Monster

A day or two passed since I spoke with Autumn and told her everything. As intended, I got a phone again. I was shy on cash though, and just straight up stealing one wasn’t an option. It either wouldn’t activate, or they’d just shut it off. I had to get one legit somehow. So… I broke out my criminal abilities… and robbed a place. No one was there, so it wasn’t that bad. Plus, I'm sure the place was insured so they would be fine. It was a jewelry store, and it was positioned in a pretty nice area in town. Obviously, I wasn’t there to take the jewelry that was too much work. I’d have to sell it somehow, and I'm sure it would be flagged as stolen or something. Instead, I went to see what they had in the back office. Lo and behold there it was, a small safe that held everyone else at bay. Not me though. I beat the shit out of that thing; warped and broke the hinges until the front door creaked open enough for me to get my fingers into a little gap. Then I ripped it apart with my inhuman strength. I didn’t even take everything, just all the tens and twenties… fifties… okay, and the hundreds; but I left all the fives and ones. Oh yeah, and the change. I didn’t like change.

With all my new cash I got myself a brand-new cell phone, prepaid obviously, and it was cool. This was nicer than any phone I had before, even in my normal life before all this. Prepaid was really making a comeback. This one felt solid.

I texted Autumn, her number so ingrained in my mind it felt like second nature. One of those things you just can’t shake is the number of the girl who’s always there in the back of your thoughts. I sent a simple message, letting her know it was me. No pressure, no expectations. I wasn’t waiting for a response, just giving her the space to reach out if she wanted.

Then, to my surprise, she did.

“Thank you for telling me everything. It means a lot that I’m the first one you told.”

“How are you doing?” I texted back, feeling the weight behind her words.

“I won’t pretend it’s not a lot, but don’t think it’s going to push me away,” she sent, followed quickly by, “I just need more time to adjust, I guess.”

“I’ll be around... not going anywhere. Promise.”

“Me neither.” Her reply made something settle in my chest, those words doing more than she probably knew.

“Everyone’s coming over tomorrow, some big family meeting. I haven’t told them I saw you yet. Not sure if you wanted everyone to know you’re back… but maybe we can meet up afterward. I just want to be near you again.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the screen. The fact that she hadn’t told anyone yet, that she was protecting whatever I needed, even from her own family, said more than words ever could.

“Me too…” I typed, my fingers lingering for a moment.

“Everything with Peter… I feel like we haven’t had much time. I don’t want it to stay that way.”

“Me neither. I’m heading somewhere right now, but let me know when you want to meet. If you want to tell your family I’m back, that’s fine. If they need me, just say the word.”

“I will.”

I slipped my phone back into my pocket, her last message still fresh in my mind. There were things I needed to do, but the thought of her waiting... it made everything feel different. Like a piece of me was out there… calm and happy.

I began walking through illuminated woods, breathing in crisp air. The trees were all dusted with snow, their branches holding a layer in the windless snowstorm. The flakes just heavily drifted down in the eerie silence of the night and plopped themselves down anywhere they found purchase. I slowly made my way out of the random patch of woods I passed through and found myself on a road. It seemed familiar to me, and I quickly paced in the direction I found just as recognizable.

In a few short minutes pacing down the frosted road in the midnight hours, I made it. A small humble home sat like a lone sentinel on this dreary snow snow-ridden road. A lone soul braved the chill of the falling snow and biting winter, rocking in a chair on his front porch. His eyes were glued on me the moment I came into view like he knew I was coming.

I caught his eyes long before I reached him, never looking away, the understanding between us unspoken but undeniable. Abel had always been strange, more aware than he let on, and I could feel the weight of that knowledge as I trudged through the snow, each step drawing me closer to his porch. The night was motionless around us like the world was paused and this snow was just a screensaver. Nothing moved as I approached the old black man, whose eyes were framed by weary lines of age. I stopped at the bottom of the steps, the old boards creaking slightly under my weight.

