"You bloody little urchin!" A balled-up fist flew so quickly that the young girl had no time to react before it struck her face. The shock of the blow threw her off balance and sent her crashing into the wall behind her.
"Hey!" A dark-skinned, tall, and dirty-looking man with a broken nose wearing messy and torn clothes ran in from outside, pushing past another resident of their hovel. He looked down at the girl who was slumped over into the filthy corner of cockroaches. Blood trickled down her head, and she curled herself up into a ball to protect herself. "What the hell are you doing?" He yelled at the manic woman swinging a bottle.
She stomped forward, froth at her mouth, and her eyes filled with a deep seething rage. "One pence? What the hell did you do all day? You're supposed to go out there to make money for me!" The man ran to hold her back.
"Calm down, it wasn't her fault!" He yelled, using all of his strength to resist. He surveyed the small room. There were eight other people jammed inside the squalid space, all watching on in silence as if this was their favorite piece of entertainment.
"Don't you tell me to calm down. What the hell am I supposed to do with one pence? That's not even enough for cheap gin!" She sunk her teeth into his ear, ripping off a piece and pushing him aside.
"I've had it with you, you little parasitic insect. I've been nice for far too long. This is the last straw." She broke the bottle she was holding on the wall, creating a ring of sharp protrusions.
The girl peeked up from the ground to see the woman trudging toward her, holding the knife in her hand and screaming. "You have been the worst thing to ever happen to me. If I never had you… If I never had you, my life would be perfect!"
She brought the knife down, but before she was able to hit the girl, she was pulled back. The girl looked up to see her the man holding her back. "Come on, you're just mad right now. How about we calm down now, huh?" He turned her face toward him, and as soon as he saw the trail of powder on her face, he knew it was too late.
"Ruth, run!" He screamed as the woman drove the broken bottle into his side. As he fell to the floor, blood falling out of his stomach a rectangular silver box slipped out of his pocket, landing beside him.
"Why are you protecting her?!" The manic woman removed the bottle from his side and kicked him.
He looked up and painfully crawled toward Ruth. Before he could make it his body slumped over and the light faded from his once glistening brown eyes.
"Dad…" the croak could barely escape Ruth's lips through the onslaught of tears, quick breaths, and snot.
The woman looked down at Ruth, her cognition seemingly returning. Then she shifted her gaze to the bottle in her hand, then at the man lying dead on the floor. She took a few steps back, horrified. "You… you you you. What did you do?"
Ruth looked up at her with a terrified look on her face. "What…?"
"You… killed him! Why? He was your father." She looked around the room at the other residents. "Don't all of you just watch, do something! This little monster just murdered her father!"
The residents covered their faces, shrinking further away from the commotion in silence, indifferent to the events that had just unfolded, like it was normal and nothing to be worried about.
She turned back to look at Ruth. "Get out…"
"What?" Ruth cried, full of confusion and grief.
The woman grabbed a rusty knife from the table and threw it at Ruth. "I said get out! I never want to see your hideous face again! You ruined my life! Killed your father! Just go and die!"
The knife bounced off the wall next to Ruth's head, far too dull to cut anything, let alone stick into the wall. She quickly took one last look at her father, grabbed the small silver box, and ran out the door, her eyes blinded by tears, leaving only her feet to carry her away to some semblance of safety.
* * *
[12 years ago]
"Yes, dear, I'll be right back!" A burly man from inside a market yelled as he walked toward the door to the alley behind it.
Come on… please be good… A disheveled young girl peeked out from behind a metal dumpster, praying to herself for good luck as she anxiously awaited the store owner. Her heart pounded in anticipation with each step he took the urge to run out and grab the morsels of food he must have been carrying almost taking over.
He huffed, dragging a bag across the floor before lobbing it into the dumpster. After pausing to take a breath he looked around the area skeptically before turning around to go back inside.
The girl ran around the dumpster and dived inside, her impatience getting the better of her. Her stomach growled loudly as she tore into the repulsive-smelling bag.
The man, hearing sounds of scratching, clanging, and a stomach growling, turned back around to see a tuft of shimmering wine-colored hair poking out of the top of the dumpster. "I knew you were here, you filthy gutter rat!"
The girl in the dumpster yelped, frightened by the sudden shouting.
