Weeks had passed with the Chasses. I spent a lot of time with them after I took them up on their offer. I began working for their company, CWT Construction. I worked for Carter during the day, doing odd jobs for the business and running errands for things that were a tad more secretive. This was good because he couldn't necessarily have me on the books doing secretive shit for him. He asked if I wanted to be a paid employee or in cash as an under-the-table deal. Obviously, I chose the cash, less paperwork, and less information I had to write down about myself.
I actually turned up with more money than I knew what to do with. If any hobo wandered their way into my factory, they would have been set on booze money for a very long time. I used this money to buy an older motorcycle to get to and from the places I needed to be. It was easier to explain how I got around. Things were working out great.
I had gotten to know the crew at one of the sites where they had me working, like a normal human. This particular project had no ties to the supernatural world, so I used that to my advantage. I acted human, played the part of a busy worker bee to earn the trust and respect of the Chasses. I had spent the last week spreading cement for the foundations of houses in an up-and-coming subdivision in North County. There were days when I'd just work with the crew, clock in, clock out, and I wouldn't see or speak to any of the hunters. As much as I wanted to be near them and learn of our world, I knew it was only building the guise of normality. It would help my situation.
After work, I'd usually go to the factory or back to their house to learn and train, if they invited me. It was turning into a routine that I looked forward to every morning. The suspense of which location I'd end up at always kept me thrilled throughout the day. I wanted so badly to be near them: Autumn, Eleanor, Carter, and the rest of them. I felt good when I was around them. I think they didn't want to overwhelm me with too much early on and scare me off, so they limited my training initially. The frequency of my visits increased as time passed. Once they could tell I wasn't going anywhere, they had me over almost every day.
They were turning me into a deadly hunter. Well, their kind of hunter. My own hunting abilities were much different than theirs, and far superior. Carter took me under his wing on everything. He taught me all he knew about their weapons and tools and showed me how to use them. He taught me their strategies for taking on the different creatures of the night. Then, they had me start working out with them almost every day. They put about ninety-nine percent of the rest of the world to shame in the gym, save for Olympic-level athletes. They were all operating at about double the intensity of the average gym rat.
They had it down to a science. Everything they needed to get bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter. And Eleanor, she was a whiz in the kitchen. She kept them all fed and always at full strength with their carefully planned meals. I could tell early on that their family had been doing this for a very long time.
They welcomed me into every aspect of their lives. They treated me like a friend. Sometimes I felt like family. It was more than I ever hoped for or thought possible. Everyone treated me this way: Eleanor, Clara, Wayland, Frank, and Autumn. They all actually seemed to want me around. I wondered if that would always be the case, and what would happen if the truth came out.
My relationship with Autumn was… well, I'm not sure what it was exactly. There were times when I thought everything was normal between us, nothing more than how the rest of her family was. Then, sometimes it seemed… more. I thought she'd flirt, stare at me from afar, thinking I couldn't see her, and when we were close, she would find reasons to touch me. It seemed real to me, not something I was creating in my lonely mind anymore. But then, there were other times when she was standoffish and silent. She almost seemed like she'd avoid me when I'd come over at night. Some nights she'd disappear into her room upstairs, leaving me to listen for her the entire evening as I tried to figure out what she was doing.
I wanted to figure her out. Find out what she thought about me, and why she acted so strangely. She was all I thought about most nights when I roamed the dark corridors of the abandoned factory or the woods outside her home.
The bestiaries were packed full of knowledge that the Chasses had accrued over the years. All kinds of mythical creatures littered the pages of the black leather books. There were too many to remember. I remembered every detail about the vampires I had fought. Every single scrap of a feature was burned into my brain. The eyes, the claws, the pungent smell of their blood, the way their bodies smoldered, and burst into flame when the sun infected their tissues. It was all locked away in the future reference section of my mind. The only other beasts I committed to memory were the ones I read about that sounded stronger than the average monster. Those were the creatures I could test myself against, the ones that could help me escape from this fate. However, after being with the Chasses, I hadn't been thinking about my own demise as much. They were bringing me back to a place I wanted to be.
