We Are Shadows: Episode 1
Jack sat wrapped in a towel, his tail swinging quickly back and forth, as mommy rubbed his sun colored yellow fur wicking the moisture away. One year ago to this day Jack was brought home by his daddy into his mommy's loving arms and every single day since that moment Jack knew nothing but kindness and comfort. Jack despite being a lion believed he was Melissa's authentic son, he saw no difference between his mommy and himself. She tenderly rubbed the fuzzy cub humming softly, it had been a long day of playing and working around the house helping mommy by keeping her company as best he could, he only had one nap today a record low. As a child Jack was incredibly well behaved, he rarely fussed or acted up and never roared or growled at his mommy, despite many books saying that it was natural for young lions to be defiant and aggressive. Jack was different, he wasn't a lion, he was a horse, in his own mind at least. Just like mommy he was her colt even though he was covered in fur and had paws instead of hooves, he was just a different kind of horse.
"All done!" Melissa smiled looking down at her little ball of sunshine, that was her name for Jack, due to his bright fur. With age it would dull and become cream colored but for right now he was an almost fluorescent shade of yellow, for some reason he seemed to just absorb the sun's rays. Melissa had never been happier than the past year. After a few months of trying to become pregnant with Samuel suddenly he comes home with this darling little baby boy and tells her that he needs a good home. Of course Melissa accepted Jack with open arms giving him everything she had including his name, Jack was her grandfather a good man who met a tragic end at the hands of the enemies that Samuel fought to this day. Melissa hated that Samuel was still fighting driven by a promise they made when they first met as children nearly twenty years ago. A promise to get an apology from the lips of the head vampire himself, Big Daddy.
Melissa put Jack in his pajamas and brushed his fur setting him down in his crib, the sleepy little lion was yawning and rubbing his eyes the entire time. Normally Melissa put Jack down at seven but because of her plans for the next day she had kept him awake until nine with extra games and activities, a long day at the park got him quite dirty and exhausted running around chasing other cubs and a delightful picnic to keep him from napping. All of this effort in the sole pursuit of making Jack too exhausted to stay awake paid off as the rails slid up and Jack curled up like felines did snug in his button up pajama one piece cuddling his stuffed lion Little Jack. Carefully Melissa backed out of the baby blue nursery that was once a spare empty room and flicked off the light a gentle glow escaping from a plug in night light.
"Did he go to sleep?" Samuel asked making Melissa jump in surprise holding her hand over her heart.
"You scared me!" She turned and gave his arm a light smack.
"Sorry, I got home early to help with the preparations, you know nothing would keep me away from the house during the big day." Samuel whispered smiling, he had changed from his uniform and was wearing civilian clothing, a polo shirt and tan slacks. Sam was as good of a dad as he could be with his very interesting profession which required long nights and weeks away from the house. Every day he was home he'd relieve Melissa giving her time to herself and took total care of Jack even going so far as to sleep on the nursery floor on a cot. What Melissa didn't know was that Sam's greatest fear was that the vampires who abandoned Jack in that facility would return, he slept with a photon pistol loaded beneath his pillow and tried to keep Melissa at a distance when he was home because he didn't want her in a fight after so long out of combat.
"It's good to see you back, you silly old stud." Melissa gave Sam a kiss pressing her nose against his. "I wish you'd retire and come live with us, we have enough money to never need to work again, Lance is rich with all his boxing money and would support us if we ever hit a snag, come be Jack's daddy full time we miss you." Melissa suggested but Sam frowned giving her a kiss back.
"I love you both more than anything in the world, enough to put myself in the line of danger to protect you from the things that need to be stopped, I'm going to get you that apology Mel I swear it, and in the process I'm going to protect a lot of innocent people from having to grow up like we did I know its hard but give me some time when I've axed the big one, I promise stay at home dad the very next day." Sam gave a sad kind of begging smile and Melissa sighed recognizing that fire in his eyes, when Sam was driven to act he acted and nothing could stop him.
"Fine, but the day directly after, you hang up your body armor for a pair of slippers and boxer shorts I want to see you in the living room at five in the morning reading the paper, got me?" Melissa pointed and Sam saluted.
"Ma'am yes ma'am." He chuckled and Melissa shook her head.
