Blood Awakening

They were all just myths-fairy tales and horror stories used to scare people into being weary of nighttime. That's all they were, and no one would bother thinking twice about what they could do to avoid it. They just would, and in the comfort of the daylight, they'd be free to carry on their business. A supernatural suspicion to keep people safe, but it was all in their heads.

However, the rumors and suspicions span across all cultures in the world, so it couldn't just be a myth, right? No one likes to admit when they're wrong, and can live in denial for their entire lives ignoring what's been in front of them this whole time.

The myth known as the "vampire" was very much real, but only certain people were allowed to take action to combat these denizens-collectively known as the Vampire Hunters-as they trained for centuries to battle their nighttime foes. They were ordinary people during the day, living their lives, paying the bills, and doing everything normal people would, but at night, they were vicious slayers, hunting their prey in order to keep the rest of the human population safe.

As a result of their longstanding disagreement, the vampires concealed themselves in a realm parallel to the real world, where they could live peacefully, however the looming presence of the Hunters still threatened their existence.

In the late hours of the night shift, the rain was coming down hard. The pitter-patter of each drop sounded like hail falling from the sky. The roads barely had any cars, due to the torrential weather, as streetlights and stoplights barely leaked their light through.

She was running away as fast as her injured body would let her. An agile being was she to be hopping across rooftops, and darting through alleyways with silver bullets embedded within her. To any normal vampire, it would've hindered their movement, but she was no ordinary fiend of the night.

That's why they'd been chasing her for so long, but now that she's wounded, the one-hundred and twenty-sixth Descendant was in serious danger from the Vampire Hunters. For every myth, there's a beginning, as Ingrid von Anfang was a direct descendant of the first vampire to exist, but her lineage on this Earth was dwindling away, just like her kin, as they've been sentenced to continue to hide in the alcoves of the eight continents.

The Hunters made haste against this creature of the night, by pursuing her direct movements, as well as circumventing to corner her. The rain provided a great cover, but it seemed like nothing could escape the Hunters' eagle eyes. Their dark cloaks covered their bodies as they appeared mysterious and menacing.

They brandished chrome finished handguns, as they shot more silver bullets towards the young woman.

When they made contact with Ingrid, who let out an agonizing cry, she fell down off a rooftop onto the slippery asphalt. Her long, blonde hair draping onto the ground, as she limped to stand up before she sustained any more damage. Somehow, she was able to escape her pursuers and collapse by a dumpster in a dimly lit alley.

The gut-wrenching smell of soaked trash made Ingrid twist her nose, but it definitely masked her trail enough. She sat there as the rain poured upon her, and her crimson blood washed away. Any normal vampire would've drowned from the effects of something simple as rainwater, due to its purifying effects on their bodies, but Ingrid was special-hence the reason she'd been pursued. The water drenched her fair skin as she muttered under her breath, "I never asked for this... I just wanted to be normal..."

She slowly blinked a few times, as her vision grew hazy, before she closed her eyes for good. Her body rested against the trash like a doll abandoned by its owner, while her chest heaved slowly.

Not too far away, at a local convenience store, one of the workers, a young man in his early twenties, was toting two bags of trash, before tossing them into the dumpster's opening. He stretched his arms and let out a sigh. "Just two more hours 'til my shift ends," Rohit exhaled in relief. "Just gotta mop and hope that guy doesn't chat my ear off." He shook his head, thinking about his distracting coworker. "I hate talking bad about others," he continued, "but he's a real drag..."

The rain continued to pour down hard, but the young man wasn't in a rush to get back inside, so he admired the surroundings seen through the dropping water, while he wore his raincoat. Rohit closed his eyes, while facing the direction of the main road in front of the store, for a moment, before heading back. He took a deep breath and let his mind be at ease with the sound of rain.

It'd been a long night initially, as customers typically swamped the store on a Friday night, but because of the rain, it hindered most of the traffic. This left the workers in the store to virtually do nothing except clean, but one was quite the chatterbox.

Rohit was too nice to tell him off, so he just retreated to the kitchen where he could do his own thing, and his coworker could pass the time on his phone.

