I had been in the basement of the Chasse house all afternoon. Autumn and I were doing some hand-to-hand training down on the mats. At least, that's how it started. While no one else was down there with us, Autumn and I wrestled with each other playfully. Some of the moments we spent rolling through the mats were… easily enticing. There were times we weren't doing as much training as we were trying not to tear each other's clothes off. Eleanor would come to check on us from time to time, and that kept us honest.
We had been trying to sneak in as much physical contact as we could when no one was near us in the house; kissing, touching, grabbing. It felt like some wild attraction drew us to one another. It only fueled my suspicions that it was something about the monster; its power, maybe. It felt more potent than a typical attraction, but it was hard to explain. She was drawn in, but so was I. My two years of loneliness were the easy explanation for me, however.
Autumn had left me down there for a little while to run an errand with Eleanor. I stayed down in the sub-level, cleaning guns and other weaponry that we had been using for training and the few times we had gone out on possible hunts. However, when Autumn returned, she was different. I noticed it immediately after she sat down at the workbench.
They had been gone for almost an hour, and I had begun to worry. I was the only one in the house when they were gone. Carter and Frank had been there earlier but had been called off to deal with something at a worksite. I offered to help, but they said it was nothing they couldn't handle. Everyone was wheeling and dealing, but nobody was really talking to me about what was going on. I figured it might just be family stuff.
"Are you okay?" I asked Autumn.
"Yeah…" she answered quickly, giving me nothing else. She barely shot a glance at me when she answered. She just went straight back to putting some of our gear away.
Something was wrong, something she couldn't tell me about. I could read everything on her face. I could see that the look she wore was a mask, and it was barely holding on. She was scared, angry, and alone. I wondered what Eleanor had said or where they had gone. Something serious had happened, but I couldn't figure anything out. I hadn't overheard anything when they were near.
Suddenly, my phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and saw Carter's name.
"Hey?" I said.
"Sam, I need your help. Are you guys still at the house?"
"Yeah, what's up?" I asked.
"Don't say anything out loud, I don't want to alarm El and Autumn, but I need you to meet me. Do you think you can get away from the house without them suspecting anything?"
I knew I could, but I didn't want to have to lie to her, "Yeah, I can." She didn't even look up as I answered Carter. Maybe whatever was distracting her would help me get out and spare her from whatever it was that Carter wanted to avoid.
"I'll text you the address," Carter said before he hung up.
Before I could say anything, Autumn spoke, "I know that was my dad."
I didn't know what to say.
"It's okay, you can go. I know that he is just trying to protect me…" She tried to sound believable, but I could hear her heart racing. She was angry.
I wondered what could be so bad that Carter didn't want to include his wife and daughter?
"Are you sure?" I hesitated.
She nodded, forcing a smile.
It felt weird leaving her like this, but Carter had already sent the address with A.S.A.P attached to it.
I leaned down to kiss her, but something was off. I knew it had to do with this situation, but something seemed severe. I hoped that whatever Carter was calling me for wasn't as bad as she thought it was.
I hopped on my bike out in the curved drive, and I sped away towards the location Carter sent. It was their main administrative building for their company, which was odd because I had been there multiple times. He could have just said to meet there. It was four stories tall and mostly full of offices, with a small warehouse in the back.
When I pulled up, I saw a few vehicles: Carter's suburban, Frank's truck, and another one I thought I recognized but couldn't remember. I parked next to them and made my way in. I came through a side door that had been left open to the back warehouse. I rushed in, trying to get to Carter and help as quickly as possible, unsure of what they were dealing with.
I thought I heard people around a corner of the massive shelves packed with timber, but it looked completely black. I rounded the corner and, to my surprise, saw no one. What had I heard?
I saw a stairwell that led up to the higher levels of the great storage facility. The door was propped open, so someone had to have gone that way. I bounded up the stairs and went all the way to the top floor. There was a scent that had recently gone through to the main offices. I followed it all the way through until I was standing in Carter's office. I was met by a small, enclosed space. There was no one there. There was no one anywhere.
There was something strange, however. There was this feeling. It was so small I almost didn't notice it. Yet, I could feel it. It was almost like a fog over my mind. It was so hard to notice that I wasn't sure if it was my own mind making it up.
Whatever it was, nobody was there. I went back down all the way to the bottom level, back through the warehouse door I entered through. When I got to the parking lot, all of the cars were gone. My motorcycle was the only thing left. It was like they were never there.
