I stayed in the hospital ward another night so my leg could be healed by Dahlia. Her powers were amazing. She took all my pain and endured it throughout the entire night. I didn’t know where she disappeared to or what she did to rid herself of the pain, but she always came back in perfect health, ready to help another hurt friend.
Unfortunately, the damage to my leg was so extensive that she couldn’t prevent it from permanent disfiguration. The long, lumpy white scars ran every which way to forever remind me of the failure of my first hunt. It could be added to a long list of failures that included protecting my son’s life. I was not in a good mood when I left, to say the least.
My group ate in a hurry before we met in the lobby for our next hunt. To let us heal from any damage and gather our minds from whatever horror we faced, the Chamber gave us a day or two off in between. In that time, we could stay in the hospital ward, work on our physical fitness, practice our weapon skills on our own, or study the material from our different classes. Latin proved to be a difficult subject and technology was more interesting that I thought it would be. But I spent the entire time in the hospital ward, hoping it wouldn’t become a habit since I wanted to improve my sword wielding.
David Yu met the seven of us by the elevator doors. I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling. It would be an interesting night. I was mad that Don hadn’t contacted me in so long, but I still yearned for him to be the one to take us out. Anything was better than David.
“All right, kids! Cloaks on, hoods up, let’s head out,” he said as he clapped his hands together.
Ryker didn’t budge from where he stood. “Hold up. We’re not going anywhere this time until you tell us what it is we’re up against.”
For once, I agreed with him. I at least wanted the time it took to get there to figure out a plan of attack. They would not send us in blind again.
David stopped, looked up at the ceiling, and gave a loud sigh. “Enough with the dramatics, Alexander. We’re going after a Shtriga, so unwad your underwear.”
This seemed to satisfy Ryker. He followed David into the elevator.
As we rode it up, I racked my brain for all I knew about Shtrigas. They were a type of vampire…or were they witches? Either way, they drank the blood of their victims while they slept. This didn’t kill them, but it poisoned the blood left in them. If the Shtriga didn’t cure them, the person would weaken and eventually die.
The elevator dinged once when we reached the top floor and the doors opened. This time the expansive windows in the lobby weren’t as impressive. I didn’t see the outside as somewhere holding fresh air and freedom anymore. All it meant was pain and possible death.
“The Shtriga is expected to hit a house in the small town closest to us. She’s been going in a straight line down the same road every night,” David explained as we walked. “Now, how do you stop a Shtriga?”
Finally, some good teaching to come from him. He prepped us before the hunt took place, which should have happened the first time.
“You shoot it with an iron round while it’s feeding,” Ryker said before anyone else had the chance.
“Yup, this is an easy one, guys. Get in quietly, shoot it, and get out.”
The walk to Nederland, the nearest tiny mountain town, wasn’t too strenuous. Two and a half miles away and an almost straight shot down CO-132 to CO-119. In the middle of the night the two-lane roads were deserted.
We walked along the side near the tree line, hidden from sight in case anyone drove past unexpectedly. Surely, eight figures in hooded black cloaks would raise suspicions, especially since three people had been attacked in the area in the last three nights.
Trucks plowed the snow earlier, but where we walked had at least four inches piled up. I had remembered to tie my boots tighter so no moisture could seep in like on the last hunt. The snow was fresh and crunched under our feet as we trudged forward.
We only saw two cars in the forty-five minutes it took to make our way from the forested mountains surrounding headquarters to the outskirts of the quiet, little town of Nederland. The welcome sign read,
NEDERLAND
WELCOMES YOU
ELEVATION 8236
POPULATION TOWN 1,959
AREA 7,500
When we finally turned onto West Spruce Road, the unfortunate stretch that had fallen prey to the vampire witch of the Darkness, there wasn’t a single sound to be heard—no late night birds chirping, no breeze to rustle the branches of the pines, no voices coming from nearby houses or cars driving by. It was dead silent.
The homes were all similarly basic with orange stained wood siding. Some were one-story and others were two. None had garages, but a few had shanty-like carports erected in their dirt driveways.
