The Lost Vampire Prince

The Rescue

The moment that Andy entered the cruiser with the sheriff reports from other deputies were coming through the radio. The men who took Natalie didn't have just one tail but several, all dedicated to not let the van be out of site. The single unmarked cruiser owned by the town was used to follow directly behind them. When the van finally turned off onto an old dirt road on the very outskirts of the town, they pulled back. There was only one thing at the end of that road, an abandoned house that was popular among local teens for partying, and homeless people looking to get out of the cold and rain.

Plans were quickly made to raid the house, and once again Andy insisted on being present. If for nothing else other than to comfort his young daughter, who was certainly frightened beyond belief. Four deputies were assigned to assist, all armed and set on bringing Natalie home. Though Andy felt like that wasn't enough, they didn't have the manpower for more. They still need the other deputies to maintain the other responsibilities within the main part of town.

The sheriff just hoped that they would find Natalie alive. It had been more than three hours and no one had tried to contact Andy or Bonnie for a ransom. That didn't bode well for the young girl. He tried not to think about what would happen next if the men had already killed her, or how Andy would react if they did. Instead, he kept his focus on the procedure and process of a raid like this. Then his thoughts drifted slightly, these men were likely armed and the body amour plates in their vests could only withstand up to a certain caliber. Anything too powerful and they would be useless. On top of that, Andy didn't have any of those protections himself. If he were hurt during this, there would be hell to pay. Not to mention the guilt that would follow him if Bonnie lost her husband on top of what they were already dealing with.

As they neared the house though, he forced all of those thoughts to the back of his mind. First things first they had to rescue the girl, he would deal with what came next when he needed to. They tried to be as quiet in their approach as possible, not even shutting their doors to keep from alerting the men inside the run-down building. But as they had exited their vehicles, there heard a loud commotion inside. Loud yelling from one or maybe both perps inside.

"Andy, stay here."

"Like hell I will."

"Stay here or I'll cuff you to the door, do you understand?" Andy glared at him but nodded as the sheriff stepped out and drew his pistol. He and his four deputies approached and he took the lead. Whatever awaited them inside this house, he would be the first to meet it.

They pushed the door open quietly, finally able to clearly make out what the men were screaming.

"Move kid or we will drag your ass out of here." there seemed to be movement and then another, younger voice cut through the air.

"Don't touch her!" It was the voice of another child, a boy from the sounds of it. So Natalie wasn't the only victim. The sheriffs blood ran cold.

"We'll do whatever we damn well please. No move it kid or we'll beat you to a pulp."

"I'd like to see you try, you wretch. But I will not let you hurt her again." The sheriff heard the sound of a gun slide being racked.

"I prefered you when you didn't talk runt, this will shut you up." Not waiting another moment the sheriff kicked the door in.

"Police! Drop the gun!"

"s**t!" he yelled, but he didn't drop the gun, instead he turned it on the sheriff and fired off two rounds. One bullet clipped his shoulder but behind him he heard a deputy fall. Quickly, the others moved for cover on either side of the door frame.

"Shots fired, repeat, shots fired. Officer down. We need a bus!" one of them screamed into his radio. The sheriff didn't wait to hear a reply before stretching around the door jam. He couldn't afford to shoot blindly into the room. He might hit one of both children if he did that. They were limited in a way that the shooter wasn't. He was only able to get one quick look before another round was fired at them, but what he saw shocked him. The little boy, who ever he was, had backed into a corner with Natalie behind him. He was blocking her like a shield and, despite the gunfire, he didn't look the least bit scared. It was a look he had only seen in very experienced or disturbed people. A look of sheer determination and fury.

Suddenly there were several shots fired from the room and then dry wall dust was flying through the air. The bastards were shooting through the wall. Another officer fell, blood pooling beneath his head and staining the floor.

"Another officer down, we need back up and another bus!"

"Sheriff, we need to fire back."

"They got two kids in their, how do you suggest we fire back without potentially hitting one of them?"

"We rush in together, cover each other and take them out." It wasn't procedure, but they couldn't risk them shooting the kids and they didn't have time for negotiations. So he nodded and together him and the deputy rushed in to face the shooters. But one had their gun trained on them while the other had his trainer on the kids.

"Shoot and the little shits bite a bullet too." He said, a wicked grin on his face.

"What makes you think you can get the shot off before I do?" he smiled again.

"I've seen more hot action in one weekend than you've seen in your whole career in this sleepy little town. I know I can get my shot off first. Then you'll have two dead kids on your conscience." At that the sheriff looked at the boy again but still saw no fear. The boy was staring at the gunman with a hatred he had only seen in the eyes of grown men, while Natalie cowered behind him. He had to think of something quick, but before he could come up with anything he heard a sound that made his heart stop.

"Natalie!" Andy screamed and his loud footfalls came rushing through the house.

"Daddy!" the little girl screamed, leaning around the boy, who compensated for her movements to keep her covered. But when Andy rushed in everything moved too fast, he saw the two gunmen and rushed one before he could be stopped. A shot was fired and Andy fell to the floor. "Daddy! NO!" Natalie screamed out, pushing against the boy to try to get to her father. But the boy didn't budge, splaying his arms out to keep her in the corner behind him while keeping her shielded from the threats. Then all hell broke loose. Both men turned their weapons on the officers and shot off their weapons before they could do so themselves. As the bullets sliced through their knees and arms, the burning sensation coursed through them and they fell to the ground. As they lay trying to get clear lines on the peps again, the men stood and kicked the guns out of their hands.

