Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, except for the OCs. The others belong to Darren Shan, the true master of horror.
I know the last chapter was really short compared to other chapters lately, but I thought it was important for people to know that Vancha was really alive. I also know that I cut off some of Amber's side of the story so this chapter is the other half. Enjoy and please don't forget to please leave a review.
-AwesomeRedVampire
Chapter 29
I walked down the sidewalk of a busy road and looked around to find the kinds of people I was looking for. There were many names for these kinds of people but lately I started calling them street squealers. They were the type of people who prided themselves in knowing everything about a town or city and nothing happens without them knowing about it. The main problem was these people also always wanted something in exchange for their information, even if it was outdated or not accurate, but most of the time they wanted money. I never had any money on me but that was ok because I held something that was much more valuable: their lives, well most of them anyway. One of the smaller problems was most of the people that I was forced to talk to were mostly drunk, on drugs, or belligerent.
In the last few towns Larten and I stopped at, I'd ventured out on my own, trying to gather any and all information I could that would lead me in the right direction, regardless of how strange or bazaar it might seem. There was no telling what Mitch leave behind that would help me find for him. Many people didn't want to talk to me, they thought I was come kind of freak (which I kind of was), but after a while I finally found a specific type that would. Though there appeared to be nothing wrong with these people, at first glance, many of them contained scars from the past. These were the people who believed that they would let the pain of the past out through the blood that they shed.
I personally didn't care for them, they were too down and depressing for me, but I didn't really have much of a choice. A good thing about them was they were a potential feeding source, but I wasn't interested in that kind of thing right, even though I really needed to feed. I was starting to feel the effects. I was nauseous all the time, my strength and stamina were failing, even though I was still better than a human it would soon fail and then I would be in serious trouble. I was even tired all the time, but my lack of sleep didn't exactly help right now and I was also really pale, which was probably why the humans thought I was a freak.
The only silver lining I could see was that I now looked like the people I talked to and because of this I guess they felt more at ease talking to me. It had been a long time since I had had to threaten anyone so this was a nice change for once. I thought about all this as I walked along and I probably would've been fine if I hadn't been grabbed as I passed what I had thought was an empty ally. I was thrown against a wall rather hard and because I was weakened all the air rushed out of my body.
"Are you sure this is the right girl?" a man said. "That seemed a little too easy."
"Of course she's the right one," another man said. "She fits the description we were given."
"I don't know. She seems a little pale and skinny to be the right girl. There's also the fact that she seems a little weak.
"She's the right one," the second man insisted.
"But what if she isn't? Mitch said to be absolutely sure about this before we make a move."
Mitch? That had gotten my attention. Now all I had to do was wait until I could breathe again before deciding what to do next. I just had to keep calm until then.
"We'll get into serious trouble if this is the wrong girl," the man whined.
"Would you shut up?!" the other one all but shouted. "How did you even get into this line of work anyway?"
I was starting to get my breath beck as they continued to argue and I had to be careful not to start gasping like a fish out of water. I had to remain calm in order to take them by surprise.
"Enough," the second said. "Let's just do this so we can get paid."
I forced myself to stay relaxed as he picked me up by my throat and held me against the wall.
"Mitch told us to send his regards," he snarled.
"I'll bet he does," I said looking him in the eye. "Maybe you can give him a message for me."
Before either of them could act, I brought my right arm up and I shoved my hand into his stomach. His eyes went wide with shock and the other man just stood there, unsure of what to do. The man in front of me opened his mouth to say something but he choked on his own blood.
"You should've restrained my arms," I snarled before I ripped my hand out.
The man staggered and I held his face between my hands for a moment as I watched the terror roll through him. I would feel something in me change and I found myself enjoying all the fear that I saw. It excited me and I loved the feeling that my malice was bringing. I twisted his head sharply, snapping his neck and I watched as his lifeless body crumpled to the ground. That had been so much fun. It was an incredible feeling to hold someone's life in your hands, having control of whether they lived or died. I could feel myself slipping, like someone else was in control of my body and no matter how hard I fought against, I couldn't regain control.
I looked back at the other man, who hadn't run like I had thought he would. I was rather depressed about that. I hadn't been on a chase for a long time and I had wanted to experience it again. I could feel a sadistic smile start to form and I took a step towards him. He responded by taking a step backwards. I played with him like that for a few moments before I used my speed to quickly close the distance between us.
"Please," he begged. "I tried to make him let you go."
"Only because you thought I was the wrong one," I snarled. "I would let you go, but you're working for Mitch so I can't allow that."
"I won't anymore," he said. He was getting desperate now and I could hear it and his growing fear. "I have a son to support."
"You seem to think I actually care," I said.
"Please," he begged with tears in his eyes. "Keith can't survive without me."
"That's not my problem," I said softly as I touched his face. I whispered in his ear. "And it's no longer yours either."
