Moonlight
The Dark Saviour
Blood in the Woods
Fog started to linger through the air, drenching the woods in its white cloud. The sound of the motorcycle and the snap of dead leaves on the road from the autumn pasted were the only things that could be heard throughout the woods, echoing out into the darkness beyond the trees. Sylvia slowed down on the motorcycle due to the fog and the snow still falling onto the road. Snow covered the branches of the dead trees all around, only the coniferous trees had leaves on them but they were also covered in white.
As she rode through, Sylvia pasted a sign on the side of the road. ‘Petrol stop. 5 miles’ was written on the fading green sign. Sylvia looked at the gauge to see that see did need fuel.
A few minutes later, she saw a long rusty bungalow type house with a petrol stop outside it. She rode up next to the tank and parked her motorcycle. She got off it, taking off her helmet and putting it on the seat of the motorcycle. Opening the valve of the motorcycle; she took the tube and placed it inside. She watched the meter go up in price and in litres of how much petrol was gone in.
She looked over at the house while keeping the tube held in. The whole front was made mostly of glass, allowing the person to look inside to see what looked like a small shop. She could notice an old man at the counter reading a book. Sylvia looked away and looked out at the woods around her; it was hard to see almost anything about 20 feet on front of her. As she looked around, she felt unease. She closed her eyes and calmly took a deep breath, before looking again at the woods, her eyes narrowing. The counter stopped on the meter, so she took it out before heading into the shop.
She opened the door, a bell ringing when it was hit by the revolving door. She looked around at the shop.
Shelves filled with books, some new but mostly old, others filled with all different kinds of foods and ingredients. There were three see-through fridges against the opposite wall, one filled with minerals, the others filled with ice-cream and frozen foods. She walked up to the counter and looked at the man reading the book. He was sitting down, so engrossed in the book that he didn’t even notice Sylvia come in. His hair was mostly white but mixed with some grey, his brown eyes stood out the most on his wrinkled face. He had a yellow shirt on him and demin dungarees.
“Ahem.” Sylvia coughed out, startling the man as he looked at her.
“Why Sylvia, so good to see you, how are you?” the man asked as he place the book down.
“I’m fine Roger just came in to pay for the petrol.” Sylvia responded to him.
“Ah now! You know there’s no need for that. For you, it’s free of charge.” Roger said with a smile.
“But...” she said with some guilt as she handed him some money she took from her pocket.
“No, no!” he told her, curling her hand up and pushing it away. “Ever since you and your parents helped me and Joan paint our house and move furniture for us I didn’t get a chance to repay ye.”
“Thanks...” she said putting her money back in her pocket.
“So how are your parents?” Roger asked her.
Sylvia paused; she was looking down at her hand in her pocket. It took her a few seconds before she took her hand back out and looked up at Roger, who was waiting for a response.
“They’re...fine. They’re asleep at the moment.”
“Asleep at this hour of the day?” Roger said looking puzzled before he looked at the clock behind him on the wall, “But it’s almost four o’clock?”
“It was a busy night last night” she told him before looking at the open door to the left of her, into what looked like a living room, the sound of a television could be slightly heard.
“Is Joan home?” she asked him.
“Nope” Roger answered, “She’s gone to the city to get a few things. She should be back soon though.”
“I see...” Sylvia said, looking through the door for a second before looking back at Roger, who was staring out the front of the shop.
Sylvia followed his stare to the front of the shop where she could see, outside the glass, a man walking slowly to the shop, almost like he was hypnotized.
He had a long black overcoat on him covering almost all of his body, but his head could be seen clearly. He had short spiked brown hair and his eyes...from a distance looked unusual.
He opened the door, his head down as he walked in, the sound of muddy boots could be heard. Sylvia and Roger watched him from the counter. The man just stood there doing nothing.
“Can I help you sir?” Roger asked the man.
The two listened carefully as they could hear the man giggling quietly in excitement, his hands were nervously shaking.
“Drink...finally...so thirsty.” the man said.
“You’re free to look sir; all our drinks are in the fridge over there.” Roger said as he heard the man.
Sylvia eyes narrowed as she tensed herself watching the man.
“Finally...and I’m so lucky too...” the man said as he turned to Sylvia and Roger and looked at them with piercing, possessed black eyes and a wicked smile on his face, “Cuz there’s two of you!!!”
All of a sudden, the man’s canine teeth started to grow longer and shaper.
“What the hell...?” Roger gasped.
The man screamed out as he ran towards Sylvia and Roger, jumping across shelves to reach them.
Roger went white as he fell back against the wall as he saw the man on the closest shelve to the counter. The man screamed once more as he jumped towards Sylvia, who watched him all the way, without a hint of fear in her eyes.
She dodged out of his way and grabbed his leg, making him stop in mid-flight and fall flat on the counter. She gripped his leg tightly before lifting him off the counter by it and throwing him against the glass. The sound of shattering glass echoed around the woods as the man crashed straight through it and landed on his back on the ground outside.
