Chapter 2: I am vengeance

Brad Callaway

At nine in the evening, the plane landed at Salem community airport. Salem was officially the place I was going to avenge my family. As the giant Boeing 707 rolled on the runway, I got out the only reminder of my family, a small picture of my mum and dad with their parents and in-laws. I had every reason to believe that the vampire who killed them was in Salem. The blood banks were being robbed and those in charge had no memory of what transpired, typical McCain, the last remaining of her bloodline. For years, I had hunted her down in the forest and woods where I thought she lived, but I kept running head fast to the same brick wall. I didn't know her. We hadn't met yet, all I had was a picture, and it matched the one captured in the CCTV camera of the last hospital she hit. And she had not aged a day.

"Welcome to Salem Brad, Kindly state the purpose of your visit," the immigration official said going through my passport.

"Education sir, I have a letter of offer from Trinity College," I said, showing him the letter.

Education was my cover. I was hoping to complete my mission as soon as possible and just settle in Salem. No one was going to miss me anyway. My Forster parents were glad when I told them I was leaving, not that I needed them anyway.

"Good everything is in order, enjoy your stay, next!" He said giving me back my travel documents. I took a sigh of relief, dragged my suitcase behind me across the road and waved down a cab.

"Where to mate?" The cab driver asked in a heavy British accent. He had this red copper hair tied in a pony with a weird quick smile that went on and off.

"East stand apartments"

"A student, huh? You have to be careful here, mate, there is a vampire problem"

"Have you met or seen one yourself?"

"No, but we see it on the news. It's just a matter of time before they start feeding on us"

And I was there to stop that. For years, my training, and dedication as a vampire hunter was on killing vampires and preventing them from harming humans. The cab pulled over at the prestigious east stand apartments.

"Thanks, "I said, taking my luggage from the trunk.

"Be wary of the vamps!" He shouted, driving past me.

A thumbs-up sign was my response before I walked through the iron gates. After clearing with the security office, I started the long climb to the fourth floor. My room was the last one in the hallway. And before getting to meet them, my neighbours were noisy. Music was blasting in almost every room. Typical college students. Again, I was not complaining, the noise was a better cover for my plan. I opened my door and looked around the small room with a kitchen on my right. A small bed in the middle of the room. After locking the door, I put my suitcase and bag pack on the bed and headed for the balcony, where there was a toilet. From there I could see the entire campus. A fresh breeze from the forest hit my nostrils and I let it engulf me, my eyes shut, and my arms spread in the air. Howling wolves ruined my mood.

"Freaking night crawlers!" I hissed and went back inside.

Turned on the TV, it was on the news channel. I took some time to read through the headlines. From my bag, I quickly got a notebook and a pen and then noted down all the hospitals she had hit. From there, I unpacked and set up my working desk. Luckily, the room had a board from which I could create my conspiracy patterns on the Salem map. The hospitals were to help me approximate the area and narrow my search.

After putting a tag on every hospital I went to the small fridge in the kitchen, my predecessor had left me a row of cokes and arranged one behind another. I opened one and sat on the armchair swinging with my gaze fixed on the board, a come in one hand and a dart in the other

."Where are you, McCain?" I growled and angrily threw the dart on the board. It was useless.

Nothing was coming up, perhaps I needed a shower to freshen up and try again later, some food would have helped too. The moment my guts convinced me she was in Salem I lost my appetite, my judgment was clogged by anger and vengeance. Until her head was on a spike, until my silver blade chopped her head off, I wasn't going to rest. It was do or die for me. Out of anger, I found myself crushing the can of soda in my right hand, spilling it on the carpet. The bitch had been on my nerves for quite some time. At some point, I had thought of letting go, holding on was doing more harm than good but then those memories of my innocent family being butchered by a sadistic vampire would come up in my brain, almost exploding it.

A soft knock on the door brought me back to reality. It startled me, I wasn't expecting anyone.

"Hi neighbour, I thought I'd be the first one to welcome you to the block "She was petite, wearing a white tank top and a pair of Tyra shorts.

"Thank you, I am Brad by the way," I said, stretching my hand for a handshake.

"Lilly"

"Great, see you around," I said quickly shutting the door. She seemed as though she wanted to keep talking.

