Moonlight Seduction (6 page)

Stephen and Vivian were cuddling on the bed when she quickly sat up. She appeared flustered and she was shaking uncontrollably.

"Vivian? What's wrong? Why are you shaking?" Stephen asked.

"Rhea is dead." She replied, collapsing into Stephen’s arms as tears began streaming down her face.
 

Stephen ran through the house looking for her but she was nowhere to be found. He ran outside to see her body lying in the grass with her face down. He turned, telling Vivian to stay in the house and lock the door. He approached Rhea with caution.
Once he reached her, he slowly turned her over. He had seen his share of gore in his line of work but he nearly fainted at what he saw. Rhea's throat has been torn out. Her skin was punctured with fang marks from her neck, down to her breasts and all the way to her stomach.
 

Vivian was watching from the window and could tell that he had found her. She exploded from the house and ran into his arms. She had a steady stream of tears falling from her eyes that ran down her cheeks before hitting the ground.
 

"Do you understand now, Stephen? Do you see why we wanted to make the deal with you? This will never stop. Not as long as they are out there."

Stephen held her close. "Yes, I understand. Just tell me who did this and I will take care of them."

Vivian looked up into the sky. "The sun is beginning to rise. I must go inside. You can go if you would like. I will find out who is responsible soon enough."

Stephen walked behind her into the house. "I am not leaving you alone, especially not now. We are going to find out who is responsible for this together.

While Vivian went upstairs to sleep during the daylight hours, Stephen grabbed his laptop out of the car. He logged in to the secret database that he worked from. He spent the next several hours going through the names and locations of those known to be vampires, hoping to find some in the general area. He was so exhausted, both physically and mentally, that he fell asleep while doing his work.
 

When he woke up, it was dark outside. He had slept the entire day away. He sat up on the sofa that he had been doing research on and crept upstairs to check on Vivian. He was pleased to see that she was still asleep. Stephen started shaking, his body feeling colder than it ever had before. He grabbed a towel and got into the shower, deciding that he would let Vivian sleep a bit longer. The heat of the water felt so good but he got cold as soon as the water was turned off. Something was
happening and he had to clear his mind to figure it out. He sat in the middle of the bathroom floor, meditating and concentrating as hard as he good. After a few minutes, he heard a voice.
 

The voice belonged to Vivian but it was not coming from the bedroom where he had just left her. Her voice was distant as though she was calling to him from far away. Images flashed in his mind. He saw Vivian in pain. He knew she was hurt. He stood up and walked into the bedroom. Vivian was nowhere to be found. He knew his time was limited but he had to concentrate harder. He had to know where she was. As he concentrated, images of the body shop came into his head. He knew where he must go.

Stephen ran to the trunk of his car to get the supplies he would need. He put on a protective sheath of body armor first. It was similar to what police wear under their uniforms but his came all the way up his neck. He put his shirt and pants on over the armor. He grabbed his firearm from the dresser and ensured that it was loaded. He put on his holster and dropped his weapon in. He put extra magazine cartridges into his right pocket before
putting the small sword into its sheath and shoving it into his left pocket.
 

The trip that took well over an hour the night before took only about a half hour on that night. He was speeding along the dirt roads, well in excess of 100 miles per hour. He wasn't even sure how he made the trip as he didn't even remember the majority of the drive. He spent the entire trip going over the different potential outcomes in his head. Normally, he could visualize exactly how the situation was going to go but, this time; he was unable to do so. He just wasn't sure what the situation was that he was going into. All he knew was that Vivian needed help and he was going to do whatever it took to get to her.
 

His car screeched to a halt on the dirt road in front of the auto shop. The factory, which housed the big party the prior evening, was silent. In fact, everything was silent; eerily silent. He looked at the shop in front of him. He did not like the way the light of the moon reflected on what was left of the windows.
 

Stephen walked silently into the building. He knew that he had to rely on all of his senses for his safety. Carefully, he took small intentional steps as he guided himself through the building. His ears were hypersensitive, allowing him to hear almost anything; he used this skill by pausing occasionally to listen for sounds of the vampires or Vivian. He saw some sort of lighting on across the opposite side of the building. Stephen trained his eyes on the lights that were dim and flickering. They were obviously candles. As he walked a little closer, he could see the shadows of at least a few people. He knew at once that these shadows belonged to vampires.
 

As usual, Stephen was not scared in the slightest, but he still approached with plenty of caution. His fear was that if he made his presence known, they would kill Vivian instantly—if they had not already done so. He knew it was unlikely that his presence was still unknown but, if he had any inkling of the element of surprise, he wanted to take advantage of it. He moved slowly along the wall, ducking down behind stacked boxes whenever he had the chance. As he leaned in to look around a set of boxes, he saw Vivian.
 

Vivian was lying on an old steel table near the center of the room. All of her clothing had been removed and she looked terrible. As Stephen approached her, he could see two punctures in her neck. Stephen thought she was dead until he saw her take a breath. The breath was short and shallow; he could tell that she was struggling to breathe. It was hardly a breath at all. He could tell that they were attempting to bleed her dry, leaving just enough life in her to draw him there.
 

As Stephen tried to figure out the best way to save her, he saw a shadow move on the wall. When he turned around to see where the shadow came from, he was face to face with Werner. Stephen was surprised to see how tall Werner was as most vampires tended to be much shorter. Werner exuded confidence. His smile grew big as he spoke to Stephen.
 

"Ah, so you must be the great Stephen Rozar. We hear a lot about you around our parts."
 

