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Of course, there was nothing she could do but think about it. All through the night, she stayed awake, thinking about the fact that she was being haunted by a specter that claimed he was a vampire. She had spent hours in the middle of the night reading up on vampires, reading everything from folktales to forums where people claimed they had been caught by vampires in the real world. The accounts were wildly strange and all of them were different, but there was one thing she settled on: Vincenzo was a vampire.
The only thing she could figure was his physical appearance and his ability to project his voice into her mind was too much for her just to shrug off and pretend like it wasn’t something, when it clearly was. There was something happening with him and she didn’t know what it was for sure, but it creeped her out.
Her obsession followed her to work and she was spending more and more time thinking about the fact that she’d just had a child with a vampire. There had to be some kind of mortal sin that had to do with that. How could she be getting away with that? Was she going to hell now? She didn’t know, but something was off inside of her, she thought. She felt scared and nervous about everything happening to her.
As she looked at the computer screen on her desk, she was trying her hardest to get focused and find the drive she needed in order to get everything right. She was completely lost and confused about everything. What was going on in her life?
When she came to the conclusion that there was something off about what he said and there must have been something else at play, she knew she was going to have to take what he was saying with a bit of understanding and belief as well. What if he was here to warn her?
She didn’t know what she was supposed to make of that, but the night they had slept together, she had experienced the most powerful and realistic dream that she had ever had before and it was impossible for her to ignore that. It was impossible for her to walk away from it.
She had experienced a dream that was so compelling and realistic that it was still haunting her. It was more than she could handle when she had it and it had devastated her. She thought back to the shadowy figures and how they had hunted the crying baby and had come after her in the end. What if it was an omen or something?
She didn’t know what to do with that, but she knew one thing for sure, she wasn’t accomplishing anything here. Glancing over to the office where her boss was on the phone with someone, she knew that if she went up to him and told him that Blake was having a rough day, she would be able to get home early, but she needed to put in some serious work before then.
She looked at her desk and knew that in an hour, she could get more done than most of her coworkers could in half of the day. Taking a deep breath, she began to prioritize and decided it was time to work the magic. She was going to make things happen so she could get home.
When she was working for that hour, she realized there was still more that she hadn’t been thinking about, like what Vincenzo had been doing in his absence. No matter what she did, Vincenzo rolled around in her mind. He was bouncing around and haunting her every thought.
This wasn’t fair. She wanted to scream and shout at him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Standing up, she finished up her work and she headed for her boss’s office. She felt nervous about lying to him and taking advantage of him, but she needed to get out of there. The sooner she could get home, the sooner she could get back to being a normal person.
“Hey, Boss,” she smiled at him politely.
His eyes lit up at the sight of her. “How’s it going, Shantal?” he asked eagerly.
“Not so hot,” she said to him nervously. “Blake’s not doing so well today and I was hoping I could jump out of here a little early and go take care of him.”
“No problem,” he said more than willing to let his star employee off a little early. “You go be a mommy and we’ll make sure that everything is just fine here.”
“You’re a life saver,” she said to him gratefully. She was appreciative, but she didn’t want to seem too eager to him. She didn’t want to seem desperate. “I’ll make up for my time off tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he assured her. “You two have a good night. I hope he gets feeling better.”
“Thanks,” she said, returning to her desk and quickly starting to pack up her things. She knew that there wasn’t a soul in in this office who suspected ill of her or who would be considered an enemy. Even the people that she didn’t get along with still thought of her as a good employee and treated her with kindness and respect. She wanted everyone to think she was a good employee and, that under normal circumstances, she would never do this to them.
Outside on the street, she realized that it was still cloudy outside and there was something that made her very nervous about that. If vampires were real and they were actually walking around, then they were probably like Vincenzo and could walk around when it was this cloudy. He had smelled like sunscreen, if she could recall correctly.
There was something about him that made her even more nervous when she thought about him being able to walk freely. There should be limits to that kind of power and she thought that the sunlight would be the defining factor.
All around her, the city was going on like there was nothing happening. She climbed into a cab and went as far as she could before she had to get out. She’d felt stressed and cooped up inside the car. She wished that she could tell someone. Who could she tell, though?
Who could she talk to about the fact that there were actually vampires in the world and that they were walking among everyone like they belonged and there was nothing wrong with that? She wanted to tell someone, but then she would just end up like one of those people on the internet who was shouting and shouting, but no one cared.
