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 knew she needed fuel even without looking at the gauge. It’s been over a week since she got petrol and she had been using the motorcycle almost non-stop in the last few days travelling to and from the city. She was surprised at how the motorcycle lasted on its petrol it didn’t even feel at that point that it would ever run out of it. It has always been reliable to her ever since she got it for her twenty-first birthday. She didn’t know much about bikes back then so she choose by colour picking out her favourite. She didn’t realise that it was one of the best motorcycles at the time.
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, hearing the mixed sounds of crushed snow and a crack twig as she put her foot on the ground. She took off her helmet and placed it on the seat of the motorcycle. Opening the valve of the motorcycle; she took the tube next to the rusted tank and placed it inside. She watched through the dusted glass, the meters of both the price and litres go up. She looked over at the house while keeping the tube held in leaning on the seat of the motorcycle with her hand.
The whole front was made mostly of glass, allowing the person to look inside to see what looked like a small shop. What ever wasn’t glass was painted red and looked like it had just been repainted from what Sylvia could remember. She could notice an old man at the counter reading a book through the glass. 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 and checked the price 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. The inside looked a lot more dusty and old than the exterior. The grey painted walls look like they were scraped at but Sylvia could understand why as she notice tins of new paint, the same colour as the walls, lying in the corner far to her left. Cobwebs hung scarcely on the ceiling, some with flies and moths caught in them. Wooden 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, a thriller, 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. Her face tried to crack a smile but it wouldn’t, as if she was forbidden to do it.
“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 as she put her hand in her pocket to get money.
“Ah now! You know there’s no need for that. For you, it’s free of charge.” Roger said with a smile. “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.”
“But...” she said with some guilt as she handed him the money she took from her pocket.
“No, no!” he told her, curling her hand up and pushing it away. “It’s alright.”
“Thanks...” she said putting her money back in her pocket feeling guilty because she didn’t have to pay and the fact she still couldn’t give a smile fro his kindness.
“So how are your parents?” Roger asked her before he gave a sneeze.
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?” He wiped his nose with a used tissue from his pocket before putting it back. “At this hour of the day?” A puzzled look came on his face as he looked at the clock behind him on the wall, “But it’s almost four o’clock?”
“It was a busy night last night.” Sylvia told him. “You know they can work hard at times.” She looked 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 now. 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, the snow now heavier landed on the floor once he did. His head was down as he walked in, not even shaking it to get some of the snow of his hair. The sound of muddy boots could be heard like he was out in rain. It was only the night that passed when it rained last.
Sounds like he was out all night. Sylvia had the same feeling as well ago when she looked at the woods. The two watched the man from the counter as he just stood there doing nothing but keep his head down.
“Can I help you sir?” Roger asked the man, a concern look on his face now.
The two listened carefully as they could hear a quiet sound come from the man. He was giggling quietly in excitement, his hands were nervously shaking.
“Drink...finally...so thirsty.” the man said. His face still to the ground but his mouth was open now but hard to see.
“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. She knew now what he was and any sad emotion in her turned to ash as anger started to boil inside her.
“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. Words ceased to come from him as he saw the man on the closest shelf 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 now.
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 it shattering 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. “Want to play?” He ran into the woodlands behind him, fading into the fog.
Sylvia ran after him not thinking if he could have a trap set. She followed 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, the fog hiding the clouds and snow as it fell all around. “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. She eyed him like a wolf ready to pounce on it’s pray.
“So you’re a werewolf then are you?" The man asked who seemed to be actually enjoying himself. “Then why didn’t you feed on that old man back there like all you kind would have done? Didn’t like the smell of him maybe?”
Sylvia looked down at the ground. “I didn’t because I’m no werewolf...”
“Now that’s confusing.” The man told her, “Because if I was to guess, your parents found me the same way, by smelling me.” He poked his nose out and pretended to sniff for her scent to mock her.
“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.”
The man didn’t seem to be paying much attention to Sylvia as he stared to eye around the woods and the snow falling but made sure to keep her in his sights. “So its revenge you want is it, that’ll satisfy you eh?” he 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. Mustn’t have got on well with them did you.”
The man’s smile however faded away when he saw Sylvia beginning to laugh at his comment. Her laugh getting louder as she stared up at the sky eventually echoing her eyes closed.
“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 wondering if she was really ‘ok’ but laughed at her then, “You’re crazy! But I know the feeling; I feel the same right now.”
“Really?” Sylvia raised an eyebrow, “You think you’ll make me feel pain?” 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 straight at the tree 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. The man didn’t have a chance to even cough or let out a breath as she quickly caught his hair to lift him up and pummelled him with her fists into his stomach. She then threw him into the snow covered ground. Not even giving him a chance, she kicked him into the ribs once again, sending him along the ground. Snow was being pushed by his body and twigs snapping as he rolled along the ground, some cutting his hands and face. 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?” She caught her right wrist and started to rotate it in a circular motion.
