Vigilante Part 1

Chapter 3

“Hungry!” Elena said while rubbing her tummy.

The white-masked man thought about where he should get blood to feed this newly adopted little vampire girl. Maybe from the hospital? How about the Red Cross? He couldn’t think of a place that would willingly give him blood, especially for food. That and he knew there was a blood shortage going on in those facilities, so he shouldn’t do it. The body parts of the humans he killed could work. But the problem is that it wasn't that clean, since it was way past the five-second-on-the-ground rule. This is a child after all. Her stomach could be sensitive. It wasn’t too late to go back to the spot where he found her and hunt more humans.

“Just in case,” he whispered.

He placed his hand over her head and it glowed dark green.

“Papa?” Elena asked while her eyes became heavier each second.

“Sleep, child.”

He picked her up so she wouldn’t hit the ground. He gently laid her down on the futon and pulled the blanket over her chest. She was sleeping soundly. With this, he should be able to go out without worrying too much about her safety, but as a backup, one of his tentacles popped off his back and slithered to Elena. It was sheen and dry to the touch, and when it was on top of her stomach it stretched out like gum and became a cellophane layer that covered her body. The purpose of this was to give her extra protection in case of her waking up and falling over or something falling on her while he was gone. He would also be alerted if she tried to eat something and choked. It was like a baby monitor. He blew out the candle and entered the shadow dimension.

After a few minutes he approached the light where he had picked up Elena. But before fully exiting, he poked his head out slowly to see if anyone was there. It was the rooftop next to the alley. Empty. He exited the shadow dimension and looked down at the alley. The gruesome scene that he left behind was altered. The dismembered body parts were gone but the blood and the pile of ash were still there. There were also visitors. About five cops were outside the alleyway talking to one of the men in the trenchcoats. Only one of the cops was not human. Instead, it was a brawny orc.

The man in the trenchcoat was telling the cops what to do. “…and when the news reporters come, I want you to tell them it was a vampire attack and that these poor citizens tried to defend themselves.”

“Where are the bodies?” the orc asked while writing notes down on his notepad.

“You talking to me boy?” the trench coat man glared at the orc.

The orc stopped writing and glared back at the trenchcoat man.

“No, he was talking to me,” one of the human officers said diffusing the situation.

“Good. Control your deputy, Sergeant.” The trench coat man looked at the officer in the middle. He looked down at his digital bracelet and pushed some buttons on it. The sergeant’s bracelet pinged and it showed that he had received a lump of money. Then the trench coat man walked away.

“Alright, you heard the man. Let's tape up this place,” the sergeant barked.

The trenchcoat man had reached a block away and took out a cigarette to light. Walking past another alleyway, the white masked man grabbed him and placed him in a choke hold. He entered the shadow dimension with him.

****

The white-masked man threw the trenchcoat man on the tatami floor. It wasn’t the same room as the one with Elena in it but rather in a storage house filled with scrolls. The hold didn’t knock him out, but he was disoriented due to the lack of oxygen flow.

“Th-the…hell!” the man gasped for air. He took out his pistol, but the white-masked man's tentacle smashed his hand, which made him drop the gun, and he held a double-ended scythe and pointed it towards the trench coat man’s throat.

“My name is Mr. Nibbs. What’s your name?”

“Fuck you!”

Mr. Nibbs quickly grabbed the man’s left pinky and bent his finger ninety degrees.

“Aghh!” the man flinched in pain and fell to the ground holding his pinky. He had bumped into a shelf, causing some scrolls to fall on the floor. The man’s hat fell off and revealed black hair with tanned skin. The look in his green eyes was that of spite.

“You have nine more tries…” Mr. Nibbs spoke in a low voice.

“James! It’s James! Ya cunt! Where the fuck am I?” he said, squirming around.

“James…I have a favor to ask of you and a few questions. Let’s start with the questions,” Mr. Nibbs walked towards him as he backed into the wall. Mr. Nibbs stepped on the gun and slid it back behind him. “Why did you attack the vampires tonight?”

“I have nothing to say against such a monstrosity as yourself,” James spat.

“How…noble,” Mr. Nibbs tried to grab his hand, but he tried to kick Mr. Nibbs away. While a little annoyed, Mr. Nibbs grabbed James’ left foot and twisted it.

“Gah!” he screamed out in pain and stopped kicking. “Y-you sick fuck!”

“Stop moving…there we go…you still owe me something.”

Mr. Nibbs reached over and broke James’ left ring finger. James winced and squirmed again, with tears starting to come out of his eyes.

“Oh…” Mr. Nibbs noticed the ring on the broken finger.

