Trouble Times Three - A Dusty The Demon Hunter Story - part 1

Dusty woke and was alert in an instant. What had woken her? She tried to think. She lay in her bed and looked up at the ceiling, looking at the darkness. Sometimes it was so dark that she didn’t know if her eyes were open or not. She loved living in the middle of the woods; there was no light pollution that reached this far into the seclusion. The only time lights swept across her ceiling was if grandad’s car arrived and because both her grandparents were at a convention for the week, there was no chance of that.

She wondered what it had been that had jolted her awake. After a while she found herself drifting back to sleep but she was yanked out of her warm and comfortable pre-sleep state by a noise, and she realised that it was the same sound that had woken her. It was an unearthly, high-pitched squeal, similar perhaps to the sound a bat makes if the sound could be brought down to a lower pitch for human hearing on a wildlife TV show, for example.

It didn’t sound like a bat’s call however, and she wondered what on earth it could be. She pushed her bedcovers back, slipped out of bed and padded across to the window. The long open driveway stretched before her window and she could see nothing that would have made the noise. She was about to turn around and get back under the warm covers when the back of her neck shivered and the short hairs on her arms stood on end. There was a man in the middle of the drive. He had appeared there all of a sudden. She didn’t know where he had come from or what he was doing there but he was looking right up at her window, and her eyes grew wide in fear and amazement. Her demon blood vibrated in her veins as it was pumped faster by her racing heart and she could feel her eyes alter.

It was when they changed that the man moved. He moved so fast that if she had been fully human, she wouldn’t have been able to follow his progress even though he took a direct course to appear right up at her window.

He looked at her as though he was examining something on an experimental slide in a lab. His head tilted to the side so he could get a different perspective and he didn’t seem to think that he was doing anything wrong.

“How can you see me?” he asked through the glass.

“Why wouldn’t I be able to see you?” Dusty asked her own question. She saw the pointed teeth as he smiled, and she realised what the creature was. Vampire.

“May I come in to talk with you?” His voice was seductive, even though part of her was immune to his glamouring, and she knew how difficult it would be for a full human to resist his charms.

“I don’t think so,” she told him and smiled. She allowed her eyes to change back to their usual, non-demonised state and his eyes opened a little wider, as he was surprised by the action.

“What are you, part-demon?”

She didn’t say a word but she nodded her head once and smiled. He knew that she was no ordinary girl that he could beguile and take advantage of.

Dusty’s brow furrowed as she thought whether she had heard of any vampire attacks in the area. Nothing came to mind and she decided that he couldn’t do anything to her whilst she was safe in the house; there were far too many items of protection surrounding it, not to mention the fact that he couldn’t cross the threshold without invitation.

She had turned away from the window to return to her bed when he knocked on the glass to get her attention.

“Don’t go. I don’t want to harm you. May we talk?” His voice had altered in its timbre and she knew that he had dropped the idea that he could glamour her – for the moment at least.

He smiled when she came back, draped in her quilt to sit on the wide window ledge. “Open the window?”

“No, not just yet,” she said. “Maybe when I get to know you a little better.”

He nodded acceptance and smiled again. “My name is Jerik, it means ‘city of the moon’.”

Dusty knew that by giving his name, he was showing that he was not trying to trap her in any way and she could trust him at least a little.

“And you’re a vampire,” she said, more to see what his reaction would be than for any other reason.

“Yes, I’m a vampire and I understand why you are reluctant to give me your name. If I knew your name it would give me a little more knowledge about you than you are comfortable with me possessing. That is fair; I shall wait until you are comfortable enough with me to share that knowledge.” He smiled again and Dusty was fascinated by the tiny pointed teeth that she glimpsed.

“Show me your teeth please,” she said.

“If you show me your eyes again,” he answered.

Dusty altered her eyes so that the iris looked as though it had a ring of flame surrounding it, then the dark hazel colour changed to red and it looked exactly as though there was a light being shone behind her eyes, and the vampire gasped. She heard the sound even through the glass and his surprise made her grin. “Now show me your teeth.”

