He had been sent to destroy us. A hideous creation of plaster with a flattened head with two black holes for eyes, and his white plaster mouth in a perpetual grimace, always revealing the large white square teeth. A face like Death itself. If not for the teeth, he might have resembled “The Scream”. He wore a black suit, and his fingerless fists were like white, chalky clubs. He came at us, swinging his arms, clubbing us with his fists.
I was an outsider, tending to keep to myself, and I rarely participated in the vampire reveling that took place in our coven in an old abandoned building. I didn’t feed. I had not fallen victim to the urge for blood, and not being like the others, I spent hours away from the coven. For this, I expected to be exiled, but the result was the opposite. The others saw my strength, and admired me for it. I was something of a leader to them.
I was terrified by the sight of him, knowing that he had been sent by someone who would not attempt to fight us in person, but rather create this zombie-like creature to do her bidding. I fled, running through the streets, moving too fast to make out the details of the buildings I passed. Sheer willpower propelled me through the street, and I lunged and jumped onto other buildings with the same effort involved in taking a shallow breath. The speed was exhilarating, but I still felt his presence as I ran through the streets.
Leaping into the air, I felt the wind rushing over my body as I rose. The ground beneath me fell away, and I ascended at a dizzying speed, feeling the Earth’s gravity release its hold, powerless to contain me. The buildings, the large live oaks, all shrank until they were miniature in size, and even then, I kept rising until I could no longer see them. So high. So near the Heavens.
Fear gripped me then, feeling that should I leave Earth, I might never be able to return. I let go, falling back to Earth, feeling the wind change directions. I fell with such speed that my stomach turned, and the large oak tree swelled before my eyes. The buildings rose up, and soon I was floating back down to the ground to land softly on my feet.
Descending the old stone steps into the cellar, I found what I had feared, dreaded. They were dead, all of them. Only I, their leader, had managed to escape. What sort of leader was I to them, these vulnerable children? Gazing at their lifeless bodies, I now knew that I was truly alone.