A Grave Hunger Read online

  "You still with me?" he asked once we had reached the stairwell.

  I didn't answer. I couldn't. He could probably see the conflicting blank stare I wore. Visions of the ongoing war we'd just waltzed in the centre of flashed through my mind.

  We raced upwards, finally stopping at the summit. Stepping out into the lobby, we met Robert. Noticing an illuminated room at the end of the corridor, we followed the light.

  Two monstrosities emerged. They saw us, and without hesitation bolted in our direction. Robert threw his machete, decapitating the monster to the left before the other realised it had even happened. The monster came to a standstill in the centre of the corridor. Finlay smiled and waved goodbye. The animal looked at us with a tattered, confused look. Before we knew it, the imbecilic creature was also headless. We hustled into the room.

  My stomach churned at the sight that met us, and I battled against the impulse to scream. In the far end of the room lay five human bodies callously discarded in a heap. They lay drained and lifeless, faces frozen in terrified looks. I fought down feelings of nausea as I thought about their final moments.

  "Damn it, we are too late," Finlay yelled. He looked as disgusted as I felt.

  Tattered curtains billowed in the breeze from an open window. Robert stormed to the window and looked into the black night.

  "More are on their way up the fire escape. There are more of these bastards than I had thought. We need to get out of here!" Robert shouted, turning back around to face us.

  Robert paused in his rant. He looked to me with sobbing eyes and a gaping mouth. He swallowed once, and then blood appeared on his teeth.

  What happened? I backed away, unsure that what I was seeing was truth, or if this was all a dream. As I backed away, I heard a voice call out from behind me.

  "Robert, look out!" Ryan yelled.

  I turned to face him as he hollered out Robert's name a second time. His pistol was aimed at the vampire behind Robert. He pulled the trigger. I felt the wind of the shell cruise pass my face, I turned with the wind. From the darkness of the fire escape came a fiery flash. Finlay leaped in my direction, wrapped his body across mine and we hit the floor. The shell exploded.

  But Ryan was too late.

  It happened in slow motion. I never took my eyes off Robert. I watched him stand there with his arm extended toward us, his eyes bulging out of his skull. I reached out to him, feeling helpless, but he was too far from my reach. It was useless. There had to have been something I could do, but I did nothing but scream. Finlay cupped a firm palm over my mouth. I screamed and hollered Robert's name, wishing he would just walk toward me. I listened as Ryan's pistol released more explosive shells, his footsteps getting closer and closer. I watched as the shells detonated on their targets as more vampires streamed in through the window from the fire escape. And I watched as Robert was pulled from my sight. No, he was not pulled. He was snatched away through the window, into darkness, by claws and screams of torture. It all happened so suddenly.

  He was gone.

  He had saved our lives numerous times.

  And there was nothing we could do to save him just this once.

  I lay there stunned, not willing to accept what had happened. My mind had to be playing tricks on me. It couldn't be true. Robert couldn't be dead. My brain, dull and foggy from the shock, failed to process the events around me. They came in fragmented pieces, everything a blur. Finlay shouting, pulling me to my feet, dragging me as we ran out of the building. Luke and Ryan firing their guns. The smell of gun powder in the air. The sounds of screeching tyres as we raced from the scene.

  CHAPTER 19

  I was vaguely aware of Finlay sitting beside me on the bed in my motel room. I had no idea how long we had been there for. All concept of time was lost. We didn't speak. We didn't move. Both of us were wrapped in our despair. As the hours passed, my shock waned and turned into a devastating loss, which consumed me. Then the tears came. Uncontrollable, gut-wrenching sobs that tore through my chest and racked my body. Finlay held me, and we were both clinging to each other tightly, desperately trying to obtain a small measure of comfort. As the night slowly turned into day, exhaustion washed over me. As the darkness enveloped me, gradually my pain ebbed away.

  As I slept, my dreams came in a disorganised jumble, all events and images obliterated upon waking, except one. Robert was standing with his back to me at the end of a long, dark alley. The dull light from the moon illuminated his dark form. I called out to him, but he didn't answer, didn't face me. The smell of death hung heavy in the air and I realised that we weren't alone. A pair of vampires was approaching, slowly edging closer to him. Their long black coats trailed through the puddles that covered the ground. Eyes as black as coal regarded Robert with interest. I screamed out to him, frantically trying to run to his aid, but my legs felt sluggish, moving painstakingly slowly as if I was wading through water. I trudged forward frantically until it felt like my lungs would burst, but I couldn't make my body move fast enough. I cried and yelled helplessly as the vampires finally reached him. Instead of attacking, they flanked him as though protecting him from my arrival. It was then that he turned to face me. A lopsided grin spread across his face showing a set of razor sharp teeth glistening in the moonlight. He licked a trail of blood dripping from the side of his open mouth.

  "You're too late," he stated simply.

  I lay alone in the empty bed repeating the dream in my head, unable to clear the images that haunted me. Finlay must have left when I had fallen asleep. I decided to give him some time alone to sort out his feelings. Also, I didn't think I could control my emotions and that wasn't fair to him. He was there for my hysterics last night. He was the strong one that had held it together while I had screamed and cried. I was determined to return the favour for him, and I didn't feel able to do that just yet.

