by J. Thorn
The hood crumpled upon impact, thrusting the engine block into the interior of the minivan, despite the auto engineers’ best attempt at keeping it from doing so during a collision. Samantha felt the bones in her leg being crushed, the burning sensation running up to her hips.
Branches tore at the underside of the van, severing the wire between the sensor and the airbag. The steering wheel slammed into her chest, breaking ribs and puncturing both lungs. Sam’s head came down into the dashboard, smashing her nose and knocking out her front teeth. The sound of the metal crumpling against the boulder sent a shiver up Sam’s spine. She remained as calm as she could, telling herself that it would be over in a matter of seconds and that her vampire blood would immediately begin repairing injured bone and tissue.
But I could use a shot of whiskey for the pain , she thought.
An unnatural silence broke, a vacuum swallowing the sound of breaking glass and crushed bone. Samantha felt the vehicle come to a sudden, violent stop and she felt the slick, cold rain mixing with the blood pouring from her face. A bolt of lightning illuminated the boulder responsible for bringing the minivan to a stop and the subsequent burst of thunder broke the silence. The engine whirred and buzzed as the last of the gasoline combusted in the piston. It was the sound coming from behind her that worried Sam, the sound of liquid dripping on hot steel. Gasoline fell from a ruptured fuel tank.
She shook the blood and water from her face and unbuckled the seatbelt.
Getting barbecued would totally ruin my day.
Samantha pulled herself sideways toward the passenger side where the accident had blown out the window. She didn’t want to pull her broken legs over the middle console, but the minivan was rammed against a massive tree outside the driver’s side door, preventing her escape. She bit her lip with her remaining teeth and grabbed for the passenger side door. Slick with blood, her hands slipped and she fell back into the bucket seat. Samantha groaned and tuned out the pain before trying again.
This time, she grasped the top of the door and pulled herself up and out of the window in one swoop. She felt another weightless sensation, but the drop lasted just a split second before she crashed head first into a rotting log. New blood spilled from her scalp, running into her eyes and tinting her vision red. The sizzling sound intensified inside the minivan and Samantha saw the first flame ignite. She knew she had a few seconds before the rest of the gasoline would ignite and engulf her minivan.
I just had the thing detailed. Waste of two hundred bucks.
She rolled over onto her back and used her heels to push her body backward and away from the vehicle, the bones in her legs already healed enough to do so without pain. A brilliant flash erupted and a split second later, fire lit the sky, dancing in the torrential rain.
Sam turned her head skyward and laughed defiantly, letting the water run over her healed lacerations and rinsing the blood from her head. She stood and brushed the mud from her clothes. New teeth broke through her gumline and her spine straightened with newly healed bone.
Before the rain could extinguish her burning minivan, Samantha Moon stood and folded her arms across her chest.
“Wonderful,” she said.
She thought about her children, Anthony and Tammy, and her scheduled visit with them tomorrow. Her estranged husband, Danny, had kicked her out of the house, but she still had visitation rights. At least, for now.
Sam picked her way through the saplings as the smell of burning rubber and plastic made her eyes water. The rain continued to fall, flooding the ground and creating rivulets of water running down the gulley. The rumbling thunder made it impossible for Samantha to hear anything else. She continued moving downhill, away from her burning minivan as fast as she could without falling.
I just bought these jeans and I’m not about to get them ruined by burning gasoline.
She kept looking over her shoulder, each time expecting her vehicle to explode in a fiery ball of red heat, but instead it burned like a bonfire. Samantha knew she would have to call Detective Braden before his officers arrived on the scene with first-responders and paramedics. They would eventually need to tow her minivan—what was left of it—but Sam didn’t want to divert precious resources away from people who might need an ambulance.
Instinctively, Sam had tossed her purse over her shoulder when climbing out of the minivan and now, she swung it back around to fish out her phone. The top zipper held everything inside but the flight off the freeway had tossed the contents as though they were in a blender. She pushed aside a tube of lipstick and her checkbook to grab her phone. The screen had a sharp, new crack up the middle but lit up when she hit the power button. Sam put the phone to her ear but heard nothing but the raging storm. She looked at the phone before tossing it back into her purse.
“Can’t hear myself think out here, let alone someone on the other end.”
The wind whipped Sam’s words around her head, pulling them from her lips. She leaned back on a tree trunk and pushed the hair from her face. The minivan continued to burn, although the flames dropped lower now. She looked around and saw nothing but trees and leaves, the trunks silhouetted in silver whenever lightning struck overhead. After the third strike in one minute, Sam looked to her left where something caught her eye. She squinted, using her superior eyesight to detect a gaping hole in the wall of trees surrounding her. Samantha waited for her eyes to focus before walking toward the cave.
“At least I’ll be dry and can call a cab. Then I’ll call Triple A.”
