Eleven: I Need To Sleep

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Keeping an eye on the moving figure in front of me, I stole a moment to rest on a wall, my head spinning. Even with those antibiotics, I still hadn't fully recovered from my cold – which I first got at least six weeks ago. I muttered under my breath, cursing all the things I always cursed, and pulled out my phone, hitting the green call button.

"Our friend is moving towards the piers," I whispered into the phone.

"Roger. Can you keep up?" Perri's voice asked back. From the rustling I could hear in the background, I guessed she was in the process of running.

"Give me a few seconds to get my head straight and I'll be right."

"Got that. I'm after him now."

And then the call ended.

Slipping it back into the pocket of my coat, I looked up, towards the direction of the swiftly running figure that was our target. There was a flash, and a second figure was seen, running in the darkness several metres after it the first, as stealthily as possible. Beyond them, I could see the moon shining down onto the ocean, as if creating a path to the heavens.

Perri and me had found our way to this newest town, an otherwise quiet old seaport. Tracking down our vamp was hard, though – there were so many abandoned places along the wharves and piers that it was near impossible to find him. But then we finally had a lead – we spotted a man walking around with the customary three scars on his cheek. So we tagged that man around for a few nights, and, violá, there's our vamp.

Using the man as bait, we waited for our blood-sucking friend to show himself. He was halfway through drinking the man dry when we used our planned diversion – that being, Perri stumbling through the alley like a drunkard. The vamp fled, and I, positioned on the mostly flat rooftops, gave chase as quietly as possible. Perri followed on foot, after calling an ambulance and making sure the man was okay.

Up ahead, the first of the two figures disappeared from view. Moments later, the shadow that was Perri followed.

With a sigh, I pushed myself off of the wall I had been leaning on and leaped onto the next rooftop with a faint thud. I ran after the other two, my head pounding as my heart struggled to pump blood throughout my body.

I lost count of how many rooves I ran across. One had a clothesline that I nearly ran into – I did manage to collect a piece of black lingerie as I went past, but I threw it back over my shoulder. Another had a little girl sitting on a little wooden seat. She looked up, face tear-stained, mouth open in a little 'o' of surprise, as I streamed passed. The next roof was one of the slanted ones – I almost slipt off it, causing several of the tiles to crash down to the ground three storeys below me. Glancing down for the first time, I gulped, squeezed my eyes shut, and kept running.

Damn Perri! Damn that vamp! Damn the movies! Why do they make this seem so damned easy?! My mind was screaming. Damn, damn, DAMN!

Then, quite suddenly, the roof I was running along ended. The gap to the next roof was far too wide for me to possibly jump. I came to a skidding halt, my arms windmilling wildly. Time slowed as I hung over the side, the ground some forty metres below me, beckoning for me to fall down. Remembering something I had learnt years ago, I threw my weight backwards, landing on my ass. Something cracked rather loudly.

That was just dandy. My head was spinning like mad – again – I'd lost track of where Perri had gotten to, and now I'd most likely broken my ass bone. Today just wasn't my day.

I stood gingerly, but thankfully, I could move around easily. My butt was only bruised, not broken. It took a few seconds more for my head to settle down enough for me to try and look for a way down.

Just as I began to walk along the roof, I felt something vibrating in my pocket. At first, I had no idea what it was, and slapped at it – but it only turned out to be my phone.

I fished it out and answered the call, putting it to my ear.

"Nice display earlier. You're so graceful."

I growled into the phone, glancing around.

"Where are you?"

"Look down, numbskull," she answered. And so I did, peering over the edge of the roof – which I had almost fallen off a few moments ago. Down below, I could see nothing but old cardboard boxes, rubbish and dumpsters.

"Er… where are you exactly?"

She gave an exaggerated sigh, and from the tone of her voice, I could tell she was rolling her eyes.

"I'm waving at you now. Can you see?"

I glanced around, looking for a hint of movement – there! I could see her hand, her grinning face, around the edge of the next building, lit by one of the dark street lamps the lined the piers. I scowled down at her.

"And how the hell do I get down there?"

Perri laughed.

"So eloquent. There's one of those metal staircase things over to your left. Just take them – oh, and, be careful, it might decide to collapse beneath you at any given moment."

