No Mercy for the Damned
Written by RoyalSpartan125
----------------------------------------
Prologue
It had seen them before they had cleared the doorway and watched intently as they made their way to it. The thing was very hungry; it hadn’t been fed in three days. It knew who it was after and knew the consequences of failure. So it stood and waited in the cold night.
----------------------------------------
The wind bellowed harshly across the road, slamming into the walls of the tall buildings facing south. In the dark sky above there were only thick black clouds rolling along at a merry pace. There was a dim out line of the full bright moon trying to break through completely to blanket that part of the world with its beautiful, blue light, as the only two people on that street strode calmly along. They were heading for their car after going to see the latest big thing in the theatre. The man, Alan, with his bum knee, had his arm around his wife’s shoulders. It was her, Karen that insisted he leave his walking stick in the car, which meant that she would help him too and from the theatre.
Karen wanted to feel him as close as possible and to know that he liked to think that his leg was getting better every time they did this.
The limping Northern Irishman was looking around over and over, getting the odd feeling that you often get when you are walking down a dimly lit street. However, this street was well lit, with the lampposts having the distance of about five car lengths between them, while introducing strong continuous light onto the ground.
And yet they were still unaware of the creature, with its hungry red eyes, that had been watching them making their slow progress. Alan and Karen, who were husband and wife for a measly two years, would soon wish that they had stayed at home or at least stayed in the theatre and waited for the after show party to end before going on their way. Either of these might have saved them from the fate that lay only seconds from the safety of their black, cold, stationary vehicle. Though in truth, no matter what they did the creature would have found them, sooner rather than later.
----------------------------------------
— CHAPTER ONE —
Rebirth
It was a foggy, chilly day out and the high street was full of humans walking around thinking they owned the place.
Anjanu’il (pronounced Anjan’el) gave a short snort of a laugh as he walked down the street on his way to the bank. “They’re so sure of themselves, so sure that there’s nothing better than them on this earth. Wrong. I’ve tried to help them, but what was the point of it all? Why even try?” These were just a couple of the questions that haunted him day, and night. But still he was out there on the front-line fighting for their lives and their very soul’s and maybe, just maybe his own as well.
‘Karen, help me. How can I have fallen so far, hurt and even killed so many?’
He stopped and looked up from the footpath that his eyes had been scanning all the way from the car park. He had reached his destination. As he looked and saw it again he couldn’t help but think of all the years that had past, all the things that had changed since he and Karen had first walked through those doors. Of course the bank had changed on the outside, though only a little.
The first time he had seen the building, it was gray, dark and very dreary. The structure stood proud and tall, with a few smaller buildings around it and looked menacing. But now the steel gray walls were painted a light blue, with a large oak door that stood open wide to admit costumers into the hall during business hours. The door was indigo and just a few feet away from it was another smaller door with a silver metal frame, which was centered with a large sheet of thick glass. It looked as though it wouldn’t be easy to smash, if one needed to. Anjanu’il walked to that door, opened it and went inside.
The interior of the bank was very modern with a large sign displaying the name of the bank in bold blue letters on the wall behind the teller stations. The color of the walls was a slightly darker shade of blue than those outside. There were a number of information desks to the right of the door and just before them was a dark blue metal stand with a square notice board screwed securely on, that only scantily obscured the view of the desks and chairs. This was probably to make their customers feel as though they had a little privacy to deal with their accounts and detail’s.
As Anjanu’il joined the line to the teller desks, one of the other bank employees came out from the back and said, ‘Anyone just making a lodgment?’
Almost everyone in the line turned to look, but said nothing.
‘Yeah, I am’ said Anjanu’il as he stepped toward her.
‘That’s fine’ the teller said. She proceeded in filling out the lodgment slip for him. It was then he noticed that two men in the line looked very agitated. And seemed to be looking round every couple of seconds, as though they were expecting someone to jump out and shout: Freeze scumbag.
‘Do you have the money?’ the bank lady asked sweetly.
‘Sorry, what?’ was the reply as Anjanu’il’s concentration was broken suddenly.
‘The money you wish to lodge. Do you have it?’
He handed over the sixty dollars and she wrote it down on the slip, than as she was about to put both cash and slip in an envelope, she heard a voice in her head say, “Pretend there’s something wrong with the lodgment.”
‘I’m sorry did you say something?’ the cashier asked the vampire.
