The Light Who Shines (12 page)

Bluebell Kildare: May 27, 2022, Red Ages

I let Varg into my apartment and drop a huge bag of dog food
on the floor in the kitchen. While he inspects the premises, I fill the water and
food bowls. Looking skeptically at the kibble, I wonder if that’s enough for a
wolf. It’s probably not, but Alexis fed him so well today, it will do for now.
I’ll have to supplement his diet with real meat.

“Well, Varg, this is your new home.”

My living room is small and consists of a sofa facing the
sliding glass doors to the terrace and a small TV in the corner. Two tall
bookshelves are filled to the brim with my used book collection. I keep my
laptop on the coffee table, and I turn it on now to read the news.

“Varg, Dark Vampire attacks have been increasing citywide.
What do you think of that?”

Varg growls.

“Yeah, that is what I think too. It has to stop.”

Varg agrees with me by walking over to the rag rug and
curling down in its shag depths. He twists a few times and then gets up again. Suddenly,
his body tenses and the hairs on the ridge of his back rise. With a pounce, he
is growling at the sliding glass doors to the terrace, and this time it’s a
vicious, teeth-baring growl. He doesn’t stop there, though. I know something is
out there when he starts barking and snapping savagely at the glass doors.

“What’s the matter, Varg?” I go to his side and peer out
into the dark, but it’s no use. I can’t see anything out there. I shiver a
little bit, and my heart starts to thud in my chest. Whatever is out there can
surely see me just fine.

I pull away from the doors and turn off the lights. Then I
peer through the glass doors again. Varg is still growling, but I can’t see
anything. Opening up my sixth sense, I feel through the wall for a soul. Something,
something menacing, seems to be in the far back corner of the terrace. As my
eyes adjust to the darkness, I see a faint movement in the shadows.

I pull my Glock out and throw open the door. Varg rushes past
me to the far corner of the terrace. Flipping the outside light on as I follow
him, a quick glance tells me nothing seems to be in the corner. I turn in a slow
circle, checking all around me and up at the roof, but still I see nothing. I
hear a faint creak by the corner where I’d seen the shadow, so I move to examine
it more closely. A sick feeling curls in the pit of my gut when I realize my
rocking chair is rocking slightly, seemingly of its own volition. I lick my
finger and lift it up but feel only the slightest breeze. Varg is still in that
corner sniffing and emitting low, unhappy growls.

I thought I’d sensed someone very briefly just as we’d
walked through the door onto the terrace, but the sense of them was gone in a
flash. Worrying my lip with my teeth, I think about the disappearing man. Well,
whoever it was, they’re gone now. Consideringly, I look down at Varg. If it was
the disappearing man, they probably weren’t happy to see the wolf with me.
Good.

“Varg, let’s go inside.”

Varg looks up at me as I hold the door open, and he reluctantly
follows me in. I check the bolt and pull the shades down on all the windows.

Unsure of what to do now, I pick up a book from my shelf and
curl up on the sofa again. Varg comes up to me and rubs his massive, furry head
on my knee.

“You did a good job, Varg. Thank you for telling me
something was out there.”

Varg wags his tail and curls up by my feet. We relax like
that for a while, but I can’t get into my book as I think of all the things
that have happened over the last couple of days.

My grandparents hated me, but my parents really loved me, so
I guess I can live with that. I might not be named Bluebell because of my eyes,
but rather because I was blue and dead at birth. I ended up alive, so I guess
that’s alright. Apparently my aura saved my life, but I sure wish it had saved
my parents’ lives. If only they hadn’t covered me up. Honestly, though, I’m still
not sure I completely buy the story about me killing the Dark Vampire. Then some
mysterious Daylight Vampire rescued me from the alley and brought me to Father
O’Brennen.

I also noticed a few interesting things. I was able to feel
Father O’Brennen’s feelings briefly while in the church, and that is not
supposed to happen. Gifts shouldn’t work on holy ground, so that is very peculiar.
I hope I’m the oddity and not the church, since the amulet is hidden there. The
other thing I’ve noticed is that when I’m with Jack, I can’t feel his emotions
very much. Occasionally I get a whiff, but not often. Today was an extreme
exception. My gift doesn’t exactly seem to be playing by the rules.

