She didn't recognize it. It wasn't vamp, and it wasn't human. It was Other. In an instant she broke into a run, driving toward, rather than away from the vile odor.
If she were still human, her heart would pound in terror, but she was not. Her heart no longer beat, and that was Elan's fault. If anyone was going to make him suffer it was she, not some dark being from the underworld. She growled as she charged across Delancy Street, heading for the Williamsburg bridge. She didn't like playing the hero in a rescue, so Elan better appreciate this.
There. Just beneath the first tower.
Just what it was, she didn't know. She climbed down the main tower, gripping the metal with gloveless hands. She slid down, melting into the night, letting the darkness become her friend.
The water lapped in silent repose, as though watching, waiting to see what she would do. Its inky blackness gave its own smell of decay, teasing her senses. A voice, so soft as to be near silent whispered in her mind. Come, join us. For an instant she almost called out to respond. Anything would be preferable to the deathless night in which she lived. She stepped toward the call. Tendrils of mist wrapped around her, its fingers caressing, as though soothing her soul. Only she didn't have a soul for it to sooth. That had died years before. She glanced upward at the stars. Hard and empty. Only death. Then she remembered the pain. Elan.
Alyssa yanked herself from the hypnotic call and listened. No sound came from Elan. The screaming call in her body had ceased. All was quiet. Not even the scurrying of crickets and cockroaches from beneath the moist leaves. She scanned the banks of the East river. She could smell the rancid scent. Permeated with evil. Whatever or whoever had Elan was here. She focused inward, searching. Nothing.
Movement caught her attention.
A shadow showed itself, hidden beneath the trees flexed in the darkened night. She dropped lightly to the ground, watching as the single hulking shadow separated into three creatures encircling her maker. She could take them on, if she knew what they were, but she didn't.
Instead, she crept closer, keeping herself as small as possible. Elan's dead body lay on his back, his legs dangling in the edge of the water. Good. Had they destroyed him he would be nothing but dust. A slice across his body, from groin to chest exposed his organs. She knew he was in pain and would need blood to recover, but even this injury could not kill one as old as he.
Tonight, time was his friend, as much as his enemy. The three creatures leaned over him.
In the silence, she pulled out the twin edged Japanese dagger from it's sheathe at her waist, gripping it in her fist. To take these three down she would need more than her teeth. She stalked closer, careful to avoid the remnants of fall's leaves. Most were too wet to crunch, but beneath them were insects, hidden, quiet. One wrong move and they would scatter. She had no idea of how well these creatures leaning over her maker could hear.
She drew closer, listening. Still she heard not a sound. No muffled curses, no heavy breathing. It was as though she'd stepped back in time, watching a silent movie.
One of the shadows lifted something from Elan's chest. A sucking sound accompanied the movement. The dark, rancid scent of evil now held a second scent within its inky grasp. It mixed with the thing in their hands. Coppery and thick, liquid dripped from the creature's hand to Elan's breast. The warm blood she'd drank in the restaurant solidified in her veins. They had Elan's heart!
She growled, rushing forward with every ounce of her power. In the flash of an eye she was there, her blade ripping into the one closest. She gasped when the dagger passed through as though through air. The shadow jerked around toward her.
Long fang-like tusks erupted from the lower jaw of the "thing". He opened his mouth and roared. The two other creatures paid him no mind as he charged.
Alyssa spun, pivoting on her back leg and kicked. Her leg passed straight through as though he wasn't there. She dropped to a crouch, blade ready. Instead of striking again with the useless dagger, she opened her mind, ready to find his weakness.
Pain ripped inside her, burning and piercing her mind. She screamed, desperate to make it stop. The dagger dropped from her hand. This was what Elan had felt. What he had tried to warn her about. She knew it, even as she collapsed to her knees, her hands ripping at her hair. Darkness clouded inward as the shadowed creature moved closer. She glanced up one more time, the single star glowing down at her. Hard and cold, dead. Maybe not even there at all. Just like her.
Teresa D'Amario also wrote in RITBS's other Paranormal - White Wedding Nightmares
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