Deadline
Issue #4
by Tom Zjaba
CHAPTER 6: HEADING HOME
The next evening after a restless sleep, Nat gets up and finds the place empty. Seems that all the other vampires have left without awakening him. He searches around for a note or something, but there is no clue to their whereabouts. Instead of worrying about it, he decides it is a good time for him to head back to his apartment and tie up some loose ends. It has been days since he has been there and it may be time to collect his belongings. As much as he dreads the thought, he knows that his sparsely furnished apartment is no longer his home. He is a creature of the night and that is the dwelling of a mortal. While he is unsure about jobs and money, he assumes that vampires do not work, nor do they covet worldly possessions. He always thought they did like Dracula in the movie, with his immense castle with all the furnishings, but he hasn't seen anything here in this dingy cave to make him believe that they care one way or another about money. Yet, Rog did have money to burn at the clubs, so they do seem to be in possession of cash. This was something that perplexed him, but he wasn't in the mood to tax him brain over such trivial things. He figured that like many of the other aspects of being a vampire, the answers would reveal themselves in good time.
On the bus over to his apartment, he could not help but feel that everyone was looking at him. Could they tell he was a vampire? Were his fangs showing? The paranoia that he felt was overwhelming and he felt himself slinking in his seat to try and hide from the imaginary gazes that he felt were piercing him.
Across the aisle from him an elderly woman was holding onto a cross and clutching it. Did she know that he was a vampire and was trying to hold him at bay? Did a cross actually affect a vampire? While there was considerable distance between them, he felt no ill effects from the cross. There was no need to run in panic to avoid the searing burns that a cross would inflict upon his unholy flesh. Instead, he found himself transfixed upon the crucifix. He looked deeply at the tiny detail of Jesus on the cross. He never bothered to really look at a crucifix before, never felt the need to. While he was never religious, he knew the story of Jesus' sacrifice, as almost everyone did. How could he not, when he would be stopped on the street to work by religious fanatics who tried to save his soul? With this, he started to laugh to himself. Not an outward laugh, but the kind that hold deep inside you. The kind you don't share with the rest of the world, like a little secret. He thought about how these zealots would think of him now. Would they still try to save him or would they run in mortal terror? He could not think how utterly ridiculous they would look as they fled for their lives as he ran behind them, yelling for them to save his soul.
As they bus came to a halt, he realized that it was his stop. As he left the bus, he took one last glance at the old woman who was clutching the cross. She had her eyes closed. She appeared to be praying as he walked off the bus. He made a quick exit and began the short walk to his apartment. One of the benefits of the place he had chosen to call his home was the easy access to public transportation. This allowed him to avoid owning a car, a financial burden he didn't need. Only the well to do could afford all the costs of owning an automobile in a big city. He was a lowly reporter and that was something out of his grasp.
As he arrived at his home, he went in and retrieved his mail, which was quite full. He began to look it over as he walked up the stairs. The typical sales offers and bills made the bulk of his mail. Nothing pressing, especially for a person who was going to disappear from society as he assumed all his fellow vampires have done. There cannot be that many night jobs, especially ones with very long dinner breaks.
He soon made it to his apartment and opened the door. As he walked in, he saw the light flashing on his answering machine. There were five messages on there. As he hit the button, he heard "Nat, where are you? I have a story for you to cover, so get your ass down here now." As the second message popped up, it was also from his boss, as was the third and fourth message. Each one became more and more vicious, with the final one being a threat. The last message was from his mom who wanted to know how he was doing and if he would make it back for his father's birthday. This was the first time he thought about his family, since the transformation. How was his mother going to take the news that her son is dead? Surely, he couldn't tell them he was a vampire. Would it be better for them to just think he was dead or to keep contacts? How would he explain his disappearance to everyone else? Clinically he was dead, but in reality, he was undead and this is something that the living has problems with. How did the rest of the guys handle this? From the looks of them, most probably were runaways or could care less about their families.
Trying not to dwell too much on this, Nat decided that a shower was needed. Something he never thought about was that there weren't any facilities at the cave. As he thought about it, he hadn't showered or even gone to the bathroom since he became a vampire. Was this something that was not needed? All these questions arise and Rog was nowhere to be found. Would even he know the answers to these? Perhaps Dominick would, he seems to have the answers to everything. Nat began to undress and headed in for a nice warm shower. The one thing he did notice is that he would get colder easier than ever before. The feeling of cold soon passed as he got under the steaming hot water and rinsed away the last few days’ worth of dirt. It felt good to be clean, to feel human again. He enjoyed the feel of the hot water going through his hair. The heat did wonders to him as he found himself singing, something he rarely did.
