Sorry
It was dark, and the only sounds were Anita's footsteps, the faint roar of the road far away, and the very, very faint shuffling of the vampire who had been following her for the last ten minutes. You had to admit, there was something almost appealing about their arrogance, she mused as she stepped into the pool of light created by a yellow streetlight. He was about 100 feet behind her, and she turned to face him.
Anita wasn't incredibly attractive, and she didn't really care. In her line of work things like that just didn't really matter. Her brown hair was tied back loosely, her jeans were baggy and ripped and her t-shirt was unremarkable. The vampire behind her was looking slightly perturbed that she'd known she was being followed, but walking with the easy grace of a hunter sure of his prey's weakness.
"My brother," she said, "is going to be really, really pissed at you."
She could see his face now; he wasn't as handsome as some vampires, which helped her keep her cool. The devastatingly beautiful ones got her mad, she couldn't stand that such monsters were so beautiful. But he was normal. Breathe.
"I mean, I'm beating him now. Congratulations, you're the 15th assassin they've sent after me. You have the double honour of being the first vampire I'll kill as a nineteen year old. It's a momentous occasion. What? Aren't you going to sing happy birthday to me?"
She whipped a crossbow out of the satchel by her side, pointing it levelly at his chest. Damn, he was wearing some kind of breastplate. She raised her arm a little, and fired a bolt right at his neck. He spluttered a little as it passed through, but the hole was already healing. By the time it had, she was on him. Anita hated vampires more than anything, and as she jumped she reached for the curved wooden knife at her side. She slashed down. The assassin, she thought, looked so much better without his head.
She left the body where it was. She knew the Night World well enough to know it would be gone by morning.
***
Anita entered the Flowers Estate, where the streetlamps ended. A low mist covered the ground. ~Christ~ she thought ~It looks like a scene from a horror film!~ She whistled ad she walked, the only other person on the street was Ripple Breedlove, a quiet, mousy little witch whose dirty blonde hair shone with grease in the half light. Anita frowned slightly. As a rule the Cleansers didn't bother with witches. Especially not pathetic ones like Ripple. She, however, didn't realise this, and as soon as she saw Anita swinging her knife as she walked down the dreary streets, she ducked into someone's porch and stayed there in mute terror until Anita was gone.
As Anita came to the house she shared with her brother, her best friend Kim fell into step beside her. She was grinning from ear to ear; she'd obviously had a good night.
"Five" she began with. "I think I got the one who killed that little boy last week. You?"
"One, but he was an assassin."
Kim laughed, shaking her blonde mane that usually had Anita spitting with jealousy. ~Kim can't help being beautiful,~ she told herself for the thousandth time. "Mark's going to kill you!" Kim said in a sing song voice. Anita shrugged.
"He should get out more, he'd have a higher chance of getting killed." Both girls laughed as they came into the porch of Anita's house. It was an old house, like the whole estate, but it had a reinforced steel door to keep out any night time visitors. Anita pulled out her keys. "You coming up?" She asked. Kim shook her head. "Things to do, people to see. I'll be over fist thing tomorrow for Big Chief Mark's lecture." Anita smiled.
"See you then. I need to check Meg did her homework and all that." Kim waved and walked off. Anita let herself in. "Helloo-oo!" she yelled. There was no reply. She went into the living room. Gareth was stretched out on the sofa, moving his head in time to the Stereophonics blaring out from the hi-fi in the corner. He waved and carried on reading a magazine. Meg was laid out on the floor revising some French verbs. She jumped up.
"Anita! How did it go? Did you kill any vampires? When will I be able to come out with you? Was it scary?"
Meg's blonde curls bounced up and down as she talked. ~No-one would ever know~ Anita thought, ~That this girl saw her parent's throats torn out by werewolves six months ago.~
Anita had stumbled across the scenario almost by accident; she'd been hunting a vampire. She'd slipped into some human's house she was sure it had gone into, but instead found blood everywhere, and the bodies of two adult humans. Three wolves were trying to get into a wardrobe, where thirteen year old Meg had barricaded herself. Anita had fought off the wolves single handed, a feat not even Mark could have managed. But she had. She had taken Meg under her wing and helped her to deal with it. Meg was now a kind of apprentice vampire hunter.
"It went fine," she said aloud. "I killed one vampire. You'll be able to come soon, I promise. No, cos I'm not scared of anything."
"*I* can think of something you're scared of." Gareth said. "It begins with 'M' and ends in 'ark'."
Anita rolled her eyes. "Where is Mark?"
"Here." Mark came in from the kitchen, drinking a mug of coffee. "How come you only got one?"
"I wandered all over the quarter. Nothing, but then an *assassin* followed me home. I got him."
"Damn!" Mark yelled, humour lighting up his blue eyes. "I'll have to surrender my 'Most Wanted' crown."