He tried to ask what I meant by that, but I plunged my hand into his torso and I dug my way up to his heart. I held his fast beating heart in my hand for a few seconds before I squeezed and felt it brake like a soft egg. He was dead before I even got my hand out. I studied my bloodied hand as I waited for something to hit me, emotions, thoughts, anything, but nothing happened. I looked from one man to the other but I still felt nothing and before I even realized it, I had taken part of one of their shirts and was using it to clean myself off. I had somehow managed to keep the blood from my clothes, which was amazing given how much of it was now pooling on the ground, but soon I was walking out of the ally like nothing had even happened.
When I returned to the hotel that night, I still felt out of control. Larten was waiting for me outside my room and when he saw me approach he opened his mouth to say something but he stopped before any words came out. I could tell by the look on his face that he could smell the blood but I didn't car. I slipped past him and went into my room. I took a quick shower before I gathered my things and when I opened the door again Larten was still standing there but now he just looked concerned. I waited for him to say something but when he didn't I just walked down the hall, leaving him to fall in behind me.
Three towns later, I had finally found the boy, Keith, and after sleeping for a few hours, I no longer had nightmares for some reason thought I still paced the room when I got up out of habit, I left the hotel. News of the murders had spread and because of them I stuck to the allies and back ways that humans avoided, even in the daylight for fear that something like that will happen to them. I had recently gotten information that there was a street squealer handout in this town and I was on my way to try and find it. About half an hour later I was standing outside a sad excuse for a building.
It was amazing that the thing was still standing but then again so was my old house in my village, so I guess it wasn't that amazing. I entered and skirted around the debris and crap that littered the floor. I easily found the humans. They were in the biggest and cleanest room, the one with all the exits marked and within easy reach in case something went wrong. I entered the room. There were four humans, a girl and three boys, but I was easily able to pick out Keith. He looked like and had the same stance as his father.
The conversation, which had been going strong before I entered, came to a slow stop as they became aware of me. It was the girl who came up to me and I could easily see that she was the self-appointed leader.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
Watch your tone brat, I thought. I could easily break you in half without even trying.
"I know what you do," I said using a shy sweet tone. "And I thought it would be nice to be around people who do the same things I do."
"I don't know," I heard Keith say. "I don't think she's on the level."
"If it's proof you want," I said as I rolled up my sleeve. "Take a look at these."
They all stared at my arm and wrist, nodding in acceptance. I had had the feeling that I would have to prove to them that I was like them so I had used my nails to cut myself, not something that was easy to do when you have a vampire around you with a keen sense of smell. I pulled my sleeve down as I smiled to myself and the humans went back to their conversation. That had been way too easy. Are all humans this stupid or was I just that lucky right now, I wondered.
"Alright," the girl said to get everyone's attention. "I guess I'll start then. Who has the knife?"
"Start talking," I told Keith, ignoring all the blood that was settling around me. "I know you know where he is."
"I-I-I do-don't know wh-what you're t-talking about," he stuttered.
"I want to know where the man your father was working for is and where he's going next," I said. "I know they set up a place to meet at once his job was finished."
"If I do, will you let me go?"
"That depends on you and your answer."
He took a deep breath and told me the name of a town.
"But that's on the other side of the world," I frowned. "And you're absolutely sure that's right?"
He nodded.
"Something seems wrong about that but…"
"That's what he told me," he said. "He told me that he had a job to do and that he'd be back in a couple of days before we moved on. He even left me in this dump and told me to stay here."
"About that," I said as I took a step towards him. "He's not going to come for you anymore."
"What does that mean?"
"That other job he had to do was to kill me," I said as the malicious smile started to form. "And since I'm standing here right now… well I'm sure you can guess what happened to him."
Keith looked at me in disbelief, but soon tears filled his eyes. "You bitch," he said as the tears began to fall.
"It was me or him," I shrugged.
The boy lunged at me but I easily pinned him to the floor by his throat. The all too familiar sadistic feeling started to flood through me and I started to squeeze his throat. His eyes bulged slightly as his airway was forced shut. His face was starting to change color when his eyes drifted to something over my shoulder and even with the pressure I was putting on him he still managed to make a sound that sounded like "help!"
I frowned and looked behind me and the sight that beheld me made me stop. For the first time in days I felt like I was in control again I didn't really notice it because Larten was standing behind me while a look of murder on his face. I had heard a story about Larten and about how there had been many vampanese that were hesitant, even afraid, of the feared General Larten Crepsley.
"Let the boy go," Larten said with a voice that was as hard and cold as steel.
For a moment I didn't move, I was too scared to move.
"NOW!" he thundered.
I fell back and landed on my butt, my eyes wide from fear and the shock from everything that I had done recently. Beside me Keith started coughing and gasping when he found that he could breathe. I scooted over to a corner and I curled up in it on my side. Larten checked on him but he still glared at me.
What the hell is wrong with me? I wondered as I started to shake uncontrollable. Why did I lost control like that? Why did I kill all of those people? Why had I enjoyed it so much?
…
…
…
…What kind of monster am I?