As he got out of the shower and dried off, he heard a knock on the door. Who could it be? Was it someone from the paper, coming to see if he was still alive? Was it the landlord, checking to make sure everything was all right? He dried off quickly and put on a bathrobe, one that his mother bought for him. It had Nat, embroidered on the front in cursive letters to the right. He quickly ran to the door as a second, louder knock was heard. As he opened the door, he was stunned. There stood Sam in another black dominated outfit. "Hi, how do you know where I live?" he asked her. "Happy to see you too, can I come in?" she asks as she winks at him in a seductive manner. "Yeah sure, come on in" he says as escorts her in. They both sit down on his couch; one that he bought at a second hand store and it looked it. "So how did you find out where I lived?" he asked again. She then reaches into her purse and pulls out his wallet. She hands it to him and says "You dropped this yesterday, when were, you know, and I was going to like give it to you there, but I figured that this way, I could see you again" she said with a smile. "Well, it's nice to see you again. I would have called you, but I forgot to get your number." he said trying to not seem like a jerk. He really did want to see her again, but he got caught up in the moment. He was never much of a ladies man and to have a woman comes on to him like that, coupled with the rush he felt from the blood and it was easy to see how he would forget. As he is thinking this, she is looking around and says, "So this is where a vampire lives? I always figured you all lived in castles and stuff, like in the movies." He laughs and replies "I am finding out that Hollywood has the whole vampire legend all wrong." She then looks at him and says, "You really are a vampire, aren't you?" she says with a doubtful look in her eyes. "You're not just one of those kooks who files your teeth and bites girls for kicks, like you see on the talk shows?" she adds before he has a chance to reply. He then looks at her and says "Want me to prove it?" he asks. She then stands up and says, "Yeah, can you turn into a bat?" He falls off the couch laughing. She then asks, "What's so funny? Dracula could turn into a bat, can't you?" He then slowly pulls himself up, holding his ribs, which hurt from too much laughing. As he gets up, he says, "That's more of the Hollywood crap. Vampires are nothing like that." "Then what can you do? I mean besides drinking blood, what makes you so special?" she asks? "You want a demonstration? All right, I have something that should convince you." he says. He then walks over and opens the window. He then climbs out and stands on the fire escape. "Come on out here" he says to her as he motions for her to join him on the fire escape. She reluctantly steps out and looks down. He then climbs onto the bars and stands up there. He looks back at her and says "Meet you at the bottom, last one down is a rotten egg." He then jumps off, as she screams “No” behind him. As he falls, he finds that he isn't really falling so much as he is gliding. He finds himself gliding in circles as he makes his descent to the bottom. She rushes down the stairs, with no chance to catch him. As he drops to the ground, he lands very softly. While he has never tried this before, it was like second nature to him. Much like the drinking of blood, instincts took over. As he stood there, he watched Sam running down the stairs. As she ran up to him, she grabbed him in a big hug and kissed him passionately on the lips. When their embrace broke, she looks at him and says in a pissed off voice "I don't know if I should kiss you again or slap your face for scaring the hell out of me?" He grabs her and hugs her and says, "You're the one that wanted a demonstration, hope your happy." They both hugged for a few minutes before they headed back up the fire escape and back to his apartment.
On the other side of town, the vampires are gathering to go on a hunt. As they all stand around, Dominick begins to speak. "Brothers, we have been asked by our benefactors to eliminate the werewolves. It has been brought to my attention that they are moving in on our turf." As he looks over the gang, he can see the excitement building. He can see that there is great excitement. There is little these guys like better than fighting. With the excitement growing, he raises his arms to the ceiling and looks up. After a few seconds, he looks down with his arms still raised and says, "It is time we taught these dogs a lesson they will never forget. It is time we brought back some trophies!" All the vampires scream out! There is lots of hollering and some vampires begin to chant "Dom-i-nick. Dom-i-nick." He then jumps down and grabs a great big spear with a silver tip and holds it over his head. "Remember that only a silver tipped weapon can kill these beasts, so make sure you get the silver ones." All the other vampires rush over and grab weapons. Some grab spears and others grab crossbows with silver tipped arrows. They rush out the door, screaming and hollering all the way to the subways.