Jack, now he’s a puzzle. I wish I could get a read on him
and his feelings about me. He’s good to me and takes extra care with me. He
lets me be independent while still showing his concern. But is he attracted to
me the way I’m attracted to him? Does he have any feelings for me at all?

And how exactly do I feel about him? He is tall and broad-shouldered
with a rock solid and powerful body. His eyes are a sensual, ever-changing kaleidoscope
of green that I have to keep tearing my eyes away from so I don’t get lost in
them. How many times have I imagined twining my fingers through his golden
curls? I can’t even count. While most people would be afraid of him, I see his
rage as simply the way he expresses his protectiveness and his caring. I don’t
believe he would ever hurt me or anyone he considers a friend. He gets angry
for us, not at us.

But I really don’t know anything about him. He’s lived for hundreds
of years, for cripes sake! Is his house decorated in modern décor, or does he
like antiques? What are his political affiliations? What does he do for fun?
Hah! I can’t even see him having fun. What is fun for Jack? Somehow I think his
fun is killing Dark Vampires.

Now how about Dragomira? What is she? With her voice, it is
clear that she isn’t a Norm. She’s not a Vampire, that much is also obvious. She
must be Gifted. After all, she owns the best magical artifact shop in town. But
what about her voice? Would a Gifted person have a voice like that? Maybe her
voice is her gift.

As if these aren’t enough questions, I am trying to find a
murderer. Plus, I’ve just taken in a wolf who might have the magical ability to
grow and shrink.

I glance over at Varg, who is lying with his head on his
paws watching me. I jump up and grab the leash. “Varg, do you want to go for a
walk?”

Varg looks like he understands me and stands up. He goes
right to the door and waits patiently while I hook the leash on.

As we start traipsing down the block, I chuckle to myself. Because
of his size I can’t drag him an inch in any direction he doesn’t choose to go. The
leash is ridiculous since I know who is really walking whom. Luckily, Varg is
well behaved and apparently likes walks, as he leads me quite well. I keep my
Glock and my new knife on me and pay close attention to the neighborhood as we
pass. Varg growls at shadows a few times, but I see nothing that poses a threat.
After about a mile or so, Varg starts leading us back home.

When we get home, I shower and slip under the fluffy comforter
on my bed. Varg jumps up on the bed and looks at me with mournful eyes, begging
to join me. He is so cute in a vicious, wolfy, fangy sort of way! But I really
don’t want to sleep with a wolf. I put my hands around both sides of his head
and give him a vigorous rub. His eyes close as he thoroughly enjoys the
massage. Then I throw back the covers and grab another comforter from the
closet. I fold it into a nice bed and place it on the floor next to me. Varg
seems to know this is his spot, and he settles into it right away.

I slip under the covers again and soon drift off, thinking
how nice it is to have Varg in the apartment. I’ve been alone for so long, and
he makes me feel very safe.

Jack Tanner: May 27, 2022, Red Ages

After getting the latest report about the Rowan Park area
murders, I flip open my chimerator and chime Ernesto.

His face appears on my polished onyx stone. “Good evening, Jack.”

“I just got the report on the murders. I’ll meet you at the water
tower in ten. We’re hunting together tonight.”

Snapping the chimerator lid closed, I gaze out the
windshield, trying to calm my rapidly increasing pulse. My fangs are already
fully elongated. A rage fills me and quickly escalates to the boiling point at
just the thought of the threat of the Dark Vampires who dare to move into
Blue’s neighborhood. A deep, undeniable primal instinct to protect her pervades
me.

There is no question. They will be eliminated tonight.

Ernesto arrives just after I do, wearing a loose-fitting
black linen tunic pant set. During the day, he looks like a gentleman of
leisure in his white linen pant sets, but at night he wears black and looks the
picture of lethality.

