by Dylan Keefer
When she read the theory that the vampire myths could be mistaken for a disease called Porphyria, the first thought she had was how much she wanted to have it. But when she read on, she realized she couldn't have it.
Prudence closed her eyes and started repeating to herself. "I'm not a monster; I'm not a monster. I can stop myself; I won't be a threat. I'm not a monster…"
Later, she fell asleep on the bed, surrounded by papers. Her dreams were flooded with photos from the papers around her.
CHAPTER NINE
Prudence agreed to go with Charlotte to her job the next day.
“I have an idea on how to keep ya safe. I’ll get ya a job in the most secure building in town.” Charlotte was throwing things from her bed in her handbag.
“And that is?”
“The police headquarters. They're the people who hunt law breakers; they're called cops. Which means they're armed."
Prudence’s mind brightened at the description. She imagined noblemen, and probably women if Charlotte’s speech in the truck was to be believed, protecting people from creatures like her.
“But, how will you explain me? And the fact I don’t know how things work?”
"The main boss, the sheriff, owes me a favor. Also, a sad story about my cousin who lost all her memory in an accident and is here to recover because no other family is left." Charlotte put her hands on her hips and smirked.
“You’re going to lie?”
“What do you want me to say? The truth?”
“Oh, right.” Prudence looked down in embarrassment.
“Come on.” Charlotte wrapped a hand around her. “Let’s get you dressed.”
CHAPTER TEN
The county morgue was right next to the police headquarters. They stopped right in front, and Charlotte led Prudence inside.
Prudence was walking stiffly. She hadn't worn pants before, and the fabric they were made of was rough and rigid. But keeping all her limbs covered and adding a hat made the sun bearable. Also, the dark blue jeans, like Charlotte called them, and the black blouse seemed to fit her well. The shoes were comfortable, though odd. Charlotte called them sneakers.
In the building, there was a flurry of people. Prudence was busy trying to recognize everything Charlotte described in the crash course about ‘things you’ll find at a police station.' Badges, guns, uniforms, files, computers. It wasn’t going too well.
She realized that while the faces were moving too fast for her to remember all of them, their unique scents were easy.
Charlotte brought her to an office. There a short bald large man sat typing on a computer with two fingers.
“Hey, Rick.” Charlotte motioned for Prudence to sit down and then plopped on the chair next to her.
“Good morning Miss Davenport. May I ask why you're here?"
"Well, I need a favor." Charlotte leaned in. "This is my cousin Prudence. She's my only other family besides Milo. She was coming over to visit us a few months ago and got in an accident. Lost her memory. Completely. Now, she used to live in Boston, but she has no one that can take care of her at all hours of the day there, so she moved in with me."
“Oh, I do hope you’re alright.” Rick extended a hand to Prudence. She shook it and flashed a polite smile. She kept herself from saying anything as to not ruin her chances.
"Now, I was hoping she can spend her days here so that she can do things that will stimulate her. Ya need someone to file the old documents anyway. Ya can pay her half the usual pay."
“And we’ll be even?”
“Yup.”
Rick turned to Prudence. “You’re hired. Charlotte, show her what she’ll be doing.”
Prudence was surprised it wasn’t harder. When they left, she broke her neutral expression by raising an eyebrow. “That was fast.”
“He doesn’t like owing me, and everyone hates that job. By the way, good job back there. I guess you’ve had a lot of practice pretending.”
The statement made Prudence sad.
Charlotte led Prudence to a small door leading to a large room with metal file cabinets, shelves with random things on it, and a small desk in the middle of it all.
"Basically, remove a file from the cabinets, make sure every single thing on the list I'll give ya is there. If it is, alphabetize it, that means take the last name of the officer in charge of the case and order them in an a,b,c order. If not, write what is missing and put it in a pile next to the desk. Later ya'll have the fun job of digging through more files and matching the missing things to the files. Don't worry if ya mess up."
Prudence listened carefully. It sounded easy enough. “That’s it?”
“If that seems easy, it'll give ya an excuse to look over cases, and ya'll have complete access to research anything and poke around." Charlotte leaned on the door frame. "Plus, people here will jump at the chance to help a cute amnesiac. Come and see me when ya have your lunch break, so ya don't lug blood around."
Prudence needed time to get used to her surroundings. Pens were strange to hold and write with, and the room felt cold. She could feel the differences between papers over the years as she leafed through. She worked in total darkness but quickly turned on the desk light when someone would enter, to keep appearances. She found it was easier to understand things in context rather than just having someone explain them.
A young man brought her coffee. A few people entered to leave or take things they needed from the shelves.
Prudence read through gruesome murders, boring robberies, and domestic disputes with the same expression of horror. So many deaths, so much suffering.
The first time she got a headache, she bit her lip because she didn't want to scream and alert people. Flashes of a person with their head on backward filled her mind. She found herself curled under the table.