As she walked quickly toward her apartment building, she knew that Greta was going to get worried about her when she showed up disheveled and out of order for the second day in a row, but she couldn’t help it.
As she stopped and glanced over her shoulder, she felt like there were people watching her. She could feel eyes on her and she felt like she was in black waters with sharks coming for her in all directions. There was a terror growing inside of her, swelling and rising with each passing second that she wasn’t home with her child.
She didn’t know how she was going to cope with this, but she needed to find a way to get a hold of herself quickly.
She was absolutely certain that she was being followed as she entered her building and watched a man who was as pale as the moon walk past the building slowly, wearing sunglasses and looking inside through the glass doors. William, the doorman, didn’t seem to notice the man at all and gave him nothing more than a passing glance.
That made her feel worse than ever. What was wrong with William? Didn’t he see this stalker passing the building and wasn’t he going to say anything? She felt the fear inside of her tightening as the pale man passed the building, his eyes lingering on the building as he glanced up. She didn’t know what kind of powers these people had, but she knew that Vincenzo was probably fully aware of it.
If she wanted answers, then she was going to have to go to Vincenzo, something she wasn’t eager for. She rode the elevator up to the fourth floor and walked to her apartment and unlocked the door. She terrified Greta by coming home this early, but when she apologized, Greta laughed it off and told her how Blake was for the day.
She didn’t question that Shantal had come home early, but she knew there was something wrong with her. Shantal was going to have to stop acting so strange or she was going to need to find another babysitter. Greta wouldn’t tolerate this forever.
When Greta was out of the apartment, Shantal locked the door behind her.
She knew there were a lot of legends about vampires not being able to come inside of buildings they weren’t invited into and she really hoped this was the case for them in the real world. She didn’t know what kind of rules she was going to be forced to play by, but she was going to need to know them rather quickly if she wanted to survive this. If they could break through the door, then she was going to need to have something to defend herself with.
Setting her messenger bag down on the dining room table, she grabbed a knife from the cutlery block and held onto it as she looked at the door, wondering if a vampire could die like a normal person. Vincenzo had said he’d been alive for hundreds of years and she wasn’t sure if she believed that or if he was just trying to impress her. He sounded like he was American, so she wasn’t sure if she bought the ancient history thing.
It didn’t matter right now. All she cared about was protecting her son.
Walking over to Blake, she placed the knife on the small table next to his bouncer as he looked up at the trembling and swaying toys that were hanging over his head with a kind of angelic fascination that she wished she had in her life. She wished she could be so bemused by something as simple and wonderful as a bunch of swaying toys, but she was left with the terrifying reality that he was unaware of. She shook her head. What had she gotten herself into?
“You’re a lucky little Prince,” she told him with a very pleasant voice so he wouldn’t know how terrified she was. She wasn’t going to scare him or let him know how terrified she was. Nope, she was going to be the strong, independent woman that she knew she was and she was going to stand her ground. “Mommy is going to make sure you’re safe and that there’s nothing that will go bump in the night here.”
Blake stared at her, watching her lips and trying to understand what this bigger version of himself was saying. She loved him and she just wanted hold him and kiss him for the rest of the night, but she didn’t trust that they were safe.
Standing up, she looked out the window to see if there was anything she should be aware of. Part of her expected to see Vincenzo standing down on the street, looking up at her, or to be standing in one of the windows. Nothing would surprise her right now if she saw it and she could feel the fear running through her, even with the knife in her hand.
She flinched at the sight of something moving out of the corner of her eye and she looked to the rooftop across the street and saw that it was a flock of birds fluttering up into the sky and she knew that she was being silly. There was nothing for her to be afraid of.
Her eyes moved across the buildings and she started looking at the windows and she knew that there was something off. She could feel eyes on her and she didn’t know where they were coming from. As she looked from building to building, she decided to look at the windows.
There was something about the windows that was drawing her attention. As she looked at them, she spotted one with curtains that were gently wafting in the breeze. Staring at the curtains, she noticed that there was something wrong.
There were crimson stains on the fabric as it flapped in the breeze and there was someone standing just beyond the curtains, watching her with devilish eyes and the kind of presence that made her think that everything she had been afraid of and everything she had been worried about wasn’t fake.
There was a real reason to have terror inside of her. She stared at the woman in the window, who was watching her and a cold trickle ran down her spine. There was something watching her.