With one final sigh, the young man proceeded to head back inside, until he suddenly heard a low moan coming from the alleyway on the other side of the dumpster. He turned around, startled, as his body flinched from the unnatural sound amidst the pouring rain.

He slowly walked towards it and peeped around the dumpster, where he saw two slender legs donned in black boots and stockings extending forward. He also noticed red liquid trickling through the cracks of the concrete floor towards the center of the alley.

"What the-" he gasped, flinching back, but his curiosity kept pushing his legs to move closer to the figure lit slightly by the alley lamp over the dumpster. He saw a girl, who looked to be his age, slowly breathing, as her eyelids blinked incrementally.

It looked like she was weary and about to pass out, but when she slowly lifted her chin to meet the young man's cinnamon, startled gaze with her crimson eyes, she leapt towards him, pinning him against the ground.

The young man's gray hood and work cap flew off, as he struggled to push the mysterious woman away, but her strength was far greater than his.

She tightened her grip on him, like she was trying to restrain her prey. Her sharp nails biting into the raincoat's fabric, as her body pressed against his made it more difficult for Rohit to break free.

"Let me go!" he yelled, still trying to squirm from her death grip, but to no avail. His back was now soaking wet as was his long, black hair after the tie came off in the assault. There was a chilly sensation running through his spine from the rainwater that stunned the young man even more. After his fruitless attempts to break free from her grasp, he felt something warm drop onto his face.

It was water, but it wasn't the cool rain.

Rohit looked up into the blonde girl's eyes, and noticed they were tearing up, as more sincere droplets fell onto his face.

She muttered something under her breath that he could barely hear amongst the rainfall, but when he focused on her pale lips, he was able to make out the words she was saying: "...me... Please help me."

The man stared back into her eyes again, which read sincerity and desperation, so he swallowed hard, and opted for negotiation, since he clearly couldn't win in a physical struggle.

"They're coming for me," Ingrid bluntly stated. "Please, just hide me or-or something!"

"What do you mean?" Rohit asked sternly. "Who's coming for you? What's going on?" He tried prying for more answers, but heard something break further down the alley, and noticed the young woman's hands were trembling.

"Just... please....!" she whispered her desperate plea, gazing into his eyes. "Cover for me!"

The young man returned her gaze and felt an urge to help her. He perceived that she was something extraordinary, especially with the strength she possessed, despite the bullet wounds in her arms and legs. Rohit didn't know what he was getting himself into, but quickly put his skepticism aside to help this person out. It was like several thoughts were running through his head in the instant he decided, that he was able to begin following through with his plan naturally.

As two figures emerged in the dim light, they shouted after Rohit, while his back was turned to them like he was walking away, and ordered him to stop where he was.

He turned around. "Whoa, what's going on?" he gasped suddenly, noticing the ominous figures approaching him. "Wh-What do you want?" he nervously asked with his hands out to the side.

The dark-cloaked figures approached him and told him to put his hands down.

"We need some help," the taller one stated. "Can you help us?"

The young man shook his head, still appearing startled with the people before him. "I-I don't have any money..." he instinctively informed.

"Relax, we're not here for money," the shorter one reassured, taking notice of the young man's employee cap. "We're just looking for information."

"Okay... like what?" Rohit responded, feeling genuinely calmer, as people sometimes seek information about different things from convenience store employees.

It was like they were an automatic directory with a plethora of information, just because they've seen all kinds of people from all walks of life pass through. However, such a stereotype wasn't always true depending on the person.

Rohit, on the other hand, had been working at the store for a few years, and saw plenty of things in his time, especially at night, so he was playing his role exactly as Ingrid hoped he would, since he wasn't cracking under pressure.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen a young woman with blonde hair and fair skin would you?" the taller one asked.

The young man shrugged. "A lot of people come through this way at night, sir," he casually responded, "even in the rain. You'd be surprised."

The two sighed, and the shorter one pulled out a phone and showed him a picture of a beautiful woman-the same one he'd just encountered. "Have you seen her?" he bluntly asked.

The young man looked at the screen for a bit, and then off to the side like he was thinking over his options, before replying he hadn't.

