Waxing Darkness

by Jose Luis Solorzano

  Chapter Four: Attack

  Twilight is now gone.

  When the dawn breaks over them,

  a new Sun will rise

  The high that Luna as on from kissing Luis slowly melted away as Luna got back to her house. No one seemed to want to explain anything to her about why she was forced to leave so early. Being in the dark was not a fun past time for young Luna Estrella. Her temper seemed to be growing by the passing seconds. She wished that she was back at Luis’s place, continuing their mindless fun.

  An hour passed by slowly for the Estrella clan. Everyone was off doing their own thing inside the large house. It didn’t seem like anybody but Victor understood what exactly was going on. It made everyone in the house feel uneasy, but there was no way to make Victor talk if he didn’t want to.

  There was a sudden knock at the door, which surprised almost everybody in the house. Victor was the only one who got up and walked towards the door.

  “We welcome you inside our house,” Luna heard her father say in a slow tone.

  From the threshold, four hooded figures appeared in front of the Estrella family. From the four of them, Alexander was the first to remove his covering, his long black hair falling to his sides. This was the first time that Luna had seen Alexander’s bald head, causing her to feel on edge.

  “Good evening, Alexander,” Victor said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that was lingering in the cold air.

  “The same we give to you, Victor,” Alexander returned. “As you can clearly see, there is a reason why I called for us to visit your family.”

  Alexander’s arm gestured to the shortest person in their group. Her body appeared to be shaking, Luna guessing that it was out of fear. In the old days, vampires and werewolves were mortal (and immortal) enemies. Maybe the girl believed that things were like the old days, instead of the civil tolerance of today.

  “Might I ask what happened to Erika,” Emily chimed in from the kitchen.

  “She left us a long time ago, but I hear that she still resides within the city limits,” Alexis said, taking off her own hood. Drake silently followed suit, seemingly staring off into space.

  “We recently had to recruit a new member of our ‘family’ in order for us to succeed in our latest task,” Alexander began to explain. “We’re going to go after Antonio Solo tonight, and we need another young woman to draw him to us. We took out his lawyer a while ago, if you remember the news reports, but we fear that someone may have spotted Alexis and may be on guard if they see her around Solo. Also, our new friend has a very unique power that will prove most useful for our cause.”

  “Power,” Luna asked.

  “It’s okay,” Drake whispered into the girl’s ear, “you can show it to them.”

  Drake gestured to the small girl to remove her dark hood. Her face seemed to be a bit older than Luna’s, but not by too much. Her hair was a light blue, and her eyes were bloody red, just like every vampire that she had laid eyes on. The two girls met perfectly eye to eye in a single moment, and the vampire was whispering something quickly under her breath.

  Suddenly, the door burst open with a loud bang! Running into the living room, seemingly out of breath, was a tattered Luis, with his left hand hidden behind his back. He looked as if he had been crying ever since she left his house. No one was making a move towards him. They seemed very distant from the situation, as if they were only observing.

  “Luis, what’s wrong,” Luna asked, attempting to calm him down.

  “Stay away from me,” Luis ordered her.

  Luis then lifted up his left hand from behind his back, revealing a small handgun. He pulled the trigger seven times, aiming at everybody around him, leaving only Luna standing. He then pointed it right at Luna’s heart.

  “What the hell are you doing,” Luna cried out. She fell to her knees, ready to beg for her life.

  “Monster,” Luis growled at the young girl. “I know what you are! You are a beast! A demon creature straight out of Hell! I’m going to send you back right to where you came from!”

  Luna reached for Luis’s gun without thinking. She ran towards Luis before he could pull the trigger again. The two of them struggled as Luna tried to knock the gun out of his hands. Luna did her best not to abuse the fact that she was created much stranger than he would ever be. She needed to stop him at any costs. No one else needed to die tonight.

  Crash!

  The two of them flung their bodies out of the living room window. Luna examined herself, seeing that she had only suffered a few slight cuts and bruises. She then looked over at Luis, who wasn’t as fortunate as Luna. He had stopped moving his body completely; a large piece of glass had slit into his throat, leaving a large gash in his neck where blood poured out of his body. The crimson leaked everywhere and Luis’s breathing had completely ceased. There was only so much of the image that Luna was willing to take.

  “That’s enough,” Luna heard her father yell.

  Suddenly, everything around her had changed. Everything had turned completely back to normal. Luna wasn’t over Luis’s dead body, but lying on the living room couch. Everything was back to the way it was before Luis had come in. There was no broken glass, her clothes weren’t torn and covered in blood, and no one appeared to be shot or injured in any way. Luna felt that what she saw was real, it just had to be. She saw Luis’s body in the broken glass, but the house was completely free of his presence.