‘No’ he replied, shaking his head. The woman proceeded and was about to seal the envelope when she heard the voice say, “Those two men in the line are going to rob the bank. No, don’t look at them. Look at the reflection in the glass over there.” Her gaze was fixed on Anjanu’il as she recognized his voice. His eyes quickly shifted to his left, her line of sight swiftly followed. At first she didn’t see it, but when she looked at the reflection of the man at the end of the queue more closely, she could just about see a bulge in his jacket pocket. Beads of sweat were running down his face, as he stupidly stood there trying to look normal and failing miserably. Anjanu’il had seen it register on her face. “There’s another at the head of the line too.” She heard his unbelievably calm, voice in her splitting head, yet again. “Now, pretend that you’re going to check something and while you’re there push the silent alarm. Then come back, give me back my card and the lodgment slip, then tell me that I’ll have to rejoin the line. Do it quickly, but calmly.”
She did as he said and pushed the alarm, then she came back and said, ‘I’m sorry sir, it seems the quick lodgment shoot is full at the moment. You’ll have to rejoin the queue. I’m terribly sorry.’ She held out his card and the lodgment slip.
‘That’s fine’ said Anjanu’il. He took his things, and rejoined the queue. The robber in front of him turned to look and the vampire smiled at him. The man leered as he mopped the sweat from his soaked brow.
‘You warm?’ asked the vampire.
‘Shut up!’ was the reply.
‘That’s not very nice, you know.’
The man let out a low grumble of frustration and turned to burn a hole in the head of the man in front of him, with his furious gaze.
Just then, one of the tellers said, ‘Next.’ The robber at the head of the line stepped toward her. As he did, he reached for the inside of his coat with his right hand. The man in front of Anjanu’il reached for his left pocket, though he didn’t get to it before the vampire grasped his left arm, and gave it a light squeeze. Anjanu’il felt the bone in the robber’s arm shatter. The man screamed, though before anyone knew what had happened, the vampire swiftly grabbed the man’s right shoulder and pulled it down. In doing so, the robber’s spine snapped like a thin pencil. Where there had once been screams of a hurt man, there was now utter silence, as the vampire snapped the thief’s neck.
‘What the Fuck?’ was the puzzled shout that came from the other robber, when the sight of his partner and friend’s bent; broken body came to his eyes. He lifted the berretta he held so tightly in his hands and squeezed off two shots at the thing striding toward him. The bullets hit their mark, though the creature wasn’t even thrown off balance by the force of impact. Instead, in what seemed to the robber as only a moment, the vampire had crushed his gun hand, cruelly grabbed him by the hair and with his long fangs, and ripped into his throat, deeply reveling in his warm blood.
----------------------------------------
Anjanu’il had stopped when the man’s veins had run dry. He put his right hand under the man’s chin, and then broke his neck quickly, but cleanly. As he stood up again he could hear sirens. The people in the bank where still shouting and screaming, though he paid no attention to them, then went for the door. He stopped suddenly. The police were almost there, he could feel it. The vampire took one last look at the frightened people, and then he vanished.
In truth, he was still standing in the same place; it was the people that couldn’t see him. He had put a mental block in they’re minds, which was only one of the great gifts the vampire gods had given him.
As he stepped to the door, the people looked absolutely gob smacked, at his sudden vanishing act. He opened the door and exited the bank, again the people inside saw none of this at all. The vampire, with his mouth and chin saturated in blood, proceeded to walk down the steps in front of the bank. He saw the police arriving in two patrol cars and a large truck. The police van, undoubtedly held over half a dozen officers ready to shoot the shit out of anything even remotely resembling what they’re idea of a bank robber might be.
It was at that moment, that he didn’t know whether he should feel sorrier for himself or the people still inside the bank.
He retraced his way back to the top step in front of the building, as he knew that he wouldn’t make it past the last stone step, before he would be trampled underfoot. There he stood waiting, as the first of the fuzz ran up to him. It was a woman and she, like the others, didn’t see him. He stepped aside and she ran straight past him. Her colleagues did the same, just breezed on by.
Anjanu’il, who was probably No.1 on the world’s most wanted list by now, took a deep breath, and then calmly and steadily released it. He coolly walked down the steps and down the street. A few of the commuters almost walked into him and one of them accidentally hit him on the head with an empty Coke can, as they tried to throw it into a bin that the invisible vampire was passing at the time.
