CHAPTER ELEVEN

Alice opened her eyes slowly. She felt somehow dizzy though she could still feel the injuries had gone. The dizziness must have come from her constant attempt to recall everything that happened. Her memories seemed blur. She struggled to recollect. Then everything started coming one by one. She went to the bar to get a drink, then she got attacked by some advanced beasts more like vampires. Obviously this wasn't a horror movie anymore. Vampires were real. They tried to kill her because they saw her as a threat, they called her hunter. They were about to kill her when someone saved her, It was Martin. But he was also a vampire. Why would he save her if he was like them.?

"Good morning" she heard a voice say. She jerked back into reality and saw a lady standing in front of her. She looked at the lady’s face, she looks like someone she knew though she was confident that she didn't know this person.

"I'm Maggie" the lady said, "you called for help yesterday so we came and then saw that you had passed out on the floor. We helped you here to our house since we weren't sure what happened to you." Just then Janet came in. It then dawned on Alice why she was looking at Maggie differently. They looked alike! More like twins.

Janet noticed her surprise. "There's my twin sister," she said with a smile. Alice smiled back at her. " Actually we also have brother" Maggie cut in. " Our annoying brother isn't here yet ." Alice looked up in surprise at Janet. "O my God!" She exclaimed, "that's so cool. I can't believe you have a sister and a brother."

Janet smiled at her. " Don't be silly, its not as fun as it sounds." Her face then became serious, "what happened?" She asked. "Who did this to you?."

"Come on Janet!" Maggie said, " give her a break,let her eat first and regain her strength before you begin your interrogation. She looks pale and she must be starving". Janet looked embarrassingly at Alice, " I'm so sorry" she apologized.

Alice smiled at them. She was grateful she could still find good and normal people in this God forsaken city. She stood up from the bed and discovered they had changed her cloths to a pair of pyjamas. She smiled at them, her cloths must have been stained with blood or looked rough and dirty. "Before you go take breakfast you must take a shower first", Janet ordered. "you smell like crap, sorry to be so blunt". Alice face blushed in embarrassment. "You guys are so kind, I don't know how to repay you."

"We only need one thing in return" Maggie said. Alice looked up at her. "What might that be?" She asked with uncertainty. "Go take a shower" She replied with a short laugh. They all joined in laughing. Alice felt really grateful. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed. They gave her a towel and exited the room, showing her the bathroom.

She walked into it and was fascinated by how nice and neat it looked. There were shampoos, soaps and other things she could need. She had a really pleasant bath, washing herself up thoroughly. After sometime she finally came out. She noticed some lotions were already placed on the bed and also a new set of cloths were neatly placed there. She smiled, they were thoughtful. She got dressed in it and walked out of it. She noticed the apartment was bigger than what she anticipated. She counted four rooms there. She moved towards the dining room which was straight forward to her location. She saw the two of them were already there. They looked to be waiting for her.

"You didn't have to wait for me" she said. "Of course we do" Maggie said. "Please forgive us if we're acting a little strange or weird its just that we hardly get visitors in our house, honestly you're the first female visitor we've ever welcomed to our home. Hope we aren't scaring you?"

"No! Not at all." Alive replied, "actually you're the nicest people I've ever met." They all smiled warmly at her. " Okay let's eat" Janet said. They all started eating. They chatted and discussed different topics while they ate. The sisters were careful not to bring the topic of what happened to Alice so it wouldn't spoil their dinner.

"So do you guys have a family aside yourself?" Alice asked. They all glanced at each other. "None that we know of" Maggie replied. Alice looked confused, " how about your parents?"

"Our mum died during our birth", Janet answered, "and our dad left us. Actually we never knew him. He ran away like a coward. We've been on our own since. We struggled to sponsor ourselves through our education level and well I can say we're successful and comfortable."

