Beneath the Blood Moon

Nobody ever said fishing on Hallow's Eve was a bad thing, but who is this mysterious little girl the Captain let onboard?

“Excuse me!”

The bearded captain turned, expecting to see a young woman standing behind him. After searching the area, he began questioning his sanity, “H...hello?”

“Excuse me!” He heard once more. “Down here!” He finally looked at his feet and saw a young girl with sharp Opal eyes. Adorned with a simple, dark violet dress and a large-hooded, sleeveless cloak, she stared up at the man with an extravagantly-made lantern in hand. “Are you taking any more passengers?”

The man, dressed in fisher’s garb, stared down at her, “I...uh...shouldn’t you be home in bed, young lady?” He scratched his head, wondering why he was conversing with a little girl at two in the morning.

The girl hesitated, “Well...are you?” She ignored his question, demanding her own to be answered. “I’m kinda in a hurry.”

“Uh…” The man stammered, “I-...yeah, if you need to. Come on up.” He slid out of her way and put out a hand to help her onto the two-decker boat.

However, she put her nose into the air and strolled right past him, “Thank you.”

“Y...You’re welcome…” The man rubbed the back of his neck as the girl got onto the boat with ease. Hopefully the crew would be okay with this.

On the boat, the men, dressed and hype to go late night fishing, suddenly froze as the young girl walked around to the deck. “Uh...Cap’n?” One uttered.

“I know, I know.” The captain sighed, “But, she needs to get somewhere, and I don’t want to keep her away from home if that’s where she’s going.”

“Captain…” The man said slowly, “You don’t understand…”

“I understand she a little girl and you’re all ‘tough, burly men’. I’ll keep her on the top deck while we’re fishing, alright?’ The Captain began to lead the girl away, and she went with him without a fight.

The one man that spoke out, standing baffled as the others left to retrieve their gear, whispered, “But Cap’n...we’re in danger…”

Antony was his name, the man that was afraid, afraid of this mysterious young passenger of theirs. He held short blonde hair in a loose ponytail, eyes, blue as the water, darting from the lake to the deck. He had prayed that the girl would not leave where the Captain told her to stay, and was overcome with slight relief when he returned safely. He feared for the crew, his friends, and he wanted to get the girl off of the boat as soon as possible. But because of the crew’s nonchalant attitude, he was forced to bottle up those feelings as they fished beneath the foreboding full moon.

An hour passed, and the Captain set his pole down after reeling a seven pounder in, “I’m going to check on Charlie.”

Antony leapt to his feet, “...You named it?”

The Captain froze, alarmed by his sudden movement, “The hell are you talking about? She told me to call her that.” He took a few steps towards him, “You alright, son?”

Antony, running options through his head, blurted out, “I’ll go check on her!” The other men stared at him bewildered, so Antony continued on, “I’ll make sure she’s okay! I haven’t been getting too many bites anyways.”

The Captain looked the most confused, “I suppose-”

“Where is she?” He cut his captain off.

“On the top deck-”

“‘Kay!” Antony took off as fast as he could. He practically flew up the stairs to the top deck only to find it empty. Oh no...Captain! Everyone! He knew late night fishing was a bad idea, and he’d never thought he’d be more right than he was now.

He whirled back around to save his crew. That little b***h...if she lays even one hand on my friends… He stomped up to the bow of the ship, ready for the battle of all battles...only to find “Charlie” and the other men having a snack break.

“Oh, Antony! I’m sorry, I hadn’t realized Charlie left, too bad you didn’t see her sooner.” He took a large chunk from his sandwich, “Come! Sit, eat with us!” He patted a spot next to him, right next to...her.

“Sure thing, Cap’n…” Antony choked out, reluctantly sitting beside the Captain and the wretched girl. The crew ate in silence, hoping Antony would calm down.

After another hour of fishing, Antony left for his bag, leaving Charlie with the Captain, but only for a brief moment. He quickly unzipped his bag, rummaging through it as if the End was upon them. Once he found what he was looking for, he snatched a few other materials close to him and scurried around the boat to the top deck.

Meanwhile, Charlie stood on a tackle box to look over the boat’s edge and watch the fish swim around the bobbers. Her arms draped over the edge, she stared into the water with interest, as if she’d never seen fish before. The Captain chuckled, “Never been out on water?”

She shook her head, “Not at night. Fish are bigger at night.”

The Captain tilted his head in confusion, “...You’re scared of fish?”

“Big fish.” She corrected. “Big fish ate my cat.”

The Captain jumped back, “They...what?! Fish don’t eat cats! Maybe...maybe you’re talking about a shark?”

She shook her head again, “I’ve never been to the ocean. This was a fish. A big fish. It was big and brown and looked like my cat. It ate my cat and stole his form.”

The Captain remained silent, then laughed suddenly, “Are you talking about...a Catfish?”

She frowned, “Don’t disrespect my cat.” The Captain silenced himself, “He ran out of the house one day and disappeared by a lake. Next thing I know, I’m seeing fish that look just like cats, so that means they ate them and took on their appearance.” She stated this proudly and matter-of-factly, as if she knew exactly the origin of Catfish. “One day, a big fish is gonna eat me, and it’s going to steal my form. That’s why I don’t like them.”