As he walked and thought over some things, Anjanu’il realised, and not for the first time, that he felt no guilt for what had happened in the bank. Not because he was a vile vampire. It was because he knew those two men and they knew him too, though they hadn’t seen his face until that very day. They had both signed contracts stating that if they committed any more serious crimes, or put anyone’s life in danger again they belonged to him. He’s done the same thing with all the criminals he has confronted so far. Sure most of them are dumb enough to think that he wouldn’t make good on his promise to kill them if they broke their contract. But vampire law is clear, which means there really is no crime committed on his part. After all vampire laws are the only laws that really count in the grand scheme of things.
Suddenly he ducked into an alleyway, wiped the blood from his face, and clicked his fingers, which changed him into his trademark dark trousers, dark thick vest complete with large hood, the thin mask that covered most of his head, but left his hair and the areas around his eyes and mouth exposed. And last but most certainly not least, his long World War II officer’s coat that had belonged to his grandfather. ‘An outfit that would scare the complete shit out of any idiot’ he laughed to himself.
Then he set out to find the bastard who threw the can.
----------------------------------------
Back at the bank the police were finding it hard to get anything useful out of their witnesses. ‘So, you say that this person killed that man there’ the police man pointed to the first robber that Anjanu’il had dealt with, ‘by touching him. Then he killed the other one by drinking his blood.’
‘Yeah, that’s right. That’s what I saw’ said the young man.
‘Tell me something. Are you on any medication or taking any other drugs, by any chance, sir?’ the officer asked.
‘No!’ exclaimed the shocked youth.
‘Well that’s fine sir. If you would like to take a seat, the other officer there will take your details. You know, in case we need to get in touch with you.’
The young man sat and waited. While the policeman who had been taking his statement turned to his partner. ‘Can you believe that crap?’
‘Are you kidding? Have you seen the stuff that’s been going on in this city lately?’
‘Yeah but still, a vampire? Come on, pull the other one.’
His partner shook his head, then said, ‘Well, did any of yours get a good look at the guy?’
‘No, yours?’
‘No. What the fuck is going on? Ten different people in the same room didn’t get a look at the guy? Something weird is going on. Hay what about the cameras?’
‘The crime lab guy took the tapes. Said he’ll have a look. But I tell yah, if it’s the same guy, they won’t get squat.’
‘Hay, did you catch the bit about the killer doing a disappearing act just before we got here.’
‘Yeah, what a load of shit!’
----------------------------------------
Fifteen years earlier.
There was nothing but darkness and utter silence when he awoke at first. Then the light of the street-lamps blinked into existence again and for a moment he couldn’t even remember his own name. In a painful flash it all came rushing back. ‘It took her, dragged her into the alley.’ That he remembered, though that was all, as he had passed out after that.
Now here he was lying in the street. He tried to think of what to do next. But all he could think of was Karen’s beautiful fair hair flying in every which way, as the wind caressed and played with it, as they walked to their car moments ago. He saw her gorgeously pale blue eye’s again, which shone with nothing but love for him, as his did for her. The smile, her last smile. Then the only thing he remembered was her warm life’s blood splashing against his face as he stumbled back. And the screaming before the road came up to meet him and smacked the back of his skull.
Alan closed his hazel brown eyes as tightly as he could. Defying the protest of throbbing pain that came from the back of his head, he opened his eyes again and the street came slowly back into focus. Pallid light shone on his face and the wounded man looked up to his left and saw that the moon was out now, as a small break in the dark clouds had formed, though the bright pale ball in the sky would vanish again soon enough.
He made a bid to sit up; as he tried his head swam nauseatingly. And again he felt the pain in the back of his head hit him like a relentless football hooligan. Immediately his hand went up in protest and he touched his head where the pain seemed to be. Instead of just feeling his light sandy hair the middle finger of his left hand also made contact with wet humid blood. As pain pricked in the wound he realised that it was a gash. And as though he couldn’t believe it he brought his hand down to see the blood with his own two eyes.
He swore under his breath as he attempted to hoist himself onto his feet, fighting back tears for his beloved wife, as he knew she was dead by this time. “What the hell was that thing?” he thought, before his bad knee collapsed under his weight. ‘DAMN IT!’ he shouted, as his body hit the asphalt. In his haste and shock he had forgotten all about the uselessness of his left leg. “The car is just ahead. If I can get to it, I’ll be able to get my stick. Then I could look for that bastard.” All of this ran though his mind as he crawled to his small three door car, with his bad leg trailing behind.
When he finally reached the vehicle he probed his left trouser pocket and found his keys. He put the key in the lock and turned it; he could feel the mechanism move and proceeded to open the door. For a moment the car was dark, and then the overhead light flashed on. He positioned himself so he was sitting on his right leg and with his left straight ahead of him. He tried in vein to push up the small stubby lever on the side of the seat. It was firmly stuck in place and wouldn’t budge for him; in failing that he put his right hand in behind the seat and blindly felt for his walking stick.
