Sangre Falls

metal music, drowning out Danny’s ranting.

  The first day was the hardest. His words kept invading my thoughts. A few times, he tried to drag me from my bedroom, but his hands didn’t connect and went right through me. A week had past, but Danny did not leave my side although he had gotten to be a little less annoying. I caught him sleeping at the foot of my bed like a loyal puppy. I didn’t even think ghosts could sleep! When I woke him up, he was so surprised that his body went through the bed, landing on the floor beneath.

  I hate to admit it, but after a long while, I kind of began to like his company. We had a lot of things in common when we weren’t talking about werewolves that is. Danny’s family wasn’t really present in his life. They hadn’t abandoned him like mine had, but they didn’t spend time with him either. He seemed to understand my abandonment issues. He even found my grave rubbings interesting although I could tell he often thought about what his own plot looked like.

  José urged me to give Danny’s lycan hunting thing a shot, but I just couldn’t see myself hunting a mythical creature in Sangre Falls. No one believed lycans even existed anymore. They went extinct centuries ago and if one was alive, why would he hunt in Sangre Falls? Yes, I know Sangre translates to blood but still... the town was barely a blip on the radar! Nothing went on there. Nothing supernatural anyway―excluding my clan and the very pathetic ghost that followed me around, that is.

  Within that week, I heard some things that made me regret my decision. There were two additional murders. The first had taken place two days after Danny’s murder. It seems a homeless man was attacked while he slept in an alley. The other murder had taken place the day before. A nurse was attacked outside the town’s only hospital as she walked to her car after her shift.

  The newspapers didn’t seem to think it was some kind of animal. They marked the murders as the work of a serial killer. The papers dubbed the killer “The New Jack the Ripper”, because he shreds his victims to pieces. I didn’t know what to think! Was the murderer a he, she, or it? Could Danny have been right about a werewolf on the loose?

  I knew I couldn’t let this go on. The nurse this thing killed was a mother of two. As a vampire, I craved blood, but I have always practiced restraint. Our clan never killed a human although we drank from willing partners. We even feasted on blood reserves from blood banks. Whatever was roaming the town had no restraint and that made it all the more dangerous.

  Still, blood was a necessity. Vampires lack the ability to create red blood cells which is the essence of life. In order for our life processes to work, the ability to transport oxygen in the blood was a necessity. So, we consume what we cannot produce.

  Lycans were different. According to the legends, lycans are shape shifters. Their animal needs take precedence over their rational mind. It was not just the kill or the thrill of the hunt they enjoyed. It was the essence of their victim. Once a lycan fed upon a human, it would able to shift into their form at will. That made them hard to catch.

  José wanted to send a group of assassins out to look for the beast, but we had to maintain a low profile. If we sent a convoy than peoples suspicions could be raised. I decided I would check out the town alone. It wasn’t a wolf hunt. I was just going to have a look around. I couldn’t have another death on my conscience.

  While the rest of the household went out to dinner at the blood bank, I snuck into the armory and picked up some weapons in the event I should need to defend myself. I picked up a nice silver bladed dagger and a sweet three-inch, serrated pocket knife that had a razor thin blade. Lastly, I chose a bow with silver tipped arrows. Guns would be too loud and I didn’t want to bring attention to my solo operation. I threw the weapons into my backpack and walked silently out of the mansion.

  Danny was not far behind. “What are you doing?” he asked worriedly. “Aren’t you going to tell the others?”

  “Calm down,” I told him, looking into his anxious blue eyes. “I am just going to check things out.”

  Using his hands in an expressive manner, he said, “I’m having second thoughts about this whole thing. The lycan could kill you. It would be better to fight it in a group.”

  I grinned at him teasingly. “Are you developing a crush already?

  He gawked at me, dumbfounded. “A―what? A crush?” he stammered, shifting his weight uncomfortably. “No way.”

  Raising an eyebrow at him, I eyed at him suspiciously. “Ghosts don’t usually care if vampires live or die.”

  “How would you know?” he asked defensively, folding his arms as if shielding himself from the conversation. “How many ghosts have you talked to?”