“Abel…” I greeted him, my voice low, and respectful.

“Sam…” His reply was simple, but his voice was sharp, cutting through the cold air with a knowing edge.

“You knew I’d come,” I said, not a question, but a fact we both understood. His presence out here at this hour was odd enough. But the way he saw me the moment I saw him told me there was way more to this dude than I knew yet.

“Felt it…” he nodded slowly, his gaze unwavering, almost like he had been expecting this moment for far longer than I had realized.

I drew in a deep breath, the cold air filling my lungs and settling in my chest. Oddly, I felt calm. No fear clawed at me; no uncertainty gnawed at my mind. I just… was. The truth had a way of doing that; stripping everything down to its bare bones, leaving only what was absolute. I didn’t know if it was a good thing or bad. I guess it was just about perspective.

Abel's voice broke the silence again, softer this time. “I can feel it too, you know.”

I glanced at him, new uncertainty coiling in my stomach like a serpent ready to strike. “Feel what?” I managed, my voice barely rising above the whisper of falling snow.

“The Primeval. Peter’s source of power… it’s gone…” Abel's breath formed a mist that mingled with the chill in the air as his gaze drifted into the bleak white expanse, into a world suffocated by winter’s grip. “There’s a ripple spreading through our world because of what you’ve done. An aspect of power that doesn’t exist anymore. Taken back into the void. Things are changing. Beings are spreading out… trying to fill the gaps left in its wake.”

Silence enveloped us. I didn’t need to respond; he spoke the truth with a haunting clarity. Something deep within me had shifted as well, settling like the heavy snow blanketing the earth beneath my feet. The internal struggle that had raged for so long had finally ceased, surrendering to an unsettling acceptance of what I was… what I was destined to become. Gone were the days of conflict, replaced by a chilling resolve. Just purpose, stark and unyielding.

“That thing inside you has awakened too, I see,” Abel murmured, his eyes piercing through to the depths of my being as if he could see the wrath and destruction that swirled just beneath the surface.

“You sense that?” I asked, disbelief tinged with a thread of fear.

“It’s like the beat of a deep drum,” he replied, his voice low and rhythmic, echoing ominously. “Somewhere far away, but I can hear it… from that distant place. Boom… boom… boom.” Abel mimicked the sound with a deliberate slowness that sent a shiver down my spine.

I knew precisely what he was talking about. The red, pulsing heart of the first Primeval… the eternal heartbeat tethered to the fields of Death's dimension. I felt it thrumming in my chest, entwined with my own heartbeat, a dreadful symbiosis. The essence of the once mightiest of the Primevals flowed through me, a dark force conjoined with my soul. Myoordrakien. A harbinger of destruction and doom made flesh. A titan that had walked this earth once, now inexorably linked to my very existence. The weight of that knowledge settled over me like an oppressive shroud, a promise of chaos that lurked just beneath the surface, waiting for the right moment to unleash its fury. A world breaker that had enemies to kill… places to destroy.

“They’ll feel that too…” Abel warned.

“Who’s they?” I asked.

“The others…” he said calmly. “The ones still on the board. You need to keep getting stronger.”

We stood there in the silence of the night, watching the snowfall, the cold creeping around us like an inevitability. Abel rocked slowly in his chair, the creak of the wood blending with the quiet, while I leaned against the porch railing, staring out into the darkness beyond. The city loomed in the distance, hidden beneath the snow, but I could feel what waited beneath it; the pits, the darkness, the destruction that would follow if I went there.

“There’s one down there… in the pits? Another Primeval?” I asked, my voice low, almost hesitant.

Abel nodded, his expression unreadable. “In a way. You’ll find your path when you start that journey.”

A tense silence hung between us before I broke it. “If I do it… how do I get in?”