‘I knew I should have borrowed one of the bigger cars from the lot. Instead I had to bring this piece of crap’ he ranted as he groped around and stole a look every now and then to see if he could catch a glimpse of his prize.
If the situation hadn’t been so dire, he thought that he would certainly have laughed; the stick was always there when he didn’t want it. Now when he needed it the most he couldn’t find the fucking thing. As he probed behind the driver side seat, there was, for a moment, a sound of slow padding paws on the road and it was not far off. He felt a shudder derive through his entire body. His mind raced with the thought that the creature had finished with its first victim and as it had seen him the first time round, it wasn’t going to let a good meal go to waste. Tears streamed down his face as he found it hard to build up the nerve to turn his head and look. There was an instant when he thought, “Don’t look. If you don’t look maybe it won’t be there.” But of course this was bullshit, he had to look. He had to stare it in the face, at least once.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
‘Okay, it’s okay.’ This of course was crap too, but he had to calm himself to build up the courage to do what, he thought, had to be done. As he turned his head, strangely enough he was wondering, “Will my entire life flash before my eyes before death?” He hoped it would. Then the last thing that he would see would be her in all her beauty.
When he looked there was nothing. He closed his eyes and let out a long heaving sigh of relief. Then, still very shaken, he immediately returned to his hunt for the thing that would allow him to track that thing down, and at least maybe die fighting, instead of sitting in the side of the street waiting for it to find him. The last thing that he would do was run or rather hobble away, though every fibre of his being was screaming for him to get the hell out of there, as fast as humanly possible. “I could try to drive the car.” but that idea was cut short with the realisation that, he would never be able to live with the knowledge that he left her dead or alive. “Think of all you can do, you’re a good salesman, a very good mechanic and once you were a great engineer. The one thing that dad didn’t teach you was how to run away.” A cowardly feeling entered his thoughts, he shook it off. Then, he replayed the instant that thing came and took her from him and he knew that no matter what he did, it would find him. It was too silent, to fast.
He could see the stick now, or at least the amber ball that sat at its top. The tip of his middle finger touched it. ‘Just a little further’ he said quietly to himself, ‘… got it.’
As he pulled the stick out from its hiding place he was ready to shout with triumph, but the victorious shout was suddenly substituted for a yell of surprise and pain. He felt strong sharp teeth bite through the flesh of his ankle. He was viciously hauled away form the car and with his head cracking off of the ground, Alan was mercilessly dragged to the same place, and the same fate as his doomed wife.
When the creature stopped and released its grip, he saw walls of buildings towering above him, as the realisation dawned on him that he was in a very dark, very deep alleyway. He could hear it stalking to and fro as though taunting him and just as his eyes were adjusting to the darkness he saw it lunging toward him. Before he knew what was happening, he was holding his walking stick up above his chest, with his hands at each side of it, in a defensive gesture. The thing broke through the thin shaft of wood as though it were air and was tearing his neck open in one fluid movement of its immense jaws. A scream formed in Alan’s throat, but failed before it reached his mouth, as he felt his warm blood flow from the huge ragged tear in the side of his throat. Moments, that’s all he had left of his life now, only moments. The thing wrenched back and pointed its nose into the air, arched its back downward and let out a victorious blood girdling howl before it dived at its meal again, for the kill.
He saw it coming and had managed to make a grab for the top half of his walking stick before it ripped into his chest. The instant before it tore his heart from his body He stabbed it square in the left eye with the broken end of what was left of the cane. He stabbed its eye as hard as his weak arm would allow.
It yelped, jumped back, then staggered for a few seconds, before it gave a single grunt and fell onto the lifeless body of its victim, its killer.
----------------------------------------
The moon was gone and the sun had risen and the sounds of the street beyond the entrance to the alleyway echoed down to the dead end wall and back again.
He blinked once, twice, three times in all before he sat up and took his first real look at the world with his brand new bloodstained eyes. But there was no longer any humanity in him.
He could smell the remnants of the dried blood all around him and then he saw it, the body laying only a few metres away from were he sat. With the agility, speed and mind of an animal he leapt for it. He tried to drink what blood he could from the corpse itself, but there was none to be found. Except what the creature had left, on the ground and walls.
He found the head not far off and again there was nothing.
