what’s going on?”
Rachel laughed—and it wasn’t a pleasant one either, “You want to know what’s going on? Then let me tell you. I’m going to kill that shrimp.”
Everyone gasped in horror. Rachel smiled wickedly.
Someone eventually asked, “Why?”
Rachel shook her head. “Oh come on. Don’t tell me this really surprises you. You really think everyone calls me ‘the Vampire’ for nothing?”
This elicited gulps from her coworkers. They had only called her that when they were sure she was far beyond earshot. They should have known better though. Rachel Meranst was notorious for being able to root out the deepest and darkest secrets from anyone unlucky enough to be targeted by her. After she was done with them and their names appeared in the paper, their lives were ruined and devoid of purpose. And she thrived on it.
You can probably guess now where she got the name.
Little did any of them know just how apt the name was for her. No one knew that her secret to her unnatural skills for tilling up other people’s secrets was in her hands—literally. By simply touching them, Rachel could siphon their thoughts, which meant their secrets became hers to play with however she liked.
She could siphon energy too. In fact, it came packaged with the secrets so she had to be cautious about how long she maintained contact with her victims. She had never actually drained anyone dry before but she had always wanted to try it. And Superkid was her lucky victim number one.
Oh yes. Unbalanced, scary, and very, very dangerous!
Rachel bared her teeth in a wicked grin at the stupefied gaggle of reporters. She glanced casually at her claws as she flexed them. “Now, if you idiots don’t mind, I’d like to get on with the brat hero.” And she marched forward, shoving the reporters so hard that a few of them landed on the ground, tearing their nice reporter suits.
Superkid immediately dropped into a karate stance and told her, “I warn you, I’m a skilled martial artist and I could bring you down before you can blink twice.”
The Vampire didn’t stop but laughed, “But you would have to get close to do that and you know what happens if I touch you.” She swiped at him. He leaned back to dodge her claws and then twisted onto his hands and knees to scramble away.
“What’s the matter?” taunted Rachel. “Don’t you like me? I promise I don’t bite.” And she flashed him her fangs.
“But I do,” said Superkid, once again posed in a karate stance.
“Ooh, listen to him bark!” she laughed as she went after him again. “I just want to eat him up!” She reached for him but Superkid thrust his arm against her hand and twisted it until he was gripping her arm instead. Then he twisted her arm as he ducked behind her.
Out of nowhere the Vampire’s sharp heel hit him in the gut. Gray bubbles popped in front of his eyes and he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
The Vampire turned to look down at our fallen hero. She smiled and reached down. She gripped Superkid around the throat and then hefted him into the air. She grinned maliciously up at our hero as he gasped for breath, pushing on her hand to ease the tension on his throat. But her touch was draining him of his energy and he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. What was he to do?!
Since our diminutive hero was in such dire straits, it was necessary to bring in someone to aid him. That’s why there was a shout behind her, “Let him go, you evil woman!”
Rachel turned and spotted two boys behind her. One of them had his fists balled and held up as though he intended to box her. The other one was behind his friend, trying to be invisible.
“How cute,” she cooed. “Look Superkid,” she swung him around to face the two boys, “your friends are here to save you.”
“I said let him go!” Darrin insisted.
The Vampire sneered, “And what are you going to do about it?
Darrin rushed forward, determined to show her what he was going to do about it. He really hadn’t a prayer though for when he got close, the Vampire lifted her foot and thrust the sharp heel into his chest. He staggered backwards, clutching his chest and yelling in pain.
But as the Vampire had kicked Darrin, she had brought Superkid close for balance. This was just the opportunity that he needed. He puffed up his cheeks and then blew into her face.
The Vampire screamed. She dropped the kid hero and clutched her right eye. Superkid hurried over to his wounded friend and asked him urgently, “Are you okay?”
Darrin grimaced bravely. “I think so.” Then he cried, “Look out!”
Superkid spun around. The Vampire snatched him by the costume and lifted him again. Her right eye was bright pink and watery and her eyebrow had been singed. She hissed into his face, “You will pay for that!” and drew back her claws.