“This is it,” David said, stopping in front of a Get it done.”
He hung back while the seven of us climbed the steps to the porch and attempted to break in without making a sound. Lance pulled out his multi-tool and set to work on the lock. In under a minute we heard a small click and the door opened.
“You have to show me how to do that,” Holly whispered.
Lance stood up and looked down at her with a crooked smile, but didn’t say anything.
I went in first with Ryker trailing closely behind me. He hadn’t said a word about his last failed attempt to hunt with the group and he hadn’t reassured us he would have our backs this time. That’s why Holly, Atticus, Achilles, and I came up with a basic plan on our own before we ever set out for the evening.
When I reached the closed door to the man’s bedroom I stopped and turned to my group. “I’ll go in and shoot the Shtriga. Holly is on light duty again. Achilles and Atticus are back up—”
“What about me?” Ryker demanded in a whisper.
I faced him sternly. “You can be back up too, obviously.”
He shook his head and pushed me out of the way to stand next to the door. “Nu-uh, no way. I want to be the one to go in first and shoot it.”
I attempted to shove him aside while he planted his feet firmly on the creaky wooden floor. “I don’t think so. Last time you bailed on us. You can’t be trusted.” I kept my voice as low as possible, but put a good amount of bite behind the words.
“All the more reason I should be the first to go in this time!” he said too loudly.
Before anyone knew what happened, the door sprang open and a set of leathery, gray hands wrenched me into the room. The clutch on my shoulders was hard enough to strike fear for the solidity of my collar bone. The Shtriga pulled my head to the side and sank its jagged teeth into the tender part of my neck where it met the shoulder. Immediately, a burning sensation spread from the wound throughout my body. I could feel the disease making its way through my veins, already starting its process of killing me from the inside.
Screams from the hallway erupted as the group argued about what to do. Their voices sounded far away. My vision blurred and narrowed so it looked like they were at the far end of a long stretch of tunnel. I felt myself fading away as the blood drained from my body.
I couldn’t see the Shtriga as it stood behind me, but its stench filled my nostrils. It made me want to reach up and plug my nose, but my arms were too weak to move. All I saw was its long, bony fingers grasped around me.
“We have to save her!” Holly screeched as she pulled out her gun and aimed.
“No!” Achilles intervened and knocked the gun out of the way. “None of us are a good enough shot. We could hit Kamlyn!”
“I can do it,” Ryker said, but the group immediately shot him down.
“I’ll get David!” Holly said.
Her footsteps pattered on the hard floor, but she didn’t make it far.
The loud blast of a gun echoed through the cabin and shook the walls. For a moment, I thought I was dead. My body felt weightless, like I was floating through the air. When I hit the ground with a painful thud, I knew I was still alive.
The Shtriga’s forceful grip released from my bo
dy and her teeth were no longer stuck in the side of my neck. My head lolled to the side as I lay on the floor to see David Yu standing in the doorway.
“What the hell?” I heard a deep, unfamiliar voice shout from behind. The man we saved had woken up.
“Oh, thank god!” Holly breathed out as she rushed to my side, ignoring the fuming man in the bedroom. “We need to get her back to the ward!”
“You better get the hell outta here! I’m calling the police!”
David pushed the others out of the way and slipped his hands underneath my body. With ease, he lifted me up and carried me in his arms from the cabin. I let my head rest against his shoulder as I watched the stars in the sky twinkle.
Everyone in the group followed behind us, talking about the close call with the Shtriga. I still felt weak, my head spinning, but there were questions I needed answered.
“What about the guy?” I asked weakly.
David didn’t look at me. He stared ahead as he continued to walk in a brisk pace. “He wasn’t bit. He’ll be fine.”
“Am I going to die?”
His dark, thin eyes looked down, his mouth a straight line. He didn’t answer. He only stared and then turned his gaze back to the road.
The cold February air stung my cheeks, but did nothing to revive me from my daze. My lids grew heavier. Then, suddenly, the world around me faded away until I slipped into nothingness.