Opposing Sides

Chapter 17: Thick Blood

A woman sits on the top of a hill looking at Seattle’s floating bridge. It is a bit cracked and worn but it is still there. A guy gets out of Lake Washington and pulls himself onto the bridge. His thick, black hair sticks to his bare back. The dark brown pants that he is wearing are tattered. It reveals bits and pieces of skin that is permanently tanned but lighter than his pants. His beard lies on his face and upper chest without a single curl. His arms swing casually as sharp, yellow fingernails remain relaxed. She thinks about helping him but she remembers the dangers that come with being a hunter. The last thing she wanted to do was trust a stranger. She touches the back pocket of her navy blue canvas pants. Her daggers and retractable box cutter was still in her pocket.

She looked at him attentively, as he walks up the hill in her direction. She squints her eyes a bit to get a better look at his eyes. She realizes that it is as she thought. His dark purple eyes are focused on her. She pulls a dagger out of her pocket and his eyes move from her arm up to her brown eyes. Sweat trickles down her face as her heartbeat quickens. She takes shallow breaths and she notices that she is panicking. Her eyelids close slowly and she slows her breathing. She thinks about her options. Should I stay? Should I leave? I was here before him and what would fellow hunters think if I did not stand my ground? The muscles on the upper sides of his forehead move as he finishes chewing on a piece of raw fish. He swallows and stops walking towards her. She steps back and spins herself around. The woman runs down a street that is cracked and has vegetation overgrowth. He chases her for the thrill of doing so and he sees a big, brown furry creature jump out of the shadows and begin to follow closely behind her. He slows his pace. He is not continuously traveling to save a human. He walks in a different direction. He hears her scream and he smiles. He wanders hoping he will find a comfortable place. Although he knows that he will not accept any place but Ganjo as his home, he is determined to not return to that place. He thinks that he is too dangerous for his homeland.

Somewhere in New Orleans

Janz sits at the foot of a familiar bed. The blue comforter barely sits on the bed because most of it is on the floor. It slowly turns red as he watches a thin, black dress sway. He looks up and when his eyes rise to meet her face a black veil stares back at him. He tilts his head to the side a soupçon. She pulls the veil off and it slowly falls to the floor. Then there was silence. The veil froze in midair. Short, straight black hair lifts like the hair on a scared cat. Black irises beg for his attention while his fear crawls along the insides of her eyes. She lifts her thin hand and reaches for him. He slowly moves away from her open hand and outstretched arm. “You did this to me!” A raspy voice flees the dark crack between thin, dry lips. She screams and begins to break her jaw. He hears it crack.

After she breaks it, she digs her sharp nails deeper into the wound, she made, and rips the front of her body open. Dark blood splatters on Janz in the night. The room is lit by the moonlight that barely peaks into the broken, glass patio door. “I miss you so much,” her raspy voice said clearly in the shadow filled room. She continues walking toward him at an abnormal speed. Then she stops before falling on him. The sticky, thick blood convulses as she wraps her thin arms around him. Her flesh is decaying and falling apart all over him. He cannot move. The sticky blood weighs down upon him with a weight that he would not assume it would have. Her face touches his and blood pours from her wound onto his face. He tries to not breathe it in but it is all over his face.

He holds his breath. “Join me,” she says. He wakes up and to see that he is falling out of the tree. Just before he hits the ground he thinks about one question. Is this truly how I die? His body hits the ground and he convalesces in a few minutes. Night and Cole are sleeping. The girl saw what happened to him. He gets up and turns around. The girl shut her eyes before he turned around. He walks to the estuary and washes his face and mouth. “Everyone wake up!” He says and walks past their sleeping bodies.  

Entrance of a Safe Town in Michigan

Vlam sits on a tree next to the gate. He watches hunters interact with the gate guards. They constantly go in and out. They either have rawhides, materials, or both when they go back into the town. Vlam slowly climbs down the tree and begins stalking a hunter that went through the gate. The man just left the Safe Town. He folds a map and puts it in a pocket of his pants. Vlam deduces that the guards will not let him in the Safe Town without papers. These are identification and certification papers that allow people to go through the gate.

There is only a thin metal fence separating the town from any predators on the outside of the town. Vlam knows there are breaches in the fence but all those areas are wolf infested. He could kill the wolves but the wolves will make noise and that will bring attention, from the people in the Safe Town and other wolves, to the breach. The hunter gets far enough from the gate for Vlam to attack him without anyone hearing or noticing. Just as he walks out of the shadow of the tree, a man with sharp, yellow fangs pounces on the hunter. The black beard retains some of the spilled blood as he slurps his victim’s blood. The man looks at Vlam with a clenched jaw and lips parted to show his teeth. Vlam feels an anger boil within him and his arms begin to tingle. He looks at his arms and fire circles around it. He whips his arms through the air and fireballs come from the spiraling fire around his arms. They hit nearby trees and the ground near the vampire. The vampire’s black hair shakes as he turns to run back into the shadows of the trees. Vlam points both of his hands in the direction of the vampire and the spiraling fire swiftly extends. It wraps around the vampire and he burns in the air. He screams as his body turns to ashes.

Vlam puts on the hunter’s clothes and takes all the papers the man has on him. He walks back to the gate with a green cowboy hat from the hunter on his head. It hides a good amount of his face and it fits loosely on his head. When he reaches the gate he closes his eyes so that there is no chance his silver eyes would peak out of the shadow of the hat or be noticed by the guards.