Shadows past (The past of Alex) Scene 3 Part 2 The pursuit and then the hunt

As Alex sprintted after his cousin at full speed, Alex then came to the conclusion that either his death or that of his cousin Theodore could well be close at hand.

     The attack the came quickly, with force, and with very little warning. The only warning coming with the sound of someone (namely his cousin) running through leaves to Alex's north, straight at Alex, and the force came as a shove to his left shoulder (as Alex faced east with his left shoulder facing to the north and his right shoulder facing to the south) and the shove coming with the strength of a weakening daywalker (the weakening coming on the heels of the day drawing to a close and the night quickly approaching). The strength of his cousin was still more than strong enough to send Alex more then a foot and a half into the air and fly some to feet south from Alex last position.

    

     Landing then on his right side with enough force as to completely knock the wind from his lungs, the stake in his right hand being cast from his right hand to land behind and two feet to the right of Alex.

    

     With the wind still knocked from his lungs and with Alex gulping for air Alex dragged himself along the forest floor intent on retrieving his only weapon (and only defence) against his evil cousin and any further assault.

    

     As Alex reached out his left hand for the stake with only the tips of his fingers gracing the flat end of the stakes carved handle Alex collapsed with the sudden realization then that he was injured. The sudden realization coming from the taste of blood in his mouth when he coughed up some blood as it flowed into his mouth,and from the sudden pain caused by what he knew must be two cracked right front ribs that suddenly came to his attention now. With the pain apparent due to it being itched on his face Alex then sensed his hunter standing above and over him (Alex then sensing his hunter like any prey animal senses their hunter just before it pounces).

    

     Hearing then Theodore's breathing and the words from his lips,"This ends here dear cousin for one of us" Alex marshaling then his strength to defend himself reached forward with his left arm and hand for the stake one last time (and with the knowledge the this could be the last moments of Alex's life) Alex managed to grip as tightly as he could the handle of the stake at the handles midpoint with the first two fingers of his left hand and then drew the stake into it.

    

     As his cousin grabbed Alex's left shoulder with Theodore's right hand and spun Alex unto his back Alex shifted the stake to from his left hand to his right and seeing then that his cousin was once again visible took aim (Alex with deep regret in his hart but with the knowledge that he must end this took aim for his cousin's hart).

    

     And as Theodore's hands came to clasp Alex's tunic and the shoulders' Alex prepared to strike at the hart of his dear lost cousin Theodore.

    

     With Alex's tunic held firmly in hand Theodore raised Alex from off the forest floor in one seamless move and bearing his fangs prepared to despatch his cousin Alex through feeding. Sensing that if he did not act now that his life was about to end Alex took aim once again, sighted, and thrust the stake diagonally at his cousin's hart.

    

     Alex could never figure out just why he diverted his (quite possibly) fatal blow away from his cousin Theodore's hart and instead into his cousin's right arm just above his right elbow but it none the less saved his cousin's life. Was it because he some how thought that his cousin some how would block the blow and then disarm him only to in the end kill Alex, or did Alex in his hart still believe that he could reach his lost cousin and bring him home. He did not know. But none the less it still save both his cousin and his own life.

    

     With the stake digging deep into his cousin's right arm Theodore then throw Alex some five feet distance while at the same time howled in great pain.

    

     And as Alex flew those five feet or so Alex grimaced not from the knowledge of the impact with the ground and the no doubt knocking of the wind from his lungs that he knew was to eventually come, but the knowledge that he had for the first time ever caused the harm of his dear cousin that he knew then that he still wished to save.

    

     Alex knew then that he was of two minds. The first was grimly satisfied that he had brought the same pain to a monster that had both killed and destroyed many a lives during these past several months, the other of the mind that he had now for the first time brought pain to his cousin Theodore who Alex knew he felt that Theodore had been more like a brother than a cousin (though he had always called him cousin) and because he was so close to his cousin he hated what he had done to him.

    

     As Alex came crashing to earth once more (landing this time on his back, with his left hand braced behind his head so as to cushion the blow with the ground that was soon to come) and the wind was expelled once again for a second time from his lungs, Alex could see on his cousin face the (as Alex with all his might kept both his eyes and mind focused on his cousin's face) the pain wash across his face as he once again roared with both fear, pain, and anger as he pulled out the stake from his arm.

    

     Alex knew to things then (one of them would change his view of how he would hunt his cousin forever more) the first was that Alex was somewhat protected from a likely second attack, due to the fact that any stake had the magical affect of paralyzing any limb that the stake was driven into for up to twenty four hours (though with a daywalker if the stake had been soaked in salt water it would severely burn the wounded area). The second thing that Alex knew now as that Theodore too was of two minds, for as Theodore howled and drew from his right arm the stake from its wound Alex could see the shear hated and anger from the Vampire without on the visage of Theodore but from Theodore's eyes as Theodore's looked into Alex's eyes then the look of fear for what was happening around him and the love that he still (no matter what would happen between them) held for his cousin Alex.