"Thanks for the warning," I said dryly, and ended the call. I could just hear her trying to stifle her laughs down below. Glancing over to my left, I saw what she was talking about, and mentally kicked myself for not seeing it earlier.

A few minutes later, I found Perri, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and staring at the sea. I pulled my jacket closer, shivering despite its warmth. The ocean winds tended to be very cold.

"Did you lose him?" I asked. She shook her head, and pointed with her thumb to a large, empty-looking warehouse just down the road.

"I tracked him all the way there. I was just waiting for you to arrive before I launched an attack."

"What, we're going to attack now – during night – while he's still awake?" I asked, bewildered. She shrugged.

"Why not? He's there, and I think he knew he was being followed. He could disappear during the night."

"But – you always said that its better to attack during the day, when they're at their weakest…!"

Perri's eyes flashed with anger.

"Well, I'm saying differently now, aren't I?!" She snapped. I took a step back, raising my hands.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Perri. I'm only saying we should just wait for a bit. You know, come up with a plan and stuff, not just running recklessly in." I paused, and blinked. Was this me, coming up with ideas? That medicine I had to take apparently still had an affect on me.

She continued to glare at me, her eyes shooting daggers. She seemed to be fighting an internal war against her self, as if trying to decide what to do. Finally, her face softened, and she grinned.

"You're right, Steve. We'll find somewhere high to watch the place and come up with a plan." She stepped forward, and draped her arm around my shoulders. Though she had to stand on the tips of her toes to reach, she managed to drag me down somewhat to her level, holding onto my neck so tightly that I thought I would begin to choke. "Come on. We're holing up in there tonight!" She cried, pointing to some place just out of my line of vision. Obviously, she now believed she came up with the idea of attacking at dawn. That's Perri, for you.

Using that hidden strength of hers that still managed to amaze me, Perri dragged me all the way along the wharf, pulling me up some stairs and onto another roof. She dumped me, gasping for breath, onto the ground, where I remained for some minutes, massaging my neck. By the time I had my breathing stabilised – and made sure my windpipe wasn't broken – I stood slowly to see Perri, hands in the pockets of her jacket, staring down at the warehouse opposite us.

"He's waiting for us. He knows we're coming." She said quietly. I didn't comment as I stood next to her, shivering as the cold sea wind tugged at our hair. She, too, was quiet for a few moments – then she looked at me sideways, smiling crookedly. "I'm a little mental tonight, aren't I?"

I grinned.

"'Mental' is an understatement," I told her. Perri let out a bark of laughter, and slapped me on the back. I almost lost my balance, but I quickly regained it before she noticed. I hope.

We grew quiet again, so that all that could be heard was the water down below softly lapping at the stone edges of the wharves, and, far in the distance, the sounds of a city slowly closing down and going to sleep. Not that they did sleep – if there's one thing I'd learnt in my year as a hunter, the world never truly shuts down. There was always something that was awake, even in the deepest, darkest hours of the night.

Perri was proof of that. Though she was active all day and most of the night, I hardly ever saw her sleep. Her insomnia left large, dark hollows underneath her eyes. I'd only noticed it recently – she usually used dark make-up to cover it up. Guess it was another result of her depression.

I glanced at her, and by the faint light from the moon and stars, saw she was fingering her tattoo. Or scars. Either way, her hand was there, softly stroking her skin.

"Why… why did you get your tattoo, Perri?" I asked. She glanced at me, then looked back at the warehouse.

"I wanted a reminder."

"A reminder for what?"

She looked at me, still grinning crookedly.

"A reminder for the oath I swore and the life I chose."

She fell silent. My gaze dropped to my left hand, where the shiny scar tissue looked up at me. Since my cold, I had cut a hole into my gloves so that the scar was visible, so that I, too, would be reminded. Obviously, Perri and I had a lot more in common than I originally thought.

"Get some rest, Steve," she said, her eyes never leaving the empty, dirty windows of the warehouse. "I'll wake you a few hours before dawn so we can talk over the plan."