The training went on every day. There was no rest, no vacation, no time off from the constant preparation for the next fight. No one knew when it would happen, but they all just prepared like it could be any minute. They were a family of warriors.
I was sitting in the library one night with Carter and Clara, reading up on a strange spirit called a Black Shuck. It was some kind of death omen. It was well past dark when we were quickly interrupted by a presence outside the house. There was a steady knock from a strong fist on the front door. Carter and Clara shot each other a glance, then Carter went quickly to the door. He pulled open the sizable wooden slab, revealing Martin to the rest of the family.
"Carter, thank God," Martin was relieved. He entered the home without invitation.
"Come in, come in," Carter quickly stepped aside to let him in. He had never seen Martin this hurried.
The others looked wary at his presence, but calm from their extended relationship. Carter welcomed him inside.
Martin came in, undeterred by the others' rising heartbeats. They all knew that he wouldn't hurt them, but they were still aware of the dangers of being what he was. They would never really let their guard down.
I should have acted more afraid.
"Sam, how have you been?" Martin asked, peering into me with piercing eyes. I could tell he noticed my steady heartbeat.
Autumn walked down the stairs after hearing the commotion. She entered the living room with the rest of us, for the first time, as I spoke.
"Good…you?" I felt her eyes on me as I spoke with the vampire.
He grinned at Carter, amused by my composure, "I could be better."
I think Martin and Carter had spoken about my seemingly unafraid attitude towards him on our last encounter. Yet, I don't think Carter fully understood what Martin was so amused about.
He came into the living room, joining the rest of us. It was very subtle, but the others gave Martin a wide berth as he moved and settled in different areas of the house. He came to a stop in front of the fireplace as the others situated themselves in the living room.
"What's going on?" Carter asked.
"I've got news," Martin said. "Something's coming…"
Everyone shifted with worry.
"What is it?" Carter asked.
"Hunting party… something I haven't seen in almost a century. It's a group of ancient and very powerful immortals," Martin answered darkly.
"A hunting party of immortals… what are they hunting?" Eleanor asked.
"What we're hunting… the black-eyed creature that killed those vampires. Stories are getting around, and more people are starting to believe that something is out there, killing with no discretion. The vampire that survived the black eyed creature took his story underground. Down in the pits."
"The pits?" I asked.
Carter answered, "There are caves beneath the city. Dark caverns that were carved out long before St. Louis was ever built. There are rumors, stories about things that still live down there…" Carter was interrupted by Martin.
"Those stories aren't rumors, they're true. There are things down there, deep in the furthest reaches of the old caverns. Things have lived down there for centuries."
The caves… I'd been there. I had searched, mapped, and memorized as much of them as I could, but I hadn't ever found a way to go deeper. I never found passages that went further into the earth, just ones that tunneled beneath the city. There were people down there. I had picked up scents from time to time, but I'd always lose them.
"What are they, vampires?" Carter asked.
"One of them, yes. Charles, a vampire. He was born sometime in the Dark Ages. He is one of the oldest I have ever known. He's mighty." Martin looked wary after a quick pause, and then spoke, "He is also the one who turned me."
Carter looked concerned, cocking his head to the side, "What does that mean for us?"
"It's been over fifty years since we last spoke. Things will be difficult for me while he is here, but we'll talk more about that later. The second, Phineas, is different. He's a natural-born chimera, with the abilities of many different creatures. He isn't as old as Charles, but his abilities make him a perilous enemy, and extremely hard to kill."
"We've never seen a chimera before," Autumn spoke aloud from the opposite end of the room.
"It would be in your best interest if you never do," Martin warned them all. "I'm giving you this information so you can lay low for a while, at least until they find this thing."
"We can't just let them roam free. They could kill countless people…" Carter urged.
