Chapter 12: Attack of the Thunder Lizard

"So what'cha doing today?" Caitlin asked.

"I have a date with Spike tonight at 6:00 PM," Gloria replied.

"Well its 4:59 PM right now," Caitlin said. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"I have something," Gloria uttered. "Have you been able to find any information about that black guy?"

"Uh…excuse me?" Caitlin said. "How the heck am I supposed to find info? I don't even know where to start. I didn't even know we had to find info on this guy."

"Duh! What made you think you shouldn't? There's a way. Mel, Ash, and Jess have already started looking for info. We're trying to get more information on the people who died."

"What help would that do?"

"I…don't know. It wasn't my plan to do so."

"Well why didn't you ask me to come?"

"You were on your date with Jack."

"Who?"

"Jack. You know Johnny Depp a.k.a Jack Sparrow. You like to call him that."

"Oh yeah."

Gloria rolled her eyes. At least Mel's not the only one, she thought. "You are so frickin' weird Caitlin."

"I was just playing around. Anyway, did you find anything?" Caitlin asked.

"Unfortunately, no."

"And you complain to me about not finding anything?"

"I wasn't complaining! I was asking! There's a difference!"

Caitlin gasped. "I have to go! My favorite show is on!"

"Oh! So now you're saying your show is more important than talking to me?"

"Yeah!" Then Caitlin hung up without saying goodbye.

"Jeez! How rude!" She hung up as well. "Well, better get ready."

She took a quick shower and got dressed into blue jeans and a white shirt that said "Warning: Attitude Issues." She was not into dresses and things like that. It wasn't her style. She brushed her hair and waited for James.

A minute or two after 6, the doorbell rang. Gloria opened the door and saw James standing outside. He was wearing a brown shirt with a black trench coat, gray pants, and black boots. He liked to wear black. James asked, "Ready?"

"Sure am," Gloria answered.

They both left the house and James opened the passenger door of his black Lexus. Gloria went in and so did James. He started the car and drove out of the parkway. He asked, "Where do you want to go first?"

"Maybe restaurant first," Gloria replied. James nodded in reply and drove to Outback Steakhouse. They had a big and expensive dinner. While eating, they were planning on what to do next. James wanted to take Gloria to the theater, but they didn't know what to see. "It's still showing 'The Da Vinci Code' right?" Gloria questioned.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. I just don't know the times," James answered.

"Then let's see that," Gloria said. "I've heard it was good."

"Then 'The Da Vinci Code' it is," Spike said.

They both left and went to the theaters. "The Da Vinci Code" kept Gloria interested in the movie, even though she pretty much knew what would happen. During the movie, Gloria placed her head on James' chest to get more comfortable. But as they enjoyed it, something was waiting for Gloria at her house, hiding in the shadows, waiting for its prey to return home.

"So did you like it?" James asked.

"Yeah, it was really good," Gloria said.

James reached Gloria's house and announced, "Here we are."

"Thanks for tonight, Spike," Gloria said.

James smiled and nodded. Gloria stared into James' gray eyes and got closer to him. Then James placed his lips on hers. They kissed for several seconds when James said, "Good-night."

"Good-night" Gloria smiled and looked at him, almost dreamily. "I love you."

"As do I," James smiled back.

She got out and went inside her house. She could hear James drive out of the driveway and towards home. She went upstairs and slowly changed. She turned off the light and was about to get to bed when she heard leaves rustling. She got up and looked out the window, but didn't see anything. She closed the window and headed to bed again. But she suddenly heard heavy footsteps outside and it didn't sound human. It sounded more like a giant walking in her front yard.

She felt very anxious and had a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something definitely doesn't feel right, she thought nervously. She looked out the window again. Still nothing. Her heart started pounding hard against her chest. She closed the window once again. She sat down at the edge of her bed, trembling from fear and the cold. Then without warning, she heard something very heavy sink something sharp into the wood of her home. Then claws appeared on the wall and a reptilian face came into sight on the window. It hissed with its long forked tongue like a snake. Gloria gasped as the wall started to break. She ran downstairs and could also hear the monster walking outside the wall, following her. She could see more claw marks on the walls.

