Dusk Hunter
Chapter 1
"Ugghhh... My head... I'm gonna quit drinking if this happens again..."
Probably the most normal words I'll ever say again. I was lying on a tattered couch in a messy room. Kinda saw this coming. After all, being eighteen means you're gonna wake up in a whore's living room at least once in your life.
Unfortunately, this wasn't a whore's apartment. This was...
"Monica?"
Monica, an old high school friend, came into the room reading Twilight. She's a good fan, but her focus was somewhere else.
On me.
"Oh, you're awake. Well then, looks like you're ready. Tom! Megan! He's ready!"
Megan and Tom came into the room. They were both high school friends. In fact, Tom left for Scotland a while ago, but he came back a year later for a reason he didn't say. He moved to a different school though and I haven't heard from him since.
Megan however stayed in the same school as me. In fact, we were at the same graduation party last night.
But, something about the two surprised me. Megan was unusually pale and Tom was rather hairy. He was badly bruised too. Was he in a fight last night?
"Are you sure he's ready?" Tom said in a rough voice "looks knackered to me"
"I was too when Monica woke me up. She didn't give me much time to recover" Megan said. Was it me or were her teeth longer?
"Let's get this over with already!" Monica impatiently exclaimed "The sooner we break it to him, the better"
"Fine" Megan sighed "But when he faints you're waking him up!"
"Alright, here goes..."
"You're a vampire"
I burst out laughing.
"Honestly? That's the best you can do? That's ridiculous! How could I be..."
I never finished. It hit me like a bomb. Megan's pale skin and sharp teeth... Monica's obsession with Twilight... Tom's hairiness...
"I'm..." I whispered.
"... A vampire?"
"Told you he'd freak" Megan smiled "After all, he doesn't believe in vampires"
"You did" Tom mumbled, "And you reacted more than Nevin"
Megan flushed with embarrassment, and we all started laughing. Once we calmed down, Monica started to explain how it happened...
"It started in the grad party" Monica began, "You and Megs were at the party while Tom and I were hunting. Tom's a werewolf BTW"
Well that explains the hair and deep voice.
"But then a vampire hunter found us and the chase began. We escaped to the party and met you two. We pretended nothing had happened and hung with you guys for a while. But the hunter caught up to us and we went to hide. You and Megan followed and we were all cornered by him. Thinking you two were vampires too, he threw an arrow at the both of you. It hit you and Megan leapt away but hit her head on the wall. We grabbed you both and left for here. We discussed what to do with you and Megan. The arrow you got hit by was a strong sleeping arrow which wiped your memory of the previous night and Megan got mild amnesia"
"That explains why we don't remember last night" I muttered.
"Unfortunately your injuries were too great to handle for the human body so I turned you both into vampires"
"And so" Monica finished "What we have to do is take care of the hunter before he finds us..."
Megan and I were waiting in an alley for the hunter to come. He took this route home. We were the bait and Tom and Monica were laying the trap.
I finding it hard to grasp that I, the little guy, the smart mouth, the naive kid, would become a creature of the night. But here I was with Megan for the purpose to kill a hunter, who forced me into this. No.
Fate forced me into this.
Then, all of a sudden, throwing stars and arrows rained down on us
"He's here!" Megan shouted over the chaos, "Lead him to the end!"
And so, Megan and I ran down the alleyway down the corridor of Hell to the others. Just as he was about to to get me, Tom and Monica jumped out of nowhere and grounded the hunter.
"Quick!" Monica yelled "Grab the bat and knock him out!"
I picked up the baseball bat and made for his head. But then, fate made a twist. The glint in his way he struggled. The way he fought to break free.
He was a she.
Chapter 2
"Nevin, hit him now!" Monica yelled
"He's not a he he's a her..." I whispered,
"Obviously! I thought you were smart vampires. That's why I was assigned to get you" the female hunter growled.
"Who put you up to this?" Tom shouted, alarming us all "Because when we find out..."
"Oh you'll find out... when they're killing you!"
The assassin broke away and fled.
"That's it then" Megan sighed, "There's more to this game than we thought..."
The voice...the arrogance...I know that girl... But who is she?
As we were trying to find shelter to recover, I came into an area which I recognised. This was where some of my friends, Harriet and Charlie lived! They'd let us shelter there for a while.