He glared fiercely at her and motioned to approach. Panicked, she dove back down, gathering what she could in her arms.
"Get out of here; you're not getting anything for free, not even the rotten and moldy food!" He stomped toward the dumpster, prepared to remove the girl by force.
She quickly clambered out of the top and fell to the ground, dropping the few items of spoiled food on the ground. She grunted as she ran away down the grime infested alley.
"Next time I see you here, I'll shoot you!" the man screamed from behind her.
She turned the corner onto the street and looked down at what she had gotten. Yes! I was able to grab a pomegranate and some bread. This should last a couple of days.
"Ow!" She screamed and fell to the hard street, scattering what little food there was onto a sewer cover. She looked down at her bleeding foot and winced. "I hate this place; glass on the street stinks!" As she pulled the shard of glass out of her foot and ripped off a piece of her dress to tie around the cut. The sound of bare feet quietly smacking against the puddles in the sidewalk grew closer.
"Thanks, Missy." A slender man grabbed her food while she was tending to her wound and scuttled away, snickering.
"Hey! That's mine! Give it back!" she screamed, limping behind him.
"And now it's mine. You stole it from someone, and now I stole it from you. You have no right to complain." He laughed at the girl desperately following him.
She gritted her teeth and growled, then, putting most of her weight on her uninjured foot, leaped into the air and tackled the man to the ground. She twisted his arm behind his back and drove her knee into his ribs. "Give. It. Back."
The man screamed in pain and held his free arm up in surrender. "Okay, okay, I give. What the hell kind of little girl are you? Are you one of those vampires? You're freakishly strong for someone so young and scrawny."
She released his arm and picked up her food. "Ew no, i'm not. And don't mess with me again." She turned around and limped away from the man, leaving him speechless on the cold street.
* * *
As the night grew darker, the girl reached her home. She stared down the dirty and narrow alley and smiled. "Finally, home!" She tightened the wrap around her foot, limped to the end, and plopped down on a pane of glass covered in papers in the corner next to a garbage can.
She placed down her two morsels of food and squealed. "Pomegranate first, then save the bread." She cut open the fruit with a shard of glass and ravenously attacked the insides. Halfway through, she gagged. It was for sure rotten.
"Oh well." She mumbled and scarfed down the rest as she caught the movement of a shadow out of the corner of her eye. Her heart skipped a beat, and the food she had just worked so hard to get almost came right back up.
No vampires come to this part of town. We aren't tasty enough… probably. She considered burrowing into the can beside her for an extra feeling of safety when a cat appeared from where she saw the shadow. "A kitty…? Do you not have a home?" Feeling bad for the animal, she looked down and decided to break her piece of bread in half and offer it.
"Come here, kitty. You can have this food. You must be hungry." The cat scurried over and ripped the bread out of her hands. She watched the cat devour it in two big bites and giggled. "I guess you were hungry. You can stay here if you want. I don't have much, but I'm lucky enough to have such a nice place."
A chilly breeze swept through the small area, causing the both of them to shiver. "Oh, don't worry, I have something for that." She dug her feet under the papers and reached to pull a large pane of glass in front of her. "See, it blocks the wind and everything. You can come back here if you want."
The cat stared at her and then jumped over to snuggle next to her. The surprised look on her face quickly turned into a bright and whimsical smile as she petted the cat and watched the last traces of light fall below the buildings across the distant street. She hummed to herself out loud. "Hmmm. You need a name. I think I'll call you Hope. I'm Ruth, by the way."
Hope purred in satisfaction and put her head down to go to sleep. Ruth sat in silence for a while and looked up at the sky through the thin slit between the rooftops above her. "You want to know something, Hope?"
She pulled her knees in close to her chest and wrapped herself in a big hug. Her chest began to sink while her nose and eyes started to leak. She couldn't stop the overwhelming torrent of emotions that overcame her as her face twisted into a sorrowful grimace, and she began to sob. "This really sucks…"
* * *
[11 years ago]
Dirt flew up and into the cracked, broken, and moss covered stone streets as Ruth dug into the ground beneath a tree. She patted the dirt in the hole and pushed her greasy and stiff hair back, smearing mud on her face. After taking a deep, emotion-filled breath, she looked fondly at the wet and torn box to her side as she grabbed it and placed it into the hole.
