Chapter 149
The monster let out a wicked laugh. In a fit of rage, Elliott lurched forward, not finding the situation at all humorous. The Vampire seemed surprised, either at Elliott’s strength or speed, possibly both, and Elliott stabbed him in the heart, pulling the long knife clean through his chest. Though the Vampire didn’t seem mortally wounded, he was stunned, and for some reason, Elliott felt he knew exactly what he needed to do. Having never killed anything more substantial than a cockroach, he never would’ve felt himself capable of prevailing in this situation, but as if a voice called from deep inside of him, he followed his instincts, and seconds later, he’d grabbed the Vampire by his head, and with a quick twist, decapitated him. Ash filled his hands as the severed head disappeared, as did the body.
There was no time to evaluate the situation. The sound of shattering glass had him leaping back across the fence, knife in hand, sprinting toward the front of his own house. He entered through the same window the intruders had used, though he did have to wiggle his hips slightly to get through the narrow frame. He landed with a somersault on the living room floor just as the two figures moved down the hallway toward his sons’ room.
He increased his speed, coming around the corner and taking them in. One was a short, female-looking creature with dark, poofy hair. A trickle of blood ran down the side of her face, making him think she had fed recently. Her elongated fingers ended in twisted, thick claws the color of decaying bone. The other was a slender man with short blond hair and what might’ve been a handsome face if he didn’t suddenly twist it into a freakish smile. He opened his mouth, as if he were going to say something taunting like the other bloodsucker had done, but Elliott didn’t waste time with the two.
The hallway was narrow, and there wasn’t much room to maneuver, but he managed to make it work. The woman came at him first, claws in the air. He side-stepped, kicking out with his left leg as if he were one of the kung fu fighters he’d once seen at a circus when he was younger, catching her in the stomach. She doubled over as the man advanced. Elliott swiveled around, throwing a punch that landed in the monster’s face, followed by a sharp elbow to his throat. He came around with the knife just in time to catch the woman in the chest. This time, he brought it down hard, using his full body weight, ripping a hole through her torso. She screeched but didn’t disappear.
Elliott took care of the man first, dropping the knife and positioning his hands around his scrawny neck and twisting. One violent pull, and he was gone. Then, the woman, who was reeling on the floor, clutching at her chest looked up. Her dark eyes, rimmed in red, looked fearful as he reached for her throat. There was no place to go in the narrow hallway, and Elliott managed to grab hold of her. She clawed at his hands with her twisted fingernails, but didn’t even break the skin, and seconds later, she too was gone.
Exhausted, Elliott stood in the dark hallway with ash on his hands and two piles of it on either side of his feet. He dusted his palms off, unable to believe what he’d done. How had any of this been real, and more importantly, how had his sons slept right through it? He couldn’t hear a sound coming from their room. Deciding it would be in his best interest to check on them anyway, he stooped to pick up the knife, planning to take it with him into the kitchen while he retrieved the key.
The living room light came on, flooding the opening of the hallway with light which reached only to his knees. Hurried, but familiar, footsteps caught his ear, and Nancy came around the corner. “Elliott?” she asked, looking at him with terror in her eyes. She took a step backward. “What the hell are you doing? Why do you have a knife? Where are the boys?”
“Nancy, calm down!” he said, though he didn’t blame her for being upset. He had to look a mess, and he couldn’t hardly tell her the truth of what had happened.
“What did you do?” She took a few steps back into the living room and saw the shattered window.
“No, I didn’t do anything, Nancy. I promise. Someone tried to get in. I scared them off.”
“What the hell is this dust all over the ground?” He had no explanation for that. “You expect me to believe someone broke that window and tracked in all this mess?”
“No, I uh….” He couldn’t think of anything to say that made logical sense, and his brain was having trouble even validating what had happened.
“Move!” she shouted, going to the boys’ bedroom.
“It’s locked,” he replied as she jiggled the handle. “I locked the door when I saw the intruders outside of the window.”
Even though she wasn’t standing in a place where the light from the living room could reach her face, he knew the expression that was there. She thought he was crazy. “Give me that knife!” she demanded, coming back toward him.
He handed it over, and she hurried into the kitchen. A few seconds later, she returned with the key, sans the knife. Muttering under her breath, she slipped the key into the door and slowly opened it. Neither boy had made a peep the entire time, and while Elliott was slightly worried about them, particularly after what he had just seen, he was confident he had managed to protect them.
He followed Nancy into the bedroom. She checked on Michael, who was sleeping soundly in his crib, while Elliott rested his large palm on Wally’s chest, which rose and fell as expected, and then they switched places. Once the mother was satisfied no harm had befallen her beloved babies, they quietly exited the room, shutting the door behind them.
Trudging through the ash in the hallway to get back to the living room, where the glass covered the floor, Elliott absently wished he had some sort of device that could quickly suck up Vampire debris. Having the remains of a bloodsucker in the Hoover seemed like a macabre situation.
