Some
Fun Facts before we Jump in
Every
thirty seconds, seven-hundred-twenty people disappear. That adds up to approximately 27,397 per day,
making a year’s total 10,000,000. Of these
10,000,000, only 500,000 reappear. We
see missing people’s pictures on billboards, postcards, milk cartons, and if
the story is especially sad, our local news.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but as you can see from the numbers above, most people who go missing are
never found. And if it wasn’t for people
like me, the numbers would be double.
I’m
not doing this to spoil anyone’s faith of finding a loved one, but numbers don’t
lie. The only chance they have of
finding these lost people, would be if their loved one is in that lucky
percentage of those who are taken by other humans. If they are taken by the things I hunt, their
chances are slim to none.
If
you think about it, there has to be something—or multiple things—that are
taking all of these people. Well, I know
who and what it is, but with society’s recent turn to love these creatures that
aren’t supposed to exist, it makes my task more difficult. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m
telling you that your loved ones were probably taken by an undead. And by ‘undead,’ I mean not human.
Let
me start you off with the worst of the undead: vampires. Movies depict them as creatures that are
always smitten with humans. They’ve
recently been depicted in stories as those who love humans, and will drink
animal blood to survive. The stories say
that they don’t like to kill and that they only take a little of our human
blood to survive. Movies want us to believe
that there could be a ‘good vampire,’ because even though they’re posed as
fictional, if they were to exist,
they wouldn’t kill us. They’ll sweep us
off our feet, fall in love, and maybe even sparkle in the sun. The thought makes me throw up in my mouth a
little bit, especially since these are the worst of the creatures I hunt. Trust me, they have no respect for human life, and the only thing they love about us is
our blood and how amazing it tastes as it drizzles down their throats. To show you how cruel they are, let me bring
you back to those missing people.
Take
a good look at who are the people that are missing. What do they have in common? You never see Grandma or Grandpa on a milk
carton; you see mostly children. Why,
you might ask? It’s because, to them,
the blood is more pure. They don’t care
that this person has only lived seven years; they just care that one: they are
the easiest to catch; and second, but most important: they have what they call
the “purest blood.” At these young ages,
the blood is the purest, because it is just developing, making it mostly free
of diseases and untainted by drugs or alcohol.
If
you are ever taken by a vampire, you’re lucky if they take your life right
away. The more cruel ones will save you
for years, using you as a blood slave, until your soul crumbles and finally
gives up.
Why
one would ever want to become one of them makes me sick to my stomach. It’s mind boggling, when I walk around the
mall and see these young girls and boys wearing shirts that say ‘bite me.’ Ha, if they only knew the truth. The truth being that, not only going along
with the torture and death that would come from being bitten and drained of
your blood, you do not change into a vampire by merely being bitten. No, you only become one if the vampire
exchanges their blood back to you.
A
vampire will bite a human for one of two reasons: One: they want a slave, for
whoever changed you is now your master; or, two: they need bodies to sacrifice
in their war for power. Neither a reason
any sane person want to sacrifice their human life. Most vamps have so little regard for human
life that they don’t change anyone, because they feel no human deserves to be
like them. So please, kids, enough with
the ‘bite me’ shirts.
In
fact, the only species I hunt that would change from a simple bite would be a
werewolf. However, don’t get your hopes
up, people; this is no experience you’ll ever want to try and endeavor. Simply put, there is almost no chance of you
surviving this ordeal. When werewolves hunt,
they not only need the blood of humans, but the meat as well. They basically tear their prey to shreds in
seconds, ripping limps, and sucking the blood that drains from them. They leave nothing behind, unless, maybe an
eyeball or a finger falls out of their mouths while they’re consuming you.
However,
there is that one-in-a-million chance
that, after you were bitten, you got away.
If this happened though, being a werewolf is no pleasant ordeal. You become a part of their family, which is a
very strict society that is almost impossible to escape. You will always be hungry, and you will have
no control over your emotions or feelings on the night of a full moon.
