I was in the front seat of the truck. The full moon hung low in the beautiful star-filled sky.
Daniel was driving at full speed down the main highway in my new light-filled city.
Bismarck wasn't like the towns I was used to living in; it was lively. I was used to living in the small towns, which were usually asleep at this hour.
But Bismarck wasn't like that, people were walking down the street and into shops. Cars crowded the busy streets, and buildings were lit up with many coloured lights.
I wish I could've been flying over it right about now, but it would be impossible to do so. What with all the people, and light.
Vince was in the back seat chattering away about where we should go to eat. I laughed to myself.
"Do you ever stop thinking about food?" I asked him.
"Do you ever shut up?" he retaliated.
"I barely ever talk to you anymore Vince. So how can I shut up when I don't say anything?" I asked him.
"Well, it used to be that we couldn't get you to shut up," he muttered.
"Well, I'm different now."
It was true. I used to speak everything that I thought. But in the past few years, I hadn't said much. Since the day my Dad was taken to prison...
"Okay so how about we go exploring," said Daniel, pulling off the main road and going into the downtown area and parking up.
We got out of the car and started to walk down the road. There were so many stores. I was like a kid at Disney World: I couldn't stop looking around. It was truly remarkable. I walked into a few stores, looking at everything in sight. We continued walking for a while.
My brothers looked uninterested.
"What's wrong with you two?" I asked looking at them, slugging along.
"Hungry," Vince said. I looked at him.
He looked at me, and then I noticed the tired, exhausted look in his eyes. He didn't mean hungry, he meant thirsty.
"You need to eat?" I asked, giving them both the meaningful look.
They nodded.
I sighed. They hadn't eaten in a month or so. I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten.
"Okay let's go find the dark," I said and took the lead, my brothers following behind me.
We walked for a long time until we reached the outskirts of the main town. We went off the sidewalk and near the trees. It was a little darker around here.
I looked at my black digital watch. It was 2 am.
I looked around and saw a bar a little ways down the road. It looked like people were coming out. Perfect.
"Come on, there's a bar up there," I said to my brothers behind me.
We ran, keeping to the shadows, careful not to let a passing car see us.
We came up onto the parking lot of the bar, and slowed to a walk, my brothers at my back. I could hear their stomachs grumble as they smelled the humans just a few meters from us.
"Okay. When the crowd thins a little, go around the back and find your target," I said, though I didn't need to. We were hunters. We knew the best way to get our prey.
We waited impatiently for a few minutes until a few of the more sober humans left in cars. And then, silently, we made our way in between the ally of the bar and some other building. We looked out at the few left outsides. Some were just walking around lazily, stumbling.
I looked over some of the more drunk ones. They would be easier to take down. I spotted a male in a leather jacket and a red bandana around his head.
"Leather jacket's mine," I said in a low voice. Slipping into my hunter state.
"Black greasy hair with a Jack Daniel's in his hand is mine," Daniel said, laughing slightly. But I could hear the growl in his throat.
"Alright motorcycle man's mine," said Vince smacking his fist with Daniel.
"Okay when you're done, meet back here," I said then moving out of the alley and into the open.
I walked up to the drunken man with the leather jacket. He was standing by a black car. I didn't know what kind it was. But it was nice.
As I got closer I could see he had no shirt on underneath. I snorted internally.
What a douche, I thought.
I came to stand in front of him. I could smell the alcohol on him. It was gross.
He looked at me and smiled. "Well hello, there beautiful."
I just stared back, concentrating.
He stopped smiling and his drunken eyes suddenly went blank.
I spoke in a low voice. "You will follow me now," I turned and walked back towards the trees a few feet behind the bar.
He stood and followed me. He was close behind me. I kept my concentration as I watched my brothers willing their prey to follow them as well.
We walked into the dark curtain of the trees. I smelled the sweet scent of blood walking close behind me.
I went a little deeper into the woods and then stopped.
It was very dark in here, but my eyes saw everything perfectly fine.
The drunken man stopped as well. He looked like a nice man. But I stopped myself. The guilt trip would have to wait until later.
I lunged at him. He fell to the ground and I straddled his waist. I went straight for the vain in his neck.
My fangs extended and I sunk them into the man.
The concentration of my hypnosis stopped as soon as I had lunged and he had started to scream.
But it wasn't long before his screams stopped.
The beautiful taste of blood fell onto my tongue. Making a shiver run down my spine. I closed my eyes in pleasure.
Once I had finished feeding, I stood and started to clean up my mess. I opened the black leather bag I had over my shoulder. And took out a small black bottle and a small black box. I opened the bottle and poured a thick liquid over the dead man.
The liquid is something that cleanses the spirit of any encounters with evil. Such as vampires.
Most of the vampires won't use it. They think it's ridiculous, to care if the human is cleansed or not.
But my mother thinks it is only right. She said if she had had a choice, she wouldn't be this monster.
I had to agree with her, I didn't ask for this either.
I put the cap back on the liquid and opened the black box and pulled out a red coloured match. I sparked the match and threw it over the man.
As soon as the fire made contact with the liquid, it burned a smokeless deep burgundy colour. The ends of the flames were black. Then a few seconds later. The flame burned out. And the man was no longer there.
I stared at the place where he had been and let the guilt slip into my mind.
I didn't like killing people for no reason. Yes, I had killed many before. But most of the time they are for good reasons.
Mother says it's for our survival, and hat that's reason enough. But I still feel wrong sometimes, I don't ponder over it much, that's the upside of being a fighter. You don't stay guilty for long.
I put the black box and liquid away and then turned and ran at my top speed. Barely feeling tired.
I started to feel my strength building inside me. The human blood making me stronger.
My amulet glowed brighter than usual. I smiled as I ran faster.
I found my brothers back in the ally. Waiting for me.
I slowed to a walk. And came over to them. They looked stronger and happier.
"So how we feeling boys?" I asked smiling, still on a high from the blood circulating in me.
"Awesome man," said Vince. He was smiling giddily as well. Daniel, on the other hand, looked normal. He was the oldest and had grown used to the feeling.
"Much better, but Em I think I found where the fights are," said Daniel. I perked up.
"Really where?" I asked looking at him.
"The guy I had been hunting had a paper with the address on it," he took out a crumpled paper from his pocket. "I think there's one tonight at 4 am."
I took the paper from his hand and looked at the paper.
It read:
Angleton mill warehouse. FIGHTS!!! Come and show how tough you are.
And below read the address and some info on the fights.
"I'm going. You guys want in?" I asked my brothers.
They both nodded, smiling. My brothers loved fighting just as much as I did. But of course not as strong as I was.
"Let's go," I said pulling them along. Heading back to the town to get the truck.
This was going to be fun!