"I am the only human left. The last."
The words rang through the empty church, echoing in the long-forgotten stone walls and dusty pews. No one had entered here in over a century. Now it was the home of one young girl, who sat leaning against the altar hugging her knees, gazing sadly into the small fire before her. She had lit the fire with one of the sacred flames from the altar itself, in the hopes that this would provide further protection from the evil outside.
"The last," she whispered again. She could hardly bring herself to say the words, but it was true. After an ancient prophecy was fulfilled in the late 1800's, vampires had set out to conquer the Earth, and she was the last human left alive. All the others had either been turned, or killed. She was the only thing keeping the prophecy from being completed. And now she was virtually trapped in this crumbling church, with no way out. She knew full well that the entire church was surrounded by vampires. If she tried to leave, they'd easily overtake her. She could only risk sneaking out through a secret tunnel to steal the bare essentials from a nearby food mart, and then not without wearing a rosary and dabbing holy water and garlic on her neck and wrists like perfume. In the old world, the world of humans, she would have looked like a tramp, or a homeless runaway. Five months she had hidden herself away, and time and neglect had taken their toll. Only her hazel eyes remained clear and bright, but they were growing weary, like the rest of her. Her face was dirty and sooty, as were her hands and faded, tattered clothes. Her hair was snarled and tangled, its colour almost indiscernible. There were thick lines of dirt under her fingernails. Her fingernails were also rather odd-looking. She had grown them out unusually long and filed them into points sharp enough to draw blood. They were her last defense if she was ever caught off-guard. She had been once, and she only escaped by clawing at her assailant's eyes. He had screamed and released her, allowing her to get back to the safety of the church. When she had looked back at him while closing the door, she saw blood streaming from his eyes, yet his eyes healed and became whole again even as she watched. She had slammed the door in haste.
She sighed tiredly and blew half-heartedly on her little fire, fingering her rosary. She was not religious, not in the accepted form of religion anyway, but she wore the rosary to protect herself and remind herself of someone she had loved very much. The rosary had been her grandmother's, and she had found and kept it after her passing. Only when she wore it did she feel truly safe, so she never took it off, even though she knew the devils outside could not enter. She had not invited them in, she had placed holy wafers in the windows, and she was in a church, for crying out loud. There was no way one of them could come in. Probably not even if she did invite them. And they knew that just as well as she did. So they had tried to make her come to them.
She had originally been hiding with someone else: Scott, her boyfriend. Unfortunately, the previous day when they went to steal food, he had been caught in their flight back to the church. He shouted for her to go on, get to safety without him, but she tried to save him first. But there were too many. She had to run. That night, voices had called to her enticingly, saying they had something she wanted. Tired and bitter, she came to the window. The courtyard was full of vampires, and they were holding Scott. They told her to come out and she could have him back, but he cried for her to stay inside, to stay alive. She was frozen to the spot where she stood. What could she do? Soon, however, the vampires lost patience.
"Fine," they sneered. "Have it your own way!" And right before her eyes, they attacked Scott. She shrieked in rage, seized a nearby cross, and rushed outside.
"Demons!" she yelled, brandishing the cross like a sword. "Devils! Nightmare souls! Get away from here! Stay away from me, from him, from here! I'll kill you all! I will destroy you!" She hardly knew what she was saying, but the sight of the cross caused the vampires to retreat, but they were laughing all the way. Panting, she dropped the cross and cast a Wiccan circle of protection, finishing the spell with the words, "I stand now in sacred space. Only light may enter this place." That done, she dropped next to Scott. He was still breathing. Raggedly, yes, but breathing nonetheless. She held him close to her, almost crying with relief. Scott groaned and opened his eyes.
"Islene?" he asked, almost inaudibly. She smiled at him.
"Yes, it's me," she said. "Come on, we have to get inside." Scott's eyes widened.
"No, no, go in without me. Don't come near me!" he said in anguish, pushing her away feebly.
"Scott, it's OK, I'm going to take care of you," insisted Islene, trying to get him to stand. He only moaned and pushed her again.
"No, go while you can, you're not safe with me now!" he said, pushing her towards the church. Finally, Islene realized what was happening.
"No," she sobbed, tears coming down her cheeks. "No!"
"Go now!" shouted Scott, rising slowly to his feet and backing out of the circle. "Go now and leave me!" Sobbing, Islene turned and fled inside. Once she had bolted the door and fixed the cross above it, she sank to the floor and cried for hours. Finally, her tears run dry, she had set about making her little fire and there she remained, staring into it, and voicing those terrible words at last:
"I am the only human left. The last."