"Oooh, I almost forgot." Gareth yelled. "Happy Birthday, An. I'd get you a present, but you know, no money."
"It's okay," she said. "I don't mind."
Mark looked at his watch. "'Nita, you could take Meg out now, if you want. It's only half ten."
Meg started jumping around with joy. "Really? Oh wow, this is going to be sooo cool!" Anita grinned.
"I haven't said yes yet." Meg's face fell. "But I'll take you along."
***
"Why don't you wear all the black ninja gear all the other hunters do?" Meg asked.
"Don't need to. See, I don't officially exist. My dad was a vampire hunter and he never registered that I was born. So I don't have to worry about identity and so on."
"Cool," Meg said.
"And besides," Anita added, "our gang just don't disguise ourselves. You have to have suicidal tendencies to join."
"Like me?" asked Meg. "I don't mind dying."
"Good. That way you won't be as scared.
It was clear she was though. Meg was clutching her stake like a teddy bear and shaking from head to foot. Anita was worried about her, but surely it was natural to be terrified on your first hunt? She could still remember hers. Her dad had taken her, and they'd found a vampire. Her dad had held her down while Anita staked her. He'd been so proud of her. Within six months she'd been hunting on her own.
It was a quiet night. They wandered through the broken streets, the only light coming from the moon and stars, and the occasional crack of light from behind someone's curtains. When they found some vampires they were taken completely by surprise. Four of them staggered out of the Green Dragon, a local pub. Meg had been taught to know the signs, and raised her stake. Anita raised her crossbow. She shot down the toughest looking one before they had time to react to them. She hissed "Stay close to me, kill them if you can."
They jumped at the three remaining ones, who were staring at them, a new expression overcoming drunken surprise: anger and malice. Two of them jumped on Anita. The other went for Meg. For a while Anita disappeared into the battle frenzy. Their opponents weren't armed, but they were tough. She staked one of them in the chest quickly, before she noticed that the third one had sharpened up his fangs and was beating Meg easily. She yelled her name a few times, but her own enemy was keeping her busy, and it took a few cuts and a sprained wrist before she managed to plunge a wooden sword into him.
By this time the third vamp had managed to get his teeth into Meg, and she had gone a strange shade of blue. Then she saw that he had his own wrist at Meg's throat. Anita used her sword to decapitate him, but not before Meg had gone completely blue. She picked her up as though she was a baby and began to run home as fast as she could.
***
She came to her house in ten minutes, and tried desperately to open the locks as fast as she could. "Help me!" she yelled as she burst in. Mark, Kim and Debby were all there, and they jumped up as soon as they saw her.
"What *happened*?" Debby demanded frantically.
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, oh I'm so sorry," was all Anita could say. They lay Meg down on the sofa. Her lips were purple, her skin had a bluish tinge. Her hair fell across her face, her eyes were closed. A faint trickle of blood as issuing from her mouth. She looked dead. Mark checked her pulse and breathing. A stricken look passed over his face. "No!" he whispered. "Oh, no. Oh Anita, I'm sorry. She—she's dead."
"What about CPR?!" Kim demanded.
"Too late." Mark said. His voice was so… final.
Anita sank into and armchair. "I killed her." She said.
"No, there was no way you could have known," Debby said, sliding her arms around her. "If there was anything you could have done, you'd have done it."
Anita couldn't take it in. Meg's French notebook was still on the floor. How could she be dead? Anita felt cold, and wondered why. She was shaking and gasping. Eventually Debby got up and made her a cup of tea, which she couldn't drink. Mark called a 'friend', and Kim held her hand. Gareth, Peter, Farzana and Daniel arrived, and tried to comfort her.
She stared out the window until the faintest tinges of pink illuminated the dark sky. Meg was still lying still on the couch. Mark said gently "Nita, you know what I have to do. I'm sorry. Don't get upset, will you? It's just in case."
Anita nodded without saying a word. Mark went over to Meg—but no, it wasn't *Meg* anymore, it was just a corpse. He took her stake, which was still clutching in her lifeless hands. He raised it above the body. Anita closed her eyes. Kim gripped her hand tightly. She heard a sickening squelch as he brought it down. They couldn't risk her coming back. Anita kept her eyes closed, and in the end she fell asleep.
***
Mark's friend Connor arrived. "Sorry," he said, but there was no sympathy in his voice. Kim looked at him suspiciously. He looked like a wolf to her. "But time heals all ills." He continued. He looked doubtfully at Anita. She was sleeping now, but sat bolt upright. Kim had gone, and taken the full cup of cold tea with her.
"I hope you're right." He said. Connor shrugged. He took Meg's body with him when he left. ~It's such a shame,~ Mark thought. ~Meg was so young.~ Not for the first time in his life, Mark wondered why they even bothered.