“You already know someone with the keys to the kingdom. An old-timer like me, but with a bit more spring in his step.” He smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

I knew exactly who he meant, but dread settled in my gut. I hoped he was still in the city. “Charles…” I muttered. The memory of that night resurfaced; Peter dragging me into the Unseen’s world, and Charles, the ancient silver-haired vampire, watching with those cold eyes. Martin’s creator. He held the key to gaining access to the pits. I needed him.

“You find him, you’ll find the start of that path. But don’t think it’ll be easy.” Abel’s voice darkened. “He won’t be there to help you. Not for all of it.”

I started to ask, but the look on Abel’s face silenced me. The old man knew who I served… he’d known all along.

“Death makes plans of his own,” Abel said, his tone almost too casual. “These aren’t his plans. Let’s just say they’re mine… for now.”

A chill crept up my spine. “You’re hiding a lot,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

Abel’s lips quirked into a half-smile. “Yep.”

“And you think Death is just going to let me work for you? Do things outside of what he wants?”

Abel’s smile grew, a cryptic glint in his eyes. “Outside… inside… alongside… who knows? This might all be part of plans so vast we can’t even grasp their reach. Or maybe it’s something entirely new. But he’ll allow it. A deal was made, a bargain struck… and this is the price he agreed to. Besides…” He leaned in, his voice dropping to a near whisper. “I know you, son. You want to get down there, don’t you?”

I felt the weight of his words, and for a moment, the ground beneath me seemed to shift. Had Death really made a bargain? With who? And for what? Why hadn’t I been told?

“You don’t know anything about me,” I said, my voice rougher than I intended.

Abel just chuckled, sliding his glasses off and cleaning them absently on the hem of his shirt. “Oh, I know enough.” He pointed the glasses at my chest. “There’s a mix of you and the Primeval inside. You’ve been exploring, trying to find a way in. It’s a subconscious pull from the monster inside of you. It has senses you haven’t even tapped into yet. It feels what's down there, lurking. It’s calling to you.”

His words clung to the air, heavy and unsettling, his gaze locking onto mine like he was daring me to deny it.

“How do you know so much?” The irritation in my voice was sharp now, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Abel knew far more than he let on. And whatever he wasn’t telling me, it was bound to be far worse than anything he’d already revealed.

“In time, son… in time.”

I gritted my teeth and prepared to say something else. But, Abel changed subjects too fast for me to make an attempt. “Take it easy on that Wicklow boy. He hasn’t crossed a line yet… but your actions could push him there. Not everything is set in stone, Sam. Just because you feel the absolute just beyond the veil, doesn’t mean you’re always right. People make mistakes… and they can change… you have to let them.” Abel warned, but he was also trying to soften me.

“What did Peter do with that brush… with Patrick?” I asked, remembering Peter’s actions in the visions I got when Death finally gave me his name.

Abel shook his head. “I don’t know it all, Sam. I just know… complications are coming. You need to think hard about things before you act. Not just now… but every day you walk this earth.”

With that, the old man got up from his chair, walked up to me, patted my shoulder, and said, “Find Charles.” Then he walked inside his home, the small crooked door creaking open and closed. Then I heard him latch the chain, the deadbolt, and the doorknob lock. He was not inviting me in.

“Who the fuck is this guy.”

A few hours had crawled by since I left Abel’s place. The sun had risen, casting its blinding light over the snow-covered city, the bright, reflective blanket turning the streets into a glowing haze. The air shimmered with icy particles, enough to blur the outlines of buildings and people, giving me the cover I needed to move unnoticed through the daylight. The cold kept most indoors, and the few who ventured out stuck to their cars, crawling through the frozen streets. The falling snow was my ally, its dense veil concealing me as I bounded from one rooftop to the next, leaping across gaps like some heroic character. If only that were the truth. My mission was far less noble. I was on my way to meet someone equally as dark in nature.