He opened his mouth far wider than it was possible for a human to; it seemed to be opening wider and wider and she was mesmerised. His jaw seemed to unhinge like a snake’s and to her amazement, there were far more teeth in that mouth than she had assumed before. They stretched back almost to his throat and there were rows of them. Row upon row of sharp, glistening teeth... she found herself moving forward, closer to him, in order to get a better look. She bumped her nose on the window pane and surprised herself out of her fascination. Jerik’s appearance snapped back to normal and she realised what he had done. He didn’t have teeth that went on to the back of his head almost. He had ordinary, if exceptionally white teeth, with the usual four pointed ones, the same as she had always imagined a vampire to have. Then she became annoyed.

“Hey, if you want to find out what my name is, you must promise me on your honour that you’ll stop trying to glamour me!”

He looked ashamed then and to Dusty’s surprise, he apologised.

“On my honour, I promise to never glamour you again. But you have to admit, I did well.” He grinned and she could see that he was an eternal teenager. No matter how old he became in years, his outlook and attitude would be forever stuck as an energetic and mischievous teen.

She grinned too, pulled the quilt tighter around her shoulders and stood up.

His grin disappeared when he saw that she was leaving him. “Hey, don’t go.”

“I’m tired, I need some sleep, but I’ll be here tomorrow night and if you promise to behave and call around a little earlier, I may just join you outside.” Dusty closed the curtains on him. He was pulling faces at her as she did and he made her laugh. “See you tomorrow, Jerik.” She pulled the curtain back a little in order to watch him leave. She might be beginning to like the vampire but she wasn’t about to trust him, and she certainly didn’t want him watching her as she slept, that was way too creepy.

The next day, Dusty did housework. She cleaned the kitchen thoroughly; she flicked a duster around the living room and vacuumed all of the carpets. She paid particular attention to her own room and her grandparents’ bedroom; she knew how vital it was for there to be no chance of contamination if she had to perform a ceremony to travel on the astral plane. If she took even the most microscopic speck of dirt with her into her circle of salt as she began her ceremonies, she risked extreme danger to herself. Dirt could harbour not only germs but other nasties and she never took any chances with her own safety.

The bathroom was easy, it needed little attention and she was done.

She felt pleased with her efforts and knew that she’d be guilt-free and better able to enjoy her free time for the rest of the day.

That was when her thoughts went back to the previous evening’s adventure. She sat at the kitchen table, sipping her tea and thinking over the conversation she’d had with the strange young man. She remembered that he’d tried to glamour her and she realised that she was not as immune to supernatural influences as she had imagined. Then she decided to use the mental link that she was developing with Hunter. She thought hard about him and as soon as she knew that he was on his way, she thought some more about the vampire.

When Hunter arrived, he found Dusty rummaging through cupboards and cabinets. He stood in the kitchen and watched her for a moment or two before he asked what she was looking for. He didn’t have long to wait for the answer; she’d found the garlic capsules and held them aloft in a triumphant stance. Hunter looked at the plastic container and wondered what she wanted garlic for.

“Are you expecting a sudden influx of vampires?” Hunter asked.

“Yes, actually.” Dusty placed the container on the table in front of Hunter and allowed him to take a closer look at the label. “Will they prevent a vampire from biting?”

Hunter read the ingredients and properties of the capsules and thought for a moment. “I think so but you’d have to take them on a regular basis before your body accumulated enough garlic to be effective.”

“That’s ok. I was planning on taking a handful now and two or three doses a day for the foreseeable future.” She took the capsules from Hunter, popped the top and tipped it up into her mouth. She had forgotten that the capsules were gel and would absorb the moisture in her mouth, and she was having difficulty in swallowing them.

Hunter laughed as her expression changed to realisation and she rushed to the sink to get water to wash them down with. She had done such a good job of cleaning that all the glasses were put away and she was forced to drink straight from the tap with her head under the stream of water. Hunter laughed more when she finally emerged. Her hair was dripping and she didn’t look at all dignified.

“What was that all about? The taste can’t be that bad that you had to down them before the capsules dissolved.”

“No, I suppose not, but if they had dissolved, then the garlic would have been noticeable on my breath.”

“I don’t mind a hint of garlic,” Hunter said. He stood up and crossed the kitchen to pull Dusty close to him. He leaned his head down for a kiss.

When they had finished their greeting, Dusty pushed him away so that she could speak to him without interruption.

