Silent Footsteps

[jollyjohanna]

((For Scribblerrigby!^^))

It was a dark night in Bridgeport. Clouds covered most of the sky and an occasional drizzle, fine as mist, fell through the air. It was a perfect night for hunting.

Sara was slowly creeping through the underbrush in one of Bridgeport's parks. It was a very small park, and poorly lit - but she didn't rely too much on the light.
Suddenly she froze. The light-blue knobs on the side of her head told her that something small and warm-blooded was very close to her. She crouched down and slowly started to crawl towards the warm thing.

The cat, named mr Tibbles, was out for a late stroll when it suddenly caught a weird scent in the air. The smell was dank and murky, like the smell of stagnant water mixed with the smell of worms who crawls up on the pavement on rainy days. The cat only noticed the low noise of rustling leaves when it was too late. A webbed hand, covered in some kind of mucus, caught it around it's neck in a vice-like grip and hauled it into the shrubbery. A loud mewling could be heard in the park, but it ended almost immediatly.

After five minutes the cat was empty, but Sara was not full. She only ate once every few weeks, but when she did, it would take more than a small mammal to satisfy her. But her experience told her that if she just waited patiently here in the park, more prey would come soon. Preferably something bigger.

[scribblerrigby]

Aaron Fleischer, with his large backpack slung over his shoulder, walked boldly into the park. The mist dulled his senses, hampering visibility, stifling most smells. Despite that, the area still largely managed to smell wrong, like the underside of a dock, or swamp water, mixed with the tang of iron.

There had been reports of unusual creatures sighted in this area. Details of mysterious deaths around this area had been glossed over, but all had reported similarly bizarre circumstances. Eyewitnesses were often near incomprehensible when interviewed, so often would they scream and cry about strange creatures and inexplicable deaths.

There was definitely something unusual – a monster, perhaps? - frequenting the park! Like a moth to a flame, Aaron followed these creatures. Luckily, despite many close encounters, he hadn’t been burned yet.

He nearly stepped on something. It was a dead cat.

Slowly, silently, he bent to pick it up. It flopped harmlessly in his grip, its windpipe crushed, a ragdoll. A ring of puncture marks encircled its tiny body, and the blood was completely drained. Definitely not the work of any animals that usually frequented the park – or any animals he knew in general.

He was largely familiar with vampires – enough so that he strongly suspected that one of his night class students was one. This didn’t quite fit the bill.

Bingo.

He’d find this creature and – do what? Capture it? Kill it? Talk with it? Hell if he knew.

The things in his bag were his own tools: he had hacked many of his home gadgets to create simple, hopefully useful investigative items, and had packed other odds and ends in order to assist him with capture and restraint.

There were no tranquilizers, yet. That was a shame. He’d really wanted some, but getting a license for them would have been more trouble than it was worth. Perhaps he could bribe one of the zoo workers…

He wore leather gloves to protect himself from the bag’s holier selection.

Finally, for emergencies, he had an old handgun and some silver bullets that he had melted down himself. Not that he was a great shot – his trips to the range yielded only mediocre aim – but practice makes perfect, and one can’t ever be too careful.

He hurriedly looked around, starting to feel the adrenaline. Nobody was around; the nearest people were hurrying by on the streets on the outskirts of the park. This cat was freshly dead; Aaron could be woefully unprepared and in very real danger. And he absolutely loved it.

All thoughts of his nighttime walk forgotten, he straightened up, and gently, quietly pulled his infrared camera hack from his bag, switching it on with a small, digital ping!

“Hm, what are you, darling?”

[jollyjohanna]

Sara sat crouched in the bushes, waiting. She hadn't waited for long when she caught a whiff of something that caught her interest. She had no nose, but the flaps around her mouth opened up, exposing the olfaction-sensitive membranes that covered the inside of the flaps. With a snuffling sound she tasted the air, and now she was sure of it - something that was definitely interesting was moving her way.

