Today #VampiricTalents Ep5 CordellMeetsTheFullMoon

“Whoops...and now I have to start all over.”

Michelangelo while working on the Sistine Chapel*

#vampire! And here it is! The last flash fiction in Vampiric Talents! I'll give more in-depth commentary about what I thought about writing the series after this episode in the author comment. Here are the links to the previous episodes in new pages if you don't want to scroll down or use the archive links to read them:

(Episode 1) http://langdonflashfictions.blogspot.com/2012/08/todays-flash-fiction-vampiric-talents.html

(Episode 2) http://langdonflashfictions.blogspot.com/2012/08/vampiric-talents-ep-2-cordell-meets.html

(Episode 3)http://langdonflashfictions.blogspot.com/2012/08/vampiric-talents-ep3-cordell-meets.html

(Episode 4)http://langdonflashfictions.blogspot.com/2012/08/vampirictalents-episode-4cordell-meets.html

Sorry it took awhile to post this. But being the last episode it's a bit long plus I had a computer problem. I got a blue screen of death. It wasn't silent. It actually screeched. It physically hurt my ears. I wonder how that happened. How come everybody else gets little beeps and my computer comes from The Exorcist? But I worked hard and made it the best I could. Now enjoy!

Vampiric Talents Episode 5: Cordell Meets The Full Moon

        The Diox Cross. Before our road was fairly lonely. But now when we finally reached it there were cars and other vehicles everywhere. Tourists or traders or politicians...they were coming from all directions. At first it looked like a giant blob when I approached it. Then I just heard noise as we approached. Our road came from smaller towns so it was one of the roads with less cars and we walked alongside it. But what seemed to be hundreds of roads met hundreds of gates in huge stone walls one-hundred feet tall. I heard those walls were actually from several hundred years ago. It was a very old city. Though it must have had bricks replaced from time to time. When I looked carefully I could see a few fresher spots. The walls of city stretched along the horizon. I couldn't actually tell how big the city was. People ignored me, Jennifer, and my umbrella as they entered the gates. I could see planes coming in and out of the city, so I knew it was big enough to pack in plenty of airports. The most impressive part of city was none of that. The most impressive part was a sign. It read:

         The Diox Cross

         Where destinies and roads cross.

         All creatures welcome.

        Humans

        Werewolves

        Ogres

        Vampires

         Goblins

         And All Others

        All Creature Hunting Banned by Law

        So that meant no hunter just jumping out of me? Actual legal due process for once? They actually have to arrest me? Of course if no one is actively hunting in the city all I have to do is keep a low profile and I have nothing to worry about! Did I just jinx things again? Doubt it. The odds are so low. Heck I just saw a vampire now! And besides, with all I've been through, it'll take a nuclear bomb to take me down.

        “What'cha thinking about?” Jennifer asked as she poked me. I jumped a little.

        I turned to her. “What? Oh, nothing. Just about how we're going to get into the city and get to where we need to go.”

        She scratched her. “Wait...don't tell me. I've noticed that you tend to stand there and think a lot.” She then smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen out of her. “Holy...do you actually have internal monologues?”

         I looked awkwardly to the side. “N-no!”

         She clapped and squealed. “You are the most awesome person in the universe.”

         I grumbled, “Let's go into town Jennifer. And for your information I was just reading the sign. Not having an internal monologue about it.”

         She laughed. “Just...keep telling yourself that.”

         I yelled at her, “You! I'll monologue, your, um, grh! You know I wonder if obnoxiousness is an ability I could take!”

          She shrugged. “I dunno. Ask yourself.”

         “We're leaving now,” I grumbled. She followed with a smile.

          When we got closer to the gates of the Diox cross we saw that there were guards with hand held scanners. I suggested we ditch the suitcase and gun. Jennifer said that she recognized that one gate was guarded by guards she all knew from one trip her Dad brought her along for. She said she could get us past without trouble and the suitcase would actually help.

         When we approached one of the guards said, “A vampire and a human girl? How odd...alright what's in the suitcase?”

          Jennifer replied with a smile, “Just something I'm using for one of my plans.”

Another guard then said with a horrified, “I remember her! She's the daughter of the major of Ashenburg. Remember the first time she came through here and did one of her plans?”

          The other guards shook. One said, “W-what's in the suitcase?”

           Jennifer smiled. “Crab bodies. Wanna know what they're for?”

          “No!” The guards are yelled in unison. One of them added, “We'd rather not know. Just whatever you're going to do...don't do it anywhere near I live. I'm still terrified of butterflies because of you.”

          “And my wife almost left me from your second stunt here!” Another yelled.

