The Vampires' Attack

Life is a constant struggle. Against hunger in the morning, against sleepiness in the afternoon. And then, somewhere in between, against the man-eating monsters.

The Vampires' Attack

Bloodsuckers attacked humans with increasing frequency. Sometimes even peaceful villages far from the cities were attacked by the deadly creatures. Never before had the news reported so many brutal murders and freak natural disasters.

Of course, the Crosspherat had to cover this somehow, so fires raged, and several buildings collapsed due to poor foundations, other parts of the country were hit by a storm of unprecedented power.

Humans believed it. How the hell could they not? They had no reason to doubt. They needed an explanation, so they got one. When the world goes crazy around you, you'll believe anything, anything is better than the truth. That's the way it is with humans.

I'd just finished cooking and turned off the gas, and in about five minutes I was in full gear, wearing black jeans and a blue shirt, and had sprayed myself with deodorant to get the full effect. I was in a hurry to get to work, so I shouted to Alex that I was going out and would be home at night.

I got to the pub by six and listened to Hajnal's daily dose of opening tirades, berating the pig customers, her idiot neighbours, corrupt politicians, or generally all of humanity — sometimes all at once.

I thanked God when a guest finally came up to me and I had to serve him. As it was Saturday, they were slowly gathering in a horde, so Hajnal joined in and I had to listen patiently to her monologues, which sometimes went on for hours.

However, now I could pay no attention to any of it, my mind was racing. Some inexplicable, sinister premonition was taking hold. The monster inside me was restless.

"Hello," I heard the familiar voice.

Rolo was sitting on one of the bar stools and I wondered again how he had managed to sit there unnoticed.

"Hello," said Hajnal, greeting him and immediately patting him on the head.

My dear boss loved cats, and I had to listen to more than one lecture about Marcika, Niko and Mizo.

"Good evening, Madam," the boy replied politely.

 "Shay, make him a cocoa," my boss ordered me, and before I could protest, she sent me a sharp look, "On the house."

"Yes," I rolled my eyes.

I took out my favourite mug and got to work in the kitchen. How dare this damn kid eat up my cocoa? I couldn't let this go unpunished!

When I returned, Geri was sitting next to the annoying kid — but this was one of those rare occasions when I was glad to see him. I put the cocoa in front of Rolo and then the hunter had my full attention.

"Hm," I hummed. "They patched you up rather quickly."

Geri pursed his lips.

"I can still taste that disgusting slop in my mouth. Give me the drink!"

"I have a few questions," I said, as I poured a glass of whisky and pushed it towards him.

Geri smiled. "Somehow I had a feeling you were going to say that."

Rolo, meanwhile, sipped the cocoa and, when he tasted the salty nastiness on his tongue, almost spat it back into the mug.

"Hey!" he snarled, "What have you put in this?"

"My love," I sent him a charming smile, then looked at the hunter again.

I could still hear Rolo muttering something to himself, probably cursing me to the underworld, but I didn't care too much about his problems.

"I heard the Crosspherat has dissolved the meeting," I said, "What are they planning?"

The hunter scratched his stubble. "No one knows for sure."

"Then tell me what you know." I got impatient. "Des was taken off the case and sent away so he couldn't investigate. What are they planning?"

He took a sip of whisky — which meant, that I would not like the news.

"The judges have decided to try to make a peace deal with the Fifth," Geri announced. "That's why they've been meeting up so often, they'd been discussing this issue."

"They can't!" I slapped the counter in anger, not noticing that Rolo's whole figure shook and Geri was squirming in his chair.

Hajnal raised an eyebrow, then threatened that if I didn't keep my voice down, she'll could get rid of my most noble body part. To emphasize her words, she threw a stinking rag in my face and ordered me to wipe the counter if I was good for nothing else.

"It's suicide, Geri!", I said, quieter now, as I wiped furiously, lest my dear boss find anything wrong with my work. Because she always did, even when I did things perfectly.

"If he's allowed into the Crosspherat's headquarters, he'll kill everyone," I continued.

"I know," the hunter nodded, "But the judges are afraid, and they are using all their influence to prevent war."

" They are not preventing it, but starting it right away!" I protested.

"What makes you think he would not accept peace?" Geri questioned me. "It is possible that they will make him an offer he cannot refuse..."

