Warning: This chapter contains bullying, threatening of an innocent person and attempt murder. Do No Read If you don't like such senseless violence.
Charlie's POV:
Sighing, Charlie walked about a block from where she was dropped off before arriving as a small outdoors farmers market. She walked through the booths, smiling at the small businesses still running and smiled. She was happy that these people managed to start up small businesses again to try and gain some morality in the dome. Most of the everyday items and necessities were required from the army, when they would go out of the dome for supply runs. There weren't many booths at the market but thanks to the small community gardens that were made to help grow some food like carrots, onions, potatoes, rice and garlic. Charlie smiled at the sight of some of the vegetables and even some fruits like tomatoes, cucumbers and even strawberries. She noticed many of the booths were beginning to close up for the day to avoid being out when the sun finally set.
As she walked a little faster, she could hear some of the people still wondering out, whispering and noticed most of them were looking in her direction and pointing.
"Did you see the news a little while ago?"
"I did, she thinks she can change vampires back into humans."
"Ridiculous."
"So sad, she's working on a goal that's doomed from the start."
"I would feel embarrassed about showing my face around the city after that disaster of a news report."
Charlie ignored them, having already heard gossip about her from such a young age. She had always been made fun of over viewing the world now, in a more different light. She didn't want to think that maybe the human race will at some point become extinct. No, she believes they will survive and she will help make a cure to help turn the human turned vampires back to who and what they once where. Charlie shook her head to try and not think of the bad things going on right now. She continued to walk through the farmers market, or what's left of it, until she stopped in front of a booth selling bouquets of flowers, tomatoes and strawberries and smiled at the items.
"Charlie dear, you've come again." An elderly woman, wearing a worn out sun hat, blue overalls and a pink plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows greeted Charlie.
Charlie smiled at her as the older woman smiled softly back, setting a new bouquet of flowers down in front of the booth on a display stand.
"Hello Mrs West. How are you today?" Charlie asked, smiling at Mrs West, who smiled back.
"Are you here for your usual fresh strawberries, and a bouquet of flowers?" Mrs West asked, and Charlie gave a nod.
"Yes please." Charlie replied, and reached into her pocket and pulled out a red coin purse.
Mrs West began to get the items ready as Charlie smiled at her.
"I saw the news report, I hope that horrid woman gets a boot up her stuck up ass." Mrs West said, causing Charlie to freeze up and give a sheepishly smile.
"M-Mrs West..."
"Well she's seriously crazy if she insults your dream in such a horrible way." Mrs West said, shaking her head before walking to the back of her booth as Charlie smiled softly.
"Thank you Mrs West..." Charlie muttered, smiling before she looked through her coin purse.
She counted her money she had, smiling to herself. Charlie has known Mrs West from a young age when the older woman had arrived to the geodesic dome. She, along with Vaggie, had always been the only ones to not make fun or treated her badly like others had. She also knew Mrs West, unlike everyone else, actually pitied the vampires. Charlie looked down at her coin purse, at the amount of money she had when she paused, feeling something or someone watching her. She looked around the half empty farmers market but saw no one looking her way.
"Ok, here we are." Mrs West returned, smiling as she carried a small wooden crate filled with strawberries.
Charlie smiled as Mrs West picked out a very pretty bouquet of flowers made of various wildflowers.
"Thank you Mrs West but, maybe just the flowers for today." Charlie said, and the elderly woman looked at her.
"You sure dear?" She asked and Charlie gave a small smile and nod, thanked the elderly woman, who smiled back.
Charlie reached for the bouquet and gently took it into her arms, avoiding touching the delicate petals, and held her hand up to pay, when Mrs West shook her head.
"Don't worry about paying this time dear." Mrs West said, surpassing Charlie.
"But.."
"It's alright dear, don't worry about it. Next time." Mrs West replied, reassuringly with a warm smile.
Charlie smiled softly and hugged the older woman,
"Thank you."
Mrs West smiled as she hugged Charlie back before they pulled away from the hug.
"Have a nice evening dear. Now hurry on home." Mrs West bid Charlie good bye, as Charlie waved good bye.
She then proceeded to walk out of the farmers market, and made her way back to the hospital. Charlie looked down at the flowers and sniffed them, smiling at how pretty they smelled. She hummed softly as she walked down the streets, holding the flowers gently but tightly not to drop them. Charlie looked up at the sky and saw the sun was nearly gone and she quickened her pace. She was about two and a half blocks away from the hospital when she paused in her tracks. Standing in her path stood seven men, walking up to her.
