Twilight, eat your heart out
Shawn was doing some research for our next case in the tiny diner we had found while on the road. I was eating my waffles, happily. This Diner was pretty decent. Believe me, I know. I've been to more diners than I'd like to admit. We had been on the road together for a year, James, Shawn & I, the three musketeers, sorta. James was flirting with the waitress, which was his usual m.o., he sought out the skanky & beautiful, but mostly skanky.
James had been a hunter for as long as he could remember. He grew up a hunter like me & Shawn. He had lost everybody, he never talked about it though. We were a little bit luckier, we had Tom, our father's brother and our maternal grandparents. Tom was the only one in the business we had left, besides our other "uncles" or "aunts" who had no actual family connection, just a hunting connection.
"HEY!" James said as he waved his hand in front of my face, apparently I was thinking too hard and had started to stare into oblivion with my mouth open.
I jerked back to reality and threw James a stern look.
He just laughed and sat next to me.
Shawn was still typing and reading away.
Sam: So did you get her number?
I directed my gaze towards the waitress.
James: Nah, you seem to ruin my routine, people seem to think you're my girlfriend or something.
I laugh,
Sam: That'll be the day
James: Yeah *shivers*
Sam: haha.
I stick my tongue out at him and cross my arms, we both laugh.
Shawn releases himself from his research coma and says,"Hey looks like we've got a vampire case up in Searcy, Arkansas."
Shawn: Up for it?
Sam: Sure, how far is it from here?
Shawn: Not far at all
James: Let's head on out.
James was in a good mood heading into town, we even listened to the radio. It was nice to get some different music in the Polara, finally. Shawn was passed out in the passenger seat, he slept so well in cars.
After we arrived and unloaded a bit, we sat around to see who would go out investigating. Shawn was content on staying at the motel to research some more plus he was still groggy. I reluctantly agreed to go with James.
Sam: I guess it's you & me, Jimbo.
James: I swear, Samantha, if you call me that or Jimmy again; I'm gonna kill you.
Sam: Alright, Jim.
I wink at him and walk over to my room.
Dressed up like a couple of Feds, we head out to the morgue to check out the 2 victims.
Coroner Mills: I haven't seen anything like this in all my years. I have no idea why someone would be drained like this.
James: Mr. Mills, we believe it was some sort of satanic ritual or something of that nature. Ms. Rice and I have seen this one too many times.
Mills: Satanic? In our town? I wouldn't have ever thought it to be possible. My God.
James: Has there been any other strange occurences in town?
Mills: Like what?
James: Missing people, maybe? Anyone new in town that might seem strange or out of place?
Mills: Well there is a brother & sister who just moved here, They live out on the edge of town. Weird folk. Nobody seems to see them too often. They've been here about 2 months or so.
James: Is that when these incidents started? The drainings?
Mills: Yes. There's been two disappearances too but I have no idea if they're connected. This is all a little too weird. Satanic rituals and missing people, this town was nice. Everyone knows each other here.
Sam: Thank you, Dr. Mills, hopefully we can figure out what's going on and put this to rest.
Mills: Thank you Ms. Rice, Mr. Meyer.
He shook our hands and we walked out of the morgue. I felt so bad for that man. He wasn't used to deaths like this. For a man who dealt with death as often as we did, he was uneasy about the situation. I felt good about this case, Two vampires was like a stroll in the park. Vampire covens could be as big as 10 members. Those were rare though, they were smart enough to keep moving.
Sam: So this should be an easy one, wanna grab Shawn and head on over now? It's still early in the day, we could get 'em while they're still sleeping.
James: You seem anxious. Why?
Sam: I felt bad for that coroner. He seemed nice and very concerned about the satanic rituals you were preaching about.
James: *laughs* Yeah, I didn't know what else to say. We'll get this done fast like you said so they'll be no more worrying for him.
Shawn was asleep on the laptop when we came in. After we woke him, we briefed him and set on out. It was only about 4 in the afternoon but it was better than going at night. Vampires were more like allergic to the sun and definitely didn't combust when they went out in it. It was more like a bad sunburn that could potentially kill them but that would take some time.
We soaked our knives in dead man's blood and cautiously approached their hideout. Vampires are still extremely dangerous while they sleep, they could hear so well and it made our job so much harder. The ground creaked with every step, my shallow breathing seemed so damn loud. Shuffling is heard behind us and as I turn I see Shawn get swept off his feet by this huge muscular vampire. I don't have time to go help, I feel something head my way and I swat my knife in the direction of the sound. She screams and I seize the opportunity to stab her again. The dead man's blood puts her into a somewhat catatonic state and as I tower over her paralyzed body I make a swift cut for her neck. Her head rolls away. I head towards Shawn who is being beat to death, I throw my knife into the back of the man. He howls and his knees buckle underneath him. Shawn takes off his head.
