Page 17 of Our Little Monster
“Shit,” he cursed under his breath before a man burst through the tree line showing off his sharp fangs and black-veined eyes.
My dad shot quickly, hitting his mark through the heart with his wooden bullets before shoving me in front of him on the trail.
“Go, Serina, go!” he growled out as he urged me along.
I ran, hearing his booted steps right behind me. My vision was a blur of trees and the figures that lurked within them.
They were hunting us like a pack of wolves, but that was out of character for vampires. Two more burst through the brush and came for me only seconds later.
I skidded out of the way, shooting my gun and nailing one in the chest, causing him to fall over dead, but the other one had been too fast. In one hand I held my gun, in the other, a stake.
I felt a presence behind me probably before the vampire had even made it there. I moved, knowing that’s where they would be, and in the exact moment they tried to surprise attack me, I shoved the stake through their heart.
It was a woman; blonde hair, golden eyes lay above the dark veins, and her face looked feral and then… lost? As if she didn’t know where she was as she looked down at the stake buried in her chest.
A pained look crossed her face.Interesting.
I used my foot to push her off my stake, and she fell limp to the ground. Her body would be ash in a matter of moments when the sun rose.
“Move, move, move!” my father ordered, who I now realized was a few paces in front of me, double-triple-checking his surroundings.
We moved up the trail that was slightly inclined, and as we began to get to the top, my heart stopped in my chest.
How many were there?
One, two, three, six, eight, twelve…
I quit counting to save myself from drowning in the fear bubbling inside of me. We’d never faced so many at once with just the two of us.
My father glanced over at me with equal parts determination, horror, and love. I knew he would go down fighting, and I would too… But to stare at someone you love and know this could very well be your end was an indescribable feeling I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
They were all predator and no grace. Which seemed odd, but there wasn’t much else I could think about as they all revealed their fangs and began creeping towards us like the cornered prey we were.
“You’re a survivor, Serina. Remember that, sweetheart,” my dad said as he put a fresh mag in his gun.
I did the same, clinging to the stake in my other hand so hard my fingers tingled against its leather-banned hilt. Between one breath and the next, it was chaos; our guns shot off in every direction, hitting their marks while we would stake the ones that came to close, but the more we fought the more ravenous they became.
Everything about them seemedodd. They were acting like wild animals, not to say they weren’t monsters. But Vampires had always had a grace to them. These ones seemed to just move with little to no logic behind their movements. Almost like zombies.
I suddenly felt a presence behind me, but I was too late. I turned only to be caught in the Vampire's clutches.
He didn’t hesitate as he clamped down on my neck, and I screamed from the pain. Ripping away from him, he still had a chunk of the skin between my shoulder and neck dangling from his teeth.
Then he dropped to the ground, my dad having shot him. But the distraction was all the others needed to leap for my dad.
“No!” I screamed as two grabbed onto him while a third and fourth one assaulted both sides of his neck.
He gurgled in pain. Blood began spilling from his mouth.
“Run, Serina,” he rasped.
I blasted my bullets at them, but it was as if the bloodlust had taken over, and even though the wood should weaken them, they didn't stop. I couldn’t get a clear shot at their hearts without shooting my dad.
I rushed the monsters, already feeling faint from my own blood loss. The clothes on my left side were soaked from the leaky wound in my neck.
I readied my stake, but then I was blasted back by some invisible force, knocking me into a tree. My breath left my body as my head slammed into bark.
Everything faded in and out, and I was left defenseless on the ground listening to them ripping flesh and bone.
