Charlie

Calling

Charlie didn't like running. It'd been over a month since she'd..changed but she still wasn't used to her new speed. When her legs started moving, people and buildings turned into colorful blurs. It was hard to tell if she was going where she wanted, or hear or smell what was happening around her. But she knew she could die if she stopped. She thought about what Isaac had told her.

You're not human anymore, he reminded her. You can observe more stimuli and process it faster. Focus.

As she'd done in training, Charlie took a breath. The taste of salt, perfume and car exhaust helped ground her. She slowed down slightly and glanced around her. This time she could see the food vendors and taxis that pushed aside as she moved past them. Isaac said that humans couldn't see vampires when they were moving and the yelps and cursing from pedestrians proved him right. She reminded herself to tell him...if she survived. 

Charlie heard another round of swearing and yelling behind her and resisted the urge to glance back. Instead she tried to think. The Ascendant was completely focused on her. She had enough of a head start so that even with her slight decrease in speed, she wouldn't catch her. She didn't get tired, but she knew she couldn't run all night. She cursed Isaac for sending her here. Walking into another Ascendant's territory without invitation was an automatic challenge: a fight-to-the-death. She didn't know the other Ascendant's Gift and barely had a handle on hers, but Isaac swore that challenging another Ascendant was the best way to train.

Charlie glanced around. She saw an opening between buildings and she dashed towards it, leaping and ricocheting off the alleyway's walls until she touched the ground. A normal person wouldn't have noticed the vampire behind her but Charlie could feel the air's dispersion.

The Ascendant was a woman that looked to be around Charlie's human age, but that appearance didn't matter to vampires. As she pulled her jet black hair into a ponytail, her eyes turned bright red. Charlie swallowed painfully and took a step back. 

"We don't have anything to discuss, do we?" the woman asked.

"No," Charlie shook her head. 

The woman sniffed the air. "You're new. I'll make it quick."

The woman disappeared and Charlie threw herself back as the woman reappeared, her fist making a hole in the pavement where Charlie had been. If Charlie was still human, her heart would have been pounding. Even with her healing abilities, that blow probably could have killed her. The woman glared at her with a mixture of annoyance and confusion. The woman's fingers turned into claws and she lunged.

You're at a disadvantage, Isaac's voice rang in her head. She most likely has a steady diet while you still scrounge for rats and cats. Your Gift is the only advantage you have. When you use it, make sure you end it.

The woman seemed to move in slow motion and behind closed lips, Charlie bit her tongue and her body felt loose when she tasted her own blood.

I'm in control, she reminded herself.

She felt as if her body suddenly exploded. Then she felt every part of her violently squealing, flapping and hovering where she had been. The Ascendant's eyes widened in alarm as she harmlessly sliced through a swarm of bats. But Charlie could already feel her body wanting to reunite with itself. She had to end it quickly. Charlie willed herself behind the Ascendant and her arm materialized first, grabbing the back of the Ascendant's head and slamming her into the ground. When the rest of her body returned, Charlie pounced on her back and bit her neck. The Ascendant howled but Charlie wanted to cry.

The breaking of the Ascendant's undead skin released a fountain of rich, sweet copper into her mouth. She closed her eyes and inhaled, but the Ascendant gripped her and threw herself into the wall, breaking Charlie's euphoria. The Ascendant's pulled away and she knelt as the drops of her blood that fell onto the ground morphed into large black rats. The Ascendant's neck healed as she rubbed it.