The front door was abruptly blasted to pieces and the lizard's head emerged again. Gloria screamed in fear. The lizard came off the wall and landed on its four feet. It looked black, but it was actually blue with thunder shaped stripes. There were four lightning shaped spikes that were probably five or even six ft long on each side and slanted. It had glowing red eyes, a thunder bolt shaped horn, and 3 shiny black claws on each foot. Gloria was dumbfounded by its immense size. It was nearly 30 ft long, its tail being almost 15 ft! That is the longest and biggest lizard I've ever seen, she commented.

The lizard roared a deep and terrifying roar. Gloria started backing away as it got closer. The lizard started snarling, showing its razor-sharp teeth. It opened its mouth and roared again. It wasn't as loud as the first. As swiftly as it had opened its powerful jaws, two fangs on the upper and lower jaws literally came out of its gums. They could've been a foot or two in length. But as it started closing its jaws, the two fangs sank back into its gums. "Eww," Gloria said.

The large lizard started getting closer and Gloria started getting farther. Then she started running back up the stairs and fast. The lizard roared again and ran after her. Shit, that thing's frickin' fast! she thought. She ran to her room, closed the door, and hid inside her closet. The lizard rammed the door with its body and started looking for her. Gloria tried to control her breathing to be as quiet as possible. The lizard flicked its forked tongue into the air like a snake. It started getting closer to the closet. The reptile's heavy footprints got louder as it got closer. For a short while it became dead silent. Gloria relaxed a little, but waited for a while longer. She couldn't be sure that the lizard was gone.

Then without warning, claws appeared on the closet door. Gloria was so startled by the sudden attack, she felt like she was going to have a heart attack. The lizard brought its claws down, slashing the door, and crashed its head into the door, roaring in her face. Its breath smelled of dried blood and flesh. Gloria held her breath and kicked the monster's eye as hard as she could. The lizard roared in pain and backed away. Gloria got up and decided running away wasn't going to solve her problem. She changed into her vampiric form and screeched loudly. The lizard turned around and faced her. Gloria noticed its eyes, which were no longer blood red. It was now dark red. It roared again and charged at Gloria. Gloria flapped her wings and evaded its attack. The lizard missed and crashed into her dresser. "Damn it!" Gloria cursed. "You know how much that was!"

The lizard got up but before it could do anything, Gloria headed downstairs. She would have more room to fight the lizard when downstairs. The lizard reached the bottom and tried to slam Gloria. This time it was successful. Gloria hit a wall so hard, she broke it and hit the cold, cement floor of her garage. She got up and saw the lizard in front of her again. It charged at her once again, but Gloria slashed it with her claws, stopping it in its tracks. It roared as blood seeped from its wounds. This was Gloria's chance. She sank her fangs into the lizard's neck. Out of the blue, blue and yellow energy appeared and circled her arms. The energy sank into her chest. Gloria and Ashley, being the vampires they are, can, of course, suck blood from something or someone and make them weaker as well as suck a little bit of power out of them if they had any to make it their own.

The lizard roared and wrapped its long and powerful tail around Gloria's neck, choking her. It threw her to the other side of the house. The wall broke and she landed on the wet ground outside. She saw lights going on in houses and people going outside to see what was going on. Then she turned her attention back to the lizard. She could see the lizard charging up its electric attack. She could see the thunder shaped spikes turn from silver to blue. Then the energy in the spikes joined together and created a single ball of electricity. The ball became brighter and brighter. Subsequently, the spikes started doing the same. Gloria had a very bad feeling about this. A beam of electricity was fired from the ball of energy. It headed towards Gloria at full speed. She gasped and eluded the oncoming attack. The beam missed her by mere inches.

Then Gloria realized that the beam of electricity was headed towards a house across the street. "Goddamn it!" she shouted. She held her hand out and fired a huge dark ball. It hit the beam of electricity, canceling it. She smiled in triumph, but heard the lizard roar yet again. Goddamn it! What the hell is up with all this roaring? she thought angrily.

