Lewis Aleman - The Anti-Vampire

I reach out and grab her free arm, yanking her away from him. Her wretched tongue pulls away from just in front of his lips—never quite reaching them, and she spins to face me. Easily five inches taller than me, she towers over me, her sharp fingernails out of his hair, outstretched and aimed at my face.

She sends her hand flying at my eyes. Too fast for me to move. A blur smacks her hand at her wrist.

Simon holds her wrist tightly, still struggling to keep his balance—head swaying and pointed down, not even looking at us. Her fingers keep reaching for me over and over.

He pulls his head upright, his voice as sharp as a blade, “Stop this. Now.”

Her face turns from crazed to just angry. Stepping in front of me, Simon looks her in the eyes.

“That was too long, Maxi. You know that.”

“Hard to restrain myself, sweet Simon. You know that,” she strains to smile, but rage lingers in her brow.

“You gave me your word.”

“And I will keep it,” still straining.

“Maxine. I mean it,” he says with a heavy tone, “Look at me—say it.”

“I will look after her.”

“No more like what just happened?”

“She jumped at me in the middle of feeding, Simon. That’s all that was. You know what that feels like.”

“Break your word, and I’ll find you, Maxi. I promise you.”

Wrinkling her nose and pushing her lips together, “Don’t you worry, sexy. I’ll take care of your boring, suburban princess.”

“Hey!” I say finally jumping in their conversation.

He turns to me, “Ruby, don’t bait her.”

Flooded. Hurt. Angry. Sad. Don’t know what to say. Don’t want him to leave.

He turns away from me.

Maxine looks at me, grinning at his icy exit. Hope flees from the cold gushing inside me. Look to the top of the trees, can’t even see the moon through the overgrowth of branches and coiling kudzu vine. Just two sad, faded stars.

Rustle rushes up to me—a sound path of leaves and branches being crushed leading right to my feet. Before my eyes come down from the branches, his kiss is on me, shoving the fear away, and melting the freeze out of my body.

Not ready when he pulls away. Nothing could replace the feeling he’s just taken from my lips.

His eyes struggle under the demands of time, looking just like he did before he let the last word drop at ‘80s Night, right before he turned to face the fire so I could escape. Right before I thought I’d lost him forever.

He turns away without a word, not even a single word like last time. The silence is far worse. I can still feel the memory of his kiss on my lips as my heart begins to tear.

Handsome and warm blue eyes and a smile appear over his shoulder. His body stops.

“I’ll come back for you.”

He disappears slowly, the branches and brush hiding more of him with every step he takes away from me.

Female eyes burn at me, the treetops hide all but two dim stars in the dark sky, and wicked creatures are out there, somewhere, hunting for me, but I have his kiss still tingling on my lips and his promise fresh on my ears. If I die tonight, at least I’ll die feeling alive.

Seven.

That’s all that it took.

Seven little numbers.

Time to see if the information they bought was worth the long trip into town.

Things move ahead of me. Senses are dulled. Maxi’s long drink, healing wounds, the fighting, no sleep or feeding for days—I’m drained. An easy target. This trip might’ve been a bad idea. Got to know what Roderick’s up to—gotta know what we’re up against.

Cats move through the yard. Black one darting here. Gray one darting there. Peering behind this and that. One peeks out from under the wooden porch, eyes glowing, reflecting the street light.

Walk under a large oak tree on the way up to the house. Cat brushes past my ankles. Look down at it. Gray with black swirls.Suddenly something dives out the tree, smacking my back—angry hissing, nails pushing at my throat, threatening to rip into it.

Forgot to look up. Didn’t check out the tree. Senses are fried.

That kind of mistake gets you dead. Fast.

Shouldn’t have come.

I talk softly to not push the sharp nails at my throat, slicing into my skin, “Katrianna, it’s Simon. Here—talk about Roderick.”

“What do you care for what Roderick’s doing now? Been up to bad things for centuries—what’s the sudden interest? Where were y’all when he was giving me hell?”

“I wasn’t born yet. Trying to save girl’s life,” still speaking as few words as possible, trying to protect my throat.

Her grip loosens. Could break away, but I won’t.

“Love this girl?”

“Just met her.”

“Care enough to fight this war for her?”

“Absolutely.”

“Mmmm-hmmm.”

She releases me and, without a glance or a word, walks to the house ahead of me.

I follow close behind. A cat jumps into her arms and climbs up to look over her shoulder at me—it’s the gray and black one that distracted me just before Katrianna lunged down on me.

Her black gown skims across the worn dirt ground below her feet, following her usual path from the house to the tree where grass dares not grow.

Climbing the wooden porch steps, her voice sounds like something between a smoker’s rasp and a rusty hinge squeaking, “You go against Roderick—you face him alone. Don’t trust anyone to stand with you. No matter what they say, you will be alone in the end.”

Cats scurry around her as she opens the door. Some run past her feet to follow her into the house, and others rush out into the night.

“Don’t know if I need to face him. Not yet. Hoping you can help me with figuring that out.”

Disappearing into the darkness of the unlit house, “Now what makes you think an old woman knows anything about Roderick? Especially a crazy cat lady.”

“Edgar said you might know some things.”

“Oh, that one said so. Pathetic thing that he is. He’s the one told you where I live?”

“Yeah.”

“Should’ve never taken that ingrate in here. This’s how he repays me.”

“You took care of him?”

“Let that beast hide here and feed on my furry ones while he got over something bad he picked up from his needles. Was too weak to hunt. Couldn’t overpower anyone to feed on them—too delirious to trick someone into feeding on them. Knew he’d die without help. Thought that sickness might kill him. Don’t know how he tracked me down—that boy’d be awfully dangerous if he could keep a needle out his arm. Wandered all the way out here from Frenchmen. Can you believe that? No one’s found me in over a decade. That junkie found me when he couldn’t even say his own name.”

“Didn’t tell me that. Just told me where I could find you.”

“Edgar never does anything without getting something for himself. What’d that info cost you?”

“Seven.”

“Seven what?” she asks stepping deeper and deeper into the darkness of her house.

Furry things pass at my legs. Swear they’re trying to trip me. Can’t see them—just catch a hint of gray and black running in the dark.

I answer, “Seven digits—just numbers.”

“And what young woman did you think so little of to give her number to Edgar?”

“A girl who was so wild that she’d beg me to feed on her. Obsessed that she found a real vampire. Thought she’d become one somehow if I fed on her enough. When I wouldn’t do it anymore, she begged me to give her to another vampire. Until now, I wouldn’t do it.”