Nightside: Possession of Light

Chapter 1- Vampires

He never saw us coming.  We watched him harass a woman on her way home from a nightclub.

   The two lapdogs stood close behind her blocking any escape. Their leader leaned into her, his lanky, dirty blond hair hiding his face. He played with her hair and whispered something in her ear while the dogs behind leered at her. She cringed away from the man only to bump into the dogs behind.

   The woman clearly did not want to be there, she flinched and struggled not to sob as he stroked her cheek.

   “Please… Please don’t!” she begged, tears falling down her face, terror making her whole body shake.

I had enough. Without even a glance at the others I jumped down from the tree I’d been watching from and landed silently. None of them noticed us stalking them. Hunting them. They thought they were the predators.

   I slipped behind him, slid a knife from my wrist sheath and held the deadly point to his neck. The man froze. Even then his two lapdogs couldn’t see me, wrapped in darkness. They watched their boss talk frantically, confusion crossing their stupid faces.

   “Look man! I don’t want no trouble!” The man stammered desperately, fear pouring out of him. I tilted my head up so the dogs could see the flash of my eyes under the hood. I knew they shone bright like they had a light of their own. But they must have seen something else in them that brought fear rushing hot through their blood, something deeper and darker. They weren’t as stupid as they looked then.

   The dogs backed up only to be stopped by the rest of my pack. Three hunters stood behind them, each holding a knife to their backs. Wolf stood behind me but off to the side so he could watch the whole thing. He was the only one without a weapon out, that was ok because I didn’t need the back up.

    I took a second to contemplate whether I should kill them all, but if I killed every asshole I came across there probably wouldn’t be many people left in the world. I liked the sound of that…

   This man had pissed me off and he had to hurt, even if I don’t kill him.

   “Please…” He begged, but before he had a chance to finish the one word I took the knife away from his throat, twisted around and down to stab the sharp blade into his thigh. He screamed and dropped to the floor.

   None of the other hunters even blinked. I motioned for Wolf; he came and took the girl, his silver eyes shinning brilliantly in the dark. No one had eyes more shocking (and more weird) than mine, until we’d found him.

   The girl whimpered but let Wolf take her to the side. I spared a glance at the lapdogs and they recoiled as if I’d thrown my knives at them. I crouched down in front of the man. He was moaning and whimpering on the floor, clutching his bloody leg. I rolled my eyes, such a drama queen. I grabbed his dirty blond hair and pulled it back, forcing him to look at me.

   “You are in my territory.” I informed him, my voice cold and emotionless. “If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.” I tapped my knife against his face for emphasis then made a slow long cut down his skin, my hand steady.

   It was just a scratch, so I don’t know what the man was crying about.

   “Do you understand me?” He gave the barest of nods making my knife cut slightly deeper.

   Wolf stood beside me with the girl, she was watching me with wide frightened eyes but she didn’t seem nearly as afraid of us as she should be –that was a first.

   I motioned to the others and they released the lapdogs. The hunters stepped to the side allowing them to pass but only barely, they were still close enough to kill effortlessly. The now stray dogs looked back at me as if waiting for me to say ‘Just kidding!’ I have to admit, I thought about it but we hung out in this park regularly, Memorial park was one of my favourites and I didn’t want shit ruining the place.

   I made shooing motions with my knife still in hand. Their wide eyes followed the knife. I rolled my eyes and sighed in exasperation, with a practiced flick of my wrist the knife was gone. The dogs turned and ran like the cowards they were, they didn’t even ask about their boss. Good lapdogs are so hard to find these days.

   The man struggled to his feet. I punched him in the gut and doubled over, gasping for breath. I kicked the back of his knee and he collapsed to the ground again.

   “Crawl.” I ordered.

   I turned away, not watching long enough to see if he made it past the mini forest we were in, my favourite part of the park, but I heard him gasp one word ‘Vampire.’

   That was one of the things humans called us. Creatures of the night, faster than the devil and stronger than any human. And with Wolf’s and my eyes shining like the brightest star in the darkest night I could see where they would come up with that.

   But we are nothing supernatural. We don’t drink blood although we’ve spilled plenty of it.

The woman looked at me with wide, desperate eyes but with the fear I saw awe, “Thank you.” She whispered, nearly choking on her words.

   I shook my head, “Don’t thank me.” I turned away from her, “Blood, Rat, take her home.”  They both nodded.

   Blood stepped up to the woman, “Come with us, we’ll make sure you get home safe.” The woman nodded then looked back at me and Wolf before following Blood and Rat. The lady really wasn’t much older than me- probably around 25.

   “Ugh, I can’t believe anyone would seriously be that stupid.” Day, the only hunter left, said with disgust, as he walked over to me and Wolf. He stretched his arms over his head, “Anyway, can I be off now- this really killed my mood.” he asked. I waved my hand dismissively and he turned and wandered off with a mischievous smile.

   “Don’t get trashed.” I called after him.

   “I won’t!” he called back and that made me almost smile because I knew he probably would.

We are not vampires, we are humans. Wronged by those who were meant to love us but had no heart to care for us. We are the abandoned babies, the abused children and much much more. About 95% of these children are found by humans, they’re taken into care, living miserable haunted lives- their past never laid to rest. Very few fortunate ones may escape this fate, but none without consequences.

    The rest of the 5% are recruited in and become one of us. The Nightsiders.

   Our rough lives allowed us to adapt to survive. But most importantly, none of us will be missed. None of our disappearances will be noticed. Our whole lives are based on protecting humans, from each other, from the Darksiders, and from themselves.

“Shadow?” Wolf called softly behind me. I turned after a moment and we headed back to the den.

   There are other rumours that have sprung up recently about us, but only amongst the children. They call us Black Cats, and they’re parents say we’ll come and eat them if they’re not good. I personally didn’t mind the name much, but Wolf took it as a great insult.

   The most popular rumour was the vampire one; it has been around forever but had become a craze with teenagers thanks to the likes of Twilight ~eye role~

   We didn’t call ourselves Nightsiders either, that was another popular name for us the humans came up with but seems to sum us up well, simply because we thrive at night.