Chapter 2 - Blood Red Eyes!
The office was precise, clinical even. A magnolia and steel backdrop to a stage of elegant antiques and marble furniture. It was a style of sorts, choosing to softly murmur money instead of scream like any other vampire would. "We were right to call you boy. We intercepted a call to the local authorities, and confirmed our theories." Deep well learnt English boomed from the dark figure. He was an older man, looming from his unassuming throne, which was at least as old as it's occupant's fashion sense. Towards a modern looking lad, stood straight, presenting his best self in front of the desk. The old man's stoic countenance, broke to let the side of his mouth curl up, foully chuckling. "The hunter known as Alexandrya De Vendetta, must reside close to this small city. We have yet to find her exact place of origin, but I am sure this is all you should need boy. It is up to you to take care of her." Sliding a thinly filled manilla envelope, probably containing, just a picture and a name, as was the tradition.
The boy took the envelope placing it smoothly into his finely tailored, if a little small, suit. In essence he was well dressed, correctly complementing colours and fabrics, notable pointed shoes. However for some reason the boy kept his hair smoothed down in tight control apart from a mop of blond hair swooping all over his forehead. It failed in it's only possible use, to mask his refined features and translucent porcelain skin. As if hiding those shining blood red eyes were possible. "Yessir." The young man devolved his posture in an instant, mocked a bow, and swanned out of the office.
It's been awhile since Pol had encountered a hunter… Sometimes they run around and say that they're 'The Slayer! Destined to kill all the vampires, and demons, help the humans or save the planet.' Like some flower power so-n-so, what a load of skuzz. All they were, was super annoying. The really only end up responsible for picking off a few lackeys. But he had to admit this one seemed different. This 'Alexandrya?' Like they tried to go greek but got muddled up and went to Brighton by the end of it. She had managed to make a fair dent in the worldwide vampire population, which is actually impressive seeing how young she was. Heamon had even asked him personally to come over to England to take her out. He he didn't want to know who she actually managed to kill to piss him off, but he would do the job he was given, and relish the hunt.
As he sauntered down the grey cobbled streets, he imagined her blood's taste, sure she would have lots, rich and thick, but tainted by the anger and violence inside her. He liked to think each persons anger was like a new favour of marmite, impossible to tell it's tang before hand. As strong as she was, her blood would have a lasting taste, but would he take the chance to check if he loved or hated it?
The picture of this 'Alexa,' he could deal with that as a name, he had inside his assignment folder, showed a tallish teenager, in a neat school uniform. She had good hair, neck, and sad black eyes staring out at him. Not intimidating in the slightest, how had this human plagued Prague and Madrid last summer?
But a school uniform was something to go on. He whipped out his latest edition smartphone and trolled thought a few of the local school websites, laughing at, and pitting the poor creatures that had to spend all their days wearing the same thing, and being told what to do. What was a teacher even for? He learnt whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He came across a co-ed Academy with a photo of a very busty teacher and a grinning pale boy with grey eyes and a certificate in '100% Attendance,' the uniform matched and even if he zoomed in he could make out two girls clapping behind, one of which he would gamble his favourite tie pin on, was her.
His Orange Taxi, how is there no Uber? Took him directly to a bland newly built Academy at the outskirts of the town, climbing onto the roof of one of the nearby homes, he surveyed the grey concrete and corrugated iron building. "What do they make these things with cookie cutters?" It had a huge amount cramped classrooms, and even more students. He looked for hints of his prey with his inhumanly sensitive eyes, but whipped out military grade binoculars to help them along. He loved how humanity's laziness could lead to so many useful nicknacks.
He watched for hours, tucking away any info he could use. Alexa was in there and she seemed studious, sitting up straight, never making attempts to disobey her teachers or socialise with others. One girl sitting next to her in a few classes seemed to be actively avoiding her gaze. The others just seemed to pay her no notice, had she not been enrolled at the place for three years? So when he thought about it, she was boring. Now the girls sneaking out just after lunch, they look like a fun little midday snack.