Clasping her hands together, she spoke lowly. "I'm so, so sorry I couldn't be the owner you needed me to be. You deserved so much better. Thank you for choosing me and showing me that there are still things to be happy about. I'll lay you to rest here where we met. Rest in peace, Hope."
She slowly filled the hole back up with dirt and packed it tightly. Her gaze lingered on the mound of dirt, feeling compelled to share her thoughts even though she knew she was speaking them into nothingness. "I heard that there was a new orphanage the next town over, so I'm going to go there and see…"
The people passing by stared at the little girl crying over the dirt but paid the tender moment no mind as they continued about their lives. She rose to her feet, wiped the tears from her eyes, clenched her little fist, and walked off down the street.
* * *
"Is this the place…?" Through her tired and sleepy eyes, Ruth squinted to see the quaint, almost schoolhouse looking building on the grassy hill in the distance. How many hours have I been walking? I'm so tired…
As she grew closer, she heard the sounds of children screaming cheerfully. It'll be nighttime soon… Will they even let me in? she thought as she opened the small gate leading to the front yard.
The gate creaked open loudly as if sounding the alarm for her arrival. All of the children froze and stared in silence as they watched her stumble through the gate. One of them, a girl with light brown hair, dropped the ball she was playing with and had an ecstatic grin plastered on her face.
She gasped loudly and screamed. "Girl!" Then she ran back into the building to drag out an older-looking woman, shouting, "Madam Walker, there's a girl. There's a girl right there!"
"I'm coming, dear. Is she by herself?" the woman asked.
"Yeah, she just showed up!" the girl screamed, pulling even harder.
With the girl tugging on her arm, the woman hurried out of the front door and looked at Ruth, who stood still and was being watched by the other kids. She clasped her hand over her mouth and muttered. "Oh… my…" in shock after observing her state, the stiff and ragged hair, the torn up and dirty clothes, the dirt caked on her body.
She ran down to meet Ruth near the gate and kneeled to meet her line of sight. "It's awfully late for you to be wandering around alone, what happened to you? Where did you come from? What's your name?"
The torrent of questions pelted Ruth's head like rocks. She felt her body start to weaken and her mind begin to fade. "Ruth…" She managed to whisper before her mind went black, and she collapsed into the woman's hands.
* * *
"Ms. Walker, Ms. Walker! I think she's waking up!"
Ruth stirred quietly out of her slumber to the sound of another girl talking. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself lying on a small, thin bed in a tiny rustic room.
"Where am I…?" she whispered while slowly getting up into a seated position.
"You're at Ms. Walker's orphanage!" the brown-haired girl cheerfully answered.
The woman ran into the room with water and set it down on the nightstand next to the bed. "Ruth, you said your name was right? Are you okay? You were asleep for days."
Days? I haven't eaten in that long… She looked up at Ms. Walker. "My name is Ruth. I'm doing okay, and I came here… for help, I guess."
"Where did you come from, Ruth? What were you doing before this?" Ms. Walker asked, while the other girl leaned in.
Ruth guzzled down the water and wiped her mouth. "Thank you for the water, ma'am. I came from Whitechapel. I've been living on the streets."
Ms. Walker and the girl looked at her, astounded. "You came from the streets of that place? How long were you out there?"
Ruth rubbed her chin in thought. "About two years, probably."
"Two years!" They both yelled in surprise at the unbelievable statement. "You survived out there for two years? Alone?"
Ruth nodded. "Pretty much. It was hard, but I'm real tough, so I handled it."
Ms. Walker frowned while she considered and debated what to do next. "I see. You are unusually strong for a child… Well, what do you want to do, Ruth?"
The girl standing next to her lit up and started shaking Ms. Walker's shoulders. "Can she stay here? She's already in my room, and see, she fits. She can even have some of my food!"
Ms. Walker waved the girl away. "No, no, there won't be any need for that." She turned to Ruth. "Would you like to stay here, Ruth?"
Ruth stared at her and nodded slightly. "Can I? Do I have to pay? I don't have any money… but I could go steal some-"
Ms. Walker rushed forward and smothered Ruth in a hug. "No, dear, as long as you're here, you don't need to worry about any of that. I will take care of you. Is that okay with you?"
Ruth's grabbed at the air as her entire body locked up and stiffened. "Just so you know. I don't like hugs."