"At least all that military training made you a perfect husband." The two exchanged another kiss then walked down the stairs to the living room where Melissa had prepared boxes of party decorations in anticipation. "Lance should be joining us soon I'd like to be done by twelve and be in bed and up at seven or so, he's going to be so excited." Melissa could barely contain her anticipation for seeing those big blue eyes light up when she carried him down for breakfast and he saw all the colorful streamers and balloons it was going to be amazing.
Sam couldn't help but laugh at the childlike enjoyment Melissa was having. "Who's party is this yours or his?" He nudged the box full of decorations, money was no issue she bought out the entire store for this hefty load.
"Shut up and hang." Melissa stuck her tongue out and took a packet of streamers throwing it at Sam catching him off guard.
Sam and Melissa both worked on different projects while Sam decorated the living room following instructions from Melissa to make a net out of streamers and fill it with balloons with a string release, Melissa baked a special cake with cub safe icing and a whole sheet cake for the others at the party. Clarissa was bringing her kitten a lovely white furred kitten girl named Alice. Melissa missed Clarissa so badly, when Jack was first brought she came and explained all the intricacies of kitten care to Melissa who was utterly helpless with the squirmy little cub. Alice had grown up in the light of the sun while Melissa, Lance, and Sam all lived in the shadows hunting the creatures that existed there, she was Melissa's anchor to the real world and her presence was the thing that convinced her most to quit being a Stalker knowing she was leaving Sam on the front lines alone. Her replacement Chloe was capable but she would be lying if she said she didn't miss helping people. Shaking the dour thoughts from her head she focused on icing the cake with a frosting bag filled with golden yellow cream.
A knock came at the front door making Melissa look up. "Sam can you get that, it's probably Lance, bet he forgot his keys, AGAIN!" Melissa looked up for a second then returned to icing. Sam blinked after finishing the net and starting on the balloons, hunting was easier than decorating. Wiping his hands of paper and glue Sam approached the front door but his trained ears flickered when he entered the front hall, he could hear them from a mile away by now.
"MELISSA GET JACK AND GET INTO THE BASEMENT LOCK THE DOOR!" Sam called out pulling his pistol out of his back pocket firing two rounds into the door with loud bangs that broke the quiet night. Two holes formed in the wood of the door at head level and one at stomach level. Sam heard the scream of a vampire being atomized smelling the whiff of ozone as they turned to ash. Slowly strafing towards the door Sam kicked it hard enough to knock it off its hinges onto the front step. Checking the corners Sam held his pistol close and looked at the dust pile before the door, it was only one but he was no fool they wouldn't come this far with only one.
"Sam what's wrong!?" Melissa heard the gunfire and not the instructions jerking her hand as she iced jumping in surprise. She rushed to the hall moving out of the kitchen just in time as the back door exploded into a shower of splinters destroying the cake and door frame with a blast of force a hissing fox woman standing where the door did.
"We wanted to do this quietly but you just had to go loud, WE CAN BE LOUDER!" The vixen screamed and leaped at Melissa but Melissa turned bringing her leg up catching the Vixen's neck slamming her down onto the floor with enough force to break it, she wasn't just a medic, she was a combat medic trained to defend herself. The vixen flopped on the ground with a bounce the full weight of a horse's hind legs breaking their windpipe from impact but Melissa knew this wasn't over.. this was just buying time. Running as fast as she could Melissa heard the hissing sound as the vixen rose, repaired and renewed, her claws scraping against the walls tearing the paint and paper. "Come on, that wasn't nice, I just want to give you a cuddle." The vixen chuckled knowing that Melissa couldn't stop her, no mortal could. She was wrong however as Melissa turned the corner and Sam flanked from behind holding his pistol cocked towards the vixen.
"You have, two seconds to explain why you are here before I blast your slimy brain all over my walls, one." Sam counted and the Vixen began to laugh loudly.
"You think we fear you Stalker, you and your little light gun, kill me, it won't stop him, you've made yourselves enemies of Big Daddy the worst and final mistake of your short pitiful life, you stole from him." The vixen cackled and the trigger dropped blasting her through the back of the skull turning her body to a pile of burnt ash.