Human. Male. And he was getting closer - now he'd appeared within the range of her heat-sensitivity, like a warm blur to her left. She softly crept nearer, making sure to stay in the underbrush.
Now she could see him - she was crouching close to the ground and peered at him from her hidingplace under a couple of bushes. Her vision was fuzzy and unclear but she could affirm that he was alone. He had strayed off the road and was facing her general direction; she would wait until he turned his back against her and then she would strike.

Suddenly he bent down and picked up something from the ground. She had been feeling the smell of it and already knew what it was - the dead cat she'd left earlier. Since she didn't have the ability to make advanced valuations anymore, she couldn't think That was sloppy of me. She didn't think in words anymore. But she was still learning, and with her head cocked to the side she realized that finding the dead cat would make her prey more careful. In the future she would hid the remainders more carefully.

But he didn't turn around. He was being attentive, she could see it in his stance and feel it in his smell. But no fear. He didn't smell of fear, and that made her experience something close to uneasiness. There was something in the way he'd picked up the cat and they way he was now surveying the darkness that differed him from regular humans, and there was something with his smell that she didn't like. A faint, dark tone that she couldn't place.

Her feelings of uneasiness wasn't strong enough to win over her hunger. She could hear a low pinging noise, and then the man muttered something which she hadn't been able to understand even if she'd heard it clearly. Since he didn't turn around she decided to try and circle around him. So she slowly started to crawl around him to his left, making an effort to stay silent and out of sight. She was closing in.

((Just for reference, she will show up on an infrared camera but not as bright as a mammal since she's cold-blooded.^^))

[scribblerrigby]

Aaron studied the camera. A few tiny dots -smelled like rodents - scampered around, running willy-nilly across the ground; whether fleeing from the rain or something else, he couldn’t tell.

He looked the cat over once more. He had been leaning towards the culprit being a vampire, but the types he was familiar and experienced with were – whatever their differences – largely human shaped. Not that he was an expert in these things – far from it. But he was interested, and he wanted to know. And in his experience, a regular vampire’s jaw wasn’t ringed with sharp teeth. And it wouldn’t be able to fit around an entire cat.

What would the size of this thing be, anyway?

He pulled out a cloth from his bag, wrapped the cat, and gently set it in his bag. His eyes never left his camera, though he listened intently for any out-of-place noises, as he used it to sweep the park.

He felt like he was being watched.

Suddenly, he spotted something: a faint, knee-high blob, in the bushes. It could be a dog, seeking shelter, or a crouched, scared human. It could be nothing.

Or it could be the creature.

Aaron excitedly dropped back to the shadows, creeping silently forward, one hand still on the camera pointing it forward, slowly rummaging in his bag with his other for something appropriate to use, should this turn out to be something significant.

[jollyjohanna]

Sara was slowly crawling nearer. Suddenly she froze, with her left hand and her right leg lifted slowly from the ground. In this position she glanced carefully against the human. After picking up the cat and putting it away (what for?) his attention had suddenly turned her way. And now he was creeping nearer towards her.

A conflict raged inside of her - her instincts told her that she was spotted, but her experience told her that humans had too poor senses to be able to see her in the dark. And she had been quiet. She hesitated, still standing in the same pose with her leg and arm elevated. She wasn't used to being seen, and at the rare occasions when she had been seen the one who had seen her had always ran away, often screaming loudly. This was a new experience for her.

When the human kept getting closer she decided what to do - she would launch a surprise attack. It was riskier than creeping up at him from behind. She lowered her leg and arm to the ground, crouched down like a cat preparing for take-off and then she jumped.
Flying through the air towards her target with her arms spread out and her golden locket dangling towards her chest she screamed a piercing "TSEEEEEER!"
If the human froze or didn't move she would land on his chest, hopefully knocking him to the ground. Then she would grab him around the throat and he wouldn't be a threat anymore.