The Captain resisted chuckling at this adorable little girl, wondering how in the world she had reached that conclusion without her parents telling her otherwise. “Well, don’t worry,” he assured, patting her cloaked head, “I’m not going to let any big fish gobble you up, okay?”

“Okay.” She nodded, clutching the yard-long handle of her lantern. He smiled down at her, and began wondering where she had seen such large catfish that made her afraid of them eating her. He would love to fish there with his crew, it’d be magnificent.

Suddenly, Antony slammed down onto the bow from the top deck, “GRAAAAAH!!” The boat suddenly erupted with the shrieks of the men on board, one of them losing their grasp on their fishing pole and it plummeting into the water, one nearly hurling himself overboard in terror. Charlie stood quietly, unamused and visibly frustrated. Antony, still on bent knees with his hands in claws raised above him, slowly stood straight and removed his make-shift Werewolf mask. “Didn’t...didn’t that scare you?”

“Jesus, Antony, you scared the hell out of us!” The Captain raged. The man who lost a fishing pole now stared into the water longingly, wishing he could swim.

Squinting his eyes suspiciously, Antony moved closer to Charlie, shoving the mask in her face, “Oh come on! You weren’t scared? Not scared of the scary werewolf?” She backed up, irritated by his closeness. “What about that food you ate earlier, huh? I bet it was disgusting, why don’t you go throw it up? It’d be bad if you kept it in your body-”

“Shut the hell up, Antony! Leave the poor girl alone!” The Captain pulled her behind his leg. “I know it’s Hallow's eve, and I know you’re into the whole “supernatural” BS, but seriously, leave the girl alone.” He ripped the mask from Antony’s hand and chunked it into the water, “Everyone has their own story, even this little girl here. I won’t tolerate you treating her as if she isn’t human.”

“But Cap’n,” Antony pleaded, “She isn’t human! She’ a-” He took a moment to contemplate telling his crew, but decided their safety was more important than their questioning of Antony’s sanity, “She’s a vampire!”

The crew took a moment then, gaping at Antony, then to Charlie, then back at this lunatic they called a friend. They weren’t sure whether to laugh or to tie him up and turn him in later when they got back to shore. Finally, after what seemed like endless silence, the Captain spoke, “Antony...maybe you shouldn’t have come along.”

Antony groaned, “I’m serious!” He looked pleadingly into the eyes of the crew, and not one of them had even a shred of belief for him in them. In one last attempt, Antony pointed a desperate finger at Charlie, “It’s the blood moon that’s coming tonight! Vampires get stronger when there’s a blood moon, she came on board to kill us all when her powers are at it’s peak!” He moved his finger to the half-orange moon, large in the sky as if it was going to crash into them, “Look! It’s almost here, we have to hurry and kill the vampire, before it drinks our blood!”

Charlie felt her heart skip a beat, slightly afraid of this man. Her expression fell into fright and she hid behind the leg of the Captain, whining slightly. “See what you’ve done?” The Captain said, putting a gentle hand on her head to calm her down. “Look, now you’ve made her cry. You’re worse than I thought, Antony.” Behind him, Charlie’s eyes slowly welled up with tears, spilling onto her face when she closed her eyes. She hugged the Captain’s leg.

“Oh please, stop faking.” Antony rolled his eyes as the crew ‘awwww’ed. “You may be scared of me, you should be, but you’re not that scared. I know better than that.” Without hesitation, he tore off his fisher’s clothes to reveal a tight black outfit with numerous pouches all over it. The pouches contained various items, of shape and color, but the most noticeable one was on his belt. A wooden stake with a silver tip on it. He ripped it from it’s pouch and lunged towards the girl.

No longer crying, Charlie’s expression changed to serious, and she ducked behind the Captain and ran onto the edge of the bow. Antony shoved his Captain aside to get to her, and glared up at her figure standing in the light of the flame-engulfed moon. “See, I told you she was faking.” He laughed. Her eyes narrowed down at him, then she turned and flipped into the water.

Panicked, the crew rushed to see if she was alright...except, they heard no sign of her landing in the water, nor did they see any signs of her within the water. All they saw was a small rippling in the water, but no trace of the girl. She vanished as if she were a phantom.

“Running across the water...damn…” Antony muttered to himself. With as much haste as he could muster, he lowered the life boat and paddled his way to shore in the direction of the ripples. This wasn’t the first time a vampire escaped him using its excellent speed, and it wouldn’t be the last.

Once on the shore, the hunter sped through the forest until he finally came upon the girl, sitting innocently in a tree. “There you are, Vampire.” He breathed, venom with every word.

Charlie hesitated, eyes still sharp, “...I wasn’t going to kill any of you.” She whispered, kicking her feet in an unknown rhythm, “I’m waiting for someone. He promised to meet me beneath the blood moon.”

Antony laughed, “Good, then I can take out two tonight.” He gripped the stake in his hand, “The sooner I take care of you, the less I have to deal with when your little friend arrives.” He watched as she slid off her branch and landed gracefully before him. She accepted that this battle would happen whether she liked it or not.

