Chapter One
"Augh!" A voice rang out through the New York City evening, the waning light reflecting on the puddles on the ground from the rain that had pelted the city for the past week almost. A young man jetted up, looking around anxiously, noticing that night was falling and he didn't remember how he had gotten there. Had he been sleeping on the pavement? That didn't seem like him.
But the dream he had been having. It felt like he was suffocating. It was dark and cold, like he was in a deep ocean. He was freezing, and it felt like death. He was sure in the dream that he was going to die painfully. It was just a dream though, right? He felt a strange anxiety, a strange dread that wouldn't leave him alone. He needed to calm himself down.
As suddenly as he had become so anxious, he felt a strange tingle in his throat. He felt his face. There were strange bruised areas that felt like they were still fresh. He felt along them, trying to determine the pattern. It was a strange spiderlike pattern, and there was a pattern directly wrapped around his throat, but the pattern wasn't around his eyes, nose or… mouth. He felt his throat. It was sore, and tender when he touched it… And he was starving.
Being down by the waterfront, there wasn't much around for him to eat. He needed to hurry, or he was going to pass out. He was already feeling dizzy and there was a strange pain in his chest. Maybe he was delirious and it was actually in his stomach. He stood up and started running, ignoring the fact that there were dozens of people who were clearly homeless lying on the ground. They weren't dead. It was easy to see their chests rising and falling as if they were in a deep, deep sleep.
If his watch was correct, it was only 7 pm. Even the homeless wouldn't be asleep yet. He didn't pay it much attention, though. He kept running. He was cold, too. It was a chilly night in early spring and the dew would surely turn to frost overnight. As he made it into his favorite Italian restaurant, he was seated fairly quickly, and he ordered enough food for three, plowing right through the bread and soup they brought him as an appetizer.
Then when they brought his entrees, he dug right into the chicken parmesan with reckless abandon, tearing off pierces with his fork and knife, then moving onto the spaghetti alfredo, eating most of that as well. He couldn't explain why he was so hungry, or what was happening. As he continued eating, the pain in his chest seemed to continue. Finally, he finished dinner, and had a few drinks. He needed something strong to take the edge off and he paid his tab, heading out and walking home.
"It was good to have you at our restaurant again, Mr. McCray. We hope to see you again soon." The Maitre D' said politely.
"Oh, I'm sure I will be back." Adam said. It was far easier than going all the way from southern Manhattan to his house in the Bronx. The amount of time it took, hopping from subway to subway was over an hour.
But it was a good job. He was the president of a shipping company, and they needed him down by the docks in his office most days. He was lucky to be able to get home to his wife and kids by 8. He checked his watch. 9 pm.
"Shit…" Sammy is going to kill me." He muttered under his breath, walking into the subway station and clocking his ticket at the entry, hopping on the subway.
His thoughts were racing, so he didn't even notice the time going by
Finally, he made it to his stop and got off, taking a taxi the rest of the way home. He was exhausted. He just wanted to go back to sleep and take an 18 hour sleep. He had to help his kids with homework, though. He had three children. Two girls, twins and one boy. The girls were 13 and the boy was 8. He loved them so much. He walked in and suddenly, he found a red haired woman hugging him tightly.
"Where were you! Do you know the police have been looking for you for almost two days! They almost gave up your search. Some of them were suggesting that they change the search to looking for a dead body! I was so scared!" Sammy sobbed, tears streaming down her fair cheeks.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. I don't know exactly what happened. I just woke up maybe four hours ago. I was starving so I got some dinner and a few drinks to take the edge off. Then I came home.
"Are the kids alright?"
"The girls are scared. They're afraid their daddy has been hurt. You should go see them."
"And Finny?" McCray asked. Sammy looked uncertain.
"You know Finny… He has to be strong. He won't admit he was scared too. But I can see it in him. You need to talk to them. Kids! Come down here!"
"Daddy!" Alice cried, running and hugging McCray, who took the girls in his arms. Finny looked at his father reproachfully.
"Where were you, Dad?" He asked. McCray sighed.
"I'm not entirely sure. I got knocked out somehow and when I woke up, I remembered really dark, cold dreams about suffocating in a huge, ice cold ocean. There were stranger creatures than any I've seen in my life. They had long tails and spidery legs and pincers where their mouths would be. One of them attacked me and I suddenly woke up.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to get home. You know there's nowhere I'd rather be than with you guys."
"Why do you work so far away then, Daddy? You missed my piano recital last night!" Alice complained. McCray sighed.
"I'm so sorry, Alice. I promise I'll be at the next one if I have to fly there myself. Just imagine me flapping my arms and everyone looking and pointing at me."
The girls laughed at this.
"Oh, Daddy! You can't fly like that! You need wings like Icarus!"
"Alice… Icarus failed at flying. He flew too close to the sun and his wings fell apart. Though that would have been bound to happen even if he stayed fairly low and flew on a cool day. If the day was sunny, the wax would've melted at the same rate regardless. The plan was doomed to fail." Lizzie said.
"Oh, Lizzie! You're so dark! Can't you just enjoy the stories?" Alice asked. Lizzie smiled a little bit. Lizzie had taken recently to a goth phase. She had dark eyeliner on and painted her nails black. She had cut her own hair into a strange do that didn't seem practical. She wore heavy clothes that didn't really suit the season and her poetry and stories ran to the depressing and dark. She had recently started seeing a boy that was two years older than her.