Roger looked up at Sylvia, shaking in fear. It was only then that he notice the sword on the back of Sylvia as she turned.
“Stay here, you’ll be safe.” Sylvia told him, before she started to walk towards the broken glass window and jump outside.
The man got up from the ground, still smiling, and ran into the woodlands behind him, fading into the fog.
Sylvia ran after him, following the sound of his feet and the snapping of twigs on the ground as she had no vision of him whatsoever. After a few minutes she stopped running and stood silently in the woods. There was no sound at all, not even the sound of a wind or a leaf falling off a branch, due to all the trees around her been completely bare.
Sylvia looked up at the sky above her, “Your smell. It’s the same stench that lingered off my parents last night.”
No one responded to her as she continued to stare up.
“It’s easy to pick up the smell of blood off a vampire, so...” she said before shouting out, “Show yourself!!”
Her voice echoed and it wasn’t until the echo faded that she heard the man.
“So they were your parents then last night? The ones that protected that human from me?” the man spoke out.
Sylvia turned her head right to see the man crouching high up on the branch of a tree.
“So you’re a werewolf are you then? Then why didn’t you feed on that old man back there also?” the man asked who was actually enjoying himself.
“I didn’t because I’m no werewolf...” Sylvia said looking down at the ground.
“Now that’s confusing.” The man told her, “Because if I was to guess, your parents found me the same way, by smelling me.”
“And you hunted them and that man from the city all the way up here?” Sylvia said looking up at the man, who was smiling. “You...You’re the one that my parents sent me to stop last night thinking you were on they’re trail.”
Sylvia clinched her fists tightly, “You’re the one that caused this trouble. You’re the one that made them have to bring that man back. You’re the reason that they’re dead.”
“So its revenge you want is it, that’ll satisfy you eh?” the man asked rising his voice.
Sylvia paused before responding, “No, killing you won’t satisfy me entirely. But you played a part in there death and that pisses me off so I won’t feel happy till I kill you.”
The man steered at her hoping to see anger come from her but he didn’t.
“You don’t seem too angry about it.” the man laughed, “You must be some strange, weird girl.”
The man’s smile however faded away when he saw Sylvia beginning to laugh at his comment.
“Oh...” Sylvia said as she looked away, “I’m angry alright. So much that you could never understand. But why should I give you the satisfaction of seeing that emotion in me.”
Sylvia turned to face him with a cold evil stare. “The fact that I could make you feel so much pain, it makes me shiver in excitement.”
The man looked at her, almost half worried now for a bit but laughed at her then, “You’re crazy! But I know the feeling; I feel the same right now.”
“Really?” Sylvia raised an eyebrow, “Then show me.”
The man smiled before he leaped like lighting off the branch at Sylvia, but she quickly dodged him, catching him by the leg again and throwing him at the tree straight ahead.
The man’s back crashed against the tree and before he could even stand up straight, Sylvia was over to him already, kneeing him into the ribs. She quickly caught his hair to lift him up before pummelling him with her fists into his stomach and then throwing him to the ground. Not even giving him a chance, she kicked him into the ribs once again, sending him along the ground.
The man curled over before coughing out a mixture of red and black blood.
Sylvia smirked as she watched him, “I wonder which blood is yours?”
The man looked up at her from the ground, his canines once again growing long and sharp. “You bitch! I’ll suck every last drop of blood out of you!!”
“So try it.” Sylvia responded to him before turning her back to him.
The man looked puzzled for a second but took his chance and ran at her at lighting pace and throwing his arm around her neck.
“Your mine now!” he screamed at her but almost immediately after saying that the man felt a vicious pain surge through his arm that was wrapped around her neck.
The man looked at Sylvia as he was trying to pull away but couldn’t. Her head was tilted down towards his hand.
“What are you doing...?!” He shouted out, trying to free himself but couldn’t. The man soon heard a crack and screamed out in pain. Sylvia’s head raised and the man could finally free himself from her. He stumbled back before looking at his hand, there was two small holes in it with blood pouring from them. He could also feel that the bone in his hand was cut into as well giving him a sharp pain as he tried to flex his hand.
The man’s eyes looked up at Sylvia, who turned and spat out what seemed to be black blood at the tree.
“So it seems ‘your’ blood is black then.” Sylvia told him, “Looks like you’re a full fledged vampire alright.”
The vampire’s face went almost pale as he watched Sylvia turn to face him, to see that her canines were now long and sharp like fangs also.
“You, you’re a...!” the vampire said in shock, not able to finish the sentence.
Sylvia’s canines grew back to normal before she spat out the rest of the black blood she had left in her mouth, “Disgusting. There’s no way I’d let your blood stain mine.”
The man was at a loss for words as he looked back down at his blood stained hand.
“Looks like I got a bit carried away too.” Sylvia said with a smirk before giving a wicked smile, “Sorry.”
“You, you’re a vampire?!” the stunned man said to her, “And you attacked your own kind!?”
