Page 9 of Our Little Monster
The three vampires that were left laid on the floor dead, two staked, one with wooden bullet holes in his chest leaking his almost black blood all over the floor.
My father stood there, heaving breaths that seemed more so out of concern than from exhaustion when he looked over at me.
“Serina…” he said, moving over to me, running a hand over the gash on my cheek with worry.
“I’m okay, Dad, I’ve had worse. And I got four this time to your three; you’re getting slow, old man. Looks like drinks are on you,” I beamed, and he rolled his eyes and was about to reply before a sound came from upstairs.
We both stilled and shifted on our feet toward the stairs. My dad took the lead, and I watched his six as we climbed the steps. At the top, you could go in either direction, and there were three rooms. Two on one side and one on the other. I assumed two of them were bedrooms and one was a bathroom for upstairs.
I nodded to the right, where the one closed door was, and my father went the other direction. Within seconds we had made it to our assigned doors, and we both kicked them in at the same time.
Nothing…
I made my way around the banister to the side my dad was on, and we both stood in front of the last door. I nodded to him, and he counted down without a sound.
Three… two… one.
He kicked the door down. My pistol was up and ready, but when we entered, we were met with a sad sight.
Two people, a man and woman, both lay on the bed. I assumed this was their house and that they were married based on the rings on their fingers. Both seemed to be starting to stir, but they weren’t human anymore. They were transitioning.
Their skin had already begun to tighten, looking younger, and those dark veins shifted under their eyes like some type of infection you’d see spreading in a zombie movie. With time, they would learn how to control it.
We didn’t understand why the vampires were changing people instead of just feeding on them and moving on.
Most monsters had learned over the years to live amicably in our world despite their instincts. But the ones who couldn’t control themselves would meet the wrath of a hunter for their misdeeds. It was just the way the world worked, but over the last six months or so, things had changed.
There had been a shift, and the creatures seemed to be crossing the line more than before. More so vampires, but others seemed to have started to follow their example.
Like sheep being led to slaughter, except none of these monsters were fluffy, soft, and cuddly. They had sharp claws, gnashing teeth, and some even had scales, horns, or other frightening features from your worst nightmares.
For now, vampires were our top priority. We’d deal with the stragglers afterwards.
I looked over to my dad, who let out a whispered curse under his breath before stepping to the side of the bed where the man lay while I shifted over to the side of the woman.
Movement caught my eye to the right. There was a closet door cracked, and I gripped one of my stakes and stood. Glancing at my dad, he gave me a nod to check it out. I moved on swift feet and opened the door quickly.
A child squealed within. A little girl who couldn’t have been older than eight or nine. She would now stay that age forever. Her red-black eyes gave her away.
Fuck. These were the deaths that weren’t satisfying…
These were thewhat ifdeaths…
What if we had been here sooner?
What if we could have saved them from this fate?
What if… what if… what if…
“It’s okay.” I put my stake back into its holder. “I won’t hurt you,”
“W-why are you covered in blood?” the girl asked, eyeing me timidly, her voice trembling.
“We took care of the bad guys. The ones who did this to you and—”
“My parents,” she said, finishing my sentence.
A gasping breath came from behind me. The man and woman had come to. My dad still stood next to the bed.