  I was pulled from my thoughts by a knocking at the door. Luke and Ryan stood in the doorway looking exhausted. They still wore the clothes they had been wearing last night. They were torn and stained with dirt, dust and blood.

  "Hi, come in," I mumbled. I tried to force a smile, but the movement was lost on my lips.

  "Hi, Leah. I'm so sorry about Robert. I know how much he meant to you," Luke said. Emotion tinged his voice.

  "Thanks. I know he meant a lot to both of you too."

  They nodded grimly.

  "We went back this morning to do the clear up. All the remaining vamps have fled," Ryan explained.

  I hadn't even thought about cleaning the scene. I was too focused on the loss of Robert.

  "Thanks, guys. I'm sorry that you had to do that. It must have taken hours to clear up a scene that size."

  "Don't worry ‘bout it. We got some help. Called in some favours," Luke explained.

  Ryan shuffled nervously. "Leah, we found Robert's body."

  "We put in an anonymous call to the police, said we found a body. He's down at the city morgue. I can go down and ID the body if you want? We can organise the funeral too."

  I nodded, looking at the floor. I couldn’t answer. I knew my voice would break if I spoke.

  Ryan threw his arm around me and gave me a quick squeeze.

  "I really appreciate all you have done, but it's ok. I'll ID him and organise the funeral," I replied, finally speaking.

  "How's Finlay doing? Robert was like a father to him. He must be taking it pretty hard," Luke asked, breaking the silence.

  "I honestly don't know. He disappeared a few hours back. I'm giving him some space."

  They nodded in agreement.

  "We'd better head off. You know where we are if you need us," Luke said, giving me a hug.

  "Thanks guys. I'll give you a call with the funeral arrangements."

  I walked them out to their car. I stopped short when I saw Robert's car parked next to Luke's.

  "I almost forgot. We picked up Robert's car. Thought that you might want it," Ryan mumbled, throwing me the keys.

  They drove off, sending me
a quick wave.

  An icy chill wrapped itself around my heart as I stared at the car keys in my hand.

  CHAPTER 20

  I paced up and down my small motel room restlessly. I was climbing the walls. I wished Finlay were here with me to hold my hand and tell me everything would be ok, even though I knew it wouldn't be. The shock from Robert's death had now worn off. The numbness had been replaced by a constant nausea as the visions of his final moments kept replaying in my head, as if on constant repeat. It had been two weeks since Robert had died, two weeks since I last saw Finlay. I had stood by my word and had given him space. I hadn't tried to contact him for days, but enough was enough. I had to speak to him. We had to bury Robert. I had put off the funeral as long as I could. The funeral was now set for tomorrow.

  I reached for my phone and punched in Finlay's number, cursing quietly when I heard the recorded voice telling me to leave a message. I gave details of tomorrow's funeral, pleaded with him to come home, and then hung up. Where the hell was he?

  The last few weeks were beginning to take its toll on me. I had kept myself busy. I had been caught in the whirlwind of funeral planning, falling into bed exhausted each night, not allowing myself to think about my loss. But now that the funeral was tomorrow, everything was organised. I had no other tasks to preoccupy me, and I was starting to unravel. I could feel the depression slowly creep over me. I climbed into bed, wrapping the covers tightly around me and cried until I had nothing left to give.

  *****

  My eyes snapped open, it took me a moment to realise where I was. The room was dark and imposing. Shadows danced on the walls in eerie displays, serving to increase the intense panic that had already sent adrenaline pumping through my body and my heart racing at double speed. My hand shook as I reached for the bedside light. Clicking it on, I willed my heart to stop pounding. It sounded like a jack hammer in my ears. I desperately tried to clear my head, but my recurring dream ricocheted around my skull. I couldn't save him. Robert was gone. My family was gone and god only knew if Finlay would be back. I swung my legs off the side of the bed, curled over on to my knees, laid my head in my hands, and broke down. I sobbed until my breaths came in ragged bursts and my body shook. I reached my phone and checked the screen. Nothing from Finlay. Giving up on sleep, I got up and reached for my laptop. I needed a distraction, something to keep my mind off what I had to do today. Switching it on, I logged onto the local news website. The headline had my full attention.

  ANIMAL ATTACK OR DEVIL WORSHIP?

  SLAYINGS HAVE POLICE BAFFLED

  The body of local resident Heather Reid, 28, was found by police in the early hours of Thursday morning. Our news sources say that a young woman named Chloe Smith of Ithaca awoke to gurgling screams that appeared to come from an alley behind her apartment building. "It was horrid," she tells Nick Sales, a reporter from Ithaca Times. "I was in bed asleep, and then suddenly I wake up with my dog barking like a maniac. I got up to go look out my bedroom window, and then I heard the screams! I had never heard a person being hurt before. I haven't gone back to sleep since."

