Blood Awakening

They were all just myths—fairy tales and horror stories used to scare people into being weary of nighttime. That’s all they were, and no one would bother thinking twice about what they could do to avoid it. They just would, and in the comfort of the daylight, they’d be free to carry on their business. A supernatural suspicion to keep people safe, but it was all in their heads.

However, the rumors and suspicions span across all cultures in the world, so it couldn’t just be a myth, right? No one likes to admit when they’re wrong, and can live in denial for their entire lives ignoring what’s been in front of them this whole time.

The myth known as the “vampire” was very much real, but only certain people were allowed to take action to combat these denizens—collectively known as the Vampire Hunters—as they trained for centuries to battle their nighttime foes. They were ordinary people during the day, living their lives, paying the bills, and doing everything normal people would, but at night, they were vicious slayers, hunting their prey in order to keep the rest of the human population safe.

As a result of their longstanding disagreement, the vampires concealed themselves in a realm parallel to the real world, where they could live peacefully, however the looming presence of the Hunters still threatened their existence.

In the late hours of the night shift, the rain was coming down hard. The pitter-patter of each drop sounded like hail falling from the sky. The roads barely had any cars, due to the torrential weather, as streetlights and stoplights barely leaked their light through.

She was running away as fast as her injured body would let her. An agile being was she to be hopping across rooftops, and darting through alleyways with silver bullets embedded within her. To any normal vampire, it would’ve hindered their movement, but she was no ordinary fiend of the night.

That’s why they’d been chasing her for so long, but now that she’s wounded, the one-hundred and twenty-sixth Descendant was in serious danger from the Vampire Hunters. For every myth, there’s a beginning, as Ingrid von Anfang was a direct descendant of the first vampire to exist, but her lineage on this Earth was dwindling away, just like her kin, as they’ve been sentenced to continue to hide in the alcoves of the eight continents.

The Hunters made haste against this creature of the night, by pursuing her direct movements, as well as circumventing to corner her. The rain provided a great cover, but it seemed like nothing could escape the Hunters’ eagle eyes. Their dark cloaks covered their bodies as they appeared mysterious and menacing.

They brandished chrome finished handguns, as they shot more silver bullets towards the young woman.

When they made contact with Ingrid, who let out an agonizing cry, she fell down off a rooftop onto the slippery asphalt. Her long, blonde hair draping onto the ground, as she limped to stand up before she sustained any more damage. Somehow, she was able to escape her pursuers and collapse by a dumpster in a dimly lit alley.

The gut-wrenching smell of soaked trash made Ingrid twist her nose, but it definitely masked her trail enough. She sat there as the rain poured upon her, and her crimson blood washed away. Any normal vampire would’ve drowned from the effects of something simple as rainwater, due to its purifying effects on their bodies, but Ingrid was special—hence the reason she’d been pursued. The water drenched her fair skin as she muttered under her breath, “I never asked for this… I just wanted to be normal…"

She slowly blinked a few times, as her vision grew hazy, before she closed her eyes for good. Her body rested against the trash like a doll abandoned by its owner, while her chest heaved slowly.

Not too far away, at a local convenience store, one of the workers, a young man in his early twenties, was toting two bags of trash, before tossing them into the dumpster’s opening. He stretched his arms and let out a sigh. “Just two more hours ‘til my shift ends,” Rohit exhaled in relief. “Just gotta mop and hope that guy doesn’t chat my ear off.” He shook his head, thinking about his distracting coworker. “I hate talking bad about others,” he continued, “but he's a real drag…"

The rain continued to pour down hard, but the young man wasn’t in a rush to get back inside, so he admired the surroundings seen through the dropping water, while he wore his raincoat. Rohit closed his eyes, while facing the direction of the main road in front of the store, for a moment, before heading back. He took a deep breath and let his mind be at ease with the sound of rain.

It’d been a long night initially, as customers typically swamped the store on a Friday night, but because of the rain, it hindered most of the traffic. This left the workers in the store to virtually do nothing except clean, but one was quite the chatterbox.

Rohit was too nice to tell him off, so he just retreated to the kitchen where he could do his own thing, and his coworker could pass the time on his phone.

With one final sigh, the young man proceeded to head back inside, until he suddenly heard a low moan coming from the alleyway on the other side of the dumpster. He turned around, startled, as his body flinched from the unnatural sound amidst the pouring rain.

He slowly walked towards it and peeped around the dumpster, where he saw two slender legs donned in black boots and stockings extending forward. He also noticed red liquid trickling through the cracks of the concrete floor towards the center of the alley.

"What the—” he gasped, flinching back, but his curiosity kept pushing his legs to move closer to the figure lit slightly by the alley lamp over the dumpster. He saw a girl, who looked to be his age, slowly breathing, as her eyelids blinked incrementally.

It looked like she was weary and about to pass out, but when she slowly lifted her chin to meet the young man’s cinnamon, startled gaze with her crimson eyes, she leapt towards him, pinning him against the ground.