She pulled back and cupped Ruth's face. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. How about we get you cleaned up now? It must have been a long time since you properly washed."
* * *
Ruth sat on the floor with a pillow and a blanket, looking at both with joy. The girl on the bed hung upside down to look at her. "So your name's Ruth?"
Ruth nodded. "Yes. What's yours?"
The girl smiled. "I'm Lenora but my friends call me Nora. I was the only girl here until you showed up. I'm happy there's another one now. The boys annoy me."
"I see… Nice to meet you, Lenora." Ruth nodded, taking in the moment.
"So… you were on the streets? Didn't have any parents?" Lenora asked.
Ruth felt a sharp pain in her heart at the mention of her parents but brushed it aside; Lenora didn't know any better. "No parents, they're both dead. What about you?"
Lenora shook her head. "Nope, me either. Vampires killed them both."
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know…" She messed with the blanket on the floor.
"Don't worry about it. When I grow up, I'm gonna hunt down those monsters so other people don't have to have that happen to them," Lenora said while pumping her fist.
Ruth was taken aback by the bold and violent desire being declared so enthusiastically. "Oh…"
"Are you planning on sleeping on the floor?" She quickly leaped to a different topic.
"Oh… yes, Ms. Walker said we'd figure out something proper tomorrow." Ruth placed her pillow down on the floor and prepared to lie down.
"No, no, no," Lenora said while grabbing Ruth's hair. "Sleep up here with me."
Ruth shook her head in hesitation. "No, that's okay; you'd be surprised with the kind of places I can sleep. This one time, I slept on top of a—"
"Get up here now," Lenora demanded. She refused to hear anything else Ruth had to say in rejection of the offer.
Ruth looked up at her and nodded. "Fine."
* * *
[7 years ago]
Lenora let out a monstrous sigh as she scrubbed a shirt next to Ruth at the edge of the glistening blue river.
"Sorry, Nora. You didn't have to come. It should be Clive and the boys doing all this." Ruth apologized while her gaze remained focused on the task at hand.
"It's because you're too bloody strong. You're the only one who can do it all in one trip." Lenora threw the clean shirt at Ruth.
"Well, I can't help it. My dad used to say it was because my head was so thick that my body needed to follow," she grumbled.
Lenora narrowed her eyes, pretending to be suspicious. "Hmm, you are a bit more dense than the average person. Are you sure you're not a vampire?"
Ruth laughed at the absurdity of her comment. "Ew, no. They can't go out in the daytime anyway. Wait, is being dense even a trait?"
Lenora laughed as she rocked back and forth. "Ew, you say? What if I was a vampire and wanted to turn you? Would you let me?"
"Absolutely not," Ruth said.
Lenora grabbed her chest and pretended to be offended. "Ouch. Well, what if someone you loved was a vampire and wanted to turn you? Would you let them?"
Ruth swatted her away. "I can't imagine ever being in love, let alone being in love with a vampire, so I guess he would have to be a soulmate beyond all soulmates, and even then, I can't think of any reasons why I'd say yes."
Lenora laughed. "Wow I was joking, you really took that one seriously, but that's good. If you were one, I'd have to hunt you down."
"You really think you'd be able to?" Ruth asked while folding the last of the clothes into the basket.
"No, probably not. Maybe I'd get someone else to do it. But then again, if I were as dense as you, maybe I wouldn't realize it." She grabbed the soap they brought with them and followed Ruth back down toward the orphanage.
"Thanks, I appreciate that… I guess?" Ruth looked up at the sky. "It's a good thing we finished. It's pretty dark out. We better save the talk about my denseness for later."
Lenora shoved Ruth's arm. "Oh, please, like anything would ever—" She cut her sentence short and immediately turned to Ruth. "Hey… something's off. I have this weird feeling."
"I have it too. Let's go." The two girls ran back to the building.
"Ruth, the front door is open." Lenora wheezed.
Please let everything be okay.
They ran through the front door of the building and screamed for Ms. Walker, but there was no answer.
"Where is everyone?" Lenora backed away.
"Woah!" She tripped over a pointed piece of wood shaped to look like some sort of knife and fell to the floor.
"Nora, are you okay?" Ruth asked while helping her up.