"Well look who we have here." One man with a shaved head said, grinning at Charlie, who backed away a little.
"The crazy chick who thinks she can help vampires." Another with a bandana tied on his right wrist replied to the first guy.
"L-Look, I-I don't want a-any trouble..." Charlie stuttered nervously.
"We're not going to hurt you. We just want to talk." The first guy said, reaching over, and knocking Charlie's flowers to the ground.
He then horribly stepping on the delicate petals, crushing the delicate petals with his combat boots.
"Yah, we just want to tell you that your idea is stupid. There's no way we want to live around anywhere near a blood sucker lover like you." The guy said again, glaring at Charlie.
"I-I'm-I-I'm just t-trying to h-help t-them. T-They w-were o-once human t-too. I-I just w-want t-t-to—"
"Want to force us to live together with the blood suckers. To welcome them here into the safe dome." The man said again, reaching over to Charlie, attempting to grab her.
Charlie moved out of his reach, slapping the man's hand away, and the man glared.
"You Bitch!" The man shouted, reaching over to grab her again, when Charlie jumped out of his reach more.
She tried to run but found herself trapped between the men and an alleyway between two large buildings. She looked around for any place to hide or run but was boxed in. Charlie opened her mouth to scream when the leader grabbed her arm forcefully, when suddenly a second arm reached over from behind her, and grabbed the man's wrist.
"How dare you treat a fair lady in such a barbaric way?" A different voice said, catching Charlie's attention, just as the still slightly working street lights turned on.
She looked up to see another man, wearing a full dark red suit, a black dress shirt, a black bow tie, dark black gloves on his hands and holding a vintage cane behind her. Charlie stared at the man, who smiled at the group as he moved in front of her, and shoved the leader away. The men looked at the stranger, who smiled a wide grin smile, and Charlie saw the group backing away from the man. She looked up at the man, who turned to her.
"Are you alright my dear?" The stranger asked, and Charlie stared in shock, the man's fangs were on full display.
'A-A Vampire…'
Charlie stared in shock and disbelief as the stranger turned back at the men in front of them, all who had pulled out small switch blades from their pockets. The man smiled at them, adjusting the glasses that sat on his face.
"You gentlemen really should be more careful when using such sharp knifes." The man in the suit said, still smiling, casually leaning a bit on his cane.
"You shouldn't be here you bastard." The second man from the group said, glaring at the suit.
Charlie looked up at the man, who continued to smile at the group in front of them both.
"There is really no need for such harsh words. And I really must insist you allow this lovely belle to leave. She has done nothing wrong." The man in front of Charlie said, looking over his shoulder and smiled at her, and that simple smile made her feel safe.
"Look what happens to that bitch has nothing to do with you! We'll deal with you first than deal with her!" The leader of the group said, charging at the suit in front of Charlie, when the thug suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Charlie stared in confusion as he appeared to be having trouble to move. She turned to the suit in front of her, just standing there, smiling. She turned back to the group in front of her and the man shielding her, and saw the leader still struggling to move.
"W-What the hell? W-W-Why can't I move?" The guy demanded, glaring at the suit.
"Is this you're doing?" The man demanded, his gang standing still nearby, completely stunned in place.
The suit smiled as he moved his brownish red hair from his eyes, and turned to the group again,
"You gentlemen have two choices; One, leave myself and this lovely lady alone and we go our separate ways. Or two..." the man said still having his large smile in place, before Charlie's eyed widened, as she watched the leader begin to move, like he was being controlled by invisible strings, and turned around to his group.
Charlie watched as the leader approached his group, knife raised, as if ready to attack. The rest of the group moved back from their leader, completely shocked at him turning against them.
"Boss, stop! What the hell are you doing?!" One of the men, with a tattoo of a skull in front of a cross on his arm, shouted baffled.
"I-It's not me!" The leader shouted, still struggling to regain control of his body.
"Last chance gentlemen..." the man, in front of Charlie chuckling.
"O-Ok! We'll leave you two alone!" The second man shouted, jumping out of the way of the leader as said leader swiped the knife at him, trying to cut him.
