Silent Monsters

Chapter 2: The Confrontation

CHAPTER 2:  The Confrontation

  Several hours later, silence consumed them both as Kat and River sat on Kat's canopy bed, both of them staring blankly, overcome with the events that had just transpired.  The cops had left not long before, none too happy with either of them.  When the cops had been called and they had shown up at the theatre, no evidence of a body had been found, just their equipment.  So they had been let off with a warning about pulling pranks and having their equipment on private property.  Kat and River had been forced to take Kat's mom's SUV to the theatre to haul all of it back to Kat's house.  After the cops had left, both of them had silently retreated to Kat's bedroom and curled up on the plush dark red comforter that was arranged neatly on Kat's bed.  River was the one to break the silence.  "Told you we'd get caught trespassing one day."  She muttered dryly and Kat only uttered a bitter chuckle.  After another wave of silence, River spoke again.  "We didn't hallucinate it, did we?"

     Kat looked up sharply.  "The f**k we did...That s**t was real.  We all saw it.  There's no way we all happened to see the same exact hallucination."  River nodded softly, her eyes returning to the bed for a moment, one tanned finger toying with a piece of loose string on the blanket.  Suddenly, as if a thought occurred to her, her eyes widened and she glanced back up at Kat.  "What are you going to do?  She singled you out.  There's no telling who she's going to kill next.  It's not as if she's bluffing, she's already proven that she'll do it without a second thought.  And you can't go to her either, Kat.  There's no telling what she'll do to you."

     Kat shook her head. "I don't....I don't know.  What the f**k is she?  A vampire?  A f*****g vampire?  I can't believe I'm uttering the words with any sort of seriousness.  I feel like I'm in a cheesy horror flick."  She rose from the bed abruptly, her eyes flaring with her sudden anger.  "I tell you what I'm going to do...I'm going to kill the f*****g b***h, whatever she is."  She moved across the room and sat down in front of her computer, moving the mouse to get rid of the screen saver. 

     River frowned and stood up, moving behind Kat. "You've got to be kidding me, Kat.  You're not really going to go after that thing, are you?  Don't you know from all those cheesy horror flicks that you're supposed to stay away from the danger instead of run towards it?  Please don't be the stupid blonde that runs UP the stairs instead of OUT the door."  River spoke, trying to attempt at a little bit of humor.

     Ignoring her attempt at humor, Kat leaned forward, her eyes never leaving the computer screen as she maneuvered the mouse.  "I don't give a s**t.  The b***h killed Morgan.  She's going to come after you guys...and my family.  And I'll be damned if I just hand myself over on a silver f*****g platter.  So I kill her, simple as that.  If I kill her, the threat's over with.  If I die, then she has no more reason to come after you guys anyway, so either way, it's a win/win situation."  Kat muttered, her eyes narrowed as she began to type words into the search engine. 

     River blinked.  "A win/win situation?  What the hell is wrong with you?  It's a suicide mission, Kat, you have no idea what you're dealing with here, none of us do.  For all you know, she would kill us anyway for her amusement after you were gone, so your death would be in vain.  And you're forgetting what that would do to both your friends and your family, Kat.  What that would do to me..."  She said softly, kneeling so that she could look up at Kat, her eyes pleading.  "Please don't go after her, Kat..."

     Kat finally looked over at River, her eyes softening for a moment before she shook her head.  "I can't promise that.  It's the only thing I can really do, River.  Do you expect me to just sit here and let her pick you guys off one by one?"  She knew how important she was to River.  Kat had saved her from herself, when they had first met years ago.  River had nothing but an alcoholic abusive father in her life at the time and had been suicidal and had made a habit of cutting herself to deal with the pain. 

     Kat had been tough on her and brutally honest.  But she had given her a friend to depend on and a place to go when she needed it.  Her mother hadn't minded and her father was gone on business most times anyway.  But River was important to Kat as well, which was why she was planning on confronting the monster that killed Morgan.  She wouldn't lose another friend, least of all River.

     "No, but I don't expect you to go running in there on a suicide mission either, Kat."  River replied, the annoyance creeping into her voice.  Her eyes glanced towards the screen and she shook her head.  "How the hell are you going to know what would work anyway?"  Kat glanced over at her.  "Well....stake through the heart seems to be a common reoccurrence in most vampire references."  River's eyebrow arched as she shifted her eyes towards Kat. "And where the hell are you gonna get stakes at?" 