          “And they're still rewriting traffic laws from the fourth one! And cleaning up butter!” One from the back shouted. “If your Dad didn't have so many connections despite being from that little town you'd be dead. Ugh. Dumb mayor. You can go through I don't want to have you making me lose my job. Or doing one of your 'plans' to me.”

          I looked at Jennifer. “What have you done?”

           “Um...” Jennifer looked at me awkwardly.

         I sighed. “I'd rather not know. But you're not allowed to do it anymore. Just no. No. Understand? No plans okay? Promise? And apologize. Now.” At this moment Jennifer's little plans went from being unbelievable stories to reality. My tone with her was harsher than it had ever been.

She gulped. “Okay...no more plans. I promise. Sorry guards.”

         The guards went silent. Then one said, “You got her to apologize? No more plans. I don't know who you are vampire...but thank you. You can go through vampire. Whoever you are. Just please never leave her to plan again.”

         “My name is Cordell, not 'vampire'.” I told them.

          They all bowed. “We are forever in your debt Cordell.”

          I glared at Jennifer. “What are you a tornado?” I grabbed her by the arm. “We're done traumatizing them.” I pulled her into the city.

          Describing the city would really be an impossible task. It was just building after building, car after car. Would I just describe every single building we passed? Really everything was shops or every type of building you would find in a city. Each had their fancy architecture. There was just so much of everything possible in a city. I can't think of a way to possibly describe the city quickly. No wait. I have a way. I know a way to describe the city in a single word.

         Noise.

         It was so much of everything crammed together all trying to standout with it's own pretentious architecture or fancy signs that everything became a blur of styles and colors. Everything was a blur of sound too. The sheer amount of variation stuck in a small amount of space made nothing stand out. I was walking through noise and nothing but. Pretty much at least of one of everything is in the Diox Cross. I'll save everyone some time. Want to know what the city is like? Look up some video or pictures of any city. That's in here. Everything is here in the massive noise that is this city. The city is so massive that I didn't see the skyscrapers from outside the old walls earlier. The map I had to the Diox Cross that Jennifer tore up also I had directions to the place I needed to go to get the talent I needed. Because I didn't know how crowded the city would be, that was the part of the map I memorized completely. I'd have taken a cellphone picture of the map a long time ago but I was sneaking out of my home vampire country and even though the sign said I was welcome in the Diox Cross itself... between the two places I was not. I kept my umbrella up, even though so many buildings cast shadows there were many places I wouldn't need it. I saw a lot of other vampires along with other creatures like ogres and goblins. Though among all the noise no one stood out.

       “Daddy's little delinquent.” Jennifer sobbed.

         I turned to her. “What?”

        “Partner princess in crime.” Jennifer's arm sagged. “Those were just two of the nicknames Dad called me. He always pushed forward helping me with my plans. He had me help with his plans. People actually vote for the major with the delinquent daughter. The find it a tragedy that he can help the town so much but cannot help his own daughter and they keep supporting him but they're too gullible to realize he's been pushing them all the way. And that while he's helping the town he's making every connection he wants embezzling everything he wants while he plays this little drama with his daughter.” A few tears trickled down her cheeks. “And I went straight along with it!”

           I put my hand on her shoulder. “Well you agreed to it so you weren't tricked right?”

            “No!” She screamed. She clenched her fist. “I was. While we were walking I was thinking about all those dumb plans and how they hurt people. Dad always supported them because he also told me that I could be a successful person like him running the operation. Then I remembered one time I was talking to Dad about a plan and he had to leave to talk to someone. That was one of my earliest plans a few years ago. I just remembered who he went to talk to. It was Tom Vampiremurderkill. I don't care how crazy the man's name is. He knows Dad. Dad always wanted me to fail. He never wanted me to come out on top like he said. He's probably the one who got Tom to come after you in the first place. Hired him through a third party so I wouldn't figure out it was him. Dad's probably furious that I have this money and it's not back in the ransom fund for him to embezzle. He's mad that I'm still out here.”

        “Jennifer your Dad may be a corrupt mayor but he certainly wouldn't do that.” I didn't know myself, but I wanted to calm the poor girl down.

          She went from crying to screaming, “You're wrong! I understand it all now! That's why he's had me home schooled ever since Mom died. He became a different man and had to play everyone. Now when he first started homeschooling me he let me see my old friends, but slowly he started pulling me away from them then he introduced me to that dumb crime boss Daniels and made sure he was my only friend. How could I be so stupid? He plays everyone like this! Why wouldn't he play me? He never wanted any of plans to succeed and he always wanted them to cause damage. And it's my fault for playing along.”