I only had one place to go in the middle of the afternoon. There was only one person I could trust with my suspicions. The family might not be able to see a potential threat like I could. Martin might be blinded by his loyalty to the collective family for so long. If something was going on under his nose like I thought it might be, he might not be able to see it either. I couldn’t go to him. He might give me away before I could figure out the truth. A direct confrontation with Patrick Wicklow wasn’t on the table. I didn’t think things would end well if I just came at him and started making accusations. He was hiding the truth from everyone. He hadn’t spoken a word about his times with Peter. They all might see it as an attack from me… the monster. I had to be smarter. He very well could be a victim of Peter’s dying power. Maybe Abel was right… I needed to think things through.

The towering building loomed over me, its steel and glass reflecting the harsh glare of sunlight off the snow. I scanned the structure, searching for the balcony that would lead me to her. The foil-lined windows shimmered, bouncing the light back into my eyes. There it was, her place, darkened, secluded. The perfect hiding spot.

I moved quickly, darting up the side of the building like a ghost in the snow, invisible to the few pedestrians below. Within seconds, I was on the balcony, slipping under its cover. The sliding door was unlocked, just as it had been the last time I’d come. No surprises there. I eased it open, enough to slip inside without a sound, then closed it behind me. The blacked-out glass swallowed the outside world, leaving me in near darkness.

Two steps into the kitchen, I barely had time to register the shift in the air before a hand clamped around my throat, pinning me to the wall. My back hit the plaster hard, the impact reverberating through the room with a deep, hollow thud. The neighbor on the other side of the wall didn’t like that. There was a sharp bang, followed by an irritated shout.

“Keep it down!” someone yelled on the other side of the wall.

She muttered, her voice low, almost a growl. “What do you want?” Alex’s bloodred eyes glared into me with mostly rage, but a very small hint of uncertainty. “What the fuck are you doing?” she ordered an explanation.

"I need to talk to you," I said, my voice steady as I reached for her hand, peeling her fingers from my throat and shoving her back. But before I could take a breath, she retaliated.

Alex’s eyes flared in response, the whites of them filling with dark crimson as her irises bled out into an inhuman red. That eerie shift in color made her look even more lethal, like the power inside her was spilling out. Her face twisted into a primal snarl, and in an instant, she knocked my hand away, slamming me back into the wall. The pressure of her grip returned, tighter this time. I could feel the sharpened ends of her nails digging into my skin. Her fangs, longer than I’d ever seen, descended slowly, sliding down from her gums with grotesque precision. They weren’t the small, subtly extended canines I’d gotten used to seeing from vampires. These were monstrous, like a true predator ready to rip through flesh. She was prepared to kill.

Another loud thud came from the wall. “I said keep it down!” her neighbor yelled, her voice shrill as the broom handle banged against the wall.

“Fuck off, Karen!” Alex shouted back, her voice a mixture of fury and somehow sarcasm. Then she leaned in close, her breath hot against my face, her fangs just inches from my skin. “If you just wanted to talk, you should have called me,” she growled, the fury thick in her voice. “You don’t just show up in the middle of the damn day when I’m sleeping.” Her words were an order, spoken with venom.

“Something’s happening,” I managed to say clearly, even with her hand still squeezing my throat. “And I can’t go to anyone else. I need to talk to you.” I had to restrain myself from fighting her. That wouldn’t lead the conversation where I needed it to go.

“Why me?” Her voice dripped with skepticism. “Why not Martin?”

“Martin won’t see it,” I said, forcing the words through the tight grip she still had on me. “He’s too close. He won’t understand. But you… you might.”

“Understand what?” Her voice was low, dangerous. Her face hadn’t softened, her expression still a chilling mask of controlled violence. She looked like a killer, her emotions locked away behind the monstrous transformation she was holding on to.

“It’s not over,” I whispered, pushing against the vice grip of her hand. “Peter’s dead, but there’s something else. Something we missed.”

Her eyes narrowed, her mind clouded with rage and suspicion, too consumed by her transformation to fully comprehend what I was saying. The tension between us thickened, every second pushing her closer to the edge. I could see it in the slight twitch of her muscles, the way her fangs gleamed under the dim light.