"Guys, this way. I know someone that can help"
The team brightened up, and we continued to hike through the area.
Once we got there, I knocked on their door. Charlie came to the door and gasped at how beaten we were.
"Oh my gosh!" Charlie gaped, "You guys better come inside!"
Once we came in, Harriet saw us and growled. "You shouldn't have come here. Leave now!"
Monica raised an eyebrow at Harriet. "Whaddya mean?"
"Get lost, that's what I mean!" Harriet barked angrily. "You're not safe!"
"You boys will be in here," Charlie beckoned to a room with two single beds. "And the girls will be in the room across. Let me know if you need something."
As Tom and I settled down in bed, there was a scream from the girl's room. We ran over to them and when we broke in, a small goblin-like monster was trying to slash at Megan's neck.
"Oh no you don't!" I picked up a chair and whacked the goblin with it. Megan was okay, but Monica had disappeared. As we were looking for her, the floor opened up and we fell through...
As I started to get up, I noticed Monica lying face down on a dusty mattress mumbling something that sounded like a swearword. I investigated the others.
"You guys ok?"
"If you consider being chased by a hunter, getting assaulted by a demon, and falling in a hole fine," Megan huffed, "Then I'm fine!"
Laughing, I noticed a passageway. Calling the others, we started down the corridor. The corridor went on for ages. Why would Charlie and Harriet have such a large passageway underneath their house? This leaves room for thinking.
"I bet Harriet has something to do with this!" Tom growled. "She told us to get lost and we did, under her house!"
"He's got a point. You did say the hunter was a girl and that you knew her." Megan turned to me. "And Harriet filled the gaps as the crazy maniac. We've got to unmask this assassinette before she closes our curtains!"
We were nearing the end of the passageway. We could see a light from far away.
"Come on, we're almost there!"
As we hurried, we saw someone at the end. It was...
"Harriet!"
She saw us, and ran. Tom growled, then started to crouch over. Hair started growing all over, his nails got sharp and a long tail grew from his rear.
He had transformed into a werewolf! Tomwolf ran at all fours, chasing after Harriet, and Monica started to get concerned.
"Tom's much more faster in his wolf form than Harriet, and if Harriet's innocent, Tom will be murdering for no reason!"
It was the murder part that caught my attention. I needed to protect my friends, traitor or not!
And the chase began.
Chapter 3
I had almost caught up with Tom when I reached the exit. When I came out however, the light was blinding compared to being in that passage for so long that I had to pause to readjust to the light. Tom though was unphased and continued to chase Harriet. Realising the situation, I joined the chase again.
Tom eventually slowed down to a pad of the claws, which meant Harriet, slowed down too. I followed suit, and we were human, werewolf, and vampire down an alley. The alley was dirty and littered with bins and rubbish. Plenty of places to hide, but Tom would sniff Harriet out in a second. Which made me think, how come he hasn't smelt me yet?
It had turned morning a few hours ago, and I panicked. Aren't vampires allergic to sunlight? I didn't feel any different, so I progressed in the spying. Then I noticed Tom. He seemed to be getting smaller and the hair was falling off too. His claws grew back in and his face formed into its original form.
Tom had returned to being himself.
Although just when I was about to sigh with relief, Tom collapsed.
"Tom!"
Megan and Monica had caught up with us and were gasping for air.
"We... We were... We were following you and... And we found this"
Megan handed me a strip of cloth, which had a mark on it. The mark seemed to represent vampire teeth and a sword and underneath it said
'the vampire ...tion sys... crea... to ... vam...'
Parts of the cloth were worn and ripped but I was sure it said The Vampire Extermination System Created to Destroy Vampires.
I shared my thoughts with the others and they agreed.
"This has Harriet written all over it!" Tom cursed. "If you had let me chase her while I was a wolf I would've taken care of this!"
I backed away "I didn't stop you though!"
"I could smell you idiot!" Tom shouted at me. "I was afraid you'd attack me while I was running so I stopped!"
I was fuming. "You could've knocked me out or something!"
"I might as well knock you out now!"
"Guys!" Monica said, breaking us apart "You can fight later, but we've got a hunter to take care of! Let it go this one time okay?"
Tom and I shared one more steely glare and gave up. And so, we continued our hunt for the vampire slayer.