The next time it happened, she ducked under there right away. The tight space felt safe. She scratched up the floor under the desk as she struggled to push away the visions of a flogging, and nearly threw up when a man was pulled apart by horses. Lunch couldn’t come soon enough.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
When lunch came around, Prudence left the room and made a beeline to the coroner’s office. She came in just as Charlotte, dressed in what looked like a blue plastic bag, her hair under the same type of cap, and gloves on her hands, using a big version of what Milo said were pliers to snap the ribs of a corpse in front of her.
Charlotte chuckled at Prudence’s expression of horror. “I do have to do this if I’m trying to find out how they died.”
Prudence shook her head. "I understand that. It doesn't make it any less disturbing." The room smelled vaguely delicious. Prudence shoved that away from her mind.
"I have a degree saying I can open ‘em up and poke around," Charlotte smirked.
“Oh, the files are over there. I'll finish up here, and we can talk." Charlotte pointed at a pile of files with her bloodied hands.
It bothered Prudence that all other Davenports died within a week of each other. Charlotte, being the only Coroner in town, was the one to examine the bodies. Despite being forced to come to the conclusion the deaths were natural, she wasn't convinced. So when Prudence offered to look at everything, Charlotte quickly jumped at the chance.
Prudence sat down on a nearby chair and looked through them while Charlotte pulled out organs and measured them. She spoke in a small device Prudence assumed was noting her voice. The cause of death was apparently drowning in liquor.
Prudence found looking at these files easier. She could focus on the fact she was helping a friend and not organizing some sort of death journal.
All of the Davenports had a different cause of death. A fall from the stairs, a heart attack, as well as diseases she didn’t recognize. “I don’t know how I can help when I have no idea what all of this means.”
"I'll explain everything. I also have samples and photos ya can see." Charlotte plucked something from the body and placed it on a tray. "I don't expect to solve this in a
day. Or for ya to find something I didn't see just by looking at the files. I'm smarter than that."
“I will say, even to me this timing is strange. Each of these people has died within a week.” Prudence felt her stomach growl. The hunger returned, and she wanted it gone as soon as possible. “You don’t have some blood by any chance?”
“Green thermos in the fridge." Charlotte pointed to her own thermos on a table, "looks like this," then at a similar box like the one in the house, only light blue.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Prudence picked up the thermos. She saw someone entering the office in the peripheral end of her vision, so she turned around, seeing a side door down a short hallway. It seemed to lead outside.
She opened it and sat outside in the shade, drinking her food. The outside was all brown, and it smelled rather bad. Prudence realized it was because there was a place to throw garbage out there, a large green metal box. It was tolerable though, especially when she didn’t stand downwind.
"Fresh air, privacy, or smoke?" A male voice came from behind the corner.
Prudence wiped her mouth before the person came into view.
He was shorter than her, but buffer, dressed in a police uniform, with long black hair coming down his shoulders. He was walking way too nonchalantly.
"Lunch. Soup." Prudence observed the man's movements. There was something about him that made her feel unsettled.
He walked slowly and deliberately towards her, standing in front of her and a little to the side, half of his body in the sun.
“Soup huh? Chicken?”
The tone of his voice was so conversational that Prudence almost missed the stake coming towards her heart. She blocked it by extending her arm.
He shifted his weight. He grabbed her hand and flipped her over him, throwing her into the sun on her back.
Prudence felt her bones crunch under the force of the fall. She scrambled up and turned around, her instincts telling her she needed to get on her feet as fast as possible and fight to stay on them. She faced the man.
He was frowning, his eyes searching the roof of the tall building next to them. “The hell?”
Prudence wasted no time and ran towards the man. She tackled him to the ground, her hands going around his neck in instinct. She stopped herself from trying to bite down, not wanting to hurt him.
Her hands felt uncomfortably hot. The man put his arms between hers and hit them, making Prudence release her grip. He then pushed her off and got up.
His neck was covered in inky religious symbols. Prudence looked down at her hands and saw they were red.
The man hit her in the head and pinned her to the ground. The stake in his hand plunged into Prudence's ribs. He missed the heart and hit one of her lungs.
Prudence bit her lip, feeling the pain from the stake radiate through her body. He was trying to pull the stake out of her. If he did, she was sure he was going to hit her heart when he tried again.
Flashes of red passed over her half-closed eyelids. In a desperate attempt to save her life, she took a big breath and, using all of her strength, lunged up. Her forehead collided with his nose. The man leaned back and fell down.
The blood on her forehead burned her. Prudence tried to not focus on the pain.
The man was not phased for long. She tried to block his punches, but he was accurate. A leg sweep later she was on the ground again. She reached out her arms, her claws extending.
He grabbed her wrists and tried to twist them in an unnatural direction. He had dropped the stake, so she used her legs to kick it aside.
As tears formed by strain filled her eyes, she noticed a figure looming over them both. A loud clang echoed in her ears. The man nearly fell over. He released Prudence’s wrist.
Prudence didn't have time to dissuade herself. She collided her hands with the man's neck. Her fingers buried in his flesh.
As soon as she was on her feet, she released the man.
In front of her was Charlotte, a heavy-looking red metal cylinder with a hose on the top in her hands.