The last…it was so hard to imagine that, in the entire world, there was only one human left, and it was she. Six billion vampires and one human girl. She was amazed that she had lasted this long. The church bells rang out in the tower. Sunset. She sighed, knowing what would soon happen. The air would thicken with those enticing voices, promising untold wonders if she would only come out to them. Come out, and give up everything she and Scott had fought for. She wasn't ready to do that yet. She hadn't given up. She turned her attention back to her friendly little fire. For a split second, she thought she saw her own reflection there, her filthy, disheveled face in the flames. She gasped and started, and the vision was gone. But she knew what she saw. She knew what she had become over five months. She looked down at her filthy hands, and frowned, disgusted with herself for allowing herself to get like this.
"This is revolting," she said. "There's got to be somewhere I can clean myself up around here." So saying, she put out her fire and set off to search the church. After a while, she found an abbey. After perusing it for a while, she finally came upon a bathroom.
"Perfect," she said in satisfaction. With that, she entered and ran herself a nice hot bath, wondering why she didn't think of this five months ago. 'Better late than never,' she thought with a small shrug. She had more important things to worry about. Such as the fate of all of humanity.
'Or lack thereof…'
Shaking her head, she took off her filthy clothes and slipped into the tub. As an afterthought, she picked up her clothes and scrubbed them as best she could in the hot water with a cake of old soap she found nearby. That done, she wrung them out as much as possible and laid them flat on the ground. 'They'll be wearable, at least,' she decided. She soaked for a long time in the tub, lounging there until the water grew cold. When that happened, she rinsed herself off, drained the tub, toweled dry, and checked her clothes. They were still damp. Shrugging again, she simply wrapped her hair up in the towel and wrapped a fresh one around her like a toga, gathered up her clothes, and went to make another fire to dry them with. For at least an hour she sat, periodically turning her clothes over to dry them on all sides. Finally, they were dry and rather warm. She dressed, put out her fire, and looked around for somewhere to sleep that wasn't too dusty. At length, she just decided to sleep right where she was, against the altar. She settled down, making herself as comfortable as possible, and shut her eyes. Then the whispers began.
"Islene…"
She simply turned on her side, facing away from the windows and doors. She had been through this before.
"Islene…won't you come out?"
"Obviously not," she muttered to herself.
"We're waiting for you. Scott is here with us, you know."
"I'll bet he is."
"He misses you. He wants you to come out and join him."
"Not bloody likely."
"It's not like you'd be giving up, or surrendering to us. It's more like you're just joining us, that's all."
"No, it's giving up and surrendering to you."
"Just make it easier for yourself. You're tired, aren't you. Tired, hungry, weary of the fight. It doesn't have to be this way."
"No, indeed. You could leave me alone."
"Please, Islene. Think of what's best for yourself now. Think of what your parents would say. Or your grandmother."
Instantly Islene was on her feet and at the window, her eyes blazing with fury. "Never speak of her again, ever! Bricriu! All of you! Bastards! Leave me in peace! It doesn't matter now what happens; I will never give up the fight! You've stolen everything from me, but you won't have me! And I'll never believe Scott is with you!" Even as she said so, she was searching the great host of vampires for her boyfriend's face. He was not there, to her immense relief. She turned from the window. "Be off, begone, I'm done with you."
"Islene…" the voices insisted patiently, obviously humoring her. Islene gritted her teeth.
"Riding the holy winds
Winds of Eternity!
I'll fight you forever!
Nightmare sons!" she sang loudly to drown them out. They exchanged glances. Apparently, they had heard her.
"You can't hide in there forever."
"Can't I, then?"
"We won't leave without you, Islene. You've kept us waiting too long now."
"Then you're going to be out there for a very long time."
"We won't hurt you. We'll give you everything you've ever dreamed of! Adventures beyond even your wildest dreams! If you only come out to us."
"Keep away, monsters of hell!
No, I won't give you my inviting flesh!" she sang again.
'You're only encouraging them,' a little voice in the back of her head pointed out. Islene shrugged, went to the altar, took some of the soft wax and plugged her ears with it. She could see the vampires at the window, calling to her, reaching out to her. She couldn't hear a thing they were saying. Smiling grimly, she lay down again and went to sleep.
A/N: Bricriu=the poison-tongued