Kenzie fell down and watched in utter disbelief as the human police officers tried to shoot bullets through three vampires. Isaiah managed to get Xander into a headlock and then snapped his neck right in half.
"Dismemberment," Kenzie said out loud, "I knew it."
But no one heard her over all the noise. Which was just as well because she was sure she might also go into hysterics if she didn't stay calm.
One of the police officers got jumped by Dante, and unfortunately he got bitten in the arm. But Isaiah knocked him off before he could drink the officer's blood. More shooting ensued but the bullets didn't hurt the vampires at all.
Serrina was crossing the room to get to Isaiah. Kenzie yelled, "Isaiah, look out!" but it was too late. Serrina pulled Isaiah off Dante and flung him into a corner, where he collapsed. Kenzie ran over to him as the shooting continued to no avail. Once Carson recognized Serrina, he began emptying his pistol into her chest. But his efforts were futile.
"You haven't been upholding the law at all, have you?" he demanded.
Serrina just laughed and said, "As if I'd conform to the regulations of mere humans."
She then ran over to Carson in a flash and had him by the throat. Another officer was bitten by Dante. But he didn't drain the blood of this man, either. This distracted Serrina long enough to release her death grip on Carson, letting him fall to the floor where he lay unconscious.
"Dante, what are you doing?" she asked her oldest son. "Drink to your heart's content!"
"Of course. I just want to see these puny humans suffer before I drain their life."
"Why's that?"
"They corrupted my brother."
Serrina smiled approvingly. "Of course. It's the fault of these humans for filling Isaiah's head with nonsense. Had the world been composed of nothing but vampires, he wouldn't feel sympathy for these beings."
Upon hearing his name, Isaiah stirred. Kenzie whispered, "You shouldn't move yet."
But Isaiah didn't listen. He stared at what was left of his family with anger in his eyes. Despite his injuries, he stood up and began walking toward Serrina and Dante. But they heard him approach.
"Killing me won't solve anything," Isaiah said. "You'll just be filled with regret for the rest of your immortal life, knowing you took the life of your son you wanted to keep with you so badly."
"Don't try to play me," Serrina said. "Had I known you would have been so ungrateful, I never would have changed you. Your brothers were grateful."
"Perhaps you should have consulted me first then."
At that moment, Isaiah leapt toward Dante. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him down to the ground. But Dante easily overpowered him, being older and stronger. He shoved Isaiah off of him, causing him to hit the brick wall across from them.
"Stop it!" Kenzie yelled as she stood up. "For crying out loud, he's your own flesh and blood! Why would you kill him? So what, he doesn't want to be a vampire. That means more blood for you to drink in the long run."
Serrina eyed Kenzie. "Surely you jest. He would only try to stop us."
"But why did you just now start drinking human blood?"
"We've been doing this for many years. It's only recently that we decided to inform humans of what awaited them by leaving the bodies strewn about."
"You had to have known you'd get caught eventually."
"And what of it? We listen to no one, especially humans. It would be easy to overcome them."
With that, Serrina bent down and picked up the knife dropped by Xander. She turned to Kenzie and said, "And now, my dear, I believe you've seen and know enough. Isaiah has come, but his foolishness cost him watching you die as he stood idly by. Dante, I do believe it's time for dinner. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes, Mother."
Serrina smiled and walked toward Kenzie. But in that moment, there was a flash as something zipped past Kenzie. She saw that it was Isaiah, somehow revived again. He moved with lightning speed as he disarmed his mother. He then jammed the knife into her neck. Serrina screamed in agony so loud that Kenzie had to cover her ears. Then Serrina's lifeless body hit the floor, her head twisted right off from the knife.
"How dare you?!" Dante yelled as he lunged at Isaiah.
But that distraction was all Isaiah needed. He collided his head with his brother's in a head butt, which caused him to release his grasp and stagger backward. Isaiah then grabbed the knife from the ground and lunged at Dante. But Dante was once again too fast, and moved out of the way just in time. Isaiah was at the coffin Kenzie had been tied up on, and he seemed to be looking at something.
"Lose your focus, brother?" Dante taunted.
Isaiah turned around and hurled the knife at his older brother, who dodged it. But in dodging it, he landed right into Isaiah's waiting fist. The punch knocked Dante back once more and Isaiah then lunged forward and plunged something into Dante's heart. Dante made a gasping sound and he fell to his knees. Isaiah pulled the object out and Kenzie was shocked to see that it was a wooden stake. How fortuitous that there was a wooden stake at the scene of a vampire brawl.
But that good fortune changed when Isaiah turned away from Dante, who had collapsed on the floor. Isaiah began walking toward Kenzie when Dante rose up a final time. He pulled his younger brother down by grabbing his arm, and his surprise attack caught Isaiah off guard. When he was at the right height, Dante plunged the wooden stake that had been dropped on the floor into Isaiah's chest.
"No!" Kenzie screamed as she ran toward the two vampires. But it was too late. Isaiah began gasping in a similar manner to that of Dante, and Dante finally faded away.
"Isaiah, hold on!" Kenzie said. She went to grab her cell phone, but remembered that she'd dropped it when she'd been abducted by Isaiah's family.
"It's all right," Isaiah said as he lay down and held Kenzie's hand in his. "I can finally stop living this life that I hate."
"But the cure!"
"There's no time. And even if there was, it would only cure vampirism, not death."