We’ve hunted together so many times during the last hundred
years that we know each other’s minds. Ernesto knows I have a special interest
in protecting this vicinity. He’s never indicated that he understands why, but
he’s no fool.

I’ve already started climbing the water tower, and Ernesto
follows closely behind. Pulling myself up the pole on the side of the ladder
hand over hand, ignoring the rungs, I quickly attain the lookout position. Circling
the tower, surveying the neighborhood with my eagle sharp eyes and sniffing the
air, I search for the smallest hint of Dark Vampire presence. My gaze is so precise
that I can see a mouse from miles away. The joy of the hunt is on me.

Ernesto does the same, moving in the opposite direction.

“Nothing,” I say. We climb down and run to the schoolyard on
Washington Street. At our fastest speeds, our movements appear as blurs to the
human eye. I ascend the school building via the ridges in the bricks. My
nostrils flare and my eyes scan, watching, listening, scenting. We circle the
building but are disappointed once again as only the smell of children lingers here.
With silent leaps, we drop off the edge of the school to the playground below.

Ernesto and I know that Dark Vampires hide in locations
close to humans. We know all the tall structures in each neighborhood, and we
have memorized our route. We meet at our third rendezvous point, St. Michael’s
Church. We scale the building silently and climb the steeple. The smell of something
foul, rotting blood and flesh, comes from the northeast. I indicate my
discovery to Ernesto by a whisper that is so soft it is less than the
fluttering wings of a gnat.

Ernesto nods almost imperceptibly. He moves closer to my
position, and his nostrils flare as he catches the same scent. We scan the area
but see nothing.

I descend the building to follow the scent and close in on
my prey, my senses sharpening all the while. The world is a glitter of
brilliant light to my eyes even in depths of the night. The disgusting aroma of
rot assails my nostrils. From the scent I can tell that there are at least two
Dark Vampires, and they turned at least three days ago.

I shift from shadow to shadow, tenaciously stalking them,
interminably closing the distance. With a motion for Ernesto to take position
and guard the escape route, I circle around them.

We are just five blocks from Blue’s building.

I am aware of the slightest breezes and circumnavigate
around them, keeping the Night-Crawlers upwind. This means I have to travel
further away from Blue’s place. My fury fuels my blood to a hot rush, and my
blood vessels strain against the confines of my skin, but I keep in rigid
control.

I can smell three of them now.

A dog barks, filling the night air with his unheeded
warning. Still the Night-Crawlers move a block south, closer to Ernesto and
closer to Blue.

I am two blocks away from them now, coming from the north like
an iron machine. Operating at warp speed, I cover that distance in a second and
stand still under a large oak. Scenting the air, I know I am right on them now,
and I smell a human in their vicinity. I hear them stalking their prey just as
I stalk them, but their mindless evil knows little caution.

I whip around the corner of a three-flat building. A woman sits
under a porch light on her balcony on the top floor, oblivious to the danger of
the Dark Vampire climbing the post just below her deck. A second Dark Vampire,
a female, hangs upside down from the beams that support the deck. Her long, greasy,
blond hair that was surely beautiful just days ago hangs down in clumps, and saliva
drips from her desperate mouth as she relishes her future meal. The third Dark
Vampire’s position is unknown.

I quickly scale the post behind the first male. He sees me
and jumps to the second story balcony. His eyes glow red, and his fangs further
extend as he hisses, frustrated at being deterred from his quarry.

The woman screams, and I hear the opening and closing of a
sliding glass door. It’s little protection from the terror that awaits her just
outside.

I pay no attention to my prey’s warning, and with lightning
speed, circle him, reaching for a stake in my ammunition belt at the same time.
He twists to the side, trying to escape, but I grab his shoulder with my left
arm in an unrelenting grip. Bringing my right arm down in an arc, I impale his
heart through the muscle and bone of his back.

As my first prey falls to the deck floor in a shower of ash,
I turn to the second without pause. Instead of fleeing, she’s leaping over the
balcony toward the woman’s sliding glass door. Her savage mind has apparently
obscured her ability to recognize the threat of imminent death. Her foot dangles
for a diminutive space of time as she goes over the balcony, intent on her
victim.