“How about you let me go, and I’ll explain?” I suggested, trying to de-escalate. It felt ironic… me, the one calming the situation down. “If I wanted to hurt you, Alex, I would have. Do you really think you could stop me if I tried?”

Her eyes flared briefly, glowing with that same eerie hue of murder, but then, slowly, the red began to fade, receding into her irises until they settled back into their human green. Her fangs, too, retracted, sliding back up into her gums to barely noticeable points. Her face softened, the bartender I knew slipping back into place. For now.

“Don’t fucking tempt me,” she said, her voice a cold warning. “We’ll never know for sure until we try it.” She released her grip on my neck with a shove, stepping back with barely concealed irritation. “And don’t touch anything.” With a sharp glance, she turned and stormed toward her bedroom.

It was only then that I noticed how unprepared she was for my arrival. The sheer black underwear she wore was more revealing than the outfits she used to charm the patrons at the bar. The usual revealing clothes she wore, to lure in young vampires to their deaths, didn’t hold a candle to this. Her pale skin was barely covered where the small cloth sat. Her long red hair hung loose, slightly disheveled from sleep, and even her posture screamed frustration as she walked away from me.

"You don’t think we can just be friends?” I called out as she disappeared into the bedroom, half-joking, trying to lighten the mood. But I knew better, it was to agitate her.

I caught a glimpse of the photograph on her bedside table before she slammed the door shut behind her. The same picture, the one she kept hidden away from the world… a ghost of someone she once loved… someone she lost.

She didn’t respond. I doubted she found my attempt at humor amusing.

When she emerged from her room a few minutes later, she was dressed more modestly, in casual lounge clothes… sweats and a hoodie. Her hair was tied back, and her expression hardened once again, but the edge had softened just enough for me to keep talking.

“So,” she said, standing across from me with arms crossed, “what’s so important that you risked life and limb to break into my place?”

There was something guarded in her posture, like even now, after everything we’d been through, she still didn’t trust me. We had fought alongside each other, and faced unspeakable horrors together, but there was always this distance between us… this unspoken tension. She stood with one foot still in the world where she couldn’t fully accept me as an ally, maybe not even as an acquaintance.

"Peter left more than just a trail of bodies, Alex," I said, my voice low, trying to keep her attention. "Something is lingering out there. Peter had other plans, ones we didn’t know about. With someone else, maybe the whole time... I’m not sure. I don’t know much..." I trailed off, pacing around Alex’s kitchen.

Her eyes narrowed, the skepticism thick in her voice. “What? Who would’ve been helping him?” She sounded like she thought I’d finally lost it like I was clinging to a wild conspiracy.

"I don't know if they were helping him," I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck. "But Peter had plans for him. Do you remember that night in the brewery? That vampire who had Clara by the neck?"

“Yeah, Fitz.” She leaned against the counter, arms crossed. “Martin used to know him.”

“Well,” I continued, trying to sound like I wasn’t losing my grip on the situation, "at one point, Fitz looked back, like Peter was talking to him before he even showed himself. And out of everyone in that room, he asked for Patrick. He wanted him before the killing even started.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, looking at me like I’d just told her the earth was flat. "Why? What does that have to do with anything? Maybe he just wanted to steal whatever weird power that boy has.”

“No.” I shook my head, pacing faster now, the tiles creaking under my boots. “It was more than that.”

“What?” Alex burst out laughing, her hand covering her mouth. “You think Patrick was helping Peter?” She tilted her head back, her laughter echoing through the apartment. She laughed so hard, I thought she might double over. She was practically wheezing like I’d just told her the funniest joke of the year. It was because she thought I was stupid.

