Sanctuary's Fiend
Chapter 12

It couldn’t have been me who killed that man. The paper had said that there had been blood everywhere. It sickened me to think it, but I would lap up every drop of blood that was put in front of me right now.

But I wasn’t so hungry that I’d forgotten what I was doing or blanked out parts of the day. Maybe when that happened, my instinct to feed turned into something else.

I saw the group up ahead. They’d all worn black, same as me. Baggy hoodies and sweatshirts for most of them, tight tactical turtlenecks for the elves.

The sun had just set, and I knew the bunker sessions would have just begun. We were half an hour away on the other side of the supernatural neighborhood, on the edge of a small park that looked lovely in the sunshine, very green with a river, and plenty of places to sit beneath shady trees. But now, even with my night vision, it looked scary and intimidating.

I recognized Erin and Ariel, obviously. Johnny was here, talking to two other tall and lithe guys. There was another guy sat on the floor. I’d seen him around - hard not to in the supernatural community - but I didn’t know his name or what he was. He looked very… wide. Not fat, but definitely not an elf.

“Hey, she’s here,” Johnny said when he saw me.

Everyone turned to face me. For a second I wanted to shrink back. I never liked all eyes being on me. After a hesitant step I pushed myself in between Ariel and Erin. “Yeah, sorry. I got held up.”

They didn’t need to know what it was that held me up. They probably didn’t want to know that someone about to go hunting with them was almost too tired to stand.

But it didn’t matter, there was no way we were actually going to replace anything tonight.

“We’re definitely going to replace something tonight,” Johnny said.

“Find what?” Erin asked.

“The thing that did the killing, duh,” one of the other elves said.

“Do we know what it was?” I asked. Don’t say vampire, don’t say vampire.

“I dunno. Definitely supernatural though.”

“Could be drugs,” Erin said. “Might just be a human. Some crazed druggy?”

“Nah.” Johnny waved away the suggestion. “You’ve been watching too much tv. Have you ever seen a druggy in Sanctuary?”

Erin just shrugged.

“I don’t think we see everything in this place,” I said. Realizing that I’d lived for sixteen years without paying much attention to what was right in front of my face - me being a super vampire thing - had made me rethink my view on certain things.

The guy sitting on the ground moved for the first time. “What do you mean?”

He stared at me and I shrunk back. “Nothing.”

He went back to staring straight ahead. Now that I’d seen him move, I realized that he was unnaturally still. I didn’t think he was even breathing.

Johnny snorted. “No, no. We’re the things people don’t see. We see everything!”

There was no point saying anything else. And everyone was looking at me like I was weird again.

“Anyway,” Johnny said, “Have you seen where it happened?”

Everyone shook their heads. Apart from the other elves, who stood behind Johnny looking like models posing for an advert.

We walked into the park, and after a few minutes stopped next to a bench that would have been shaded by a small copse of trees had the sun been out. On the way I’d asked Ariel if she knew who the wide guy was. She didn’t, and neither did Erin. Once he’d stood up I could see that he was actually a bit shorter than me.

“This is it,” Johnny said, pointing at the bench.

Even I, with my perfect night vision, couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t smell any blood either. And seeing this spot didn’t bring a sudden flashback of myself committing this crime.

“Are you sure?”

The other elves chuckled as Johnny said, “Trust me. I know where it happened.”

Elves were annoying in groups. And on their own. Shockingly attractive, but annoying.

“I don’t see or feel anything.” Erin agreed with me.

“Because it’s been cleaned up, obviously.”

Erin rolled her eyes. “No, I mean that I, as a ghost, can’t feel anything left behind.”

Johnny shrugged. “You’re still learning. Probably not strong enough.”

“A death this violent?” Erin said. “Trust me, I’d feel something.”

I backed her up. “If Erin can’t feel anything, and I can’t smell anything, and none of us can see anything…”

Johnny cleared his throat and the other elves huddled in around him. After a whispered conversation, that I couldn’t hear which I guessed meant my abilities were ebbing, the elves walked away as if nothing had happened. One of the superfluous elves shouted over his shoulder, “Good job, girl. That was just a test to see if you were worth bringing. Come along to the real site.”

Erin, Ariel, myself, and the wide guy all exchanged glances.

They know we know they’re lying, right?

“I’m not sure they do,” Erin said.

The wide guy started following them. “Elves make their own reality.”

We followed the, apparently clueless, elves through some trees, heading to another bench on the far side of the park. We crossed over the river that ran through the middle, but on the other side I realized that Erin wasn’t next to me and Ariel.

“Uhh, guys?” she called from behind.

We turned, and she hadn’t stepped on to the bridge.