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!!” He got up and turned to face her.
Sylvia stopped rotating her wrist let out a quiet laugh, her breath visible in the fog now. “So try it.” she responded to him before turning her back to him.
The man looked puzzled at her. He couldn’t understand why she turned her back but took his chance with it 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. He 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 her head towards the tree next to her 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!?” He seemed pale from the pain, loss of blood and the shock at what happened.
Sylvia laughed, “I’m no vampire.” Her smile disappeared and her face suddenly became emotionless.
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 he coughed up more blood. He was dazed and lost focus on Sylvia, unaware of what she was doing. She 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 tree vibrated as the sword went straight in to it’s trunk making snow fall from the branches above onto the man and the sword. 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 through his pain. He threw up again, black blood pouring out of his mouth. “Attacking a fellow vampire! You’ll be hunted down for this!”
Sylvia stood, looking at him before responding. “I’m not a vampire, nor a werewolf you piece of shit.”She tightened her fist. “I’m what you call a sinwalker.”
The man’s eyes widen as he listen to her words, “Sinwalker...?! Those god-damn forsaken monsters!?” The man struggled, trying to free himself and trying to pull the sword out of him.
Sylvia ignored his words as she took out her gun and pointed it at him, “I hope you linger in torment and suffering for eternity.” She pulled the trigger and shot the vampire straight in the head. The echo was louder then any sound during the fight, birds could be seen in the distance flying from trees.
She stood as she watched the blood pour down his face which was now lifeless. She put her gun away and walked over to him to get her sword. The feel off the handle was cold as the snow fell and melted onto it, the blood from the man dripped off the blade onto the dead ground. The wind started to blow as she stood staring at her blade and at the blood. Her eyes meet his; wide opened and filled with rage and insanity in them. As she stared at them, hatred began to fill her up which clearly showed on her face.
She closed her eyes as dead leaves started to fly off the ground. “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 the other tensed as it held onto the handle, her tone becoming more aggressive. She twisted the sword as she felt a surge of mixed emotions flow through her; sadness, guilt, anger and hatred until she finally lost it in one moment. “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 through the entire tree.
Blood shot up from the headless body before dropping to the ground, next to its head, the eyes still open wide. The tree slowly fell backwards, crashing against the ground, causing an echo to radiate around the woods once more but there wasn’t anything left in them not besides her.
Sylvia’s eyes almost swelled up in tears as she looked down at the decapitated vampire. Her emotions still seemed to be twirling in her. 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. The snow started to fall thick now as the land started to become drenched in white. It started to stick to her hair eventually melting, making her hair a bit wet. She was glad it started to snow heavy, as this would cover the body for her even though she was going to leave it as it was. 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 rubbed her hand along it as she looked in through the broken glass to see if she could see Roger but she couldn’t. She started to wonder and worry, thinking now that there could have been another vampire but she didn’t sense any one else. She soon caught a Roger’s scent though which relieved her a bit. She walked slowly towards the shop and opened the door as quiet as she could 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.
He didn’t shoot though once he notice it was her. “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, keeping a straight face as she did. “He’s dead. His body is in the woods. It’ll probably be got soon. Wolves will take it for food.”
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 turned to look at him; there was 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.” He explained to her.
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 even if you’re not human now, 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.”
“A sinwalker?” Roger said in surprise as he heard that she was also a werewolf. He had never heard of a person, who could be both, it never crossed his mind.
Sylvia’s eyes met Roger’s before she started to walk over to him, her head down, her face hidden behind her hair as it dropped in front of it. “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. I’d almost say...it’s normal.”
She stopped in front of the counter, her head still down. “Normal... 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.”
Roger didn’t understand her for a second but it soon came to his head what she meant by those words and his eyes opened up, gasping. “Sylvia...”
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, not saying another word. Roger watched her go out, still in shock from what he heard.
Sylvia wiped the blood stain from her mouth as she got outside and stared at her hand. The wind blew against her, pushing her jacket against her body. It touched her where her cut was on her side and she felt it too as she tried to push it away from it. She walked towards the motorcycle and put on her helmet. Once she got on she looked around at the woods across the other side of the road. There was silent haunting yet beautiful at the same time she thought. It somehow gave its own life to the area. She turned her attention to the road as she started the motorcycle rode off, continuing on her way. She only travelled a short distance before she saw an old red car come towards her. The headlights were just turned off as she notice the car; the fog was fading away now.
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 cleared and 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 towards her destination. The night was closing in on the cold winter’s day.