I stood there, awkwardly waiting for her to finish, my patience wearing thin as she clutched her stomach, her chuckles coming out in snorts. It was beyond irritating. Again, I was standing in front of someone who was laughing me out of the room, just like Darry and his pack. But I held my ground, watching her with a blank expression until she caught her breath and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

“You’re a fucking idiot if you think that little boy had anything to do with the death of his father,” she said between the last remnants of her laughter, shaking her head like I was some poor, delusional soul. But her smile faded when she noticed I wasn’t laughing along. Her grin lingered a moment longer, then slowly melted away.

“I don’t think that,” I said firmly, locking eyes with her. “I think Peter visited him... multiple times. I think he was trying to corrupt him, to give him power like he had. Patrick didn’t want it… he was terrified. But he hasn’t told anyone about it yet.”

Alex’s smile disappeared entirely, her amusement draining away as the seriousness of what I was saying hit her. I could see her mind working now, her posture straightening, the tension rising.

“If he hasn’t told anyone... why?” I asked, leaving the question to hang in the air between us.

Her expression tightened, and I could tell I had her attention now. The laughter was gone, replaced by a heavy silence.

“Still, that was his father. Even his grandmother died. Their family lost the most at the end of all this. How could he be a part of that? How could Martin, or any of their family not see if something was going on?” I could tell that Alex was already finding the path of least resistance. She knew that this was dangerous territory.

She was right to have these thoughts. We… outsiders, would point a finger inside their families. It would shake things.

“They did lose the most,” I agreed, “but what did Patrick gain?”

Alex looked at me like I was stupid again. “I don’t know… what did he gain?”

I started to open up to her. “I get these visions… names… of people who do pretty fucked up shit. When I got my vision for Peter, I saw him take something of Autumn’s, a hairbrush. He did something to it, imbued it with power somehow. Then he gave it to Patrick… told him things… things he hasn’t spoken of yet. What is it? What can it do to Autumn? It's tied to her… I just don’t know how.”

“I didn’t know that. Visions?” Alex said. She looked frustrated like maybe Martin knew and hadn't told her that part about me. “It’s a big jump, Sam,” Alex told me. “Don’t go making problems when there aren’t any. Peter’s power most likely died with him.” Alex turned from me, walking to her living room to sit down. She seemed like she was over the conversation, and didn’t want any part of plotting against her friend’s adoptive family.

Alex was looking at my chest, but she was staring straight through me. Her dots were being connected to other things she had seen and witnessed. Probably little things that meant nothing to her before, but now they were being placed into a column that lined up with everything I was saying to her.

“What is it?” I asked.

She realized I could read her expression, and she straightened up. “You realize that this is serious. If you are right, then he might be even more of a threat to their family than Peter. Poison from within can be more dangerous than a threat from the outside. But if you’re wrong… how do you think they’ll react? How do you think Martin will react?”

“Can you see now why I couldn’t go to him? If I brought this up to him, he,” I didn’t finish as she interrupted me.

“No. He wouldn’t believe you,” she agreed, nodding to herself in understanding.

I nodded now that she finally understood the seriousness of it all.

She sighed quickly, “I need a fucking drink!” she hopped off the counter and paced quickly to the fridge, yanking the door open. She grabbed a brown bottle, then looked back to me, “Want one?”

Before I could answer I saw her reach into a cabinet and grab a little jar of yellow powder. Alex brought over another full beer for me and set it on the counter. She scraped the bottle cap off and poured the yellow dust into her open hand. She funneled it in with her hand spilling most on the counter before pointing the bottom to the ceiling.

She was trying to get the powder into her system as fast as possible. The stress of the knowledge she now knew was actively taking its toll on her. She needed relief the instant she realized my thoughts could very well be true.

“Fuck!” Alex barked out as she finished the beer, sucking in a breath.

“Yeah. Things are about to get complicated,” I said.

I grabbed the jar and mirrored her movements, pouring a handful of powder into the neck of the bottle.

“Maybe it's nothing,” she hoped aloud. “Maybe he started something Patrick was meant to finish, but you killed him before he could. If he’s dead… his power must be too.”

“I hope you're right…” I drank my beer.