It was dark, and the only sounds were Anita's footsteps, the faint roar of the road far away, and the very, very faint shuffling of the vampire who had been following her for the last ten minutes. You had to admit, there was something almost appealing about their arrogance, she mused as she stepped into the pool of light created by a yellow streetlight. He was about 100 feet behind her, and she turned to face him.
Anita wasn't incredibly attractive, and she didn't really care. In her line of work things like that just didn't really matter. Her brown hair was tied back loosely, her jeans were baggy and ripped and her t-shirt was unremarkable. The vampire behind her was looking slightly perturbed that she'd known she was being followed, but walking with the easy grace of a hunter sure of his prey's weakness.
"My brother," she said, "is going to be really, really pissed at you."
She could see his face now; he wasn't as handsome as some vampires, which helped her keep her cool. The devastatingly beautiful ones got her mad, she couldn't stand that such monsters were so beautiful. But he was normal. Breathe.
"I mean, I'm beating him now. Congratulations, you're the 15th assassin they've sent after me. You have the double honour of being the first vampire I'll kill as a nineteen year old. It's a momentous occasion. What? Aren't you going to sing happy birthday to me?"
She whipped a crossbow out of the satchel by her side, pointing it levelly at his chest. Damn, he was wearing some kind of breastplate. She raised her arm a little, and fired a bolt right at his neck. He spluttered a little as it passed through, but the hole was already healing. By the time it had, she was on him. Anita hated vampires more than anything, and as she jumped she reached for the curved wooden knife at her side. She slashed down. The assassin, she thought, looked so much better without his head.
She left the body where it was. She knew the Night World well enough to know it would be gone by morning.
***
Anita entered the Flowers Estate, where the streetlamps ended. A low mist covered the ground. ~Christ~ she thought ~It looks like a scene from a horror film!~ She whistled ad she walked, the only other person on the street was Ripple Breedlove, a quiet, mousy little witch whose dirty blonde hair shone with grease in the half light. Anita frowned slightly. As a rule the Cleansers didn't bother with witches. Especially not pathetic ones like Ripple. She, however, didn't realise this, and as soon as she saw Anita swinging her knife as she walked down the dreary streets, she ducked into someone's porch and stayed there in mute terror until Anita was gone.
As Anita came to the house she shared with her brother, her best friend Kim fell into step beside her. She was grinning from ear to ear; she'd obviously had a good night.
"Five" she began with. "I think I got the one who killed that little boy last week. You?"
"One, but he was an assassin."
Kim laughed, shaking her blonde mane that usually had Anita spitting with jealousy. ~Kim can't help being beautiful,~ she told herself for the thousandth time. "Mark's going to kill you!" Kim said in a sing song voice. Anita shrugged.
"He should get out more, he'd have a higher chance of getting killed." Both girls laughed as they came into the porch of Anita's house. It was an old house, like the whole estate, but it had a reinforced steel door to keep out any night time visitors. Anita pulled out her keys. "You coming up?" She asked. Kim shook her head. "Things to do, people to see. I'll be over fist thing tomorrow for Big Chief Mark's lecture." Anita smiled.
"See you then. I need to check Meg did her homework and all that." Kim waved and walked off. Anita let herself in. "Helloo-oo!" she yelled. There was no reply. She went into the living room. Gareth was stretched out on the sofa, moving his head in time to the Stereophonics blaring out from the hi-fi in the corner. He waved and carried on reading a magazine. Meg was laid out on the floor revising some French verbs. She jumped up.
"Anita! How did it go? Did you kill any vampires? When will I be able to come out with you? Was it scary?"
Meg's blonde curls bounced up and down as she talked. ~No-one would ever know~ Anita thought, ~That this girl saw her parent's throats torn out by werewolves six months ago.~
Anita had stumbled across the scenario almost by accident; she'd been hunting a vampire. She'd slipped into some human's house she was sure it had gone into, but instead found blood everywhere, and the bodies of two adult humans. Three wolves were trying to get into a wardrobe, where thirteen year old Meg had barricaded herself. Anita had fought off the wolves single handed, a feat not even Mark could have managed. But she had. She had taken Meg under her wing and helped her to deal with it. Meg was now a kind of apprentice vampire hunter.
"It went fine," she said aloud. "I killed one vampire. You'll be able to come soon, I promise. No, cos I'm not scared of anything."
"*I* can think of something you're scared of." Gareth said. "It begins with 'M' and ends in 'ark'."
Anita rolled her eyes. "Where is Mark?"
"Here." Mark came in from the kitchen, drinking a mug of coffee. "How come you only got one?"
"I wandered all over the quarter. Nothing, but then an *assassin* followed me home. I got him."
"Damn!" Mark yelled, humour lighting up his blue eyes. "I'll have to surrender my 'Most Wanted' crown."
