The Hunter Chronicles

Chapter 8

The Vampire stopped short and narrowed his eyes, “You know what I am. How?” His voice had lost every trace of warmth that it had held before. Everything about him screamed death. He was different than Darius. This vampire didn’t try to hide what he was. He was through and through a cold blooded killer that preyed on the people that came for his help, “I have my ways.” I muttered, trying to conceal my growing fear. The vampire was on me in a flash. He banged my head against the wall and hoisted me in the air by the throat. I couldn’t breathe at all, and I was weak from losing so much blood this afternoon, “You know, therapy is the best job for a vampire. Drinking my patient’s blood just makes them so loopy and happy. And even if I do kill them on accident, they would just be marked up as a sad case of a depressed and lost person.” He paused to examine me more closely.

All of this movement had caused my leg wound to reopen; I could feel the fresh blood wetting my bandage just around the time that the vampire’s eyes went wide. At least now he would kill me fast because he wouldn’t be able to control himself. But he shook his head and lowered me a little so my feet could touch the ground. At least now I could breath, “Would your parent’s be that surprised if you showed up dead? They would just think that you were so depressed over your breakup that you took your own life.” He gently picked me up and carried me over to the couch were patients were supposed to lie.

He set me down and adjusted me so that my neck was arched and pitifully exposed, “Darius will know what happened!” I blurted out. My voice was so loud it was startling. The vampire leaned over me and looked me in the eye, “You really think Darius would come after me? He knows who I am, and he is not a stupid boy. He’s actually one of my converts, all he knows he has learned from me. I am pretty sure he should be showing up for a little snack any minute now.” He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply . A wide grin unfurled on his cool harsh face. I turned my head away to drink in every detail of the last place I would ever see.

It was a relatively normal therapist office; the walls were lined with rustic looking book shelves that were made of a deep mahogany wood. The whole place dripped with the items from a lost age.  But that’s when I realized, there was wood. Wood was all around me, screaming for me to defend myself. With my last blast of strength, I heaved upwards, catching the vampire off guard, he stumbled backwards releasing me from his grasp for a moment.

I lunged off the couch and backed up against the wall. As the angry vampire approached my hands scoured the surface behind me, looking for something, anything to defend myself with. They closed around something sharp and with all my strength I yanked up on the sharp object and there was an audible crack as it came loose in my hands. I brought it in front of me and found that it was a piece of jagged wood. I assumed that all of his former patients had gotten to the wall, but failed to break free the wood.

Shock danced in the vampire’s eyes, but then he laughed and grinned at me, “I applaud you for getting this far, but this is where your story ends.” The funny thing was, I felt ready to die, there was something about his voice that calmed me and made me feel all fuzzy inside. As hard as I tried I wasn’t able to look away from his deep maroon eyes. He tipped his head to the side and beckoned for me to come to him. In a dream-like trance, I started towards him. I didn’t even remember using my legs, but the only thing I was seeing now was his eyes.

That’s when the door crashed open. I was jolted out of the dreamlike state and my eyes fell on Darius who was standing in the doorway. His eyes narrowed when he saw me clutching my jagged piece of wood. Then a terrifying look laced itself onto his face.

I would never know whether I saw the tinyest flicker of despair in Darius’s eyes, or whether I saw a flash of movement from my peripheral vision, but all the same I knew the Vampire was lunging towards me. I spun to face him and held out my wooden stake. The swing of my arm, combined with the vampire’s force had grisly results. He ended up twitching and spasming on the floor as the wood leached the last of his life out. Darius came to stand beside me as we watched the vampire’s eyes fade into cold dullness.

When I felt Darius wrap one arm around me I crumpled in towards him and clung to his coat like a frightened child, “Have you ever handled a stake before?” He asked curiously. Amazingly enough it had hit its mark dead on, and I wasn’t quite sure that I remembered driving it into his heart, “No. It was just one of those things that I knew what to do. Maybe it was a fight or flight reaction.” I mused. Darius’s grip tightened on me, “Well you did a good job.” He paused and we both stood in silence for a few minutes, “I didn’t think that there would be that many after you.” He finally whispered. I looked up in confusion, “Wait, was this guy not the therapist I was supposed to see?” Darius shook his head and stooped down to yank my wooden weapon from the vampire’s lifeless body, “No, he was found dead a little bit ago, that’s why I came here, I knew something was up.”

I shuddered, thinking that that dead body could have been mine if Darius had not showed up to wake me from my trance, “But he said you were coming to join him for a snack.” I could hear the thick disapproval in my voice. Darius sighed, “well he must have figured that I would come to check out what had happened to that poor sap. When I got here he probably expected me to join in on the hunt. Little did he know that I knew you were going to be here at this time.” I frowned a little, “How did you know I was going to be here?” Darius shrugged, “I didn’t leave your house right away, I heard your parents talking to you.”

Darius didn’t have to say that he used his super human hearing to listen through the walls of my house, I already knew that much, “Damnit, your leg is bleeding again.” He mumbled. I was about to draw back and apologize when he crouched to examine it. He removed the bandage and looked it over. Then he licked his finger and ran it down the length of my wound. There was an odd tingling sensation, then he stood up. I didn’t bother looking at him, rather I bent over to look at my leg. Where the bleeding cut had been, there was now a jagged scab. While it was ugly, it was far better than bleeding to death.

I stood back up to thank Darius, but stopped short when I saw the strained look on his face. Now that I thought about it, this whole room reached of blood, and he had just cured a bloody gash on my leg. He be in a bad position now, so I gently reached over and took his hand, which was still bloody from my leg, “Let’s get out of here, this place is disgusting.” He nodded shakily and took a deep breath to steady himself. What Darius had done for me today was the bravest thing anyone would ever be able to do.

**Well, here’s another chapter! :D Again thanks for reading, and if you haven’t already, please check out my other stories! I would really appreciate it! Comment?? Vote?? Fan??