Werewolves
are the only creatures I remotely feel sorry for, because of their limited self-control
on a full moon. I still kill them though,
because they don’t only feed on a full moon. It is most difficult to kill them
on these nights, because they are at their full strength. The kill can still be done, but it takes a
lot of practice. Unlike vamps, they don’t
usually pry on children, because frankly, they don’t have enough meat yet.
The
last, and least likely, undead creatures I hunt, I call the non-consumers. These are the shape shifters, witches, and
fairies that I sometimes come across. I’ve
actually only killed a few of each of these.
I refer to them as the non-consumers, because they don’t actually have
to consume human blood for their existence.
That doesn’t mean that they don’t…it’s just that, unlike vamps and werewolves,
they don’t have to in order to survive.
Occasionally
though, I have caught shape shifters feeding on humans, merely for the thrill
of the hunt. Just like you would see a
cat torture and leave a dead mouse’s body behind. These shape shifters usually work for, or run
with, vamps.
Witches,
on the other hand, don’t feed on humans at all.
I have caught them using human blood and limbs for their potions though. This rarely happens, because they can use
animals to serve that same purpose. The
ones that use humans for their potions work for, or run with, vampires, like
the shape shifters.
As
far as fairies, I’ll be honest, I’ve seen them twice and I’ve killed two. I only did it because they were with vamps
and were trying to kill me. I don’t
really know much about them.
Now
that I’ve educated you briefly on the undead that I despise, I not only hope
you refrain from wearing a “bite me” shirt, but I need your help in my battle
with these creatures. I’m hoping that,
after hearing a brief history on me and the past year of my life, you will be
able to help me with my quest. I’ve
given to you, in this journal, as much straight, to-the-point information as I
possibly could, in the amount of time that I could afford. I’m asking for help, because I can no longer
do it alone. Things have happened where
this is no longer possible. I hope
whoever finds my scribbles will find the strength and knowledge to join the
effort.
Chapter 1
The Beginning
So
I guess, to really help me, we should start with how I got into all of
this. I wish I could say for vengeance
or revenge—that a vampire had hurt my family—but hey, that would be a lie, and
we must learn to trust one another. Here’s
the truth: I started all of this for the same reason that most 18-year-old
girls do something crazy for…a boy. Here
I was, fresh into college, without many friends, and no family. He had a really cute face with a hockey butt
to match, but we’ll get back to him later. For now, we’ll hit the “no family”
part.
I
had lost my parents when I was young, and by “lost” I mean: my dad ran off, and
my mother followed suit when I was about nine.
Not really a biggie to me, from what I can remember; I didn’t like her
much anyway. I always recall wanting to
stay at Grandma’s, and at nine, I got my wish.
My grandma was a gambling, loud, moonshine-drinking hell of a
woman. She always told you exactly what
was on her mind, and didn’t give a damn what anyone thought of her.
She
had lost my grandpa, the only man she’d ever loved, right after she had my
mom. We didn’t talk much about him,
because it seemed to be the only thing that could bring her to tears. Like myself, Grandma didn’t like my mother
much. She would always say how opposite
they were: my mother was a “no backboned” woman that couldn’t even spell
responsibility.
Looking
back, I would have to agree, especially since the reason she had left me at age
nine was because she’d met a rich man.
This man wanted to start a family, but couldn’t see himself dating a
woman with kids. This was perfect
because she didn’t let him know she had one.
She dumped me, so she could live happily ever after.
My
grandmother said the only good thing my mother ever gave me was her looks. I guess she also had strawberry-blond hair,
pale skin, and light-colored freckles.
Our only differences, my grandmother had said, was my height, since I’m 5’6”
and she was 5’1.” Our eyes also differed
as my mothers were brown, like mud, while mine are a light, turquoise-blue.