"Yeah, I just tripped." She held up the wood and handed it to Ruth. "That's weird… I've never seen it here before," she whispered, seemingly fascinated by its odd shape and markings. "Come with me to the dining room. I don't want to go alone."
Ruth nodded, and they both started to make their way toward the dining room but were stopped when a buff, hulking man walked out of it, scratching something down on a pad of paper.
"Wow. This one really wasn't it. I've got to torch the place." He looked up from his papers and locked his sharp blood red eyes with the two girls.
"Who are you? Where is everyone?" Ruth asked, hoping she sounded confident.
The man looked at them and smirked. "I'm disappointed. We thought we really had something going on with this one… Hey, maybe if I try this on you both and turn you after, it'll have a different result than it did on them…" He held up a syringe with a small amount of green fluid in it.
"What are you talking about!" Lenora screamed at the man.
The man sighed and rubbed his buzzed short hair. "Listen, kid, did you not just hear me? I'm saying that—"
A loud crash sounded from the dining room, drawing all of their attention to the doorway. "Well damn, that was fast. Gotta note that down, too." The man scribbled on his notepad as the girls stared horrified at the door. A figure partially revealed by the moonlight stepped out and turned its head to focus its glowing red eyes on them.
"Ms. Walker?" Lenora breathed a sigh of relief, slowly walking toward her, ignoring the obvious abnormalities.
Ruth's heart pounded in her ears, and her anxiety rising. She watched the figure at the end of the hall and saw a small twitch. "Nora, stay away!" She tackled Lenora out of the way as the figure lunged down the hall at her.
"What's happening?" Lenora cried as she was slammed to the floor.
"Look, kid, they're vampires now," the man said. "Well, what's left of them is. You two stay right there and let them turn you. I need to see what happens before I burn all this down."
The two girls sat frozen in the hallway, memories of their time there and the other kids flashing through Ruth's mind.
"That can't be true… not again…" Lenora pulled herself into a ball, tears flowing down her cheeks.
Ruth spotted more vampires exiting the dining room. The terror and sadness were overwhelming. She was going to lose another family. No, she had already lost them. She knew next to nothing about vampires but knew what she was looking at wasn't normal, even for a vampire. Something had been done to them. Something horrific.
What did he do to them… he must be a vampire too if he turned all of them, but he's fine, so the needle? She tried her best to assess the situation, but the feelings of helplessness and the noise of Lenora sobbing overpowered her reasoning.
A loud boom sounded from the wall beside them. Then, with a second, louder boom, a hand broke through the wall, and soon after, one of the vampire kids broke through.
"Clive…" Ruth whispered.
He cranked his chubby neck up and made a pained grunting noise. "R- Ruth… it hurts…" He grabbed his head and released a wail of pain.
She pulled Lenora toward the front door, "Nora… can you hear me?"
Lenora made a squeaking noise from the ground in affirmation.
"You need to run. Get out of here, Nora, run as far as you can." Ruth pushed her back and rose to her feet, holding the pointed wood in front of her like a knife.
Lenora stood. "I'm not leaving you, Ruth. Let's both run together! We can get out of here," Lenora pleaded, tears in her eyes.
Ruth put on a brave face, turned to face Lenora, and pointed at the wicked man, watching the events unfold with a smile. "I can't. As soon as we both run, he'll kill us. The best chance is for you to run and me to buy time."
Lenora clenched her jaw and started punching Ruth on the arm. "Don't say stupid stuff like that! Come on, Ruth… you're my only family. I can't leave you here…" Her punches slowly ceased, and she covered her eyes, sobbing.
I want to scream and throw up…. I'm going to die here. I don't want to die; I still haven't done anything yet. I had a family and everything… everyone was so nice… Ruth stopped her thoughts before she broke down. Lock it away; you need to lock it all away; you need to save her at least, Ruth.
Ruth took a deep breath and forcefully shoved Lenora out of the building. "Run Nora! Don't worry about me. I'm really tough, remember? I'll be right behind you!" She shouted with false confidence.
Lenora stared back at Ruth; the look of pain on her face was almost too much for Ruth to bear. Lenora screamed at the top of her lungs and pointed at Ruth. "You better be right behind me! We'll meet at the river and talk about how dense you are!" Then she quickly turned to run away.
