Our first stop was a run-down brick structure that barely qualified as a shithole. This place was on the north side of town, close to Florissant. This was the first vampire den that Alex had been keeping tabs on. She said she had already pulled one of them a few weeks ago for trying to bring a college girl back for the whole den to slowly share. I was pretty sure that kill would last her a while longer if I believed what Martin had told me about her before. She didn’t need to feed as often.

  We came upon the building in the dead of night, probably around ten o’clock. We were mere whispers in the wind, moving across the dark city so fast we were undetectable. I had to say, though, Alex and Martin’s speed was something to admire. I could keep up fine, but they ran like they had a rocket on their backs. Alex knew where we were going, so she led the pack, but she was definitely a little faster than Martin. I ran more roughly, powering through a stride that pushed me forward with less fluidity than the two vampires, but I could overtake them both in an instant if the need arose. I wouldn’t tell them that, however. I knew that it was better to sometimes leave things a mystery. People not knowing what I was capable of was an advantage in many ways.

  Once at the stack of bricks, these vampires called home, Alex took the lead. Martin went with her as they acted like they were in need of shelter from the morning sun. They told me to wait outside and listen in. They thought the vampires might sense me and think I was human. Then there would be no talking. At the very least, they would know I wasn’t one of them.

  There was a large section of brick that held a massive square window on one side of the building. The glass was old and had a warped look to it. I was certain that if I got closer to examine it, the glass would be thicker on the bottom sections of the window. This building had been around for a while, and it showed. Yet, the massive portal let me peer inside to watch everything that was going on.

  There were three male vampires on the ground level whom Alex and Martin befriended fairly quickly. They seemed to really like Alex, all vying for her attention as the conversation evolved over the next few minutes. She had them eating out of the palm of her hand. She knew exactly what she was doing, even going as far as grazing her hand down the arm of the one guy who seemed to be in control of the den. She played her chosen role extremely well.

  The conversation began with the lie. They were looking for shelter. After a few minutes, the conversation went into the local area; where were the safe places to hunt, what else was in the area, and the older, more powerful creatures that were in the city to avoid. I saw Martin smirk as a young vampire told them of a supposed bar or restaurant that was run by a very old and powerful vampire. They didn’t frequent that place, so they didn’t know he was standing right in front of them.

  The guy who seemed in charge, at least the guy taking the lead in the current situation, had a devilish grin on his face as he spoke and observed Alex and Martin. Once he saw that they were not romantically involved, he had only one goal. He wanted to take her down into the lower levels of their den. He wanted to have sex with her, and in his mind… he was going to. Nothing would stop him. I saw him cut glances at Martin, eyeing him and sizing him up just in case he had to fight him. It was subtle, but I could read his face from outside like it was written across his forehead. I’m sure Martin and Alex could see it as well.

  As I stood outside the building, letting my friends make their way to the questions we sought, I couldn’t help but smile in the dark of the night. I couldn’t explain it since it didn’t even make sense to me fully. Yet, as I stood there watching my two new friends carry out our plan, I was having a good time. There was something about moving in the shade of night, running around the city with these two vampires as we searched the city for answers to our biggest problems, that made me feel something that I hadn’t felt in a long time. I hadn’t even felt this with the Chasse family. I felt free.

  I was openly using the monster that slept dormant inside of me. No… No, I was the monster. Martin was right… maybe. Maybe that’s why it felt so good. Using my power, the unexplainable force I had inside, with my two cohorts as we tore across the city together. This felt good. I felt more… me than I had in a while. I wasn’t holding back. I wasn’t hiding anything from Alex and Martin. I was here, with them, as… as the thing I blamed for everything.

  I started seeing things Martin’s way. At first, I hated what he thought, but now… he might be right. With no hiding and secrecy, openly being what I was without the fear of showing myself, I felt free and in control. The smile across my face was proof of this new revelation.

  The questioning ended abruptly as unexpected arrivals broke the conversation into gaps of pulsing eyes and snarling teeth. Alex and Martin were met by two figures coming up from a lower level within the building.

  “You guys hungry?” The thoughtful vampire brought his meal ticket up to share. He seemed to be a really nice guy, unfortunately.

  The girl cowered but did not resist the pull of the supernatural being. She was young, probably nineteen. She must have been in the first year or so of college before finding herself in an inescapable situation. She had dark brown hair and wore clothes that looked like she had just come from a nightclub. Scrapes and bruises littered her extremities, while a few bite marks were on her throat. I felt my blood start to boil, and the beast began to rise.