A little bit of time passed as we drank all of her beer and most of the blazingstar. It reminded me of old times. Back when I’d drink with my brother. The taste was different now, but close enough to what I remembered.

With my normal restraints relaxed around her, I asked, “Who’s in the picture by your bed?”

Alex was also feeling the yellow herb in her system, and let her guard down a little. “So, you did creep around?” she knew I didn’t just grab her clothes and leave before the time she ordered me around like her little errand boy. She joked, but I could tell it was to try and push the subject somewhere else.

“Your husband?”

Alex gritted her teeth, wishing I’d stop asking.

I think a part of her wanted to talk about him.

“His name was Jerry… we weren’t married, but we were together since high school,” she grew quiet for a moment. “We rode motorcycles… was even in a club.” Alex laughed, “We even had jackets with all the patches.” She was smiling at some old memories. “I didn’t like it all in the beginning, motorcycles were more Jerry’s thing. But I knew how much it meant to him, it was a family thing. I grew into it. That’s where I got all these,” Alex turned, lifting her shirt slightly, and showing me the ink that designed her back and arms. Lots of skulls and flames covered the canvas of her body. There was a Grim Reaper tucked into her forearm design that made me smirk. It had a full-blown scythe in its hand, the same size as the skeleton wielding it. Alex flipped her arm over to show me the inside of her wrist. There it was… ‘Jerry’ right on her skin.

“I’m sorry,” I honestly talked with her. “I know what it’s like to have to leave the people you care about…”

Alex looked up quickly, “I didn’t leave Jerry. They took him from me.” She said it angrily like she was still very much affected by what she talked about.

“Who?” I asked.

“The ones that turned me into this…” Alex’s eyes were somewhere else again. “There was a bar that the gang went to all the time. It was kind of our place, everyone knew it. Most people in town avoided it. Our guys could be… rough. But they were all good people, just not the cookie-cutter bullshit you see behind white picket fences. They were my family.” Alex made her history very clear. “That all changed when a group of strangers came to the bar. They seemed young and out for trouble. When they came inside, they found a table, sat down, and took the place over. Some of our guys didn’t like that, so they wanted to rough them up a little bit, just to scare them away. None of us knew what they were.”

“Vampires,” I put it together.

“Someone get this guy a gold star,” Alex mocked my comprehension of the obvious. “The lucky ones got killed quickly. Thankfully, Jerry was one of them. I, however, was not so lucky. Me and a friend were kept alive. They fed on us for days, slowly sucking the life out of us. I don’t think they meant to turn me, but they were young and didn’t know what they were doing. After a long night of being tortured by one of them, he drank too much from me and I started to go. I think he was one of the youngest ones still unsure about how it all worked. He fed me his blood in hopes that it would heal me and keep me alive to not piss off the others. I think he was scared to tell the stronger ones that he killed me by accident. I think I was supposed to last them for a while. At that point, my friend was already dead, and it was just me. But I was much more than just a food source…” Alex shook her head in regret. “The used me… for all of their needs…”

“I’m sorry… I wish I knew what to say… but I don’t. We don’t have to keep talking about it if you don’t want to,” I offered.

“No.” Alex looked at me, “I’m not ashamed of what happened.” She really wasn’t, but she did have something else in her eyes… a hatred that went beyond explanation. “Once I was… aware,” she tried to make me understand the vampire ways, “I could feel the power inside of me. I still felt weak, but I knew something was different. I honestly thought they’d kill me as soon as I fought back, but I came after them with all that I had. When I killed the first one… I drink his life, taking it all, hating him… all of them for what they had done to us. I felt stronger. I fought and killed them one by one until only one was left. He ran once he saw he had no others to help him. He was too scared to fight me, a helpless newborn vampire.” Alex grinned as she spoke next, “The last one got away… I’ve never been able to find him, but I remember his face. If I ever find him, I’ll do to him what I did to them all.”