In my mind I remembered the first time I saw her. She still has the same mellow bronze skin, the same tin-gray eyes and the same brown hair. She isn't holding the unloaded gun. I've got that in my pocket now.    She went back to crying.

         “Jennifer. We're not at a checkpoint anymore, we're at the Diox Cross, so you can actually buy replacement clothes for that green shirt and skirt combination that you've been stuck in. I know the way where the talent is so I'll get it. We can meet back at those guards once you finish shopping and I get the talent I need for my vampire friend okay?”

          “No!” She yelled at me.

           I raised my eyebrow.

           “You're still wanted! You could still need me as a hostage or something!” She yelled.

           “Jennifer?” I looked at her. “There's no hunting in the city.”

             “But...” She then looked at the ground. Then looked back up to me. “Truth is...you're the only friend I've had in years and I don't want you to leave. And people are still looking for you. Even when there's the smallest of chances. Don't leave.”

         “Alright you can come with me.” I smiled. She smiled back and we continued forward. We talked about our time together. It really cheered her up. When I first had the map I memorized the path to my destination in the city so I wouldn't have to keep looking at the map when I got to the actual city. So despite the lack of the map I could still get the talent I needed. When I first memorized the path I didn't think I'd be using it for this reason.

          Jennifer tapped me on the shoulder. “So what's your best friend like? The one we're doing this all for? I mean what's even her name? I'm surprised we weren't talking about this earlier. Then again before we usually talked about vampire vs human TV out of curiosity.”

          “Well her name is Catani and quite frankly she's the smartest person I know. She remembers all the happy memories and forgets all the grudges. Her clothes hardly ever match and her hair is never in fashion. That's because she doesn't care about how other people think she looks. Though there is the exception where she will dress up for someone else's event like a wedding so the other person won't look bad. She's also a terrible driver and I mean that in the way that she always gets lost. Oi, one time we wound up in a different city because of her...we were heading to the grocery store. Me, my family and hers all pitched in to get a phone with GPS. It's really expensive because the humans control the GPS so we have to get around a lot of taxes to get it legally. We didn't realize how much of a mistake that was. We all had corded phones but now she could call us from anywhere. She loves to tell everyone things she learns. It's cool when she summarizes the best things, but when she keeps calling you, it gets annoying. But she's so kind how we can never stay made over a random factoid or two. She'd give you any talent she had if she thought it'd make your life even the little bit easier.” I looked at Jennifer and noticed she was just staring at me. “Too much information? Heh. I've known her forever so I kinda know her more than anyone else I think.”

         “Wow.” Jennifer then said, “You should marry her.”

         “Ugh!” I was revolted by the thought. “That'd be like marrying a sibling. We grew up together and played together nearly every day of the week. We shared the same toys. We even built a tree house together so we could hang out without the other kids bothering us if we wanted. Nobody could bug us because no other vampire kids had the skill to chase down and steal the talent of climbing from squirrels like we did. Those little guys are fast.” I laughed. “We loved that tree house. We couldn't fit toys or anything big up there in that tiny little thing so mostly we just read books together and talked about them or whatever else was on our mind.”

         Jennifer smiled. “I can see why you think of her like a sibling. Now how close are we to the place to where you need to get the talent?”

          I froze in place. We were very close. This timing wasn't good.

          “It's just a block ahead really around that corner. I'm glad I committed this all to memory.” It was good I committed the route of to the actual place to memory. Of course this task was too important to mess up. More than I already had. “Now I know you wanted to come with me, but I don't think you need to see me drain another talent right? I'll only be five minutes.” I started to walk away.

           She then caught up to me. “Now wait just a minute...”

           “Stay here.” I put my arm on her shoulder and pushed down. Some of the shadow of my umbrella covered her. She went silent as I moved down the block around the corner. I looked behind me to check that she wasn't following me. She didn't. Talking about Catani raised my conviction. I entered the first building I ever had in the Diox Cross.

           It was a hospital.

           I put away my umbrella as I walked up to the front desk. Artificial light would never hurt a vampire. And also since this was a city that welcomed vampires it was designed to service them if need be. The windows were tinted to let in enough sunlight to be welcoming to humans and fine for vampires. The hospital had very few people in it despite the size of the city. Of course there were probably dozens of hospitals here to make sure the city looked as safe as possible. An overcrowded hospital would not be good publicity.

         “I want to see Doctor Jonas Times immediately.” I looked at the receptionist. The receptionist checked the computer and looked back at me. Even though the receptionist was human he must have dealt with vampires before because he didn't seem bothered by me.

         “He's in surgery. And then he'll be heading home so I'm sorry. Do you want the phone number of his offices?” asked the receptionist.