"Tell me Geri, do you really believe what you just said?" 

The hunter smiled bitterly. "One way or another, war will break out."

"What war?" Rolo asked.

The emerald eyes looked at my face searchingly, but I did not answer.

"War is no topic for children, kid," Geri said, ruffling the boy's ebony locks.

Rolo sent him an angry glance and immediately tried to tidy up his systematically ruined hairstyle, which always looked as if it had never seen a comb.

"I'm not a child!" he protested.

"You're a child even if you aren't human," Geri said, and I could hardly stop myself from laughing at Rolo's blushing face. "You're like... twelve?"

"I'm fifteen," the kitten growled.

"Oh," said Geri, very wittily, "Well, you're still a child at fifteen."

Then he leaned closer to me and whispered to me, questioning whether he was telling the truth. He refused to believe his ears, and I didn't blame him: Rolo was very short and thin compared to his peers — as if he had been starved for years.

My phone rang. I pulled it out, but almost immediately hung up without looking at the screen — Hajnal didn't tolerate more of my shenanigans on during working hours. It was barely a second before my phone started vibrating again. What the hell?

Alice's name flashed wildly on the screen. I decided to let him know that some people were working, so picked it up. No hi, no hello, nothing.

"Go home now!" he yelled into the phone.

"What?", I asked back, holding the phone away from my ear as my eardrums were still hurting from Alice's screaming.

"Don't be confused, damn it, hurry home!" he raged, though I could hear the poorly disguised desperation in his voice as well as the nervousness. "The vampires are attacking!"

I didn't even hang up, I just threw the phone at the counter and ran out of the pub like I was being chased by the hounds of hell. A motorist decided that he was going to drive past the pub at a hundred and twenty just as I was pulling out onto the road.

The headlights illuminated me for a moment, and I looked into the driver's round eyes — then the next moment I was running at the other side of the road. I heard the screech of brakes, but I ignored it — and the last thing I cared about was that the driver was probably aware that the average person couldn't be that fast.

Everything was quiet and peaceful. No suspicious sign anywhere, the street looked normal. I turned the corner and froze almost immediately. The smell of fresh blood filled the air. Something fell on my face. Slowly, very slowly, I looked up: a corpse was hanging out of the window, its head was at an abnormal angle, its arm fell limply from the ledge and blood was dripping from his fingers.

The grumpy neighbor died. His gray hair was now dyed red in some places, and his face was frozen with the mixture of terror and shock he had felt the moment before his death. I wiped the grenade drop from my face. I went to the next house, the door was left ajar, so the blood could freely find its way outside. In the third house, the windows were broken, making the entry obvious. The fourth's attic was ours.

I hoped that Alex wasn't home, or at least he was alive, but I had to make sure. I approached the front door with unsteady steps and was not surprised to find it open. I entered and continued to explore. When I opened the bedroom door, in the mess, five pairs of red eyes flashed at me almost simultaneously.

Marcell was trembling terribly in his mother's arms, sobbing silently as he buried his head in the blouse of the woman he loved the most. His mother tried with all her strength to hug him and calm him down. Ricsi gripped the kitchen knife with trembling hands. The door almost burst out of its place, and the washing machine slammed into the edge of the bathtub.

When he saw his victims, the vampire's second set of teeth immediately jumped in front of the human teeth. He snarled at the family with his huge fangs, his irises burning red and the whites of his eyes darkening. Ricsi was shaking, shaking unstoppably, but despite this, he managed to get back on his feet. The blade was shaking frantically in his hand, it seemed almost like he would drop it.

The vampire snorted — laughed, he must have been amused by the sight.

Inez cried and begged the man to leave only her children alive. The vampire snorted again —he laughed even more. In any case, he got tired of this too, took a step forward, then another...

"Do not move!" shouted Ricsi, holding the trembling blade to the creature of the night. "Don't come any closer!

Another step and he was standing in front of the boy, and that was all it took for Ricsi's knees to shake, turn to jelly and collapse under the boy's weight. The blade fell out of his hand and was knocked down by the beast towering over him.

However, before the vampire could do anything, his head flew off his body. The corpse fell on the cold tile next to the boy, covering the already shivering child with red spray. I shook the grenade juice off my hand and borrowed a towel to wipe the dagger as well — it can decide between life and death if its blade is dulled by congealed vampire blood. After that, I threw the used rag into the tub and was now willing to take note of the shivering human beings in front of me.

