Heist Gone Wrong (Aaron Hunter)

[Nerissa Clemming]

As soon as Aaron lept at the hunter, Nerissa rolled out of the way and stayed crouched, not wanting to get in the way of the other vampire. She watched in morbid fascination as Aaron disposed of the final hunter, the smell of human blood growing as more and more deadly injuries were inflicted, until finally all that remained was a mangled corpse.

Nerissa slowly stood, using the nearby wall as support. Now that the danger had passed, the wound in her side demanded all of her attention, sending shooting pain throughout her body. She almost didn't hear Aaron talking as she fought back the pain, trying to keep her mind clear a little longer. "I'm fine. I've dealt with worse," she said, somewhat lying. She definitely was not fine, her injury insisted on that, but she had dealt with worse. Technically that was before she was turned, but fine details like that were unimportant.

However, Aaron was offering help. It would be stupid to turn it down, especially since he helped so much already. She doubted things would have turned out this well if she was by herself. It was then that she heard the sirens. Of course they wouldn't have it easy now, when would they ever?

As more blood oozed and pain continued to flash through like a lightning storm, Nerissa came to a decision. She slumped her shoulders and nodded, letting the pain finally show. "Okay fine, some help would be appreciated." She pushed away from the wall and motioned for Aaron to follow her down the alley. "It's not that far from here. I found it a while ago while doing my rounds, no one ever goes there except random homeless people. Makes getting food easy." The pain must have really messed with her head, normally she didn't give out this kind of information so easily.

In just a couple of moments, she led Aaron to a large cluster of buildings, so close together they seemed to touch. She ducked into the shadows of one and slid a large panel of siding, wincing slightly, and revealed a hidden door. "The place is abandoned, and this door was originally boarded up. I use it if I need to lay low for a while." She quickly entered the building and limped over to an old crate, sitting down heavily. The room was small, like some sort of office or lobby. Trash littered the floor and various boxes and crates were stacked against the walls. A couple of them looked a bit newer and had bulky looking sacks in them.

"Home sweet home," Nerissa chuckled dryly as she leaned against the wall. "Sorry it's a bit trashed, wasn't expecting company."

[Aaron Hunter]

There is a well-known phrase that states that home is where your heart is. Physically, Aaron no longer had a functioning heart. It had literally been ripped out from the cosiness of its flesh and bone shell when the punk rocker was attacked, murdered, and sacrificed to whatever supernatural gods held power over the hellhole that was Harper Rock. That said, having his rib cage prized open like a cheap can of sardines hadn’t left Aaron totally heartless. He still cared. He could still empathise with others.

Aaron was, however, effectively homeless, having abandoned his livelihood to escape the chaos. The unkempt wilderness that formed the outskirts of Harper Rock like a soulless, uncultivated corona, alongside a few shabby motels thrown in for the occasional taste of diluted comfort, was all that Aaron had known for the past few months. Bed and breakfast usually meant a night resting his weary head upon lumpy pillow followed by sucking on the open wrist of his ill-fated thrall. Aaron was hardly living a glamorous highlife.

As Nerissa welcomed Aaron into her secret hideaway, the sympathetic vampire began to feel a strange affinity with her. The place was hardly The Ritz, but with its windows and doors boarded up, locking out the life from the outside world, and its dirty floors, littered with dusty junk and trash, Aaron felt weirdly… at home.

Spinning around on his heels with his arms stretched out wide, Aaron chuckled as his eyes soaked in the scruffy scenery. He inhaled deeply, breathing the musty scents into his flared nostrils.

“I love it!” he said. “This is definitely my kind of place. Very flashy!”

Of course the building was a mess. Of course it resembled a municipal waste dump after a grenade had exploded. Of course this was a far cry from a wonderful luxury apartment in which to relax and unwind after battling for one’s life. Aaron knew it, and he imagined that Nerissa also knew it, but the bolthole was safe. At the end of the day, that was all that really mattered right now.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t call ahead to let you know that I’d be dropping by,” added Aaron. “I’m sure you’d have done some dusting and baked a lovely cake.”

