Hidden in the Dark
As I watch the ambulance lights disappear from view, I have this sudden uneasy feeling, but I can’t see much in the darkness around me. Living five miles from anyone on either side is fun growing up, but nerve-wracking as a woman suddenly alone without her family around her. The porch light near the front door is out, casting dark shadows over the light blue paneling of my house.
I wrap my knit shawl tighter around my shoulders, my golden-brown hair flowing all the way down to my waist, as I turn to go inside—only to freeze when a deep masculine voice comes from right in front of my front door.
“Hello Little One.”
Startled, I scream as a tall dark figure steps into the pale light filtering from the dark road.
“You’re very difficult to get alone.”
I step back in terror as he steps toward me. Easily over six feet tall—he stands over more than half a foot above my five-foot-eight frame. His striking Japanese heritage features are framed by straight black hair cut just long enough to hide a jagged, unforgettable scar going from his hairline to his nose. He’s covered in a black trench coat, but his face is impossibly dark with eyes glowing a sharp, unnatural red. As I take him in, he steps closer and rests his hand on the railing, and I notice he has extended black claws more than four inches from the tips of his fingers.
“It is time you come fulfill your destiny child.”
The tic tic sound from his claws startles me into movement, and I turn around to run. But before I can even take a step, I see another man standing behind me on the walkway, blocking my path, and I freeze again. He looks like the twin of the man by my front door, with the exact same straight black hair, six-foot-seven height, and Japanese heritage features, only without the scar.
I turn to keep them both in my line of sight, “Wh..what do you want?”
The twin on the walkway suddenly disappears and hands like bands wrap around my biceps from behind. His fingers are so long they overlap each other as he tightens his grip to the point of pain and lifts me to the tips of my toes as he bends to put his face next to mine.
“Now now no need to panic Little One,” he murmurs, running his nose along my neck.
Since he touched me, I try to change his emotions like I’ve been learning in secret. But instead of any form of emotions, all I feel is cold! I try to pull on his emotions, but all I get is ice! I can even see my breath fog in front of me, and it feels as though I’m in a snowstorm and everything is frozen.
Chuckling, he whispers, “Not what you expected huh?”
“Wh… wh…. What…” My teeth chatter uncontrollably as I try to speak.
The scarred twin leaning against the railing chuckles and leans forward as he chatters his teeth mockingly.
Suddenly, another man appears on the opposite side of the wrap-around porch from us. He doesn’t look as intimidating. Broad-shouldered, he’s wearing jeans and a plaid button-up, and with his cowboy hat and boots, he blends in with the ranches around me. I look pleadingly at him.
“She is turning blue Reiji, release her.”
My eyes widen as I realize he’s one of them. He turns his ocean blue eyes from mine to the twin holding me, and the color flashes to a swirling vortex. That’s impossible!
“What if I don’t want to, Ulysses?” Reiji answers mockingly. He continues to rub his nose against my throat and inhales deeply.
The cowboy noticeably stiffens before he leans against the window pane. “Then she will die and we will have to wait for another to be born again.”
“Ah but I’ve missed that sweet, sweet smell of innocent empath,” the scarred twin by the door speaks up. “Are we so sure there isn’t any more?” Suddenly, Reiji licks my neck and releases a sound that makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
There’s a whoosh of wind, and I blink my eyes as warmth returns.
“Enough with your games, Reiji.”
I lean my head back, feeling something solid behind me, and see the cowboy’s head above mine.
“Ah but they are so much fun my friend,” Reiji says as he leans back against the railing and winks at me.
The cowboy takes my arm and starts pulling me to the other end of the wrap-around porch. “Come Temperance and try to refrain from pulling on our essence as you will only hurt yourself.”
Stumbling alongside him, my mind catches up to his words as we round the side of the house. “Essence?”
He pulls me down the stairs by my garden door, and I see a dark horse tied to the porch. “That’s a horse!”
He releases me to untie the horse. “Yes it is a horse. Are you dim?”
“Of course I’m not stupid! I just didn’t expect to see a horse tied to my house!” I cross my arms, completely offended by his all-too-serious question.
“Hmm, well vehicles are unreliable where we are going.”
“What do you mean, we??” I start slowly backing away from him and the very large horse.
“You’ll be perfectly safe darling, he’s a sweetheart.” He pats the horse's rear end as he grins at me, flashing a single dimple in his cheek.
“He isn’t the problem! You guys are freaking me out and I am not going anywhere with you or your wacko friends!” I turn to run toward my house and stumble backwards, falling on my ass as I see the twins—one standing with his scarred face and Reiji beside him—standing on the porch grinning at me.
“It’s me or them darling girl.”
I crab walk away from them all, and they just stand utterly still watching me with glowing red eyes. So once I’m comfortable with the space between us, I stand and watch them.
After several moment of silence, I break. “What do you want with me?!?”
The twins exchange looks before spinning and changing their entire faces! They have huge fangs that extend past their lips and impossibly long pointed ears, and their red pupils blow out to cover their entire eyes!
Screaming, I break for a run and slam into a wall! Or what feels like a wall before cowboy man picks me up fireman style. “You're going to save us darling.”
He’s carrying me back to them and the horse, and my instincts continue to scream at me, so I start kicking and screaming to get away.
“Let me go! Put me down!”
The scarred twin laughs as his face changes back. “Finally she starts screaming!”
“Enji, would you shut up?” Cowboy seems totally at ease with me squirming in his arms. I start kicking and screaming more, now totally unafraid of getting hurt. He stops walking to fight me.
Enji continues to laugh in the background. “Need help Ulysses?”
“Leave.” His one-word answer is full of more menace than any word he has said up until now, which causes me to pause in my desperation to escape. The pause is just long enough for him to heft me back over his shoulder and continue walking.
I start kicking and hitting him. “Put me down!!!”
He slaps my butt!
“Stop it now!”
“You! You! You spanked me! What the hell!” I can’t even process what is happening to me right now.
“You kick my horse and I’ll do worse than that.”
In one smooth motion, he lifts me onto the saddle and swings up behind me, gathering the leather reins in his scarred hands.
“I’ll see you two at the estate in seven days,” Ulysses calls out into the darkness, though no one is visible. He kicks the horse into a fast gallop, plunging us into the shadow of the mountains behind my house.
Huddling into my sweater, I whisper into the rushing wind, “Vampires aren’t real...”
Ulysses chuckles behind me, his chest warm against my back. “Neither are witches who can suck your essence from you.”
“But... but that isn’t what I do!”
“You don’t know anything about yourself, child.”