The suit smiled more, chuckling before the leader suddenly collapsed on his knees, like he had finally been released from whatever was controlling him. The leader turned, glaring at Charlie and the guy protecting her, clenching his knife tightly.
"Now be on your way gentlemen." The man said, before turning to Charlie and smiled at her.
"Are you alright, Ma Belle Rose?" He asked, and Charlie looked up at him.
She opened her mouth to say something, when she noticed the leader stand, charging at them with his knife, and her eyes widened.
"Look out!" She shouted, when the vampire turned around, catching the leader by his throat and lifting him off the ground.
The leader dropped his knife, holding the vampire's wrist as he tried to make him let go. The man tsked repeatedly as he lifted his right hand to his mouth, beginning to remove his glove with his teeth as he held his cane between his right arm and body.
"I gave you a chance to leave, and yet, you choose to attack again..." the man said, between pulling his glove off.
Charlie's eyes widened, seeing the vampire's bare hand, his nails were long and razor sharp. The man placed his glove into his back pocket, raising his clawed hand up.
"May this be a warning." The man said, about to stab the leader's chest, who struggled more to try and escape.
Charlie's eyes widened at this, and ran over, grabbing the vampires arm to stop him, causing him to freeze up in place and to drop his cane.
"Stop! Don't do it! Please! Let him go!" She shouted, clinging to his arm, trying to restrain him with all her might.
Her eyes were closed shut, not noticing the vampire looking down at her from the corner of his eyes. The suit slowly set the man down, before shoving him to his gang, causing the man to fall to the ground from the shove. The man glared at him in anger, before being helped to his feet and was pulled away from Charlie and the man. As soon as they left and Charlie turned to her savior, who turned to her and smiled.
"Are you alright Ma Belle Rose?" The man asked, and Charlie stared before realizing she was completely close to him and she moved away.
But she didn't exactly feel afraid much. The man smiled at her before something caught his attention, he spotted Charlie's ruined bouquet of flowers on the ground a few feet away. He looked up again when he heard foot prints running and saw Charlie running away. The vampire chuckled to himself as he watched her run off quickly.
Normal POV:
Charlie kept running until she finally arrived back at the hospital. She ran up to the front doors, opened and shut it close, panting as she leaned against the door.
"Charlie? You back?" Vaggie's voice called, before she and Angel appeared, walking over to Charlie.
"You get me any liquor?" Angel asked, only to be elbowed in the gut by Vaggie in response.
Vaggie then turned to look at Charlie before noticing her friend's surprised, almost afraid expression.
Confused and concerned, Vaggie jogged over to Charlie and held her shoulders gently, "What happened?"
"I-I had a-a run in with a group of guys, a-and they had wanted to talk with me over their opinions about the hospital." Charlie explained, before both paused as they heard someone knock on the door.
Both looked over at the door, staring in confusion on who would be knocking. Charlie and Vaggie looked at each other, before Charlie reached over and opened the door. On the other side was the same vampire in the suit she meet before, as he looked at her and smiled.
"Hel-" He began to say, when Charlie closed the door in his face.
Charlie turned to Vaggie, who looked at her too, both having surprised expressions on their faces. Angel blinked confused at them as he scratched his head, completely lost.
Charlie then turned back to the door, and opened it.
"Lo." The man finished, before the door suddenly closed again, as Vaggie shut it.
"W-What the hell is the vampire of shadows doing here!?" Vaggie asked, completely.
Angel blinked clueless, and turned to look at Charlie, "Who?"
Charlie's eyes were wide as they could be as she turned to her Vaggie and pointed to the door.
"T-That's the vampire of shadows?" Charlie asked surprised, she had heard of the vampire of shadows.
She had also heard of him being a very merciless, scary, and violent being. Charlie turned to the door again, and began to walk over to open it, when Vaggie stopped her, gently grabbing her arm.
"Charlie no, don't let him in!"
"Don't worry Vaggie, I won't. You know vampires can't come into homes or businesses without being invited in." Charlie said, smiling at her best friend, before she turned back to the door.
Charlie reached over, and opened the door. The vampire of shadows had adjusted his bow tie, and smiled at Charlie.
"May I speak now?" He asked, smiling a bit.
"You may." Charlie replied, as Vaggie peaked around the door, narrowing her eye at the vampire while Angel, leaned against the right wall casually.
The vampire smiled as he reaches his hand out to Charlie, surprising her a bit.