I reach up to grasp the bottom beam of the balcony and leap
for the top railing with my other hand. Glass crashes. It must be the door to
the apartment. With a push of my arm, I propel myself up and over the balcony.
Kicking off the railing, I leap onto my prey as she moves through the entrance.
I straddle her back and crush her against the shards of glass that are still
attached to the door frame. The woman’s scream carries from somewhere in the
back of the apartment. With my hands wrapped around the female’s head, I twist
until the satisfying crunch of fragmenting bones rewards me. With one more swivel
and wrench at her head, muscle, sinew, and flesh shred, until it separates from
her body.

I stand above her with my foot on her back as her body
continues to writhe. With a flick of my wrist, her head sails backwards over
the balcony. Then in one continuous movement I bring my arm back, grab another stake,
and bring it down between her shoulder blades and into her heart.

The smell of the woman’s fear wafting from the depths of the
apartment commingles with the scent of burning flesh from where the stake
entered the malevolent being. The body of the Dark Vampiress has disintegrated
into another pile of ash, and only a remnant of scent hangs in the air marking
her previous existence.

Just as I stand and scan my surroundings for the third Dark
Vampire, I sense him too late. He jumps from the roof onto my back, and we both
sail over the balcony. I land on my feet, with evil still attached to my back
and clawing at my neck. His nails puncture my neck, and his putrid scent fills
my nostrils. With a mighty push of my thighs, I leap fifteen feet in the air as
my enemy rips a hole in the side of my neck. The pain is incredible, but it’s of
little consequence in the moment. With a twist backwards in midair, I position
my prey so that as we land he is crushed beneath me, and then I immediately rock
my body forward. The impact loosens his grip somewhat, but he maintains his clasp
on my neck. This Dark Vampire is strong, but he’s not strong enough.

I wedge my hand under one of his and using both hands, I
snap his left wrist, making it useless for the moment. At the same time, I hear
a whirring of wind behind me as a blade slices through air, then flesh. I roll
forward, and the Dark Vampire’s remaining hand loosens as his head rolls off his
neck and onto the grass below. I jump up and turn in one movement. Ernesto is calmly
wiping his blade on the grass.

With a swift kick to the head, I send it far from the body, which
is still squirming and grasping uselessly where it lies. I rip the bottom of my
shirt and tie a hasty tourniquet around my neck, though the wound is already
healing. Turning to Ernesto, I smile. “Mi amigo, thank you for watching my
back.”

Ernesto smiles in return as he reaches over his shoulder and
slides his sword into his scabbard. “No hay problema. That one was like a
leech, stuck to you and trying to suck your blood.”

I chuckle and then restlessly look up to the night sky. The
moon is obscured by a cloud, and the stars shine brilliantly. “Do you have holy
water on you?”

“Sí, señor, claro. You have places to go?”

My rage toward the Dark Vampires and my fear for Blue have subsided
into a restlessness that I know will not ease until I check on her. With a sigh
I turn to Ernesto. “The woman will need to be calmed down, and the body needs
to be eliminated. Can you stay to finish this up?”

Ernesto smiles gently. “Of course. Go do what you must.”

I pat Ernesto’s shoulder in thanks. Thanks for his help, his
understanding, and his silence. Then I give into my burning urge and run toward
Blue’s apartment. As I leave, the sizzle of holy water meeting Dark Vampire
flesh and a soft poof fill the air, telling me the body has disintegrated into the
final pile of ash.

In no time, I arrive at Blue’s apartment and do a patrol
around the building. The man I’ve placed to watch her apartment sits quietly in
his car across the street. I scale the stonework on my way to inspect the roof.
As I hang from the small ridges in the stonework, the wolf smells me, and I
smell him through the wall. He growls warning at the scent of a fellow
predator. I chuckle softly. Perhaps this wolf will be useful after all.

Blue’s even, slow breathing from her bed warms me, and I am
satisfied that her slumber is undisturbed. Feeling much better, I head for home
and the lonely meal of bagged blood that will sustain me.