He had come prepared for this, he slipped off his knitted tie and undid the top few buttons of his white shirt, exposing the white under t-shirt slightly, untucking the both from his well fitted black trousers , running his hand through his hair to make it tousled, completing the bad boy escaped from another school look, with a pair of fashion forward sunglasses. He stalked the two from a casual distance, finding it harder to stay out of sight than catch up with their slow human steps. After an age down a suburban road, they turned headed down a tree covered country lane. Noticing them stop to try and smoke a cigarette he decided to make his presence known, catching up to them. "Hey girls, mind if I join you?" He lumbered up, turning on his effortless charm. "Not girls." The taller of the two tuned and revealed his k-pop pretty boy appearance. Pol stopped in his tracks, confused, maybe envious. The students turned away and laughed at him, passing a single cigarette to each other for tiny tokes. Pol recovered "Well that doesn't matter to me." He inhaled tones of hormones, cheap cologne, and smoke. Youth and rebellion, that brought a smile to his face, one with sharp incisors. Attacking the boy first, knocking him out with a simple backhand.
The monster fixed upon looming over the girl, she was paralysed in fear, he had been as cute as her boyfriend before, but now, he's, he's all teeth! And a there seemed to be a red glow escaping from behind his sunglasses. "You can scream if you want, but no-one will come." The thing said as his strong clawed hands caught her shoulders. Jerking her towards him, before he slipped down her shirt collar, needle sharp claws caressing her throat, before he bit down.
He slurped like a happy kitten, leisurely letting his prey's body stop struggling in his firm grasp. The other student started to raise his head, catching Pol's now uncovered paralysingly blood red eyes. "What are you?" Was all the floor bound teenager could muster. Pol licked the girls her neck wounds closed, before dropping her limp body to the ground. "What does that matter? I'm going to ask you a few questions, and if you're lucky you won't also end up like her."
"Is she dead? Ask me anything. Please just don't." He spluttered, this pleased Pol as he fished out the photo from his blazer. "Who is this girl? Where does she live? Who are her people?" The student gulped, but reached out for the photo and studied it closely. "She's a student at my school?"
"I know that." "Ah um, oh…"
"Her name is Alexandrya De Vendetta."
"Oh! Alexa." He did have a chance to save himself, he sped though all he could. "She's a scary year 11 that has only two friends and lives on a remote farm with her random uncle. She once knocked out a teacher for going to touch a girl, but was never even punished. Actually she's got into fights with a couple of people. Um, she's hot but no-one would ever go there, cause she's a um. What do you want with her? Is that all? Can I go?"
"Can you go? That wasn't very useful, I need more." He punctuated his statement with a leisurely lick at the remnants of blood on his lips, and teeth. Inciting the right amount of fear. "I-I can't say much else, I'm not even in her year."
"Fine, but you will find out more." Pol captured the mortal boy's gaze, red eyes glowing. "You will go and find out everything you can about about her, stalk her, befriend her, seduce her, I don't care. Just get it done."
"Yes I will." The student swayed lightly, like a leaf ready to fall to the ground with the lightest breeze. His eyes wide but absolutely vacant, looking at everything yet nothing.
"Go on then. Find her." Pol snapped, why was bloody boy not moving? He was done with this, and shook the teen with frustration, this happened to over vampire not him, a prince of the night. He had infinite skills in phycological manipulation, he could even mould the brainwaves other vampires.
A short rang out! A couple of tits and a seagull flew from the trees above. Pol felt an acute pressure in his leg, then it buckled his blood pouring out of him, pain pulsating as his calf muscle fought to heal itself, he clutched his good knee, he'd been shot? What was this pain? What was the bullet? "Oww!" He stumbled towards the direction of the unfriendly fire, and there she was, Alexa. Standing in her school uniform, her shirt sleeves rolled up, and gun aimed directly at his blood soaked fangs, she glared at him. "If it's me you want let the kid go." She hollered cocking her gun in anticipation. Those black eyes, Pol couldn't taste the blood in his mouth anymore, something else, heavy, seeping thought him. Dread.
The schoolgirl launched herself at the him, her fist crunching his jaw, dark thick blood pouring down his collar. He had never felt such pain from broken bones, as he caught the lolling jaw willing it to reconnect. The girl strong-armed his would be lackey beyond his reach. But vampire's recover, lashing out slicing at the air, narrowly passing through where the girl's head once was, she kicked at his legs, he'd jumped over in time. Their attacks continued, one would try to strike the other would dodge seamlessly. Over and over.
"Who are you! What sort of vampiric creature can survive the sunlight?" Alexa eventually cried in frustration as he thwarted another elbow to the jugular. All the wounds she had inflicted had healed, all the facts stated it was a vampire, except the blaring one. "What are hell are you?" The abomination answered her question with another, trying pierce her abdomen with his claw. She caught his arm and forced him to fly off to the side, but his head whipped back towards hers. He was trying to catch her eye, he must be proficient at mind control, is she kept her head still for a moment she would loose this battle, her life and those students.