[scribblerrigby]

Aaron realized about a second too late that he had misunderstood the entire situation.

He barely caught a glimpse of a ring of sharp teeth in a too-large jaw, as well as something shiny dangling from its neck, when the creature leaped at him from the bushes with a scream.

A moment of sheer panic; two possible reactions. One was to grab the thing around it's neck, in the interests of self-preservation - and more than a little curiosity - and the other was simply to get the hell away from this thing as quickly as possible.

So he did both. He made a frantic grab for the necklace, then tried to throw himself out of the way of the oncoming creature. Too slow - the creature slammed into his shoulder, snapping it back with a pop.

He shouted wordlessly, caught himself, rolled out of the way, and then leaped up again, pain flaring in his shoulder. He grabbed it convulsively, gritting his teeth against the pain.

Dammit, I'm getting too old for these kinds of things.

The camera lay smashed and useless on the ground. Not that he needed it anymore, anyway.

He pulled his hand away from his shoulder, trailing strings of slime. Something else dropped from it, and hung from his fingers.

A locket? Broken, now. The chain had snapped with the strain.

Seconds. He had seconds, as he glanced at the creature that had landed not too far away. Human-sized, human-shaped, dark, slimy. The only things that were distinctly alien about it were the dead eyes, knobs on the side of its head, and a weird, ringed muscular jaw that was slowly retracting.

What was this thing doing with a locket?

But there was no time for that, if he wanted to avoid its next attack. With his good hand, he fumbled in his bag for something to defend himself. Crucifix? Dammit. Gun. Gun, yes, he needed a gun. Shoot to incapacitate, that's it. Keep it alive. What the hell was it, anyway? Definitely not natural. Could it be useful?

Rummaging was a lot harder with only one good arm.

[jollyjohanna]

She landed on top of him. Something broke. She could hear something snap inside of him and then he screamed. She tried to get her hands around him so she could wring his neck, but he was moving in the wrong direction and she rolled away from him. She landed on all four and immediately turned around to face her prey.

Moving in a half circle she tried to estimate the situation, and then she realized that something was missing. The weight around her neck. It wasn't very heavy, but when the weight had been there for as long as she could remember she immediately noticed when it wasn't there anymore.
Her prey forgotten for the moment she turned her attention to the ground, turning her head this way and that in search of that familiar thing. But it was no use. Even if it was there on the ground right in front of her she couldn't see it - her eyesight was too bad. She could usually only make out big shapes and moving things, and what she had lost was neither of those.

Her attention snapped back to the male. She would kill him, then continue her search. But when she faced him she noticed a familiar shape hanging from his hand - could hear a faint tinging noise from links touching other links.
Something stirred inside of her. It wasn't a though or an emotion or something like that, it was more of an instinct. Just like the ones who told her when she had to eat or when to hibernate, this instinct told her that she had to get the shape back.
It was making her uneasy. But the uneasiness would be over soon - all she had to do was to was to finish her prey. And it would be easy. He was injured. She could hear it in the way he gasped for air, she could see it in his stance.

She crouched, getting ready for the final leap. He wasn't trying to escape, which was odd - but it wouldn't be the first time someone would be paralyzed by the sight of her.
She would throw herself at him and tackle him to the ground. Then she would crush his arms to his sides so he wouldn't be able to hurt her, and finally sink her jaw around his head, all the way to the neck. He would flail and try to get her off, but she was sure she would be able to hold him.
She made the leap.

[scribblerrigby]

The monster twisted around, temporarily distracted by - or perhaps searching for - something on the ground, before abruptly snapping its attention back to Aaron. It stared at the locket, shifted uncomfortably, and cocked its head like a dog, its attention completely on the shiny thing in Aaron's hand.

He figured that maybe its attachment to the jewelry was a mating thing. Whatever this was could have a penchant for collecting shiny things and showing them off to their other. Aaron could have just killed this thing's chances... He smiled, and shuddered at that - the thought of another one of these running around was similarly intriguing and repulsive. You never knew around these parts...