          His offices? He was in this building. I wasn't going to wait. “Listen here. I need to see him now. Tell me the exact room number of the surgery. I'll wait for the safety of that patient, but no longer. I will speak with him. This is more important than anything you could understand. I don't care about offices or phone numbers. Tell me or I will suck you dry of every talent you have until your back to being the equivalent of a toddler. And don't think about calling the police or even security or it will be your family too. Understood?” I was too close to be stopped now.

           “Y-yes sir! Room 212! That's on the second floor. Elevator down the hall. Surgery should be over in ten minutes. Do you want me to tell you what he looks like?”

             I glared at the receptionist. “I know exactly what he looks like. Good day human.”

              It was a simple walk to the room. I stood outside of it. Above the door was a sign that said SURGERY IN PROGRESS. It was lit up in red. I knew that as soon as it went dark I'd be able to go through. At least that's what I thought. I didn't care if I was wrong. I waited for twenty minutes even though the receptionist said it would take fifteen. When the sign went dark I tried to go into the room. It was locked.  I used the lock picking talent that Jennifer gave me to open the door.

        Whoever the patient was had already been moved out, but the surgeons were still in there. Five in total. Whatever it was, it was delicate. Even though my friends life was important I'm glad I waited.

         “Who are you and how did you get in here?” One of them asked.

           I recognized Dr. Times immediately. I studied his picture as well as I studied the route to the hospital on the map. He was a man of medium height with skin the color of a vampire fully burnt after an hour in the sun. I suppose that's not a description everyone would understand. Just imagine the last remnants of a fire place after every single bit of wood has burnt away. That little black powder left behind. His skin had that color. It's what made him stand out to me. Though his brown eyes did have a caring look about him. His hair was a tiny black afro a few centimeters in size. Nobody could call it dorky or stylish. Yet not plain either. It made his age ambiguous and you couldn't tell whether twenty or forty or anywhere in between based on his looks. Only his title of Doctor told you he was an older man.

          Dr. Times grabbed a scalpel from the operating table and then spoke to me, “What do you want vampire? There are only so many reasons you'd barge into this operating room. Which one of us do you want. Everyone grab something.” The other doctors looked at each other puzzled. “Now!” They all rushed to grab scalpels. I used the fighting abilities I stole from the vampire hunter to subdue them all to the floor before they could realize what I was capable of.

         “All of you back against the wall away from any surgical equipment.” I ordered them without any sort of emotion in my voice. I was almost robotic sounding. They followed my commands.

Dr. Times looked me straight in the eyes. “Just tell me what you want vampire.”

        “I want to drain all your surgical abilities. Then I will be on my way and you will never see me again. That's all.” The other surgeons just stood there shocked.

        Dr. Times shook. “But I have patients to cure...do you want to make money off my talent?”

       “No!” I yelled. “I would never do such a thing. I want to save my best friend! And with your talents I can.”

        “Don't you have a doctor where you live?” he asked me.

         I grew enraged. “Are you a child? You're just another human! Do I have to teach you all the obvious? We can't learn abilities! So we can't have doctors! The only thing we can do is steal! So you hunt us down when we steal calling us monsters. We try to hire? You charge us mountains of money! You're forcing me to do this! Tell me is it legal for you operate on vampires?”

          “Yes...” the doctor answered awkwardly.

            I then continued to yell, “Under what conditions?”

           “They have to have a treaty pass issued by our government to receive certain cervices to be treated the same as humans.”

           I then grew more enraged at his ignorance, “I wonder doctor...did you know that costs one million? Just because the government feels like it? How much do you make in a year?”

           “I-I” His stuttering irritated me. Another sign of human ignorance.

           I used the fighting abilities of the vampire hunter again. This time to subdue the doctor. I took his scalpel and dropped it to the floor. I bent him over and readied myself to bite his neck.

          “Stop!” I immediately recognized Jennifer's voice.

           I grumbled, “Of course you would follow me.”

           “Please don't take his talent! When I couldn't wait anymore I turned the corner and I put the pieces together. Of course the talent you needed to save a friend would be something from a hospital. I explained everything to the receptionist and I learned the room number. You don't need to take the talent...don't take it please.” Jennifer pleaded with wide eyes.

          The doctor then said, “Vampire, I don't know who that girl, is but it doesn't matter I have a request. Please allow me to come to your country.”

            “What do you mean?” I asked him.

            “I've only lived in this city my entire life. I only see the vampires with the treaty passes. I didn't even know they had that kind of money. I didn't know you hated humans like this. If you need doctors then I need to travel to your land. Please allow me to come to your land. Immediately. I don't know how ill your friend is and I should also work on potential patients and work on others.” He looked weak as I held him in place with the vampire hunter's submission technique.