The opening looked like a gigantic mouth frozen in a perpetual scream. The darkness inside the cave consumed any semblance of light or color. Sam looked back one more time at the burning minivan and then into the sky, as if to measure how much longer the rain would fall. She walked toward the cave, her hands over her eyes, shielding them from the blinding rain. The odor of the burning minivan faded and now, she detected the scent of moldy earth and limestone.
“I hope there aren’t any bats in here,” she said, laughing to herself. “I’m afraid of fangs.”
Samantha Moon stepped into the cave, the blackness enveloping her like the cold grip of the grave.
Samantha’s eyes adjusted faster than a normal human’s would have. The inky, black darkness faded into a textured, charcoal backdrop. She heard the sound of running water in the distance, no doubt enhanced by the torrential rain outside. Sam walked deeper into the cave, the lightning flashes throwing still images out in front of her. The solid rock protected her from the thunder outside and Sam now heard her own breathing. She took a deep breath of the cold, wet air before reaching into her purse for her phone.
“Hopefully, I’ve got some bars in here.”
She tapped the cracked screen and the phone lit up her face with a blue glow. Her phone showed two bars which she thought would be enough to make a call. As Sam tapped her contact list, a faint flicker caught her eye. She tapped the phone again to darken the screen and let her eyes adjust once again.
There. To the left.
Deep in a corridor that dropped lower into the earth came a faint yellow aura. Samantha stared, waiting for it to extinguish or change, but it didn’t. The light held steady, unlike a torch or flame.
Just make the call, Sam. You’ve got a visit scheduled with Anthony and Tammy tomorrow.
She looked down at her phone and as she was about to tap the screen and call Detective Braden, the yellow light intensified, illuminating the walls with a golden tint. Samantha sighed and tossed the phone back into her purse. She took several steps forward, the storm receding as she moved deeper into the cave and away from the mouth.
The floor felt smooth as she walked, cleared of small stones or other items that would have naturally accumulated there over thousands of years. The deeper she moved into the tunnel, the heavier the air grew. Sam put her hand on the cave wall and felt an immediate chill followed by a surge of energy. She pulled away, as if the cold had burned her skin. Sam looked closer to see faint etchings.
“How has this gone unexplored? I’m only fifty feet from the entrance,” Sam said, hoping to understand the scenario by speaking aloud.
She turned back to the painting and now saw another drawing. The scene looked identical, but this time, one of the bound figures was free and standing at a distance. The charcoal appeared darker, as if someone had added this portion long after the original composition.
Two prisoners, one gets away.
Samantha placed both hands on the cave wall and felt the pulse of energy shoot down her arms and across her chest. She closed her eyes and the ancient figures drawn on the cave wall came to life on her mental canvas. She watched as the figure in the distance ran off, escaping, while the other remained bound and motionless. She opened her eyes and the painting reverted back to its original form, the charcoal as it was for what she believed were thousands of years. But there was something new below the glyphs, two letters Samantha recognized.
VI.
She gazed at them, guessing aloud.
“VI? Six?” She wondered if it was a Roman numeral.
Nobody answered her questions. She moved in closer, hoping to decipher the cryptic letters now appearing where they had not been moments earlier. Before she could ask another, the golden light from deep in the cave flared outward, sending another pulse of energy into Samantha.
Come.
She heard the word in her head as if someone stood in front of her. Samantha took one more look at the painting and turned to enter the tunnel. She walked, leaving her burning minivan and the thunderstorm behind.
The tunnel opened into a massive canyon, the top of which remained hidden in darkness. The stalactites poked through the black void above and stalagmites reached up from the limestone below. The walls angled upward, carved and smoothed in a way that suggested it was done by human hands. In the middle of the underground cathedral sat a stone altar, the source of the yellow light.
Samantha walked forward, the path dropping gently toward the depression where the altar stood. She heard rushing water in the distance and dripping water coming from a hidden space nearby. Glyphs, many like the ones on the painting in the tunnel, were spread around the room. She pushed a strand of soggy, wet hair behind her ear while approaching the altar. A thick slab of rock lay across two upright stone pillars like Stonehenge. A musty smell arrived on a subterranean breeze. She stopped at the foot of the altar and looked down at the source of light, a glowing, bronze box.
“This isn’t right,” she said. “I should turn around right now and call for a tow truck. Wait for my minivan to finish burning.”
But Samantha didn’t move. She stared at the box. It appeared seamless, as if the gods had carved it out of the sun. The edges appeared sharp and a black line framed a front-facing door. Sam saw a golden knob and reached for it before another voice spoke in her head.
Open it. This is your fate.
She shivered and blinked, her hand frozen in the air between her body and the box.
“My fate was determined by the bite. And I don’t know if I’ll ever escape this prison.”
The voice did not respond but the box thrummed, sending a vibration through the stone and into Sam’s feet. The intensity of the light increased.
She moved her hand forward, grasping the golden knob and pulling the door of the box toward her. At first, she saw nothing but a black square, a window into nothing. But then, the sparkle caught her eye.