But then, the creature crouched, preparing for another leap. Aaron quickly thrust the locket into his pocket and made a desperate grab in his bag one more time. Yes! His old handgun - a medium sized, double-action revolver. He braced, faced it square-on, aimed, fired once. Missed. He brought the gun up with one hand, aimed at the creature again. It pounced, plowed into him, grabbed at his arms, wrenched his already agonizing shoulder. He lost his balance and toppled backwards, cursing. The second shot exploded, and the resulting piercing scream told him what he needed to know. He fell, landed hard; stars exploded in his vision, and he whimpered, slightly. The creature had tumbled harmlessly away next to him.

He groaned and forced himself up to a sitting position with his good arm. He was woozy; his ears were ringing and head was throbbing excruciatingly. An explosion of green goo that had splattered across most of his shirt and pants barely registered -it was only when he looked over to where the creature had landed did he realize it was its blood, pulsing from the entry wound on the side of its stomach.

[jollyjohanna]

A loud bang made her flinch, but it wasn't enough to distract her from her target. She landed on him and was rewarded with a yelp of pain, and they both fell backwards. She was prepared for it and managed to keep her balance, and then she opened up her round jaw and aimed at the man. The last thing he would see was rows and rows of sharp teeth.

Her jaw was just inches from his face when another loud bang could be heard - this time so close it nearly deafened her. A hard impact, like if she'd been kicked or punched, caused her to fall off the man. But then the pain hit her, the impossible pain.
"Tseeeeeer!!"

She had landed a few feet away, her mind still trying to grasp what had happened. Had he kicked her? Had he punched her? No, she had been kicked and punched before - usually it hardly affected her. This loud bang and searing pain was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before.
She got up on all four and realized she was bleeding profusely from a wound in her stomach. Pressing a three-fingered webbed hand against the wound, she looked over at the man who had inflicted it to her. Now he wasn't prey to her anymore, he had become a threat. Whatever that loud bang had been it had been he who had done it, and he would be able to do it again.

She started to back away, but the bloodloss and the pain was already making her feel woozy. She tried to focus her eyes on him - which was hard because her eyes was always unfocused - and let out a defiant screech. The idea was to warn him from following her, but she herself could hear how weak her scream sounded.
She turned around and started to run away in an awkward three-legged trot (on of her hands was still pressed against the wound) but she hadn't even made it to the edge of the forest when she toppled over. Her head was spinning and stars burst in front of her eyes - she tried to sit up but it was no use. Everything went black and she fell to the ground.

[scribblerrigby]

Aaron staggered to his feet, and shoved the gun back in his bag. The thing screamed at him as he stood up. It started backing away slowly, before turning and hobbling toward the trees. He let it. It wasn’t going to get far.

He pulled the locket out again, scraped some slime off of it, and fiddled with the catch. It snapped open; a folded piece of paper fluttered to the ground. He picked it up, and uncrumpled it, gently.

It was an old photograph. A blond woman joyously held a small child. Both were laughing. The usual kind of thing found in a locket. He flipped over the paper and smoothed it out as best as he could. In small, cursive script was a date and a caption: “Sara and Jake.”

Aaron folded the paper carefully, closed it in the locket, and pocketed the entire thing to a fresh wave of pain in his shoulder and chest. He’ll have that looked at in the morning. After he fixed this thing up right away, of course – he couldn’t have it bleed out after all of this.

After he fixed it up? He had a basement. He had bars installed several years back. The basement was dark and slightly wet, and he probably had one of his daughter’s old kiddie pools stored somewhere around the house, if he looked hard enough.

Aaron looked at the prone – effeminate - figure near the trees. Something happened, there. How did this happen to this woman? What was this slimy, vampiric creature? What was the connection?

Sara.

He smiled.

Sara, my dear, you’re going to be my next big project.