"I'll keep an eye out for you, but I doubt anyone else is gonna come through at this time," Rohit added.

The shorter one sighed. "Guess that settles it, Marv," he addressed the taller one. "This guy hasn't seen anything."

"Now hold on, Harry," Marv replied, before turning to Rohit. "You. Are you sure she hasn't stopped by here at all? It's important that we find her."

The young man shrugged. "I've been working here all night, man," he defended. "I'm quite sure she hasn't stopped by, or I would've remember a beautiful face like that."

There was a pause, like Harry wasn't convinced, so Rohit suggested they contact the police. "There's a few who stop by here every night, so I could personally call them up to help you if you want." He was testing their moxie to see if they'd bite, but felt secure with whatever choice they chose anyway.

They appeared to be focused on carrying their search out themselves, but whoever they were certainly didn't spell good news if they continued to linger around here.

The tall man laughed and turned to Harry, saying, "No, no, no. This isn't someone we should involve the police in... I'm sure we'll find her on our own." He then turned back to the young man, apologizing for wasting his time, before dismissing themselves.

The two walked past Rohit and into the open streets, where they continued looking around in the heavy rain.

The young man exhaled with relief, before walking to the dumpster and tapped it with his fingernails. "They're gone," he informed.

Ingrid slowly peeked her head out from under the lid, and scanned the area, before tumbling out clumsily, but it was due to her wounds.

"Hey!" Rohit called to her, lowering himself to help stabilize her posture. "I'll call the police so they can send an ambulance-"

"No!" she protested, before lowering her voice. "I mean... Thank you, but this really isn't something we should involve the authorities in..."

The man scratched his face, as he analyzed the girl's dark attire and wounds after she stood up. "So like... you're definitely not just any cosplayer, or trying to imitate any particular character..." he deduced, stroking his beard. "You don't come off as a Goth or Emo kid either. Maybe you just like dressing in renaissance clothes...?"

His eyes then trailed off from her dark blouse to the bullet wounds in her body, as he pursed his lips. "Are you one of those people with the condition of not being able to feel pain?" he asked nonchalantly. "You look like you've lost a lot of blood..."

Ingrid was panting slowly, while holding onto the edge of the dumpster, before collapsing to her knees. She was weaker this time the longer the bullets stayed inside her, and the young man was able to catch her, before she totally collapsed into the puddles again.

"Man..." he sighed and postured her up to her feet, as he placed one of her arms around his shoulder.

She weakly whispered audible enough, "Whatever you do... please don't take me to the hospital..." Ingrid slowly panted. "I just need some time to recover... And if you have any-" She paused abruptly, as she swallowed. "... any blood, please give it to me," she concluded.

"Blood...?" Rohit inquired, widening his eyes, but then looked at Ingrid's mouth, which had four pointed teeth instead of normal length canines. "Are you... No way, you can't be a-"

"Yes..." she weakly said, before drifting off again. "I'm a vampire..."

Ingrid's body then went limp in the man's arms and he shook his head, conflicted at what to do.

Rohit looked ahead at the main road where those cloaked men disappeared to and then back down at the vampire. 'Would they be able to treat her?' he wondered, but then shook his head. 'Nonsense... They're the ones who shot her, so they can't have good intentions, duh.' He exhaled and looked over at his car, which was behind the building in a small lot a little ways from where those cloaked figures emerged from.

He thought about just putting her in his car after he went back inside the store and secured a few trash bags and towels. 'At least that way she wouldn't mess up the seating,' he thought. 'My brother's gonna have something to say if it's messy in there...' Rohit looked down at the young woman and whispered to her, "I'll be right back," but she didn't reply, since she'd been fatigued.

He finally turned the corner and entered the convenience store, where there were still no customers at this time of the morning, as it was about a half hour before the manager normally shows up.

Usually people would walk in wanting their coffee and breakfast sandwiches, but there was surprisingly no one still.

Rohit deduced it to be from the rain. 'But even in rain they'd find a way to get their coffee... I wonder what's going on?' he debated in his thoughts.

"Everything okay, Rohit?" the other overnight worker asked him, seconds after he entered, as he looked up from his phone from leaning over the counter, next to the cash register.