Looking at the other windows, she saw others, three of them, each occupying different windows in the buildings across the street, all of them standing there, watching her as she stared at them in horror. She had no idea how many others were out there, but right now, there were four of those things watching her with a strange fixation and curiosity.
There was no question about it, she had to call Vincenzo. She had to call him and tell him what was happening and she had to tell him right now. She needed to know what she could do and how she was going to get out of this.
They were going to have to get rid of these things somehow and she was worried about those stains. Had they killed people? How had they gotten into those apartments and where were the people they had harmed?
Panic flooded through her veins, shooting through like bullets as she tried her hardest to get everything into perspective. She wanted to know what to do right now and there was no knowing how she was going to get out of this. She didn’t know how she was going to protect her child.
She walked back into her room and looked at Blake, not willing to let anyone separate them until she knew what she was going to do. She wasn’t going to leave his side until she knew he was safe. At all costs, she was going to make sure that he was.
As she reached into her purse, digging around for Vincenzo’s number, she knew she was already on her way down the rabbit hole and there was nothing that she had to fear now. She was going to be a part of all of this, no matter what. There was no more room for questioning and suspicion. She needed to embrace this and accept it right now.
Taking a deep breath, she dialed the number and waited for him to answer.
“Hello, Shantal,” he said with a polite voice that couldn’t sense the horror she was feeling. She wanted to scream and curse at him and tell him that this was all his fault and that everything that was happening was on him, but she knew it wouldn’t do her any good. There was no need for that and it wasn’t going to help the situation in the slightest. She needed to move on and she needed to think about productive ways to help their situation.
“I can see them, “she said to him nervously. “They’re in the buildings around me, staring out the windows and watching me. I think they’ve hurt people, Vincenzo. I think they’ve killed people.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said to her with an assuring voice, but she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to take that.
She had just told him they had hurt people and he was telling her to calm down and that everything was going to be fine. She felt a cold trickle run down her spine and she wanted to have answers to this.
She wanted to know what she was going to do. Everything around her was crippling and disintegrating into something beyond her control. She wanted to know how to handle this situation, but there was no book on this. She wanted to be a mother, not a vampire hunter.
“So long as you stay there until I come get you, you’re going to be just fine.”
“What does that mean?” she asked nervously. “What does that mean, Vincenzo?”
“I’m going to take care of them,” he told her with a confident voice. “Don’t go anywhere near the windows and don’ t talk to anyone else, Shantal. If you call your family or your friends, they’ll just try to use them against you. Don’t put anyone at risk by contacting them, understand?”
“I won’t,” she said with all confidence.
There was no way that she was going to lure anyone else into this ridiculous scenario. No, she was going to protect as many people as she could and she was going to make sure that everyone was safe that she could afford to keep safe.
“Stay away from the windows,” he reminded her again. “Don’t let them see you and don’t let them see you scared. They’re going to try and get inside your head, but I’m going to get rid of them. Don’t answer the door for anyone who knocks and make sure that you only open the door for me. I’ll tell you in advance that I’m coming.”
“What if you don’t come for me?” she asked nervously, thinking of the worst.
“Don’t worry, I’m coming for you,” he said with a laugh in his voice. “There’s nothing that’s going to stop me, Shantal. I’m not going to let them harm you or my son. I can promise you that.”
They were beginning to mess with her and she knew this was just the start of all of the weird games that they were going to try and play with her. She wasn’t going to be a victim for them to come and toy with and she was going to take all of this as seriously as she needed to.
When she hung up the phone with Vincenzo, she knew that she was going to have to be confident and that she was going to need to take things seriously. She was going to need to be brave and bold for the sake of her child. That meant she couldn’t let these monsters get to her and she couldn’t let them get to her son either. She was going to have to be the woman that she knew she was.
Going to the windows, she closed the blinds and the curtains, refusing to look at the men and women who were standing in the windows across the street, staring at her with their cold, black eyes. She didn’t want to think about what they might have done. None of this was on her.
When she decided she was going to have faith that Vincenzo was going to come back to her, she decided she needed to be ready for him. She grabbed a duffel bag out of her closet and stuffed it with everything that she was going to need for Blake. There was no way she was going to get caught in a situation and not have everything she was going to need for him to be safe, happy, and fed.
