Fright

by Jennifer Waller

  Chapter 2 - Almost Dead

  Life, or un-life in my case, as a vampire hunter had not been what I had imagined my future would be as a child.

  My childhood had been fairly normal. I wasn’t an outstanding student, but neither was I a poor one. I was easily able to hold my own in subjects that I was interested in. I went on to study history in college.

  It wasn’t long after I graduated college that my life collapsed around me.

  I was working as a waitress after college, waiting for news on several of my job applications. It was there that I found out that my long time boyfriend had decided to start seeing other people. She dragged him in, despite his protests. When I went over to say hi and ask who his friend was she got protective. When I mentioned that I had been dating him for several years she attacked me.

  Shocked and confused, I didn't know how to react. I used a beverage tray as a shield against her fists, and somehow managed to keep my footing, despite dripping from the drink that she had thrown on me. While in reality it must have only been seconds before several customers and a few coworkers subdued her, it felt like much longer.

  I realized what had happened, and that my relationship was over when the person whom I thought was my boyfriend went to the aid of my attacker instead of me. She glared at me, and he wouldn't even match my gaze as he led her out. The entire time she screamed obscenities and threats. I just stood there, dripping soda and not wanting to believe the incident that had just occurred.

  Even though I didn’t return a single blow, and the other customers nearby attested that nothing had seemed out of the ordinary until the attack, I was fired that same evening.

  My then ex–boyfriend didn’t even have the guts to call me again, his silence only cementing the truth of his betrayal. He even sent a mutual friend to collect the few possessions that he had kept in my apartment. The friend seemed embarrassed, and when he was unable to meet my gaze as I handed over the box I realized that not only had the man I loved betrayed me, but several friends as well whom had known about the other relationship.

  They say that bad things happen in three’s. I thought that my luck had sunk as far as it could after the betrayal, however I was mistaken. My third blow came several days after the breakup and firing. I was browsing the want ads when the call came.

  My parents, who had been traveling to visit me after the recent events, had been killed by a drunk driver in another state. They had actually been killed the night before, but it had taken the investigators in the case that long to track me down. I snapped at that point. Jobless, loveless, and now even parentless I walked outside, numb to the world.

  A good vampire will hunt their prey for days, waiting for the perfect time to strike. I have no idea how long I had been a target, but it was on that night of all nights that he decided to move. Maybe fate had decided to smile on me after all.

  My hometown is crisscrossed with small streams and rivers. Wanting to find comfort, I headed to one of the few rivers that ran through the town I had moved to. It was several hours past dark already, and I knew that there would be more calls coming, but I couldn’t stand to be in my apartment any longer.

  I don’t know how long I stood on the bridge overlooking the river. It was several hours at least, I could tell by the height of the moon. It was as I started the lonely walk back top my apartment that he struck.

  It all happened so fast that I was shocked by it. One moment I was walking along the bridge, the next I was held fast against the wall that lined the underside of the bridge.

  I was scared, until I saw his teeth. Then I was resigned to my fate. I figured death would be better than the pain that I was in at that moment.

  He must have sensed my mood. The advance stopped. Instead of taking my life, he took my chin in his hand and forced me to look into his eyes.

  “Please,” I whispered, trying to turn my head away. “Just get it over with.”

  He released his hold on my chin, and was gone.

  Chapter 3 - A Dark Confession

  I think I had been looking for death that evening. Maybe I had sensed the vampire hunting me all along and not realized what it was.

  I was found the next morning, huddled under the same bridge. I was delirious with grief and self torment. They finally had to call an ambulance to administer a sedative to get me out of there.

  I spent a week in the hospital. While I was there I tried to convince myself that the vampire had been a symptom of the delirium. I had been wishing for death, and my mind conjured a creature that could satisfy that desire.

  I kept telling myself that, even days after the funerals. I knew that vampires were creatures of myth, and horror writers. How could I have really encountered one?

  Finally, trying to rid my mind of the ghosts of my delirium, I went back to the bridge. As I stood there, overlooking the water, I felt like I was finally able to release the ghosts of that horrible day.

  “I knew that you would come back,” a voice said behind me.

  “I had hoped that you were a creation of an insane mind,” I replied, not wanting to face what I now knew to be real.

  “We exist in the myths and nightmares of men, because we exist.”

  “Why didn’t you kill me?”

  Silence fell across the bridge.

  I spun around, wanting to face him, wanting to confront him with my question. But he was gone.

  I looked down both directions of the bridge. It was fairly long, and the buildings weren’t up to the shore, so a good section of road was visible on either side. I couldn’t see even a single figure in the darkness.

  I ran to the end of the bridge that he had taken me to and jumped the railing. Fumbling in the dark I made my way to the location that he had left me that night. I knew that he was there, even though I couldn’t see him. Somehow I had become attuned to his presence. I stood silent in the dark, waiting for his answer.

  I almost felt that my instincts were wrong, and that he wasn’t there, when he finally spoke.

  “You were beautiful the first time I saw you. The moonlight glinting off of your hair, and the way it fell on your face. You didn’t notice me, hiding in the shadows half a block away, but I could smell the sweetness in your blood. Yours was blood that was uncorrupted by the pollution of the city. I knew then that I wanted you.

  Yet, despite my longing, I did not hunt you. It seemed wrong somehow, so I gazed from afar, constantly battling my desire to take you.

  I started hunting you when my desire to taste your blood finally won over my desire to see you live. At the time, I would have said that I had no choice, that my instincts had taken over. I now know that I did have a choice in my decision to hunt you, and that it was the wrong one.”

  I stood, waiting for the next part of his story. It was only after the silence lasted for more than a few seconds that I realized that he was no longer there.

  I ran to the other side of the bridge. Looking up into the night sky I could just make out his silhouette standing on the edge above.

  “You didn’t answer my question,” I begged. “Why didn’t you kill me?”

  He stopped in his retreat from me, and slumped his shoulders. I could tell by the trembling that he was having a hard time facing an inner truth.

  I would not have heard it, except for a chance breeze that brought his whispered reply.

  “Because I love you.”

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