Leaving the questions hanging they continued to fight, until Alexa felt for an opportune moment to use valuable parts of a second to whip out her slight firearm once more. Pol sprung backwards into a tree, for a split second vanishing from view. But she held true and forced the trigger as he flew out from his perch, brandishing a large pointed branch, and like a lance he dove it through her shoulder sure to puncture a lung, as her well aimed bullet caught in his cold heart. They both instantly collapsed to the dusty ground, pitching towards their left, reaching towards each other as they strained to land another attack, the shock and absolute agony from the lethal blows overtaking everything.
A few moments later a small robust silver 'Ford Festa' rolled up, and a tallish middle-age 'English gentleman' climbed out. He failed to notice an unholy furry creature creeping under the hedgerow, watching him, but who knew what happened to bunnies after they've been genetically modified. He instead took in the four unconscious teenagers on the dirt road. Instantly choosing to tend to the impaled dark girl, pulling out a metal magic wand that glowed at the tip. With just a flick of the wrist a beam on light sliced the excess branch away from where it had entered and then exited the girl's upper torso. Bending over to check her pulse, and he continued onto the others taking a white rustling bag of small things out and placing one in each of the other teens mouths. Focussing back on his first patient he lifted her up, into the automobile and whisked away back down the road from whence he came. Loud sirens echoed in the distance, but were becoming clearer, so the creature decided to fully emerge, large clawed feet scuttling through the dirt the direction of the still whole vampire, "Masssterrr." The blond prince under him stirred, his nose twitched at a most unpleasant smell. "Massterr, wake up, drink from me ifff you need." Pol spluttered and pushed the foul humanoid creature off his chest. "That won't be necessary Renfield." He coughed up the odd tasting powdered sweet. "Bring me the boy." Renfield dragged over the limp unbitten student, for his dark prince to sup at. The flashing lights, were visible now, and the sirens blearing as if they were just around the corner. Pol closed the wounds on his latest victim with his magical saliva and started to make for the trees. "Renfield, where did the hunter go? Find her!" "Yesss master." The abnormality who was once a man sniffed the air and crawled off, leaving the students to the ambulance.
Renfield was a strange thing, he had the intelligence of a human, and the right amount of limbs, but other than that he was as far from human as a human could be. Siting on the carcass of a police officer, munching on the officers partner, Renfield looked through the number plate database for the address he wanted. Leaving the bodies ripped to shreds in the car, he retuned to the elegant hotel his master owned. One of a prestigious chain, beautiful to the human passersby, but many secret entrances, passageways, and rooms void of any natural light. He crawled up the side of the building, dislocated stubs grasping at the brickwork and pipes with supernatural speed and dexterity. Siding his body through a hole barley big enough for a dog, he made is way through the vents to one such lightless areas. Pol was lying splayed out with a damp towel over his face, on an ornate chaise longe. The suite was a beautiful penthouse, gold and crimson throughout with Georgian style and original furniture. It was warmer than you would expect for a resting place of the living dead, because of the roaring coal fire in one side of the apartment. There were touches of other past centuries apparent too, and every now and then a feminine item the Prince would never have liked to admit owning.
Renfield crept to his side, "I have herrr Masssterr." Pol allowed his face towel to fall and his servant to catch it. As pale as he was his eyes still looked more pink, than red, without his usually thirst. "You have the numbers I taught you about?" He brought out his cell phone, ready to pop a zip code into maps.
"EXsss20 6AXss is all was regissterred, it's noplacce." "Great, go stalk out the closest Walmart, call me when one of them turns up."
"Call?" The creature shuffled unsure, Pol narrowed his eyes in frustration.
"Yes call, ugh. Take that metal brick over there and press 1 and the phone symbol. Do not wake my up before then." Pol took the towel back, rolling over to resume his day's sleep.
A "Walmart", a supermarket, something that sells everything or a food supplier? Was there nowhere of the like to be seen on the dirt tracks and rarely used roads in the hunters area? But the monster had found that many people seemed to congregate inside a loud place, gruff voices whooped and cheered, and regularly staggered out with huge grins. Sometimes they headed to an "Off licence" but no food was there. Eventually the mass of fur, Renfield, decided to lie in the gutter between buildings with large glass windows, one smelling heavily of meat, the other of earth and fresh green. Luck was on the thing's side, the hunter's suited savour from before entered the "Off licence" across from him, and he followed. Using the master's device as he was told. "I have the hunter's servant in my sightsss. My Princce." "Great, and where is that?"
"In the placce I told you?"