With focused energy, Antony lunged at the vampire girl, but she backflipped away from him, landing against a tree trunk. Shoving her lantern into the branches, she pushed off of the tree and took a swipe at the hunter before flipping back into a standing position. Antony dodged with ease, removing throwing knives from his pockets and sending them flying at the girl, four at a time. She began darting circles around him, kneeling to the ground and swinging through the trees until he had nothing more to throw. With her vampiric speed, she traced her route back and grabbed enough knives to fit inbetween her hands. She then leapt towards Antony once more, using the knives as her weapon rather than her talons. He backflipped from her reach, touched the ground with his feet then swung the stake at her with surprising speed for a human, even for a hunter. Charlie blocked it with the knives, unfortunately not shredding the wooden stake because of the silver scrollwork supporting it. She gritted her teeth, slowly being pushed backwards. “Not so tough now, are you?”

“Hmph.” She jumped away and dropped the knives. He chased after her and took a few more swings at her. With a slight dent in her ego, she extended her claws in arrogance, wanting to teach the foolish human a lesson. In a flash, they were attacking each other non-stop, flipping and jumping within millimeters of each other’s bodies as if in some sort of strange dance. Parts of their clothes, faces, and hair were being shredded, but they continued on until they parried off their attacks and forced themselves to skid back on their heels. Antony didn’t look the slightest exhausted, and he grinned into the girl’s now fiery red eyes.

Back on the boat, the men still stood in confusion, wondering what happened to the girl and if Antony was going to be okay. They hated to think it, but...was Antony right? Did vampires really exist? In the midst of their thoughts, the boat began to rock back and forth, threatening to throw them overboard. They screamed, groping at the air for something to hold onto before they tumbled into the water. The Captain was able to use the railing on the boat to steady himself and peer over the edge to find a pool of water, directly in the center of the light of the full blood moon, bubbling as if it were going to burst. With wide eyes, he nearly lost his grip when it did burst, and a figure came spiraling out of the water.

The crew screamed again, falling over themselves to get away from this creature. Once it landed on deck, it stood to reveal that it was a handsome young man with messy, hickory hair and fiery red eyes. He was adorned with grey thigh-high boots, more belts on his body then seemed necessary, grey pants, and a white poet shirt with a grey vest. The young man studied the group, looking between them all six times. “Charlotte...has been here…” He said to himself. He stepped towards the Captain, then appeared before him in the blink of an eye. The Captain jumped back, terrified and baffled. “You.You carry her scent. Do you know where Charlotte is?”

The Captain stuttered, “A...Antony...he went after something that way…” He pointed a trembling finger where they last seen Antony.

The man took a moment to think, then sighed, “...Thank you.” He then disappeared, just as Charlie had, leaving nothing but subtle ripples in the water.

The crew stared in that direction without a single word to say. Finally, the Captain muttered to himself, “W-...was that a Catfish?”

“Pardon, Cap’n?” One of the fisherman asked.

“Ah, er, nothing, son.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

Antony had noticed, he had paid very close attention to this vampire. She was panting heavily; it seemed she wasn’t used to fighting her own battles. And despite her impeccable speed, she lacked the strength of a typical vampire. Her mid-length silver hair had shone, possessing the appearance of being lit aflame from reflecting the light of the blood moon. Antony was not afraid. He had dealt with so many vampires, this one fazed him much less than any others.

For his grand finale, he lunged at Charlie once more, taking a stab at her, then kicking her in the stomach when she dodged. Her back hit a tree, and she regained her balance fairly quick, but it was too late. Antony grinned wildly with the eyes of a madman, “I have you know, Vampire!” He brought the stake down to her heart.

But the world twisted suddenly. Out of nowhere, a hickory-haired vampire spun out of the trees and sliced Antony’s neck clean open. Antony, in pure agony, reached up towards the sky, “Why….” The vampire just glared down at him mercilessly, claws still extended.

After waiting to make sure the hunter did not get up again, he turned to the small girl pulling her hood back on, “Are you alright, Miss Charlotte?”

She remained silent, retrieving her lantern, “...You’re late, Mordecai.”

“I apologize,” Mordecai bowed onto one knee, “I could not see the light of the moon.” He cursed the fishermen internally for forcing him to remain in his slumber. After a moment of his sapphire eyes staring into her opal, he smiled, “Yes, I’ll treat you to make up for it. What would you like?”

She took his hand and they began to exit the forest, “How about…”

Author's Note

Submitted for the Are You Worthy - Halloween Edition contest hosted by Mayumi Yamamoto ^_^/

So...I don't even know what sort of insanity caused me to write this. I've had writer's block for a few days and I haven't been able to write the millions of things I've wanted to. So, I started listening to music I haven't heard in a long time, changed up where I usually write (type), and I began the story. Little vampire girl, fishing, blood moon, Hallow's Eve, hunter, other vampire, and probably with a little bit of divine intervention, this story was created. I hope you enjoyed it :)

P.S. The cliffhanger is a thing because I honestly didn't know how to end the story, and it seemed fine right there, so...yeah.