"Carter, listen to me! Do not make a move on them, do not look for them, stay out of sight. Your family has done a fantastic job of staying hidden from our world. You never leave any survivors on a hunt. That's what has kept you all alive, it keeps you off the radar. If these three learn that there are hunters here… they will tell others. They'll swarm you and kill you all," Martin spoke with raw force, commanding Carter to listen.
Everyone was silent, but the room was throbbing with elevated heart rates. I could hear them, along with Martin, who could listen to mine as well. He glanced sideways out of his peripheral vision at me, sensing the slow pulse coming from my chest. He cocked his head, too quick for the others to register, examining me.
"Who's the third?" Wayland asked quietly at the living room window.
Martin snapped his attention from me back to the group, "A woman, Mercy. She's a witch. A very, very old witch. She's the most dangerous of them all. She can attack in ways that are… unseen."
A witch, huh? It was new. I hadn't read about witches in any of the bestiaries yet.
All of the hunters looked to one another. I focused on Martin, listening to every word.
"How do you mean?" Carter asked.
"She's psychokinetic. It makes her unpredictable and powerful. I've heard that she delves into necromancy as well. Bringing the dead back to life and controlling them."
"How's that possible?" I cut in.
Martin looked at me again, observing and calculating me. I felt like he was noticing something about me, something unusual. I tried to make my heart speed up to the average tempo of the room.
"There are many things in this world that are unknown. Many things are hidden, Sam," Martin said. His double meaning rang in my ears. He suspected something about me. Did the others know? Had they picked up on what he was saying? "She draws power from somewhere else, something we can't see. That is what makes her more dangerous than the others... we don't know exactly what she is capable of."
He looked back at the others as they continued, but I understood everything. He knew something about me, of that I was sure. But how much he knew, I didn't know. I hoped I was just paranoid.
Martin stood, "I have a lot to do, things to prepare, but I need you to promise me…" he looked at Carter. "Promise me that you will stay out of this… at least until I know more."
Carter stood in silence, contemplating everything he had just learned. He nodded slowly at the floor as he leaned against the other end of the fireplace, agreeing to Martin's request. But he was still weighing options in his head.
"Charles has requested a meeting. I knew him ages ago, and I'm sure he wants to get a foothold here with someone he knows. He sent some lesser vampires to my bar last night with the invitation. Surely, he wants to see what I have gathered about this monster killer." Martin was pacing across the hardwood floors. "I'll meet with him, find out what they know, and once I know it's safe, I'll return," he said. "But until then, please stay out of sight, even in the daylight. Charles can't get to you while the sun is out, but Phineas and Mercy can, and I won't be able to protect you."
Eleanor stepped forward, "No one will hunt. You have my word, Martin." She assured him and commanded the others.
I stayed in my own head for the next few moments, processing what this meant. Three new powerful killers were in town. They were hunting for me. I lured them out from under the city with the carnage and chaos that I had left in my wake. I brought this to my new friends. I brought this to St. Louis. How many innocent people would they kill while they were in town?
I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do, but I knew the first thing I had to do... I had to protect the Chasses. I had to keep them all safe. I couldn't leave them anymore, not in the day or the night, neither was safe. Charles, the vampire, could reach them at night, and the witch, Mercy, or the chimera, Phineas, could reach them in the day. I had to make sure they stayed out of sight.
Martin was saying goodbye, everyone still keeping their distance, as he made his way back to the door. "Sam…" he nodded to me in acknowledgment, "I'll see you again soon."
To everyone else, this was just a courteous statement to make the new hunter feel welcome around the old vampire. Not to me. To me, it was something else entirely. Oh, he was acknowledging me, but subtly letting me know that he knew. He knew that I was hiding something. Though the way he said it assured me that he hadn't mentioned anything to Carter or the rest of them. He wouldn't, not until he knew what I was hiding.
I couldn't worry about Martin. I had more pressing issues to focus on. I had to keep everyone safe from the old monsters that I had summoned from the depths.
