Chapter 3

A Chapter by DaveMc

Their family had survived for centuries, and lived in peace with their surroundings. Until one day. The two brothers where torn apart by love and betrayal. A love child was born and hidden for years

Chapter Three

The dim, hazy light from the fluorescents, bounced off the pools of water that lay on the floor, reflecting off the streaks running down the walls. It was very humid down in the train tunnels. The air felt heavy, smog like, and it all came from the exhausts off the passing trains. Many men had died from working these tunnels over the years, and once again they saw the grim face of death. There where many tunnels underground, some where still used, and many lay dormant. They would seem to be a very fitting hiding place for a certain kind of killer, a place that could hide a thousand sins.

Like waking with a very bad hang over, Stuart slowly started to come too. His head was throbbing, ears ringing, and eyes where all too fuzzy to make anything out. He couldn't tell if he was lying down, sitting up or standing, so disoriented he felt. As he lifted his hand to his head, he winced with pain, as his sides and chest felt like a steamroller had ran over him.

“I didn't think death would be so painful!”, he said to no one in particular.

He always used humour as a defensive mechanism, when he found himself in very bad situations, but this was something totally unknown to him. His head, although still hurting, began to clear a little more. His eyes where able to focus a bit better. He could make out that he was somewhere dark, but warm too, and very wet. He pushed out his hand and down to the floor to steady himself a bit better, and put it straight into a puddle.

“S**t! Water? Where am I?”, he thought.

He could hear the distant rumbling of the trains, and worked out that he must be in the old disused tunnels. He knew of them with all the old stories he used to hear from his grandparents when he was a kid. They said that unholy things used to walk the old tunnels, that's why so many workers had died over the years, and that the exhaust fumes was a cover story to hide the truth. He never believed them, although it made a good story. As he started to feel more mentally awake, he tried to move and prop himself up against a wall, for more comfort. As he tried to move once again he winced in pain, but this time he cried out, such that the pain was. Stuart was totally oblivious to any possibility of anyone being down here with him. He didn't remember how he got here, and the fact that two people where shooting at each not so long ago, had seemed to escape him. Then, out of the darkness,

“Don't move, try and stay still. You will feel more comfortable”.

The voice came as a total shock to him. He bolted upright stricken with fear, momentarily forgetting his pains. His gut feeling was to run, but his body rendered him virtually useless. All the fears he'd ever felt came flooding back into his memory as he tried to focus on the voice from the shadows. Not knowing what to do, he tried to shout out for help, but nothing would come out of his mouth, like he was in a bad nightmare.

“Shhhhhh! Don't talk. You don't want us to get found now do you?”, the voice came again.

Stuart, paralysed with fear, just nodded his head, not knowing if he could be seen in the darkness. Again, he tried to move, but his pains restricted his movement. This time though, the voice became more real as he felt a hand touch his arm,

“What did I just say about moving? Please try and stay still. It's for your own good.”, the voice said.

Stuart began to think that there was genuine concern in the voice, and began to relax a little. Maybe this voice wasn't here to hurt him, but maybe protect him.

“I need you to stay here, and be very still, and very quiet. I will be back soon. Don't worry you are safe”

Stuart, realising he couldn't move anyway, wondered what the voice meant by you are safe.

“Safe from what?”, he thought.

A sudden rush of wind passed by him, and then he felt very alone. Wanting to take the advice of the strange voice and remain still, he knew he would need to move a little as he had a bad back, and needed to rest it up against something flat. He slowly manoeuvred himself so he could push his back to the wall and he could prop himself up. As he did, he could feel the gravel under him, as it scratched him, causing him to grimace with even more pain. When he got himself propped up he did feel better, and his mental sharpness had started to come back. He sat there glancing around to see where he was, and if he could make out anything, or anyone. He never liked dark places as they always made him feel sort of nervous, and on edge. Down in these tunnels though, he felt very uneasy, and had that feeling that he was being watched.

****

She ran along the tunnels in desperate search of the creature. She had to get to it before it got to him. She couldn't find the creature anywhere. She had got to know the tunnels fairly well after three weeks down there, and knew pretty much all of the possible hiding places, but still no luck in finding the creature. She picked up a scent and started to follow it. Slowly she moved off down one of the tunnels, in search. The scent grew stronger, and she moved more quickly. She came to an intersection in the tunnels. Here she stopped, looked around slowly, and then realised where the scent was coming from.

****

Stuart was becoming more aware of his surroundings, and didn't feel as groggy. Still couldn't move too well though. He could sense that he was not alone, and it felt more of a sinister presence than the voice from earlier. He could feel it so strong he thought someone was right next to him. He decided to slowly move his head to the right, as he was so sure something was there. As his head turned, he felt all the blood drain out of him, as his eyes met that of the creatures. It was right next to him, virtually nose to cheek. Stuart jerked his head back to get away from it. The creature didn't move. Instead it just smiled, staring at Stuart showing off it's very long, and very sharp fangs. Stuart's heart was in his mouth, pulse racing, and beads of sweat running down his face. He knew he was helpless, and couldn't move.