A deep laugh bellows from the darkness, I realize I didn't know what happened to James once the attack started. James was on the floor, his head was bleeding. I went to his side. I was still looking for whatever was so pleased with himself. Three more vampires emerge from the shadows, two men and a women. I lunge towards them, knife ready to plunge into their disgusting, dead bodies. Two of the vampires grab me before I can even take 3 steps. They push me against the wall and I could feel myself dozing off, They had hit me hard. Everything turns to black.
Pain. So much pain. My head felt like it had been used for boxing practice and my arms felt bruised. I open my eyes, I was tied up to a chair and I could see a bowl to my left. It was filling with blood, my blood. Great. I look around the room. It was pretty empty, just a couch and a few pillows were scattered around. All the windows were covered with heavy sheets, a few glints of sun showed through the holes in them.
James: SAM?
Sam: Yeah, are you ok?
James laughs and replies,
"Peachy, You?"
Sam: Could be better, where are they? where's Shawn?
I struggle in my ties but to no avail. The ties were extremely tight and when I moved it just made the blood drip even faster. I could feel the cut on the side of my wrist where it was all coming out of.
James: Don't bother Sam. They've got us tied up pretty damn good. They're probably in the basement. I haven't seen 'em for awhile.
Sam: And shawn?
James: He's not here.
I let out a heavy sigh,
Sam: Two of them came after me so maybe he got out when they did that? I passed out after that.
James: Well that's good, I guess. Shawn can't exactly fight off three vampires though.
Sam: He'll figure something out. I hope. How long will it take us to bleed out?
James: Maybe a day or two. We'll probably pass out by tomorrow morning so the rest won't be so bad.
I stayed silent. All the pep talk wasn't helping. How could we have been so reckless? We didn't even check out the house before we barged in here. Of course, there would be more than two.
After they caught Sam, I ran for the door. They wouldn't chase after me for too long, once I got in the Polara, I drove straight onto the 167-N. I couldn't do this on my own and I wasn't gonna lose Sam. No way in hell.
"James?" I asked.
James: Yeah?
I tried to stay composed but the tears started running down my face despite my efforts,
Sam: I'm scared. What if Shawn doesn't come back in time? I'm not gonna be vampire chow. I...
I lose my voice, and start to cry quietly.
James: Sam, please don't cry. I promise. We'll get out of this.
The deep laugh breaks through my whimpering, I look up and see him. He looked so smug. He was tall with blonde hair, and broad shoulders. He walked up to me and knelt down to face me.
"Don't be so sad, my dear, You'll be dead soon and so will your brother. He'll come back and he will die.", he said with a smile on his face.
I struggle to get out of my chair again,my flesh burns as I open the cut a little more.
"I will fucking kill you myself, you nasty son of a bitch", I scream.
Sam: My brother IS gonna come back and I will personally end you.
I summon up some spit and launch it into his face, he laughs and cleans it off his face as he stands back up.
One strong back hand to the face and I'm out again.
Uncle Tom lived outside West Plains, MO. The driveway was long and I'm sure he had heard me coming, as I step out of the car I feel a muzzle rub my back. I put my hands up.
"Who are you?", the scruffy voice said.
Shawn: It's me, Shawn. Sam's in trouble.
The muzzle dislodges itself from my back and I turn to see my uncle. He was older than my dad so he had a few gray hairs sneaking in on his head and beard now.
Tom: I see. What kind of situation is she in? Where's James?
Shawn: Yeah well, James is with Sam. A couple of vampires got the jump on us and I was the only one to get out. They're in Searcy. I drove up as fast as I could.
Tom looked up at the sky and his brow furrowed. He was not happy to be in this situation. He loved Sam more than anything, she looked like his daughter, Sara, that he had lost many years before she was born. She had a warm place in the old man's cold heart.
"How many?", He asked sternly.
Shawn: 3
Tom: Let's go. And don't be driving like an old lady, this car can handle it. Sam & James might not be to handle us spending our sweet ass time on the road.
"Right!", I said as I hopped back into the driver's seat. Tom jumped in and before he could close the door I was already backing out of the driveway.
I pushed down on the accelerator and headed down the road. Tom thought up a plan on the way back to Arkansas. All I could think about was Sam, I never should've let her come with us. I've just been getting her in trouble.
Awakening in the dark was certainly unnerving, I was also a bit dizzy. The lack of blood was getting to me, the bowl was barely filling up again, I guess they got hungry. To think my blood was helping those walking corpses made me sick.
Sam: James can I ask you something?
James answered tiredly, "Hmm...what?"
Sam: Why were you so adverse to me going with you guys at first?
James laughs weakly,
"I guess I was worried about something like this happening to you. When it was just me & Shawn, all he'd ever talk about was when you guys were growing up and I didn't want him to lose his sister like I did.", He said.
I thought about it for a minute. I didn't know how to respond. Guilt weighed down upon my chest.
James: She was killed by vampires. You didn't wanna ask and I appreciate that. She was at home with my grandparents when it happened. My parents and I were on the road, hunting of course. I guess one of the vampires we had come across in the past had found out where our family was and decided to return the favor. We didn't find out til a few hours after it happened. My mother was so upset about the situation that, um...