I was standing in the kitchen, listening to the roar of voices coming from the living room and library. I walked out to get a few moments to myself. I had to get away for a moment to clear my head. The new threat was rattling the monster's cage. It wanted out, it wanted to take over and protect my new family. I pictured my hands stained with the blood of the dead creatures. I imagined what it would feel like to rip my black talons through their flesh, to sink my teeth into their throats, and dismember them with my bare hands. The monster ached for the kill; it pushed at every corner in my mind.
I grabbed a glass from a cabinet and filled it in the sink. I took small drinks, taking deep breaths in between, caging the beast.
"Scary, isn't it?" Autumn appeared beside me.
I nodded, "Strange for sure…"
She leaned against the counter right beside me, "This is new for me too. I've never dealt with a chimera or a witch before, and the vampire… if he is older than Martin, then there's no telling how powerful he is," she spoke in a rush, truly worried. She tried to maintain her sense of control, but I could see how she really felt.
"I've read about chimeras, but there wasn't too much about them. The bestiary just said that they have traits of other creatures…" I trailed off.
"Yeah, they do. The bestiary doesn't have specifics because one chimera could be completely different from another. They can consume and take on certain traits of other things. It just all depends on what they consume," Autumn informed.
I wondered if he could consume me… if he could become what I was. Then I started to think about what all he had consumed before, what kind of threat he posed to Autumn, and the rest of her family, what kind of things he would be able to do. Hopefully, these would be the things that Martin would discover in his meeting with Charles. I couldn't let him hurt them.
I was about to ask her what all she knew about Witches, but she beat me with her own question.
"You want to get out of here?" she asked innocently, but I could see the nervousness in her eyes. "Just for a little while. It's getting a little hectic, and there's not much that we can do anyway."
This was one of her days that I liked. She wanted to be around me.
"Is it safe for us to leave?" I asked, really, for her safety.
"We'll be fine. St. Louis is a big city. Plus, they're looking for some creature, not us. We can still live our lives. We just can't go out killing monsters while they're here. We don't want to draw them to us."
I nodded, "Alright, I could use some fresh air. You sure nobody will mind?" I asked with two different meanings, which she understood. I asked mainly for safety reasons, and secondly, about us being together by ourselves. I wasn't sure how her family would feel about us spending time together, isolated away from them. I was starting to suspect that they knew something was going on between us, however scarce it was.
She grinned and nodded, "Yeah, they'll be fine. Besides, I need to get out of here. I think Patrick and his family are on their way over."
Now I could see the reason she really wanted to leave. She had been dodging Patrick ever since they had arrived back in town. They returned a few weeks earlier but hadn't come around when I was there. They had apparently brought some family back with them, so I assumed that they had their own things going on. Autumn had talked about Patrick's grandmother, Annabelle, and the things she could do, so I was glad that they hadn't appeared. I didn't want to meet her. I was scared that if she could do what Autumn had said, she would see what I was underneath. I couldn't let that happen.
But for now, if Autumn were leaving the safety of her house, I would be by her side. I'd go anywhere with her to keep her safe.
"Okay. I'm ready whenever you are."
She smiled, "Good. Let me tell my dad, and then we'll roll."
A few minutes later, we were in a small black car that was usually parked in front of Carter's house. We were whizzing through the interstate as we made our way downtown. I worried more and more as we got further into the city. I wasn't worried about her. I knew that I would protect her no matter the cost. I was concerned about what would happen if I did have to defend her, and she saw what I was, what I turned into.
"So, what are you feeling?" she asked, glancing over at me.
"Whatever you want… I never get out much anyway, so I don't know too many places," I said. It was true. "Workaholic…" That was a lie. Although some could argue that looking for possibilities to feed the monster was my work.
She looked over her shoulder and then put on her left blinker. "I know a place we can go."
It only took another five to ten minutes for us to arrive on the second level of a concrete parking garage. It was dark all throughout the structure, only lit by the few scattered floodlights that were hung on random pillars of grey cement. I stayed alert, listening to sounds, monitoring the smells, and focusing my vision as hard as I could without turning my eyes black.