"Well, you guys have effectively ruined this hiding spot for us. We'll have to skip out and never come back. You've created a lot of hassle for us, you know." As he spoke, Andy rolled over and began dragging himself towards his daughter. With a laugh, the gunman who had been aiming at the kids walked over to him and yanked him up by his hair, putting the barrel of his gun under his chin. "At least you's got to see your little girl one last time before you die, right, pops?" Andy spit in his face and Natalie screamed as the man press the gun harder into her father skin. But from that came another sound, one that froze everyone into utter stillness. It was the kind of sound that haunts nightmares and sends chills down your spine and it stopped the gunman in his tracks and had him turning toward the kids.

The boy, who didn't look like any child that they had ever seen before, had changed. His eyes were completely pitch black all the way through. Deep purple veins were spread out from his eye sockets and his hands had darkened and elongated, looking more like claws than fingers, and they were as jet black as his eyes. And when he opened his mouth, the same bone-chilling, feral sound came out. It also revealed that eight of his canines on top and bottom were all long and sharp. It was like something out of a horror movie.

"What the f**k?" the other gunman whispered. Quickly they both trained their weapons on the boy, who still stood protectively in front of Natalie. The boy took a calculated step forward and the gunman closest to him fired a round into the boy's shoulder. The child didn't even stumble. Simply paused to look at his wound and then looked back at the men before launching at them at a speed that was hard to follow. He sank his claws into the belly of one, he couldn't seem to reach much higher than that, and slashed him wide open. When the man hit his knees, he drove them through his skull. He then turned on the other man who fired two more shots at him, but they didn't even slow him down. Though the black blood splatter proved they had hit him. The boy sliced his claws into the man's knees, bringing him down to his level.

"No, please, I don't want to die!"

"Natalie didn't want you to take her away, but you didn't care about her wish. Why should I care about yours?" And then he sliced the man's neck and watched as the blood poured out. "That's for the man you killed when you took me. A life for a life." He turned from the man as he slowly bled out on the floor. As he walked away, the darkness seemed to leach away from his skin and eyes and by the time he stood next to Andy, he looked like a normal boy again. He knelt down by Natalie's father and put his hands to his neck.

"Please don't hurt my daddy.." Natalie whispered. When he looked up at her, his features softened.

"I wouldn't dare hurt your father, I am simply trying to help him." he gave her a reassuring smile as the sheriff and deputy watched in disbelief. A part of the sheriff wanted to scream at the child or what ever he actually was to get away from him, to shoot at him like those men did. But he knew that, like those shots, they would do nothing. So instead he watched in dread, thinking he was about to watch his friend die. But instead, the boy simply closed his eyes and began taking long, deep breaths through his nose. He grunted and his face seemed to twist in pain, but after a minute, Andy sat up to stare at the boy in shock.

The sheriff and deputy watched as he lifted his blood-soaked shirt to reveal that there was no wound, though Andy had clearly been shot. Calmly, the boy stood and walked over to the two police men lying on the floor. After giving them what had to have been meant as a look of reassurance, he knelt down and followed the same steps he did with Andy. Just like with Andy, after only a minute, the burning sensations were gonna. Checking for themselves, they saw there were no longer any wounds to be seen.

"I can't help your comrades who came with you. Theirs were deathly wounds. They were gone before they fell." The men sat in stunned silence as the boy seemed to sway slightly on his feet, falling to the ground and passing out. Natalie ran to his side immediately, ignoring her father's cautioning hand.

"Daddy, he's hurt." she said, pointing to several gunshot wounds to his body, some of which matched the wounds that he had healed within the three men.

"Let's get out of here before that... thing wakes up." the deputy said.

"We can't leave him!" Natalie cried out.

"Sweet heart, we don't even know...what he is, and he is clearly dangerous."

"But he protected me, and he saved you. He's good, he's not bad."

"Young lady, you saw what he did."

"No, he warned me to close my eyes until it was quiet again. He didn't want me to have to see. He's not bad. Please daddy, we can't leave him." Andy looked down into his daughters distressed, sad eyes. After a moment he looked back at the sheriff.

"We owe him our lives, getting him out of here and treated is the least we can do."

"And what about the report? What do we say that the boy turned into a... a demon and saved us?" the deputy demanded

"Say whatever you want, but we can't just leave him here, it's not right and you know it." Andy gave his friend a serious look and slowly the sheriff nodded.

"He's right. Whatever the boy is doesn't matter right now. He single-handedly neutralized the threat and saved all of us. He doesn't deserve to be left to die simply because we're frightened of him."

"But sheriff-"

"You would be going home to your wife and sons in a body bag right now if it were for that...child. Do you really want that on your conscience?" After a tense moment, the deputy nodded and at that moment the sound of sirens could be heard coming down the dirt road.

"How do we explain this mess?" he asked.

"I'll come up with something. I'll talk to the coroner about the autopsy of the two perps. Then I'll ask my wife at the hospital to over see the boy personally and not share anything she finds with anyone. When I tell her he saved us, she'll listen to me." They all looked at the boy. As the rush began to get the kids to the hospital and get the bodies move the sheriff shook his head and whispered to himself "What are you kid? Where did you come from?"

He wouldn't ever get a clear answer to the question.