Thinking quickly, our hero grabbed the hose over his shoulder and puffed air into it. His cape ballooned and he rose into the air, slipping out of the Vampire’s grasp. But before he could rise to safety, she snatched his leg.
“You’re not getting away that easily!” she snarled.
He sure as heck was going to try his best. He puffed more air into his balloon cape. The Vampire tried to pull him down but was shocked when her arm straightened and then became absolutely terrified when she lifted off the ground!
“Eeeeeeeeeek!” she screamed. “What are you doing?”
“Rising up,” Superkid replied a little obviously.
“Let me down!” She looked down at the receding ground and the people shrinking into ants and began kicking her legs furiously. She clawed at our hero’s legs, which probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do when he was your only ticket to getting to the ground safely. But then again, neither was kicking your legs.
“Lemme-down-lemme-down-lemme-down-lemme-down!”
Some villain she’s turned out to be, our hero thought. A vampire who’s afraid of heights!
Then a change in her voice caught his attention. She screamed, “I’M SLIPPING!”
As evil as she had made herself out to be, Superkid couldn’t just let her fall. It was against the hero’s code! A hero never causes undue harm to anyone—even villains. Besides, he didn’t have the heart for it. Especially when he looked down and saw her staring back at him--eyes wide and streaming with tears (never mind that he had earlier burned her there), face paler than usual, mouth open in a silent scream.
Succumbing to his better nature, he pulled the cord that would allow the air to escape from his balloon and so let the terrified old bat down.
Inexperience had a different idea, however. Thanks to it, our hero let out a little too much air and they dropped fairly quickly. Of course, the Vampire screamed. Superkid readjusted their speed of descent by blowing a little more air into his balloon. There was a jerk in their descent as the balloon slowed.
And thanks to that literal jerk, the Vampire lost her grip and plunged shrieking into the crowd. She hit the pavement hard and gave a short shriek of pain followed by whimpering.
Superkid felt a stab of guilt. He let the rest of the air out of his balloon-cape and dropped next to the Vampire who was holding her leg and gasping in pain.
“Are you okay?’ he asked her.
“You broke it,” she whispered, biting her lip to hold back the scream of pain. “You broke my leg.”
Our hero felt another stab of guilt. He yelled to the crowd, “Call the ambulance!”
The villainess endured five agonizing minutes waiting for the ambulance while the reporters shouted their questions over each other and scribbled furiously on their notepads. When the ambulance finally arrived, the paramedics put her on a stretcher and into the truck while Superkid squirmed guiltily under her accusing glare. And as for that suspicious bystander by the signpost, he gave a snort of what sounded like disgust and then walked away until he had vanished into the shadows.
The ambulance eventually went wailing on its way. Darrin stood next to him and spoke, “Well… at least that’s one villain out… for a while.”
“
And it’s my fault,” said the kid hero miserably.
“Hey!” Derrick exclaimed from his other side. “She was a villain! What were you supposed to do? Let her kill you and then terrify the rest of the world with her life-sucking power? I mean, if there was someone like that on the loose, I’d want someone to take her out… I mean, just to make sure she couldn’t… you know.”
“She’s probably going to seek revenge once her leg heals,” Darrin said.
Derrick pointed out, “But that’ll take a few months, so you should be safe.”
“You forget that Dr. Red and my karate-teacher-turned-villain are still out there,” our dynamic hero reminded them. As an afterthought, he added, “And that giant spider.”
There was a pregnant pause as they considered the implications. Each looked to the sky for divination to the deep questions that ran through each of their minds. Who were they to be part of this great work of fiction? Who were they to be chosen to thwart evil in whatever gruesome (make that “bizarre”) form it took? Who were they to be chosen to represent the forces of good?
In this great scheme, they knew they were insignificant little pawns that destiny moved around to finally beat the AI and prove itself superior to technology. They knew that at any time someone else could be chosen as the protagonist to stop the villainy of Doctor Red, the Black Belt, the Vampire, and the spider.
But destiny had chosen them. Probably just randomly—plopped names in a hat and then drew them out. But it had chosen them. And they would