"Isaiah, please. There has to be something we can do."
"A stake through the heart is the most effective way to kill a vampire. Didn't you learn anything from the movies?"
Isaiah smiled his toothy grin and Kenzie began crying as she clutched Isaiah's hand. Why must she be such a hopeless romantic?
"Take care of yourself, Kenzie," Isaiah said. "Live life to its fullest. You only have one chance."
"I will. Thank you, Isaiah."
Isaiah caressed Kenzie's cheek briefly before both of his hands went limp. His eyes fluttered closed and his breathing subsided. Kenzie closed her eyes and let the tears come.
*****
"It's a real shame," Carson said from his hospital bed. "We're going to miss Isaiah."
"What are you going to do with vampire criminals now?" Kenzie said from the chair next to the bed.
"Honestly, we can't do anything. Thanks to the press, they know they can overpower us if they want to. So they're basically calling a peace treaty. They won't kill us but they won't follow our laws. They'll stick to plasma juice and fruit but we have no right to tell them what they can and can't do because they think they're superior."
"Just what the world needs."
"Yeah, but we'll take what we can get. I'm just glad this case is over."
"I am too."
"The press also released the big secret of the vampirism cure. But oddly enough, the vampires don't seem to be threatened by it. But it did thankfully work on Cecelia and all the other people who got turned into vampires against their will. Oh, and the officer that got bit in the mausoleum took the cure and he's been fine."
"That's great! Any news on Valerie and Margo?"
"Some things never change, and that's one of them. Even after all that's happened, Valerie insists she'd be a 'good' vampire and wouldn't hurt people. She doesn't like the concept of drinking blood, just the idea of getting into Plasma 501 and having super speed and the ability to read minds."
"She's just a teenager. Maybe it'll all blow over someday."
"I hope so. But anyway, you'll be heading back home today, then?"
"Yeah, I'll be heading back pretty soon. My parents are eager to see me back in one piece."
"Well I sure thank you for your help. Did you talk to the mayor?"
"Yeah, she thanked me and gave me a reward, even though I told her she didn't have to. But she's glad to have a lot of people back in town. Since the killer vampires are gone, people moved back. And tourism is coming up again."
"Very good."
"There's one thing I don't get though," Kenzie admitted. "How did Isaiah manage to find a wooden stake, and at a very crucial point?"
"For some reason, kids and teenagers like Valerie love to hang out at that cemetery. It wouldn't surprise me if one of them left it in there without realizing it, since they're growing up in a town full of vampires."
"Pretty convenient."
"You're right, but I don't think we'll ever know the full story on that."
"And another thing," Kenzie added. "How did Isaiah even know where to find me?"
"After your call got disconnected, he finally reached me. He told me what happened, so I told him you were probably still at Waylon's. He must have gone there and followed your scent. All five senses are heightened for vampires, so it would have been easy. I told him to wait for us but he was adamant to get there as soon as possible."
"Probably because he had a hunch his family was going to have me for lunch."
"Most likely."
"But what about Cecelia? Wasn't he with her?"
"Yeah, he left her at the station with Officer Biggs and Allison. They gave her the cure while he took off."
"I bet Cecelia was afraid of hurting them."
"She was, but she told me earlier, when she came to visit with her parents to thank me, that she was determined to control herself at the time because the nightmare would be over soon. And she succeeded."
"Is her father going to get into trouble?"
"Not likely, it wasn't illegal what he and the science facility was doing, and he's just grateful his daughter's okay."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"I am too."
At last, Kenzie stood up and said, "Well, it was nice meeting you, and I was glad I was able to help. But I better get home."
"Sure you don't want to stay for an extended vacation?"
"No thanks, I think I've seen enough of Bridgeport for a while. No offense. I'll probably be back someday though when I get an actual vacation."
"All right, but if you ever need anything, you don't hesitate to call. Mind if I call you if we ever have another case?"
"Sure, as long as it doesn't involve vampires, at least for a while."
"Fair enough. I'll see you Kenzie."
"Bye."
Kenzie left the hospital and headed out to her packed car. The process of carrying her suitcases had been more difficult this time without Isaiah's help. She'd had to make multiple trips in order to get them all down to her car.
Kenzie missed Isaiah a lot already. She wasn't sure if she'd begun to have romantic feelings for Isaiah or if they truly were just feelings of a very strong friendship. She'd probably never know. But one thing was for certain - he'd touched her life in ways no one else could. That's why she'd purchased a vampire gnome at the local store, just as a cute souvenir to remember her favorite vampire by.
Although after this adventure, she liked wolves even more. They always worked in packs and didn't go rogue. She'd take werewolves, if they existed, over vampires any day.
As she turned off the main road and headed back to Riverview, Kenzie looked up at the sky. The sun was shining bright and it was hard to tell there had been rain the previous day. She'd always been able to see shapes in the clouds. She smiled when she saw one that looked like a bat.
Much as she'd miss Bridgeport, Kenzie was looking forward to being back home again. Her town was safer due to its lack of vampires, although criminals did occasionally run about. But whatever the case, Kenzie was determined to take it. And she'd always be there ready for anyone who needed her help.
THE END
Awww I was hoping he would make it.
ReplyDeletelol Well this is the first version; the revamped version is the "actual" story; I changed my mind after a while, so I just rewrote it since I had certain plans in mind. :p You'll see what I mean in Burden of Proof. :) Thanks for reading!
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