or bad? I have no idea. I imagined vampire hunters would protect people, not kidnap them.

  There’s no way they’re on my side after just kidnapping me. I can’t tell them anything.

  I can get to you anywhere, at any time.

  I just have to play dumb, to remember my story: it was just a bat, and I hate bats.

  I pull my best confused face, even though half of my face is covered with the blindfold anyway. “I was drunk, and there was a bat. It—It attacked me, got stuck in my hair, and I freaked out.”

  “We all know you didn’t get attacked by a bat, so cut the bullshit. We found a stake in your purse, garlic hidden all over your house, and a bunch of weapons in your closet. You saw a vampire, didn’t you?”

  You’re only alive because I allow it.

  “What?!” I force out a disbelieving huff, putting everything I have into acting like this idea is ridiculous.

  “People have been going missing around here, past few months. The night of that party, that was the last night anyone ever saw Derek. Derek Sheppard. What did you see that night?”

  “I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Stop playing dumb!” he roars. I flinch back, unsure if he’ll hit me again. “Tell me what you saw!”

  If you decide to tell anyone about me or what you saw, I will kill you.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  “Alright, stop it,” the one with the kind voice says. “Listen, the reason we’re asking, the reason you’re here, is that we plan on hunting this thing tonight, and all we need you to do, is tell us what you saw. We need as much information about this thing as we can get. And once you tell us what you know…you’re free to go.” Could that be true?

  It doesn’t matter. What chance do they really have of killing him, especially if they’re relying on me to help them?

  And if I can't get to you, I will kill someone you care about.

  “He’ll kill me, if I tell you anything.”

  “He won’t kill you,” the nice one says gently. “We’re going to kill him, okay? And you’ll be safe from him.”

  I consider telling him, because if they can kill him, I’ll be safe along with everyone else in this town. That is, if they actually let me go. And if they can actually kill him.

  There’s no way, no way they can kill him. I think back to how he killed that guy Derek, how fast he got to me, how easily he carried his victim away. Then I feel him grab me from behind during the day, with other people around, when I thought I was safe.

  I will kill you. I will kill you. I will kill you. I will kill you. I will kill you.

  “I can’t. Please, please.”

  “You’re going to tell me,” Girlpuncher says, closer now. I feel something sharp dig into my neck. I try to press myself further into the tree, but it doesn’t take much of the pressure off my throat. “Or I’m going to start slicing you open.”

  “Jesus, Craig!”

  “Are you fuckin’ kidding me, Mark?”

  Oh, God, they’re using their names. Not good. Not good.

  “Look at her: she’s terrified! We didn’t agree to threaten her like this.”

  “We thought it’d be easier to get the information out of her. We need her to talk, and she’s not talkin’. You tried it your way; now I’m gonna do it my way.�
� He turns back to me, his voice too close to my ear, “Talk. Now.”

  What if I’m only useful because of this information, and once I give it up, they’ll kill me? I could try to wait it out, hope the police show up.

  Of course, if I don’t tell them, they could torture me even if they don’t want to kill me until they get what they want. I’m not too confident in my ability to hold out during torture.

  “Maybe we don’t need to know what happened that night. We’re ready for him.”

  “You heard what he said,” Girlpuncher says. “We need to find out what she knows. This is the last time I’ll ask.”

  Maybe it won’t matter that I tell them because they already know about vampires; I would just be giving them some specifics. Of course, it’s probably the specifics that he doesn’t want me to give away…

  I feel a sting at my neck. He’s cutting me.

  “Okay, okay! Stop!"

  I take a breath and describe that night in as much detail as possible. I leave out his day visit, hoping that if he comes to kill me, I can say that I tried to tell them as little as possible.

  "When you saw the kid, Derek, are you sure he was dead?" Girlpuncher asks, a little frantic.

  "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

  "So, he could still be alive?"

  "I really don't think so." To my relief, I think Girlpuncher walks away.

  Another guy speaks up, “He’s strong, fast, he can fly, and he can shapeshift into a bat. Is that right? Anything else?”

  “I don’t know if he actually shapeshifted.”

  “You just said he turned into a bat.”

  “I don’t know. All of a sudden, he just was a bat, but the guy he was carrying was nowhere to be seen. I guess I think it could have been a glamour or a trick-of-the-eye thing.”

  “It doesn’t matter which it is. Let’s keep our eyes out for bats and other animals, just in case.”

  “You said before that he’d kill you if you told us anything. How do you know that?” a different man asks.

  Shit. I forgot to add that in somewhere. “Because he said he would before he took off.”

  “And why didn’t he kill you when he had the chance?” another man asks accusingly.

  “I don’t know. I told you, the people coming scared him away.”

  “There’s no way a vampire got scared off by two adolescents.”

  “That's what happened," I say. "Maybe he didn't have time to carry off two bodies."

  “She could be working with the vampire. She could be his whore,” the same guy says.

  WHAT? How did he jump to that conclusion?

  “Then he’ll come to save her,” someone else says.

  Save me? Save me from what?

  “But she could be giving us false information.”

  “I really don’t think she’s in cahoots with the vampire, nor is she lying about what she saw,” says another man.

  “I agree," Girlpuncher interjects, joining the group again. "Okay, I think that’s all the information we’ll get out of her. We’ll be back around nightfall. They'll be someone watching you the whole time, and if you start screaming again, he'll put your gag back in."

  “Wait, what?” I wait for some clarification, but all I hear is them walking away. “You said you would let me go. It's not like I'm going to tell anyone. You already know I can keep my mouth shut." I sound pathetic, but I'm grasping at straws here, trying to convince at least one of them.