"By Hades, go and ask someone!" The monster scuttled across the threshold of the shop. Carefully evading the vision of the shop attendant, who was sitting behind the till busy attending to his teeth with a cocktail stick. The lights shone so brightly in his eyes he had to rely on his other senses, creeping along the floor of an isle that smelled deeply of some sort of manure. Feeling the slightly damp and slimy areas on the cheap, as he scuttled towards the sound of a heartbeat. The smell of content human filed his nostrils finally, and he pounced upon the attendant. "Tell me where we are!" The foul creature hissed at him.
"Uncle Ali's Corner Shop and Convince Store!" The man screamed as he crashed backwards, hitting his head violently on the tobacconist and liquor cabinet behind him. The suited man rushed to the source of the cry, and spotted the vile mess of Renfield. "Oh." And he hid behind the isle to his side.
Collecting himself D took a calculating breath, what was that, had it hurt the poor man beside it, and what did he have to use around him? He only had one pocket of nicknacks, a gismo, and his most prised tool: His mind.
Apparently he didn't need it much because without planning it he had found himself in the cleaning isle. Taking out his trusty hybrid water pistol he filled it with Mr Muscle, and hoarded a couple of boxes of Toilet Duck Disks into his basket. Taking one confident step, he strode over to make a new acquaintance. "Good evening, I have to ask, is Joe okay?" The creature was motionless, D walked from side to side, checking if the creature would try to follow him. It did, it's head moved very slightly never letting him out of the centre of it's vision. "Are you scared, don't worry about me. I'm harmless." He approached with warmth and caution. "You're a long way from home, can I help? Just let me have a quick look over Joe first, because Ali would kill me if I didn't."
Renfield just observed the strange man, he wasn't scared of him, this human had surely had a lot of contact with vampires, but Renfield wasn't even counted as a vampire by his own race. The man put on some spectacles and saw to the other human. There was a little blood, but the whole situation was so strange it didn't even tigger his thirst. The device the young master had given him started singing, it had fallen on the floor by the bloody human. The suited one answered it, and the prince's voice came out, clear as he was in the room. "I'm in the area okay, where am I going?"
"Thank you, he's been hurt! We're are Uncle Ali's on Bitton Fore Street! Well the only street."
The other side of the line was silent for a moment "Thanks…"
"Hurry I'll call and ambulance too." The man put the communicator down, now he had to help or hide the scared creature before anyone else saw him, shouldn't be too hard. "Efflc gct? ¿Cómo estás? Twiitf twiitf? Are you okay, come on, what language do you speak? I'm going to help you, just help me help you, please."
The creature decide what would make the situation make sense. He pounced on the man before him, and stated to suck at his neck like a leech. Humans are food, not complicated. Even if they taste like nothing he had had ever lapped up before. The strange human was strong, rolling them both over and over. "Okay, maybe not friendly!" the man cried, crashing Renfield's head across the corner of an aisle, repeatedly.
D usually knew how to keep his calm but this monster had a mean bite, it was sucking at an alarming rate too. He had to keep trying to dislodge the head, smacking it into the isle. The thing finally released and screamed, D took one of the cistern duck disks and shoved it in the creatures mouth, it's scream started to fizz and gurgle.
"Grahhshshhshshshshs!" Renfield cried, falling his misshapen sharp limbs towards the man, and succeeded in ripping his flesh to shreds.
D stumbled out of the shop and onto the road, gripping his flesh, he had to get away, he was near death's door. A blond young man climbing out of a taxi across the road and caught his eye. "Help me!" D implored. The young man just stood there in his immaculate well fitting trousers, pin stripe jacket, pale shirt, and blood red knitted tie. Which was striking, because it matched his eyes. "Please!" The young man looked him up and down, as if evaluating if there was even a point in helping someone so close to death. "Please, I know things, I can show you things that you could never imagine." The teenager approached and easily caught his heavy mass of limbs. Pleading as he fell "I need to get home, then I can show you the universe." "Sorry old man, there's not much I don't know about. I'm not interested, I've already met all things that go bump in the night." The youth stated, but D's eyes widened beaming with all the glee he could muster.
"What about things that go bump on other planets? Like the one I'm from." It was Pol's turn to be shocked. What did he mean he was an alien? They don't exist, but there was blue gloop leaking from him like blood and is smelt odd, like no blood he had ever tasted. Following his eye-line to the wounds the alien answered "Yes, I am an alien. Help me home and I'll tell you more." Pol didn't need to hear any more, meeting an alien was the most interesting thing that had happened to him this century, screw chasing after the hunter, this was something new!