When he touched the blood on the ground he found some of it was still moist and at first he took what he could from that. Then it hit him. To him the smell had the same effect of someone being brought out of a hypnotic state. Raising his head he sniffed the air more thoroughly. It was the smell of fresh blood floating down from the entrance. Slowly he tried to stand, finally on his third try he accomplished his goal and was soon on his way. He walked slowly at first, as his body was still ridged from death, that and the limp of his left leg, which with every step seemed to be healing quite rapidly. The sunlight scared him at first and he flinched as the warm rays touched his pale skin. He soon realised that there was nothing to fear and stepped out onto the footpath. A yell filled the air as the sun light burned his eyes at first, though they soon adjusted, if only a little. He tried to use his hands to shield them from the sun and proceeded on his way. Soon screams sounded from terrified onlookers as the sight of this man, with only half a neck and his chest torn open, strolled calmly down the avenue.
These things, screaming and yelling at him were annoying, though tasty as he had found when a few crossed his path.
Then there were those other large things, as he saw them. They were shiny and had flashy things on top, complete with deafening noises. He hated those most of all. In the end as his muscles had loosened and his limp was almost completely gone. He managed to escape to the safety of a red brick building, by climbing the walls like a spider. Quickly he made his way, seemingly unnoticed by the tasty things below him. Following the scent of blood he finally found a building that by now was almost recognisable. His mind was slowly coming back to him and by now he thought he knew what the tasty and shiny things were, though he wasn’t completely sure. He did know however, that he should stay out of sight and try to find what he was looking for and needed the most.
He made his way to the hospital very quickly and gained access through an open window on the first floor. The room was vacant and was a typical hospital room. The bed was freshly made, and all the usual instruments and implements were there. He noticed the door to the hall was closed and silently made his way to open it. The smell of blood was getting stronger, and stronger. It was as though it were just beyond the door. He licked his lips as he reached for the small silver door handle. It turned easily in his hand and opened without a sound.
You can imagine his surprise to see that it was another smaller room. It suddenly dawned on him that it was an in room bathroom.
He turned to the wall on his left as he heard voices coming from the other side of the door only two metres away. The handle on the door started to move and the door opened a little before he swiftly dived into the bathroom and closed its door over. He left it open just a crack so he could see what was going on.
There was, as far as he could see, two male doctors and a female nurse. One of the doctors was older and obviously senior to the other in the ways of their work. He had a greying head of hair, and crow’s feet forming beside his eyes, though his hands were that of a younger man’s. He looked to be in his early forties.
The other looked as though he hadn’t even reached his thirtieth year, though short of that by only a few. His hair was strawberry blonde and brushed to one side. His eyes were big and blue and eager to learn all he could from his mentor.
‘So, what do you think?’ asked the red haired doctor after they had finished the girl positioning all the various machines needed to preserve the girls life.
‘There’s not much else we can do for her’ said the other. ‘Nurse, Anders, how are the girl’s parents?’
‘The mother was D.O.A. and the father died shortly after they were brought in’ said the woman. She was in her early to mid-twenties at least, that was plain to see.
Her black hair was straight, and long enough to be tied back.
‘Have you been able to contact anyone for the girl?’
‘No Doctor. I’ve checked. But so far there’s no one.’
‘It’s a pity. The child should have some one with her before the end’ said the elder doctor. ‘And we can’t spare anyone with all the injured still coming in after that pileup on the highway.’
The nurse stared at the greying haired man, then said, ‘I could —’
‘No’ said the senior doctor. ‘We need everyone. We’ll just have to check in on her from time to time. I’m afraid that’s best we can do at the moment, nurse.’
‘Poor girl’ said the younger doctor, as he stroked the girl’s hand gently before they left the room.
The nurse protested, though with no avail.
‘Poor girl indeed’ Alan said to himself. ‘Yes. Alan William Shaw, that’s my name. I remember now.’ He could remember most of what had happened. The pretty woman and the creature, but a lot of it was still distorted and muddled. He rose form were he sat and saw himself for the first time since his death. Who was staring back at him? It wasn’t the man he remembered, certainly not him. He wanted to smash the mirror, but he swiftly decided against it and turned away from it, opened the door wide and entered the room where the dying girl lay.
As he approached her bedside and saw the child for the first time, pity coursed through what was left of his tattered body and tired soul.
She looked to him to be between nine and twelve. Her hair was a light crisp brown and her complexion appeared very pale and wasted.
He lent in closer to her and he could see the veins in her neck throbbing and it was as though they were taunting him. His hand flew behind her head before he could stop himself and he moved closer to her neck. His fang’s ripped through her flesh with ease. As a trickle of blood ran onto his tongue he went into a type of feeding frenzy and didn’t stop until almost every drop of blood was drained from the girl’s helpless form.
