Cross 2

𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐀

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You can listen to this music as you read: https://youtu.be/HjxN2Palto4

His twisted laughter drills directly into my eardrums.

What am I missing? He should be dead. I shot him and I staked him. Did I miss the heart?

He stomps down onto my back, and without my permission, a cry of pain escapes from me.

"Didn't I say we were going to have some fun, Nun?"

I can only describe his laughter as nothing more than a bout of deranged unhinged guffaws, cackles, and coughs.

He shouldn't be alive. I couldn't have missed his heart.

I never miss.

"Hey, are you listening to me, dearest sister of faith?" He grabs a tuft of my veil, yanking my head backwards.

Pain ravages throughout me, pulsating through every bone in my body. I cringe slightly. The unnatural angle he was pulling at my head was sending sharp stabbing pangs throughout my twisting neck. With unsteady breaths, I fight to breathe, air surging into me with every deep breath. I can feel my chest rapidly banging at my ribcage. My weary body aches with screaming discomfort.

It's a pain all too familiar, and a pain I don't have time to process.

My mouth is a desert of drought, but I manage to swallow down hard.

I need to figure out how he survived after I staked him. It's impossible for a Vampire to survive that. A stake to the heart is all you need to kill them. I was able to bring him to his knees with only a few bullets and yet somehow, he could stand and heal afterwards? How is that possible? Not only that, judging by the strength which he threw me, he appears to have more strength than he did before. How can that be possible?

Think, Nina.

What did you miss?

"Hey." He jerks me around by the fabric of my veil, staining the inner whites of the black veil with red. "Look at me." He twists me around, pulling me close.

I keep my eyes against the dirt, feeling the warm stinging of blood trickling from my nose.

I couldn't have missed his heart the first time.

I know I staked him in his heart.

Even if it were possible for me to miss. I landed a full stack of sliver holy bullets into his corpse of a body. He should be down for at least another hour or so, if he survived. He wouldn't be able to heal that fast unless he was a Savant Vampire. Is he one? A savant? That couldn't be. I would have recognized it instantly if that were the case.

How couldn't I know a Savant vampire when I see one?

Out of all the scum of vampire filth, I'd know a savant.

"Look at me." He tauntingly hums with revolting joy. He constricts his grip with iron power, shaking me around and nearly ripping off my veil and skull wrap. "I said look at me!" His voice turns into a demonic howl, shots of hot spit landing on my face.

I can smell the stench of his putrid, foul-smelling breath. It smelled of rotten flesh and spoiled blood. He wrenched me close, another wave of sweltering deadly heat fanning against my skin as he breathed heavily.

If he's not a savant, then that only leaves me with a few options that may explain why he has so much more strength now.

"Look at me now!" His roar slammed hard at me. More wet spit landed on my face.

Besides being vampire filth, perhaps he could be a Pierrot Vampire.

That would make more logical sense.

He seizes me by the chin, impossibly sharp nails clawing into my skin as he forces me to face him; his red eyes are an undeniable glowing blister red eyes in a pool of their own blood. Slowly, the blood spilling from his now healing eyes absorbs into his skin. Bullet holes in his chest and face gradually disappear, the remaining shell casings falling to the ground in broken hulls. The bulky cavernous hole in the center of his forehead, slowly melds itself together, both bone and flesh. There's a slight crooked hang to his off centered jaw as his mouth pieces itself back together. Just like how his flesh pieced itself together, his hanging jaw eases itself back into place, highlighting the pointed tip of his fangs.

"That's right," he says with a guttural snarl, sinking his claws deeper into my skin. "I want to see the fear in your eyes."

I get it now. He's not a Pierrot vampire.

How could I have missed it?

I know what he is.

"Oh…" He leans even closer to me, inhaling in my scent with a giddiness. "Your fear smells so delectable." His tongue flickers over his lips. "Can you tell me, heavenly sister?" His hand coils around my entire neck.

I resist to give him the slightest indication of the pain radiating throughout me. He won't get that satisfaction no matter what he does.

His hands are like chains around me, weighing like a mountain of pressure against my throat. My heart rate is rising, crashing and pounding like a hammer on my bones.

'Nina'

A soft wavering voice echoes in my head.

"Have you been a good nun or a bad one?" He extends out his tongue, drawing a burning wet line near the corner of my eyes. "How wonderful!" He rolls his tongue over his fangs with a pant. "I've got a good one! You smell just pure and sweet as that child!"

I can feel his sickening hands search for the entrance of my dress robes.

"If there's two things I just love, its virgin and holy man's blood." His choking hold on my neck gradually increases with every second.

I need to focus on smashing the teeth out of this vampire and getting his filthy hands off of me.

But my breath hitches. The drumming sound of my hammering heart beats through every muscle of my body. Trembles start at my hands and travel their way up my spin.

'Nina.'

I have to focus.

'Nina!'

No. I need to stop and focus.

'Nina!'

I need to focus. I need to focus---'Nina. You need to hide!'

Spellbinding paralyzing fear wraps its tendrils around me, pulling me into the abyss of memories.

'Nina.'

No. No. No. I can't lose my grip.

'Nina. Go hide right now!'

My head is spiraling in a tornado of thoughts as images force their way to the surface.