"Yeah," the young man plainly responded, swiftly making his way to the back room, where he procured the necessary supplies he needed.

After he emerged, his coworker looked up from his phone again and asked, "And where are you going with all that?"

Rohit briefly froze, before continuing his brisk walk to the glass door, looking over at him and came up with an excuse. "I spilled some trash out back..."

"Oh okay... Need some help?"

"Nah, I'll be all right, James, thanks-"

"Dude, check this out," he said, holding up his phone to show Rohit a video.

"... Not now, man..." the young man politely declined, and remembered something. "Oh! Almost forgot..." He reminded his coworker to stock the soda shelves from inside the cooler.

It was a ploy to keep the distracted coworker busy, but also a genuine reminder of one of his assigned tasks that James intentionally left to do towards the end of the shift. When the manager walked in in the next half hour, he'd see that he was doing something productive, considering it was a slow night.

With James acknowledging that he had to do that, preferring to wait for his coworker to return from the dumpster, Rohit went to the kitchen again, where he gathered the remaining trash, which were bagged in cardboard boxes, making carrying out a little easier than carrying the bags alone.

He looked at the raw chicken bags in them, which had traces of blood and water mixed in. "This is still blood, hopefully it'll work," he muttered under his breath.

"You say something?" James asked, looking up from his phone again.

"The coffee beans are filled right? It's almost 4:30."

"Yeah, they're good," he replied, staring at the self-service coffee brewing machines that crushed the beans on site for a fresh cup every time. "Actually, I think I might get a cup before we leave. Would you like one?"

"I'm good..." Rohit quickly remarked, as he approached the glass door again.

Instead of following through with the coffee, the hefty worker continued watching his phone.

'Maybe it's good you're not so interested.' he thought, glancing back at him after exiting the store.

He headed back out to Ingrid, who continued to lay next to the dumpster like an abandoned body. Rohit apologized to the vampire's unconscious self, and knelt beside her with the bag of chicken blood. He tried to get a response from her, by gently shaking her shoulders and tapping her soft face, making sure it was okay to even feed this to her.

Ingrid's body was still stiff, as her medium chest slowly continued to heave, indicating she was still alive.

As soon as Rohit lifted the rain beaten bag of chicken blood to the young woman's lips, Ingrid's nose twitched and her eyes shot open.

They were midwinter blue before they turned crimson, as she snatched the bag from his hands and drank the blood from the three he had.

It was a ghastly sight the way she slurped the pungent liquid. Rohit knew the raw chicken that dwelled inside it before and crinkled his face at the sight, yet continued to watch as she scarfed down the watered down blood.

Ingrid smiled, as she said, "Thanks for the meal." Her fair skin seemed to gain some color after consuming the blood, as there was a subtly noticeable difference in her once cold and pale skin. The shade of white toned down ever so slightly, bringing life back into the young woman's body.

Not long after she retained her color, the open bullet wounds of Ingrid's skin pushed out the metal rounds, as she healed herself. The young vampire exhaled with relief, as her eyes returned to their azure color. Her four fangs retracted to normal, flat teeth too.

"Uh..." Rohit noticed, dumbfounded, and rubbed his eyes. "Did that really just happen?"

Ingrid nodded with a smile. "Yes." She stood up and began approaching the young man, but he stepped back and stumbled into the brick wall. She placed both palms on the wall beside his head even though she was shorter than him, as her slender frame boxed him in.

"What's happening right now?" Rohit wondered, with droplets dripping from his trimmed beard and face. "Are you gonna drink my blood now or something?" he asked nonchalantly, before sighing. "Well... I guess there's no way around it." The young man turned to the right, exposing his neck. "Do your thing, I guess..."

She didn't answer at first, as she continued gazing into the young man's cinnamon eyes, and then at his neck with fascination. She simply smiled, before giggling at his comedic gesture of relinquishing himself to suddenly be her blood partner. "No..." she sweetly replied, softening her eyes, as she gently turned Rohit's face so she could look at him. "I think I'll stick by you for a while... you're a very interesting specimen."