  “Where is he,” Luna cried out, reaching for her mother. “I was bleeding, and everybody was killed, a-and--!”

  “Luna, darling, please calm down,” Emily said holding her daughter closely in her arms. Luna was crying into her mother’s warm shoulder. “What did you do to her?” Emily’s anger was directed more at Drake, the one who ordered the girl around rather than the young vampire herself.

  “What we showed you was Karin’s power,” Drake said, placing his hand on the blue hair girl’s head. “She creates illusions in someone’s head, rendering them completely useless. It seems to work on you werewolves as well as anyone else. There is something strange about Karin’s ability though.”

  “What’s so strange about her,” Victor asked in a sarcastic tone.

  “Well, you understand that I can read everyone’s thoughts except for vampires,” Drake began in a straight voice. “Well, with Karin, I can’t read the mind of the person that she chooses to use her powers on. I find this very…irritating.”

  Luna could tell that Drake wasn’t in a secure place about the side effect to Karin’s special power. Karin was afraid to face Drake and she was too timid to even look Luna in the eye again. Still, she just wanted to say something, to let her voice be heard at least a little bit.

  “How long do I have to be like this,” Karin finally asked. “Alexis, you told me I could be a teenager again. That’s why I’m helping you guys in the first place.”

  Luna understood a little bit of what Karin was asking the other female vampire. It’s an ability that vampires can easily master, the power to become any age they can chose to be. The catch was that they had to have actually lived that age before they became a vampire. From the look of it, Luna believed that Karin could choose between any times from infancy to her early twenties.it was the perfect camouflage for any vampire who chose to stay in one place for any given amount of time.

  “We’ve already explained this to you,” Alexis groaned. “You first need to feed to have enough energy to make such a drastic change. Be patient – your current age is exactly what we need to draw our prey out.”

  “I’m not going to let some random guy rape me so you guys can do your little ‘Superman Vampire’ crap!” Karin complained.

  “He’ll never get that far,” Alexander assured her. “Keep your eyes on the news, Victor. We’ll do our best not to fail tonight.”

  “You haven’t done so before,” Victor roughly said.

  With that, the vampires pulled their hoods back onto their heads and followed Alexander out of the house. Luna k
new that there would be no patrolling for anyone tonight. Not even her father would go out into the town. Unfortunately, the dark feeling inside of Luna’s stomach still lingered in the air, making her feel completely uneasy.

  It was almost midnight, meaning every bar down the entire street was up and alive. Inside each bar, drunken people toppled over one another as they attempted to fill their greedy fixations. In the corner of a small country bar, Antonio Solo was drinking the finest whisky in the house. He was in great thanks to his now-late attorney, who helped him get set for life with the right counter-suits.

  No one dared to even go near Solo anymore for any reason. Even the bartender would avoid any contact with him if he could. Solo knew exactly why everyone intentionally avoided him, but he honestly didn’t give one damn about what other people thought. The verdict of not-guilty was final and he was free to do absolutely what he pleased.

  “Why hello there,” Solo slurred to the young lady closest to him once he was drunk enough to let his spirit run free. “What’s your name, doll?”

  “Karin,” the blue haired girl said while downing two tequila shots. The clothes that Karin was wearing were small and tight; Antonio wasn’t quite sure what to stare at first. She was a babe of the finest class in his view point. “I’m new here,” She told him in a coy voice. “Would you mind helping me to my car? I’m a bit… (hiccup) drunk.”

  Outside, in a nearby alleyway, Drake, Alexis, and Alexander quietly awaited Karin’s return. Drake, listening in on Solo’s thoughts, was starting to reach his limit on what he was willing to take with his current prey. He not only wanted to exterminate Solo tonight, but Alexander as well, but he wasn’t able to find the right moment to make his attack. Alexander was always on his guard, so a quick attack would probably cause more damage to Drake than anything else.

  “Uh-oh,” Drake had said aloud.

  “What is it,” Alexander asked.

  Drake thought quickly. He had felt so stupid for not seeing it before; it was quite obvious to him now. An opening was now found. Thank you Karin, Drake thought as he smiled. I knew it would be a good idea to add you to my collection.

  Solo’s thoughts had completely disappeared from the bar. That had to mean that he was now under Karin’s special spell. This had been a part of the plan until the very last minute, when they felt that it was too dangerous for her movements to be unknown for her first mission. Drake assumed it was a lapse in judgment that Karin was experiencing, and it worked out to his advantage. Now, he just needed it to work just right.

