“Hayley, I’m ok. I feel fine.”
“Of course, you’re ok. If it wasn’t for me finding you when I did, we’d be burning your body right about now.” I felt the lump appear in my throat as I thought about it, a funeral.
“So, I’m not?”
“A vampire, no. The doctors couldn’t find any traces of the vampire gene, and Jackson used some sort of spell that removed any traces, I think.”
Leaning against the edge of the door, I felt the world resting on my shoulders, but a part of me was glad that Eric had woken up and was not a creature of the night, otherwise, we would be having a totally different conversation. I knew he would never want to harm another human being but the thirst for blood would overcome his soul, and he would be damned.
“I will get Jackson to come and see if we can remove the memory spell from you. I am glad you’re ok, you made me worried.”
“Ha, you can’t get rid of me that easily.” He winked at me as he pushed himself up a little more, wincing at his aches and pains, but before I could go over to help him, he held his hand up to stop me. “I think I’ve been a damsel in distress long enough, I appreciate you coming to my rescue, but I can look after myself from here.”
“I know you can, but I can help.”
“No, thank you. I will be alright. That's what you always say. Now, rather than stay here with me, why don’t you go and help the others find the bastard who attacked me.”
He was right, I had been sitting here waiting for him to wake up, but I needed to get out there. I was Hayley Van Helsing, the leader of the Van Helsing clan, and I had a hybrid to find. I wanted to kick his ass and ask questions later.
During the downtime, I had flipped through the folders mother had made about Darius, and a lot of the information was stuff I already knew about stronger vampires, which Darius was one I decided.
There were folk tales about hybrids, when witches and vampires mixed their blood, they could create them. Up till now, I believed it to be all lies and make believe, but after reading my mother’s research, I learned that they messed up the balance Lady Elizabeth had created with Van Helsing.
I learnt how to kill them, how to create them, their magic skills, and the breeding rituals and how much more. There had only been two other documented cases of hybrids before Darius, and both of them had been killed. It was easy enough, cut the head off and then burn the body.
They weren’t like normal vampires, who would explode into dust, and sunlight didn’t cause them to catch fire either.
They could walk in the daylight as well as eat like a normal human being, they didn’t rely fully on blood but when they were in their vampire state, it was difficult to control them. Thus, why the last two had been killed.
Darius was a weapon, something that could easily destroy vampires and humans alike, and yet, he seemed to want to help me, or so he kept telling me. I needed to see him, to ask him all of the unanswered questions and to also figure out if he is truly on my side or Angelique’s.
* * *
Headinginto the city square with the sunset over the horizon, I felt the urge to kill, to remove some creature’s existence from this world and no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, the feeling was there screaming at me.
Even if I wanted Sophia to take over, to become ‘me’, she’d never truly be a leader, for the leader would forever be cursed to walk this world, with the thirst of a vampire and the hatred of a hunter.
No one would ever understand that hierarchy as the previous leaders were always replaced by one of the same once they died, and my mother, she died far too early. I came into this position at age twenty-two after creating a life for myself, trying to pretend that I didn’t have this overwhelming destiny carved out for me already.
I knew she was going on that mission, and as much as I begged her not to go, it wasn’t for the fear of losing her, it was for the fear of having to become what I am today. It wasn’t like any other day, any other mission, they were going up against Louis, the now ex-alpha vampire, and his army.
I never fully understood why Louis kept to the code that was created by the original Van Helsing. Vampires were allowed a monthly amount of blood from the blood bank, and if any human chose to enter their nest, then that was their own death sentence and Louis and his army could do as they pleased, but they were not permitted to take a human life by force.
And then, a whole new string of murders, and missing people came to our attention and for the most part, it was small, one missing here and another there. Until bodies started to wash up in the lakes, and werewolves started to prowl our streets at night, searching for prey.
Until then, the werewolves had been kept under control by Louis and for the most part, there was some form of truce in RavenBlack, peace even. Many humans kept their heads down and didn’t go out at night, the city was often quiet except for the one or two stupid humans who clearly had death wishes.
That was, until Angelique appeared, and the mission my parents went on was to actually help Louis regain his control, his power, and well, it was obvious right from the start it was a trap. We lost many, many lives that night.
Eric lost his whole team, Jackson lost the love of his life, Alex, and my parents. The feeling hit me like a ton of bricks when their lives ended it felt as if I were having a heart attack. Sudden, sharp pains filled my body, my mind. My soul. And then the thirst began, small at first, and then finally to the level it was today, constant.
I parked my bike in the garage underneath the apartment, and for the first time, I felt him, sensed him near, and within a matter of seconds I pulled my gun from its holster and pointed it towards Darius. He appeared from the shadows with his hands up.
“I take it the rest of the letter wasn’t that great then?”
“Don’t joke with me, what did you do to Eric?!”
“Eric? – Oh, your friend from the other night, why?”