The Attack

The beast cackled, throwing Liam to the side. Liam flew far, as if he weighed nothing. He collapsed on the ground, coughing and rubbing his bruised neck. His vision was blurry, and a trail of blood ran from his forehead and down the side of his face. He shook his head to clear the blurry vision and started staggering to his feet. 

He had to find Lily. 

“LILY!” He screamed, hobbling forward. “LILY!” 

He saw her nearly immediately. Her mascara had run down her perfect face, and she was hiding with Liam’s parents. When they saw him, they didn’t run to him. They simply ushered him to the car. Lily was pale, and Liam could tell she wanted to run to him. Liam didn’t know why she didn’t, but he noticed Liam’s father was holding her in some kind of death grip. It was almost as if Liam’s father didn’t want her to run. 

It didn’t seem that Lily cared. 

She broke from the hold and ran toward Liam. Liam shook his head at her ferociously, still hobbling toward them. Liam’s father screamed at her to return, and Liam’s mother took off after her. She looked as if she was going to try to stop her, but she couldn’t. In fact, no one could. 

And no one had any clue as to what was going to happen next.

The cloaked figure had leapt out from no where. His mouth, Liam could see, was covered in blood. He was smiling, and Liam swore he saw…

Fangs. 

They glistened as the cloaked figure descended upon Liam. Liam himself was prepared this time, so he rolled out of the way. It was only then that he realized the cloaked figure wasn’t coming for Liam. No, he was going for someone else.

His mother. 

He sank his fangs into her throat in a heartbeat. There was no time to react as he tore into her flesh, blood spurting from her artery as she screamed. Her hands tore at the creatures skin, but her own skin was breaking as she tried to break free. She was sobbing, but the sounds didn’t come as quickly as anyone thought. Slowly, she began to gurgle instead of cry. When the creature dropped her body, Liam felt as if he had died. 

He heard his father scream. He watched him fall to his knees, extending his arms toward his wife of twenty years. He saw the pain and agony in his face as he slammed his fists into the dirt, but he didn’t make a move from the corner where he had been standing. That corner must have been the place where no one could have been harmed. Liam needed to get to that corner. He needed to take Lily and go. He needed to move, now. 

And yet, as his mother’s cold body hit the floor, he couldn’t move. A strange noise escaped his mouth as he stumbled forward. 

“Mommy?” He whispered, reaching for her. 

The vampire, Liam couldn’t say creature anymore, laughed as if it was funny. He turned to Liam’s father and smiled. 

“Good to see you again, Watcher.”

His voice was like gravel on gravel. Like nails on a chalkboard. Liam’s ears hurt just listening to him. 

“You can hide in your silly little protection spell all day, but it won’t do you any good. I will find you. And I will kill you.” 

Liam was praying that the vampire would leave with only his mother. As Lily slowly crawled toward Liam, his only pray to God in that moment was that the vampire would leave her alone. Let her get to him, so he could protect her. 

Then her fingers crunched a piece of wood. 

Liam felt his heart rate increase. He felt his blood freeze. He saw Lily’s bright blue eyes, shiny with tears, jump up to meet his. She inhaled sharply, and in that small moment, time froze. All Liam could see was her. Her hair. Her skin. Her eyes, those beautiful eyes. He reached out to touch her, for what he refused to believe was the last time. 

But then, it was. 

The vampire had whirled on her and seized her in his cold hands. Liam screamed so loud that he nearly didn’t hear it. He also didn’t feel his feet move, in the same way that he didn’t feel himself lunge at the vampire with everything in him. The vampire had only sunk his teeth into Lily for a moment as Liam sent the creature falling headfirst into the dirt. He coughed up the dirt, laughing. Liam loomed over him, covered in blood and bruises, with a rage in his body that he had never felt before. 

“Well that’s new,” The vampire smiled. “A human, fighting me for a mere woman? Hah.”

“SHUT UP ALREADY!” Liam screamed, swinging his leg back to kick the creature. 

And then he was gone. 

As quickly as he had arrived, he had vanished into the shadows. The only thing that lingered was the bodies around him, drained of blood. As the sun hit Liam, he fell to his knees. 

Dead cheerleaders, blood all over their uniforms, stared back at Liam with lifeless eyes. His mother’s body was paler than paper as she lay motionless on the ground. The sound of sirens approaching was seemingly non-existent compared to the mournful wails of Liam’s father, who ran to collect his wife in his arms. He was screaming so loud that his throat was raw. It sounded like he was gargling rocks. 

“Liam…?”

Lily. 

Liam didn’t even think about his feet or his legs or anything as he pumped himself, pushing his muscles to run to her as if he was trying to make a touchdown. He was screaming for her, begging for her to come to him, but she wasn’t moving. She was bleeding from her neck, and was incredibly pale. When Liam took her into his arms, she was cold. The blue in her eyes was disappearing. 

“Lily, oh my Lily,” Liam cried. “No no no, look at me baby. Baby look at me. Please, please,” He begged her. He begged her with everything in his belief system. He begged and begged. 

He took his hand in hers. “Lily, Lily, talk to me!” He cried. 