Both McCray and Sammy were strongly against the relationship. But the boy claimed to have been a vampire in a previous life, and for some reason (they couldn't figure out what), that was extremely appealing to Lizzie. They didn't want to push their daughter too much lest they drive her further into the boy's arms. So far, there was no evidence that they were doing anything more inappropriate than kissing and holding hands. But McCray was keeping a close eye on the boy.
"Sorry, Alice… I forgot that you prefer fairy tales. Stop me if you've heard the one where the evil stepmother has to dance in red hot irons to her own death." Elizabeth said. Alice gasped, horrified at the thought.
"Lizzie! What are you talking about? That's not in any fairy tales!"
"The Grimm Brothers created very dark stories. In the Grimm version of Snow White, the Evil Queen attempts to murder Snow White and the dwarves have their revenge by forcing her to dance in red hot irons until she dies."
"Elizabeth Ann McCray!" Sammy snapped angrily.
"Where are you hearing these horrible stories? What supposedly responsible adult would think that was appropriate to tell a thirteen year old stories like this!"
"Take a pill, Mommy… Loki told me the stories. He was having a get together with his Coven and he invited me to introduce me to them. He wants to initiate me into the Night."
First of all, McCray felt fairly certain that Loki wasn't the boy's real name, but he had never heard him called anything else, and Elizabeth idolized him. But second of all, this was the last straw. No punk teenager was going to initiate his daughter into anything, especially with names like Coven and the Night.
"That's it! Lizzie, sweetie. We've been very patient with your infatuation with this boy…"
"Infatuation? It's true love! He says we were soul mates in a previous life! He was a Vampire and I was a sorceress and our forbidden love was opposed by everyone, but we were strong enough then to withstand their hatred! And I'm strong enough now to withstand yours!" Lizzie cried.
"I know you're strong… But honey, he's in high school. You're barely in eighth grade, and I don't really care for the kind of activities he's introducing you to."
"I knew you wouldn't understand! You just want me to be miserable! You can't keep us apart! I hate you, Daddy! I hope you die!" She yelled, running to her room, sobbing furiously. McCray sighed.
"I probably could've handled that better… But I didn't like where her story about her boyfriend's coven and the initiation and all that was going.
"I don't want to wake up one day and find in the morning newspaper that she was killed by some bizarre murder cult… Why am I still hungry? I just had a huge dinner. Honey, we can keep talking but I need to eat." McCray said. Sammy nodded.
"I understand, Ian…" his wife said.
"Normally, I would just let this phase of hers pass, but she seems to be getting in way deeper than she can handle. Let me go talk to her." Sammy said, heading out to Lizzie's room, knocking on the door while Ian sat down on the couch and turned on the television with a huge submarine sandwich. He wasn't usually such a glutton. But he was starving tonight. He would have to go to the doctor tomorrow to make sure there were no parasites in his stomach or anything.
Sleeping on the ground in New York couldn't have done him any good. And if he ended up ingesting something that gave him parasites, he should get it looked at as soon as possible.
"Top story tonight… At least thirty strange deaths around the city. Families say that their loved ones disappeared for as long as three days and came home with strangely big appetites. Unfortunately, their reunions were short lived.
"In all cases, a creature burst out of their chest, killing the victim. The authorities have been unable to capture any of the creatures. Animal Control came close, but the creature ripped the end of its tail off and the torn appendage spat acid at the workers. Since then, there is a strong warning in place. If you come across any creatures, large or small that you cannot identify, do not approach. They should be considered hostile and extremely dangerous.
"If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms, including chest pain, uncommonly large appetite, shortness of breath or faintness, contact a physician, Animal Control and the police immediately. Furthermore, don't panic. The city is giving this their top priority and specialists are being called in to address the situation.
"Um… Update, strange large spiderlike creatures with long, prehensile tails have been discovered next to the deceased bodies of homeless men and women all around the city. The homeless have the same marks on them as all the others. This has been upgraded to an infestation. We repeat that while you should not panic, we are requesting that all citizens stay indoors if possible and be alert for any unidentified creatures, large or small." The newscaster said.
Ian's chest was rising and falling rapidly, his eyes bulging, gagging on nothing.
"Hey, Dad… You alright? Choking on the huge bites you were taking? Dad?"
"Finny! Get to your mom right now! Get out of here! I don't want… GHAAAACK!" Ian heaved, nearly throwing up from the pain. Finny however hurried over to Alice and pushed her back from their father. He didn't know what was going on, but it couldn't be good.
Blood was blossoming from their father's chest. Alice was sobbing now, screaming for her father to stop teasing them. He had always had a good sense of humor, and was able to relate as much to Lizzie's gallows humor as to Alice's love of puns and one liners. Alice couldn't believe that this man, now thrashing mindlessly on the floor screaming in unimaginable pain was her father. Sammy came running into the room with Lizzie fast in tow.
The three children were now together, unable to tear their eyes away from the horrific scene that was unfolding before them. Sammy was holding Lizzie back from running to her father to try to help him. She wanted to be able to tell him at least one more time that she loved him. That she hadn't meant what she said. It was too late, though. A horrible, wormlike creature tore its way out of Ian's chest, looking around, presumably to see if it was safe and scurried out of the room.