"Shit." Sam cursed knowing what those words meant, he had to get back up, he had to get ready. Rushing up the stairs Melissa grabbed Jack and flew into the basement as fast as she could holding Jack against her rocking him to try and keep him asleep the loud gunshots having woke him but not completely. Meanwhile, Sam revealed his secret compartment stocked with heavier scale weaponry including an automatic riffle, a modified double barrel shotgun, and a heated blade. Strapping on his equipment Sam prepared to do what he knew he'd have to do the day he took Jack home, defend his family.
There was a quiet pall as Melissa tucked herself away in a steel panic room in the basement, blessed by stalker clerics and designed to be an anti vampire safe house Melissa watched Sam pull back the wall above their bedpost and reveal a compartment of heavy arms. There were camera's all over the house concealed and connected to this central control room. The quite was unnerving, normally it meant nothing was going on but now it meant something was coming, something bad. Melissa held Jack as close as she could without crushing him. "It will be okay, everything will be okay, Daddy is here." Melissa told Jack and herself, she was terrified, in the span of a few minutes she was no longer a strong and confident female but a terrified little girl hiding in a closet praying that by any chance available she survived while her brother held off the invaders in her home.
"Come on you ugly fucker, I'm waiting, you won't do it again I won't let you ruin her life a second time." Sam patrolled the hallway his riffle in hand, this was going to be a showdown. Only ever in whispers was the name Big Daddy spoken the patriarch of all vampires the original alpha and omega take him down and all the vampires became easy pickings but so many men were lost in just the pursuit. Powerful subordinates, endless armies, throngs of monsters at his beck and call he was a general and a king, a king of the darkness. Sam was just a man, a simple mortal man he had above average strength and reflexes due to training but he needed an army to fight what he was planning to fight.
His call was soon answered by the sound of feet hitting the ground, very softly, very calmly. A tall pale skinned human stepped through the door way to receive a blast to the face four bullets fired in rapid succession. Each one hit its mark but the man didn't burst into ash like his subordinates. The bullets left gaping wounds that healed with a sizzle like a hot griddle pressing against flesh. "Gnat." The pale man raised his hand and Sam was hit with a wave of pure terror trembling and dropping his riffle to the ground. He was going to die, he needed to run, he needed to run right now or he was going to die. The specter of horror hung over Sam convincing him that he had to abandon the house but the image of this thing reaching Jack and Melissa steeled his boots as he reached back and grabbed his shotgun jumping down slamming on the floor.
"I WON'T LET YOU NEAR THEM!" Sam screamed and pulled the trigger two blasts of light erupting in point blank range at the pale man's face causing him to evade fading into the shadows before popping up behind Sam wrapping his long slender arms around him causing fear to course through his veins.
"Such delightful terror, I tried being merciful, I was going to let you run and live with the shame but you, Captain Hale have proven to be worth my attention in every way possible." The pale man smirked and brought Sam's neck up, his hold constricting the equine male completely still. "I heard from a little birdy, that you have been working so hard to find me and get me to, let me see if I have this right, apologize for something I did over twenty years ago well Captain Hale today is your lucky day because I am in such a good mood." The pale man turned Sam to look at him his crimson eyes glowing as he smiled with a rattling hiss. "I am very sorry." With that Sam's head spun backwards his neck snapping with an audible crack before he fell to the floor dead the pale man laughing emptily. "But you're not the reason for my visit, so I don't have time to play standoff with you, goodbye Captain Hale, it was a fun chase." The pale man turned away from Sam's corpse and began to search the house finding the basement and sensing the absolute terror of the two inside.
Descending down the stairs in what could only be described as a glide the pale man came to the steel box smelling it and chuckling, vampire proof. "You stalkers are something else, such elaborate counter measures, too bad they're all useless." The pale man grabbed the door straining as a green steam erupted from his hands the blessing burning his very flesh. Pushing until the locks broke on the door and the heavy steel gate slid open to reveal Melissa and Jack curled up in the corner trying to hide. "Hello, I've come for the party, I hope I'm not too early." The pale man smirked and descended upon Melissa causing her to scream.