    

     It was as if their were to being within him fighting for control. One a Vampire who held the greatest of contempt for the living (especially that of all of humanity). One that would hunt any that was living to feed a hunger that could never be quinched and a being that would sire others in the hope of spreading its villainous ways. The other being a kind, loving, and benevolent soul. One that loved those around him and only wished to be loved in return. One that greatly fear what he had become and one that desperetly sought to stop himself but felt for whatever reason did not have the power to do so.

    

     Alex knew for the moment just who would win out in this battle between these two souls. The Vampire would and ultimitely did win out (but in Alex's hart Alex knew the Vampire won out only just barely). Now that Alex knew that his cousin was indeed still in there, and both knew and came to the conclution that the killing of his dear cousin had (no MUST) be the last resort possible (for he desperately sought to bring him back to Alex's own dear parents and to a cousin's loving home).

    

     With the stake now pulled from free from Theodore's right arm and the blood dripping to the forest floor, Alex could still see his true cousin (that of Theodore) still fighting for control. As Theodore looked from Alex's eyes to the wound made by Alex, Alex could see Theodore mouth (what Alex believed) was the words "How could it come to this?". and as Theodore looked back into Alex's eyes said more loudly "Please don't give up and what ever you do help me."

    

     And as Alex rose from his prone position to his knees' (the breath returned to his lungs) and with the intention of indeed helping his dear cousin come home, Alex could see that the knowledge that Alex was indeed trying to help him and would not stop until his cousin Theodore was home show in Theodore's eyes. With Alex now on his knees' Alex could see the look of the Vampire return to Theodore's eyes. Alex then knew that at least for now there was nothing that he could do to save his cousin from the evil without. With the Vampire without (as Alex would come to call it, for Alex refused to believe that it was from Theodore nature that it came) in complete control now, Alex saw the Vampire draw a foot closer to the still vulnerable Alex.

    

     But then with the sense of the true danger to the Vampire the Vampire put a left hand over the wound on his right arm and then back a foot away from the just a injured Alex and then turning east started to run off as he turned his body transparent (the feeble light of what was left of the day apparently to dim to make his body totally invisible). And in that moment before the Vampire totally disappeared from sight Theodore then gained control once more and turning to his cousin and though his body was as faded as it was Alex could see both the love and fear in Theodore's eyes(the love for his cousin Alex and then fear at the thing that the Vampire would no doubt do in the times to come) and asked of Alex,"Please stop them and help them. Don't let what happened to me happen to them. For my sake as well as for theirs." And as quickly as Theodore appeared to converse with Alex so to  did the Vampire reaccert its self and retake control and hissing then at Alex the Vampire turned once more to the east and disappeared into the ensuing night.

    

     As Alex finally completely rose to his feet and then was left to ponder his departing cousin's words, sensing that all the while that he had been lead away from the house for some other reason than that of ambush. Ponder yet still further on the words of a dear departing cousin Alex face then fell while a look of horror and understanding washed over his face. For as Alex had pondered the words of his cousin (the words of both this late end of the day and of only a short hour earlier) it was in fact the combination of what the Vampire without and Theodore within had said that had tipped Alex off to the dangers that had remained back at the dwelling of the family. The same family home to which he had so foolishly left the teenaged girl alone in (or what he thought was alone).

    

     Alex then bolted for the family dwelling that he had left the teenaged girl in in the hopes that he was not to late. For Alex knew then what the Vampire without had meant when he had said at the start of the days encounter that "Have you come to watch us feed?" For Alex had just passed what the Vampire without had said the word "us" as a miss-spoke and as such Alex thought it safe to leave the teenage girl in the dwelling for her safety seeing that her parents bodies were dead. But the true telling came from Theodore within words that,"Please stop them and help them. Don't let what happened to me happen to them." Alex knew then that what he had thought was the slain parents of the teenage girl were not in fact slain but merely sired (presumably daywalker for the vampire without seemed to favor them over nightwalkers). And that they would soon awaken and be thirsty for blood. Alex knew then that the Vampire without had merely meant to partake of just a little of the teenager's blood, but leave most of the rest for the girls parents to partake in in the hopes of turning them into feeders. In the event that they would not then the Vampire without would simply have deposed of the three of them.

    

     Knowing then that without his stake that both he and the teenage girl would be defenceless if her parents indeed decided to attack, they would then have to rely on escape and the hopes that the warrant officers would find them and do away with her than hunting parents. But first for Theodore's sake as well as the girls parents they at least first had to give the newly sired Vampires a chance.

    

     Continuing to run at full speed down the forested path that he had not to long ago used to persue his Vampire prey, Alex spotted the vacant rear window and jumped through it.