  Alex registered what was happening in an instant, and her demeanor changed viciously. Her face shifted from flirtatious to murderous. She didn’t want to pretend anymore. She took the girl's presence as the switch to go into kill mode. There was no warning, and there was no stopping her.

  Martin did not have the same reaction, but he was prepared to fight. The four vampires were thrown off by the confusion of the abrupt change in these two strangers. The leading vampire that hoped to bed Alex put his hands up, hoping to regain the rapport that he thought he had developed with the tattooed beauty. However, her eyes were blazing red and intent on leaving his body mangled on the floor.

  The leading vampire was the first victim in the chaos of Alex’s sudden violence. Alex lunged at him as he held his arms up, breaking bones and sending him into the bricks of an outer wall. Red chips and shards fell with his body, while the wall opened a small void into the outer elements. Martin didn’t waste time, using the very weapon he knew he’d need, lopping the heads off two others in an instant, with a single arcing swing.

  Alex was fully taken over by the bloodlust, hopping on top of the one she took her rage out on, sinking her extended fangs into his neck. She latched onto him fully, taking him as her food.

  “NO!” he yelled. “What are you doing…” he screamed as the Anthropophagus vampire raged above him. She was vicious; a bestial shadow of a woman. She was snarling and thrashing like a shark on top of the fading male vampire. Blood spurted out from his wounds, casting across Alex’s face and clothing as she ripped into his neck. I could hear more of his bones cracking under the pressure of her strength all the way out where I stood. His physical power failed him before Alex’s superior will. In only seconds, he was dead, and she was covered in vampiric blood.

  There was one problem. The vampire with his actual grasp over the human girl was still in control of her. Alex was taken over by the thirst and rage while Martin tried to determine the best course of action. He didn’t want to get the poor human girl killed in his attempt at rescuing her.

  “What the fuck are you?” the captor said with fearful astonishment. He couldn’t believe what he had seen, but he was also scared. I had probably never seen a vampire feed off another.

  Alex stood from her kill, face twisted and fanged as she stepped carefully towards the vampire that hid behind the human girl. Strange warbling hisses came from Alex as she slowly circled her prey.

  He could tell quickly that the two strangers wanted to stop his den and protect the girl, no matter how crazy that seemed in his mind. He couldn’t wrap his small mind around it, but he knew it was the situation. So, he hung onto the girl by the neck, extending his claws to ward off his oncoming attackers.

  “Just back up, unless you want her blood on your hands,” he played to their fears.

  Alex was intent on getting to the girl, but he had her by her jugular. The human’s life force would drain across the grungy floor before Alex could catch him if he squeezed her throat. He could end it in an instant. He looked like he might just do it out of spite since he didn’t think he could get out of the situation.

  Martin had already stopped his advances, and I saw a falter in Alex’s footsteps. She didn’t know what to do. I could hear the flurry of heartbeats in Alex’s chest rapidly surging from the bloodlust and nervousness for the innocent girl. She wasn’t thinking clearly. For a moment, my two friends stood among a room of corpses, opposite the last vampire and his captive.

  I knew what to do. I had already picked up a metal pipe that was leaning against the wall of a small storage building just to the side of the main structure. It was probably about four feet in length and coated in rust. It fit nicely in my hand, and it sailed even nicer through the air as a spear. So, I hurled it with all my force from my position, the pipe whistling as air passed through and around it. It ripped through the void between me and the building, shattering the old window as it broke the glass that separated the inside from the outside. The rusty spear was barreling towards the unaware vampire’s head. He never knew it was coming, nor did the girl, nor Alex. I did see Martin’s ears shift and his head turn right before the old pipe broke the pane of glass. Alex was too wrapped up in her bloodlust to hear it coming. Martin was more honed from years of practice in taming himself and the power within. The pipe met its mark, as I knew it would, and forced itself into the wall next to them, still holding the weight of the creature on its length. When the pipe pinned the vampire to the bricks, it jarred the girl with the motion of the vampire’s death blow. Otherwise, she was completely fine.

  The surprising interruption of my pipe spear jolted my two friends from their positions, even Martin, who I thought saw it coming. Once the glass settled at their feet, and the girl fell to her knees in tears beneath the lifeless vampire, they looked back through the shattered window to my watching presence. I just stood there while they figured out how to pick up the pieces.