"That's good to know. Who in the hell are you?" Stephen replied.

"Oh, me? You can just call me Werner. As you can see, this bitch on the table is in the process of breathing her last breaths. I just wanted to make sure you were here to see her die.”
 

Werner turned and walked slowly to the opposite side of the table. He was proud of what he had done. He took pride in watching the despair creep over Stephen’s face as his newfound love gasped and choked to breathe life into her lungs.
 

"You see, Stephen. You have been going around killing our kind for quite some time. We can no longer allow that. In order to make sure that no longer happens; we certainly can't have one of our befriending those who wish us harm."
 

Stephen suddenly became aware of the others approaching. Based on the shadows, he could tell there were three more in the building. One approached him from the right, one from the left and one from behind.

"Now that you have seen her, it is time for you to perish." Werner said as he took a step back and sat down in an old office chair. As soon as he was seated, the other three attached.

Stephen pulled his small sword out of its sheath as he felt the vampire behind him getting closer. With perfect timing, he spun around with his blade slicing through the air. The head of the vampire hit the ground with a thud.

Werner did not get out of his chair. Instead, he yelled out to Stephen from across the room.
 

"You really are a fool, aren't you? You obviously do not understand your purpose in this world. You mortals are just like the cows, pigs and chickens that you eat. You are here to be our food supply."

Stephen held his blade tightly in one hand while using the other to take his firearm out of its holster. Before the vampire that had been standing on his right could make his move,
Stephen pumped three rounds directly into his head, leaving him almost unidentifiable.
 

From out of nowhere, a vampire appeared in front of him. He realized that his estimation of three other vampires was wrong and that there were at least four. He did not have time to react with one of his weapons so he hit the vampire with a front kick to the face, sending him down to the floor. Before he could react, the vampire from his left was making his move. He lifted his gun into the air and took a shot. The bullet hit the vampire right in the chest. The vampire stumbled backwards for a few steps, quickly recovered and began coming at Stephen again. Stephen responded with two more shots in quick succession, hitting him right through the eye and splitting his head into two.
 

Before he could admire his kill, the vampire that he had kicked in the face was right on top of him. The vampire grabbed hold of the handle of Stephen's sword and was pulling it with all his might, trying to break it from his grip. Stephen knew he had no chance to shoot the vampire in the head from this range and knew he was in trouble if he lost his blade. He pressed his gun
into the ribcage of the immortal creature and fired two quick shots, causing the vampire to fall backwards. Before he had a chance to get up, Stephen stepped on his chest and sliced his head off. He then slowly turned to face Werner with a look of determination in his eyes.
 

Werner stood up out of his chair. He gave a slow clap.

"It looks like everything they have said about you has been true. You are one hell of a hunter. Unfortunately for you, you have never come across someone like me. If you think you will destroy me, you are sadly mistaken."
 

Before the final words were out of his mouth, he launched himself at Stephen. When the vampire hunter sliced into the air with his blade, he hit nothing. When he turned, Werner was well out of arms reach. Stephen pulled the trigger on his firearm, pumping the last 3 rounds of the magazine into him. Werner fell to the ground but rose back up just as quickly.
 

Werner was moving much faster than any vampire Stephen had ever seen. Stephen attempted to anticipate Werner’s next move, in attempt to stop him but it was useless. The vampire was unpredictable and demoniacally fast. Werner hit Stephen with a hard kick to the chest, knocking him to the floor and sliding him backwards. As Stephen shook his head, trying to get his wits about him, he opened his eyes to witness Werner floating in the air above him. Suddenly, Werner descended his body toward the downed hunter. Stephen rolled out of the way at the last possible second.
 

Stephen struggled to get to his feet. The kick to the chest had knocked the air out of him and he was having a hard time recovering. With every breath he took, sharp pains occupied his chest and rib cage; making it impossible to draw in a deep breath. He spotted Werner out of the corner of his eyes, grabbed his blade and swung around; the sword slicing through the air. Werner took a step to his side but Stephen was able to slice a main vein in his leg. Blood shot out from the wound for a couple of moments before slowing down and then stopping completely.
 

Stephen did not let these occolt displays stop him. He continued attacking with the blade. This time, he aimed low, cutting Werner right in the groin. The vampire let out a loud groan as he doubled over, blood pouring out onto floor below him.
 

This wound took a little bit longer to heal and Werner lost a significant amount of blood. Although weaker, he still had rage in his eyes. The smile that Stephen gave him only fueled his rage.
 

With his anger fiercely growing, Werner lunged toward Stephen once again. As Stephen swung his blade through the air, the vampire ducked and caught him with a right hook to the stomach. Stephen clutched his stomach and doubled over in pain. Werner used the opening as an opportunity to knock the blade from his hands.
 

Stephen looked around frantically for the blade but didn't see it anywhere. When he turned his attention back to Werner, he found that he was right on top of him, fangs completely protruding from his mouth. When Werner reached out to grab him, Stephen slid out of the way, kicking him in the leg before grabbing his arm and throwing him to the ground. Werner slid and hit an old cherry picker that was used to pull engines out of cars. Stephen saw his blade right next to where the vampire was now laying. He launched his body to ensure that he would grab it first before disappearing into the darkness.

Werner recovered and stood up, searching for Stephen in the darkness of the shop but could not spot him. He allowed his other senses to take over. He could not pick up the smell of the hunter. He could not feel his presence. He began to wonder if he had won and if Stephen had fled.