Aaron offered a reassuring smile towards Nerissa. These weren’t exactly the ideal circumstances in which old friends should be reacquainted, but fate must have thrown them back together for a reason. Either that, or Lady Luck was just playing a very painful joke on the pair of them.

Aaron moved towards Nerissa. She sat on one of the old wooden crates that doubled up as furniture. The woman with purple streaks in her hair looked extremely uncomfortable and distressed, propped up by the cold, hard wall. Despite her hands acting as makeshift plugs, blood was still visibly seeping away from her wound, draining her energy each and every second.

“Ok,” said Aaron in a calming voice, “let’s have a proper look at your injury.”

Kneeling down in front of her, Aaron gently moved Nerissa’s blood-soaked hand away from her side. It was a bit like uncorking a bottle of the finest red wine from the Bordeaux region of France, a crimson stream flowing out across the inquisitive killer’s fingers. The hunter’s gun had clearly left a deep and painful impression, an unwanted gift that required immediate attention.

“I’m not exactly sure how this works,” said Aaron, “but you’ll just have to trust me.”

Maybe Aaron should have paid a little more attention in those chemistry classes back at school? Perhaps that would have helped him to try and understood what kind of crazy chemical reactions went on inside a vampire’s body. Maybe a few lessons in vampire biology would have also come in handy?

Aaron tore the bloody material on Nerissa’s top that surrounded the wound to give himself a better view. He carefully placed the palm of his hand on her sticky, reddened skin, completely covering the bullet hole. Human skin usually felt warm to the touch, but the flesh of a vampire was different. Nerissa’s skin felt silky smooth and cool, despite the presence of her weeping blood.

Aaron looked into Nerissa’s eyes, hoping to put her at ease, and praying that she wasn’t going to get too freaked out.

“I promise this won’t hurt,” said Aaron.

Suddenly, as Aaron began to concentrate and focus solely upon the connection between his hand and Nerissa’s wound, his body began to shudder, as if a mini earthquake was occurring exactly beneath where he knelt. A surge of mystical energy shot through Aaron’s body, exiting through his hand like a tiny lightning bolt, and crashing directly into Nerissa’s core. The killer’s life force oozed into his companion, boosting her blood as their magical union was maintained. After a couple of seconds, Aaron’s hand fell away limply as he wobbled slightly, almost bumping his head on Nerissa’s knee while trying to fight a wave of dizziness.

“Woah!” he said. “There we go. All done.”

He wobbled again like a boxer who’d just taken a hefty blow to the face. He had no idea if his own blood had entered Nerissa to boost her supply, or if he had somehow managed to simulate her body to boost its own blood. To be honest, he didn’t care, as long as his power had worked.

“I can’t actually fully heal your wound,” said Aaron, squinting his eyes as he looked back up at Nerissa, “but that should at least top up your gas tank until we can get that hole fixed.”

He shuffled backward on his knees, resting his powerful hands upon his thighs to steady his body. The blood boosting had made Aaron feel weary, reminding the killer just how out of practice at this whole running and fighting game he really was. Maybe he needed a boost of his own? Almost instinctively, he raised his bloodstained hand towards his lips, the tip of his tongue taking a teasing taste of the ruby juice. Heavenly.

Trying to hide both his fatigue and his embarrassment at taking the sneaky taste of her blood, Aaron sat on the floor, crossing his arms, and looked over at Nerissa.

“Your wound will heal, but I think we both need to rest up for a while. It seems pretty dangerous out there.”

The thoughtful vampire paused, looking around at the decrepit interior of the pokey room.

“I guess it’s not much fun living on the run.”

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa watched Aaron carefully as he looked around, mostly out of habit. If she didn't trust him to some degree she wouldn't have brought him here, but old habits die hard. "Oh you wouldn't want my baking, trust me," she chuckled. "I can't even remember the last time I cooked anything, let alone a cake."

She fought against the urge to move away when Aaron got closer, and only hesitated slightly before allowing her hand to be moved out of the way. The rest of her body was completely still as she watched Aaron inspect the wound. "If I didn't trust you I wouldn't have brought you here," Nerissa replied with a wince as her wound was jostled slightly from the tearing of her shirt. Any movement seemed to aggravate it, and she was getting very sick and tired of the pain. "Just do what you can."