I can't lose myself to this. I need to get my grip. I need---'Nina!' She demands, her voice thundering into my tiny ears. 'Take her and go hide now.'

'What's going on?' I rub my eyes, rising from the bed slowly.

'I just need you to take your sister and go. Do you understand me?'

'Go?' Wearily, I teether on the border of yawns and exhaustion.

'Just go before it's too late----.'

Her screams burn into my memory, and even now, I can hear it. The anguish, the pain, and the sound of oncoming death.

For a moment, I see her eyes----deep black orbs that stab into my soul. I can hear her. Screaming my name. Over. And Over. And Over. And Over.

'Nina.'

'Nina!'

I can almost see the dark viscid blood on my hands.

RIP!

The sound of my dress gown being ripped open, exposing my underdress, and the subsequent whip of air against my skin commands my attention.

Focus, Nina.

Focus.

I swallow, steadying my breath.

Focus.

Stay in the present.

"What should we start with, Nun? Should we take things slow, or should I just eat you up whole?" He bares his fangs diving towards my neck.

Vampire. Filth.

Quickly, I maneuver through my pockets, ripping out my rosary. I coil the prayer beads around my fingers, shoot out my fist, and punch him so hard my knuckles crack.

"AH!" He howls, recoiling in pain. His hands reach to his nose where the bone has been dented and crooked.

"You dislocated my nose!" He hissed, whipping his hand out to land a blow to my head.

I dodge, but not fast enough. The force of his powerful thrust plummets into my head.

Disoriented and dizzy, I forcibly stabilize myself before he can land another attack. Without warning, I ram the blade of my rosary's cross into his arm.

He shrieks in pain once more, the red glow in his eyes inflamed. "I'm done playing nice with you, woman!"

"And I'm tired of being in your stench filled cursed presence, vampire." I throw back, bouncing to my feet.

In a beast like frenzy, he growls and snarls, his mouth hungrily drooling while he bared his fangs. "I don't like troublesome things, especially when I'm hungry!" He shouts, darting directly towards me.

He roars like the craved beast he is. "I want your blood!" His red eyes glow ever darker than crimson as sprints towards me with lighting speed.

I avoid him by a fraction of a moment as I skid to the side, away from his claws.

Where's my rifle?

I scan the barren flat land plains around me. A good distance away from me that trusty old thing rests in one piece next to dying tiny flower.

I just need to get to it and then I'll be able to finish this vam----.

In lighting speed, he appears in front of me, kicking me so hard in the stomach I barrel roll a few feet backwards.

Before I can register or stop his next attack, he kicks me again, sending me another few feet across the ground.

"Give me blood." He pants in disturbed growls. He snatches me by the arm, lifting me into the air with unnatural strength. "Blood! Now!"

I can feel my arm ready to snap out from the socket as I squint at the creature breathing heavily in front of me. His eyes are so red that his pupils have disappeared into the bath of red. His human features were covered by a look of animalistic carnivorality. Whatever was left of his humanity was sinking beneath the waves of bloodlust.

I struggle in his fatal tightening grip. My legs shoot out as I attempt to kick at his torso, but my kicks are weakening with every kick.

"Blood…" He moans out, bringing his fangs towards my neck.

The moment his head drew close, I rammed my head into his; the headbang making both of us cry in pain.

He falters back to grab his head, leaving me to crash into the ground with a heavy thud.

Taking weary, heavy breaths, I manage to stand on wobbling feet.

I need my rifle.

I scan my surroundings, glimpsing it in the distance. It's even further from me, the barrel of the gun peaking from the dirt. With measured lagging steps, I drag myself forward, inhaling sporadically, my knees ready to cave into themselves.

I just need to get my rifle, and I'll blow this vampire's brains out. I'll be dammed if I let another bloodsucker get even a sip of my blood.

"And?" I mumble lowly to myself. "By my lord's mercy, it won't happen." Just as the wispy words slip from my mouth, my knees cave in and I collapse onto my backside.

Taking deep breaths, I squint as rays of the evening sun pierce directly into my eyes. The sun glows with the faintest of yellows and most startling of blazing oranges. The color is almost crimson, like a ball of fire in a sky of blue, fueled by blood.

STOMP.

Footsteps pound on the ground. The ground beneath me trembles with every step towards me.

I'm not dying like this.

STOMP.

Little by little, I try to regulate my shallow breaths, my eyes lingering the glow of the sun. My vision is blurry, and my ears are ringing. The world is spinning around me in a disoriented haze, the glimmer of the sun consuming my sight.

STOMP.

I'm not dying like this.

I refuse that fate.

Suddenly, the sounds of growling and stomps grow in intensity and approach me even quicker.

I'm not dying like this.

I reach for my cross. It's still safely on my necklace. My fingers coil around the chain while my other hand grips the blade of my rosary.

I'll stab his eyes out again.

STOMP.

A shadow exponentially larger than me, looms above.

I won't die like this. Not. Yet.

"AHHHHH!" Ear splitting screaming cuts into my ears and splatters of blood smash onto my cheeks.

"My goodness, sir." A familiar voice speaks over the screaming. "You scream really loud. Could you maybe lower your voice a bit?"

𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖉 𝖎𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖞𝖊𝖙 𝖚𝖕𝖔𝖓 𝖚𝖘.....

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