  About half an hour passed until Martin could have an acquaintance come pick up the girl. Martin got her name out of her, but that was pretty much it. Claire was her name. We had all distanced ourselves from the chaos and death of the vampire den. If others returned to find their friends dead, we didn’t want to remain there with the girl. We positioned ourselves in a small grouping of trees about two miles away from the carnage. The young girl knew that Alex wasn’t human after seeing what she did, and the fact that she was still covered in blood. Claire seemed to take a liking to Martin since he was actively making moves to get her to safety. She only looked at me a few times, not daring to make eye contact after our first time we looked at each other. I just stayed as a shadow in her eyes, keeping to the dark a way off from the scared girl.

  “Well, that was certainly not what I was expecting,” Martin said as he paced back through the darkness to where I stood. Alex was there in the shadows, only a couple of yards away.

  “I’m sorry, Martin…” Alex apologized, her face still covered in blood. Though her human features returned to her face, she still looked monstrous with all that blood soaking her face and clothes. She had tried wiping it off, but it only smeared around. “Once I saw the girl, I couldn’t stop. She reminded me of…” she trailed off.

  “It’s okay, Alex. You don’t have to apologize. We had to do something, and I don’t think they had any information we could’ve used. These seemed young and on a very long leash from whoever created them,” Martin suggested.

  I wanted to know what she was going to say. Why had she reacted so violently at the sight of the girl? I wanted to ask, but I didn’t think now was the time. I stayed quiet.

  “Well, only one place left to go, I suppose,” Martin said. “Are you two still up for it?”

  I nodded, “I am. I want to hit anywhere you two might think will lead us to answers.”

  “Alex?” Martin asked her.

  She was still wiping the blood from her face and trying to look human again; I think she wanted to feel human, too. She didn’t answer Martin, only continuing to feverishly scrub the blood from her clothes and skin. Why was this time different, specifically?

  “I can smell water,” I told her.

  Alex looked up at me, her frantic look fading.

  “It’s close. You can clean up,” I offered, glancing at Martin.

  “We have more than enough time,” he assured.

  Alex nodded, making sure her face didn’t reveal an ounce of gratitude to me.

  It was a small pond on the edge of a residential property. It was close to some woods, so we stayed hidden. The darkness of the night cloaked us from sight. Aside from the dark and sleepy house, nothing was really around, especially at this hour. A few passing cars on a nearby road were the only motion.

  Martin and I were silent until Alex was done scooping and rinsing the blood off with the fresh water. It only took a minute or two of standing and waiting. She came back to us in the dark, face clean and clothes wet. Her shirt was still obviously stained pretty heavily with the crimson fluid.

  I started thinking about Alex differently again. She seemed rough and distant in the beginning. But I was learning there was more to her than what she showed the world. I think Martin knew what Alex was like, the real Alex. I was seeing glimpses of her throughout the past day. Ever since I saw her bedroom. That picture and the way it was positioned in the secrecy of her lair. I was starting to see her better. Standing there, seeing her reaction to the blood covering her face and clothes, the shame of falling to her rage, and even the way she slept away from her home, it made me feel… sorry for her. One thing was certain: Alex was a lot more than she let people see.

  As Alex approached us, I took off the jacket that doubled over my black hoodie. I offered it to her with an extended arm. She looked at me curiously for a moment.

  “I don’t need your help,” she said unforgivingly.

  “Your clothes are covered in blood. You’re helping us if you take this. We’re still going someplace after this… and we still need you,” I said what I thought would motivate her to take it.

  I saw Martin nod to her out of my peripheral vision. Alex stared at me for a moment, but then snatched it out of my hands.

  “Let’s go,” Martin began walking away from the pond.

  I followed them at a distance. I could hear them talking about fifty yards in front of me, but I tried not to listen in. I maintained my distance the rest of the time until we made it to a small house across the river on the east side of St. Louis. This house was situated directly on the river just south of the Gateway Arch. There was only one vehicle parked beside the house in the muddied tire paths. It was an older model, single-cab truck. It looked like it had seen better days.

  I was still a distance behind Alex and Martin when we arrived. But when Martin and Alex reached the front porch of the place, the front light came on, and a person stepped out. They began talking to each other, and it seemed strained.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I pushed my hearing out to further distances after they were already talking, “…only you, Martin.” It was the voice of an older man. His accent sounded foreign to anything I knew of St. Louis. It was more akin to something I heard down in Louisiana from our trips there as a kid. As kids, my brother and I would laugh at the accents of our family down there. We thought they sounded funny.