“It’s not because of you that the garlic can’t be detected. I spoke with a vampire last night...”

“What? Where? You didn’t invite him in, did you? Did he bite you?” Hunter’s words were tripping over themselves in his concern.

“Calm down. I’m not that naive, you know. How do you know it was a male, anyway?”

“I didn’t, I guessed.”

“Well you guessed right. His name is Jerik and I don’t know much about him yet, except that he can glamour me.”

“Can he? He must be really old then. Vampires develop their skills slowly and glamouring is one that takes a really long time to perfect. It’s quite easy for them to glamour a human but a half-demon like you and me takes a lot of skill, especially if you’re prepared.”

“Yeah, that’s the thing. I thought I was prepared but he still managed to glamour me, so I guess I need practice. I thought that garlic couldn’t do any harm, especially if he couldn’t smell it.”

“Oh, he’ll still smell it. Vampires can smell garlic even before it seeps through your pores but if he does smell it, he’ll know that you’re wary and that’s good.”

Dusty thought about what she needed to do. “So what can protect me? I’d call my grandparents but I don’t want to spoil their conference. A cross?”

Hunter nodded.

Dusty continued with her list: “Silver?”

“That’s werewolves, not vampires.”

“Oh. Holy water then?”

“Sometimes it helps, but where can you get holy water from? Please don’t say ‘a church’ because the water in the font is not holy. It has to be blessed using the proper ceremonies and believe me, a priest that is willing to perform those ceremonies for anything out of the ordinary is very difficult to find.”

Dusty frowned at Hunter’s answer.

“Still, I don’t really want to kill him, I just want to protect myself.”

“Well, I suppose a cross and the garlic may be enough...” Hunter said.

“Oh, a stake!” she said.

“I didn’t think you wanted to kill him?”

“I don’t but if it comes down to him or me, I believe that opinion may change, rapidly.”

“Well it has to be a stake made from hawthorn wood to be effective.”

“Really? How do you know?”

Hunter didn’t answer; he looked at Dusty, raised his eyebrows, folded his arms and scowled at her.

“Oh, sorry,” she said when she realised that he was insulted that she didn’t understand just how knowledgeable he was. “I keep forgetting that you’re two centuries older than I am, so you’ll have far more information and experience in these matters.” She shrugged at him and smiled in a lop-sided apology. She was relieved to see his icy expression melt.

“What else do you want? Would you like me to stick around to make sure you’re safe?” He asked at last.

Dusty’s eyebrows almost met in the middle as she frowned. She seemed to be thinking on Hunter’s offer and he was almost convinced that she was going to tell him that she didn’t need his body-guarding service when she nodded and said a very quiet: “Yes please, I’d feel safer if you were there.”

Hunter was a little surprised that she was admitting to him that she was bothered by the vampire’s appearance at her house.

“Don’t you like vampires?” Hunter asked, half-joking.

“No. I don’t know enough about them. My grandparents have studied demons and mythological beasts but not fairy stories such as vampires and werewolves and the like.”

“Fairy stories?” Hunter made Dusty jump a little with his exclamation. She hadn’t expected such an incredulous reaction from him.

“I know they aren’t fairy stories but...” Dusty started to speak but Hunter flapped his hand at her and she went quiet.

“They certainly aren’t fairy stories! The fairies are bad but vampires are much worse. You know that the legends and stories that humans have revelled in telling over the centuries have some basis in truth, but vampires have survived this long because they are clever. They are highly intelligent killing machines. So are werewolves for that matter, but I don’t think we have any of those around here. There’s no scent of them, at least.” Hunter was animated as he was telling her these details. He was striding around the kitchen, waving his arms as though he was warding off a swarm of insects at times. Dusty watched and waited. “There’s usually a whole group of them. They never travel on their own, it’s too dangerous.”

“What could possibly be dangerous to a vampire?” Dusty asked.

“No, you don’t understand. It’s too dangerous for one vampire to travel unescorted. If he got a bloodlust on him, he could wipe out a whole town in an evening and then they’d all be in trouble.”

“So he’d have had someone with him last night?” Dusty asked. Again, she had gone quiet. She was creeping herself out as she imagined another pair of vampire eyes watching her last night when she didn’t even realise.

“That settles it then; I definitely want you to stay with me tonight.”

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