Free Vampire Books: Vampire Bite – Chapter 9

Shocked, for a moment I kiss him back, but then I turn my head to the side and he lets me go.

“Alfie….” I say, looking at my feet.

“You’re not interested, huh?” he says, sounding deflated.

I look up into his eyes, and he meets my gaze without flinching – I admire his confidence.  “I really like you Alfie, but as a friend.  I’m sorry.”

“I figured.”  He laughs again, in a self-depreciating way.  “Saw you looking at that other guy.”

“I’m sorry,” I repeat.

“Don’t be.  Might change your mind one day…” he says, and winks at me.

“Alfie…”

“Don’t worry – I won’t push my luck.”

“We can still be friends right?”

“Sure can.  I’ll see you later.”

“Be careful,” I say, as he saunters away.

Shite, I think, as I walk up the stairs to my apartment.  Alfie seemed to take that so well, and acted like it won’t be a problem – but will it?  And did I do the right thing?  His kiss felt nice!  Maybe if I hadn’t had that experience with the other guy … my connection with him was out-of-this-world good … but I don’t even know his name, and I haven’t talked to him – he might turn out to be a complete idiot.  But … no, it’s not just that.  Even before I met the guy in the club I wasn’t sure if I fancied Alfie, and I can’t lead him on if I’m not sure – that could mess things up even more.  I really hope he doesn’t re-think things later and decide picking me up for another night of hunting is a bad idea.

As soon as I’m safely in my flat I clock the time – four in the morning – and then climb into bed.  I’m asleep the second my head hits the pillow.

When I wake up, winter sun is streaming through my window – I was so tired I forgot to close the blind last night.  The weirdest dream is still fresh in my mind – I was watching Alfie ballroom dance with Trish in his arms.  It suddenly strikes me that Trish would have really liked Alfie; I bet she would have been hot for him, too.

I push myself up and swing my legs out of bed.  I groan – my legs are actually aching from walking so far last night.  I have a long shower and then spend the day trying to catch up on the website design I’ve been neglecting.  It seems like hardly any time passes before Alfie’s knocking on my door again.  I press the button which releases the door downstairs then I hear him taking the stairs in giant leaps, until he’s standing in front of me grinning, like nothing is wrong between us at all.

“Hey,” I say, “you came.”

“You think I wasn’t going to?”

“Well, after last night….”

“Don’t worry about it Ava, everything is cool.”

I grab a scarf and we head straight out into the clear cold night, with stars twinkling above, and start walking along the river path.

“How do you feel after last night?” Alfie says.

“Ok, so I admit I’m pretty tired and achy, but as I keep doing this I’ll get used to it, right?”

“Sure.”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever enjoy walking by the river again though.  I’ll never forget that vampire attacking me.  Maybe when this is all over….”

He stops and looks at me directly.  “It will be, you know.  Things always change….”

I nod and look away, and then continue walking.  “How did it go after you left me last night?”

“No luck.  For me anyway.  Lil and Stew took one out last night – the girl from the photo.”

I smile.  “That’s good news!”

“Yeah, we’ll get them,” Alfie says.  He’s quiet for a bit, then says, “My pack are getting a bit funny about me taking you out with me.  They reckon going to the club together was irresponsible, so tonight I’ve been assigned the river.  Gonna be a bit boring I reckon, do you mind?”

“No, course I don’t.  I’m not in on this for the fun of it – you know I’m not.”

“I know, I just thought … it doesn’t matter.”

I let that go, after him trying to kiss me last night I don’t want to delve into his emotions too deeply.

We carry on down the river, me staring up at the stars, then looking down at the reflections carrying across the water.  We walk past the odd couple, and even people walking alone.

“I can’t believe people are still out after how many people have been killed recently,” I say.

“It’s human nature – there are always people who hope for the best, and also those that have to get home from work, people whose lives depend on going out, and who don’t have the option to be walked home.”

“I’m glad you’ve been here for me,” I say, before I can think better of it.

“I know you are,” he replies.  For some reason this makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

We walk until the river ends, and then turn back towards The Quay, retracing our steps.

“I—” I start to say.

“Shhh,” Alfie says, putting up his hand.  “I can—” 

Suddenly he is running ahead incredibly fast; he’s like a blur.

I sprint after him, my heart thudding so hard it hurts, and then I see him approaching two people up ahead.  It looks like they’re kissing, but the scenario is so uncannily similar to what happened to me that I go cold all over, and remember the pain at my neck, plunging into the icy water….

I see the man break away from the girl, and even at a distance, in the dark, I recognise him immediately:  It’s the guy who attacked me.  I stop running and stare.  It should be no surprise really, yet it is, and I feel filled with fear.  As Alfie tears towards him the vampire breaks away from the girl and he gives her a sharp push – she falls back into the river, just like I did.  I start running again – I could help her as Alfie fights him.  But a second later the vampire is in front of me – how did he do that? – and I hear Alfie shout, “No!”