Whatever,
though—I had no grief over it; I loved living with my grandmother. You never knew what would come out of her
mouth, which made each day a thrill. She
was also extremely random. To the point that
one day we just went to the airport and she let me pick out which plane, and
that’s the one we flew in. I loved her
like a mom and was sad the day old age took her away from me. It was a week before I left for college. So here I was: eighteen, a freshman in
college, with no family and no friends, since my grandmother insisted on
homeschooling me.
This
brings me back to the boy. Kevin was his name; he was twenty-one and a
senior, finishing up his elective courses.
He stood six-foot-three, with baby-blue eyes, tan olive skin, and dirty-blond
hair, styled like a hockey player. His
hair lay just below his ears in a tangled, curled mess. I was lucky enough to snatch up the seat next
to him on the first day of class. It was
a business communications class, which required a lot of group projects. Since we sat next to each other that made us
partners. It didn’t take long for us to
become a couple, probably because I basically worshiped the ground he walked
on. He was the first boy that really
gave me attention. I remember the day he
asked me to be his girlfriend. I thought it was the best day of my life.
It
also happened to be the day that he introduced me to his ‘extracurricular
activities.’ We had been talking for
about a month, and to be honest, I hadn’t really listened to anything he had
said; I was too busy looking at his face. So it came as a shock when he brought me to
this meeting where everyone dressed in black.
We were the only ones in, what I thought to be, normal dress.
Kevin
introduced me to his four ‘friends’: Stacy, who had short, blond hair and the
body of a twig; Scott, who also had blond hair but was built heavy, like a
wrestler; Alice, who was tall, with a solid frame, and had dark, hazel eyes; and
Carrie, who was short and a twig, like Stacy, but with black hair.
They
all seemed to be as interested as Kevin in these paranormal fiction books. They would rant about vampires, witches,
werewolves—you name it—and they basically covered the whole fantasy world. That was all we ever talked about
really. Actually, that’s what they talked about. Kevin would take me to, what I thought to be,
‘book club meetings’ once a week. I
would have rather been humping, since I had just recently discovered how
enjoyable it was, but he insisted we go to these meetings. He said that once his friends trusted me, it
would be so much better and I would enjoy the meetings more. Two months into attending these book club
things, Alice finally talked directly to me.
“Caylee,
it’s this group’s decision to let you into our true circle. Do you want to become part of our fighting
alliance, for if you do, you can never go back, and we will become your only
friends and family? If you become a part
of this, what we discuss and do never leaves the six of us. You will be bound by life or death to hold
this bond, for what we discuss, will help our race so that they cannot bring us
down. Do you want to join?”
I
was slightly confused and weirded out. How
intense were these book discussions that we couldn’t talk about them outside of
the group? But, whatever, if it made
Kevin happy and his friends would trust me, I guess I would agree.
“Uhh,
yes,” I replied, and they all smiled and took a deep breath.
“Thank
god,” Stacy said. “I’m so sick of talking in code.”
“Huh?”
I asked. And for the next half-hour I was
enlightened by them on how this wasn’t a book club I had been attending, that
the science-fiction things they talked about were real, and they hunted
them. I stared in shock, probably with
my mouth open, and started laughing hysterically.
“Yeah,
nice joke, guys, you got me…is book club over now?” I asked. I really wanted to get back to my dorm, where
Kevin and I would be alone.
“They’re
not kidding, Caylee. I know it’s hard to
process—I thought the same thing—but tonight we’ll show you,” Kevin said.
Chapter 2
Reality Check
They really like to play
out their jokes,
I thought as I followed behind the five of them. In new black attire, since
they had brought a change of clothes for me.
We were in depot town, a place full of alleys and old, abandoned buildings.
“Are
you sure you scouted one here last weekend?” Alice asked Kevin.
“Yeah,
and last night I double checked. You
know how they all like to feed in the same place,” he responded.
“Alright,
well here, Caylee, here’s a stake just in case, even though you won’t need it
tonight. If anything comes near you,
stick this in their chest, through their heart,” Alice said as she handed me a stick
that was shaved off into a point. It was
as thick and heavy as my forearm.
“You
can’t be serious…” I mumbled. How far
was this joke going to go? I got the
point.