Well, I had no time for neighbours or friends as long as McCain was still alive. She was my priority, you can say I was obsessed with her. The cold water from the shower dropping on my body in ripples calmed me down. Like a scarecrow, I stood under the shower, letting the water wash away all my worries. The shower was my safe space, it was the only place my mind was devoid of vampires and supernatural stuff, but not that day. It was hard not to think of McCain when Salem was the closest we had ever been. I screamed out, angrily, smashing my hand on the wall with all the strength left in my body. McCain took everything from me. My childhood memories were brutal, in school children would make fun of me for being in Forster care. And my Forster parents would put me through hell, all of that because one vampire decided to sweep my entire family from the face of the earth.

My phone rang, cutting short my alone time in the shower. With my small circle of friends and those who cared about me, I could already guess who was calling.

"Hey, you landed safely?" Gordon, my trainer, asked. He had survived a vampire attack when he was a teenager. An attack that left a scar across his face and an even deeper one on his heart that turned him into an elite vampire hunter.

"Yeah, I am settling in my room"

"Any news on McCain?"

"She is here. I can smell it, this time, am not letting her go scot-free…"

"Relax, kid, don't let anger overcome you. She will see you coming, and she won't hesitate to kill you"

"Rodger that sir, I have my emotions in check" Yeah, I lied about one. Her photo was on the table, and I was poking holes through it with my hunting knife.

"I don't hear from you for a couple of days, I am sending the team over…"

"No need, I got this covered"

"It was not negotiable, Callaway. Goodnight!"

Dealing with more than a century-old McCain vampire one required all hands on deck, all the help they could get but for me, that would have diluted that feeling of accomplishment. She didn't need help to kill my family according to the witnesses, I didn't need help to kill her either. There was a reason Gordon got me training other hunters, I was the best after him. Raw talent, he called it. After the call, I changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, grabbed the burger I was carrying in my bag pack and sat my zonked body on the couch thumbing up on my laptop's keyboard.

Another skill I had managed to perfect over the years apart from killing vampires was hacking, as long as she had a face she could be found. My first target was the latest hospital she hit. It didn't take me long to get in, the same way it didn't take me long to doze off on the couch with a burger in my hands.

****Dream World***

I woke up in the forest running as fast as my aching legs could carry me, branches blocking my visage, my heart was racing almost jumping out of my hot as an oven chest. I decided to stop and grab a lungful of cold hair, am sure if I kept running my next breath would have been a fire.

"You can't run away from me, Callaway!" A famine voice said in echo.

"Show yourself!" I screamed, looking around scared.

"Am everywhere, just look carefully" this time she sounded so close, behind me as though she were whispering. When I turned around, there was nothing.

"Let's finish this!" I screamed, breathing heavily and angrily, the torment had to come to an end. My fingers were holding the silver blade tight, ready to chop her head off with a single swing.

"Am here!" She said, standing in front of me.

My eyes almost popped out of their sockets. It was McCain. Right there on the flesh, her iris glowing a perfect red with her mouth wide open, sharp pointed fangs and protruding nails. She had followed me in my dream, but instead of attacking, she morphed back to her human form.

"Come on! Do it!" She said, smiling and tucking her hair.

I just froze, my hands became weak, and I started shaking like a twig and sweating profusely. The mind was not giving the order to the body, neither was the heart. How could I miss a chance to kill her when it's all I ever wanted in life?

"That's what I thought Callaway, you're a coward," she said smelling me all over, "I can smell the fear all over you, but that's what I like about you"

Her lips met mine, and now the mind and heart both agreed, my lips voluntarily parted to let her in but when our tongues met.

***Normal World ****

I woke up in my sweat-soaked T-shirt with a burger in my hand, my laptop bleeping with a picture of McCain on its entire eleven-inch screen. Before being consumed in the eerie dream world, I had initiated a search, and it was a match.

"Found you bitch." I said, wearing a smile of contentment.

But first I had to pinch myself just to be certain it was not a dream, in reality with a sword I wasn't going to hesitate. That very night, I went shopping for weapons. For a McCain I needed the best weapons in the market and thank God Gordon had given me an address to the best weapon seller in Salem.