Midnight Hunt
My name is David – Dave for short. I'm a vampire. I have been since I was 10. I'm 13 now and I have learnt to keep my vampiric instincts under control around humans.
I live with my human family – who have no idea that I'm a vampire. My teacher hides out in our roof until it is safe to teach me outside. He usually sleeps all day – having nothing else to do – until my parents and brother are asleep, then takes me to a nearby oval or park to commence training throughout the night.
We only feed around once a week to keep ourselves alive – never killing our prey to avoid getting caught by hunters – and then spend the rest of the week practicing our fighting.
But we never thought we would need to use those skills...
***
Camping. Dad's favourite time of the year – and my least favourite. Camping always meant no humans, so when my teacher and I needed to feed, we only had animals to prey on – at least we would get more blood out of them, even if it was foul compared to human blood.
Dad had the car packed by noon and was dragging us all into the car, eager to get going. Law – my teacher – trailed us through the trees running with the speed of a vampire. I wished I could be out there running with him, instead of cramped up in this tiny car with the only air-conditioner vents in the front – running in the open was second only to the taste of fresh blood.
We drove for nearly 5 hours before we came to a stop at a opening in the trees and drove into it. There was a trail in the opening just wide enough for possibly two small cars. Dad carefully manouvered the car into the trail and drove at an even 40 km/h. I'm sure that if I was driving, I could be going twice as fast as Dad and still not crash – Vampiric senses came in handy sometimes.
We drove for 20 minutes before we reached another opening, this one the size of a large backyard, with a small circle of stones in the middle. Dad drove into the clearing and stopped the car right next to a tree with large branches of leaves cutting across the sky.
We got out of the car, slammed our doors and started unpacking the tents and bags.
***
Lunch. Cooking sausages over an open fire with a stick. Doesn't get anymore outdoor than that. Human food was almost as necessary as blood for vampires, but we could go without it for around a month, but by then would be just as weak as missing a hunting session.
The sausage was juicy with a crisp outside – Perfect. My mind flashed to a memory of sinking my razor sharp teeth into the wrist of one of my first victims. I felt my blood rush to my mouth, turning into a venom. I fought hard against the urge to jump at one of my family and swallowed the forming venom.
Vampire blood, when taken out of the bloodstream, slowly changes. If a vampire wished to kill its victim without draining it of blood, all they had to do was make them either swallow the venom, or inject it directly to their veins. It works as an acid, deteriorating the body from the inside out – but if a vampire wanted to turn someone, they had to get their blood into the to-be vampire before it forms to a venom.
A loud howl from the right side of me shook me from my evil thoughts of killing my family, and made me jump to my feet. Wolves. Why would wolves be here? Now? It was bright and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. Wolves didn't feed until dark. Something had to be wrong.
I saw Law come to the nearest trees and sign something to me – telling me it was OK and that the wolves weren't looking for food. Yet. I sat down on the ground again, ignoring the curious looks of my family.
The day passed quickly, and before I knew it, the sun had disappeared and had been replaced by the moon. My mother and father said goodnight and Nick asked if I was going to go to sleep aswell.
“Nah, I'll stay out here for a while longer. I'll be in soon.”
He nodded, opened the zip to the tent and climbed in. After only a minute or so, I could hear the faint sound of his light snore, signalling that he was asleep.
I was startled when the sound of crunching leaves broke into my ears. I looked up to find Law looking at me with a worried look.
I knew what this meant. The wolves where planning an attack – and we had to stop them.
We ran into the trees towards the sound of howling with our feet digging deep into the dirt. We stopped when we saw three large, grey wolves formed into a circle. They were barking softly to each other, taking care not to alert anyone of their presence. Organising their attack.
They stayed in a circle for at least 10 minutes, when they finally broke apart. I nearly leapt into the air. They started walking to where the campsite was, then ran. Law ran around them, to the opposite side that I was on, so we could take them down together from different angles.
Law made a kind of whistling sound and we both leapt at the same time, picking off the back two wolves. The other stayed on its track. We spat venom into the wolves mouths and stood up again, charging after the lone wolf.
***
It was at the campsite by the time we reached it, and my family were all staring at it in horror. It's mouth full of teeth bared to make it's growl look even more ferocious.
It made to run at my father, but I was faster. I ran into the wolf at full speed, unable to hold back a snarl ripping out of my throat. We ran into a tree and fell to the ground, both of us dazed by the impact.
The wolf recovered first, landing three thick, jagged claws into my abdomen, tearing my shirt and leaving three deep wounds that would hurt when the adrenaline in my system wore off. I raised my hand and clamped it around the neck of the beast, clenching my teeth as I gripped it tighter to keep me from ripping into its neck with them.
Just as I was about to finish the animal off, something ran into my arm, sending pain through my body as the bones in it shattered. I looked around to find the attacker, but saw nothing. I felt another stab of pain, this time in my ribs.
I let the wolf go and used my vampiric hearing and sense of smell to find what was doing this to me. Could the pain be my imagination? No, it felt too real.
“AGH!” I screamed as my left leg gave way, from another attack of my invisible assailant, shin bone snapping in two.
I listened again, this time hearing the panting from my right. It was getting ready to attack again. I twisted, and put out my hand to stop whatever it was.
It collided with my hand, breaking the bones, but I took the pain and grabbed with my other hand, twisting left, then right. I dropped the invisible attacker and laid down against the tree.
To my right, where the invisible beast was, something appeared out of nowhere. A large wolf, even larger than the others. I gasped as I realised what was happening. The wolves were not out to hunt. They were out to protect themselves, from Law and I – Wolves hate Vampires – and they thought my family were in with us to hunt them.
But how where they invisible?
“Wolves have powers like us,” Law said, appearing from the shadows, answering my un-spoken question. “I suppose they have more useful ones than us.” He chuckled.
***
We were driving home from the hospital, where I had been set in casts and braces to help my bones heal – though they would be fine in a matter of days rather than months due to my vampiric genes.
My family had been too terrified by the first wolf to recognise the second one and Law appear from nowhere, in fact, they hadn't noticed Law at all, they thought he was a figment of their imagination, and spoke of it to no one.
All was well, we returned home and when my bones had healed enough, Law and I started training again and neither Him nor my family mentioned the attack of the wolves again.