“Shh,
we’re almost there,” Kevin said as everyone went silent. We walked down an alley and came to a point
where you could turn right or left to, what I guessed were, other alleys. He turned to us, put up one finger, and
gestured to Scott and Stacy to go back out and around the other way to. He did this I guessed in effort to trap
whatever was in the alley. They headed
the other way as Kevin motioned Carrie and Alice to follow behind him. He put his hand up to me, telling me to stay
put. They all gripped their stakes and
held them up, with the pointed end facing forward. One by one, they turned around the
corner. I crept up, slowly, behind them. As I rounded the corner, I heard a loud
sucking sound, like when someone slurps the last of their drink through a straw. What the hell was going on? I slowly peeked my head around and saw Kevin,
Alice, and Carrie stalking up on something that was hovering over a huge rock. That was when Kevin yelled.
“Hey,
bloodsucker!” And I watched as Kevin
flashed a bright light onto whatever was hovering over the rock. I watched as the light flashed on its face. My mouth went wide in horror as the thing
looked up into the light, like a deer in headlights. It hissed and its eyes froze, giving a cold,
dead stare at Kevin. What the hell was this thing? It appeared human—hell, it looked human,
besides the fact that its eyes were a dark, blood-red, and it had fangs. Freaking fangs! What I thought was a rock that it was hovering
over, was actually a person. Well, more
like a lifeless body. That thing hadn’t
been hovering over it but, rather, drinking from the person. The blood dripped from its chin onto the
cement below.
The
thing remained still, trapped in Kevin’s light.
I heard it hiss once more as it looked behind it, to now see Stacy and
Scott coming. It then leaped up onto the
wall, and used the wall as leverage to bounce off and leap onto Stacy and Scott. Taking them both out and sending them flying,
it stood on the ground, unaffected. I
saw Stacy and Scott put up their stakes as the thing readied its pounce. It once again leaped, this time on top of
Stacy. It grabbed her arm and twisted
it, making a loud popping sound. She
screamed out in pain, and I watched, frozen, as Scott then tried throwing
something, that I think was water, at the creature.
Whatever
he had thrown at the thing seemed to work, because it hissed again—as if the
substance burned its skin. By this time,
Kevin, Carrie, and Alice were feet away from the creature and they all had
their stakes held high in their hands, attempting to trap the thing. I watched its face as its lips curved up into
a smile, proudly showing its fangs as it seemed to be thinking about which
person to attack first. I then saw it
run at Scott so fast that, if I had blinked, I would have missed the whole
thing. It grabbed his arm that had the
stake in it. A loud cracked filled my
eardrums, as it used Scott’s arm as a rope and swung him around its head—much
like cowboys do in movies as they’re about to lasso a bull with their rope—but
Scott was the rope. After a few twirls
of Scott above its head, it launched his body into the rest of them, sending
them all flying into a wall. The thing
was laughing, and getting ready to leap again onto the heap of people it had
just defeated. I looked in horror at
Kevin’s eyes: terrified, from defeat and shock.
Before
I knew it, my feet started running towards them—before my brain could even
process what I was about to do. I just
knew I couldn’t watch as this thing killed them. What I
was thinking? It was too late now to
go back. As soon as I took those first
steps, the thing heard me and snapped its attention my way, making me come to a
halt. When its eyes met mine, I froze as
I felt a shiver run up my spine. What
the fuck was I going to do? The plan had
been for me to just go and watch.
“HAHAHAHHA,”
I heard the thing laugh again. “I can
see from your face that I’m the first vampire you have ever met. Pity for you—your stupid friends shouldn’t
have brought you here. They at least
knew what they were getting into, but the look on your face tells me you did
not.”
“No,
I didn’t,” came out of my mouth. Was I
really talking to this thing?
“I’m
surprised you can even speak…bravery, maybe?
Entertaining, I’ll admit. Maybe I’ll even let you become my blood slave,
since you dare to speak to me like you have the right to stand before me. Yes, that sounds good. I think I’ll kill your friends and make you my
slave.” He laughed.
