Act I | part 3

Ava was lying on her bed, looking at the ceiling as one does when they have nothing better to do. She was trying to erase from her mind the image of that scary face Lynn made earlier. Part of her was pissed as she thought that she had just started to like his character.

Her eyelids grew heavy as the minutes flew by. Unexpectedly she had dozed off, her brain drawing pictures from the past. Those pictures turning into dreams. Those dreams turning vivid.

She dreamt about being torn apart bit by bit, every little piece getting cut off as soon as it regenerated. She was crawling on the ground with arms and legs removed, gasping for air. The ground suddenly turned red, stained with blood, while the rest of the scenery gets swallowed by darkness.

She finds herself whole again in front of an enormous white gate, surrounded by void. It shatters as soon as she extends her hand to touch it. As the pieces fall they form a lake in which she sinks down, down to the bottom. All light is fading. A hand reaches out to grab her and pull her to the surface. The image fades before she could see the person's face.

She wakes up to the sound of the wind dancing through the forest. The shadow of the trees grew wider as the sun was getting low. The clock on the wall showed 6:34 pm. When did the day flew by so fast?

Ava wondered if Lynn was as up yet. He wasn't in the living room, nor did he answer when she knocked on his door. "Maybe he went out on a hunt again" she thought, but his rifle was resting against the wall next to the front door. She thought about checking in the basement and as soon as she found the door leading to it and placed her hand on the door knob, it creaked open.

"Oh, hi Ava. Were you looking for me?" Lynn asked. His long black hair was loosely tied back with a hair band.

"I didn't know what time you got up. What were you doing down there?"

"Just taking care of some pests. Do me favor: do not open this door in any circumstance. The premise is ridden with rats and whatnot. You don't want them to crawl under your bedsheets do you?"

She shivered by the thought of it. In one of the cheep rental apartments she stayed at, a mouse had crawled under her pajamas. A terrible way to wake up. Terrible as the rest of the of the place, but it beats being homeless.

"Do you need my help with anything?" Asked Ava.

"Not really. I need to search under the sink for some traps or rat poison. After which you can join me for dinner."

"Now that I live here, I should be helping with the chores. I wasn't raised to be a freeloader." She smiled.

"Don't worry about it." He waved his hand dismissively. "Being my personal blood bank is good enough. There isn't much to do around here anyways, but if you insist I can show you my night routine."

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

The scenery outside was illuminated with moonlight, forming big black shadows under the trees. The air was cold as aways, something that both the girl and the vampire seemed to have gotten used to.

Lynn went to one of the boulders near the backyard and started placing empty bottles on top of it

"Have you ever shot with a gun before?" He asked her as he loaded the magazine.

"No. Never got the chance."

"It's simple. This is a semi-automatic, it has a 10 round detachable magazine, so you can easily recharge when you are out of bullets. You just grab it like this" he aimed at one of the bottles and pull the trigger." The gunshot echoed through the forest as the glass shattered on the ground, scaring away all forms of wildlife in the process. "Now you try."

Ava held the gun with two hands. It was heavier than it looked. She did as she was told and aligned the sight with her target, but the trigger wouldn't budge.

"I think it's jammed." She says annoyed.

"It's not. Press harder."

"I am telling you, it won't budge."

"Keep trying."

Eventually the gun fires, the recoil making her lose her balance slightly. She shoots again and again, this time with more confidence, until she empties the whole magazine.

"Amazing..." said Lynn, " you couldn't even hit the boulder they were placed on... I've never seen someone with worse aim than you." He chuckles.

"Cut me some slack, it's my first time holding a gun. I can barely pull the trigger."

"You don't say... you are sort of weak for a half-vampire." His smug tone started to piss her off.

"I am pretty sure you got lucky when you knocked down that first bottle. Don't act like you are so perfect."

He grabbed the gun and reloaded the magazine, held it with one hand, then without even looking, he fired five times, knocking down every single bottle.

"So...Better luck next time?"

Ava rolled her eyes. "What a show off." She thought, then picked the rifle of his hand.

"Do you have anything else we can use as a target?" She asked.

"How about you try to aim at that big oak tree over there." Lynn pointed in the distance. It was no more than 10 meters away. "It should be easy enough."

The girl was prepared to give it another shot, but as soon as she was ready to pull the trigger, she heard that screeching noise again. The one from the previous night. It was terrible, like nails scratching on a metal board. The sound was approaching closer and closer, accompanied by the cracking of twigs and leaves being ruffled.

Her heart beat was raising higher with each step and her palms began to sweat. The target in her head now wasn't the oak tree, but whatever the hell that thing was.

Soon as she caught a glimpse of the creature's haunting yellow eyes, she fired. But that didn't stop it. It sprung like a lightning towards her, she didn't have enough time to fire again or even react. Luckily, her friend did.

Lynn pushed her away from the creature's attack, right before it was about to sunk his claws into her neck. He then tried grabbing it and shoving it to the ground.

The creature's movements were quick, quicker than his. It managed to tear his shirt, leaving multiple wounds behind. It bit and tore and scratched until chunks of flesh flew to the ground. But while the monster's savage attacks were fast and uncoordinated, Lynn carefully tried to block most of them, patiently waiting for an opening. Finally when the opportunity arised, he grabbed its head and slammed against the nearest rock. He did that until it stopped moving and then ripped its heart out, crushing it in fury with his bare hands.

Now that the thing was motionless, at last they were able to get a good look at its grotesque body, or whatever was left of it. His features resembled that of a human, but barely. Every single tooth in his mouth was long and sharp, like that of a shark. His pale skin was covered head to toe with black, bulging veins and his nails were like the ones of a vulture.

"What the hell was that thing!?" Gasped Ava, trembling from the adrenaline.

"That dear..." Lynn was still struggling to catch his breath "is what happens to vampires if they go on for too long without drinking human blood."