He had no idea how long he had sat in the corner of the room weeping into his hands and frankly he didn’t care. His wife was dead. Now that his memories, in all their horrific detail, had come flooding back, he knew she was his wife. ‘She’s gone’ he said. ‘What the fuck was that thing?’ He replayed it all in his mind again. Everything was there. He could remember it all with such charity, but he still had no idea of what the creature was. Most importantly of all, he had no idea of what it had done to him, at least not yet. He sat wondering what to do, now that the girl was dead.
Then unexpectedly he heard what sounded like a gasp for air, which was closely followed by a low shriek that seemed to come from the bed in front of him. Alan quickly got to his feet and saw the girl moving. He walked swiftly to her and looked to see hungry eyes staring back, those same eyes were the last things he saw before he died. They were also the same eyes that he saw staring out at him from the reflection in the bathroom mirror. It scared him a little to see them again, though he knew what he had to do. He leaned in closer to her. She sprang up and he grabbed her arms as they reached for him. He head butted her and her head snapped back and she moaned with pain. His right hand quickly went around her neck and he held her down.
The girl threw a fit, squealing, kicking and thrashing around wildly.
‘Listen! I’m going to feed you, if you’ll just stop fighting me’ Alan suddenly said to her. The next moment he saw in her the first sign of human recognition, as she stopped her fit instantaneously.
Alan loosened his grip on her neck and bit into his own wrist.
The girl sat up speedily and practically leapt on the limb as a steady trickle of blood rolled slowly down the palm of his hand.
‘I guess all those vampire movies I used to watch came in handy after all’ he said. It was quite obvious to him that that’s what they were. The child showed no sign that she had even heard his words, she just drank.
‘Don’t take to much’ he said in a whisper. ‘We’ll both need our strength if were going to get out of here.’
Just as he finished the sentence, he felt the tension on his wrist subside and the pain die a little as she released his arm. As Alan looked down at the wound on his wrist, he remembered that when he woke up after the attack in the alleyway, his lesser wounds had healed very quickly. He realized suddenly that the more he thought about it, the less pain he felt, until the wound had healed almost immediately.
‘Who are you?’ the girl asked the tall man in front of her.
‘My name is Alan. What’s yours?’
‘Katie.’
‘It’s nice to meet you Katie.’
The child just sat staring at him.
“She’s probably scared. After all I am a stranger to her.” he thought. But Katie wasn’t afraid of him at all. On the contrary, she felt close to him, maybe even connected in some fashion.
‘Where’s my mom and dad?’ she asked.
This was the question he hoped he wouldn’t have to answer. Alan sat on the end of the bed and said as softly as he could, which was hard, as his throat felt as though somebody had shoved a piece of sandpaper down it. ‘Do you know about life and death?’ he asked her.
The girl looked puzzled for a moment.
‘You know that everything that lives eventually dies, right?’
She gave a small nod. It was barely a nod and tears soon followed, as though she had already guessed what he was about to tell her.
‘I don’t think it’s good to sugar-coat something like this. I’m sorry if you don’t see it that way. Sweetie... the truth is, your mum and dad where killed in the car crash that almost killed you.’
The girl’s eyes seemed to glaze over and more tears ran down her face, it looked like an endless stream. Her hands came up and her face fell into them. She sat there sobbing and shaking in total shock and grief. Alan got up slowly and proceeded to put his arms around her. She leaned into him and they sat crying together for their lost love ones.
It wasn’t long before Alan had broken away from the girl and started to go over the story he was going to tell the hospital staff, not to mention the police. It didn’t take him long to figure it all out. Soon he was ready to try it.
It was incredible how clearly he was thinking, after all that had happened to him.
‘Where are you going?’ Katie asked him, as he moved toward the door.
‘I have to go and do something.’
‘Where am I going to go after this?’ tears formed in her eyes again as she thought of the places she might be sent.
‘Well, I guess that now you’re like me, you’ll have to come and live with me, if you’d like that?’
‘Yes’ she squeaked, which made him smile.
“Of course the girl will have to come and live with me” he thought, “or I’ll have to — no not that. How could I even think that? After all that’s happened. How could I... kill?” As this thought ran its course, he was for the first time, since he had woke-up in the alley, afraid. Not for himself, or even the girl. He was afraid of himself and what he was turning into. Though he knew exactly what he and Katie were now. They really were vampires. ‘Holy shit!’