Tom and I were still being cold so Monica stopped the hunt temporarily. Tom didn't approve however.
"This isn't the time to delay!" Tom roared at Monica. "The hunter will have time to plan and attack! Personal matters can be put aside for now! I kill him later!"
"We'll never find the hunter if you two are butting heads, and when we do, you numbskulls won't hold together! You'll get wiped out in a minute!"
They went at it for an hour and eventually Monica won the argument. We'd pull off the field and recover. Tom was angry for losing the argument and wouldn't talk to any of us, even Megan who hadn't done anything to him!
Megan had been off scent lately. She was tired most of the time and whenever I asked what was wrong she said she didn't know.
In fact, I'd been a bit drowsy lately. Not as tired as Megan, but I was losing my vampiric strength. I told Monica about our conditions and she looked surprised.
"Oh my gosh! I almost forgot! With the hunt on and everything, I forgot to teach you the ways of the vampire!"
Megan and I were in Monica's bedroom, and she was setting up a slideshow and a stick, as if she was giving a lesson. She set the first slide and it was a picture of a figure sucking from another figure.
"Drinking" Monica tapped the picture with the stick. "The reason why you're so tired.
Vampires can go for a month without blood and be unaffected. However, when the vampire's expiry date is up, they become tired, and lose their vampiric powers. I will go over these powers later on. And when they reach their limit…they die."
Monica changed the slide to a picture of a bat, a figure protecting itself from the sun, and a figure protecting itself from another figure with garlic and a stake.
"These things," Monica said, "are not true. We cannot transform into bats, although certain vampires can. I'll discuss that later. Sunlight and garlic aren't fatal to us even though rumours say so. Stakes can kill us yes, but any other weapon can too."
Monica then changed the slide to a figure zipping at a speed, a figure holding up a rock, a figure shooting energy balls from their palms, and a figure transforming into a dog.
"Our vampire powers." Monica said, gesturing to the figures. "Super speed can be done by running. We have developed enough speed and stamina to outrun a cheetah. Our strength. We have the power to stop trains with a head-butt, the power to punch holes in boulders, that sort of stuff. Now, magic. Magic isn't a power known by all vampires, but the vampires that train in the art of manna. Like so…"
And Monica slapped her hands together and pulled them apart, generating an orb in the middle and shooting it out of the window, leaving Megan and I gobsmacked.
"Can't wait to learn that!" I smiled. "Magic shows mean nothing now!"
"And transforming." Megan tapped the figure with the stick. "Even fewer people can do this. Not even I have mastered it."
"And so!" Monica stood up and started to climb out the window. "Time for your first field trip! We're going to quench your thirst for blood!"
Chapter 4
Monica had taken us to a dark street in the middle of the night. Plenty of places to hide and pounce. Great for a first time eh? We positioned ourselves above the street on a nearby building. This way we could see for miles off but nobody could see us.
"And we wait" Monica whispered.
Megan had almost fallen asleep when I noticed someone walking at a fast pace. This was a young teen, probably 15. It looked like she was running from someone. Just before I signalled Monica, on the other side of the building, several hooded figures caught up with the girl and surrounded her. They were moving in and they didn't look like they were meeting up as old friends. Before my conscience set up a plan, I dived in to help.
When I landed, the taller figure shouted something inaudible to the others and focused on me. The deep voice confirmed that it was a man. He charged at me and unsheathed a long sword from his cloak and pointed it at me. At the last minute I jumped out of his aim and landed on him. Another of the figures charged at me and pulled out a staff. Once again I was too quick and snapped the staff in two with an overhead kick, and brought it home with a side kick.
With the second thug down, I went for the other two. I picked up the first man's sword and disarmed the two. A quick punch or two and they were down.
From behind me, I heard clapping. I turned round and found the teenage girl applauding me. With further inspection, it was Charlie! Charlie was the one being chased by the shadowy quad!
"Nice one." Charlie walked over to me.
"Why were they chasing you?" I pressed. "They didn't look like they wanted to say hello. And they wouldn't be carrying those weapons without a person to mug."
"I'll tell you at my house. Where's the others?"
"Up there," I gestured to the building they were on."I'll go get them"
"No need..." And she elbowed me in the head, taking me out...