Sylvia laughed, “I’m no vampire.”
The vampire looked more confused then ever but his anger overcame him, not allowing him to think straight and he jumped for Sylvia once more.
Sylvia waited till he was right next to her to roundhouse kick him into the tree right next to her.
She kept her spinning momentum up as she hit him with the back of her fist, across the head, sending him flying through the air into another tree.
The vampire staggered to get to his feet as coughed up more blood. Sylvia took out her sword as she started to walk towards him and threw it at him.
The sword pierced the vampire straight through the stomach, trapping him between the tree and the handle of the blade. The vampire roared out up at the sky, throwing up blood at the same time.
Sylvia stopped walking as she got close enough to him and watched him as he continuously threw up.
“You fucking bitch!! You’re a psycho! You are a vampire!” the man screamed at her.
He threw up again before continuing, black blood pouring out of his mouth, “Attacking a fellow vampire! You’ll be hunted down for this!”
Sylvia stood then looking at him before responding to him, “I’m not a vampire, nor a werewolf you piece of shit.” Sylvia paused before continuing, “I’m what you call a sinwalker.”
The man’s eyes widen as he listen to her words, “Sinwalker...?!”
Sylvia took out her gun and pointed it at him, “I hope you linger in torment and suffering for eternity.” Sylvia pulled the trigger and shot the vampire straight in the head, killing him.
She stood as she watched the blood pour down his face, putting her gun away, before walking over to him and putting her hand on the handle of her sword.
She looked at him and as she did, hatred began to fill which clearly showed on her face.
“I hate you.” She said, “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”
She continued to say those words as she tensed her lingering fist tightly, her tone becoming more aggressive.
“I hate you!!!” she shouted out, almost driving herself insane.
She ripped out the blade from the tree and the vampire’s stomach and swung it at him, taking his head off, along with cutting the whole tree down.
Blood shot up from the headless body before dropping to the ground, next to its head. The tree fell backwards crashing against the ground, causing an echo to radiate around the woods.
Sylvia’s eyes almost swelled up in tears as she looked down at the decapitated vampire.
She closed her eyes and started to breath slowly, calming herself down. Once she did, she cleaned her blade and put it back in its holder tied to her back.
She looked around, making sure there was nothing in sight, before returning back to the petrol station.
It only took a few minutes till Sylvia was back by her motorcycle outside the petrol station. She looked in through the broken glass to see if she could see Roger but she couldn’t. She walked slowly towards the shop and opened the door slowly but the bell still rung.
She looked quickly to her right as she saw Roger jumped up from behind the counter with a shotgun, pointing it at Sylvia.
“Thank god.” Roger left out with a sigh, “I was shitting in my pants here waiting for ya. Where is the guy?”
Sylvia looked at him before looking down at the shelf on front of her, “He’s dead, and I left his body in the woods.”
Roger looked at her in shock, almost amazed and started to lower his shotgun but he didn’t fully put it down when he notice a stain of black blood coming out of Sylvia’s mouth.
“Sylvia, is there something that I should know?” Roger asked her.
Sylvia looked at him with no emotion on her face.
“That sword, the way you were able to throw that guy...and that stain of blood coming from your mouth.”
Sylvia listened to him before turning her head away and looked at the wall ahead of her.
“Are you scared?” she asked him.
Roger paused before turning to the wall and laid his shotgun next to it. “No. Because I know you’re different to them.”
Sylvia continued to look at the wall as she heard those words, “You’re right. I mightn’t be human, but I’m different from most vampires, because I’m only half of one.”
Roger looked at her in a slight shock when he heard she was only half of a vampire.
“I’m what werewolves and vampires call a sinwalker, Roger. I’m half vampire, half werewolf.” she continued to say.
“A sinwalker?” Roger said in surprise as he heard that she was also a werewolf.
Sylvia started to walk over to Roger with her head down, “Did you ever hate someone so much, that you wanted to kill them?”
Even though he said he wasn’t scared, a fear started to come over Roger as he saw her walking over to him, “Well...sure. Everyone has felt like that before.”
“Then I’m not crazy for wanting to.” Sylvia responded, putting her hand in her pocket. “For, the person I hate, I hate him because he’s made my parents fall asleep, and they’re not waking up again.”
“Sylvia...” Roger gasped as he heard this.
Sylvia took out money from her pocket and placed it on the counter, “This should cover for the glass. I’m sorry this happened.”
She turned and walked back out of the shop as Roger watched her go out, still in shock from what he heard.
Sylvia wiped the blood stain from her mouth before putting on her helmet and, getting on the motorcycle, rode off back down the road.
She only travelled a short distance before she saw a red car come towards her.
The person in the car beeped the horn as they saw Sylvia. She waved at the person as she saw that it was Roger’s wife, Joan, as she passed it.
The fog soon started to clear as Sylvia could see the red sky as she went down the forest road. The shadows of the bare trees started to grow as she made her way to where she wanted to go. The night was closing in on the winter’s day.