"You did good, Ricsi" I grabbed his shirt and helped him up. Fortunately, his trembling legs could bear his weight. "You protected your mother bravely."

I even sent him an encouraging smile –— which in retrospect must have been quite morbid, as I was covered in blood.

"What..." began Inez, but her voice trailed off. "What the hell is going on here?"

"It's better if you don't know," I said. "Once you learn about the dark side of the world, it won't let you go until you take the secret to the grave."

"Shay, who are you anyway and how...?!" the woman was already howling properly.

"If I were you, I would be quieter," I stated. "Maybe there are still vampires around."

"Vampires... ?!" Ricsi moaned in a terrified voice.

"You beheaded another human!" shouted the woman, not the least bit impressed by what I said.

"Not a human, but a vampire," I corrected.

"What is the guarantee that you are not one of them?" Inez asked in disbelief.

"Do you think if I were with them, I would kill my companions?" I asked back, pointing out the logical backflip. "And if I wanted you dead, I could have cut your throats at night a long time ago, couldn't I?"

Inez swallowed hard and Marcell instinctively drew closer to her.

"I am just who I have been," I said and held out my hand to the woman. "I will take you to the hunters, they will take you to safety."

"Who are the hunters?" she asked back.

"They fight monsters and protect people," I answered. "You don't have to worry, everything will be fine now."

Finally, very slowly and still trembling, Inez accepted my hand extended to her.

After that, I told the woman to collect all the valuables, money, jewelry, and anything else they thought was important — of course, I added that they should do it all in the utmost silence. When they were done, we returned to my quarters. They followed me without a word, but I stopped for a moment in front of the bedroom.

"Wait here," I said. "I don't think you want to see what's in there..."

Inez nodded in agreement. I entered and closed the door behind me so that they couldn't accidentally see the inside of the room. Most of the furniture was broken, there were scratch marks on the walls, blood everywhere and dead bodies on the floor.

My box was not far away, which I picked up and walked with it to the ruins of the closet. I dug out the old travel bag, lowered the box to the bottom, threw in clothes for me and Alex, and the things I kept in the bottom of the closet, in the shoe box, then our valuables and the rest of our money.

After that, I left the place where we spent most of our three peaceful years without looking back.

I forgot something... — I thought, and it suddenly dawned on me that I missed the annoying purring, which has slowly become a familiar background noise in my life.

"Mao" I began. "Where are you, little pest?"

I heard some movement coming from the bathroom. I signaled to Inez to wait while I crept up with soundless footsteps and slowly pushed open the door — which responded with a deafening creak.

A pair of yellow-green eyes flashed in the semi-darkness, somewhere where I guessed the laundry basket. The cat immediately jumped out from the dirty clothes and ran to my feet. It scratched my calf as it cried out all its fear and sorrow to me in a whimpering voice.

I would have been happier if one of the vampires had caught it: one less problem. Well, but, Alex's heart was weak, so there was nothing to do. I sighed deeply — only then did I notice that I had been holding my breath until now. I picked up the cat by the scruff of the neck, and it immediately started rolling and meowing indignantly.

"Calm down," I said almost threateningly, which had an almost immediate effect.

After that, the little abomination hung limply in my hand. I finally decided, since my allergies to stupidity and cats still hadn't subsided, I'd just throw the cursed being to the kid and let him carry it for me.

Since Ricsi was closer, he got this noble task from me, I simply dropped the cat into his arms — I could hardly hold back my disappointed sigh when he caught the cat. I slipped my dagger between my belt and my pants, then took Inez's bag, which was three or four times heavier than my pack.

"Can we go?" I asked, and she immediately nodded.

However, before we finally left behind the place we called our home, we still had to burn it down, along with the memory of everything that happened that day. I dug out my lighter from the depths of my pocket and lit the curtain at the broken window, which immediately ignited willingly.

"What are you doing?!" Inez asked coldly.

"Are you sure you want to know?" I looked up at her.

She stared at me for a while, then gave up and shook her head.

I started and they followed. The echo of the fire crackled in my ears, I heard the whispering of the flames, but I never once looked back. Another one of my homes drowned in ashes — who would want to watch it?