As Nat and Sam embrace, the vampires rush out into battle. As the two lovers kiss and caress, the other vampires are charging into the streets like a medieval mob. As they rush into an alley, the come across a werewolf and circle him. The creature snarls and leaps at one of them as the others stick their spears into the creature. It is overmatched and is quickly killed.
As Dominick holds the head of the beast over his head, blood drips down onto the ground. The blood turns to sweat, the sweat dripping from Nat's head from the passion. He is breathing hard and his face shows signs of fatigue. As he continues, Sam begins to scream out loud. She beckons for him to continue and not to stop. As she screams, so does another werewolf as it tries to outrun the volley of silver tipped arrows that pierce its back. It falls to the ground and struggles to get up and to pull the burning arrows from its flesh. As he crawls away, the vampires encircle it and begin to torture it with the spears. They keep jabbing the spears into the wounded beast, pinning it to the ground as Dominick moves in for the final kill.
At the same time, Nat pins Sam's hands behind her back as he lays upon her and begins to bite her neck. He seductively licks around the wounds he made the night before. He softly licks around each of the holes as if he was softening them for the bite. He then sticks his fangs in hard and fast, as Sam rolls in ecstasy. At the same time, another werewolf is also rolling, but from pain as it struggles with its arms and legs pinned down by spears. As the beast lies there snapping in vain, Dominick looks deep into its eyes. The beast calms some as the vampire stares it down. Suddenly like a dog, it diverts its view. Then it looks back to see the same piercing eyes as Dominick sits on top of the great beast. Then Dominick grabs the beast's head with its hands and holds them as he forces the beast to stare into his eyes. The beast struggles to break the grip, but finds that it cannot. Fear envelops it as it is forced to look deep into the soulless eyes of Dominick. Then he takes the beast's head and twists it violently to the right, snapping its neck. He then digs his fangs deep into the beast’s neck and sucks the blood from it. The vampires stand around and cheer loudly. Dominick brings his head up, with blood dripping from his mouth and howls at the moon.
At the same time, Nat pulls his fangs up from Sam's throat and howls at the moon that is shining in the window. When he finishes, he gets up and kisses her deep on the mouth. A little bit of her blood, rolls down the side of her mouth. He then gets up and stares at the moon and smiles as she comes behind him, draped in a blanket and hugs on his back as he looks over the city and smiles. He then closes the window and pulls down the drapes and they head back to bed.
CHAPTER 7: A GREAT LOSS
The next morning, Sam gets up from the bed and looks at Nat sleeping there. He is so soundly asleep, that she doesn't want to wake him. She stretches and walks over to the window and pulls open the shades to gaze at the rising sun as it peers over the city. As the rays of light shine into the room, the blinding light and the feel that his skin is boiling suddenly awakens Nat. He screams out in agony "Close those damn curtains!" as he rolls off the bed and crawls under the bed to avoid the life-stealing rays from the sun. While he never knew for sure that sunlight was deadly to a vampire, he is completely positive of it now. Only a few seconds in its glare and his skin aches like someone with a serious sunburn. He looks down upon his arm and notices small wisps of smoke as his skin began to burn. Guess this is one part of the vampire legend that is too true, painfully so.
Sam quickly closes the curtains and says, "I am so sorry, I forgot." She rushes to his side and rubs his skin, in some vain attempt to make it feel better. As she tries to bring some comfort to Nat, she looks at him as he gazes at her with the most evil look she has ever seen. His lip is curled up a little and the fangs are clearly visible. His eyes pierce right into her soul and have a cold look that can only be compared to the eyes of a serpent. They are totally void of any feeling, like two dark, piercing orbs that burn with their very gaze. She has to look away, feeling very uncomfortable. For the first time in their brief relationship, she does not adore or idolize him anymore. All the years of vampire worship has been stripped away and she is seeing one for what they truly are, cold blooded killers who have more in common with a shark or a cobra than they do with the romanticized creatures that Hollywood has made them out to be.
She gets up and begins to collect her clothes. The desire to leave, to survive, to get the hell out of there while she still can takes over and quickens her pace. "What's wrong?" Nat asks her as his voice and expressions begin to soften. "I have to leave, I just need to leave.” she says as she pulls up her halter-top. "What did I do? Don't leave, please.,” he says as he goes over and puts his hands on her shoulders. She shakes from the feel, and moves to get the icy grip off her. The man, who was so warm last night, now feels cold and clammy.