  I shrugged, turning serious once more. “At the first sign of trouble, I’ll run back and get some help,” I said, reassuring him. “Besides, I have you. You will be my other pair of eyes. Stay alert.”

  He nodded, averting his eyes.

  When the wolf attacked Danny, it was in the vicinity of the cemetery. The other attacks were within a few blocks of the graveyard. I came to the conclusion the lycan stalks around its territory and that was the cemetery. I did find it strange that I didn’t get to see the beast especially since I was in the same area the night Danny was murdered. But maybe, it smelled a vampire in the area and avoided contact.

  It was a little after eleven thirty and I had made it as far as the town square on foot. I turned left and headed towards Cemetery Drive.

  Sangre Falls should be known as the second city in America that doesn’t sleep. There were always people on the streets even in the middle of the night. Lost in my thoughts, I had to work hard to dodge people in my path. Maybe, my coven and I weren’t the only vampires in town.

  I looked back at Danny who was trailing behind me. I waited until we were the only ones within earshot and then I inquired, “Why were you out that night? It was almost dawn.”

  “I had an early morning game,” Danny responded. “I was on the varsity football team. I liked to go jogging before a game. Running makes my muscles swell.”

  I rolled my eyes, tossing my straight, black hair behind my shoulders. “Running makes your head swell!” I shot back, laughing.

  He ignored me. “Running always helped me relieve some stress—”

  I shushed him. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  Only my vampire ears could pick up the most acute noise from blocks away. “I heard a scream,” I stated, looking around.

  Danny looked scared. “I didn’t hear anything.”

  “It was muffled like someone was being gagged,” I said, deciding to run to the approximate location of the minuet sound.

  As we ran, Danny asked, “How is it that you can hear something so far, but you couldn’t hear me that night?”

  Briefly, I glanced back at him. “You didn’t scream,” I said without losing my breath. “I guess it killed you before you even knew what was happening.”

  He winced at my directness.

  I stopped mid-stride when I saw a purse on the ground. I picked it up and looked inside. Everything was still in it. This was no robbery!

  Knowing I had the right place, I looked around and saw that a few feet away was an alleyway. I carefully inched towards it, trying not to make too much noise.

  “Don’t go in there,” Danny said, alarmed. “Let’s go and get some help.”

  “Why are you so scared? You’re the ghost,” I whispered back to him, stating the obvious.

  “But you’re not!” he told me, panicked. “Let’s go.” Forgetting that he lacked substance, he tried to grab my arm, but his fingers went right through me.

  Brushing off his attempts, I continued into the alley.

  It was a dark, dank place. There were huge puddles which collected after the evening showers. The rain often seemed like an everyday occurrence. It was quite depressing actually.

  Nearing the end of the alley, I saw a large, shadowy figure hunched over a woman. She was lying lifeless on the ground. The life had been drained from her being.

&
nbsp; “Hey!” I screamed, fumbling through my backpack for the silver dagger.

  I heard the most God awful howl and then the shadowy beast leaped upon me, grabbing me around my neck. My feet lifted from the ground. Pain shot up and down my spine as its nails sunk into my skin, cutting off my oxygen supply.

  Trying to kick the beast, I began to lose consciousness, dropping my bag with the blade inside. My hands flung to my throat, trying to loosen its grip. Slowly, my vision began to fade.

  “Stop!” Danny shouted, trying to punch the beast, but it was no use. His fists never made contact.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  My thoughts were a jumble. All I could think about was air.

  I felt its hot, musky breath upon my cheek. All I could see were teeth. Without warning, I was flying in the air as the beast flung me across the alley. Pain shot through me once more as my head bounced against an adjacent brick wall, making me see stars. Then, I heard and saw no more.

  When I awoke, my head was pounding. It took a minute for the pain to dull and for my eyes to adjust.

  Danny was kneeling over me with a look of fear upon his face. “You were out for about fifteen minutes,” he told me and I nodded.

  “You were timing it?” I asked, rubbing my head.

  “The lycan is gone. He left after he finished his meal.”

  I jumped to my feet. I ran towards the beast’s latest victim. There was nothing I could do for the woman. She was dead long before I walked into the alley.

  “At least we