"So, why did you do it?" asked Ricsi.

Only then did I notice that he was already walking beside me. The cat lay comfortably in his arms and purred softly. He was seriously curious, tiny sparks exploded in his dark eyes as he waited for my answer.

"Vampires are pretty hardy creatures," I explained. "You can't kill them by stabbing them through the heart, they regenerate completely within a few hours. They only die if you cut off their heads. It is an old hunting custom to cremate them so that they cannot come back to life by any chance."

"I see," he nodded while thinking hard about something.

He wasn't surprised by what I said, rather recognition flashed in his eyes. However, this is not the usual reaction from a child. I ruffled her hair with my free hand.

"If you hadn't called out to the vampire, I wouldn't have gotten there in time," I interrupted.

"I was helpless..." he couldn't look me in the eyes.

"An average person can't even compete against monsters," I said. "Even a lifetime of training and a sharp mind are not nearly enough in a profession like this."

We were walking in silence for a while before I managed to formulate my question.

"Tell me, Ricsi, how well did you know your father?"

The boy looked up at me confused. "He left when I was six. Why?"

"What kind of person was your father?" I asked again.

"Father..." thought the boy. "he was a strange person. He was home very little, but when he got home, I remember he always told me a bedtime story. I loved his stories."

"I see," I said, with a bitter smile on my lips. "What did he tell you about?"

"Get it out of your head right now!" snapped Inez. "I know exactly what you mean!"

"What do I mean?" I asked the woman.

"That... that Péter was a hunter, or what!" I heard the rejection and disbelief in her voice, I didn't even have to look at her face to see how much she condemned me just because something like that could have crossed my mind. "I won't let you drag my son into anything!"

I've always liked Inez for her insight and wit — but now I wished she'd cut back a bit.

"Hunters sometimes leave their families precisely to protect them..."

"Enough!" snapped the woman. "I'm grateful that you saved us, but enough is enough!"

"Do you really think..." Ricsi gripped my shirt. "that Father..."

I stopped, and the others also stopped for a moment. The boy's eyes were hopeful and desperate at the same time. He hoped that his father didn't leave them because he didn't love him, but because of the exact opposite. He was desperate because he was afraid of this world.

"NO!" Inez roared. "You will not recruit my son into some suicide sect, where they kill monsters as a hobby!"

She didn't even finish what she was saying, I already felt the imprint of her palm on my face.

"Hunters don't fight because they feel like it," I stated calmly, but my voice sounded icy. "But because this is their destiny, their duty, the only thing they can do for the survival of humanity. They are the pillars on which your peaceful little world stands. They live in terror, they wake up every morning fully aware that this may be the last day of their lives. They have blood on their hands, indeed, they are murderers, and that is why I will never tell anyone about this conversation — I would be the last to banish your sons to this battlefield."

I set off again, doubling my steps — and Ricsi was trying with all his strength to get closer to me again.

"Are you a hunter too?" he asked.

I glanced down at him and felt a wry smile creep onto my lips.

"Oh, no, I was only partially born human, although my mother, you're right, was a hunter," I answered.

We got to the pub. I bent down to the boy and touched our foreheads.

"You have been given an opportunity for a normal life, an opportunity that is given to only a few people," I stated. "Cherish it well!"

The boy nodded. Despite the "Closed" sign, I opened the door and let Ricsi in. Before Inez even entered, I leaned over to her ear.

"If you feel like it, they can modify your memories so that you don't remember this nightmare," I offered.

The woman's eyes widened in surprise, but she finally shook her head.

"If we don't know about these... creatures, it's only more dangerous, isn't it?" she asked but it sounded more like a statement. "I'm sorry for what I said before and also that slap..."

"I know you were only protecting your sons" I replied. "Any mother would have done that."

She nodded and entered the pub with Marcel in her arms. I closed the door behind us. I saw that Hajnal took care of Inez and her family, and I had to pay attention to something else.

"Shay!" Alex almost screamed my name. "My God, you're covered in blood, are you hurt?"

He immediately came up next to me, took the bags, then threw them on one of the tables and didn't bother with them anymore. He scanned my body with his eyes, searching for injuries.