“We were hired!” James groaned.

“By whom?”

“Rikter Smith!”

“The Purist party leader?”

“Yes,” James winced.

“Thanks, James, that’s all the questions I have. Now for the favor…”

****

Mr. Nibbs came back into the room holding a cup of blood, where Elena was still sleeping. He put his hand on her head and gently patted her so she could wake up. When she opened her eyes and saw Mr. Nibbs she was overcome with joy.

“Papa!”

“Yes, Elena?”

“Scary dream!”

“It’s okay child, it’s just a dream, it’s not real.”

“Papa! I’m hungry!” Elena could smell the blood and her stomach growled.

He put the cup to her mouth, and she drank all of it.

“Still hungry, child?”

She shook her head.

“Get some more rest, Elena. Papa must do some errands.”

“Er-rands?”

He put his hand over her head again and did the same trick to make her fall asleep. Then he calmly walked out of the room and went to the storehouse where he kept James. When Mr. Nibbs opened the door, James laid there tied up and sniffling.

“You gonna let me go now?” James asked.

“I told you that once you fed a little vampire girl, you’d live, right?”

“R-right.”

“But what about me?”

“Wha--You son of a bitch!” James twisted and squirmed, doing every kind of movement to get further away from the monster before him.

Since James gave Elena a fulfilling meal, Mr. Nibbs decided to give him a quick death. The double-ended scythe appeared in his hand and he dashed towards James to cut his head off. The swipe was so quick that James’s eyes were still blinking as it rolled away from his body.

“Thank you, James.”

****

“How many died?” the old man asked, his mouth covered by his clasped hands on top of his desk.

The man in the trench coat standing in the middle of the room started to break into a sweat. He was surrounded by armed guards staring at him with indifference. Ready to kill at any order given by the old man.

“Mr. Smith, the men said tha-”

“That’s not a number, Mr. Philips.”

“Ten, Mr. Smith.” The man in the trench coat gulped.

“And where’s your head guy? James?”

“I-I’m not sure. Last thing we know is that he paid off the cops with the money you lent him.”

“Mr. Philips. Correct me if I’m wrong. Your group advertised itself as a group of professionals with impeccable results. Explain to me how ten of your ‘best’ men died by two measly vampires. Also, enlighten me on how one of them escaped and is still missing.”

“W-well, we were attacked! Only four of us went down when we killed the vampires in the apartment. The group outside the complex chased after the ones who flew away, and when the others caught up with them, they were all dead! The mother must’ve taken them down with her before dying while the little shit fled.”

“What worries me is that little runt is still amongst our people, Mr. Philips. Because of your group’s incompetence, now I have to deal with the police who may find this little girl and demand I give them more money to silence her. You know how greedy corruption can be, Mr. Philips. That’s only if the right officer finds her. Because these damn monsters running around and playing cops with those idiots that are monster sympathizers, they might actually save it!” Rikter’s face grew redder which made Mr. Philips nervous. Rikter fixed his green bangs and stared at the man with disdain.

Nothing came to Mr. Philips’ mind to defend himself or his men. He was at a loss on where James vanished and where the little vampire kid ended up. Let alone the one responsible for six more of their deaths. The best they had done was clean up the dead bodies so they could help frame it as a vampire attack for the news.

“Have your men find the vampire. You won’t get paid tonight if she still lives. Don’t expect the full amount by the way,” Rikter said.

“Yes, sir.”

After Mr. Philips left, Rikter sighed and stood up. He motioned the guards to leave the room, and he looked out the window that sat behind him. He saw the view of the city with its twinkling luminescent lights in the distance. His estate sat on top of a mountain and was just a couple of miles away from the city.

“Your move NHR,” Rikter said under his breath. “Serjvo will be protected.”

He turned around, sat back down, and held a picture of his daughter. Her smile was his ray of hope in this world, and she was gone. Dead. By one of those monsters that moved in. She had just turned 18 and got accepted to a prestigious college but was missing and never found . Days later, one of his men found her arm chewed up in a cemetery. What human could do this to his precious daughter? It turned out that the bite marks weren’t human and matched those of a lizard. There was a knock at his door.

“Enter,” he said while putting the picture down.

One of his lackeys in a brown business suit came in.

“Ahh, Benjamin. How were the talks with The Religious Association?”

“Not good, Rikter. They decided to not join us in our cause. They said we were a bit too extreme!”

“What! Extreme! I thought their leader was also a monster slayer like us?”

“It’s what he claims.”

“We need that kind of firepower!”

Another lackey interrupted their conversation and opened the door to run in.

“What is it now?” Rikter asked.

“We’re under attack!”