  As I arrived beside Alex, Martin was already inside the house. “Who is this?”

  Alex was silent for a moment before answering me. It seemed like she was trying to figure out how to treat me.

  “His name’s Abel,” was all she said.

  “I’ve never heard Martin talk about him,” I said out loud, unsure if Alex would speak to me. She seemed pretty affected by everything that had happened with the girl, Claire.

  “Why would he have?” Alex asked bluntly. “I’ve never even spoken with him.”

  She was definitely going through something, so I’d give her some slack. I didn’t say anything else to her. She obviously needed space. I walked away from her, into the shadows beside Abel’s ramshackle of a house. I leaned against a tree and waited for Martin to return. After only a minute of listening to the constant hum of the rushing current of the river, I realized I couldn’t hear anything inside the house. It was odd… like a wall blocking all sound, even from my enhanced senses.

  As I stood against the solid tree, I heard Alex speak under her breath, “Shit…” She slowly paced over to me in the cover of trees.

  “What?” I asked as she was standing in front of me to say something, yet she froze as she got there.

  “I’m… sorry. Thank you for this coat. Abel won’t invite me in if I look the way I did,” Alex said honestly.

  “You’re welcome,” I responded. After another few moments of silence between us, I asked, “Are you alright? I don’t know what happened back there, but it seemed to affect you more than usual.”

  Alex nodded, “Yes. I’ll be alright.” She looked up at the stars through the small gaps in the trees. The smog wasn’t covering the area like it usually did in the city. “It was the girl. Seeing her… it brought back some memories. When I saw her there with those men… those bloodsucking pieces of shit…” her fury started to spill over again. She shook her head, “I just reacted. I felt myself moving on instinct. I lost control.”

  I just nodded. I didn’t want to pry, even though I was very interested in what she would say.

  “Thank you for killing the last one. I was so drunk on the anger and the blood that I couldn’t think strategically. Everything was so overwhelming. I’m usually not like that. I can maintain myself better,” Alex said, slightly ashamed again.

  “I have my times, too. Certain things… things that remind me of before… it makes it harder to control,” I tried opening up a little bit.

  I was finding that Alex and I had a lot in common. At least, we shared feelings about our experiences as monsters of the night.

  “The girl…” I started, hoping I wouldn’t piss her off. “Did she remind you of… you?” I asked, and then prayed I didn’t make the wrong choice.

  She was silent. Staring into the muddy riverbank at our feet.

  “Yes.” She finally answered.

  We stayed silent again. I could tell that my prying was freshening the wound again. I’d stop for now. Even though this new version of Alex was intriguing me more by the minute, I didn’t want to push too hard and lose the little bit of peace between us. She reminded me of me, and if any part of that was real, I knew she’d need space in her hard moments. I knew this because that’s what I needed when my memories began to surface.

  Alex and I sat quietly at the base of two close trees as we waited in the dark for Martin. It was not awkward with her in that moment as it was before. I felt close to her in a way. For a brief second, through our talking in the dark, I felt like we understood each other a little better. It was small, and I’m not sure it would last, but it was due to realizing we had similar struggles. She saw the beast trying to escape me before, and now I saw hers lash out in a violent display of death. We were both fighting for control.

  The creaky screen door spoke out into the night as Martin stepped out onto the front porch. The light above his head cast a shadow into the muddy grass of the front yard.

  “Alex… Sam,” Martin called for us.

  As soon as we heard the words, we were up and speeding around the side of the house. We met Martin at the base of the porch steps. He was alone. The old man named Abel was nowhere in sight.

  “He’ll see us now. But I’ll warn you two, especially you, Sam.” Martin seemed very serious as he continued. “You have to remain very calm here. If Abel senses anything he considers a threat, he’ll kick us out.”

  “I’m not going to do anything,” I assured Martin. I wasn’t sure why he thought he needed to say this to me.

  “I know. I just felt like I had to reiterate it. Able could feel death on us as we approached. The fighting at the den must have left a mark that he can sense. He was extremely apprehensive about seeing us, so we just need to be careful… staying calm around him. Abel is one of my oldest living contacts here in the city. His knowledge is invaluable, and I would hate to lose him as a friend,” Martin said.