“I’m
not really good at house chores, so I don’t think I’d make a good slave,” I
said, still without thinking. But I
somehow knew I had to keep him distracted while my brain rambled on for a
solution.
“So
I’ve not only found a brave fool, but a smartass as well?” the thing asked, and
I watched him slightly bring up his left foot, indicating he was done with my
distractions. I felt my fingers tighten around my stake, and watched as he ran
at me at a speed that I barely processed.
I screamed the whole time he came at me, but made my eyes focus on his
chest. It was actually the only thing I focused
on. Something I would never do now, but
that was all I could think about. When
he was a foot from me, I threw up my stake, putting it into his chest that I
had been so heavily concentrating on.
His body crashed into mine, my slammed into the cement behind me, and
everything went black.
Chapter 3
Altered
I
awoke to Kevin screaming my name and shaking my body. “What…What…” creaked out of my mouth. I then, slowly, forced my eyes open and saw all
of the book club members staring at me in shock. “How long was I out?” I asked.
“About
ten minutes.” Kevin laughed. “Is that really all you’re concerned about?” he
asked, smiling from ear to ear. “Caylee,
you just saved all of our lives…”
“I,
what?” I asked as my lovely memories of what just transpired flashed back to
me, and informed me of why I was on the ground.
“What the fuck was that?” I mumbled as I slowly lifted my body to
stand. My head was throbbing from the
knot that had just been placed in the back of my skull.
“That
was your first vampire killing!” shouted Alice from my left.
“So
you weren’t kidding about this not being a book club?” I asked.
“No,
definitely not,” she said.
“Well,
that’s good, because I don’t really like reading…” I said as I tried rubbing my temples to make
the headache go away.
“I’m
so sorry, Caylee. You weren’t supposed
to be involved just yet. I just wanted
you to be there so you would believe. I
underestimated this vampire. I didn’t
know he was an empyreal. I would have
never brought anyone if I had known,” Kevin rambled.
“What
is an empyreal?” I wanted to know.
“Yeah,
well, we hadn’t had the time to explain that part, but there are different
kinds of vamps. This one was one of the
worst to face,” Kevin explained.
“You
can tell by their eyes what kind they are,” Stacy said as she flashed Kevin an
accusing look. They then enlightened me
on how vampires, depending on age and skill, were ranked. The lowest rank was the amateur level. These were freshly made or born
vampires. They had little skill, but
still had super strength, and other things that were superb to human
abilities. The next levels, in order of
rank, were: rookie, knight, judicial, empyreal, and royal. Empyreals and royals were the “top dogs.” They told me that I should never face an
empyreal alone, and if I ever saw a royal, run the fuck away, as they were near
impossible to kill.
“I’m
so sorry,” he pleaded to Stacy. “The
lighting had to have been funky. I thought he was an amateur. You know I would have never…”
“She
knows that…” Alice chimed in.
“It
doesn’t change the fact that my wrist—and now Scott’s arm—is broken,” Stacy
shouted. “It’ll take months before we can go out full-force again.”
“More
time to train Caylee,” said Scott softly, trying to mediate the situation.
“Yes,
Scott is right. Let’s look at it like
that. This was definitely scary, but we’ll
learn from it. What a good first kill
for Caylee to have on her record.” She
didn’t bring up the fact that it only happened out of sheer dumb luck, and the
vampire way underestimated me. But, hey,
I was alive and the vampire was not. One
point for Caylee, zero for the vampire.
Things
carried on like this for four years.
They taught me everything there was to know about undeads. Like our vows said, we really all did become
a family—a naïve, stupid family, thinking we could remain a large group and
successfully take on the undead. We
trained, studied, and even came up with a sweet hunting party name: ‘The Dukes.’
Ultimately,
it wouldn’t matter. We probably would
have been better off to break apart and hunt on our own, but we thought the
group unity made us stronger. In the end,
it would be our demise.
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