“Oh jeez,” I slapped my forehead. “Sorry! I forgot.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll go around!”

It almost never comes up. I’d forgotten too! Ariel laughed. Or laughed without any sound coming out, like she always did.

Movies didn’t get many things right about us supes. Like how could so many of us have children that grew up normally and integrated into society. No, no. Hollywood was mainly bad stereotypes and stupid tropes. However, running water did block any of the unliving supernaturals from crossing it. They got that right.

Now that I thought about it, I guessed that was all the proof I needed that I was alive.

We were almost at the bench when something grabbed me and pulled me to the floor.

I was about to scream for help, but a hand covered my mouth.

“Be quiet!”

Okay, not a mugger or a monster. Just Johnny.

I had let my thoughts run off thinking about Erin. Now I was lying on top of Johnny, as he held me close.

I won’t lie. I’d thought about this before. Usually under different circumstances, but hey, a girl had to work with what she got.

He removed his hand.

“What the hell are you doing?” I whispered, and elbowed him in the gut. Of course I only hit rock hard, chiseled abs.

“Someone’s there. Look.”

I peered past a tree and saw a figure looking at the murder scene. They weren’t sat on the bench, they weren’t stood there waiting for someone, they were lurking in the trees behind. Just a silhouette. A bulky, disfigured shadow.

I gasped. I didn’t even want to ask, but I had to. “Is that what did it?”

“It must be. Who else would be hanging around here? Some monsters like to return and claim trophies.”

“We need to get out of here!” I said.

“What? No way. This is exactly why we came tonight.”

Adrenaline pumped through me at the thought of a fight. But I found myself wanting to take the flight option.

I looked to the others. Ariel looked nervous, torn between stopping a killer, and being at the killer’s mercy. The wide guy looked like a statue, unmoving, and uncaring. The elves seemed excited, grins on their faces.

“Don’t worry. We’ll handle this,” Johnny said confidently. As one the elves stood up, staying behind their trees. Then they all crept out and began slowly moving towards the monster.

As the adrenaline had kicked in, my abilities had come with it. I could smell the world again, and my eyes were sharper. The bulky, disturbing silhouette of the monster now looked smaller and less scary, the fear of my mind was no longer playing tricks with my eyesight. I could hear the river behind us, and the near-silent footfalls of the elves. Underneath the smell of the dirt that had been shoved into my face when Johnny had pulled me to the ground I could smell the blood of everyone around me. The sweetness of the elves, the allure of Ariel, and the strong earthy musk of the wide guy, distinctly different to the earth around me. Further away, I could smell the monster. He smelled…

A strong, musky oak, with a hint of sweetness at the end.

Just like his son.

Without thought, I ran towards the meal. I mean, the monster. No, the human. Teacher. Rick’s father.

A single heart beat was all it took. I could feel my heart pump, and by the time it pumped again, the mixture of adrenaline hitting my barely repressed hunger had me caught up with the elves. A thought ran through my mind. These elves were hunting my prey and I should stop them. But my legs had a mind of their own and were carrying me further forwards.

By the second heartbeat I was next to the bench where the murder had happened. Mr. Anderton was moving in slow motion under the trees. He was so slow, this would be easy.

No time to think. I needed to feed and he was here. I was horrified at the thought of what I was about to do, but the other side of me… the other side of me didn’t care. It was hungry.

Something crashed into the side of my face, and everything went black.

I was on the ground.

My head was scrambled and I didn’t know which way was up or down. I was lying down so it didn’t matter, but still.

The first thing I noticed was that my hunger was gone. Wow. Hit so hard I wasn’t hungry any more. Not great, if that was going to be the only solution to my Draugr issues.

The next thing I noticed was that someone was kneeling over me. It was probably Mr. Anderton, but he was so blurry I couldn’t be sure.

Which led to the final thing I noticed. I had been crying.

In fact, I was still crying.

“Rel, I’m so sorry,” the blurry Mr. Anderton said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Erin said to him. So she’d had time to catch up. Damn. “You thought you were being mugged or something. We’ll take her home.”

“No, no. I insist. I’ll escort you all.”

“My head feels like it’s on fire,” I groaned.

“You just take a few minutes to recover,” he said to me. Then to everyone else, “I’m afraid I really do have to take you all home now. As your teacher, I can’t let you be out after dark so close to where… something like this happened.”

He was trying to protect us from what he thought was some random criminal. Little did he know what was really out here. Or how close he’d come to replaceing out about the supernaturals in this town. I wondered how he’d react if he found out that we existed.

Another thought hit me.

“Hey. What is a teacher doing hanging around in a park at a murder scene after dark?”