Alan also knew that if it came down to it, he couldn’t let the girl go and mix with humans. She’d be feeding off of them left, right, and centre. “If I can’t adopt her I’ll have to do the unthinkable. No matter what I think, or even how much it pains me to do it. I, Alan William Shaw, if that’s who I still am, will have to kill her!”
----------------------------------------
Alan was about to leave the room when it momentarily occurred to him that it might be a better idea to recreate a few of the wounds he had, just to make his lie more believable. He didn’t have to cut himself, or even hurt himself in any way. All that was needed was a little concentration. It wasn’t long before Alan realised that this whole vampire thing wasn’t so bad after all, as claw marks started to materialise on his face, arms and body. The strangest thing about these wounds was, they didn’t hurt at all, not in the slightest.
Alan also knew that he couldn’t just turn up at the front desk with his two good legs and tell them his altered version of events which had happened. It would be too suspicious when they looked up his medical history and saw that he was supposed to have had an operation, in which he had to have a bullet torn muscle removed from his leg. So he opened the door, which led to the hall, he saw that there was no one in the hallway. Quickly he jumped up and crawled along the ceiling to the room opposite, to avoid any security cameras that be watching.
There were no crutches, or walking sticks, which meant he had to move on to the next room and the next and then the next. It was in the last that he found a basic walking stick. ‘Perfect’ he said as he spied it in the corner of the room.
‘Hello’ said a voice from behind the curtain in front of him. ‘Is there someone there?’ The foolishly curious person behind the curtains pulled them back with his crutch. It was a man, who looked to be around forty. His hair was greying around the sides, though on top it was mostly jet black, with grey running though it here and there. His face was thin and shaven. He looked quite fit and strong.
‘Who are you?’ the man asked. Though when he saw Alan’s blood red eye’s staring back at him, not to mention his long fang’s and blood stained shirt. He asked, ‘What are you?’
Alan thought for a second then said, ‘You can call me Jack.’ Even with that he could see the absolute fear in the man’s eyes, he liked it. It excited him.
This man said, ‘Leave now, or I’ll … I’ll call for help’ Alan instantly saw that the man had started shaking and was reaching for the call button beside his bed.
‘I’m not going to hurt you’ said the vampire in a very calm controlled voice, though he really wanted to hurt him. He wanted to watch him bleed and beg. “No, I can’t think like that” he thought, when he realised what was flowing though his mind. He did his best to put it out of his head and concentrate on what he was going to say. ‘Tell me, why are you here? I mean, what’s wrong with you that you had to come here?’ his American accent wasn’t very good, but he used it anyway. “Better safe then sorry” he thought.
The stranger said nothing. But looked as though he were processing what the vampire had said.
‘What if I told you that I might be able to help you? What if I told you that I could maybe cure your illness?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, that depending on what’s wrong with you, I might be able to cure you.’
‘I broke my leg’ said the man, but the doc says it’s on the mend.’
‘I’m going to move closer to you. Is that ok?’
‘You won’t hurt me?’
‘No, I swear I won’t.’
‘Tell me why I should trust you?’
‘That’s simple. You see if I wanted to harm you, I could have done it long before now. All I want is to make you a deal, that’s all.’
‘Fine, come closer. But tell me why you’re willing to help me?’ the man was sounding more then a little nervous. ‘You don’t want my soul or anything like that, do you?’
Alan laughed (something he thought he would never do again). ‘No, nothing like that. All I want from you is that you leave here as soon as I’ve fixed you’re leg and never tell anyone that you ever saw me.’
‘That’s it?’
‘That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.’
‘What happens if I don’t take it?’
Alan’s eyes blazed as he said, ‘Do you really want to know?’
The man took another look at those terrifying red eyes and those menacingly sharp fangs and quickly said in a whimper, ‘No, not really.’
‘So you wish to take the deal then.’
‘Yes... yes I do. Can I ask you something?’ the stranger asked all of a sudden.
‘You just did.’ The vampire smiled again, the terrified man didn’t.
‘No, I mean something else?’
‘That depends’ said Alan.
‘Well, I was wondering. Why did you come into this room?’
‘If you must know, I need that.’ Alan pointed to the walking stick.
‘May I ask why?’
‘No you may not!’ the vampire spat. ‘It’s time to do this, it’s now or never.’ Alan was getting more then a little impatient.
----------------------------------------
He soon returned to the Katie’s room with his prize.
He made his way over to the same open window he had used to gain entry into that very room.
