The PULSATE SERIES: Season 2, Episode 3
Asa counted three.
Three wasn’t so bad.
She’d fought more before at once. Even though that was a long time ago, in a different world, with different circumstances, Asa still tried to keep her confidence level high.
The shadows grew bigger as they came down the alley, so Asa backed up.
She checked her surroundings and thankfully she was alone.
The old rules of witnesses may not apply right now and that only left the book of possibilities open and Asa hated possibilities. She liked knowing everything… and right now she felt like she knew nothing.
When the figures stepped from the alley, she noticed the one in the middle was a nightseeker.
Her fingers went to her waist and found more old world wood.
Easy kill, she thought. Easy kill.
The other two creatures weren’t so recognizable. They had the distinct features of vampires – their tall, lanky look with some dirty features and hungry eyes. But something about them suggested they weren’t just normal vampires.
Could there be more creatures to fight?
Of all times, Asa thought when one of the new creatures jumped into the air.
It wasn’t just a jump but the craziest jump she’d ever seen.
The creature went airborne, reversed itself until it hit the building and then its wrists twisted into what should have been a broken position so that its palms were on the building, holding itself there.
“Wow,” Asa whispered.
The nightseeker started to laugh and said, “These are my new friends. They may not thirst blood like I do, but they enjoy spilling it…”
On cue, the second new creature lunged towards Asa.
She braced herself for a fight but the creature was able to challenge space. With one step it moved the ten feet separating it and Asa.
A hard punch landed in Asa’s gut and with a grunt, she fell back and hit the ground.
As the new creature walked towards her, she quickly drew the old world wood and threw it. The wood stuck in the new creature’s chest, but it kept walking. It reached for the wood and pulled it from its chest, without a drop of blood, and dropped it to the ground.
“Can’t kill me like that,” the new creature hissed and grabbed for Asa’s leg.
She began to kick, so wanting to scream but couldn’t because she couldn’t attract attention. Her kicks connected but they only temporarily stopped the new creature.
Asa tried to keep an eye on the nightseeker and the other new creature but had a hard time. This was turning into a real fight.
And Asa didn’t like it one bit.
She planted her hands on the ground and kicked with both feet until the new creature grabbed both ankles and threw Asa. However, the move worked in Asa’s favor and she landed on her feet.
The heart won’t work, Asa told herself as she eyed the new creature.
There was a simple rule in the universe, no matter the time, the space, the distance, or the world… the one rule that remained was that everything could die. Even the universe could die.
There was only one other vital place that Asa could imagine a creature to be killed at.
She didn’t reveal it to the new creature but rather kept her worried and confused face. She worked it to her advantage, the way she always did, keeping that damsel in distress routine going but there was never a white knight coming to save her… she was alone, always alone.
The new creature laughed and said, “I guess you’ll be joining all your friends now…”
“Is that so?” Asa asked. “Why kill me? I’ve already lost everyone.”
“You have to die,” the new creature said.
“Enough talking,” the nightseeker growled in the background.
“Why do I have to die?” Asa asked. She kept stepping back, hoping to gain time and space.
“Listen to me,” the nightseeker called out.
“You have to die because it-”
A horrible scream came from all around as the first new creature, the one on the building pushed itself from the wall and sailed through the air at Asa.
Apparently everyone was serious about no more talking.
Asa joined in on being serious and as the new creature flew at her with its mouth open and eyes locked in for a kill, Asa took out piece of old world wood and threw it at the new creature.
This time instead of aiming for the heart, she went for the head.
The wood pierced right between the eyes and through the squishy sound of it tearing apart skull bone and brain, the new creature screamed once, and fell.
Dead.
Asa looked back to the second new creature and saw the look on its face.
“No,” it whispered. “NO.”
By the time the new creature looked up from its dead friend Asa already had a piece of old world wood aimed and launched.
The wood hit the same spot as the other new creature and just like that, they were both dead.
With two down, that meant there was only the nightseeker left.
Asa walked to the second new creature and pulled the old world wood from its head. She looked around and the nightseeker was nowhere in sight.
“Where are you?” she whispered.
A few seconds later, laughter echoed around her.
After a few violent spins, Asa realized the nightseeker was nowhere near her. Its laughter was sent just for her to hear. She gauged the sound of the laughter and realized that it was coming from the direction of her house.
She raised her lip and growled, not ready to deal with a vampire in her home. Then a hand grabbed her ankle.
She screamed and looked down to see the second new creature back alive, clawing at her.
“Kill you!” it screamed. “Kill you!”
Asa panicked for a second and then slammed the old world wood back into its head, actually feeding the wood through the original wound.
The new creature fell dead again.
This time Asa left the old world wood there and hurried home.
Every minute or so she could hear the laughter echoing, all around her, but concentrated on the direction towards home.
She made the last right, the one to her alley, and kept running.
As she grew closer to her home, she saw the lump of a silhouette on her porch. To most, they wouldn’t know what it was, but to Asa, with her experience in life – and death – she knew what it was.
A body.
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©2011 Jim Bronyaur