I was silent as we walked through the garage and down the stairs to ground level. The cold air stood stagnantly still, so her scent filled the area around us. I was a half-step behind her as we walked together, trying to maintain some kind of distance. I couldn't stop taking in every aspect of her.
"Why are you so quiet?" Autumn asked.
"Just thinking…" I responded.
"About what?"
"You…" I said, quickly realizing the intimacy this statement uncovered in her.
Her eyes looked vulnerable for a split second. She looked happy, hopeful, like she was discovering something she had been searching for for a long time. They were hard not to stare into. I felt like I could see… feel the want inside of them, like she actually wanted to be close with me.
"I was wondering if any of this is getting to you? You seem pretty calm after everything."
Her eyes hardened back to the confident hunter's, "Oh, no, I'm fine." Then she corrected herself, "Well, I mean, I'm as fine as usual. I'm always affected by the things we do. We all are. I guess it's just my normal now."
I laughed, "This is your normal? I'd like to see you when there isn't a threat of the supernatural hiding around the corner. You must not have a care in the world."
She smiled, "Yeah, that hasn't happened in a while. We're usually always hunting, training, or researching something. Actually, the last few weeks have been the driest in a while… until tonight, that is."
"Really?"
"Yeah, Martin usually feeds us information constantly. There's usually a vampire nest, a rogue werewolf, a malevolent spirit, or something for us to tend to. But lately, nothing." She shook her head slowly as she led the way down the concrete path.
"Why do you think that is?"
"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the thing that's killing other monsters. Maybe they can sense something. Maybe they're hiding."
Maybe she was right. Maybe once I let that vampire escape, the word got out to all creatures. Maybe they knew I was out there, roaming the city in search of my next creature to kill.
"Maybe…" I agreed with her. A lot of maybes.
We had made our way about two blocks from the parking garage, down the chilly sidewalk to a small cafe. Their focus was coffee; I could tell from the scent that encompassed the area. I pulled the door open for her, let her pass, and followed her in. She smirked, ever so slightly, to herself. I assumed she wasn't used to this kind of treatment.
I couldn't see how people didn't treat her this way. First of all, where I came from, it was common courtesy. Second, she was incredible: strong, fast, beautiful, and a warrior. She was what you saw in movies, she could do things no average human could do. If she wanted to, she could beat the shit out of every single person in that little coffee shop. Yet, she had morals and a purpose. She was driven by family, love, and sheer will. If I had any sort of real chance with someone like her, when I was human, I would have stumbled over myself every day trying to please her.
"I come here all the time to study in between classes since it's so close to campus. It's quiet, and usually not too busy. Most people go to Starbucks around the corner."
We walked to a booth in the back corner of the room. She slid across the leather cushion, and I mirrored her movements. A waitress walked over and took our orders; Autumn got a coffee, and I just asked for water.
"We've got some good food here also if you're hungry." The waitress asked. A strange tone and stumble in her voice. I assumed it was the unexplainable fear the monster induced sometimes.
"I'm alright, for now, anyway," I thanked the waitress.
Autumn widened and cocked her eyes toward the waitress as she walked away and then back to me. She was smirking, "I think you have a fan." The fear in the waitress wasn't rational for humans in their daily lives, so Autumn's confusion wasn't a surprise.
It was hard not to be infected by her amusement. I shook my head, grinning, "Not for me…"
Within only a minute or two, the waitress was back with our drinks. I was looking around, inspecting the safety of the coffee shop. It was a low-lit place with soft, quiet music regularly playing behind the low hum of other patrons. But, from what I could tell, it was safe for the moment.
The waitress said something, but I didn't hear her. I was too caught up in monitoring the surrounding area. Autumn answered her since it got kind of awkward when I didn't respond.
"No thanks, I think we're good."