  “We will let you go. Tomorrow. You're a big part of our plan tonight. You get to be the bait.”

  “Bait?” I ask shakily.

  “Either he wants to kill you or he wants you alive. Either way, you're going to draw the vampire to us.”

  “Please, just let me go."

  "Maybe we should," the nice guy says quietly. "The vampire now has reason to come after us, especially if we have some of her blood on us." My blood on them? What the fuck?

  "No, that's not the plan. He said our best chance is with her. He'll come for her tonight, and we'll be there to kill him. End of discussion. Let's go."

  Who is this other guy they keep referring to? Was it the guy I stabbed?

  They continue walking away.

  "Wait, please, don't do this." I plead, desperate not to be left here.

  No one answers. The sounds of their footsteps recede, back where they came from.

  Chapter 15

  My hope of getting out of this alive dwindles down to almost nothing. My best shot at surviving is if they are able to kill the vampire and then keep their word and let me go. I've just proven my inability to keep a secret, and the vampire will kill me for it.

  When they’re gone, I start working on getting out of the rope that binds my hands. If I work it like a puzzle, a complicated knot I need to untangle, then maybe I can free myself. I don't know if they actually left someone to guard me or not, but if they did, I'm hoping he's far enough away to not notice my struggle with this rope.

  As I’m working, I begin to hear footsteps. I stop and listen as one set of quiet footsteps comes closer from in front of me, which is weird because they all came from the area behind me and left the same way. Is this the guard? Why is he coming closer? What is he going to do to me? I try not to panic, but I'm scared. I really don't know what they have in store for me or what they are capable of. I don't like that there's only one person approaching me.

  Could this be someone else? Someone who heard me scream? They left the gag out of my mouth.

  "Hello?" I keep my voice low. No answer, just footsteps. "Please help me." Still no answer, but the footsteps have stopped some distance in front of me.

  There’s nothing I can do but sit and wait, full of dread, straining to make out what’s happening in the world beyond my blindfold. I wait anxiously, but the footsteps don’t start up again.

  Maybe it's just the guard, making sure I don’t escape. I hope that’s all he’s here for and not something more sinister... it already smells like death out here, and that feels like a really bad omen.

  I let a few minutes pass, just sitting there, smelling that rank odor of rot. It feels like death is here, just waiting to take me. I wonder if by tomorrow I'll be that rotting smell, my body decaying in the middle of the woods, nothing but a bad smell for people to wrinkle their noses at as they unwittingly pass my dead body.

  When I can no long take the stillness, I continue trying to work the knot. At least he can't see what I'm doing if he's in front of me now.

  ◆◆◆

  They’re coming back. This is the moment I’ve been dreading and looking forward to the whole time they were gone. I had no success loosening the ropes around my wrists, and my bladder feels as if it’s about to burst. I had tried calling out to whoever was out there that I had to pee, but I got no response, and there were no more sounds since.

  "Please just let me go. You can do this without me. Please."

  "No can do," Girlpuncher says. I feel hands at the rope.

  "But you'll let me go after you kill him?" If you kill him.

  "Yes."

  "And if he doesn't show? Will you let me go then?"

  "He'll show. Tonight's a new moon."

  "What does the new moon have to do with anything?" I feel a small sense of relief as the rope loosens and then slips off. I bring my wrists around and rub then.

  "That's when he hunts: every new moon, every full moon."

  A shiver runs down my spine. The night of the party in the woods, that was a full moon.

  “Come on. We’ll let you go to the bathroom,” Girlpuncher says.

  Oh, thank God. I feel a hand grab under my arm. I flinch but stand up with the man’s help.

  “You can take your blindfold off.”

  I take it off but am careful to look only at the ground. No matter how curious I am, I can’t see their faces.

  It’s dark outside, but they have flashlights.

  “Here’s some toilet paper. Be quick.”

  “Here?” He wants me to g
o right here?

  “Yes, here. And you don’t have to stare at the ground; we’ve got masks on.”

  I look at him and see a big man in a black ski mask, his body a mixture of muscle and beer gut. There are two others some distance away. The man in front of me backs up a bit, and I see they’ve made a triangle around me so I can’t run. They all seem to be looking at me, though their lights are pointing away. I can’t pee like this, with these strange, masked men just staring at me. I begin to panic, and ridiculous tears fill my eyes. I just stand there, paralyzed. They can’t possibly expect me to pee in front of them.

  “How about we turn around to give her some privacy?” a different one says.

  “Fine,” Girlpuncher says with a huff. They all turn around, but it does nothing to ease my discomfort. They could turn back around at any point.

  I don’t have much of a choice. I pull my pants down and squat, feeling horribly exposed and self-conscious. I try to get it over with as quickly as possible…except nothing happens. I can’t relax enough to pee.

  C’mon. C’mon. You can do this.

  My anxiety builds with each passing second. Tears of humiliation slide down my face, but I fight the pull to start crying.

  I have to relax; I have to let go. Just let go.

  Finally, a very slow, steady stream begins. It seems to go on forever. I only relax once I’ve got my pants back on again.

  I’m about to start running, even if it's unlikely I'll be able to escape them, but they all turn around and start walking toward me, making it impossible to run in any direction.

  They lead me back to the tree and re-tie my hands. This time they have me stand up. I feel hands grab my wrists and pull. What are they doing?

  “Are you right-handed or left-handed?”

  “Uh, right?”

  “This may hurt a bit.”

  “What? Why?” I ask frantically, trying to pull my hands away and failing.

  “I’m just going to make a little cut on one arm to better attract the vampire.”