Lily just smiled softly as she pushed her cold, pale head against Liam’s skin. “Warm,” was all she said. 

“CAN I GET A DOCTOR OVER HERE!” Liam screamed, voice still cracking like shattered porcelain. “NOW!” 

As he held the love of his life in his arms and rocked her back and forth, he had no idea how to process what he had just seen. She...he...the vampire...they were real!? And why did the vampire single out Liam’s father!? Why did Liam and his father seem to be the only one’s who knew about the threat looming over their heads before it even attacked!? Why didn’t the vampire kill Liam when he could have!?

And most of all, how was Liam able to fight him off!? 

These were all circulating through Liam’s mind as the ambulance arrived. They saw the dead bodies, and their eyes widened in fear. Liam didn’t let the nurses or EMS workers have a second to take in what they were seeing before he rushed to them, frail and fragile Lily in his arms. He screamed, slamming his foot against the door to knock. 

At this point, he was acting purely on reaction. He had no idea what he was really doing. He just needed Lily to live. That was all. Dear God, just let her live. If that beast took his mother, it wasn’t taking his Lily. His love, his future. It couldn’t. It wouldn’t. 

“Please God,” he whispered. “Oh God, please.” 

He didn’t even remember the drive to the hospital. He didn’t even see the nurses trying to take his pulse and eyeballing his own wounds. He only saw her. He saw them taking Lily’s pulse, he saw them administering an IV. He knew her blood type matched his, so he begged the nurses to take his blood and put it in her right then. He’d give her his kidney if he needed too, his heart. He didn’t give a shit. 

“Sir, please, I need to look at you,” The paramedic instructed Liam as they were driving into the emergency room. 

“Lily,” Was all Liam could sputter out. “Lily.”

“Yes, we know,” The paramedic tried to soothe him. “She’s going to the ICU right now, but I need to check your throat. It’s severely bruised and you’ve been screaming.” 

It was then that Liam remembered what had just occurred. It was as if the paramedic explaining his injury brought the injury itself to life. He coughed, nearly feeling himself vomit up blood. He collapsed to his knees, eyes watering. It was obvious that he was in severe pain in the throat, and the world began to spin. He had passed out before he was able to even catch himself. 

----

When he woke up, he was in the hospital. There was a bandage, thick and patchy, on his throat. The inside of his throat felt oddly numb, which he imagined was because of whatever procedure they had to do to him when he was knocked out. He found that it was an odd, weird feeling, but at least it wasn’t hurting. 

When he saw his father, he sat up so fast that he nearly ripped the IV’s from his arm. The fast movement caused his head to spin, and he held his head. He groaned, and then shook his head. 

“Dad?” He whispered. 

His dad had raced to his son in mere moments. He held him in the tightest hug he had ever been given by his father. It felt as if he was trying to break Liam’s bones. Liam didn’t fight it, he knew that his father needed to be hugged in the way that Liam did right now. What they had both been through...it was traumatic. 

“My God, you’re all right,” He whispered into Liam’s hair. “I thought the bastard got you too.” 

Liam inhaled. Got you too. That was all the confirmation Liam needed. His mother was really dead. In a way, he knew. He knew that already, sure, but...now it was different. His mother was actually dead now. No more pancakes, no more game nights, no more potato soup. No more of her sweet laugh, no more of her silly Christmas presents. 

Liam felt the hole in his heart slowly begin to form. With a dead mother and the love of his life in the ICU, Liam felt that his father was all he had left. He knew he needed to cry, but his body wouldn’t let him. Instead, he just sat there, staring at the linoleum floor of the hospital. The stench of cleaning materials tickled his nose as a nurse walked in with blue scrubs. When she saw that Liam was awake, she jumped. 

“Mr. Watcher, you’re awake!” 

Liam didn’t hesitate with his response. “Is Lily okay!?” 

The nurse paused. That wasn’t exactly reassuring, and it sent shivers down Liam’s spine. She forced a smile and swallowed what looked like a lump in her throat. 

“Lily is in a coma right now,” The nurse finally offered. “She’s stable, but she’s....well, we don’t know. We’ve given her medicine and blood transfusions, so now all she needs is time. We can’t do anything but wait.” 

Liam felt his stomach drop into the floor. He lunged forward, unable to do anything else at that moment. He gagged on the smell of the stupid hospital and the stupid numbing agent. 

“I should have gotten there quicker,” Liam snarled. “She wouldn’t have...mom wouldn’t have…”

“Son, no,” Liam’s father ordered. “Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

“In fact, Mr. Watcher, if you hadn’t gotten Lily to us when you did, it might have been much worse,” The nurse smiled softly. “You saved her life.”

Liam felt himself lift, slightly. “I...I did?” 

The nurse nodded. “You did. Now, can I get you anything?” 

“Can I just have a moment alone with my dad?” Liam asked, feigning guilt in his voice. 

“Sure,” The nurse smiled. “I’ll be back in a moment to do your vitals.” 

When she left, Liam looked at his father. His mother was dead, and there was no telling when the love of his life was waking up, but that had to be pushed aside. He demanded revenge of the creature that took two of the most important women in his life from him. He knew what he saw. 

The legends were real. 

And his father had the answers.