I woke up on the floor of a small cage, hung above a vat of some green bubbling liquid. Looking across, I saw Megan and Monica in cages like mine, and I saw Charlie next to the vat.
"What's going on here?" I yelled at Charlie confused at why she would do this. "Help us down Charlie! Don't just stand there!"
"Why would I do that?" Charlie laughed. "It took me ages to get you guys in those cages. You really think I'll let you go after doing that? You've run away from me too many times to let you go this time!"
"What are you talking..."
"She tricked us." Monica said to me from across the cages. "She was the problem that we've ran into. Nevin, SHE'S the vampire hunter!"
That's when it hit me. Charlie was the one that stalked Tom and Monica. Charlie was the one that we tried to kidnap. She was the she that escaped from us. Charlie was the bad guy at the street before. Charlie was the assassin!
"This can't be true..."
"Deal with it, because I am!" Charlie laughed maniacally. "And so, I'll be the one to finish you off!"
Charlie pulled out a remote and pressed one of the buttons. And so, Monica, Megan and I descended to our death...
"You're not getting rid of me that easily!"
All of a sudden, Tom appeared out of nowhere and opened the cage I was in and pulled me out. "Miss me dude?"
"Well, I'm glad that you showed up. Now get me outta here so we can finish this!"
Once I was out, I jumped to Megan's cage and got her out, while Tom helped Monica out.
"How'd you find us?" I asked Tom as we jumped down to a baffled Charlie.
"I had help"
Then, as if on cue, five hooded figures walked in and one of them let their hood down. It was Harriet!
"Well, I have an army of myself!" Charlie jumped in on the reunion. Then about a dozen ninjas dropped down and prepared to fight. Tom tossed me a sword, Megan a bow and arrows, Monica two daggers, and for himself pulled out an axe. The four figures and Harriet pulled out their own weapons too. Charlie pulled out a gun and we were all ready.
The fight was on!
Chapter 5
I jumped toward one of the ninjas and started duelling. Near the vat Tom was taking on multiple ninjas. Monica was slicing up all over and Megan had gotten high up and was picking them off with her arrows. Harriet and the hooded figures had surrounded Charlie and Charlie was taking them all on.
I knocked my ninja aside with a quick uppercut and went to help out Tom.
"Care to explain why Harriet's on our side?" I asked Tom, fighting back to back with him.
"Well, it started out with me sneaking off to attack Harriet. While you guys were gone, I went off to kill her. When I finally found her however, she was with the VPS tracking down Charlie."
"Who are the VPS?"
"Vampire Protection System. Remember the piece of cloth Harriet dropped? It really said: The Vampire Protection System, Created to Protect Vampires. Harriet's part of it. She was assigned to investigate Charlie as she had the possibility of being a vampire assassin. That's why Harriet told us to leave her house, because Charlie could pick us off easily."
"Doesn't explain why she ran from us in the tunnel."
"The VPS is meant to be a secret organisation. She ran because she was doing research on Charlie underground. Soon the VPS had reason to remove Charlie from the face of the earth. When they found her however, you were there to take them out. Thankfully, you didn't kill them and they continued the chase. That's when I met Harriet and the VPS. She explained everything to me and I asked to join. She said I could once I helped them take out Charlie. And take her out I will!"
Tom had finished the story just before taking out the last ninja on his side and we saw Charlie. She had blown away all the VPS soldiers and was heading toward us. She twisted the handles of her guns and transformed them into swords. Tom ran to her challenge and started slicing at her.
"I've waited a long time for this." Tom smiled as he slashed at Charlie, countering her own attacks.
"Enough to hurt a girl?" Charlie winked. "I would've thought you'd be more gentle, being with Monica. Or does she like it rough?"
Tom froze. "You know?"
Charlie grinned, and then kicked him down. "You can't hide anything from me!"
I'd seen enough. I ran towards Charlie, jumped over Tom, and
thrust my sword into her heart!
I had done it. I had finished off the vampire hunter. The reason why I was here. The reason I had met up with old friends. The reason my friend's destinies were intertwined with mine.
The reason why I was a vampire.