  The New York Police Department has been extremely confused as of late, this incident is only the latest in a string of seemly connected murders. In the last ten days there has been a staggering 51 unsolved deaths in the city of Ithaca. All the bodies have been found with a single wound on their necks, their bodies drained of blood. Investigators state that the attacks were extremely violent.

  The families of the dead and the public are clamouring for answers. Who did this? Was it a gang? Terrorist Attack? The police's official statement on these deaths was ruled as accidental. The cause of death? Severe blood loss due to the victims being mauled by a wild animal, such as a coyote. However, the evidence conflicts this ruling. The reports are that every crime scene had been cleaned of any evidence. There was no blood, DNA or animal fur discovered at any of the 51 crime scenes, which points to the possibility of a human perpetrator. The local police force is working to quell the rapid rumours circulating that the recent number of deaths in the area are at the hands of Satan worshippers, after the police reports of the death of Susan Lawrence was leaked to the media last week. The evidence stated in the leaked report conflicts with information officially released to the public.

  James Monroe, a member of the local Devil Worshipping Cult, believes the work is a sort of "shrine to the devil" done by rogue members of their cult.

  Police statements and evidence are conflicting. Is there a vicious wild animal roaming our streets or a gang of serial killers, bent on worshipping the Devil? With so many unanswered questions, only one conclusion is irrefutable: Something evil is terrorising our city.

  This definitely smelled of vampire activity. How could I have missed this? Had I been wrapped up so much in my own grief that I was oblivious to the events around me? Guilt washed over me. I had been selfish. I had only been thinking about my own grief, and now there were countless other families going through the same. I vowed to try and stop these monsters before anyone else suffered this heartache, but first I had to get through today. The thought filled me with dread.

  *****

  I stepped out of Robert's beat-up Ford Prefect and looked up. Dark, angry clouds hung heavily in the sky. It was perfect weather for a funeral, and it matched my sombre, miserable mood. My three inch heels sunk into the grass as I approached the funeral plot. I was dressed in my best black dress, looking very respectful and sophisticated. If Robert were here I knew he would make a joke about me looking like a normal girl, since he always saw me in my hunter’s getup. It made me smile.

  I looked around at the crowd that had gathered around the funeral plot. Most of the crowd was what you would expect at a funeral: very solemn looking people, dressed in black, but there were a few typical hunter types. They were mainly men, and scruffy looking, dressed in jeans, leathers and biker boots. I thought out of everyone here Robert would appreciate the more casually dressed guests.

  I scanned the crowd looking for Finlay, cursing quietly under my breath when I didn't see him.

  The rain started to fall just as the service was about the end. Large, heavy drops dispersed the crowd, until I was the only person left. The rain drummed against the gravestones like a hail of bullets, but I didn't move. The cool, spring rain lashed my skin, and it trickled into my eyes and soaked through my dress. It was almost as though it was cleansing me of all the pain and loss I had experienced over the last few weeks.

  The combination of the biting wind and the wet clothes clinging to my body sent me shivering furiously against the cold. Time passed. How much time? I wasn't sure. I wrapped my arms tightly around my shivering body. It did nothing to alleviate the coldness in my body or my heart. I suddenly felt exhausted. The emotions of the day finally hit me. I had the urge to crawl into bed and stay there until the pain clawing through my chest retreated. Instead, I decided to put all my hurt and pain into something worthwhile. I would start hunting again. I turned and made my way back to Robert's car, sending one final remorseful glance over my shoulder to the gravestone as I went.

  Back in the car, I drove on auto pilot, fingers drumming impatiently against the wheel as I sat in traffic. If I was going to get back into hunting there was one place I needed to go - Robert's house. I dreaded going back there. I knew that his house would be haunted by his memory, but if I was going to return to hunting I would need to go back. His house held everything I would need: weapons, a space I could train or work out and everything I would need to track the vampires. I pulled into his long, secluded driveway, hearing the gravel path crunch under the car's tyres. Parking, I let my gaze drift to the dense woodland surrounding the property. Tall, robust trees stood guard, shielding the property from the outside world. It gave me some small sense of comfort, as though the thick growth was acting as guardian, protecting me from the horrors of the world.

  I snapped out of my daydream and stared up at the house, remembering the last time I had been here. Guilt flooded m
y body.

  "I'm so sorry I couldn't help you, Robert," I said aloud.

  I pushed aside the emotions burning in my chest and headed for the door. I stopped short when I reached the porch. It was littered with newspapers dumped carelessly in haphazard piles. There must be at least one hundred papers scattered around. I had forgotten to cancel Robert's many subscriptions to local papers when he died. Well, at least I had a place to start my research for vampire activity.

  The next four hours were spent searching through newspaper reports and hacking into the police database looking for information on the murders in the area. Three cups of coffee and a splitting headache later, I felt as though I had finally achieved something.

  I had created a time line of the murders by pinning up a profile of each murder on the wall of Robert's living room. Under each name I had pinned a newspaper article, police report and had recorded notes about each victim's age, sex, cause of death and any other information that I thought would be pertinent.