The Vampire's Apprentice

"Oh, I think you need us! You just don't realize it, but we'll make you feel good," they chortled, literally carrying her along roughly. Then they stopped. "Where'd he come from?"
Clancy stood in a spot that had most definately been empty a second earlier. "Good evening," he smiled. "May I enquire as to what is happening here?"
None of the men spoke at first out of sheer surprise. This was not how most people talked to them.
 
Kitty knew that face; that hat, especially. For sure, she was hallucinating. The sickness must have really gotten to her if she was seeing things so vividly. Her only hope at this point was that she was wrong, and he was real.
 
Clancy gave them a moment. "I believe I asked a question. I thought it was clear. I would like to inquire as to why you are carrying that young woman in such a fashion."
"None of your business!" snarled the main man. "Get out of the way, Pops."
Clancy looked at Kitty. "Young lady, do you wish to go with them?"
The third guy, who was not holding Kitty's arms, came around and started stalking toward Clancy. Clancy ignored him, waiting for Kitty to answer, possibly ask for help.
 
"N-no," Kitty answered, as she did not at all want to be where she was at the moment. "Don't hurt yourself."
What a silly thing to be telling a figment of imagination.
 
Clancy gave her a gentle smile. "I will be fine."
"No you won't!" snarled the third man. Well, that was the gist of it. His real words were a bit more vulgar. He swung at Clancy with a fist of brass knuckles.
Clancy caught the fist and looked at the brass circling each finger. "My. How medieval."
The third man gaped at this slender man holding his fist. Then Clancy sqeezed and the shock turned to screams as bones snapped and metal folded as easily as alunamin foil around his hand, permamently locking the metal in place. Clancy brought up a flat hand and tapped him on the head. The guy folded with a groan and landed unconcious on the ground.
"One down," Clancy said, brushing off his hands. He smiled at the two shocked me, revealing his fangs. "Two to go. I would like to invite you two for supper!"
The men dropped Kitty and screamed. They tried to run, but Clancy was there. The second sidekick fell unconcious, but the main man Clancy held tight, grinning until his eyes went blank. Blood flowed from his neck.
 
One second, she was sure she had seen something crazy, the next second, everything fell into a mixed-jelly of chaos. Kitty wasn't sure what was real and what hadn't happened at all. Surely she was dreaming. Surely she was so caught up in something impossible that her nightmares had come to haunt her.
The girl fell to her knees upon release, unable to look away from where Clancy had stood a half second before. Screams rang out behind her and were soon silenced, but she didn't turn around. Was she dreaming? Or could this be real?
 
Clancy tossed the body aside and delicately dabbed at his lips. Hmm, a little buzzy. This one must have been drinking. He smiled slightly, enjoying the buzz, but he wasn't finished. He searched the body of the fallen sidekick and found a switchblade. He used the blade to stab the ringleader's throat then put it back in the sidekick's hands. There. Something a little more rational for the police to latch onto.
That done, he looked down at Kitty. "My, but you are a sorry sight," he told her. He leaned down and gathered her up. "I cannot leave you here to get blamed after I spent so much trouble saving you, so I suppose I shall have to take you home," he sighed and started moving - fast - for home.
 
She knew it. She was crazy. There was no other explanation.
At least she wasn't dead. That was almost a thought.
Kitty breathed deeply, closing her eyes. Her shivers were back, but somehow that seemed like the least of her worries. Maybe when she woke up, none of this will have ever happened. She could go back to the park and care less about such a nonsensical dream.
 
Clancy carried her to his modest little two-story red farmhouse style home. It was a nice little place on the edge of town with pretty but understated landscaping and wide doors and windows. The windows had not been much of a selling point for him, but they looked nice, and the blue drapes matched well. He took her inside up to the second story bedroom and laid her down. Lucky for her, even though he did not use this room for sleeping, he still kept the room clean and the sheets fresh. Keeping a clean house helped pass the time.
 
It was definitely not a dream.

Waking up the next morning in a stranger's house was definitely not a dream.

Being able to push aside the heavy drapes and look out at the ground below was definitely not a dream.

Her shivers were not a dream, and inevitably ended with the need to climb back under the covers and contemplate life.

Kitty chewed gently on her thumb, hiding from the light beneath the sheets. Everything from last night felt fuzzy. Calm down and think. What happened? One step at a time.

She was... by the library. Nobody was around, which was unusual, but she had decided to stay. Something happened... and she had been kidnapped. Was that where she was?

No.... There was something else.... It wasn't until the ringing sound of crushed bones began to echo in her ears that she remembered.

This had to be a dream.
 
If Kitty ever got around to trying to find food, she'd find the kitchen to contain a few nonparishible items including canned soup as well as a rather odd assortment of other items. Both bathrooms held exactly one of each item someone would expect to find in a bathroom and no more. The upstairs bedroom held a large, supremely comfortable bed, a bedside table, a lamp, and nothing else. The downstairs bedroom held a small bed, a couple of large mirrors, and lots of clothing. Everything else in the house felt staged except for the office area set up in the balcony of the second floor. There were books here as well as a full, state of the art computer (password protected), and a rolltop desk. Neat, orderly, contained. The house seemed devoid of living creatures.

Night fell. Clancy listened at the trapdoor to ensure there was no movement above, then let himself up. He smoothed his hair and went to get dressed, idly looking for Kitty as he went.
 
Had she not been contained in a living nightmare and plagued with illness, she might have poked around a little further than simply trying to find the bathroom. The remainder of her time was spent sleeping, which she felt did her good as by the evening her incessant quaking had mostly subsided. She'd hardly left the bedroom at all, but of all the strange things to do, she had opened the drapes in this particular room. Sunlight was her friend, and without it she would have little clue how close to dusk it was.
 
Clancy went up to the second bedroom once he was dressed and properly presentable. He found the drapes open and could not help but smile. Yes, humans could not survive without sun, at least a little. He went to the bed and pulled down the covers enough to find a head. "Miss Kitty?"
 
"Hmm...?" She mumbled, a delayed reaction as she wasn't exactly listening. There was a long pause, then she answered, "What?"
 
"No...?" She opened a lazy eye to look at him, then towards the window. It was dark outside. Had she really slept for the entire day? It hardly felt past noon.
 
"If you can get up, I will take you down to the kitchen," Clancy said. He offered her a hand, amused at his own willingness to help the silly human.
 
"Not much point if I don't eat anything-" she was caught yawning by the end of that sentence. Kitty rubbed at her tired face for a moment before deciding to take his hand.
 
"You really need food or your body will waste away, Miss Kitty," Clancy said. He all but picked her up and carried her down the stairs to the kitchen. He set her down at the table and started gathering the items needed to make her soup.
 
"Tell me I was dreaming," Kitty asked of him, trying not to fall asleep again as she watched him scurry to and fro. "And I definitely didn't see what I thought I did last night."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top