From Prey to Precious

Caught Unawares

Brian’s POV:

“Where the hell is he?” I growl under my breath.  I’ve been tracking this damn trespasser for the past four miles and I can’t believe that I managed to lose him now.  I wasn’t that far behind him and with the sun getting ready to rise I know that I have to be pretty close to his haven. 

This was supposed to be just a simple “grab & ash” but I got distracted and now I’ve spent the last twenty minutes trailing after this asshole like a lost puppy.  I really hate that analogy but it’s the only one that comes to mind as I berate myself and scan between the cars in the parking lot next to this cutesy little café.  I’m so wrapped up in my own thoughts and looking for the intruder in my territory, that I don’t notice the tall number run right into my bike.

I barely manage to stop my bike as she plows right into me and the motorcycle’s rear tire.  At this point my reflexes are so on edge that I’ve already got my claws extended, ready to plunge them into her side when I hear the air getting forced from her lungs due to her body’s impact with mine and thanks to my heightened senses can hear the familiar swoosh of blood through her veins.  Luckily for me she’s too busy to notice anything as she dives over the bike and executes a perfect front-handspring so that she doesn’t knock me over (not that she could really). 

I hide my hands and retract my claws without her noticing as I also manage to get a decent look at her as she vaults over the bike. It’s almost as if she is moving in slow motion as I watch her lithe form stretch over my bike.  Her muscles contracting as she shifts her weight forward over my back tire.  The way her hips move as she manages to kick her legs over my bike. Then I watch as her hands come down on the remnants of some broken beer bottle.  As the shards of glass pierce her skin and her blood starts to fill the wounds.  A hunger, the likes of which I have never experienced before, punches me right in the gut.  My brain completely shuts down as I just drink in the scent of her blood.  It’s more potent and intoxicating than any drug I’ve ever been exposed to.  I can feel my eyes dilate and my fangs descend as I drink in her scent.  Even when I have been starving I’ve never had the scent of blood affect me this way.  

I continue to watch her as she flips over, somehow managing to keep her balance, even after running into my bike and vaulting over it with a backpack on.  She doesn’t even stop as she jogs towards the café, the light from a nearby streetlamp glinting off her long auburn hair as she looks over her shoulder back at me and calls, “Sorry man!”. 

I don’t acknowledge what she’s said to me.  I don’t move a muscle.  It’s taking all of my self-control to be able to just stand here and watch that mouth-watering woman saunter into the café.  Especially when all I can think about is pinning her up against a wall and sinking my fangs into that beautiful neck of hers.

I’m so distracted by this woman that I don’t even notice that I can no longer hear anything.  No ambient noises, no birds, no nearby traffic, not even the back door to the café closing.  It’s not until someone throws their arm over my neck and yanks my head back that the spell that woman somehow wove around me is finally broken.

I can feel myself growling in frustration but no sound escapes my lips as I reach up to grab my assailant’s arm. I feel the intruder shift his weight as he tries to pull my head even farther back, causing my back to arch and leaving my chest dangerously exposed.  If I don’t get this fight turned around right now, it could very well be my last.

He keeps pulling back on my neck as he raises his other arm in the air and prepares to plunge the stake in his grip into my heart. He’s strong, but I’m stronger. I let him pull me back a little more and as his fist with the stake in it descends, I grab hold of his descending arm and pull down and forward causing my attacker to flip over my shoulder and onto the ground with enough force to put a crack in the asphalt. Unfortunately, the stake that he was holding did go through my riding leathers and is embedded in my stomach. But since it missed my heart, all it does is piss me off. 

Before my attacker can pick himself up off of the ground, I swing my leg over my bike, letting it fall heavily to the ground.  I walk over to my assailant and stomp on his abdomen with enough force that it would have easily killed a human.  As it is, I can feel bones snapping as I press down harder with my boot heel. The vampire I’m towering over grabs a hold of my leg in a feeble attempt to relieve some of the pressure that I’m putting on him, but to no avail.  This guy may be taller than me, he may appear to have more muscle than me and probably outweighs me by a solid 60 lbs, but looks can be deceiving.

As the vampire continues to struggle beneath my boot, I nonchalantly remove the stake from my stomach.  The only evidence of its presence being the new hole in my leather jacket and T-shirt. I hold the stake in my right hand as I slowly lean over my bent leg, putting more pressure onto my victim’s abdomen.  I exude only the slightest bit of my power to make the vampire beneath stop struggling for a moment and look up in the direction of my visor clad visage as I slowly raise my left hand slowly wag my index finger back and forth as if admonishing a naughty child.

His eyes immediately turn red and his fangs descend as he doubles his efforts to try to escape my grasp.  But for all his efforts he can’t dislodge my foot.  I know that I need to end this quickly before anyone happens to notice the fight, or the fact that there is no sound in our immediate area. Without any further theatrics I flip the stake over and drive it through his heart and out his back.  As soon as the wood pierces his heart, sound comes back to our vicinity and I lean forward so that his face is only a few inches from my visor.

“You should have known better… this is MY territory,” I snarl at him just before his body turns to ash and my foot sinks down onto the asphalt.

As I stand back up and make my way over to my fallen bike, I make sure to kick the pile of ashes to break them up and make it easier for them to float away.  When I reach my bike I take a quick look around, looking for security cameras, people passing by, anything or anyone that might have seen what just happened and thankfully I don’t notice anything.

I tuck the stake up into the sleeve of my leather jacket as I lean over and pick my bike off of its side. As I bring my leg over the seat and start it up, I start to feel this oppressive presence all around me. My head swings up and is instantly drawn to the east where the first few rays of dawn are starting to peak through the clouds.

I’m out of time.

“s**t, s**t, Shiiiit!” I growl to myself as I ride my bike through the dwindling pile of ash on my way out of the parking lot.  This is definitely not how I wanted to end my night.

I pull out into traffic and am once again thankful that I’m riding a motorcycle as more cars begin to fill the streets and rush hour begins in earnest.  I weave in between cars, riding the lines, ignoring the honking horns and irate drivers as I speed along to my destination. Humans and their laws don’t mean much to me on a normal night and right now it’s imperative that I get somewhere safe before the sun fully rises.

As I’m making the final turn towards my destination I can feel my skin beginning to crack and slough off against my riding leathers.  The pain is beginning to intensify and I’m finding it harder to concentrate on maintaining control of the bike. Luckily for me, my destination is only a few hundred yards away.

I gun the engine as I race towards the garage at the end of the street.  But before I can reach it, my vision starts to go black around the edges and I lose my grip on the handlebars as the pain becomes even more intense. I can’t seem to correct my balance as I feel myself lean too far to the left and I fall over, pulling the bike on top of me. As the leather on my pants is torn away and my flesh is exposed to the first rays of the sun, I can’t hold back my anguished scream as the bike and I crash into the door of the garage.

It takes nearly all of my remaining strength to kick the bike off of my trapped & mangled leg as I lean against the garage door.  As soon as I move the bike my leg begins to smoke and burn in the sun. The sensation of being burned alive is just pure agony but I will not surrender to the pain. I continue to drag my body to the rolling garage door.

As I reach the door, I break the padlock holding the rolling door in place so that I can lift the door just enough to drag my body into the cool darkness awaiting me on the other side. Once I’m in, I pull the door closed and just lay in the darkness trying to get my bearings and just wait for the pain to stop.