  “Stupid bitch,” Drake groaned.

  “What the hell’s going on in there Drake,” Alexis asked in a shrill voice.

  “She’s going to take him through the back instead of taking him out of the front and leading him here. Alexander, follow me, we’ll cut them off. Alexis – you wait here just in case if Karin does decide to revert back to the original plan.”

  He kissed Alexis softly; ensuring that she wouldn’t disobey him and leave the spot, no matter what she heard going on the other side. He knew that the most effective way to get rid of Alexander was to do it all by himself. The dominos inside his mind were all collapsing much too quickly and easily.

  Once the two of them were out of Alexis’s sight and behind the building, Drake signaled for Alexander to wait by the back door. The smile on his face was growing as he saw Alexander crouch down and be focused only on the door. Drake placed his hand on the inside of his dark coat, reaching for the small blade that he kept on his person ever since he thought of ending Alexander’s existence.

  It all happened in a very swift movement. It was Drake’s only chance of attacking Alexander! Unfortunately for him, he didn’t cut quite deep enough to render him immobile; only just slightly cutting into Alexander’s throat. For a vampire, this was only a minor inconvenience. Alexander, in shock, fell to his knees, trying to take in the entire situation.

  Drake didn’t hesitate to go in for a second attack. Alexander knew to dodge his next attack, but the movement was much too sloppy. Because of this, some of his arm had been cut open. For a human being, this would be the point at where they would just cease movement and just try to die as peacefully as possible.

  “Stop this, Drake,” Alexander cried out.

  “You’ve always been weak in my eyes,” Drake said to Alexander in a monotone voice. “You don’t even have enough blood in you to fix yourself up, let alone give me a fair and proper fight. This is what you deserve, Alexander, for protecting those disgusting humans. This is what you do deserve, you know this to be true, and I’m glad to be the one who teaches you this lesson.”

  “I did this to protect us, Drake,” Alexander pleaded. What he needed right now is every bit of time that he could get. “How else are we supposed to live in this world? If we just turned into mindless killers, then the werewolves would have taken out each and every one of us!”

  “Ha!” Drake scoffed. “We have always been the stronger being. We have every right to take what is rightfully ours. Your time for sensibility is over. We’re living in the real world, so let’s stop acting like something that we are not!”

  Drake pushed his whole force into delivering one final, deadly blow. It would’ve worked if Alexander hadn’t done exactly the same. The both of them had launched everything at each other, and Alexander felt lucky that he didn’t get cut this time around. In Drake’s confusion, Alexander stumbled away and into the city. He needed to disappear, to some place where he could hide from Drake.

  On the other side, Antonio Solo was in an utter complete daze as he was walking out of the bar, following carefully behind Karin. She wasn’t exactly too happy about being this close to Solo, knowing about his past. She remembered exactly how this man had become a public name only a few months ago. She had to remind herself over and over again that Solo wasn’t in any state of mind where he could do any kind of harm to her. Even with the fact that she was vampire into play, she wasn’t quite sure if she was completely safe.

  “You’re such a tease,” Solo laughed in a goofy voice.

  In his mind, it was like he had reached the peak of Nirvana. Karin, for one thing, was much bustier in the theater of his mind than in reality. He felt the fake Karin’s hand touch him everywhere. Now, the Karin in his mind was taking off her top, having him completely lust over her.

  This better be worth it, Karin thought. Even if it all wasn’t real, she still felt very unclean about doing such a thing in front of a known serial killer.

  With Karin’s special power, everything was a complete illusion to those who fell under it, almost as if they were dreaming while they were clearly awake. Karin was in control of their entire world, but had no control over the person entirely. She learnt that with her encounter with the werewolf, Luna. All she thought was “the person you care for the most comes to kill you and you end up dead”. Obviously, Luna’s free will broke though some of her spell and allowed her to fight the dream being. She knew that Solo wasn’t quite as smart as the werewolf.

  She slowly walked her prey into the dark alleyway, surprised to only find Alexis in their hideout. Confused, Karin had lost concentration and complete control over her power, releasing Solo from his trance. Instead of the bright lights of a florescent bathroom, he had awakened in the middle of the dark ally.

  Before anyone could react to the situation, Drake broke through the two of the female vampires as fast as he could. With his blade, he stabbed Solo right through his gut. The shock of what all was going on around him caused Solo to enter Cardiac Arrest. Solo had died before he could even collapse to his knees.