She got up, hovered off the ground, and grabbed the lizard's snout with the claws on her foot. It sank deep into its snout. She tried to take to the air, but was whipped by the lizard's tail. She roared loudly in pain and fell back down, letting go of the monster's nose. She looked down at her chest to see a deep whip mark. Blood trickled down from her painful gash. She gritted her teeth very hard to handle the pain. The lizard saw its chance.

It bit Gloria's right leg, bringing her down to the ground again. She cried out as the lizard tightened its grip. Gloria tried to get it off. She could feel excruciating pain as her bone literally started to break. She could even hear it breaking. The lizard started crushing Gloria's leg with its jaws alone. Her eyes started glowing red from anger. Gloria grabbed the monster's right front leg and as a result, ripped some of its flesh clear off. The monster screamed in agony, finally letting go of her leg. Blood poured from its agonizing injury. Gloria tried to get up, but felt a sharp pain surge through her body. She dragged herself until she reached a big, old tree and used one of its branches to help herself up.

The reptile, enraged now, again charged at her. She flew up into the air, dodging it again, and grabbing the lizard's left eye, tearing it out. It roared deafeningly in both anger and pain. This time, it wouldn't let Gloria escape its grasp. It lifted its tail and wrapped it around Gloria's body, tightening its grasp on her. Gloria thrashed about, but it made the lizard tighten its grip, suffocating her, precluding air from reaching her lungs. Gloria knew that if she didn't do something and quick, she would die. "Seithr!" she finally yelled.

She opened her mouth and let out an almost inaudible screech. At long last the lizard let go of her, whipping its head from side to side, hoping to shake off the effects of the spell. Gloria took in a deep breath of air, filling her lungs with fresh air after what felt like forever. She got up, ignoring the pain, and slashed the lizard's side with her hand. It whipped its tail again but this time, Gloria caught it in mid air with her hands. She threw it as far as she could. It landed on the street and before she could give it time to get up, she exclaimed "Kosta-merna!"

The lizard was about to attack after getting up when it was burned by acid. It roared in pain as a pool of acid formed under it. The lizard's skin evaporated and its flesh was burning, causing much pain. Whoa! It looks like its melting! Gloria thought. The lizard started to literally sink into the pool of acid. The last thing Gloria heard was a roar of pain. Then it was gone. Gloria could then hear the sound of helicopters and the police arriving. "Crap!" Gloria yelled.

She limped back inside her wrecked home and turned back to herself. She hid inside her closet to make it seem like she was trying to hide from the monster. She no longer had a crushed leg. She had gotten a crushed leg as vampire and because she was human again, her injury no longer existed but could still feel the pain. The same thing worked with her other friends. If they got an injury in one form, and if they transformed to another, the injury would be gone, but they would still be able to feel the pain.

She waited inside another closet that wasn't destroyed until she finally heard people storm in and look for any danger. She stayed inside the closet, not making a sound. Then the closet door opened and a SWAT member was staring at her with a rifle pointed at her head. His flashlight was blinding her. "Oh my God…Gloria, is that you?" the man asked.

Gloria took a good look at the man and realized that it was Leon. "Leon, thank God you're here," she said, sounding relieved.

Leon grabbed her hand and took her outside. "Gloria, what happened here? And are you ok?" he asked, concerned.

Gloria filled him in, but of course her entire story was a lie. She could not let him know of her true secret, of what really happened. "And yes I'm fine," she added afterwards.

"Good. Listen, head to Jess' house. From what I know, she doesn't live all that far from you. The police might want to speak with you as well," Leon explained.

"Ok. Thanks Leon," said Gloria.

Leon nodded and went to join his fellow SWAT members. He was right about the police. Gloria had no choice but to speak with them and tell them the same story she told Leon. Once that was over, she walked to Jessica's house to sleep over since she was the closest. It was only a 5 minute walk to her house. Gloria explained to Jessica about what had happened and together they chose to ask Melissa about the lizards and tell the others about it. But for now, she needed her rest.