"Okay… just let me know if you guys need anything," she said, then walked away again.
Autumn had a funny look on her face. She was smirking at the table, obviously thinking about something. She settled into a deep silence, scratching the table over and over with her grey painted thumbnail.
"You trying to dig a hole?" I said after a minute of silence, trying to get her to snap out of her daze.
"Sorry, I was just thinking… I still don't know that much about you." She squinted, cocking her head to the side.
Shit.
"What do you want to know?" I asked in fear.
She looked like she had a thousand different things she wanted to ask me, questions and thoughts raced through her expressions. I hoped she landed on an easy one.
"Where'd you come from? I mean, I know you were here working construction, but where did you come from before? I know you said you grew up in Texas, right?"
"Yeah, then once I got on with the construction company, I went wherever they sent me."
"So, you've just moved around ever since?"
"Yep, all over the place," I lied.
"Where have you been?" she asked.
Then came more lies, "Springfield, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Dallas," I made sure to throw one in that I actually knew. I knew things about my old home, just in case she asked about specifics, "and now I'm here."
"And you've been by yourself the whole time?"
"Yeah, pretty much?"
She looked like I hadn't satisfied her question just yet, "So you haven't ever had anyone with you… Any girlfriends?"
It hit me hard. I didn't want to lie to her. I wanted to try and be somewhat truthful. "I did actually. There was one girl that I was with for a while, and it was pretty serious."
"What was her name?"
"It was Vicky." Shit, I shouldn't have used her real name. But there were thousands of women named Vicky. What were the chances of her figuring out anything?
She leaned forward, intrigued, "What happened?"
"Um…"
Then she jumped back in her seat, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, if that's too personal..."
"No, it's fine," I assured her. "Uh, it's kind of complicated, but basically, something changed. I wasn't the same person she fell in love with." I measured my words carefully.
"So, did you love her?"
I nodded.
"How did you change?"
This was the tricky part. "Things changed between us. I felt different around her. I didn't think it would work out even if I forced it. I didn't think she would end it... so I did. I left... I thought it was the right thing to do instead of dragging it out to force something that wouldn't work out." I kept it as close to the truth as possible. Although it hurt me to put this kind of spin on it, turning Vicky and my story into something it wasn't. But I had few options with the words I spilled so quickly.
"I'm sorry," she said, reaching across the table to put her hand on top of mine. Her skin on my own was intense. I could feel her pulse surge through her flesh and into my hand. It was like I could feel her actual life force. "Is that what you're always thinking about?"
"What?"
"You have this thing you sometimes do. You'll stop randomly and freeze up. It seems like you're in deep thought about something. We figured it was all of this new stuff you've been learning, but then you treat all the supernatural like it's nothing. We figured it was something personal from your past," she explained.
"We?" I asked.
"My family and I notice it," she said.
"Oh," I was taken aback. So, they noticed things about me that I wasn't even aware of. This worried me.
"You said you were the one who left?" she asked.
"No… I mean, once we broke up, I went on with my life."
"How long ago was that?" she asked.
"A few years ago," I brushed it off. "I've moved on, she's moved on. I'm happy where I'm at right now."
With a refreshed look, she said, "Well, good, I'm glad."
"The supernatural stuff does get to me, though. I guess I'm just thinking about everything sometimes, trying to remember things I've read, things I've seen."
I felt like I had lied too much and revealed enough about myself. I wanted to get the attention off of me for the moment, "So what about you? How serious were you and Patrick?"
She pulled her hand back from mine, hoping she wasn't too intrusive, "Semi-serious, I guess. We were off and on for a while, like I said before, but it just never really moved deeper than what I felt like it should be."
I liked her answers and her feelings toward Patrick. It even made the monster content deep in his cage.
"So, no more Patrick?" I grinned.
"No," she chuckled.
We laughed together for a moment. I loved the sound of her voice, her laugh, any noise she made. I found myself staring again, but I realized she was as well. No one said anything for a moment.
"You're strange…" she muttered.
