Changing

      The second I closed the door, I knew something wasn’t right. Everything was silent. There was neither laughter from the kids playing at the park, nor rustling from the wind moving the trees, though I could plainly see both. The stench of sulfur saturated the air. Tiffany had froze at the top of the porch steps, her gaze locked on two hooded figures across the street. They wore long black cloaks that swished in the wind, but no sound came with the movement. Their faces were hidden in shadows, but I could clearly see their scarlet eyes shimmering brightly. I knew they weren’t human, but they didn’t resemble what I thought were vampires. Tiffany and I both had blue eyes.

      “What are they?” I ask quietly.

      “Demons. They normally leave us vampires alone, only making appearances when one reveals their self to a human. I don’t know what they are doing here now. Neither of us have,” she whispered back.

      One of the figures stepped forward and lowered his hood. His appearance shocked me. He seemed human, except for the eyes. He had his long black hair parted around his face. His skin was old and dry. Then he smiled, at least I think it was suppose to be a smile. It looked more like a twisted grimace. He exposed a full set of sharpened teeth.

      “Jacob Smith, we’ve come to claim your soul,” the figure informed in a raspy voice.

      I was sure he wasn’t kidding, but for some strange reason I started laughing. The creatures eyes narrowed.

      “If you find that funny then I’m sure you’ll get a kick out of this,” he replied, slipping into a crouch. My laughter stopped, but the smile never left my face.

      I’m not a violent person, so it surprised me that I was eager for him to lunge. It was as if I hungered for it. The other creature let her hood fall back. Her hair was also black. It flowed down to her shoulders. Her skin was wrinkled and cracked in a few places.

      The two entities lunged at the same moment, the male aimed at me while the female targeted Tiffany. Their hands raised from under their cloaks and extended in front of them, fingers curving into vicious talons. I lunged at the male figure, colliding with him in the air. He locked his long tendril like fingers around my neck, choking me. I could feel my teeth change into fangs again. My fingers wound into his cloak, and using the fact that we were still in the air, arched my back and flipped us so that we were head first while we plunged towards the middle of the street. Snarls tore through the air as the four of us combated. He removed one of his hands, pulling it back and aiming a strike at my heart. I seized my opportunity. With blinding speed and a defining crack, my fist connected with his jaw. I could feel the bone shatter underneath my knuckles. His howl of pain was cut short as I flipped myself right side up and placed my foot under his shattered jaw. I could feel his head smash on the ground, as well as hear the sickening squish of his brain tissue.

      His body stayed standing feet first on the pavement for another second before he turned to ash and the wind blew scattered them. I turned and saw Tiffany, her fangs also lowered, barely dodging the females swipes. Suddenly she landed a kick into Tiffany’s chest. I could hear the wind rush out of her lungs as she fell backwards. The demon turned and faced me. Pure fury radiated from her eyes.

      “I’m sorry, was I suppose to come quietly?” I ask in a taunting voice, smiling.

      A ferocious growl emitted from her lips as she lunged for my throat. Tiffany had recovered by then and grabbed the woman’s ankle and pulled her back. She leaped over the woman’s back and placed both feet on the back of her head. The sound of bone hitting pavement reverberated off the trees. The woman also turned to ashes. No trace of them was left behind.

As soon as the woman disintegrated, the sounds returned to normal. The sound of laughter made me remember the children down the street. Did they see anything? They continued to play as if nothing happened. To them, nothing had happened.

A mother called the children in to get some lunch. They continued to laugh as they raced each other inside. Soon it was just Tiffany and I standing in the road. We looked at each other and retracted our fangs.

      “Any idea what that was about?” I ask.

      “I don’t have a clue. That was so unusual. We have to get out of here,” she said hurriedly. She looked over my shoulder. Her eyes suddenly widened, her mouth slightly falling open. I turned and gasp as 50 cloaked figures stood in the street, scarlet eyes locked on the two of us.

      “Guess that good bye to Amber will have to wait,” I said as I backed up and stood beside Tiffany.