As she finishes getting dressed, Nat struggles to get his pants on and go after her. As she makes her way to the door, she looks back at the almost comical image of Nat tripping over his himself as he struggles to get dressed. She just looks at him and closes the door and leaves. She runs down the hallway as fast as her feet can carry her, not daring to look back. She hears Nat screaming in the background for her to return to her. But she covers her ears as she rushes down the stairs. Soon she is outside in the sunlight and knows that she is safe. She rushes out into the daylight and enjoys the feel of it on her skin. But as she is basking in its warmth, she feels the holes in her neck, the ones that Nat gave her the past two nights. Then the heat of the sun disappears as she cannot help but feel that a chill downs her spine. A very icy chill as she realizes that she may also turn into such a horrible creature. She cannot help but cry at the very thought of that and runs to catch a bus.
Nat heads back to his apartment with a puzzled look on his face. Some of the neighbors are peeking out of their doors to see what all the commotion is. He turns and stares at them and the old ladies pull back. As he steps into the room he falls to the bed and stares at the ceiling. He tries very hard to understand what spooked her. She knew he was a vampire, so it couldn't be that. He didn't yell that loudly and he didn't use any obscenities or insults, that wasn't his nature. So what was it? Was it the true proof that he really was a vampire? Was it the temper, he so rarely showed? Why is it that throughout all his life, he could never find a girl who he really liked, let alone fell in love with? Yet, now that he is undead, he finally meets the one girl who totally captivates him. He had to go see her tonight and try to win her back. Didn't matter that she lived in the heart of the demon's turf, that going there could mean a painful death, it was something that he couldn't live with, even if he was really alive.
While he was mulling over that, the thought occurred to him that he was a captive here. His apartment has become a prison for him. This was the first time he really thought about it. He no longer was a person of the day. It was a luxury that was no longer afforded to him. Simple pleasures in life like playing ball in the summer sun or washing your car and watching the sun dry it, were as much a part of the past as his humanity. All his dreams of his career, getting married and raising children were all gone. In less than a week, he has lost everything that he knew and made him human. It was all stripped from him for the hope of a story that he will never be able to tell. A story that even if he did tell, no one would believe him. He started to sob uncontrollably. The combination of losing the first woman he ever loved along with his own humanity was too much for him to handle. As he sat there and cried, he realized there were no tears. No matter how much he cried, no matter how much sorrow he felt, he could not muster a single tear. He really was becoming a heartless monster and the very thought of this sickened him. It sickened him even more than his first drink of blood.
That evening, he returned to the lair to find all the vampires sitting around a fire and cooking meat. On tall sticks that resembled spears, were the dismembered heads of werewolves with blood dripping down them. There were four heads total. As he walked up to the fire, he heard them laughing and drinking from goblets and eating large chunks of meat. Rog came over and said, "You missed all the fun! We are officially at war with the werewolf bastards. Come enjoy some of their blood, will really strengthen you." Nat just pushed the goblet away and walked past him. He walked into another room and sat down. He came with the intentions of getting Rog to come with him to see Sam. Rog knew the town better and improved his odds of surviving. But he knew now that he would have to go alone. As he headed back out, Dominick watched him leave. After a few seconds, Dominick got up and walked after him. He knew that Nat was the one person who could destroy everything that he worked so hard to build. He wasn't like the rest of the vampires. He didn't fear or envy Dominick and this made him dangerous. The rest of them could be kept in place with fear or hero worship, but this didn’t affect Nat. He wasn't a vampire by choice.