“What in all humanity happened?” Charlotte started, but Prudence felt the all too familiar pain in her head, and she doubled over.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A memory flooded into her mind. A person was sitting on a table, leafing through an ancient book. The words ‘vampire hunter' flickered into view.
Charlotte’s voice pierced the veil of pain. “Prudence, what can I do?”
Prudence grabbed onto Charlotte, trying to stay conscious as another memory fragment buried into her like a lance. When the pain was done, she released her grip.
She then heard a heartbeat. And a groan.
Charlotte turned around, picked up the heavy metal cylinder and dropped it on the vampire hunter’s head. Prudence winced at the crunch.
“They just told me they found a police officer knocked out in the bathroom.” Charlotte picked up her weapon. “I assume this is the guilty party.”
Prudence stood up, but stumbled, falling into the pool of blood around her. Her skin started to burn.
"Shit!" Charlotte yanked Prudence to her feet and shoved her in front of herself. Prudence's eyes turned glassy as Charlotte took her down a winding hallway, and then cold water flowed over her face and body. Charlotte helped her remove her blood-soaked clothes. She scrunched up her face as she helped Prudence remove the blood, preventing Prudence from receiving more burns.
Prudence stood in the shower, letting it rinse every single trace of blood from her face when Charlotte left. The burns over her arms, knees, and feet were hurting, blisters forming on her skin.
Charlotte came back with a large steaming batch of blood. Prudence's fangs extended as soon as the smell hit her nostrils.
“Here. Don’t worry, the people I got this from are still alive.”
Prudence grabbed the bottle and drank deeply for a good fifteen minutes, the bottle heavy in her hands. She took great care not to spill any, feeling she would need every drop. When she was done, she saw the burn marks had begun to heal.
“Ok now tell me what happened.” Charlotte insisted.
"Vampire Hunter." Prudence felt the pain slowly die out.
Charlotte wrapped her in a blanket.
"And how did ya know that?"
“I remembered.” Prudence thought back. All she could see in her mind was a still of the book sitting on a table, and the page. “But it’s just information.”
"Okay, well, they are looking for the person that stole the uniform, so I better clean up the mess and then call them. Ya can tell me everything later."
“Charlotte, why is someone trying to kill me?” Prudence hugged her knees up to her chest.
“No clue, but I know I'm not gonna let them. Ya stay here, while I lie my ass off now. There are clothes on that chair."
Prudence observed the expression on Charlotte’s face. An overwhelming amount of guilt crashed into the forefront of her mind. Here she was, feeling sorry for what she was, while two people she had just met were ready to kill to keep her safe.
“Thank you for saving my life.”
“Eh, not a problem. Glad I picked up the fire extinguisher.” Charlotte winked. “Now, sit in there, while the officers leave.”
Prudence nodded. The more she stayed away from people, the better.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
She got into the loose-fitting clothes Charlotte got for her. She then sat back on the chair. She was here for two days, and a vampire hunter stole a lawmaker uniform and tried to kill her. And now he was dead. Which meant his friends would know, and what was stopping them from coming after her too?
Prudence felt short of breath again. What did she do to have become hunted? She didn't know if it was because of her past or just because of what she was. But she was trying to control it! Or maybe they didn't know that? But then how did the hunter know where she was? A sudden realization that she had probably been followed here dawned on her. Then they knew about Charlotte and Milo.
&n
bsp; Prudence stopped shaking and turned into a statue when Charlotte yelled for help. A large crowd of people ran in.
“What happened?” Rick’s familiar voice, with a string of worry, sounded out.
“The jackass that jumped Tom is back there.”
"What? Is he dead?"
“Someone made mash potatoes out of his head.” Charlotte’s voice was as calm as ever.
The crowd moved towards the back door. A string of curses and prayers rang out.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Prudence waited until she was sure no one was in the room she needed to pass through. She sneaked out and made her way to her room. Most of the cops were in Charlotte's office, so it was easy to run through. She needed darkness and quiet. Her body was still healing.
She closed the door and started breathing in slowly, trying to calm her heart down. She needed to calm down until she could talk to Charlotte, so she took a piece of paper and a pen then transcribed everything she saw on the page in her mind. After that she had to stop and read it back, finally knowing exactly what she faced.
Vampire hunters are a lot more complicated and dangerous than they appear. Never underestimate them. First of all, they are not supernatural creatures, but ordinary humans, armed with the skills they have accumulated during their time on this earth and an unending desire to destroy all of us. Again, do not underestimate them, or discount them, not even the new ones. They actively avoid being turned and don’t care for their own life, fully capable of taking their target down with them.
To be truly able to pursue their prey, vampire hunters adorn themselves in religious symbols drawn by holy men, making their skin uncomfortable to the touch, or even causing burns. They also undergo a painful ritual that is said to purify their blood, making it poisonous and scalding to vampires. They possess extraordinary talents honed from years of training and are proficient in multiple forms of combat. They mostly use stakes, but they can modify them to be more efficient. Some even strike with arrows.