"What the fuck," I said out loud, confused.
Where had they gone? Why had I not seen or heard their cars pull out? Also, it seemed a little later than when I walked into the building. It was late afternoon when I arrived, but standing beside my motorcycle, night had swept across the city.
Something was wrong. I couldn't understand it, but something was off. The only thing I knew was that I had to make sure Carter was okay.
I pulled my phone out to text him. I noticed that the time was 10:27, about four and a half hours since I got off the phone with Carter. I typed out the text as fast as I could.
'Where are you? I'm at the office and saw your cars, but no one is here.'
I paced the parking lot, trying to figure out what to do next as I waited for a response. I racked my brain as I remembered the few moments I stood in the building, yet so much more time had passed. "What the fuck?"
It was only moments until my phone chirped up. I quickly read the message.
'Sam, what's going on? We waited for you, but you never showed, so we had to leave. Martin found something big! If you can make it to us, we could still use your help. We are on top of the building on the corner of Olive and 9th Street.'
I responded immediately, 'Sorry, I don't know what's going on, but I'm coming.'
I never heard my phone chirp or feel it buzz in my pocket as I rocketed down the streets and alleyways. I never let the bike catch a break. I had it topped out on the straights and only slowed down enough to slide around the turns. It only took a few short minutes to make it to the corner of Olive and 9th Street. It was a parking garage.
I parked on the street since I didn't know what I'd be coming into. I didn't want to give away their position, so I bounded into the stairwell and ripped up to the top. I exited the staircase at the top level. This time I saw my friends. Every one of the hunters of the Chasse family was there, armed to the teeth.
I started jogging over to them, but as soon as I took a few steps, I felt a collision. A body rammed into mine with amazing force and sent me back into the concrete barricade that blocked the long fall to the street. I crashed into the cement and dropped to the ground, with a few shards of concrete that had broken free.
It all happened so fast, and unexpectedly, I almost couldn't believe it. But the next thing I knew, Martin was standing in front of me, ready to pounce, and the hunters were all training their sights on me… even Autumn.
I was on my hands and knees when I saw them all focusing on me, fear hidden behind their hard, trained eyes. They knew. Somehow, they knew the truth about me.
I honed my eyes on Martin.
"What is this?" I asked calmly.
"It seems you haven't been totally honest with us, have you?" Martin spoke. "Before you answer, you should know that if you were human, that much force would've killed you before you hit the ground. But, you're not human… are you, Sam?"
I bored holes into his skull with my eyes. I could feel the heat building around my ears, the rage swelling from the truth being exposed. My new life had been ripped away from me. Carter, Eleanor, Frank, and the rest were gone. Autumn was gone.
"Don't move, Sam," Carter said confidently as he walked closer to the standoff.
"We know the truth…" Martin said.
"The truth? About what?" I wanted to hear them say it.
"The massacre at the Gunderson residence, for starters," Martin answered shortly.
"How could you kill all of those people?" I heard Eleanor's question across the distance between us. It wasn't accusatory, it was an actual question. Her mind couldn't grasp that the person she knew could do such a thing.
Autumn was a stone-cold statue. She had a crossbow fully loaded with a massive, twisted silver-tipped broadhead pointed directly at me. She showed no emotion.
Carter stepped up closer, almost beside Martin, and asked, "What are you? How can you hold that silver blade?" He eyed the knife strapped to my belt.
I didn't answer. I just ran scenarios through my mind. I wanted to make the best choice on how to leave them. How could I give them some kind of peace after the strife I caused? There was no coming back from this. I knew that, even though I didn't want to accept it. It was the only thing I could do. I'd have to do what I did before. I'd have to leave my family… again.
"How about we tell you what happened?" Martin spoke. "I was watching over Carter's house the other night. I had heard Jane was coming, and I wanted to make sure everything was okay with her and step in if needed. I watched from the woods all night, even after she and Frank left." He spoke casually like he really wanted to give me all of the details, "I've been a little overprotective lately. I've been on edge with the three immortals that are here in the city, not to mention that one of them is my maker. I think that's why it took me so long to see it."
I plotted my escape carefully. I didn't want any of them to overreact and get hurt, or hurt one another. I had to be quick about it once I made my move.