          “How do I know you won't just run at first chance?” I didn't want to risk X's life. Not when I was this close.

        He laughed. “It's simple. It's because I want to help. I do this job to help people. I'm begging you. Let me help. I don't want to go to bed knowing people are hurting out there where I could be helping. You could be hunted out there if you take my talent. But if I go with you there's more of a chance of me getting to your country to help. And do you think you can take all of my talents? I know a lot of biology of talent stealing...I'm not sure if you can get it all perfectly. What if you don't do it right? I couldn't live with myself if my talents didn't save your friend when I could have done it myself. Let me help.”

I released the doctor.

       “You can come.” Every human. Jennifer, Tom and now Dr. Times. With all three of them as soon as I spoke to them they changed. I could see why vampire television was banned from being aired in human countries. Even Tom changed and his last name was Vampiremurderkill. “We should go. It'll take awhile to get back to my country. I had to walk here. I may be in the adjacent country...but it is still a long way.”

       “We'll take my car. That'll save much needed time right?” The doctor smiled. He seemed excited at the prospect of working in a new place. “I can't bring any of my equipment though.”

         I looked at him. “We have it all. We stole a lot of it. Human taxes and all. But we got all the equipment before I set out to do this. Most vampire hospitals are filled that way. If we don't have the ability to make it ourselves...well you can put the pieces together. The goblins smuggled some of the equipment for us so we didn't steal it all. Some we managed to buy under the table. But that's all in the past. Let's go now.”

We went by the receptionist. I gave a quick apology though apparently whatever explanation Jennifer had given to get directions to the room Dr. Times was in calmed the receptionist down. When we went outside I didn't hear the noise of the city. Not the usual noise at least. I heard planes above. I heard cars in the distance. But on the street we were on...the usual noise was gone. There were no cars.

          But I did see werewolves. Lots of them.

       “Hello Count Edward Genocide. Or should I say Cordell?” The werewolf at the front said with a sickeningly deep tone. He was fully turned. I saw the full moon hanging in the sky. My original map would have gotten me to the Diox Cross before the full moon. But because of the delays caused by Jennifer's route that was not the case.

        The streetlights were on so I could see them all in detail. There were twenty including the leader. The werewolf who spoke was probably their leader. That's usually how it worked with werewolves. The leader of the pack spoke. He was blonde and his hair had sprouted all the way out to make his body covered in his new fur. I could smell his sweat. The adrenaline rush from the wolves changing caused them to sweat and their muscles to bulge in some places and tighten in others. He looked broken really. But transformations were for the “better”. If you count the ruthless borderline psychosis of werewolves beneficial. I could see his “fangs” in his mouth. Really his incisors sprouted further out from his gums. However they were longer than normal human incisors so they were not vulnerable to being easily knocked out. This man's transformation was deep. But I could tell he was in control. His eyes did not occasionally twitch like the other werewolves behind him. I knew he was exceptionally dangerous. But then again I should be safe in the city.

         “There's no hunting here in the Diox Cross werewolf.” I smiled. Finally I place I was safe. I didn't have to deal with this.

           The werewolf laughed. “Notice how it's silent? I blocked off the road! Did you wonder how I know your name? I looked you up. I started with your description. Sent some of my people to weed through files and we came up pictures. I do love the Internet. We sent them back to that backwater town and around the area to see if people could match the picture to the person who took the mayor's daughter hostage. Now Tom Vampiremurderkiller was talking about Count Genocide but when we showed him all the possible pictures for some odd reason he clammed up to who was the right answer. It took a few beatings but he eventually pointed you out. Now why I am allowed to do this? Even to a human? Because I am Hofine II the greater pack leader of this entire country. That means I control every single werewolf pack leader in this country. Which means I can do whatever I want.”

        I began to sweat. “What could you possibly want with me? I'm so insignificant on the large scale of things.”

         Hofine II shrugged. “Well Cordell what it is that I want the girl. My son has this odd thing for humans. Disgusting. But he's my son so I'll accept him however he is. Thing is way back in that little town when the hostage situation happen he was the werewolf leader you were dealing with. That was his first patrol and he just absolutely became entranced with that human girl. Hasn't stopped talking about her. Naturally I want my son to be happy so I had to figure out who the girl was as quickly as possible. I wish my son was able to identify you so I wouldn't have had to travel around with those pictures but he was focusing on her so he couldn't remember what you exactly looked like only a general description of hair, eye color and clothing. He was as useful as the witnesses who saw you attack the violinist. I'm surprised how many vampires look like you. Apparently black hair and green eyes is not the rarest thing among your kind. At least in your home country. When working to identify the girl I found it was the mayor's daughter and contacted him. I found out it was one of the girl's many infamous plans.” He laughed. “Your father and I are actually very close. Both of us being political figures have to naturally. And him, being the corrupt mayor, wants me to love him as much as possible. So when he told me I was in on it I was also enlightened to the fact he was into almost all her plans. Of course to keep me from burying the mayor either politically or literally he has decided to exchange her for his safety. He also assured me that Tom would take care of the vampire and he would fail like she always did. I was actually expecting Tom to be cooperative when I asked him about the identity of you Cordell. But now that's why I have come after you myself.”