Ms. Walker lunged toward the door, but Ruth tackled her to the ground and used all of her body weight to keep her pinned. What do I do… How much time does Lenora need? Why isn't he chasing her?
She looked over at the man lounging in one of the chairs. It was all a big joke to him.
"This isn't funny! You monster!" Ruth struggled to scream at him. His smile quickly faded, and in the blink of her eyes, he stood over them.
He squatted down and moved his face close to hers. "Hey, watch your mouth. I can run outside and kill that girl right now, or you, for that matter. I'm letting you live because I'm entertained right now, understand? You yelling at me is not entertaining."
She recoiled, letting go of Ms. Walker. "Ruth…" She painfully whispered. "Kill us… he did something. The liquid…" She screamed and jumped at Ruth again, who threw herself off to the side to dodge.
"Kill you…?" Ruth scooted back toward the wall and bumped into Clive.
"Please…" He begged before lashing out with a swipe to her shoulder.
She screamed in pain and crawled away toward the door. This should be enough time. How am I getting out of here?
The man slowly walked in front of her and stood, blocking her exit. "You didn't think I was letting you leave here, did you? Better get to work. The longer you wait the harder it will get. I'll even give you a tip: one of the ways vampires can be killed is with a stake through the heart. You just so happen to be holding one."
She looked down at the stake in her hand. She could barely comprehend the atrocious situation she was in. Through the heart… She gripped the stake tight and stood up to face her former family. She wavered for a moment, looking into Ms. Walker's eyes. No, you can't let yourself feel this. Close your heart to it. You're tough.
Ms. Walker lunged at Ruth again, this time trying to grab a hold of her neck. Ruth grabbed her and pinned her against the wall. Dad, I'm sorry, I need to do this. Please don't hate me. I'll be good one day, I promise…
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. Please forgive me." She closed her water-filled eyes and drove the stake through Ms. Walker's heart. Once the deed was done, she turned and tackled Clive to the ground. "I don't want to do this…" She drove the stake slowly into his heart. Then she almost slumped over in grief.
Ruth stood up. No, you can't. She wiped her face with her bloodied sleeve and ran toward the dining room. She hollered and jumped at the next kid leaving the room, slamming him into the wall as he ripped his teeth into her shoulder. She wailed at the pain and repeatedly stabbed at his back until she hit his heart, and then both of them crashed to the floor.
She grabbed her blood-soaked shoulder and her face. Am I still human? I'm not a vampire? I thought getting bit turns you. She discarded the thought and looked into the room. Three left. The rest of the fight was a blur even to her, the myriad of screams full of sorrow and pain ringing out from her young and tired vocal cords, the sound of constant struggle for survival, the sounds and smell of blood being spilled, the terrible suffering she was going through, the pain she was inflicting and being afflicted with, all flashing by like a hazy nightmare.
After the last one had been slain, she crashed to the floor in a puddle of blood, her body riddled with cuts, gashes, and bruises. She stared at the ceiling with a calm face in silence as a feeling of numbness grew throughout her mind and body. She flipped over and rose to her knees, looking at the carnage she had left in what used to be her home, and began to laugh as it was the only thing left she was able to do.
The man strutted into the room and kicked one of the disintegrating bodies out of his way. "Well, I'll be damned, you're just a little monster, aren't you?" he asked, laughing at the scene in front of him.
Ruth wanted to get up and fight him, but her body wouldn't listen. Move, please, she begged herself.
He rubbed his chin in thought; then it looked like an idea coursed through his head when his face lit up, and he flashed a maniacal grin. "You are a kid, right? This is insane for a human, with how wildly strong you are. Now that I'm actually taking a good look at you, maybe something weird is going on with your muscles, but then again, you aren't exactly lean and muscular. I can't really say for sure since it's the first time I've seen something like this. But one thing is for sure. You. Are. Interesting."
Ruth still knelt on the floor. Come on, move! she yelled at her tired body. With all of the energy she had left, she leaped up to attack him, aiming the stake directly for his heart.
The man swatted the stake away and grabbed her by the throat. "Oh, don't be so rude, little monster; you're coming with me, so let's get along, okay?" he said in a blatantly false, lighthearted tone as he tightened his grip around her neck and stabbed a needle into her leg. Ruth flailed around, punching and kicking until she slowly slipped away into unconsciousness.