“Don't worry, it will be all over soon. I'll try and make it as painless as possible”, the creature hissed at him, laughing as he said the painless part. Stuart instinctively knew it was going to be very painful.

“It was nice of her to leave me such a tasty snack. It's not as much fun though, just stumbling across your food, and not having to chase it down”, the creature said.

“But, beggars can't be choosers”.

Stuart just sat there, motionless, swallowing hard with fear. The creature, who seemed human in appearance to Stuart, gazed at him, with all lust anyone could when looking forward to a good meal, licking his lips as he did. Stuart finally got the courage up to say something,

“Who are you?”

“Where are my manners?”, it said

“You need not concern yourself with things like that. Why would you want to know the name of your executioner?”, it continued.

There was a silence that seemed to span the entire set of tunnels, as he waited to die. The creature slowly moved it's long fingers up Stuart's arm feeling the pulsating veins.

“Your pulse is very strong, and are going to taste so good. Where do I start? Where to start?”, the creature said menacingly, looking him up and down.

“I thought I was going to be safe? Where is that voice? Or was it this thing here that was talking to me before messing with me?”, Stuart thought. He braced himself for the worse, as the silence continued.

The tension was finally broken with the sound of clicking metal. Stuart looked up slowly to see what the noise was. At the same time the creature looked sideways, without moving it's head, as it could feel the cold point of a gun pressed firmly against it's temple. The smile that the creature wore suddenly dropped as it realised in that split second it had been caught, finally. As Stuart caught sight of the gun there was an almighty bang, as she pulled the trigger, and so finally capturing the creature she had been hunting for so long. As the creature fell to earth, it let out an unnerving screech as it's head was ripped apart by the bullet. Blood flew in all directions, spraying both her and Stuart. Once again Stuart found himself ducking for cover.

****

As the noise disappeared, Stuart slowly got back up, as he did he was wiping blood from his face. With his back flat against the wall, he looked over at her with total astonishment. She was cleaning the tip of her gun, quite deliberately, with a coy smile of satisfaction at a job well done.

“Am I next?”, Stuart managed to croak out.

She carried on with what she was doing, seemingly to completely ignore him.

“No”, she said quietly.

Stuart still felt very uneasy, and still not able to move very well at all. He glanced at his blood soaked clothes.

“Would you care to explain what the hell is going on here tonight?”, Stuart said in more hope than expectation.

She finished cleaning her gun and put it back in it's holster. Then, looking up and across at Stuart, she paused. Stuart was getting a bit agitated and started to squirm a little at the stare she was giving him.

“Are you a cop?”, he said nervously.

“You have had a pretty rough night.”, she said.

“Not as rough as him!”, Stuart said looking at the stricken body that lay on the floor next to her.

“No, maybe not”, she replied glancing at the body.

He was still feeling nervous, and a bit awkward at the one word type answers she was giving. What can I say to relieve the tension?

“My name is Stuart. Do you come here often?”, he said.

She looked at him a bit puzzled, but replied,

“I know who you are. I've been following you for three weeks”.

“Why?”, he said.

“I have my reasons”, she retorted.

Stuart didn't know what to think at this point. She had been stalking him, she had killed someone, and she had a very big gun. Also they where all alone, and no one would ever know if she killed him right here and now. He had a very worried look on his face. She recognised that Stuart was looking very uneasy, and dropped her defensive guard.

“My name is Laura. Pleased to meet you”, she said in a very proper manner.

“Likewise”, he replied.

“To answer one of your questions, no, I am not a cop. I do enforce certain laws of my people though”, Laura said.

“So your a vigilante?”, Stuart asked.

“In some ways yes, if that makes you feel better”.

Laura started to clean up the mess she had made with the creature.

“So what did he do to deserve a bullet in the head?”, Stuart probed.

Laura paused for a few seconds as she pondered on how to best answer that question.

“Can I ask you a serious question?”, Laura asked.

“OK”,

“What do you believe?”, she enquired.

“What do you mean? Am I religious?”, he replied.

“No. I mean do you believe that there is more to life than you know?”, Laura asked.

Stuart looked quizzical at her for a moment.

“You mean do I believe in aliens and stuff?”

“Not necessarily, a bit closer to home”, she replied.

Stuart paused to consider the question.

“Oh, you mean ghosts and werewolves things like that?”, Stuart quipped.

Laura gave him a stern look.

“I don't believe in things like that. Unless I get to see it for myself, I don't believe it. Why you asking me this stuff anyway?”, he said.

Laura paused, looked away and took a deep breath.

