The Secrets of Lore Seymour

16. Wolves Hunt Sheep

"Were you bitten?" I ask, grasping the man to inspect for injury. None of the blood belongs to him.

"No, no, but someone was. A co-worker and I took a shortcut home through an alley and she came out of nowhere!" The man exclaims. Another scream bellows from the street he originated from.

"What did she look like? What direction did she go in?"

"Uh, I don't know. It happened so fast, um, she... she had black hair, red eyes, and I think a plain black coat."

"Thanks. Now get out of here," I order, grasping the axe on my back.

Adrenaline courses through me. A sense of familiarity, of strength, of knowing what to do after all this time seemingly stuck in place. My body moves on instincts alone. Speeding around the corner, I discover a crowd hovering around an alleyway. Someone shouts from a shop nearby that an ambulance is already on the way.

"Make way!" I shout, pushing through the crowd that parts for me upon realizing what I am.

Faithful pray and wish me luck as I lean over the body sprawled out in the back of the alley. There's no light here. A young man around my age lays motionless. His eyes grow dim. Blood stains his neck where his veins bulge out of his skin. He's barely breathing. Someone else may have seen and spooked the vampire off from feeding on both her prey. She's bold or mad to have done this so openly.

I press my fingers against his blood. Rubbing the warm substance between my fingers, I imagine myself chasing after this scent like wolves on a fresh kill. My senses amplify. Sounds, scents, and colors threaten to drown me. Then I see the vampire as if she were in front of me; a woman with black hair and red eyes in a black coat hurrying through a crowded street two blocks away.

"Paladin of the Holy Church," someone whispers, approaching me. She wrings her hands together fearfully. "You will find the vampire who did this, won't you?"

"Of course. Keep watch over him until the ambulance arrives," I order, then hurry around the corner.

Lore waits, leaning against one of the buildings. He presses a hand to my chest when I try to pass him. Huffing, I smack the hand away, then guffaw when he has the audacity to ask, "Shouldn't we let the officers handle this?"

"Shouldn't you let them handle Ayden's case?" I argue, impressed with myself for managing to silence Lore. "I don't have time for this. She's amped up on his blood and she'll crave more, if she wasn't already in a bloodlust prior to the attack. I'm not waiting for her to get away when I'm here to stop monsters like her."

Lore holds up his hands in surrender. "Be on your way then, Paladin of the Holy Church."

I do exactly that, pushing Lore out of the way to find my target. She's three blocks away thanks to his interruption. Crowds move through the streets, oblivious to the monster among them. Creating a lasso of golden light in my grasp, I latch onto a nearby chimney and leap over the crowds. The cool evening air bites at my cheeks. The wind whistles through my hair. Blood rushes through my veins. The confusion of Lore and the mission fades to something simple, to something I've always known. There's a monster and I have to get rid of it. That's what I'm best at. It has been what I've done for almost a decade now, what I've trained to do for even longer. I've walked this path a thousand times.

The vampire glides through the crowded town square nonchalantly, like she hadn't nearly killed a man. I can't risk her catching me when she's in the crowd. There's no telling what she'll do to those nearby in a desperate attempt to flee. I conceal myself among the rooftops, observing from a distance.

The sun sets. Crowds thin. I've followed her to a quiet side of town where small homes sit nestled together. If I attack, she could damage the homes and harm those inside. I need to get her somewhere in the open, a park or an abandoned home. But then a woman and her daughter come around the corner. The vampire approaches them, her eyes wild. When the vampire grabs the child. She bares her fangs, making them both scream. I'm left with no other options than to make my move.