I’m being grabbed, searing pain at my neck – then a wrenching motion as his teeth come out and Alfie pulls him away from me – I’m falling forwards into thin air – then I smack straight into the paving.  I hear another shout, hear motion … then blackness.

***

I wake up and it feels like days later … and yet what happened is still fresh in my mind.  I see the bright light through my still closed eyes, hear the sounds of wheels, curtains, serious voices … I feel a strong sense of déjà vu.  I know immediately I’m back in hospital.  I could swear my head hurts more than last time – it not only hurts all over but my forehead feels weird, too, and like it’s got bandages on. 

I open my eyes and this time it’s Alfie at my side, not my mum.  He’s fast asleep, with his mouth open again.

“Alfie,” I say, and surprise myself with the hoarseness of my voice.

His eyes fly open.  “Ava!”  He sits up straight and takes my hand, then leans over me and kisses my cheek tenderly.  “Thank God.”

“Did you get him?”

“No – don’t think about that now.”

“But the girl…”

“She survived.  She’s gone home already.”

“Good,” I say, and close my eyes again.

“Are you in pain?”

“My head hurts so much.”

Alfie is off and it’s not long until he’s back with a nurse and I’m being checked in all sorts of ways and having something injected into my IV.  Alfie holds my hand again and I just lie there with my eyes closed, until the pain starts to fade and I feel sleepy.  The next thing I realise I’m waking up again and the pain has lessened.  I open my eyes and Alfie is still there by my side, this time reading a magazine.

“Hey,” he says.

“I must look like shit,” I say, groaning, with a half-smile.

He laughs.  “I’m not saying anything, but I’m glad you’re talking.”

I reach over and give him a gentle whack with my IV free arm.  It’s as much as I can manage.

I have to stay in hospital for another two days before I’m well enough to go home.  Somehow Alfie persuaded the hospital I was his girlfriend and he’d look after me and they didn’t call my parents.  Good job too, or they would have made me come home and I’d never have any chance of helping to catch that guy, or Trish’s killer, although Alfie doesn’t reckon I should carry on helping anyway.  No surprise there. 

He’s been by my side in the day, sleeping in the chair by my bed through the morning until lunchtime, and then staying with me until it is dark – and then he’s been off vampire hunting on his own.  He’s not seen any more vampires, and neither has the rest of his pack, but two more girls have been killed, so it’s not that the vampires have given up or moved on.

Now I’m home and Alfie is fast asleep on my sofa.  He said he wasn’t going to leave me alone today, first day out of hospital, just to make sure I’m ok.  I feel completely fine though, he needn’t worry.  I’m doing some work while he’s sleeping, but I’m finding it very hard not to think about the vampire situation.  And I miss Trish so much.  I want to be doing something to help, but thanks to that vampire, who is still out there, Alfie is flatly refusing to take me out with him again until I have a way to protect myself. 

On the positive side he has thought of a method and is going to start teaching me this afternoon when he wakes up!  His pack own a few wooden bullet guns, which they don’t use much so they won’t mind me borrowing one, and Alfie says if I have one of these then at least I will have a way of slowing a vampire down – even if I can’t kill them.  I’ve never shot a gun before – I’m looking forward to learning but hope I’m not completely crap at it or Alfie will laugh at me and refuse to take me out with him again.

The morning drifts by and I get a decent amount done before I hear Alfie stretching and look up to see him looking at me and smiling.

“Hey dude,” he says.

“Hey sleepy-head.  Hungry?”

“Sure am.”

I turn off my computer and turn on the oven, then walk over to Alfie – who is still sprawled out over the entire sofa – and sit on his legs.

“Hey!”

I laugh.  “Where else am I supposed to sit?!”

After we’ve eaten he takes me back out of the city on his motorbike (I’m getting used to the bike now, when we’re on it together it’s exhilarating and makes me forget about everything that’s going on) to his camp where we pick up a couple of guns and some ammunition (and snacks!) and then he takes me out to the place where we camped last week.  The sky is a clear blue and the air frigid, near the hedges there is a crisp frost where the grass is still in the shade.  I help Alfie gather up sticks and then sit back and watch while he lights the camp fire.

Alfie gets the guns out of his bag and passes one to me.  It is made of black metal, and a bit larger than the kind of guns you see FBI agents with on TV shows, and much more old-fashioned looking.  It feels heavier than I thought it would.

“It’s not hard to operate these things, look, open it up here to put in the bullets.  Copy me.”