‘Where are you going now?’ the girl asked.
Alan could see fresh wet streaks on her cheeks and knew she’d been crying.
His heart sink another notch. ‘I have to do something very important’ he said.
‘Promise me you’ll stay in this room. And if anyone else comes in, you’ll have to pretend you’re sleeping, okay.’
She nodded.
‘I’ll try and get back as soon as I can. I promise.’
Katie said nothing to this; she just turned over and silently wept onto her pillow.
Alan soon turned his attention to the window again. And when he was sure that all was clear below, he jumped and landed gently and safely on the footpath. As he hobbled for the hospital entrance, most of the people he saw moved to avoid him, but it was an ambulance driver that saw the blood and wounds he had all over and stopped him. ‘Are you alright sir?’ the man asked.
‘IT KILLED HER!’ Alan screamed as he took hold of the man’s shirt and tears streaked down his bloody face. ‘IT TOOK HER AND FUCKING KILLED HER!’
----------------------------------------
It wasn’t long before what was left of Karen’s body was recovered from the alley and brought to the hospital.
The place was swarming with doctors, nurses and police officers.
‘So tell me what happened again’ one of the detectives asked Alan as he sat with a cup of coffee in his hand, which was quickly going cold. He took another very small sip of his so called coffee, “at least that’s what the nurse called it” he thought, though it was very watery and tasted nothing like he was used to.
‘I’ve told you twice already’ Alan said. ‘We were attacked by an animal of some kind.’
‘Can you remember what the animal looked like?’ The officer’s unsympathetic and unwavering tone came at him once more.
‘No, not really. It was big and had a very wide mouth, with very large fangs. That’s all I remember’ Alan lied.
‘You were so close to it that it was able to do that to you’ the detective pointed to his now bandaged wounds, ‘and that’s all you can tell me about it.’
The vampire looked at the man with the most infuriated and appalled look he could muster and loudly and very sharply said, ‘You’ll have to excuse the fact that, when I was fighting for my life, I didn’t stop to take a look at the thing that had ripped my wife apart and was trying to do the same to me. And I know that it’s rude and against the law to say this to you, but I’m going to say it anyway. FUCK OFF YOU WANKER!’
The detective abruptly stood up and calmly said, ‘I understand that you have been through a terrible ordeal and that you have suffered a great loss in the passing of your wife. So I’m going to walk away and forget that you said that. Then when I get things sorted out, I’m sure that you can go home to sort out your own things.’ The officer turned and walked on down the hall, where he stopped to talk to one of the doctors.
Alan couldn’t just sit there any longer. He really wanted to see if Katie had had any visitors since he had left her. So he stood and started toward the nearest lift.
As he walked, he heard the harsh American voice of the detective he had insulted only a minute before.
‘Mr Shaw, where are you going?’
Alan turned; ‘I don’t know’ he lied again. He was beginning to feel that this was becoming a habit, one that he might need through-out the years to come. ‘I don’t feel well; I’m just going for a walk if that’s alright?’
‘Fine, just don’t go too far.’
‘‘Yeah, as if I were actually asking for your permission, arsehole!’’ Alan thought, as he walked on down the never-ending hallway. (At least it seemed to him, as though it would go on forever.) He found a lift, jumped in pushed the button for the first floor. There was a sudden sharp ping as the doors closed, which ended just as it began. The lift gave a slight jolt as it began it’s ascent. Another ping a few seconds later told him that the doors were about to open, and they did just as that thought touched his mind. He wasn’t at all surprised at the fact that the lift opened into a hallway, which looked not unlike the other he had just come from. With the walls donning same the white paint and the floors with the same grey laminate floor, which gleamed with a fresh coat of floor polish. Alan was afraid to step out onto the clean floor in case his shoes dirtied it in some way. He smiled and a laugh entered his throat, but he suppressed it before it managed it’s escape. ‘‘All of the things that have happened to me today and I’m worried about a fucking floor.’’ The smile grew spreading across his face. It didn’t last long though, as he heard someone, a woman, shout out, ‘IT’S A MIRACLE! IT’S A MIRACLE!’ These exclamations and others like them continued, until he gently pushed Katie’s room door open. He entered slowly and turned his head to the right to see the girl sitting upright in bed with Nurse Anders standing next to the bed examining her. The woman’s back was facing him.
He quickly and ever so silently closed the door behind him and took a step toward the nurse. His new heart was pounding wildly in his chest. It was as though he could smell her blood flowing through the vein’s under her skin, which caused him to feel an almost uncontrollable urge to feed.