"Sorry to bring that sensitive issue up", Alice apologized, "I guess we all have parents issues." " What happened to yours?" Maggie asked. "Well, they left me since I was little so I grew up in foster homes and just like you I helped myself to become what I am now."

"You don't have siblings?" Jane asked in surprise, "it must have been lonely for you." Alice looked down in sadness, she always felt a throbbing pain in her hearth whenever she touched this subject but she needed to tell them they looked trustworthy and besides Janet is helping her with her case. " I had a husband and daughter", she said in a low voice. "But, they were killed."

Janet and Maggie looked at her with pity in their eyes. They went towards her and hugged her slightly from both sides. " What happened to you yesterday?" Janet asked, she wanted to change the topic to lighten the mood. "Let's discuss that so we'll know what to do."

"I saw something I didn't dream possible" Alice said, " I think I was attacked by vampires." " Vampires!" The sisters chorused together. "So you saw them?" Janet asked. Alice stared at her in surprise. "You knew?."

"Not really" Janet replied, "we had our suspicions but we weren't sure. People go missing in this city and there were a lot of unsolved mysterious murder cases with the victim's blood drained and small holes on the victim's neck. Probably punctured by fangs."

"Well I saw them", Alice said. "They somehow saw me as a threat, they wanted to kill me. They also called me a hunter. I have no idea why." "This is strange" Janet said, "what the hell is a hunter?. Maybe they mistook you for someone else but how were you able to fight off vampires all by yourself?"

"I had help?" Alice replied, "it was Martin, he saved me." Janet looked genuinely surprised. "Martin?" She asked in disbelief. "What was he doing there and how was he able to fight off vampires? where is he? Is he dead?"

"Martin's a vampire Janet" Alice said. She could see the shock on both their faces. " Its a lot to take in but Martin's a vampire. He saved me and told me to seek for help." " I didn't see that coming!" Janet said with a shock expression. " Who's this Martin guy?" Maggie asked.

"He's like our boss" Janet replied, "not that we're close or anything, actually we've never talked to each other. I work in forensics but well he's famous in the department....". "You had a crush on him?" Maggie asked. Janet looked at her in surprise, "of course not!"

"I think vampires killed my husband and daughter". Alice announced. "Janet you told me that whoever killed those people must have been a beast in form of men. I think you're right. Vampires did this." "How are you sure its connected to your family's murderer?" Maggie asked.

"Its the same method"Alice replied, "that was why I was actually transferred here from NYPD. I wanted to personally investigate this case." Janet and Maggie looked at each other not sure of what to say next.

"Alice there's something else" Maggie said, "in this city we discovered some people were made to do things they didn't want to do. Its more like a mind control or something performed by some people so we came up with something like a prevention against such. It was actually our brother who brought it to us and he never told us what it was. Its called vervain. If you're here in this city you need to take it so some freak wouldn't just have control your mind and do whatever they tell you to do."

"This city is really a strange place" Alice said. Maggie disappeared into the kitchen and came out with a rubber which contained a greenish liquid content. She gave it to Alice and she drank it. It tasted very bitter and she almost puked at the instant. "Sorry about that" Maggie said, " could have warned you earlier."

"That reminds me" Janet said, "goosh why didn't I remember this earlier. I think I found something on that case." Alice looked at her with interest. "What have you discovered?" She asked. For the first time she was hopeful.

Janet brought her laptop and went through it for some seconds. She finally found what she was looking for. "The murderer is very smart" she said. "Whoever the person is always commits the murder at the blind spot of the street cameras but however something peeked my interest from all the footage I came across with, someone was always there."

Alice came closer to her to look at the screen. "The woman is always standing at a spot about fifteen minutes before the murder takes place. I think she knows or have something to do with it."

Alice stared at the footage and then she observed a woman standing in front of a coffee shop and staring at something the camera couldn't show.

Alice felt her breath seize. "Something's not right!" She said. "Do you know her?" Janet asked surprised. Alice look

ed at Janet. "That's Mary. That's my neighbor."