Of Panic and Fangs
Thirsty. She was so thirsty. The girl's eyes shot open revealing them to be a lovely shade of pale blue. Her skin was ghostly pale and it gave off an iridescent glow in the moonlight. Soft brown hair framed her pretty face as she lay there on the ground. She couldn't remember anything. Where was she? How did she get here? Where was here anyway? Suddenly, she let out a gasp from her pale pink lips as a torrent of memories flooded her mind. Heading home, getting lost, the strange man, the fangs, the fear, and finally, the fall. The fall had been painful, but it had most likely saved her life. She confirmed this when, after rising to her feet, she found the man's body a little ways away, impaled on the broken branch.
She had been walking home from school that day. It was a Friday; so naturally, she had plans to go out with some friends. She wanted to hurry and get home so she wouldn't be late like she usually was, so she had decided to take a shortcut. Turns out her clever little shortcut became a not so clever move. She realized this when she found herself suddenly in an unfamiliar part of town when she was so sure her home was only a street or two away, which had led to panic, which led to miscalculation, which finally led to being hopelessly lost, and the sky was darkening quickly. So our now terribly frightened girl found herself inconceivably more frightened when she heard footsteps echoing behind her. When she stopped, they stopped. When she walked they walked. When she ran, they ran. Obviously, she was being followed by someone. Fear and panic overtook her reason and as she frantically sprinted in what she hoped was the direction towards home, she found herself at a dead end in an alleyway. The man's shadow was cast over her as he followed her into the darkness. She could only make out his silhouette as he cornered her with the streetlight to his back. He began to chuckle quietly at her obvious distress. Desperation led to her quickly scrambling on top of a dumpster located to her right and before he could stop her, she leapt over the wall blocking her path to freedom. As she ran, she could hear him curse loudly as he leapt the wall and came crashing after her. Soon, the girl found herself approaching the
river with the telltale sound of rushing water ringing in her ears. Just as she reached the top of the hill overlooking the river, the man overtook her. He tackled her to the ground and she watched, horrified, as his canines lengthened into fangs and his face contorted into a chilling predatory grin. She struggled out of instinct; sure she was going to die. It doesn't take a genius to know what vampires are capable of and how lethal they can be. Between his sudden tackle, she own struggling, and her already being at the edge of a very steep hill, they were propelled over the side. She hit the ground first and the resulting slamming of her head into the ground caused her to pass out. Normally she would have been done for, defenseless against her attacker. However, a branch mostly likely washed up from the river had been lying on the ground nearby and during the fall it had by some luck managed to imbed itself in the man's chest, making a makeshift stake right through the heart.
Now, vampires aren't invincible and with his heart pierced, the blood gushing out and soaking his clothes in crimson, the vampire was now the victim. The hunter became the hunted, due to an unexpected twist of fate and the frightened girl would live to see another day; at least until the next weirdo came along. I mean really, ever hear of a blood donor or something? What kind of freak goes after little girls? Back to the story; the girl bent lower to examine the corpse before her. The smell of the blood was sickening and she could feel her stomach churn. But she had to make sure he was dead. The last thing she needed was to have this supernaturally freak tackle her as soon as she turned her back.
An idea came to mind and the girl ran back towards the alley, where sure enough, she found a lighter discarded on the ground. It was pretty much out of juice, but everyone knows that vampires are completely flammable. Fire and sunlight are vampire's worst nightmares. Which is why our smart little teen set the corpse on fire, just in case he decided to pull some kind of miracle recovery from the stake and come after her again, or anyone else for that matter? After watching the remains turn to ashes and scattering them in the wind, she took a deep breath and headed home. Now that she had found something familiar, being the river, she knew where she was. It was very dark by now, her family and friends must be worried sick. She felt a stab of guilt at that thought, because if she had only gone home the normal way, none of this would have happened. Or maybe it still would have just on a different night. Maybe on that night she wouldn't have been so lucky. But at least now she knew the vampire couldn't hurt anyone else. She just prayed to God that he didn't have any friends nearby.