Her story was much worse than I thought it was. She still had something hanging over her. One of the monsters that forced this life on her was still out there somewhere. I don’t think she felt like she had closure. A part of her would always still be back there until she could kill the one that got away from her.

I didn’t say anything else to her about it. I could see she was through talking, so I wouldn’t ask anymore.

“What are you going to do now?” Alex asked me after a while longer of sitting and drinking in silence.

I shook my head, the blazingstar muddying my thoughts, and I started spilling out things unfiltered. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. If it's nothing… I’ll drop it. If it's more than that, I have to figure out if it can hurt Autumn. But… If Patrick was helping Peter upset the balance, I would have been sent for him, but I haven’t been yet. If he doesn’t meet Death’s standards, then I’m not sure where that leaves me. I could kill him on my own, but I’m not sure what would happen with everyone.” I struggled with what to do. “Would I upset the balance if I killed someone who doesn’t deserve it,” I thought that last part out loud to myself.

Alex was half drunk sitting on her kitchen counter again, “You just said a whole lot… and I didn’t understand any of it.” Her eyebrows lifted high in confusions. “Well, whatever you figure out, let me know before you get cast out of the family. I’ll need to make sure Martin will keep me on at the bar if he thinks I was in on this. That’s how I pay for this place.”

“You’re not going to help me figure this out,” I asked her. “I can’t talk to anyone else about this.”

“Why did you even come here?” Alex asked me. “You could have done this on your own… why did you think I’d help you hurt a human? I only hunt one thing… vampires.”

I was surprised at her hesitation, but I had ultimately already done what I intended to do here with her… even though it was an absolute failure. I sat my beer bottle down on the counter adding another to the growing pile of empties.

I started walking towards her balcony, cracking the sliding door. Sunlight streamed in to light up the kitchen floor, growing and lengthening toward Alex at the counter. She could have moved at any point, and I could have slung the door open too. She waited… to see what I’d do. I had the power to hurt her at that moment; she knew it, and I knew it. The light would burn her severely if it touched her.

I stopped the door once the light was about a foot from touching her. Alex’s green eyes were on the floor, watching the approaching sunlight. She looked at me after it stopped creeping towards her.

“You and I have a lot in common. You may hunt a kill vampires exclusively... but you’re a killer of killers. So am I. We’re a lot more similar than you might realize.” I looked at her open bedroom door to the picture she held so closely. “A lot more similar. I just thought you might understand.”

I stepped out of her balcony door and slid it closed with a soft click, the sound swallowed by the thick silence of the snow-laden city. The chill in the air prickled against my skin as I leaned over the edge, gauging the distance to the sidewalk below. The world seemed frozen in time, shrouded in a thick veil of white. I glanced around, ensuring no one was watching, and then let myself fall, the rush of adrenaline mixing with the icy air as I landed softly on the snow-covered pavement.

Once on the ground, I pulled my hood up, the fabric brushing against my cheeks, a shield against the biting cold. The snowflakes danced around me, swirling like tiny ghosts in the dim light, muffling the sound of my footsteps as I began to pace away. Each step crunched softly beneath my boots, the sensation oddly comforting despite the frigid temperature that seeped through my layers.

I took a deep breath, the crisp air filling my lungs, sharpening my senses. I wanted her help… wanted her understanding as much as I longed for someone to validate the swirling suspicions in my mind. My primary goal had been accomplished; she now knew what I suspected. If I made a move, and things went south, at least Alex could be there to speak the truth to them. She could tell them I had Autumn’s best interests at heart. Her voice would carry weight, especially with Martin. I hoped he would listen to her, but a knot tightened in my stomach at the thought.

I wanted to talk to Carter… but it sounded like they had things going on. Plus, with how much their families had lost against Peter… I’m not sure where his head would be if I came to him with this information. Obviously, I knew he’d protect his daughter, but when the time came, all Patrick had to do was lie. He could say I was lying in an instant and discredit me. Then… it would be them versus me.