     Kat was quiet as she thought for a moment, her eyes fixed to the computer screen as she thought.  Then a Cheshire grin curled full lips as she glanced back up at River.  "Wal-Mart?"  The absurd suggestion suddenly made both of them laugh, though in all truth, they probably COULD find stakes there.  Kat subdued her laughter as she thought of something else.  "Well, dad has some spare wood in the shed out back.  That should work pretty damned well." 

     River shook her head again, the amusement of the moment passing as her face grew serious.  "I can't believe you're actually going to go through with this, it's nuts."  River stood up and crossed her arms, her eyes intent on Kat.  "Here's a question for you.  How the hell are you going to find her to even kill her?" 

     Kat stretched back against the chair and sighed, bringing her hands up behind her head, her fingers intertwining together.  "Well, she was hanging around the theatre, right?  I guess that's the first place I'll have to look.  Vampires are supposed to be allergic to sunlight or whatever, right?  So I go first thing in the morning and check the place out."  River shook her head as she looked down at Kat.  "No...WE go first thing in the morning.  I'll stay over tonight.  I'm not about to let you go alone."

     *                                                           *                                                           *

     Kat drummed her fingers on the steering wheel in time with the rhythm of the music as "Blood Pigs" by Otep played in the CD player of her mom's SUV.  Her other fingers held a lit Camel No. 9 steady between them.  She lifted the cigarette, bringing it to her lips to take a deep drag of it as she turned unto another road, giving the sun a chance to rise.  She had left early that morning, before River had woken up.  There was no way that she was going to let River come with her to the theatre.  She was doing this to protect her friends, not put them directly in harm's way.  What if she didn't succeed and she decided to take River out as payback?  No, there was no way she was going to let that happen.

     The night before, Kat and River had stayed up late going through the scraps in her dad's shed and fashioning stakes out of the spare wood they located.  Glancing over, she eyed the stakes that sat piled in her front seat.  They'd only managed to make four of them, but Kat was planning on making them count.  Kat leaned her head back a little, letting the smoke roll out of her mouth slowly as she exhaled.  Her stomach was in knots.  Kat could scrap well, but this was an entirely different ballpark.  This was a f*****g vampire.  She knew that River was right, that she wouldn't know what to expect, but what other choice did she have?  The woman killed Morgan and was planning on killing everyone else she cared about. 

     As much of a tough exterior that she put on in front of River, she was still nervous.  But she had to get past that, she knew she had to.  She knew that in a fight doubt, nervousness, fear...all of that will only hold you back and slow you down.  So it was a good thing she had left before dawn, she had needed the time to get her s**t straight and focus.  She needed to zone out everything else.  In a fight, you have to rely on your instincts and you have to think clearly.  There's no room for fear, because where there is fear, there is doubt, and doubt will make you hesitate.  And hesitation is the difference between winning a fight, or getting your ass handed to you.  This was a life or death fight, hesitation could kill her.

     Kat shifted her gaze to the sky, which was beginning to lighten.  It was a soft vibrant blue, the kind of dark blue you see just before the sky turns to fire with shades of oranges, pinks, and yellows as the sun becomes visible.  It was almost the same blue as her eyes.  Kat didn't know how it was possible to have the shade of blue that she had.  She knew that she was adopted, her parents had been honest with her as soon as she was old enough to understand. 

     It was the sort of honesty that she had always enjoyed about her parents.  They loved her, she knew that they did, but they didn't hold back anything from her.  They treated her with intelligence and it was one of the reasons why Kat had always had a thorough respect for her parents.  As much of a temper as she may have, she was never disrespectful to them.  She never called them names.  If she was angry at them, she returned the courtesy they gave her and she talked to them about it in an intelligent manner.  Kat had always been a give and take sort of person though.  If you treated her with respect, she would return the favor.

     Kat blinked, shaking herself out of her thoughts.  She was calmer now and she felt a little bit more level than she had before.  It was about time to face this b***h.  She began to make her way back through the streets, back towards the theatre.  It wasn't long before she drove up to the old place and by the time she did, the first rays of light were beginning to hit the sky.  She took one last drag of her cigarette before putting it out and her eyes lifted to take in the full height of the theatre.  In the daylight, it didn't seem quite as ominous, but it still held a darkness about it, even in the sun. 

     This morning, she wore something a little more practical.  She sported a pair of dark grey cloth pants that fit her well around the hips and thighs, but flared a little just above her knees, leaving some room for ease of motion.  Her top was a simple white fitted wife-beater and on her feet was an old comfortable pair of Nike jogging shoes.  She had pulled her mass of red hair into a ponytail and out of her face.  She had even taken out all of her piercings beforehand.  Let's face it...it might be a vampire she was going to fight, but it was a woman none the less.  The b***h would probably go for her piercings first.  f**k that hippy s**t, she made sure all of them were taken out.