      “Jacob,” she whispered then shouted, “RUN!” I turned and bolted for the forest, Tiffany right on my heels.

      The trees whistled passed us as we flew through the forest. There really was no other way to describe it. We moved so fast that it felt like our feet never hit the ground. I had no idea if the figures were following us or not, but I wasn’t going to stop and find out. My muscles never tired, and my breathing didn’t even change from the effort.

      I don’t know how far we actually ran but after about an hour of nonstop running at unimaginable speeds, Tiffany finally spoke.

      “I don’t think they are following us.”

I slowed to match her speed. I listened closely for any signs of pursuit, but heard nothing that sounded like cloaks swishing in the wind or breathing. We looked at each other and slowed to a stop. We listened intently for anything, but all we heard was a bird in the trees about a mile ahead of us, a squirrel squeaking merrily as he stashed his nuts for the winter, and a swarm of flies buzzing around an antelope carcass. Just everyday in the forest.

      “We need to find a place to stay,” I stated.

      “Don’t worry, I have everything we need in my bag,” Tiffany said while she pulled off the azure backpack that contained the picture of my parents.

      We worked in silence for a while. But I had a few questions I wanted to ask.

      “We are vampires, right?” I ask breaking the silence.

      “Well, I am. I’m not entirely sure if you are, but for now we’ll just say you’re one of us,” Tiffany replied.

      “Do we drink human blood?”

      She looked at me, the worry on my face evident. She spoke slowly, and chose each word carefully. “It’s optional. We can survive on animal blood, but human blood is more satisfying.”

      “Have you drank a humans blood before?”

      She turned her face away. “Once. It was before I actually knew what was going on,” she answered in a voice so sad that I knew she deeply regretted it.

      “How did you become a vampire?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

      She laughed. It was a sad, bitter laugh. She looked deep into the forest, but I could tell she was seeing an entirely different scene.

      “It was just over a year ago. I was with my boyfriend in Seattle. We were coming back from dinner, the sun had just finished setting. He took me home, but said he couldn’t stay because he had to be at work in the morning. I said good night and went to get a bath. There was a noise outside the bathroom door, I thought it was Jeff playing games,” she laughed another sad laugh, “I opened the door to surprise him. It wasn’t Jeff. All I saw was piercing blue eyes before someone grabbed me and,” she paused and looked at me. She must have saw the anxiousness in my face. “Well, lets just say it wasn’t pleasant. But Jeff must not have left yet and had heard my screams. He ran up the stairs and saw me laying there, half dead and bleeding. I was barely conscious but I heard him gasp, and whoever was on top of me whirled around and attacked him. He didn’t stand a chance. I heard his neck snap just before I lost consciousness.

      “When I awoke, the marks on my neck were gone, and so was Jeff. My eyes were the same blue as I had saw the night before. I wandered into woods near by, following Jeff’s scent. I came across a stray hiker, and the fire in my throat suddenly flared.” She looked at me with sad eyes. “I couldn’t stop myself. Before I knew it, he was dead, and I was covered in his blood. That’s when I met a vampire named Tine. She heard the commotion and smelled the blood. She found me curled up and in shock. She could tell that I was new, so she explained things to me. She had chosen to live off of animal blood a long time ago. I stayed with her till I heard about ambers party. I decided to come visit. Tine decided it would be best if she didn’t go.” She let out a long sigh. “I’m hoping to find her again, she might be able to explain why the demons are after you.”

      By the tone of her voice, I could tell she didn’t want to talk anymore, so I held my other questions for later. We continued to work in silence.

      In no time at all, we had a tent and a fire going. A small ray of sunlight shone through the trees near Tiffany. She hissed and jumped into the tent. “I’m going to sleep for a while. Wake me when its night fall,” she grumbled.

      We both froze when a low crunch in the trees above indicated someone there. There was a sound of clothes swishing in the air as a figure jumped down from the top of the tree and landed lightly between the Tiffany and I. We both hissed as the figure turned towards me. Her eyes looked directly into mine. “We’ve been waiting for you,” she whispered.