His voice trailed off. He had started to weep.
"I'm sorry, James, I didn't mean to make you upset.", I said.
James: It's not your fault. I haven't talked about in years. She took her life. My dad was so torn up about it, he retired himself and I didn't see him much after that. He wasted away from the alcohol and two years ago, I buried him next to my mother and sister.
I fell silent. We just sat there in silence, the only sound was our blood dripping down our fingers into the bowls. I moved my hands around, grabbing into the air until I felt James' hands. I held onto him and I wept for him and for us. When I went to move again, I felt something in my jacket sleeve.
It was my barber razor tucked into my jacket, I had made a pocket for it recently for tight situations. I hadn't used it so the thought never occurred to me until now. I started sawing at my rope carefully. It took a few minutes and once I got my hands freed, I ripped the bottom piece of my shirt and wrapped my wrist. I released my feet and quietly turned my attention to James' ties. Once his hands were free, he undid the rest. I found my flask filled with dead man's blood and covered my razor with it. I did the same for James' knife. We kept quiet and moved down the steps into the basement.
They weren't there. They were out. I heard a screams from outside and I immediately bolted out of the basement and out the front door. An arrow went by my head and I slide onto the ground and screamed,
"It's US!"
"Sam!", I heard my Uncle Tom's voice ask.
"YES!", I screamed as I got up and ran toward the voice.
I was immediately engulfed in huge warm arms. Shawn hugged me from behind.
I heard James scream and I saw my Uncle Tom load his bow instantly. I turned around and I saw the blonde, smug vampire had caught James unexpectedly.
He hadn't seen James' knife and as he was laughing over his small victory, James plunged the blood soaked knife into the vampire. I ran up and towered over him and just laughed.
"I promised, didn't I?", I said as I grabbed my machete from my leg wrap holster. I come down swiftly and his head came cleanly off his shoulders.
The other two vampires were paralyzed by Shawn & Tom's arrows and they had taken care of them while I took care of my smug captor.
I got dizzy and I fainted after that. The adrenaline rush didn't help my already weakened state. When I woke up, I was at Uncle Tom's. I was in the living room couch and I saw that Uncle Tom had already started a transfusion for me. The couch parallel to mine was a similar scene, James was sitting up and receiving his blood also.
I push myself up using my right arm.
"Hey stranger", James says after noticing me.
Sam: Hey. Where's Tom & Shawn?
"They're outside arguing as usual", James said. He shook his head and added, " I doubt Tom is gonna let you out of his sight after this incident."
Sam: UGH I know! He treats me like a child. Everyone does. I can hunt and I want to hunt. No one is gonna stop me, not you or Tom or anyone else.
I let out an angry grunt.
James: He cares Sam. Don't blame the guy. You & Shawn are all he has left, he doesn't want to bury you too. Believe me burying the last family member you have is no easy thing to do.
"You think I don't know what it feels like to bury someone you care about?", I yell at him.
"I know what it feels like James and I'm not gonna go out like a wimp, I'm gonna go out hunting like my parents did and my grandparents did before them. I'd rather be cut down in battle than die in some bed, old and alone." I added fiercely.
James stands up carefully and walks over with his I.V. stand. He kneels down and looks at me, his brow is drawn with concern and worry. His eyes brightly stare at me.
"I know you've been through a lot but you're not made of stone, no one is.", he says as he puts his hands in mine," Tom is just concerned and a bit irrational right now, he knows you won't give up hunting as much as I know you won't. We all care about you, Sam. And I'm gonna promise you now that I will never let anything like this happen to you again cause you mean a lot to me too. "
I look away, my eyes fill with tears and they start to overflow and run down my cheeks. I embrace James and cry into his shoulder. He doesn't say anything else and we just sit there in silence together.
The next morning, Tom was making breakfast and I had finally gotten most of my blood back so I was feeling a lot better and more emotionally intact.
"Hey sweetie", Tom says as he hands me a plate with some sausage and waffles.
Sam: Hey. Where are the boys?
Tom looks out the window to his left and I can see the guys packing up the car.
"Are they leaving without me?", I say.
"No" Tom replies with a gruff undertone.
I walk up behind Tom and hug him,
"Thank you", I say gratefully.
Tom turns around and hugs me back. He kisses my forehead before he turns back around to his frying pan and waffle iron. I eat up my waffles and sausage within a minute. I guess the loss of blood had made me famished. Tom had his breakfast at the kitchen counter and I patiently waited for him to finish. We walked out onto his porch and we embraced once again.
"Please take care of yourself and your brother", He whispered into my ear. I kissed him on the cheek and jumped into the Polara's backseat. I waved goodbye until I couldn't see him anymore.
"Thanks for talking to Tom." I say to Shawn as I kiss him on his cheek. He turns around and smiles at me.
"You're welcome but James is the one who finally got him to let you come with us" He said as he looks over at James in the driver seat.
"Then thank you, James." I say as I kiss him on the cheek.
He smiles & blushes but he doesn't turn around,
"You're welcome, Sam", he says with a smile on his face.