Vampires and Vampire Hunters

KATERINA

I stood in the centre of the forest, surrounded by the sweet scent of fresh blossoms that littered the trees and the ground. The scent grew stronger with each step I took, as I crushed the petals on the underneath of my shoes spreading the nectar in between the grooves. I was just a few minutes away from my home, yet the journey ahead seemed endless.

I soon heard the rustle of leaves in the near distance. My ears honed in on the seemingly innocent sound... and then I smelt the scent of it. The vampire who had been stalking me the entire walk home, completely unaware that I was aware of it. I had been visiting a friend when he first caught my attention. His red eyes watched me intently from afar. He was stalking me, mentally marking me as his prey. To him, I was possibly a challenge, a sport. The unsuspecting teenage hunter roaming around unprotected. But I wasn’t, and I was about to prove it.

I reached behind me and pulled an axe from a secret pocket hidden in my clothes. It was light and comfortable. It has a dark silver blade coated in a shimmering covering of diamonds. The silver handle had two golden wires intertwining, yet leaving enough space between each twirl for my hand to fit in.

 "You sure are pretty!" He slurred. Great, he was drunk!

 He stumbled out of the darkness, into the pale moonlight. He was, from what I could discern between the shadows covering his appearance, beautiful. He had thick, dark black hair which hung messily in his face and eyes the colour of gold which peered through his silky strands of hair. His sharp white fangs shone brilliantly in the light. He looked about eighteen, though, he could have been one hundred. Vampires aged up to a certain point and then they ceased to age entirely, preserving their youthful appearances for an eternity.

There was, however, something familiar about this vampire. I knew I’d seen him before. I just... Could not quite place him. The dim forest wasn’t helping much. 

"Do I know you?” I asked.

" ...I don't k-know...” he slurred and then stumble forward again.

Slowly the nerves began creeping in. If humans were frighteningly unpredictable intoxicated, how much more frightening and unpredictable were vampires? He was however gaining distance on me and I realised that I needed to make the first move. I lunged for him, catching him off guard, but he was extremely fast, and I tripped and fell. He jumped on top of me, inspecting my face.

 “Shoot!” I mumbled to myself. Speed had always been my strength, but I guessed that drunken vampires were more agile than normal ones. This situation was becoming more dire.

"What's your name love?" He asked, still slurring.

 I could still smell the thick, lingering scent of alcohol on his breath, but I refused to look up at him. My heart was raging, and I could hear it thumping loudly in my eardrums... Hell, I could feel the blood pumping through my every vein. It was not like me to be so nervous. To be so... Scared when battling a vampire. But there was something about those red eyes which glowed and pulsed dangerously that had my skin crawling.

" Katerina, Katerina Drackon." I said without a second thought. I was too scared to keep my mouth shut with him so close to me. I had trained myself to death for combat... But he had the upper hand. In situations like these, I knew I had to be careful and strategic.

He looked at me as if I were his little toy. Then he moved his lips, revealing his long fangs. And that was all it took for me to regain my senses.

 Immediately the hunter in me woke up and I was tearing him to shreds. I don't recall what happened, all I remember was the deep red colour of blood and how every inch of me wanted to destroy, tear apart, rip, until nothing was left. I thought I was going to kill him, in fact, I hoped that would be the case. But, something stopped me. It was a sort of force against my arm, preventing me from delivering the next few final blows. My arm was still raised mid-air, my breathing still raged and my blood still pumping. Whatever that strange force was, the stranger needed to thank his lucky stars it had acted upon me when it did.

I slung the bloody creature effortlessly over my shoulder. He was heavy, but it was nothing my hunter body was not used to. Hunters were definitely not human...we were more supernatural than anything and with the extra practice I got from- never mind, it’s not important- I felt as though I was carrying a bag of flour.

I walked down the dirty and almost deserted streets to my home- a beautiful mansion which stood out against the rest of the modest looking homes on my street. It was enclosed by high white walls, split perfectly in half by a pale silver gate which granted entry into the yard. Slowly I opened the gate, attempting to be as quite as I could as the pair of keys jingled softly between my fingers. I entered the yard, readying the keys for the wooden front door to my home. Once unlocked, I walked into the living room, practically tiptoeing and praying that my mother was not up.

"Young lady what is that over your shoulder?" I froze hearing my mother's chilling voice. 

Damn it!

I dropped the body quickly as my mother turned to face me and at that exact moment, she switched on the lights revealing the bloody body, as well as my guilt-stricken face. She looked at me, then at the body and immediately her eyes grew wide, a sign that I would be in even deeper trouble than I had prepared myself for.

"You just 'kidnapped' Jeremy Giovanni! Our neighbour!" She yelled making her face a red colour.

I looked down slowly, as if the extra time I took would save me from my mother's wrath. As I glanced at his face, panic ran through my every being and I could feel myself break into a cold sweat. That was why his appearance seemed so familiar. I gulped and looked back up at my mother's enraged face.

" Well I wouldn't call it kidnapping..."I said shyly. Her face became even more red and I could swear I saw steam emitting from her ears

This , ladies and gentlemen, is where all the trouble began.