"Alastor, pleasure to meet you." He said smiling, as he grabbed Charlie's wrist, pulling her closer.
He let go, before they noticed his glove began to leak blood. Alastor removed his glove to find cuts appear on his hand, going up his arm. He casually shrugged it off as Charlie stared shocked and covered her mouth in horror.
"Y-Your bleeding! Charlie muttered, panicking but Alastor smiled.
"Don't worry sweetheart. It's nothing." He said casually, when Vaggie suddenly jumped between him and Charlie.
Vaggie pointed a silver dagger at Alastor's throat, and held up a wooden cross, as she shielded Charlie.
"Hold it right there! Get the hell out of here you blood sucking bastard, you came to the wrong people to fill your disgusting blood cravings!" Vaggie shouted, glaring at Alastor, ready to attack him if he even made a single move.
Alastor smiled at her before he turned his attention to the cross. He reached over and grabbed the wood, which instantly caught fire when he did. He then snatched the cross from Vaggie and tossed it over his shoulder like trash. Both females stared in surprise at that as Alastor dusted his hands off, smiling.
"Such items are useless against me." He said, adjust his glasses up his nose a bit.
"Now allow me to offer my services to help you." He said, smiling at the two girls in front of him.
"Excuse me?" Charlie asked, surprised and confused.
"Help. I came here to help with this Hospital. After seeing your interview on the picture show I just had to come and offer my services." Alastor explained, smiling before Vaggie narrowed her eyes at him.
Charlie looked at Vaggie confused before she turned to looked over at Alastor again, completely lost for his words.
"So you believe there is a possibility to help vampires and return them to being humans?" She asked, smiling as she began to feel hope.
Alastor smiled at her again, and chuckled,
"Perhaps, perhaps not. Who can truly know if it is possible really."
Charlie's smile disappeared at his words, before she looked at him confused again.
"Then why do you want to help if you don't exactly believe that vampires can be turned human?" She asked, confused.
"As I said, I wish to assist in this project. If there is a possibility for vampires to return to being humans, then I wish wipe out them out with it. If the number of vampires continues to increase, it will be a big issue for me. Some of them will most likely start to think of challenging me for my power and my territory. I believe if this project is possible, then I want to assist in removing them before that happens." Alastor explains and Charlie stared before looking away nervously a bit.
"Right..." she muttered under her breath. Alastor smiled at Charlie, who looked at him before Vaggie was pulled back into the building by Angel.
Angel pulled her closer to talk when Vaggie slapped his hands off, "Get off."
"I wanted to ask something. What's the deal with smiles?" He asked, motioning to Alastor and Vaggie looked at him surprised.
"Wait, you've never heard of him before? You've been around the other vampires and they obviously know of him." Vaggie said, shocked and Angel shrugged at her sentence.
"The vampire of shadows. One of the oldest and most feared vampire overlords alive?" Vaggie said to him, but Angel shrugged.
"Eh, I don't really pay attention to what the others say..." Angel replied, turning away and leaned against the wall behind him again, looking over at Charlie and Alastor as he moving his pale blonde hair out of his eyes.
Vaggie rolling her eye at him, before she turned and glared at Alastor who continued to speak with Charlie.
"Honestly, no one really knows who he is. Some say Alastor was born a vampire, while others say he appeared decades ago, traveling all over. Threatening and attacking anyone and everyone who comes in his path. Over the years, many people began to speculate he had messed with the dark arts, allowing him to control his shadow however he pleased. During that time, he began to climb up the ranks, rivaling the other overlords, who have been dominant for centuries. People and vampires alike began to call him, the Vampire of Shadows. No one knows what he is truly after or what he wants, but one thing's for sure: He's an unpredictable source of danger, a wicked spirit of mystery, and a violent monster of chaos, the likes of which we can't risk getting involved with unless we want to end up erased from existence!" Vaggie explained, before she looked to Angel and found him staring at her.
"What?" She asked, confused.
"Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit?" Angel asked, which earned him a face full of garlic infused pepper spray.
As Angel tried to get the horrid stinging to stop, Vaggie turned back to her best friend and the vampire by the entrance. She knew his explanation couldn't and wasn't the only reason for helping with the rehabilitation project. She had a serious gut feeling he was after something and she was going to find out what it is.
I hope you all Enjoyed. Keep an eye out for the next update and please do not be afraid to comment. Stay Tuned~