Samantha realized the glow came from the item inside the box, not the box itself. She reached for the locket hanging from a chain on the inside of the bronze box. A thin beam of white light emanated from the middle of the round charm that was the size of a quarter. Sam touched the locket and the light flickered, and at the same time, a bolt of energy raced up her arm. She sighed and felt a comforting warmth in the palm of her hand, the locket clenched inside. She lifted the chain off the hasp and stood back from the box, holding the top so the locket could now freely spin. The light shot out, dancing off the glyphs painted on the cave walls.
“It’s beautiful.”
Sam spoke, her own voice sounding alien in her ears. She turned her head sideways and held the locket closer to her eyes. Tiny glyphs covered the charm, engraved into the brilliant gold.
Put it on.
Samantha looked around even though she knew the words originated inside of her own head.
“Why?”
It is what you have been chosen to do.
Sam set the charm down on the altar and took a step back. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head.
“I don’t know. I’m confused.”
You have a responsibility you must fulfill. Put it on.
Sam thought of her children, her job. She stepped forward and picked up the locket again, this time holding it in the palm of her hand and feeling the energy course through her body.
“I’m nobody. I’m just a new vampire trying to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to live. Or die. Or whatever. I’m no hero, no leader.”
This time, the voice remained silent while Samantha continued to think through how crazy things had become since she turned. Nothing would ever be the same, in life or in death.
A low rumble shook the floor of the cave. Samantha looked down and saw puffs of dust where the rock began to split. The altar trembled and cracks ran through the stone like ice breaking on a pond.
Time is running out. Choose.
Samantha felt like crying. But she didn’t. She stood in the middle of the cavernous room as more dust and debris fell from above.
“Choose what?” she asked.
Put the locket around your neck and fulfill your duty.
The bronze box vibrated off the top of the altar and crashed to the ground, the sides already dented and tarnished. Samantha stared at it, wondering how it could be so brilliant one moment and so sad the next.
“Like my life,” she said. “I didn’t ask for this. I want my normal life back. Eternity sucks.”
The voice remained silent but the cave shook harder, dislodging larger chunks of stone and dropping them into the room. A rock the size of a pickup truck landed on the altar, crushing it and the bronze box buried beneath.
Samantha closed her eyes. She felt the debris raining down and almost wished she had been stuck beneath her burning minivan, having never seen this place or stepping foot inside of it. But that feeling was not enough to transport her back in time and out of the cave. She stood in the middle of it while the earth crumbled around her.
“My children. I want to know I can be there for them.”
There are no guarantees, no promises we can hold on to in trying times. There is only the acceptance or denial of one’s true purpose. This is yours, Samantha Moon.
The sound of her name inside of her own head spoken by another being shook Sam from her momentary confusion. Many things had changed since she became a vampire and she accepted this as one of them. She would never again be surprised to have a conversation with another inside of her head.
“So be it,” she said.
Samantha opened her eyes. The dust in the room hung like a thick fog and the walls vibrated. She swore she saw the glyphs dancing in the air as if projected on to the rock. She used both hands to grasp the chain, the locket swinging back and forth. The beam of light turned inward, illuminating the golden charm rather than pointing outward. Sam took a deep breath, thought once more of her children and plac
ed the locket over her head where it rested on her chest.
The quaking inside the cave ceased.
3
Samantha shook and rubbed her eyes. The dust settled around her, coating her dark hair with a silver mist. The falling rock had buried both the altar and the box, but the locket remained intact on her chest. She grabbed it with her right hand and held it up, pulling the chain taut. The charm spun around, the glyphs and the iris no longer glowing with light. Samantha dropped the locket back to her chest where it rested like an ordinary charm.
The sound of running water ceased, leaving behind only a slow trickle dripping into an unseen puddle.
The air in here is different , she thought. Thin.
Samantha took a few steps toward the tunnel that led back to the mouth of the cave. She felt her chest flutter and her breathing quickened although she did not sense a threat. Only the thin, empty darkness.
“Hello?”
Samantha smirked as soon as she spoke the one-word question, shaking her head and chastising herself for acting like a stupid girl in a horror movie. Nobody would answer—at least she hoped that was the case.
“You’re a vamp, girl. C’mon. Buck up.”
She flipped her hair back and secured the purse strap on her shoulder. Samantha retraced her steps through the tunnel, seeing only one set of footprints in the dirt, her own tracks from earlier. She saw the cave opening ahead and could tell that it was no longer night. The sun threw weak rays of light down from above, but Samantha could not determine whether it was sunrise or sunset.
“Feels like twilight,” she said, her vampire sense recognizing the glorious time of day when the life of the undead would begin. “But it can’t be.”
Samantha walked faster now, her feet shuffling through the loose dirt and her eyes focused on the mouth of the cave. She passed the ancient cave painting and did not bother to glance at it. She noticed how the charcoal ink had faded, looked older than it had when she first saw it. Or maybe it was her imagination.
