Veritas

Chapter 42

Aislinn watched her family run off into danger, and once again felt it was her fault. They were only here because of her existence in their lives, after all. She sent a prayer to the Moon Goddess, begging her to protect them.

After stifling a mounting panic attack, Aislinn assessed her surroundings. Women, children, injured and elderly were all rushing through the streets, presumably towards one of the many safe houses scattered throughout the grounds. She joined in the crowd and followed, being pushed and jostled by the panicked citizens. There was crying, shouting, and loud whispers too about vampires being in the barrier. The terror was palpable.

After being carried away by the crowd to the first safe house, Aislinn noticed the group broke off into sections and scattered different ways. She suspected it was to different safe houses; so, made note of the directions in case the safe house she waited in line for was full. To her horror, though, she was stopped at the door.

"Why aren't you fighting?" The guard at the door demanded.

"I'm only fifteen, I don't have my wolf yet" Aislinn explained.

"Bullshit" was the guard's response.

"I swear! I'd fight if I could!" She insisted.

"Good, then go fight. You won't be getting in here, coward" the guard spat, clearly not believing her.

Fighting back her mounting panic, and not wanting to stop others from gaining entry to the safe house, Aislinn stepped aside. She saw a few people give her dirty looks, presumably having heard the guard call her a coward. Realizing she would get no sympathy, she decided to try a different safe house.

She took off down an alley she had seen others run through; but, there were various smaller alleys shooting out from the main road she ran down. How could she be sure which she should take? Regardless, she kept running, hoping to see another crowd; but, instead, she caught a glimpse of a person from the corner of her eye.

Stopping in her tracks, Aislinn turned to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She stared hard through the glass window of a run-down looking bar, and saw a figure slumped over the counter of the bar. After standing and staring for a solid minute, she grew concerned that this person was abandoned in the bar. Looking around, and finding the alley and streets completely empty, Aislinn sighed and headed for the bar.

As she entered, she noticed that most of the lights were out except for the one above the figure at the bar. She found the whole thing peculiar, so stayed by the door as she called out. "Hello?...Hello?!"

No answer.

She felt that her suspicion was confirmed, and this poor soul had been abandoned. Walking closer, she kept calling out "Hello? Can you hear me?!"

Still no answer.

A chilling thought gave her pause, and she wondered if the person was even alive. She hadn't thought to listen to a heartbeat; but, a loud snore escaped the person and caused her to jump. "Guess they're alive" she muttered to herself.

Finally, after creeping even closer, she was within arm's reach of the person. She suspected it was a man, due to his broad shoulders and scent; however, his scent was hidden by the heavy stench of alcohol and something else...Something sweet. The man was wearing grey sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood pulled up to hide his face.

Aislinn tried yelling "hello" one more time, but nothing. So, instead, she reached out and gingerly tapped the man.

He let out another snore and shifted on the barstool, turning so his face was now in her direction. He had scraggly blonde hair, with a very scraggly, unkept blonde beard to match. It had drool and other substances that Aislinn didn't want to think about in it, around his mouth.

Grimacing, Aislinn reached out to give him a little shove on his shoulder, while shouting "hello" again.

Nothing.

Fed up, she walked around behind the bar and grabbed the little spray nozzle for carbonated beverages. She didn't know what one it was on, nor how to change it, so she just sprayed the man with what was there.

This time he woke up.

He let out a deep, terrifying roar of anger that startled Aislinn; but, what followed was a flailing mess of a man who ultimately fell off of his bar stool.

"Sorry!" Aislinn yelped, running around the bar to help him. "You wouldn't wake up!"

Before Aislinn got to his side, though, the man was on all fours. "Leave me alone!" He slurred angrily.

Stopping before reaching him, Aislinn frowned. "I can't, there are vampires in the city sir. We need to get you to safety" she explained calmly.

The man jumped to his feet at this, with a scary snarl as he whipped around from side to side, seeming to look for the enemy. "Vampiresh?! Where?!" He demanded, appearing ready to fight; but, he stopped looking around all of a sudden, and stared straight at Aislinn with glassy eyes.

Aislinn was surprised by the man's strange temperament and wild actions. She was also extremely shocked that he could be so drunk, given that werewolves usually processed alcohol quickly and were very difficult to get drunk, let alone remain drunk. Just as she was about to speak, the man interrupted her.

By promptly puking on the floor in front of him.

Aislinn winced at the sound, and the smell. "Ugh, okay, we really need to get going, sir. Can you walk okay?" She asked, praying that he could.

After standing up and wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve, the man seemed to be a bit better. "Of coursh" he replied, and stepped forward, squishing what Aislinn now realized were bare feet through his own vomit.

Trying not to gag, Aislinn crinkled her nose and turned around to lead the way out of the bar when she heard a loud thud. Turning around, she found the man had somehow tripped, and was back on the ground. Groaning, but unable to leave the obviously helpless man to vampires, she rushed to his side and helped him up.

He struggled against her, wanting to be independent, so she stepped back and let the man clumsily rise to his feet.

Then it hit Aislinn. The stench. Not of the man, but of decay...She whipped around to face the door, and saw the face of a vampire smiling eerily at her through the door's window.