          Jennifer then interrupted, “Don't hurt Cordell! I'll come along! I'll be your son's girlfriend or whatever!”

          The werewolf then laughed. “So you have become emotionally attached to the vampire! Well I was going to kill the vampire whether or not you liked him. The funniest part of this all was I had no idea where you were going and then you come right to where I live! Now as to why I want to kill the vampire? First I just hate vampires. Second my son hates the man who took away and hurt his love. And that is what your going to do is tell him how much he hurt you so my son can feel happy “comforting” you from the trauma. Of course it could be the trauma from seeing your vampire friend killed. That is also why I plan to bring the vampires corpse to my son. My son's birthday is coming up and what better present than the girl of his dreams and the corpse of his tormentor? I am so tired of just buying him video games and learning he doesn't like them. At least he liked the car.”

        Jennifer then yelled, “I'm not going to cooperate if you hurt him!”

        “What about if I hurt your father?” The werewolf smiled.

        Jennifer shouted even louder, “I don't care about him anymore!”

        The werewolf laughed. “Well that's a twist! He's raised you for so long and now you don't care about him? This vampire has turned you against your own father? I guess you must have figured how much he was using you. Look at this way. My son's a teenager. If your lucky just like every other teenager he'll find some other girl he finds prettier and I'll nab that one and you can go. You're a teenager. You've probably thought that about a lot of the boys you've seen. Now doctor you have an unfortunate case of being in the wrong in place in the wrong time. I'm going to kill you too. See the thing is even if I said nothing I was going to tell my son I killed him alone. Though don't worry. The story will go that the vampire killed you while you were trying to save the girl. You will be remembered as a noble man.”

        “Would your son want any of this?” I asked him.

         Hofine II responded, “He wants the girl. But the rest of the truth? No. But ignorance is bliss. But everyone will love my version and the popularity of werewolves will rise. And maybe my son's deviant relationship with Azalea will at least potentially be politically beneficial. Disgusting humans.”

        “Azalea?” I was baffled.

        “That's my real name.” Jennifer said.

          The werewolf raised his eyebrow. It was a bit hard to see with all the other hair that had come out. “You gave the vampire a fake name? Well I've grown tired of waiting. Pity the mayor of this lousy town doesn't have me carry around weapons here out of one his “friendly to vampires” in the Diox Cross publicity stunt. But I'm pretty sure I can kill you without any. You'll be my 1045^th vampire.”

A bat then came from out of nowhere. It landed on the ground and turned into Count Dracula.

       “I came as soon as I could!” He yelled triumphantly.

        Hofine II's jaw dropped, “How? Why? What? Could someone explain to me what Count Dracula is doing here? Dracula, haven't you caused me and my fellow werewolves enough trouble over the years just to show up here for no reason? Unless...No! How could you possibly know this guy?”

       Dracula turned to me. “Cordell. Since you drained Tom of his talents I decided that I had a chance to make amends. When I saw Tom beaten he explained to me that the werewolves did it and why. I couldn't possibly let them get away with it. I used my abilities to find you and hopefully save you and get back at the werewolves for such senseless violence and make up for my stupid honor fight with you.”

        Hofine II growled while he turned to his men. “No! This is just too stupid to be real. Whatever! At least I'm glad I brought you along pack-mates you can take care of him. I know that Dracula can regenerate and is supposedly immortal. But there's a solution to that. He can still feel pain so keep breaking his bones and sinking your teeth into his skin until he goes into a coma from the pain. I'll kill Cordell. Now go!”

          The fight ensued. I couldn't have watched Dracula's fight and not worried about my own. I could only see it out of the corner of my eye. I knew he was shooting his laser beams. I heard both Dracula and the werewolves screaming. I think I saw lighting. I think I moaning. I the moaning of the undead. And then the neighing of horses. Then beat-boxing followed by a majestic light. And then explosions. What kind of talents does that man have?

         But I had to focus on mine. Hofine II rushed me. Though usually that's all werewolves knew to do when fueled by the adrenaline of the moon. I was glad he wasn't one of the savage werewolves that grow out their fingernails and file them to be like claws. They were actually trimmed down like normal. But instead of clawing at me like a savage he punched me hard. I learned this was all to find an opening to put his hands around my neck.