"Relax, it's just the blood of the enemy," I pushed him away.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I was just shopping when Ben called me to come to the pub immediately and to meet everyone here, then he told me that vampires had attacked the house! I wanted to go after you to help, but he wouldn't let me, and besides, he even agreed with the crazy hunter to tie me up and lock me in the booze chamber, but that's not even important right now," he dismissed it all in one fell swoop. "Everyone was attacked by the vampires!"

"What?" Only a surprised groan escaped me.

"Ben and the crazy hunter both got a dose of vampires, Izidora as well," explained the wolf. "When Ben called her and asked her to meet here, Izzi was checking Johi's apartment: everyone was dead, except Johi, but she disappeared, she couldn't find her anywhere. Then the line went dead, Ben said she was going after the vampires..."

"What did she do?!" I snapped. "She went after them alone?!"

"She did," said Des, who was sitting at the bar.

"You didn't stop her?!" I snapped at him, and if there had been anything hard near me, he would have received more than just words.

"The situation is much more dire than we thought... " my brother stated. "The attack was coordinated and targeted, and a message was left for the target."

He threw his phone at me, which I immediately caught and stared at its display. On the peach wall was a message written in blood: 1024. My heart skipped a beat.

"1024?" read Alex. "What does this mean?"

"It's my birthday," I stated hoarsely, then looked at Des. "He knows about me."

"Who knows about you?" Alex asked.

Alice chose this moment to arrive at the pub. The door slowly opened and his figure appeared on the threshold. Des was about to open his mouth to speak, but his words got stuck on his lips.

I froze at the smell of blood. At the smell of one of my friends' blood. Alice's left hand hung limply by his body, crimson drops falling from his fingers to shatter to a million tiny pieces on the floor. In the next moment, if my brother had not jumped in front of him, he would have collapsed.

"Ben!" he called him anxiously. "What happened?!"

The boy barely had the strength to keep his eyes open, but he grabbed his partner's clothes with his hands and began to speak.

"I was careless... I was careless," he explained hoarsely. "After I sent the picture, I was attacked... a creature was left behind... Deni, I've never seen anything like this before!"

Des' gaze then fell on the boy's neck: he had been bitten.

"Your neck..." he moaned.

The seer closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he condensed all his courage and determination into a single look. "You have to kill me. It hurts so much... I can't take it anymore..."

Des shuddered and Alice then began to cough, splattering his partner's shirt with tiny drops of blood. He exchanged one last pleading look with his partner, then all his strength failed him and he fainted.

"Ben...?" Des's voice trailed off. "Ben! BEN!"

Hajnal rushed madly to the wounded seer and ordered my brother to help him back to the office. After that, we all crowded into the cramped room, on the table of which Alice was lying unconscious instead of documents and inventory papers. Hajnal cut off the rest of his shirt, then began to focus on the bite mark covering his neck.

"When did he get bitten?" she asked.

"About half an hour ago," Des answered.

She shook her head. We all knew what she meant: the vampiric poison would have already started to work and the first signs of transformation would have appeared.

"It's not vampire poison," she stated the obvious, then pulled off the glove that always covered her left hand.

Until then, I thought that Alice and Hajnal were similar — then I found out how wrong I was. She placed her hand on the boy's chest and her eyes lit up almost immediately, similar to when Alice looked into the future.

A few seconds later, when the trance ended, she suddenly gasped for air and quickly pulled the gloves back on. She looked up and I could see the doubt in her eyes — and then she finally decided to tell us what she saw.

"The poison does not change him, but kills him slowly," she declared.

I immediately read from her face that she did not wish such a death on anyone.

"How much..." asked Des. "How much time do you have left?"

"He will die at dawn on the tenth day," she answered.

"Will he still wake up?" my brother asked again, while the woman shook her head and brushed an unruly strand from the boy's forehead.

"Can't... something be done?"

"You can save him, but it won't be easy," said Hajnal. "You have to get rid of the poison before the tenth day is over. In addition, only a trained mage can extract an antidote from it."

I stood still. My fingers clenched into fists and the claws digging into my palm threatened to make me lose control. I clenched my jaw and gritted my teeth loudly.

"Des..." I said when the hunter looked up at me.

His face reflected the same thing as mine: burning anger and an uncontrollable desire for revenge that if let loose could destroy anything and everything.

"This is war," I hissed.