After a long bus ride, Nat ends up at Sam's door. As he rings up for her to come down he hears a voice say, "Who is it?" "Sam, its me, Nat. Please let me up, I want to talk." he says in a voice that drips with desperation. "Go away, I have nothing to say to you." the voice rings back. "Wait. At least give me a reason, something. What did I do wrong?" he pleads into the little box. After a few minutes he gets no reply. He rings again, but there is no answer. He steps back into the street and looks up at her apartment. The glow of the street lights shine upon him as he stands there with a breeze blowing his long coat. As he tries to see into the windows, hoping to at least gaze upon her face one more time. All he wants is a reason, nothing more, nothing less. Why would a woman who seemed so in love with him, just get up and leave? Why would she just take off without any explanation? He knew women were a strange breed, but this defied all logic. He then falls to his knees and screams out "Samantha, I love you. Don't leave me like this." When he finishes his cry, he puts his head in hands and tries to cry. As he lies there in a bundle, Dominick comes out of the shadows and walks up to him. As Nat looks up, he sees the vampire staring down at him with the look of disgust in his eyes. "You are pathetic, you know that. Did you really think she could fall in love with you?" Dominick says as he kicks Nat in the head, knocking him over. As Nat tries to get up, Dominick is upon him like a panther, fast and efficient. He knocks Nat down and bangs his head on the cold, hard pavement. Then he grabs him by the neck and picks him up and lifts him above his head. "I knew you didn't have what it takes to be a true vampire. You are nothing but a weak human with fangs.” he says as he squeezes his throat in a vice like grip. Nat tries to struggle, but he cannot break free. Before he can apply any more pressure, he hears a scream from across the street. "Put him down and get the hell out of here." Sam says as she comes walking with a cross in her hand. Dominick drops him like a sack of flour and Nat crumbles in a ball. Dominick then walks over towards Sam who is holding the cross out to protect her. "Stupid wench, do you really think a cross can stop me?" he says with a laugh. Realizing the error of her ways, she throws the cross at him and runs. He then takes off after her. She runs up to the apartment, but before she can get into the door, she feels something grab her by the hair and pull her back. She falls to the ground and is dragged back away from the door. She looks up to see Dominick with a look of pure evil. "Don't worry, I am not here to drink your blood.” he says as he pulls her up by her hair.
As this goes on, Nat struggles to get up. He is having trouble getting his footing back. As he struggles to his feet, he looks over and sees Dominick, toying with her. "Let her go" he screams out. Dominick turns to him and smiles "Is this your little plaything?" He then turns to her and says, "I am going to do you a favor, I am going to end it swiftly." With that he takes his free hand and rips across her throat, slashing it open and sending a stream of blood shooting out all over the street. He then lets her go, as she falls to the ground and tries to cover the wound with her hands, in a vain attempt to stop the rapid exit of blood. Nat runs over to try and help her, but is quickly caught by Dominick. He grabs Nat and throws him across the street, over thirty feet, into some bushes, where he hits hard and is temporarily stunned. Dominick then goes over and puts his hand below her throat and scoops up the blood. He then drinks it in and says, "No wonder he was in love with you, and you taste wonderful." He then laughs out loud as he walks down the street, leaving her to bleed to death.
Before he can get too far, he sees shadows coming out from all around him. He looks around and notices that he is being surrounded by demons, dozens of them and growing. He tries walking back, only to see more coming out of the buildings. Before he knows what to do, he is surrounded by over thirty demons and they are closing in fast. "You want a fight, you bastards, I will give you a fight.,” he screams as he lunges at the closest demon and begins to rip him to shreds. As he kills the first one, another five are upon him. He grabs another and snaps its neck like a twig, but two more grab at his legs and force him down. Nat gets up and looks out the bushes as the demons force the vampire to his knees and swarm over him. The last thing Nat hears from Dominick is the sound of screams as he gets torn to shreds by the hoards of ravaging denizens of hell. He wants to run out to Sam, but he knows to do so would be nothing short of suicide. So he is forced to sit back and wait until the demons are done with Dominick and depart, leaving only a stain of blood and some torn clothes. As they disappear into the shadows, Nat runs over to Sam's body and picks it up in his arms and holds her tight. As he holds her tight, he is able to shed a single tear. It rolls slowly down his face as he kisses her pale, bloodstained face. Not even the great tear in her throat and the blood that coats her can diminish the natural beauty. He then walks away with her as he hears police sirens in the distance. He runs into a nearby alley and heads off towards the park. As he leaves with her body, Sam’s roommate, Angel looks out of a window and sees Nat carrying away Sam’s dead body.
After an hour, he finds himself in the woods of the state park that borders the city. He moves through the dark forest, until he finds a suitable site and places Sam down gently onto the ground. He then gets a stick and begins to dig a makeshift grave. Once he has dug a decent grave, he kisses her gently on the cheek and places her in the ground and covers her with dirt. He then grabs a wild flower he sees and lays it gently on the grave. He stares at the pretty flower as it lays there on the freshly dug ground. He cannot help but feel responsible for her death and even the knowledge that Dominick is death, does little to console him. As he shakes the dirt from his hands, he walks off towards home. He knows that the dawn is coming soon and there is much he needs to do and dying by the rays of the sun is not on that list.
Deadline © 2001- 2008 Tom Zjaba