He's Next

With a mask on, Samantha drops into the famous diner, and buys soups for Morgan, despite the huge crowd who was having their dinner.

Laughter echoes all over the place. Different smells of dishes hovers the air; oily and greasy, chicken soups, and whatnots.

Samantha wrinkles her nose with the odours. She finds it unpleasant and this kind of place has been disgusting to her. 

This is her first time entering this place. She once swore that she will not go to places like this. However, she has not realised that she has been standing in front of the counter for several minutes and that's her biggest achievement already.

"Is it done?", asks Samantha with slight impatience. "I'm in a hurry."

"Give me a second, darling." The healthy woman smiles as her hands stuff a plastic of soup inside a paper bag. "It's done. Here."

Samantha accepts the bag and takes a $20 bill from her pocket. When she's handing the money to the woman, she senses a vampire's aura. It is powerful, and carries the greatest threat. It is not similar to the previous vampire she has dealt with.

Samantha looks up at the sky outside, and sharply narrows her eyes seeing the crescent moon.

'It's yet a full moon. Who could possibly be here?' She thinks.

Samantha exits the diner without waiting for the woman to give her the change of her money. She searches for the aura's source, and for an unknown reason, Samantha detects the aura drifting from one place to another, as if teasing her on purpose.

"Want to play with me, huh?" Samantha smirks. After assuring that no one is around in the roadside, Samantha teleports to the riverside where she last feels it, then to the abandoned alley, and drifts back to the riverside. She begins to feel annoyed, but she remains a smile on her lips. She stands there for a minute, closes her eyes and breaths in an air that smells like mud. She does it with open arms as if she is enjoying the breeze and the pleasant air that the river gives to her. But, when she opens them again, a sly smirk plays on her face. "You're pretty interesting. But, don't let me catch you, bitch... Great, let the game begin."

She dashes in a flash, and appears in front of the shanty house at Riverside Squatter.

Samantha's sharp eyes pierces through the bamboo wall. To her surprise, a mysterious figure wearing a thick black cape with a huge bloody skull emblem, caressing a bambino's cheek.

Samantha gasps from that sight.

The little boy chuckles heartily while staring at the mysterious visitor, unaware of the danger that he is facing. That kind of laughter, even Samantha, finds it loveable and is softening her frozen heart. However, it's not the right time to enjoy the blissful guffaw of the baby. She has to deal with that mysterious person first.

Samantha's hands clench into a tight fists. She is pretty sure that the anonymous guest is not an ordinary vampire as she can't see her through from its cape that is covering his face. She can't even distinguish whether he is a she or a he.

"Touch him, or I'll make your death worse." Samantha roars, mindlinking that vampire inside.

"Hmp, you're getting more and more nosy, Red." The mysterious vampire mindlinks in return. His voice is rough and shallow, like a voice under a grave. It is hard to differentiate if it is a woman's voice or a man's voice. "Watch out your own business." He giggles mockingly. "Who knows? He's next."

"You know me?" Samantha asks, stupefied.

"Not only I know you. I know everything about you, including you from the past." The mysterious vampire slightly tilted his head in her direction, shutting Samantha a sideways eerie gaze. Worse, other than his red eyes, Samantha can't see his face at all. He chuckles again. "And that man, hmm, he is quite a catch. Guard him so well, don't let the past repeat itself."

Samantha's fists tighten even more. She can now feel her own nails digging on her palms, knuckles creaking. The unknown vampire's words poke the wound in her heart and trigger her barbaric desire.

Samantha grits her teeth, eyes turning bloody. She yells, "Who are you, motherfucker? Show yourself to me!! I'll kill you!"

"You haven't changed, Red. Relax, don't burst so easily. It won't do any good to you. Just like in the past." With his long nails, he gracefully picks the baby out of his rattan crib and brings him closer to his face.

"No!!" In a split second, Samantha vaults inside that shack through the window and tackles on that figure, however, she is a bit slower than him. Before she can get a touch of his cape, he disappears, and releases the baby in the air.

Samantha clashes into the wall, and penetrates through the other room, where a couple is having their intense romantic session. If it's ordinary days, she might have clashed the couple's heads against each other in anger. But, the baby needs her. 

Samantha has yet to land on the bed, but she again vanishes in the air under the horrified view of the couple, and rushes to catch the baby.

Samantha holds the young man so gently in her arms as they stand, and immediately goes to confront his parents who are also making their way out of the room, covering themselves with ragged quilts. 

Samantha's lips twitch meeting them, and speaks in sarcasm. "Well done, you pair of assholes. You just care about your genitals. When you're scratching each other, you leave your son alone."

"Who are you?" The father asks, brows wrinkles, and in just a mere second, he is furious as he points a finger at Samantha. "Why are you in my house? Why are you holding the baby? Are you a kidnapper?"

"Return my baby to me!" The mother snatches the young man from Samantha's hands, and the baby instantly cries as she lets the mother retrieve the bambino. "You're a kidnapper! Help! Help! Someone is here!!"

"Shut up!" Samantha suddenly feels a surge of desires to kill. Murderous intent flash her eyes hearing his words. Eventually, snickers play across her face as she says, "Oh sorry, for disturbing. I am here just to tell you, I'm kind of... doing a beating routine."

Before the couple can comprehend her words, Samantha rushes in front of the man and gives an earth-shattering punch on the father's face, sending him flying through that hole Samantha's unintentionally created. 

"Now, we're even. Good night!... Oh right." Samantha wants to leave already, but something in her tells her to scold the parents. She threateningly points a finger to the mother of the child. "Remember this night. Pay attention to your baby. Don't let KIDNAPPERS like me come again and worse, dig his entrails."

The woman screams, she is terrified. "Oh my God! She's crazy!"

Samantha exits the house in haste, and once she reaches outside the squatter, she finds that mysterious figure again, he is standing under the shade of the colossal tree ahead. He is now facing her, but just like earlier, Samantha can't see his face.

All she can perceive around this mysterious vampire is the bizarre air he exudes, whipping against her skin as if countless of dead hands embracing her.  Worse, she can't estimate the vampire's strength at all.

"Bitch, why did you run?", asks Samantha furiously. "Let's fight!"

"Be patient, Red. That time will come." He chortles creepily. "But, I want to give you a piece of advice. Don't soften your heart so much with this garbage. They'll cause your death."

"That's bullshit!!" Samantha tries to dash towards that figure, but before she can move an inch, that figure vanishes again.

She halts, narrowing her eyes as she thinks, "Who could this person? I must find him as soon as possible."

AhHHHHHH!!!

Samantha snaps out from her thoughts when suddenly, a loud shriek of a man catches her ears.