  Alex and I both nodded, watching our movements and attitudes as we entered the low-lit house. We all three stepped slowly through the living room. The old, crooked floor creaked under our steps as we followed Martin into the kitchen. I could tell it was the kitchen since the light that was on revealed a circular metal table with only two chairs. The wallpaper was illuminated as well, really pronouncing the yellow stain of time that was present across every wall.

  As we entered the kitchen, Martin sat down across the table from an old grey grey-haired, black man. He was a skinny gentleman who wore silver, rectangular glasses over his weathered eyes. I saw him take a deep breath as Alex and I entered the room. He did not look fearful, only increasingly aware of our presence.

  “Hello Alex,” he spoke to the red-haired vampire in a seasoned voice, “Sam,” he then looked directly at me.

  “Hello, Abel. Martin has spoken of you before. It’s nice to meet you,” Alex greeted.

  “Martin has told me about ya’ as well. It’s nice to meet ya’, too,” he assured.

  I just looked at him with a nod. I felt underprepared for this meeting.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you, Sam,” Abel actually surprised me. Then he spoke in a different language, “Main de la Mort…” he eyed me with a questioning look, like he was unsure. There was a slight look of fear in his eyes as he pondered me.

  What did he say? It sounded almost like French or something. The tone of it reminded me of my time over there searching for Allen.

  “Do you know something about me?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he emphasized, “but not from Martin. You’ve had your grip around this city for a while now.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “What are you talking about?”

  “Surely ya’ know the effect ya’ve had on the city. Men and beasts alike flee the city in droves. Anything sensitive enough to feel ya’ presence here is leaving. People I’ve known for years, abandoning everything to get out before it’s too late,” he spoke theatrically like he was telling a story.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, or what you mean…” I was honestly at a loss.

  Martin didn’t even look like he was on the same page as Abel. This was a new conversation he hadn’t had with the old man.

  “No, I don’t think ya’ would.” He leaned back in his metal chair, relaxing further. “Let me put it to ya’ different. This city is a jungle, and it has all manner of creatures within, human and anything else that calls this place home. Every jungle has an ecosystem. There’s a food chain, and there are groups of animals trying to survive; some together, some alone. Now, when a new predator enters an established ecosystem, things start to change. When the alpha predator starts becoming the prey, things really take a turn. Whole ecosystems can crash and burn if something that doesn’t belong takes root. When an invasive species overruns an ecosystem… you could see a collapse.”

  I was hesitant to respond, “You’re saying I don’t belong in the city?”

  “No son, that’s not what I mean,” he readjusted himself. “You’re carrying something around this city that doesn’t belong in our world. I knew that from the first time you killed here. I felt something out there in the jungle, killing to kill. I felt something righting wrongs, I felt anger… pain… vengeance by a hand of wrath that can’t be stopped by those it falls on,” Abel was wrapped up in his thoughts. He was more than just an ordinary human man.

  “What are you?’ I asked him, a slight edge in my voice. I wanted answers… I always had, ever since I was turned into this. I could feel the beast down in its cage, rattling the bars. It wanted to know. Or, if Martin was right, it was me, and I wanted to know.

  Martin cut his eyes to me quickly, warning me with a glance. I hoped I wouldn’t do anything against what Martin wanted, but this guy knew something.

  I felt Alex adjust herself behind me, like she thought she might need to respond if I made a move or something. I guess our quick bond was out the window.

  “Me… I’m just an old man, Sam. I know a few tricks Mama taught me as a boy. I know things, stories passed down through my family. Things that happened out in the swamps where I grew up…” Abel explained. “I think the question ya’ve been looking for is about ya ’self, Sam. Ya’ve been searching for something for a long time, haven’t ya? Sometimes ya feel like ya’re about to figure something out, only to be back to square one.”

  I cut him off quickly. “How do you know any of this? What am I?” I asked bluntly, anger spilling out of my words. He knew something about me. I took a half step forward to the skinny, elderly man as the darkness within me gripped my mind. I felt the worst thoughts piling up to squeeze this old motherfucker for the things I wanted for so long. I needed to know.

  I felt Alex put her hand on my back. It was a warning. I glanced back quickly over my shoulder, giving her my own warning; to back the fuck off. She eyed me seriously from behind, showing no sign of leniency from Martin’s request. Her eyes slowly began to pulse a brighter red as she threatened me silently.

  I stepped forward.