       I used Tom's fighting abilities again. I managed to fight back. I hit harder and harder. But he just wouldn't go down. I learned how he managed to become leader. I at first thought from his name Hofine II it meant he had in inherited it. But even if he did he must have kept it through brute power. It was harder to knock him back than Dracula. Dracula's regeneration could keep him going longer naturally. But hitting Honfine II was like hitting solid ground.

      I realized the only thing I could possibly do to keep myself alive was to take him out completely. And not with my fists. It had to be with my fangs. I first hit him in the lower part of his neck. I remember my father telling me if you hit there you could mess with a werewolf's transformation. Hofine II screamed. I used that split second to put him into the same kind of submission hold I used on Dr. Times.

       I sunk my fangs into him. I injected as much toxin as I could. It hurt to force in that much. The werewolf went limp. But he still managed to budge a little. He was still tough and I knew it wouldn't hold him forever. I decided to drain every talent I had to. And like I told Jennifer. No wait her name is Azalea isn't it. Like I told her, if you drain enough, the chemicals and vampire cells injected could actually kill the victim. I would probably kill this man. But he told me his death count. He'd killed over a thousand vampires. And who knows how many humans and others who got in his way. I'm not sure if it would just self defense if I killed him now. I could be saving many more after me. I certainly know he's much more dangerous than Tom could ever have been. I began draining his talents. So now I began my journey into his brain.

        The waking dream that is talent draining began. I started with reading and writing. I already had those talents. But a vampire can drain someone's talents again to double up and become better at them. I then drained all his artistic abilities and musical abilities, no matter how minor, he wasn't a very educated man. I drained every single non-violent talent I could. I tried to stay away from the darker parts of his mind. But he had very few “civil” talents. So had to go into his darker skills. I experienced the waking dream of learning the talents he used to lead his packs. I learned the talent of intimidation. The ability to shout and demoralize others. I learned his style of fighting. But before that in my waking dream I mimed my way through learning all the methods of beating and torture he had mastered as forms of persuasion. I only managed to drain him completely when I pulled out the abilities he used to control his pack. The abilities of a savage. The most peaceful abilities among those were theft. I took everything I could before I released him. I staggered backwards. Draining took a tool on vampires too.

      “Get away vampire!” He stumbled backwards. “Enough is enough!” He yelled. He then pulled out a cellphone out of his pocket. “I'm calling for backup! Every single werewolf in the city will be tearing through you!” His eyes then widened. “Why can't I remember how to dial a number? How much did you drain me vampire? How much? I'll just go through the menus! I can't read the menus! You drained my ability to read? You monster!” Hofine II then held his head. “Why is my head hurting? No...your cells are in my brain aren't they? If you drained me this much...” He put his hand to his heart. “My heartbeat is getting weak. Doctor! Come over here! I'm going to die unless you get some of these cells out of my head! They should be forming some sort of tumor! I-I” Hofine II then fell to the ground. I walked over to him and felt for a pulse. He was dead.

         “Is he dead?” I heard a werewolf voice say from Dracula's battle. “That means we don't have to fight! Dracula we surrender! Please stop killing us! Sorry about breaking your bones! You regenerated away!” I turned to see that Dracula had managed kill ten of the twenty werewolves.

          “I will spare you.” Dracula turned to me. “Are you alright?”

         “Thankfully I'm alive. I got him before he managed to get me. Took a lot of nasty blows.” I sat on the ground. Standing was getting hard.

          “It was so quick. I wanted to jump in but I was too scared.” Jennifer said to me.

          Dr. Times shook his head. “True. It was quick. But I should have been able to jump in quickly enough.  It's just you took me down so quickly in the hospital before I was afraid as soon as he started fighting you so easily. By the time I gathered enough courage you had him in your fangs. At that point I knew I shouldn't interrupt. But earlier...forgive me for being a coward.”

         “It's alright. This entire thing was pretty crazy.” I took a deep breath. It was all over.

        Dracula then turned to the werewolves. “If you don't want me to change my mind about sparing you, you must tell everyone that I am the one who kill Hofine II. Tell them I did it out of pure spite against the werewolves. That is also why I killed your friends. You personally rescued Azalea and Cordell ran off. Tonight never happened this way. So now Cordell can disappear with the doctor and everything can go back to normal with me being the only one hated or in trouble. Usually that's how it ends up anyway.”

       “I guess that means I have to go home. And live with him again.” Jennifer began to cry a little.

