Hannibal watched silently from the stairs as she pounded away her anger and her sadness into the punching bag. As tears were turning into anger, each punch grew stronger and stronger, until the sand began to spill from the leather bag and onto the concrete floor. Yet, she kept on punching and punching until she couldn't bear it anymore. She fell to the floor, her boxing glovers covering her face, the sand sticking to the beads of sweat that oiled her skin.
The memories of her life as a human had been dear to her heart. Her family had originally come from Iceland, her great grandparents immigrating when they were only twenty. From the stories her father had told, they met on the train to Vermont. A year later they married, and nine months later, they had her father, Hilmar Yvein. Hilmar had married his high school sweetheart, Nancy. And a year later they had Marja, and year later, Emilia was born.
The family had been a regular suburban family. Father working for the government, Mother staying at home to take care of the kids and home. Kids wreaking havoc playing catch with each other in the house. The girls have never been fond of Barbie dolls or Easy Bake Ovens. The Yvein family had carried on a love of baseball, and the girls too loved the sport, saving every spare moment to improve their pitch or their swing.
In Marja's senior year, she decided to go away to college, in the heart of New York. They had written her almost every single day, and to each letter she responded. She rarely saw them except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. But she thought of them every day, until she had been turned into a vampire by a man she never even saw the face of. She had been returning from a bar late one night, celebrating the finish of her college finals.
Now, because of her, her entire family was dead. Destroyed by those of her own kind, to get back at her. A familiar had brought the tape, sent on a suicidal mission by whomever was his owner. He sat in the questioning room of the first floor. Hannibal had put in the tape, as the Night Stalkers gathered around the television. At the sight of her sister's face, she grew panicked. Her hands clutching at her heart, her stomach dropping to the floor. She watched as her family was being slaughtered. Four vampires had entered the house as they were watching television in the family room. The white carpet grew soaked with copious amounts of blood, as fangs ripped and gutted her loved ones. Her father having to choose who would die first.
Abby's eyes glinting with pain turned to Marja. The blonde hair and green eyes giving the family away. Marja's eyes were glued to the screen, watching each and every gory detail. Until she couldn't take it any more. Hugging the edge of the toilet, she vomited until the porcelain was stained with blood.
And now, she sat sobbing in the recreation room.
The house stood still, rocked by her scream of mourning. Days went by before a noise returned to the house, and that first noise was the sound of a bullet, drilling into the skull of the familiar that had sat starving in the questioning room. The tape was spinning as it recorded their conversation and the sound of five rounds being emptied into the man's chest.
Hannibal burst into the room, carrying his companion away from the corpse. She was hysterical, and kept firing an empty gun. Abby heard the commotion, running to her side. She helped Hannibal bring her up the steps, "Into my room." Placing her on the bed, Abby closed the door behind and turned to Hannibal who was panicking in the hallway. She touched hisshoulder, "Look, let me talk to her." He nodded.
Returning to the room, Abagail went to Marja who sat in the center of the bed, weeping. Gently, she began to stroke her long blonde hair. Something that surprised Marja into ceasing her tears and turning to Abby, pale faced and blotchy. Abby replied, "I understand." Marja nodded, "I know you do." She choked through her tears as she clung to Abby for comfort.
The vampires laughed at the table, Violet sitting at the head. She was not smiling. Her little black heart beat slowly, rhythmically, and her mind wandering with plans and grand schemes of power, glory, and revenge.
He kissed her cheek softly, whispering to his sleeping companion, "I love you." Her eyes fluttered open as the sun set behind the horizon. She was calm, and wore no expression as she sat up in their bed, and nuzzled her head into his chest. Her lips slowly pressed against his bare chest, sending waves of electricity up and down his spine. It had been weeks before she had displayed any love to him. Her eyes pleaded as she looked at him, "Hannibal…" Her voice was a melodic whisper being swept away on the wind.
Her lips were soft as they glided against his rough skin. There was something different about the way she was. Emotionally she was raw, used up, spent… She was trembling with his every touch. She was vulnerable, and scared. Every scar she kissed, her attempts at healing. She kissed every bruise, and where every bone was broken. She kissed his tattoo, letting a few remained tears drop from her marble eyes. Her skin glimmered as she exposed herself to the night air and moon beams, seeping in from the open windows. Her hair spilled down her back like a gentle waterfall. She stood in his gaze, giving herself up to him: her mind, body, and her soul. In this different way, she was breathtaking.