Only too happy to oblige, I sat down and made myself comfortable against the small cement wall/railing that prevented people from falling off the three-storey building, wrapping my long, warm jacket closer to my body. I paused, rearranging my scarf so that it covered the lower half of my face. When I was done snuggling, I glanced up, only to find Perri quivering with giggles, biting her hand to stop herself from laughing out loud. I glared at her, poked my tongue out, and tried to get some sleep.

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Recently, my dreams had been plagued by spiders, moons, stakes and beds of fire, each time growing more and more intense, to the point I could even feel the burning heat of the flames licking at my skin. This night, thankfully, was not one of those nights.

I had barely closed my eyes when I felt myself being shaken awake. I opened my eyes blearily to find Perri stepping away from me. Up above, the darkened blue sky was clear of stars.

Yawning, I stood, ruffling the back of my hair in the process. Perri had gone back to her position, hands deep in her pockets, her face serious in the dark. I stretched a bit, jumping up and down and throwing a few punches and kicks to warm myself up. Once done, I stood by Perri's side.

"So, come up with a plan?" I asked. She nodded. And then, slowly, she began to tell me what was going to happen. I listened, never questioning what she had to say. In my inexperienced mind, the plan was flawless.

By the time she finished, a thin line of golden-orange showed on the horizon, marking the beginning of dawn.

Perri slung the backpack from her shoulders, and pulled a few things out. The first was a gun-shaped object, only larger. The second was what looked like a quiver, filled with small, heavy-looking, bolt-like arrows.

"I never had enough time to show you how to use one of these, so good luck," she said as she handed it all to me. "Just point and pull the trigger. Watch out for the recoil, oh, and make sure you have another bolt handy – they take forever to reload. A plus, though, is that it's a hell of a lot cleaner than using a stake. You don't get blood sprayed all over you this way."

I weighed the object in my hand, studying it closely. Then I nodded, as if I were an expert at using it already.

"Let's go."

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The heavy door swung open with a long, loud screech. Slow footsteps on cement floor. The door slammed shut.

Silence. Dark and sinister. Then:

"Right. You know I'm here, and I know you're here. Come out, mate." The darkness near the door lightened slightly as the shadow's face split in a dark grin. "Come out, come out – wherever you are." It was a perfect Lestat impersonation.

Light streamed in through patches passed the heavy pieces of cloth that covered all the windows, lighting the dust motes that floated in the air. The golden dawn light landed on empty shelves and broken-down conveyor belts, showing the disrepair the warehouse was in.

More footsteps. The shadow by the doorway stepped into a patch of light, her face cast in a savage grin. Her calloused hands fell limp by her sides, close to her belt, where a small axe hung. She whistled, almost crudely, as if calling for a dog.

"Heeeere boy, heeere widdle vampy-poo!"

Still, silence met her voice.

A small crash, somewhere off to her left. Her body tensed, but her face remained relaxed, as she turned towards the sound. There were squeaks and skittering as something small ran away – just a rat.

She threw her arms out extravagantly, turning slowly so that she could see the whole, large room.
"Aw, come on, mate, I'm getting bored! What are you afraid of?"

"You must be either incredibly stupid, or wishing for your death, little woman!" A heavily Russian-accented voice snarled behind her. Before she had time to whirl around, a shadow detached itself from the darkness, and leaped down onto her.

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A.N

I'm sorry I took forever posting this! Writer's block, technical difficulties and returning to school all conspired against me!

I'm also sorry that this chapter is so crappy. I sorry, I sorry. Next one goody-good, yes?

Have you noticed doesn't let you do some things? Like links and asterisks? Gah! Or smiley faces either! –dies-. I was trying to post the link up for a pic of Perri I drew a little while ago, but it didn't show up! So… if you're interested in seeing it, go to my profile, then to my deviantart page and search around there in recent art. It's called 'Perri the Vampire Slayer'. Original, I know.

Scarlet Rose: Ya, I've heard of Jerk – they're really good, actually! This coming from a one-day old fan, that is! Drug overdose? Now –that's- an idea! Mwuahaha!

andrew-needs-to-write: Finding Neo rules! Dory and Squirt are the best.

Funkynerd: Never mind – after getting back home in Sydney, I now realise that Brisbane is bliss. TIS FREEZING!