"I followed you that morning when you left in such a hurry. I needed to make sure you were okay. You seemed stressed. Your heart was racing, which was strange because I've never heard your heart race like that. I followed you all the way to that old factory. You live there, don't you?" he asked for all of them to hear.
I looked up at him, but I did not answer.
"Then, even stranger, I watched you traverse the tunnels beneath the city. I actually had trouble keeping up with you," he said truthfully. "You knew exactly where to go, and you moved with such speed. I kept my distance just in case. In doing so, I came out of the tunnels too late to stop you. When I found where you had been, everyone was dead. My senses told me a story. Your scent flowed through every inch of that room, and there was only one other scent that left that room. I followed it to the woods, thinking that whoever it was had escaped you. Yet, her body was mutilated and destroyed like the rest."
"What are you, Sam?" Carter asked. "Why have you been getting so close with us, fooling us into trusting you with our family… with my daughter?" There was hatred in his eyes as he thought about our relationship. "You've betrayed us, Sam. So, what is it that you thought you'd get from us?"
I looked down at the cement shards beneath me for a second. I could only think of one thing to say.
"Nothing," I said. "I don't want anything."
I stood up for the first time since Martin hit me with his surprise attack.
"Stay down, Sam," Wayland warned as he raised his silver-loaded pistol.
I saw Frank gritting his teeth, unsure of what to think as the situation started veering from whatever plan they had come up with. His eyes were heavy… sad. He didn't want this.
I stood tall as I readied myself to bound off to the next rooftop.
"Sam, stop," Martin barked as he bared his fangs and twisted into his vampiric visage, that only a few rarely saw. His rage-filled, bloodshot eyes stared wildly into mine.
He rushed me, hoping to put me on my ass again. But this time, I was aware and ready. I sidestepped and clobbered him with a fast right cross that sent him skidding across the empty parking spaces.
They were all taken by surprise at my quick and powerful response to the old vampire. That's when it happened. I wasn't sure if it was meant for me or an accident out of the intensity of the moment. However, as soon as I struck Martin, Autumn's bolt was released. It soared silently across the space between us and found its mark. It entered my chest cavity, slicing through tissues until it planted itself directly in my heart. It wasn't the silver, just the solid metal arrowhead that sliced its way into my major organs that hurt like a mother fucker.
I stumbled back towards the edge of the garage, just from the shock of what she had done. Everyone stopped moving and fell silent, unsure of what had just happened. Was this really how she felt about me? Was this what she wanted, me dead? I looked at all their faces, including Martin. They were unsure in those few seconds of silence.
It was all over. I didn't think there was a way back from this. So, I leaned back and fell from the edge. I knew it wouldn't kill me, but I still smacked the ground below, hoping it would.
I heard a voice before I met the street, all those stories below. It was Eleanor screaming my name. It was cut off by the ringing in my ears that came after my head bounced off the asphalt.
I escaped just quick enough to elude the hunters and Martin behind me, but I moved in ways to seem like I was on my last legs.
I was almost to the river. I had ripped the arrow out of my chest and flung it to the ground where I had landed. I knew Martin would follow the scent of blood that lingered from my wound until they found me. So, I clawed open new gashes in my body with my talons to keep the blood flowing. I had to make them think I was gravely injured. Maybe they'd think the river was my final resting place. That could be the end of my story.
I knew that when they raced to the ground level and found a victimless pool of blood, they'd come searching. I hoped that they would just think the fall hadn't killed me, but I died somewhere else in my escape. So, I left breadcrumbs for Martin's vampiric senses to follow.
I'd have to abandon the factory and everything I had accumulated. A new start somewhere else; anywhere else, I figured. They hated me, and I understood. If they thought I was still alive, they'd never stop looking for me. I felt that this was the last way I'd be able to give them some kind of peace. The monster who'd snuck into their family and their trust had died. It was the least I could do after they had given me so much that I thought I'd never have again.
I came upon the flowing waters of the Mississippi, and I walked straight in. I submerged myself below the surface into the darkness of the river. It carried me off without leaving any clues to my presence.
I thought long and hard about everything. I knew that the hunters would lie low enough to avoid those three immortals: Mercy, Phineas, and Charles. I wasn't worried about that. The mysterious beast would fade from the memories of those who knew of its existence. Then, it was only a matter of time before the immortal hunting party crawled back into the hole where they came from. It was the start of the beginning, again. Back to basics. I had to move, survive, kill, move, survive, and kill.