  “Sam,” Martin barked, standing from his seat. He too pulsed the blood in his system to activate his own vampiric traits. “Stop what you are doing,” his dark form twisted around out of place as he moved violently in front of me, placing his strong grip on my left shoulder.

  It all happened so fast that Abel was still sitting there, almost unaware of what was going on. He didn’t look angry once he realized that I was turning aggressive. He did look curious about how Alex and Martin would react to me since we all approached his house as friends. At least, that’s what I thought.

  Abel started talking while Martin and Alex were in a standoff against me. “There is a lot I can tell ya’ son, but that isn’t what you came here for tonight. Ya’ came here about Peter Grimwood.” The name coming out of his mouth snapped me out of my anger that bubbled up from the darkness of my monster. “However, I’ll give ya’ the option; do ya’ want to know about the one ya’ looking for, or do ya’ want to know about ya ’self? Ya only get one from me tonight,” Abel added.

  Fury raged in my mind at the old man’s words. Why could I only have one? He reminded me of Jon. Why couldn’t I just be told what I was, and then be done with it? Then, I wondered, did this old man even know anything real about me? Maybe he only knew stories; myths that were just bullshit. It could be nothing real.

  I decided on what we came for pretty quickly as soon as I calmed down.

  “Tell me about Peter and the kidnappings,” I said coldly.

  “Hmm… interesting,” Abel was surprised at my response. Then, he actually began telling me what he knew and acted like my quick outburst of anger never happened.

  Martin and Alex stayed right beside me, not trusting me in the presence of the frail-looking Abel. That pissed me off. Although their visages returned to human, I knew they were still prepared to move on me.

  “It actually started with you, Sam,” Abel began. “You grabbed the attention of some old ones down below ground. They sent up three of their strongest to deal with ya’. Only one returned. Now, I don’t know the specifics about how ya’ hoodwinked them, but they think you're dead. Even still, they lost two of their strongest against you. They haven’t felt threatened in years, decades maybe. The kidnappings are a part of something greater than little Peter Grimwood. He is a tool… a means to an end. Them people being taken now are for a ritual of some kind. The only thing I can assume is to strengthen the Elders. If they felt threatened, even if the threat was dealt with, they’ll want to feel secure.”

  “How does Peter fit into this? And how is he coming back from the dead?” I asked, not expecting any of this.

  “That Grimwood is here for his own reasons. Probably using the Elders to his own ends, thinking he’ll get away with it. If my guess is right, he’s siphoning power from their rituals in some way. But he is distinctly different from what’s going on below the city. He is… corrupted.” Abel shook his head as he spoke. Almost like he felt something unnatural about Peter as he spoke. “He probably followed you back with that Chasse boy, I’d wager. Now that’s a story I know like the back of my hand. The Grimwoods’ banishment from the collective.”

  “The collective?” Alex actually asked from behind me.

  “The union of families: Wicklows, Talbots, Chasses, and Grimwoods. The families joined together way back when to fight off creatures such as yourselves. The Grimwoods got the boot for puttin’ a curse on the Talbots. It’s all ancient history, but ya’d be a fool to live in this city and not hold on to that one,” Abel spoke about them like he had first-hand knowledge somehow.

  “How is Peter alive?” I asked, trying to get us back on track. “Annabelle Wicklow said they killed him once. I killed him a few nights ago. If he comes back… how am I supposed to stop something like that?” I asked the strangely knowledgeable man.

  Abel repositioned his squared glasses and stroked his beard, “Peter has to be tied in with something… someone else that keeps him alive. He isn’t dying, not truly. Even after facing your wrath, Sam, he could still return if someone could keep him alive until he’s restored. It would take someone far past powerful for that,” he assured. “Something… from somewhere else…”

  I thought about his words as we all spoke. This ended up being… a lot more than anything I expected. We didn’t just have one enemy; we had Peter and whoever was keeping him alive. Plus, we had to figure out a way to stop people from being taken.

  “So if we find Peter again, we won’t be able to kill him until we kill whoever is keeping him alive?” I repeated.

  “You’d be correct,” Abel answered.

  “But what do we do to stop the kidnapping. If Peter is just a side note in something bigger, how do we stop the real problem?” I asked, honestly, a little overwhelmed.

  Abel leaned forward in his chair, placing his elbows on his old knobby knees. He struggled in his thoughts, shaking his head back and forth with the words he chose. He readjusted his glasses again as he looked up at me. His words, once spoken, were solid, unforgiving pieces of wisdom that I knew he’d enact if he had the power. He must have seen and experienced things all his life that led him to this answer.