Packing up diapers, formula, clothes, blankets, and anything else that she might need, she was thankful that he was still small enough that he was going to be relatively easy to keep happy. He was a low maintenance baby to begin with and this was going to make getting out of here all the easier. With a deep breath, she placed the bag in her living room and let him sleep for what short amount of time they might have. She had no idea when Vincenzo was going to arrive and everything was going to blow up in their faces. She didn’t want to think about it or worry too much about it right then. She needed to live in the moment.
Waiting in the house, she began to pace back and forth, wondering if those things had made it inside of her building yet. She didn’t want to think about her neighbors being attacked by those creatures or being hurt by them. She didn’t want Greta or anyone else getting hurt by all of this or getting harmed like those people across the street from her. She couldn’t bear to think about it and she told herself to stop it.
If there was one thing that she couldn’t do right now, it was carry the burden of these people on her shoulders. No, she was going to throw all of that in Vincenzo’s lot of things that he was going to have to deal with for the rest of his life.
He was going to have to think about the fact that there were people dead or hurt because of his actions. She was going to do all of this to protect her son. If he had really cared about taking care of those people, then he would have contacted her sooner.
Pacing back and forth, she walked into her room and stood over Blake, looking down on him and contemplating what she was going to do. All she could think of was that there was something inside of her mind telling her she was going to have to do anything in her power that would save this child. Hurting him was not going to be allowed and there was nothing she wouldn’t do to make sure that he was safe. She hoped that Vincenzo understood that.
Sitting down on her bed, she wondered how long it was going to be before Vincenzo contacted her. She was going to need to call into work and give them an explanation as to why she wasn’t going to be there and why she probably wouldn’t be there for a few days or weeks. She knew they were going to be upset, but that wasn’t really her concern right now. What if it took months or years to make sure that Blake was safe from these creatures? She knew she was willing to sacrifice all of it for him. There was nothing that she wouldn’t do.
Her thoughts raced on. What were the costs of all of this? Was she going to have to sacrifice her life and give up everything that she had worked so hard for?She knew there was a possibility she was going to lose everything and that scared her.
Of course, she would be more than willing to give it all up for the sake of Blake’s safety, but she wasn’t going to feel good about losing all of it because of what Vincenzo had done to her. He was going to answer for that.
There were always going to be costs in life and Shantal had learned that the hard way, but she also knew the higher the cost usually meant that something was more valuable to her. She would willingly giveup everything that she had going on in her life if it meant that she would be able to spend more time with her son and she would never have to worry about anything like this again.
––––––––
SHE STARED OVER AT the clock and knew it was going to be a long night and that she probably wouldn’t fall asleep until she passed out. She was going to make sure she was up as long as she could be and she knew that in a little while, Blake would probably wake her up and remind her that he was still there, waiting for her.
She looked over at him and saw that he was still fast asleep. She’d finally mastered getting his sleeves pinned just right so he couldn’t wake himself up in the middle of the night. She wasn’t going to have any more of that.
Standing up, she felt nervous about all of the windows being closed and she desperately wanted to know if they were still out there. She was scared that she might open the windows and they would be flying outside her window or something strange like that.
She still had no idea what the extent of their powers were, but Vincenzo had seemed to think they wouldn’t be able to break into the apartment, so she was going to hold him to that. She didn’t want to think that there was more they might be able to do.
She walked slowly toward the windows and lifted one of the blinds, looking out at the rooftops and wondering if there were more of them out there. The night was black and inky, the lights of the city seemed to be more sinister tonight, protecting the shadows and making it hard for her to discern any shapes and figures. She didn’t know what she was looking for and that scared her.
She didn’t know who was what and what was who, from where she was standing. But, as she looked through the glass, she knew there were things outside that were beyond her vision.
In the windows where she had memorized who was standing where, she could still see the haunting outlines of figures watching her with malicious intent and dark thoughts in their minds. As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, she could see the rooftops through the glow of the city lights and she could see figures standing on the rooftops, coming out in the dark cover of night and standing there, watching her.
She could feel a cold shiver running down her spine as she looked into the darkness and saw more figures standing on the rooftop, watching her with a hunger in their eyes that she didn’t quite understand. It haunted her and she took a step back from the window, letting the blind fall shut and she knew without a doubt that there was no way Vincenzo was going to get safely through all of them.
She stared at the curtains as they wafted into place and she shuddered again.
She was trapped and there was no escape. There was no way she was ever going to be able to leave her apartment again and she knew Blake was going to be the only victim she actually cared about. She had to get him out and get him to safety.
*