     Putting it into park, Kat then shut off the engine and opened her door.  After she stepped out, she grabbed the slim black bag, slid two of the stakes into it, and then slung the bag over her shoulder to let it rest against her back.  She grabbed the third stake, leaving the fourth lying on the seat, then closed the door and begun to make her way towards the front gates.  Her heart was pumping in her chest and she could feel the adrenaline began to build in anticipation.  Soon, she was sliding in the front door and making her way quietly down the aisle. 

     Pausing halfway through the aisle, her eyes swept over the seats.  She tried to think of where she should start.  She thought she could remember the woman's voice coming from the right side of the theatre, so Kat began to walk between the seats in that direction.  It wasn't much to go on, but it was better than nothing at all.  She had to start somewhere.

     "Have you come to sing for me, my pet?"  The voice came out of nowhere and it so suddenly broke the silence that Kat nearly jumped out of her skin.  Quickly regaining her composure, she narrowed her eyes, her fingers tightening around the length of the solid stake.  "Oh...no, my lovely...instead you've come to play..."  Laughter seemed to echo from everywhere and nowhere and Kat spun around, her eyes quickly trying to locate the woman.  "Come on out you little blood-sucking cunt, let me-" Her words were sharply cut off as the wind was knocked out of her.  All she could see for a moment was a flying mixture of colors and suddenly she was sliding across the stage floor. 

     Coughing, Kat slowly rolled over unto her knees as clouds of dirt whirled around her.  "Fuck..." She murmured hoarsely, bringing herself to her feet.  "That was a cheap f*****g shot, you little b***h.  Why don't you come out in the open and fight me?"  She coughed again and waved a hand in front of her face, trying to wave away the cloud of dust that still hung in the air.  "I thought you mother fuckers were allergic to sunlight..." She muttered under her breath. 

     She realized just then that she'd lost the stake in her hand.  She still had her bag with the other two in it, thankfully.  She brought one pale hand up and slid it into the opening and pulled the second stake out, her eyes searching the stage and the darkness beyond.  "COME ON!" She growled, her eyes narrowed, cheeks flushed red with adrenaline.

     Laughter greeted her words and this time it sounded closer. "What are you planning to do with that, my little pet?"  She whirled around and the woman stood there, her features just as striking as the last time she saw her.  But her anger kept her focused and her hand clenched into a tight fist.  "I'm going to ram it through your god damned heart, what the f**k do you think I'm gonna use it for, sweetheart?"  She sneered, her teeth grinding as her fingers tightened around the stake. 

     "Ohhh...." The woman clicked her tongue as her lower lip drew into a pout. "Come to break my heart, my love?  Well...I suppose I'll have to take one of your friends!" She suddenly lunged forward, but Kat was more prepared this time.  Suddenly, she had dropped low, her leg swinging in a half-circle as she crouched, slamming it into the woman's shins. 

     Just as quickly as she had dropped, she was back on her feet, her palm extending out to slam into the woman's chest as she was falling forward so that the impact set her falling backwards.  She slammed the woman unto her back with her left arm as her right hand came forward to drive the stake straight through her chest and into where her heart should be located, causing a howl of pain to reverberate through the theatre as it erupted from the woman's throat.  She growled low and drove it in deeper, her eyes narrowed as she watched the woman's face. 

     The woman's eyes had shut, her body going still and Kat let out a slow breath, her eyes never leaving the woman's face.  But was she dead?  Wasn't she supposed to turn to dust or something?  She frowned softly and began to lean in, putting a little more pressure on the stake.  Suddenly, her head was getting yanked backwards by her hair and the woman's eyes popped open, a grin curving her lips as she sat up slowly, bringing her face in close to Kat's own.  "Did you really think a stake would do it?  I'm disappointed in you, my pet....very...very....disappointed..."  Suddenly, she was being yanked backwards by her hair and then was swung forward into the back wall.  The impact of the wall against her head and ribs knocked the wind out of her and everything went black for a moment as she slumped to the floor.

     As Kat lay there motionless, she could vaguely hear the soft footfalls echo as the woman approached.  A moment later, she could feel her lips brush over the lobe of her ear as she whispered softly into it.  "By the way my pet....after I have disemboweled everything you love in this life...after I take you...you may call me Mistress Reinna.  I will have you licking my boot by the time I'm through with you, my love."  And with that, she was gone and the world receded into a thick hazy darkness that consumed her consciousne