Megan, Monica, Tom, Harriet and the VPS had all noticed what I had done and the ninjas had too. The ninjas instantly disappeared all at the same time, knowing their job had failed, and they weren't going to stick around for the consequences. The VPS also went to leave. All but Harriet. Megan, Monica, Tom and Harriet all came around me, standing over the body of the departed Charlie.
"Good job Nevin. You did well." Tom said to me. "...sorry I've been an idiot lately guys."
"We can deal with you buddy." I laughed.
"Maybe. I've been thinking. I've decided to join the VPS and that means travelling the world. That also means that I'm gonna have to leave you guys."
"What?" Monica's eyes almost popped out. "You're leaving?"
"Don't worry, I'll see you again. You guys might need the VPS."
"For now, you guys need to rest." Harriet started to walk to the door. "C'mon, We've got a couple of rooms at the hotel we're in you guys can use."
Once we were at the hotel I got changed (The VPS provided us with clothes) and settled in. Tom and I were in a room and the girls were next door, with a living-room in between. Not bad. This wasn't a sucky motel, no; this was a five-star hotel, with the origami-folded napkins and a spoon for every meal. The VPS has good taste.
Monica came in. She tossed me a beaker with a dark red liquid sloshing around.
"Blood." She said as I uncorked the vial. "Get it down. The first drink's the worst, so we'll just stick to bottled unless it's vital that you drink from the source."
Tom said he had to get something from the living-room. Once he was out, I turned on the TV. There was nothing good on so I set it to the radio channel and tried to get some sleep...
Chapter 6-Monica
I couldn't sleep. All I could think about was that HE was leaving. Even if I closed my eyes he was there. I looked over at my watch.3:30 AM. Lovely. I decided to get up; I switched on the TV and started to watch the movie that was on. 'The fast and the furious'. Half way though it I heard a door open, I looked at the detection to see who it was and it was HIM.
"Oh, you're up," HE said, looking surprised.
"Couldn't sleep," he came over and sat next to me. "So you're just going to leave without saying goodbye?" I said hiding my emotions.
"I thought it would be better. Why can't you sleep?"
"Don't change the subject!" I hissed, "But why are you leaving?"
"Mon, you know that I'm very cranky when I'm around them, especially Nevin, and it's hard to be around you and not with you." He whispered the last part. I placed my hand on his shoulder, "We can work it out like we always do."
"Not this time, you know that I'll always protect you and if joining the VPS is a way of protecting you then I'll take it." He said taking my other hand.
"But I don't want you too ho.." I choked trying to hold back the tears.
"Ho?"
"Go!"
"Oh, I'll miss that about you," He said moving his other hand to behind my neck pulling me closer to him, I moved my arms around his neck and then he pressed his lips on mine, within seconds the passionate kiss had turned into serious making out, his hands were in my top, mine were in his hair, tongues were in each other mouths, then we heard a gasp. We broke apart and looked to see who it was...it was Nevin.
Oh shit!
Chapter 7
I had a feeling I wasn't meant to be here.
I had heard a noise from the living room which woke me up and when I went to see what the racket was about, I find Monica and Tom locked in a passionate scene.
Great thing to wake up to on a Sunday morning.
Tom and Monica looked at each other and broke away from each other.
"This isn't what it looks like." Monica walked up to me. "We were... Uh..."
"Making out passionately? That's what it looked like." I sighed. "I'll… just… get out…"
"Oh no, we were done." Monica abruptly walked into her room and bumped into Megan on her way out. "What the hell's happening in…"
"Don't ask." I said to her, making for my bedroom. "You don't want to know."
"But…"
"Some other time Megs? I'm tired, hurt, and just saw something I'll take a while to forget.
Megan just huffed, turned around, and went to bed.
In the morning it was all very awkward. I had just filled in Megan what I saw in the morning and she wasn't as surprised as I was.
"Didn't you know?" Megan asked as we were munching on breakfast down at the breakfast bar. "They were going out for a few months before we became vampires."
"And nobody told me this?"
"Does it concern you?"
"No I'd just like to be told these..."
"If you're so concerned, why don't you ask them?"
Monica and Tom were at the same table. Although they weren't saying anything, I was pretty sure the two weren't the best of my friends, with the looks they were giving me.
"It would be like asking two lions" I told Megan.
Harriet then came down and asked what was wrong with Tom and Monica. Before I could answer, Megan answered for me.