“There is more to this world than mammals, and animals. You say if you see it you will believe it?”

Stuart nodded.

“OK, well what you see here isn't someone in a Halloween costume. What you see here is a crazed killer, living on instinct to survive”, she continued.

“What I am going to tell you, you might not believe, that's up to you, but what I am going tell you is the truth. You cannot tell anyone about this, and if you do I will kill you.”

“So why you going to tell me then? I mean if it's such a big secret.”, Stuart replied.

“I have to tell you. Anyone who has ever come in contact with this kind of............ creature has never lived to tell. So in an effort to stop you saying anything to anyone about tonight, I feel it's better you know.”, Laura went on.

Stuart still looked a bit puzzled at the cloak and dagger talk of Laura, and couldn't quite work out the logic of being told something secret as a deterrent.

“OK then tell me this big secret”, he said.

She took a deep breath, still not sure if she was doing right. Laura closed her eyes to compose herself, then she started.

“This creature you see on the ground is a vampire.....”

Stuart began to chuckle at what was being said. Laura stopped mid sentence and her hand went straight to her gun.

“If your going to be a child Stuart, then maybe I should do to you what I did to that!”, she snapped.

“OK, OK, sorry I'll listen, and won't laugh”, he replied, hands raised in apology.

Stuart couldn't believe what was being said. The old stories his Grandparents used to tell him came to mind. Then, he started to remember certain things about the creature. He remembered it's fangs, it's very cold touch, and that it didn't seem to breathe. He started to realise that Laura was very serious about what she was going to say, and his smile was lost in his excitement at what was going to be said, and fear that things like this really exist.

“Can I continue?”, Laura said.

Stuart just nodded.

“This is a vampire. I hunt them down, to stop them killing humans. However, this is no ordinary vampire. This one was given a virus, which made it frenzied. You see we vampires................”

“What? Your one too?”, Stuart squealed, interrupting again.

Once more Laura stopped mid sentence and glared at Stuart. Then, realising she hadn't already told him,

“Oh I am sorry. I should explain, this vampire is from my coven. Yes, I am a vampire, but don't worry I am not going to suck your blood. I didn't mean to startle you”.

“Oh......OK. Well you better carry on then”, Stuart said gulping nervously.

“We have a very controlled feeding process. We don't have to feed on humans all the time, just every so often, and we don't have to kill them either. But, if we go too long without feeding, our animal instincts come out, and in some cases, like this, uncontrollably. The virus speeds up that feeding process, and a vampire can go frenzied very quickly. When a vampire goes frenzied, it cannot be reversed. That's why I hunt them down, in an effort to keep them under control. We do try and keep them under surveillance back at the coven, but sometimes they get free, that's where I come in. The murder rate is going up in the city, and it's only a matter of time before one of these kills in the wrong place, and the police find the body”.

“The police would never think of vampires, there are too many crazy people out there for them to suspect first”, Stuart said.

“No, maybe not, but it could bring unwanted attention to my coven, and the risk of exposure is something that can't happen”, Laura said.

“We can't risk the authorities getting hold of a vampire body, it would raise too many questions. People would start to believe that we are real, and hunt us down.”

“We have spent many hundreds of years hiding ourselves from humans. They would only put us away in prison, or run us out of the country, or worse, kill if they discovered us”.

“So, why can't people just wear a cross, or some garlic, to keep you away rather than kill you?”, he replied.

Laura smiled at this. She hadn't smiled for so long, it seemed, but it felt so good.

“All them movies and books, giving humans so many myths about us. Quite amusing really. Crosses don't harm us, garlic is no threat, nor is a wooden steak to the heart. Although the last one really does hurt”, Laura said.

“So are all the myths wrong?”, Stuart asked.

“No, some are right. We are immortal, to a point. We have to be careful in sunlight. We don't burst into flame, but we have to avoid direct eye contact with sunlight, because it can blind us permanently. We have to wear sunglasses all the time when we are outside, and yes we drink blood”, she replied.

Stuart looked amazed at what he was hearing, and wasn't totally sure he could, or should believe it.

“Finally, something interesting is happening in my life”, he thought.

“So your immortal and hundreds of years old? You look good for your age, I have to say”, he said.

“No, I am not hundreds of years old, and do you always talk like this? My coven is hundreds of years old, and we have kept silent, in the main, for all this time”, Laura replied.

“Yes we are sort of immortal. Drinking human blood slows our ageing process down so much it would seem we live for ever. We don't though, just for many many centuries”, Laura continued.

“Well I am not going anywhere just yet, tell me more about vampires and your coven”, Stuart said and had started to believe it was all true.

Laura carried on cleaning up, wondering how much she should say to this human. After pondering she thought,

“I know where he lives if he says anything, why not tell him. I can keep track of him making sure he doesn't go to the police. Edward would be very unhappy if he ever found out”.