"Love me," she sang softly into his ear, as he hovered over her, his heart melting into hers. Her kisses were long, loving, and heartbreaking as she couldn't bear to tear herself away from him. That night, he understood love. All the women he had thought he loved before him, he merely had enjoyed for the time being. And that night, since she had watched the tape, she slept peacefully under his watch.
Violet cruel voice hissed, "Before she died, she wanted you to have this." She threw the necklace before him, letting him catch a glimpse. He had given it to her. The diamond ring dangled on its chain. The vampire slipped it around his neck, pressing herself against him as she did so. "What did you do to her?" he spat angrily, as he fought the men who clutched at his arms. "You want to see her?" she asked, "You want to see her final breath? Would you like to say goodbye?"
The men shoved him roughly out through the door and down the hallway. The next door opened to an office with a two-way mirror. She held the back of his head roughly, making him watch as the men inside beat her ruthlessly. She was a rag doll upon the floor, and blood was everywhere. The men then clanked her in chains, before leaving the room. Violet entered, "Marja, you have a visitor." The body did not move. Hannibal clamped his eyes shut tight, hoping that when he counted to three he would wake up from this terrible nightmare.
1... 2... 3... And open. The body still lie still, huddled against the wall. The vampires roughly brought him to his knees, chaining him to the floor. Violet grabbed Marja by the hair, turning her over to face her lover. Weakly, Marja attempted to open her swollen eyes. "Hannibal…" she cried out in exasperation. She began to sob. She reached out for him, but her irons kept her from within a hands reach of him. Violet nodded, and watched as the men repeatedly kicked at her lifeless form, kicking her in the stomach, making her double over in pain. "Hannibal…" she pleaded again. Violet smiled viciously, "I think she's trying to tell you something. And I think I might know what it would be. Would you like to hear it Hannibal?"
Abby was swamped by vampires, as she made her way through the hallway trying to get to Hannibal. She cried out as she staked one in the heart, before she fell to the ground, knocked down by a vampire from behind. With a crash, the ceiling fell through, as Blade arrived fashionably late. He pulled her up from the ground, handing her a gun, and ordered, "Go find them." She sped through the hallways, desperate to find them before it was too late.
Violet cackled as she watched Hannibal's misery take form, she smiled as she kicked the stomach of Marja. "Oh, and Hannibal…" she taunted, "Besides keeping her return to mortality a secret, did she tell you she was pregnant?" "Marja?" he begged of her, before she drifted off into death. With all the strength left remaining in her body she managed to croak a final word, "Yes."
Hannibal roared with sadness and anger as he fought his restraints.
Abby stood silently, in shock. And then she fought with the fury of all the angels in heaven. Down the vampires fell like mosquitoes plummeting to their deaths, electrocuted by the blue light of the bug zapper. Her heart whirred as she staked mercilessly, and made her way into the room.
A shot rang out from across the room. Hannibal's chains had been destroyed, and ferociously he tackled and pinned the vampire under his weight. Violet screamed for help, but there was no one left alive.
Abby ran to Marja, cradling her lifeless body in her arms. "Marja, wake up. Marja please… please," she pleaded with the body. Then he tapped her on the shoulder, "Move." Blade towered over Marja's small frame, but took her gently into his arms.
Two weeks later, Marja opened her eyes to face the sunlight. The light stung beyond her wildest imagination, but quickly she adopted to it, looking around her room. Abby sat in the chair next to her, watching the news on the television, when she turned to look at Marja she saw she was awake. "Hannibal! Hannibal!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Hannibal crashed into the room, "What's the matter?" Then he turned to look at his beloved, lying in the sunlight, her eyes open and looking straight at him.
Blade had returned to his usual life as a vampire hunter. But, he never stopped watching out for the Night Stalkers. Once, they had saved his life, and now, he had saved one of theirs. Blade smiled, feeling the harshness of his life lift as he drove away. Maybe it was time to retire… now that there was another Day Walker.