I cocked my head to the side, unsure of where that had come from.
She laughed apologetically, "Sorry, not strange in a bad way. Strange, like I can't figure you out."
"How do you mean?" I asked.
"There's something about you. It's in your eyes. Not all the time, just every once in a while. It's like… confidence, or strength… It's hard to explain. My family sees it too. Frank said he saw it the first night they saw you when you were about to fight those vampires by yourself… rookie move," she shook her head and pursed her lips in an unapproving manner.
I laughed, "Sometimes, you have to be confident, and just start swinging."
She chuckled for a few moments, laughing loud enough for the surrounding customers to look over.
We had finished our drinks and talked for about another half an hour. We didn't talk about anything too serious, just joked around and playfully challenged one another to various training tasks. I was getting to be a reasonably good marksman with the bow, crossbow, and rifle. She could definitely beat me with the way I shot, but I could tune my eyes a little more monstrously and beat her no problem. I liked to rile her up, making her playful side come out, and watch her plot to destroy me in a challenge.
She was laughing as she checked her phone, "Wow, we should probably head out. We've been here for almost two hours. I'm sure we'll start getting calls soon if we don't head back." She seemed reluctant.
We paid, left, and made our way outside. We walked side by side back down the sidewalk from where we came. We didn't say anything at first. Leaving the small, close atmosphere of the booth seemed to take things back to their normal state. She was guarded again, and it made me bring up my guards as well. I thought feverishly about what to say, but I couldn't muster anything up. The harder I thought, the more I went blank.
Then, she stopped. I walked a few steps in front of her before I stopped as well. I looked back at her, looking at me.
"You okay?"
She took a short, quiet breath. "I don't want to go back yet." She looked at me, her brown eyes burning with a longing stare.
I didn't either, "Okay." I wasn't sure what else to say.
I felt the monster pushing me towards her, my deepest urges wanted me to do what I ached to do.
She started walking the few steps to me, closing the distance and stopping right in front of me. Her toes were almost touching my toes. Her face was intimately close to my face, turned to the side.
"I like this, I don't want it to end yet," she whispered in my ear.
My heart skipped a beat and then started pounding in my chest. Everything up to this point had been, at best, casual flirting. Half the time, I didn't think it was real, just my imagination. But now… she actually spoke the words. She wanted to be here… with me.
How was this possible? Why was it happening? I didn't deserve this or her. I was a monster, a killer. I wasn't supposed to let myself get so close to her. It wasn't right. I had to do right by her, just as I did for Vicky and Caydee. I tried to fight it.
I turned my face into hers, whispering back into her ear, "I don't either…"
We both leaned slightly back to look into each other's eyes, point-blank. I felt what I wanted to do, and I struggled against the monster inside. My darkest urges weren't to harm her, but to stop fighting myself and give in to what I wanted, and I wanted her badly.
She leaned into my face, almost touching my lips. She pressed her forehead into mine and closed her eyes. She looked troubled, like something that was always in the back of her mind was surfacing. She breathed through it and grabbed my arm, squeezing it urgently.
"Let's get to my car…" she urged.
I nodded, and then we were off. Her tight grip loosened from my upper arm and slid down to find my hand locking her fingers through mine. She led the way, pulling me with authority through the darkened city. We were somewhere between jogging and running back to the parking garage as we climbed the stairs to the second level. We came up to her car, short of breath. It wasn't from the running, but from the nervousness, the expectation of what was happening.
We stopped at the rear driver's side door of her black car. She hit the unlock button on her keys and popped the back door open. She hurried into the tight quarters of the back seat, pulling me in behind her. Once I was in, I closed the door behind me and came face to face with Autumn.
"Sam... this isn't a mistake, is it?" she asked nervously. Her words made her seem vulnerable, like she was scared.
"It doesn't feel like a mistake…" I said, staring into her wary eyes.
"It doesn't to me either," she said.