  “Unleash that thing inside of you. Turn it loose! Tear this place, and all the evil in it, to the ground. Go below… into the pits. You go down there, and you raze those pits into the earth. Kill anythin’ you find, go as deep as you can. Collapse those tunnels and purge the city of the Elders’ hold. That’s how you stop them.”

  Alex and Martin’s expressions were as shocked as my own. We all three stood in silence before Abel’s words. What he was saying was unheard of, never an idea in a rational person’s head. The task would have been too great for anyone to pull off, let alone even attempt. I couldn’t even find the entrance to the pits.

  “What about the ecosystem?” I asked about his previous statements.

  Without hesitation, Abel answered, “Burn it to the ground!”

  It was only a few more moments that passed before I was walking out of Able's shack. My mind was buzzing with all the new information, and the ominous suggestion proposed by Martin’s old friend.

  I knew we needed to stop the kidnapping. Families were suffering all across the city, some of whom still didn’t have their loved ones back. I didn’t know if they would ever return. It might have been too late to save some that have been taken down below. Even with all my strength and dominating power of the monster I held within, this task seemed overwhelming. However, the thought of finding a way down below only to let the beast loose and run free… I could feel something swelling up from the monster’s cage again. It was something I had never felt coming from that part of my mind. It was almost an excitement about what was to come.

  Martin and Alex were saying their goodbyes to the old man as I was already standing in the mud outside. As they all stepped out onto the porch, Abel spoke to me one last time.

  “When you find him, when you finish Peter, come back and see me, Sam. I may have some more advice for you… When the time comes. Remember that…” he urged. “It may help you if you decide to go down below,” Abel suggested.

  I nodded.

  Then, in a quick decision, I bolted away from the house on the river. I’m sure Alex and Martin would soon give chase, but I wanted to be alone. After everything that had happened throughout the night and all that I had learned, I wanted time to myself. I knew that if I stayed with Martin and Alex, we would probably end up having an awkward conversation about what happened in there between the three of us when I got riled up. I couldn’t head back to the safe house either since I knew they would probably be heading there also, especially if they were looking for me.

  So, in a quick moment, I decided to go somewhere I never thought I’d go again. I followed the river north, back towards the city. I sprinted through trees, bounded into the branches of much larger growths as I hopped between them, clearing massive distances like some kind of superpowered monkey. I dove out of a tree and into the Mississippi River once I got to the end of the expanse of trees on the riverbank. I felt the cold rushing water push past my ears as I swam against the current, fighting my way across the river. As soon as I found dry land on the other side, I kept moving. In only a short while longer, I was standing outside of a familiar structure.

  I looked at all the overgrown nature and almost smiled in the darkness of the early morning hours. I used to hate this place. It was like my prison in the first few years of my life. Towering in front of me was the old, abandoned factory. The place I swore to myself I would never return to live in. I decided I was going to live differently after everything that happened with the Chasses. I wanted to have a life… but now… I didn’t know what I wanted.

  I started having doubts about what I was meant for and what I could truly have. I had so much with my friends now that I almost felt like I had died, and this was all just my fantasies come to life. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t start to think about Vicky. I pictured myself standing in front of her all the time, explaining what happened to me and praying she’d understand. Trying to convince her that it was still me. I had a lot going on inside that I was trying to ignore for a while now.

  Once I found myself with the Chasses, I latched on hard. I think grabbing onto them, and everything I felt, was keeping me… sedated in a way. I only felt this because of how free I felt with Martin and Alex. I hadn’t felt like that since I had become this creature of the shadows. But then the question was, was I supposed to feel free? Was I supposed to feel good when I had the urges and intent to maim and kill at a moment’s notice? Why did I feel guilty while with the Chasses, but free and untroubled when I was around others who shared my plight?

  I had a lot to think about. So, I walked in through an opening that was half covered with ivy. I pushed it over my head as I passed, swallowed up by the familiar shadows of my original lair. I would also be lying if I didn’t admit I felt something comforting about setting foot back in my old haunt. Once inside, I decided to pace every inch of the place.

  No one would find me there; I knew for certain. Martin and Alex would lose my trail at the water. Even though I forced myself to stay here for so long, it grew on me in a way. It was funny how being back there was a small comfort.