"Oooh, I almost forgot." Gareth yelled. "Happy Birthday, An. I'd get you a present, but you know, no money."
"It's okay," she said. "I don't mind."
Mark looked at his watch. "'Nita, you could take Meg out now, if you want. It's only half ten."
Meg started jumping around with joy. "Really? Oh wow, this is going to be sooo cool!" Anita grinned.
"I haven't said yes yet." Meg's face fell. "But I'll take you along."
***
"Why don't you wear all the black ninja gear all the other hunters do?" Meg asked.
"Don't need to. See, I don't officially exist. My dad was a vampire hunter and he never registered that I was born. So I don't have to worry about identity and so on."
"Cool," Meg said.
"And besides," Anita added, "our gang just don't disguise ourselves. You have to have suicidal tendencies to join."
"Like me?" asked Meg. "I don't mind dying."
"Good. That way you won't be as scared.
It was clear she was though. Meg was clutching her stake like a teddy bear and shaking from head to foot. Anita was worried about her, but surely it was natural to be terrified on your first hunt? She could still remember hers. Her dad had taken her, and they'd found a vampire. Her dad had held her down while Anita staked her. He'd been so proud of her. Within six months she'd been hunting on her own.
It was a quiet night. They wandered through the broken streets, the only light coming from the moon and stars, and the occasional crack of light from behind someone's curtains. When they found some vampires they were taken completely by surprise. Four of them staggered out of the Green Dragon, a local pub. Meg had been taught to know the signs, and raised her stake. Anita raised her crossbow. She shot down the toughest looking one before they had time to react to them. She hissed "Stay close to me, kill them if you can."
They jumped at the three remaining ones, who were staring at them, a new expression overcoming drunken surprise: anger and malice. Two of them jumped on Anita. The other went for Meg. For a while Anita disappeared into the battle frenzy. Their opponents weren't armed, but they were tough. She staked one of them in the chest quickly, before she noticed that the third one had sharpened up his fangs and was beating Meg easily. She yelled her name a few times, but her own enemy was keeping her busy, and it took a few cuts and a sprained wrist before she managed to plunge a wooden sword into him.
By this time the third vamp had managed to get his teeth into Meg, and she had gone a strange shade of blue. Then she saw that he had his own wrist at Meg's throat. Anita used her sword to decapitate him, but not before Meg had gone completely blue. She picked her up as though she was a baby and began to run home as fast as she could.
***
She came to her house in ten minutes, and tried desperately to open the locks as fast as she could. "Help me!" she yelled as she burst in. Mark, Kim and Debby were all there, and they jumped up as soon as they saw her.
"What *happened*?" Debby demanded frantically.
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, oh I'm so sorry," was all Anita could say. They lay Meg down on the sofa. Her lips were purple, her skin had a bluish tinge. Her hair fell across her face, her eyes were closed. A faint trickle of blood as issuing from her mouth. She looked dead. Mark checked her pulse and breathing. A stricken look passed over his face. "No!" he whispered. "Oh, no. Oh Anita, I'm sorry. She—she's dead."
"What about CPR?!" Kim demanded.
"Too late." Mark said. His voice was so… final.
Anita sank into and armchair. "I killed her." She said.
"No, there was no way you could have known," Debby said, sliding her arms around her. "If there was anything you could have done, you'd have done it."
Anita couldn't take it in. Meg's French notebook was still on the floor. How could she be dead? Anita felt cold, and wondered why. She was shaking and gasping. Eventually Debby got up and made her a cup of tea, which she couldn't drink. Mark called a 'friend', and Kim held her hand. Gareth, Peter, Farzana and Daniel arrived, and tried to comfort her.
She stared out the window until the faintest tinges of pink illuminated the dark sky. Meg was still lying still on the couch. Mark said gently "Nita, you know what I have to do. I'm sorry. Don't get upset, will you? It's just in case."
Anita nodded without saying a word. Mark went over to Meg—but no, it wasn't *Meg* anymore, it was just a corpse. He took her stake, which was still clutching in her lifeless hands. He raised it above the body. Anita closed her eyes. Kim gripped her hand tightly. She heard a sickening squelch as he brought it down. They couldn't risk her coming back. Anita kept her eyes closed, and in the end she fell asleep.
***
Mark's friend Connor arrived. "Sorry," he said, but there was no sympathy in his voice. Kim looked at him suspiciously. He looked like a wolf to her. "But time heals all ills." He continued. He looked doubtfully at Anita. She was sleeping now, but sat bolt upright. Kim had gone, and taken the full cup of cold tea with her.
"I hope you're right." He said. Connor shrugged. He took Meg's body with him when he left. ~It's such a shame,~ Mark thought. ~Meg was so young.~ Not for the first time in his life, Mark wondered why they even bothered.