She quickly pushed her way on top of me, straddling and pinning me to the back seat. She was strong for her size, much stronger than any other girl I ever met. She put her hands on both sides of my neck and then ran them over my shoulders, my arms, and my chest, her eyes followed their every movement. She leaned forward and put her face close to mine again. I felt her curtain of dark hair dangling down onto my chest as she hovered over me for a moment, pausing before getting all the way to me.
I had been doing unexpectedly well up until this point. I was holding myself back, mostly too caught up in watching as she pulled me in and got on top of me. I couldn't fight the next urge. I reached for her, jerking my hands up and then hesitantly putting them on her arms, careful not to hurt her.
I was at a crossroads. At this point, I could go either way. I could do the right thing, push her back, and tell her this was a mistake, or I could pull her in, do what I yearned to do, what the monster was amplifying. It was a quick decision. I couldn't think about it too much, or I wouldn't do it.
She felt me pulling her in and took it as a signal. She fiercely smashed her lips into mine, kissing me like she had been waiting to do it since we first met. I put one hand on her side and the other behind her neck, pulling her in tighter. She laid into me. Her body curved into mine as we stretched out in the back seat. My senses felt everything, smelled everything, saw everything. I could feel her warmth, the heat, coming from her body, her breasts pushing into my chest as she lay on top of me; the smell of her hair was running rampant as the dark locks caressed my face. Being this close to her ripped away any remnants of the internal struggle I usually had around her. I didn't want to fight it anymore, I just wanted more. I wanted it all.
She pulled up for air every minute or so, prying herself out of the hot, tangled mess of grabbing hands and the fierce locking of our lips, asking, "Is this okay?"
I always nodded, keeping my hands tightly clamped around her wrists, ready to pull her back in as soon as she could breathe again. One of the times she sat up, she pulled off her jacket and threw it on the floorboard, revealing her bare arms in the dark, loose-fitting top she was wearing. I ran my hands over every inch of her exposed arms. I could see the strap of her silver blade's sheath wrapped around her waist, as her shirt inched up in our frenzy.
I wondered how far she would take it, or if I would stop it. I wasn't sure where it was going, but I didn't care. I just didn't want her to stop.
Then I heard something, it was the sound of feet leaping and running somewhere in the parking garage. I sat up, Autumn still on my chest. She inched off.
"What's wrong? Should we stop?" she asked, shakily.
"No, it's not that. I thought I heard something…" I said quickly.
She looked around. "I didn't hear anything."
No, she wouldn't. This was too far away for her to hear.
I heard them getting closer. The footsteps were getting louder, circling us. I saw the flicker of a shadow pass by one of the floodlights in the parking garage.
"Did you see that?" I asked Autumn, who was still trying to catch her breath and fix her hair.
"Yeah… I did," she had a look of slight concern on her face.
We waited in silence for it to happen again, but nothing happened. We waited for anything, but nothing came. The sound of the footsteps actually died down and had disappeared. Whatever it was didn't seem to be around anymore.
"It's nothing. Let's get out of here," Autumn said. "Mom and Dad are probably wondering about us anyway."
"Okay…" I said, not wanting to get out of the position we were in. She leaned into me one last time and kissed me again, slowly this time.
We sat there for a second, slowly, but still passionately kissing. It was intense and unusual. I never felt this before, the wild physical urges that forced us into each other. She attacked me, like kissing me was the only way she could get oxygen to survive.
I wondered if it was the monster. Maybe it had some sort of pull on her, drew her in, and attracted her to me. It had to be because this was something I had never felt before. It was raw… primal.
We pulled away from each other and forced ourselves back out of the black car. It had gotten so hot inside the vehicle when we opened the door, the fresh air felt like a blast of wind from a blizzard.
As soon as we had shut the back door and were standing outside the vehicle, the footsteps began again. Fast, whirring shadows whipped all around us, and quick rushes of air were streaming all around the area. They all came to a stop at the same time. The eyes were the first things I noticed. Three vampires stood in front of us.