Found and Remembered

A Second Start

Being supernatural in this modern time is hard. Most of the supernatural community has packs or covens so they have somebody to back them up and look after them. Unfortunately, the other vampires deemed I wasn't worthy for one of their covens and banished me from the supernatural community. So I had left all civilization to live up in the mountains. There were enough animals to take care of the Hunger, and a hospital in the small town that I could take from if animal blood didn't cut it. Sure I wasn't necessarily happy, but I was alive and surviving pretty well for being a vampire on my own. Then more groups of supernaturals showed up in my little town. First there was a coven of witches that moved into the little town. It was fine, I only went there once in a long time. I could avoid them. All of their wards they put up were annoying though. Then a pack of were-creatures moved into the forest roughly a mile away from the small abode I resided in. They proved very difficult to avoid, but I managed.

Tonight was a new moon. There was a chance the were-creatures wouldn't be out tonight. I was stalking a deer I could drag home. If I played it right, I could extract the blood from it and make it last a month. The creature was feeding in the dark, perfectly calm. A perfect target. I darted forward, my fangs elongating being so close to food. The deer startled but I had used my small reserve of energy to enhance my speed and strength. I wasn't one of those vampires that always was faster and stronger than normal. But, if I had enough energy, I could keep it up for a little bit. I bit its neck and injected poison into its system. It staggered and fell to the earth dead.

I licked its blood from my lips and tied it up so I could drag it home. It had been a while since I'd eaten anything fresh. I heard a wolf howl and froze. Just because werewolves were the most common form of were-creature didn't mean that there were any werewolves in my new were-creature neighbors. Despite that, I hurried, dragging the 120 pound deer back to my house.

My arms were straining by the time I was half a mile from home. Why did all of the edible creatures have to be so far away from where I lived. I dropped the deer, taking a short break for the sake of my human-like arms. A twig snapped behind me and I whirled around. A wolf, a raccoon, and a dragon were circled around me. I was fairly certain that these were my new were-creature neighbors. I shifted closer to the dead deer. The red dragon shifted into a girl with long brown hair tied back in a braid. Her two companions stayed in their animal form.

"We had a suspicion that there was a vampire nearby. The witches were sure too," she said.

I said nothing. There was no reason to.

"You're not registered here," she said.

"I have my house deed," I said, not quite understanding what she meant by registered. "I'm a legal American citizen too and that gets switched out every twenty years or so."

"No. I mean not registered by the Society of Supernatural Beings," dragon-girl said again.

"What?" I said. I'd obviously been living in this exile for too long. "I've been here forever."

"Doesn't matter. Why weren't you on the SOSB's list of registered supernaturals here? Where's your coven leader?" she demanded, approaching me along with her comrades.

I sighed. I had only wanted this deer. Not an encounter with were-creatures.

"Listen, Dragon. Maybe we can have this talk a different time. I need to get this home. Goodnight," I said, grabbing the deer and dragging it behind me despite my arms complaining about it.

For some reason, the were-creatures let me leave without a fight starting. I was grateful but hoped I wouldn't meet them again. I finally made it home with the dead deer and dragged it into my basement. Using the syringes I had stolen, I extracted all of its blood and placed it into the refrigerator I kept there, ready to be warmed up in the microwave when I needed it. After I had cleaned up the deer and gotten rid of the carcass, I decided to let myself have a little blood. It had been a few days since I had eaten. After feeling rejuvenated, I went upstairs to my nest-like room to get the encounter out of my system by laying in my nest and letting all thoughts fly from my mind, leaving it blank. I wasn't sure how long it had been but someone was now banging on my front door. I wondered if the police thought I had died again.