        “Nonsense!” I smiled. “Jennifer, if the doctor is coming to vampire country I don't see why you can't. If you don't want to live with him you can come with us.”

Dr. Times nodded. “It only makes sense. Considering her father tried to sell her off to that werewolf as a political move. I'm not even sure if I want to pass through that town when we go to your country. He sounds like a very dangerous man.”

        Jennifer ran up and hugged me. “Thank you thank you thank you!” She was crying. “I was afraid I was going to go have to live with him again.”

       Dr. Times then asked. “Um, Jennifer, why did you give the vampire a fake name?”

       She sighed. “I was only about to tell Cordell my name was Azalea because it was my legal name. The thing is Azalea was my Mom's favorite flower. She gave me that name. I didn't like the name because it isn't. I dunno normal. I guess it isn't weird. But it didn't gel with what I was trying to be.”

I then said, “You mean the personality that your Dad was gearing you towards?”

       Jennifer then gulped. “Um...”

I smiled. “Jennifer. How about you don't be that deliquient your Dad was making you be as his little political pity-vote pawn. How about you start again as Azalea. It's a cute and pretty name and you'll be your own girl. Alright? How about it?”

       Azalea smiled. “Okay! From this point forward I'm going to stay Azalea.”

Dr. Times smiled to. “Alright then. Let's go to your country. Your friend is ill so I guess we'll just go straight into my car after at least getting maybe one or two changes of clothes. I'm not sure if I have enough gas and money for all the checkpoints though.”

        Azalea said, “We have over 80,000 in this suitcase. Don't worry we'll explain in the car. Yeah let's only get one, two pairs of clothes. This is a 24 hour city so we can get some in like 30 minutes right?”

        Dracula then said, “Can I come to?”

        “Why?” I asked him.

         Dracula then continued awkwardly, “As an immortal vampire you kinda run out of things to do. Plus its kinda hard to make friends in my position. Can I come along please?”

        We all looked at each other. “Fine.” We said together. I thought he might be useful at least. Maybe everyone else agreed.

          Dracula smiled. "Oh! Awesome! Alright werewolves just tell everyone I killed them all so they can disappear forever. You guys fought valiantly trying to save them yada yada but your leader was defeated. Okay bye!" Dracula then grew giddy. "Guys do I have some fun stories for you! I mean I have been to a lot of worlds. Which really means universes because each world has its own universe. Like there was this one where there was convenient space travel and people could move stuff with their mind. I decided not to take the talent though since it was so rare. The most interesting part was when I ran across this one dude in black with this helmet on and he spoke really funny and deep and breathed in and out. *koosh koosh* And he was like 'How did you get onto my ship?' and I was like 'I'm not telling' then he said 'I'm going to kill you' well I'm paraphrasing really. He had the mind powers too. He tried to choke me. But when that didn't work he pulled out this big glowing laser weapon sword. So I fought him using that. I had use some of my powerful talents. He got really mad and called all his soldiers in white uniforms and they started attacking me with their laser guns it went pew pew! That's when it got really crazy and I had to run. I may be immortal but I'm not fighting that many guys. I bailed to an adjacent universe. It had adorable ponies with names that reflect their personalities. They talked about friendship. We had dinner and everything together. Ever since then I go there usually once a month. It's fun.”

         Azalea rolled her eyes. “He's becoming less of a gentlemen the more we know him. Well, his stories will probably be more interesting then most of what we have to talk about. And it will definitely beat whatever is on the radio when we get in the car.

Vampiric Talents: End

Author Comment: And there we go. The last of this first set of Vampiric Talents flash fictions. After today I'll be heading back to my usual different story each day format. However if you want to see more Vampiric Talents I can continue the story. However since I don't know how popular this story is you have to show me you like it. Blogger lets me track page views so you need to show people Vampiric Talents and the blog and if I get enough views on it I will add more Vampiric Talents stories. Maybe one or two more enough support and I could run an entire new “season” of another 5 episodes of Vampiric Talents. You can also show me that you like it by emailing me at llkenne1@asu.edu simply tweeting about Vampiric Talents is good.

As per my thoughts on my series...it was a fun experience! I did quite love the characters. Both being serious and funny, though mostly funny. A darker turn at the end but a high note at the end of it all. Good old Dracula. Good old public domain! Maybe I write more of Dracula's world romping adventures someday! I was glad I was able to come up with my unique premise of talent stealing but still do a lot of faithful ideas of vampireness. It was also fun to come up with “scientific explanations” to it all both with the vampires and werewolves. I wonder how much people followed that. So yeah, if you want more Vampiric Talents bring more views to the blog! Have a nice day everyone!

             Wanna know the one of the hardest part of writing the series is? Finding unused names for vampires.