"Nevin walked in on them making out"
"Well, I'd be angry too if I had a boyfriend and someone walked in on me making out with him." Harriet replied
"You knew they were going out too!" I was getting annoyed now.
"Anyway, I've come to tell you something. We figured out why Charlie was sent it kill you lot. Apparently, you are in a prophecy. The prophecy says that five vampires will gather and you will destroy the evil vampire clan, the vampirates. The vampirates are working on trying to kill off the humans and take over as the main species. We are not sure who the five of you are, but at least one of you is in the prophecy. The prophecy says that if three of your five die before you all come together, you will fail in your mission and vampirates will take over the world."
"So, you're saying that if we don't find out who the five are and don't find them and three of those die, the vampirates win?" I asked.
"Yes, and that cannot happen. If all the humans die, the vampires and vampirates will die out as well. They are your source of blood. The world will become extinct if they win!
Monica completely forgot about my intrusion when we told her and Tom about the prophecy.
"What? You're saying that at least one of us is gonna be responsible for the world's fate? That's crazy!"
"We're working on the prophecy right now. Once we've found out who the five are, and found out who you have to find, we'll let you know." Harriet tried to calm Monica down. "But yes, that's what will happen. Prepare for your next adventure because it'll be coming soon!"
And so, Harriet headed upstairs to work on the prophecy, and we discussed it when she was gone.
Once we were done, we went upstairs to change. We were going to explore the city we were staying in. When we went up however, when we were getting changed, Tom was mumbling to himself.
"Talking to yourself again?"
"None of this would've happened if we hadn't met you." Tom finished getting changed and faced me. "If you and Megan had gotten out of the way, Monica and I would've slaughtered that hunter! And if you weren't there, you wouldn't have gotten yourself and Megan changed into vampires! And if you weren't there..."
"...you would've killed an innocent person!" I shouted at him. "If I hadn't stopped you before when you went for Harriet's throat you would've killed the wrong person and Charlie would still be out there! She would take you down when you thought nobody was coming and..."
"If you hadn't hesitated from killing Charlie when we had her before she wouldn't have gotten away! If you weren't here I..."
"Would still be with Monica?"
That's when Tom snapped. He roared at me and went for my throat! As he went for me I ducked and grabbed Tom as he went over me. I hurled him into the wall and he screamed with pain. He slashed at my chest and I vaulted over him and kicked him in the back as I went over, smashing him into the TV. His head went in, he came out the other end, and he pulled it off and tossed it at me. It slammed into me with incredible force and I almost collapsed. I was afraid if I did though, Tom would finish me. He reached into his bag and pulled out an axe, the same one he used to fight Charlie, and slashed at me. He hit my chest multiple times, my face at least half a dozen, and my back twice as much. I finally fell to the floor and he got ready to make the final blow...
"NO!"
Monica burst into the room and slammed into Tom, knocking him over and Megan came in, coming to my side.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," I stood up, groaning at my injuries. "Damn, Tom hits hard..."
"And I'll hit you again!" Tom got up and jumped toward me, to be stuck against the wall by Monica.
"I know he's been an idiot, but that's no reason to kill him!" Monica struggled as she held up Tom while he tried to break free. "We need him alive; we don't know who the five are yet!"
Tom struggled a little more then gave up. Tom and I had really destroyed the room. I hope we won't get in trouble...
"I see you have enjoyed yourself?"
Harriet had come in.
Oh crap.
"I have news for you." She said to all of us, ignoring the mess as she walked over to us. "We have found out who one of the five is. It is a 16- year old girl by the name of Aziel. The girl is a young vampire living in a forest with her adopted parents near a village. She secretly goes off to drink at the village when she needs to. Her parents don't know about her vampirism, nor do they know her real parents were killed at the hands of a vampire hunter. She's quite a wild child and she'll take some convincing to come with you. Oh, and one more thing..." she pointed to Tom. "He can't come."
"Why not?" Tom walked over to Harriet, towering over her. "I'm part of this team and I'm staying!"
"You can't because you need time away from these guys." she gestured to the trashed room. "And, admit it, the only thing keeping you here is Monica."
Tom opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. Then, gave up, and left the room.
"Well!" Harriet clapped her hands together. "You guys are going to Aziel's!"
To be continued