Jack awoke from what felt like a heavy dream looking around, he was downstairs strapped into his highchair facing the living room, confused he began to whimper and whine until a voice interrupted him. "Happy, birth, day, to, you." Mommy's voice came from behind Jack, but it wasn't happy and bright, it sounded like she was about to cry. "Happy, Birth, Day, To, You." The song continued and Melissa walked forward blood stained down the front of her dress, two holes in the side of her neck. "Happy, Birth, Day, Dear, Jack." She continued walking forward almost in a trance taking a knife in her hand, her muscles twitched and flexed tears streaming down her face as she raised it. "HAPPY, BIRTHDAY, TO, YOU!" She tried her best to resist but once turned a thrall couldn't resist the influence of the master, her hand lunged forward and the knife sunk deep into Jack's skull cutting into his head and piercing his brain. Jack screamed and fell limp, the knife hanging out of the wound. "Oh, god, my baby, you.. FUCKING MONSTER!" Melissa trembled and sobbed unable to stop as she pulled the knife out and looked at the pale man sitting in her husband's chair with his fingers crossed.
"Wait, I'll show you a real monster." The pale man chuckled watching Jack intently, he came just to test his theory out, to find the subject that got away, his only surviving specimen from project Sunrise. "Come on, you, can do it." The pale man exhaled in eager anticipation and his eyes widened when he heard it, Jack's sobbing wails as he recovered from the fatal wound back to the world of the living only temporarily disabled and stunned. "BRAVO!" The pale man stood and clapped. "WELL DONE JACK YOU ARE TRULY THE CULMINATION OF ALL MY HARD WORK!" The pale man shouted and threw his hands up. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BOY!" Rushing over he plucked Jack from his seat and spun him around smiling with his fangs bared. "You are the hope of so many, many, many cursed souls but you're still too young... no it won't do but I've gone and, dispatched, your primary caregivers those fools in the dark don't understand they will demonize you, no you're better in the light world.. but who?" The pale man sighed holding Jack close despite his screaming and thrashing. "Ah yes the brother, he'll do, slave!" The pale man turned to Melissa and looked at her, forcing her to get her phone out and call Lance.
Lance's phone rang from his pants causing the passed out drunk equine to stumble towards wherever he left them. "SHIT!" He cursed as he tripped over a keg of alcohol falling to the ground. "This place is a fucking mess." He groaned and reached the phone answering it to be greeted by what could only be described as ear rape, a child screaming.
"Lance, please come quick, I can't console Jack and Sam is not here I don't know what to do, please lance, don't, wait." Melissa said the words she was told to say but tried her best to warn him, biting her tongue in a show of defiance making her words break.
"Yeah, I got you, hold on I'm gonna get dressed and be right over, just try like, I don't know doing mom things!" Lance groaned in frustration, there was one night like this long ago but Melissa never needed his help anymore.
"Wonderful, and now, my lovely slave your usefulness has come to an end but be thankful I didn't turn you into a vampire to live eternally, you're just a ghoul and unlike vampires." The pale man thrust his hand forward piercing Melissa's chest splattering blood over himself and Jack who had gone hoarse from all the screaming mewling impotently. "You won't recover when I dismantle you." The pale man slashed and cut with his long nails like a short sword lopping off limbs and sections cutting Melissa up, then Sam, preparing the performance.
Lance pulled up to the house noticing the lights were on but he couldn't hear Jack anymore. "Guess she finally shut him up, god I'm so wasted it was a bad idea to drive, I'll just spend the night here so I don't get busted." Lance groaned getting out of the car and noticed that the front door was gone laying in the grass. "Oh.. kay." He drunkenly stumbled through the doorway and noticed that the lights were off but a soft mewing could be heard from the living room. "Jack, Jack what are you doing where's your mom?" Lance staggered forward and found the light switch flicking it and freezing when the room came into view.
The streamer net broke and pieces of body parts rained down like confetti two heads sat upon the chairs and a cake in the center on the table with golden icing spelling. "Happy Birthday Jack." Jack sat in the center of the room soaked in his own tears and urine screaming with no volume. Lance felt it hit him as the realization came, falling to his knees he evacuated his stomach into a puddle on the ground holding his ribs, his eyes and nose burned the scent of ozone the smell of blood, the stink of viscera, it was truly a horrific scene. Wiping away the bile from his lips he looked at Jack eyes narrowing fists shaking.
"What did you do, you little monster?"