The wooden bullets are larger than standard bullets – not that I’ve seen bullets before in real life, I am again basing this on what I’ve seen on TV – and they are encased in metal so only a couple of centimetres of the wooden tip is exposed.  I toss one into the air, feeling its weight in my hands.  “It’s pretty light, can they really hurt a vampire?”

“Yep, it’s the speed they hit them that’s important – and the fact they’re wood.  No idea why wood hurts them, maybe because it’s nice and pure – the exact opposite to what vampires are.  Wooden bullets aren’t as fast as lead ones unfortunately, so they are really only good at a shortish range.”

I do exactly as Alfie does and release the barrel and then push in the bullets one at a time.  It takes eight.

“If I shot a human … like, err, myself … or if I shot you, umm, by accident … would it kill us?”   

He laughs.  “It wouldn’t kill me – but it would hurt like a bastard.  It could kill you, depends where you were hit.  Best to be careful,” he says, and laughs again.

Even though his laughter is teasing he has such a nice deep laugh that it lifts my mood.

“So … now what?” I say.

“Take off the safety, like so.”

I copy him.

“This is the trigger.”

“I figured.”

“Hold the gun steady, aim, and shoot.  Come on, let’s practice over there.  You can try and hit a tree.”

“Will I … hurt the tree?”

“It will be fine,” Alfie says, and rolls his eyes.  “Don’t stand too close to the tree though, as the bullet will bounce off and it could hit you.”

“Great.”

“Don’t worry, this bit isn’t too hard.  What’s harder is learning to shoot accurately and at something that’s moving fast – like a vampire.  Stand here,” he says, stopping about eight metres from a large oak, “hold the gun like this, make sure the safety is off – and just have a go at firing it – like this.”

There’s a loud crack as Alfie pulls the trigger.  The bullet hits the tree and bounces off so fast I don’t see where it lands.

“Your turn,” he says.  “Hold the gun steady, so you don’t drop it when it goes off.”

I aim the gun at the same tree and squeeze the trigger.  At the same time it makes the crack noise a force travels back up my arm and I nearly drop the gun, but I keep my gaze on my target.

“Yes!  I hit it!”

Alfie chuckles, as I put the gun in my other hand and shake my arm.

“I didn’t expect it to feel like that,” I say.

“Brace yourself more next time, your muscles will get used to it with practice.  Try again.”

I stretch my arm out then get ready and aim again.

“No!” I say, as the bullet sails past the tree and embeds itself in some undergrowth.  “I guess I’m going to need to practice quite a lot.”

“You’ll be awesome at it in no time.”

We spend the afternoon practising until my arm can take it no more, and then we do the same every afternoon for the next two weeks, while I make slow progress.  I am getting better though.  Unfortunately, in the meantime people are still being killed.  The police presence in Exeter is increasing by the day and there are posters warning people not to go out alone all over the city, my parents ring every day to check I’m still alive and to try and persuade me to come home; I can’t tell them what I’m up to though, so I don’t think they really understand why I want to stay.  I think they think it has everything to do with Alfie.

Mark hasn’t come back to university, or even Exeter.  I’ve talked to him on the phone but he’s obviously not dealing well; part of me feels I should go and visit him, but that would mean sacrificing a day of shooting practice, and I feel the sooner that I’m out there, the sooner I can help; I might save a girl’s life.  I can’t let this opportunity to do something go.  Mark has asked what I’m doing, but I’ve had to evade the question – I can’t tell him about this over the phone!

I’m back on the edge of the woodland with Alfie and preparing to take aim at an array of paper cups he has positioned at various places on the trees.  Some are a lot nearer and easier than others, but my confidence has grown with my ability and I feel ready for this.  Alfie points at the first cup and says, “One.”  I aim for the nearest cup and knock it off first attempt.  That one was easy.

“Two.”

I aim higher, a cup he had to climb the trees to place, partially obscured by brown autumn leaves.  I shoot and the cup falls to the ground.

“Three.  Four.  Five.  Six.  Seven.  Eight.”

I shoot after each command.  “Yes!” I shout, and punch the air, then Alfie wraps me in his arms and lifts me off the ground.  I hit each cup with my first attempt.

“I reckon you might be good enough to come out with me tonight,” he says, grinning.

“Really?”

He nods, still beaming.

“Yes!  Yes!”  I do a victory dance while he laughs with me.

“You know that it will still be dangerous though, right?  Vampires are a lot harder to hit than paper cups.”

“I really do know, and I’m willing to take the risk.  You know I am.”

The afternoon passes quickly and we prepare for our night out hunting.  Alfie has made me practise putting a holster on my belt and drawing the gun from that position over and over.  Tonight I re-load the gun and put it in the holster again and over it I wear a loose long coat that will cover the gun from sight, but that I can easily push out of the way to grab the weapon at a moment’s notice.

Prepared, we leave my flat and go out into the night.