The shuddering was definitely not what Nerissa expected, and before she could properly react energy shot through her. She could feel her weariness ebb away and strength return to her limbs. And just as quickly as it happened, it was over and Aaron pulled away, nearly falling over. She almost reached out to help steady him but pulled back last second. There was a chance he would reject her help. Instead, she looked down to inspect the wound now that she could actually do so without passing out. "That's an interesting ability. I've never seen it before... thanks."

Nerissa tore off some of the loose fabric from her shirt and used it to help bind her wound a bit haphazardly. "We can stay here for a while longer to rest, no one will find us. And if they do, then we'll have something to snack on." Satisfied for now with her patch job, she leaned back against the wall with a sigh. "Good thing I'm used to living on the run. Learned some useful skills over years of running." She looked At Aaron with a more relaxed expression. "I haven't seen you in quite a while now. What have you been up to, if you don't mind my asking?"

[Aaron Hunter]

Aaron closed his eyes. He leant back against a dusty wall and inhaled deeply, taking in the musty odour of the room that was doing its best to completely mask the sweet fragrance of Nerissa’s spilt blood. Just enough scent of the crimson honey crept into his nostrils to elicit the faintest of smiles. The killer had missed blood. He’d missed the tangy taste on his tongue, the texture of rich droplets of liquid Heaven upon his greedy lips, and the sweet sensation of his spear-like fangs puncturing the soft skin of his prey. Aaron had missed being a vampire.

Feeding from his thrall lacked excitement; it lacked adventure and danger. Sure, the blood from his pet human had served a purpose and had prevented the once powerful vampire from disintegrating into oblivion, but it was the equivalent of eating snack food from a motel vending machine rather than dining at a swanky restaurant. Effectively, Aaron had been trapped in hopeless cycle. It was difficult to tell if the redhead named Poppy, with her swollen, wounded wrists, was the thrall or if that job title had been inadvertently claimed by Aaron. He’d become enslaved by his own inability to get a grip of his chaotic life.

At least he’d been able to do something useful by drawing upon one of his many special abilities to assist his friend. Finally, Aaron felt like he had a purpose in life. It was, however, slightly strange that the deadly killer had taken on the role of the soothing healer.

As Aaron listened to Nerissa’s perfectly reasonable question about what he’d been up to for the past few months, he began to formulate a response, but one that didn’t start with something about being a pathetic slave to his own failings and insecurities. What exactly had he been up to? Spending endless hours living like a hermit in the wilderness, hiding away in cheap motels or deserted cabins in the woods, and generally feeling sorry for himself, wasn’t really a great answer to the question that had been posed, despite being factually correct.

“No problem about the healing thing,” said Aaron. “It’s just a little trick that I picked up.”

Aaron propelled his body away from the cold wall, shuffling around in small circles as he began to speak.

“As for what I’ve been up to,” he said, “oh, you know, this and that. The usual exciting vampire stuff.”

He kicked an empty Coke can that was poking its red and silver head out from behind a box. The metallic football whirled around and crashed into another box at the opposite side of the room.

“Goal!” shouted Aaron, raising his arms triumphantly.

He stopped, his powerful arms slumping back down to his side like deflated balloons. He turned towards Nerissa, scrunching up his lips and nose.

“Ok, so maybe I haven’t quite been living the most glamorous lifestyle lately. In fact, it’s been more like the life of a prisoner.”

A prisoner: sadly, that summed up Aaron’s recent life pretty accurately. His incarceration may have been self-inflicted, but nonetheless it was still a punishment.

Aaron moved closer to his companion, squatting on his haunches beside her. His demeanour was sheepish, and there was an air of nervousness about him.

“I’ve been locking myself away, hiding from reality if I’m being honest. I guess I just needed a break from all this… this crazy life.”

He pointed towards Nerissa’s wound.

“I got fed up with getting shot, with watching my friends getting shot… with watching my friends getting killed.”

Aaron placed a caring hand on Nerissa’s shoulder.

“Hey, at least you haven’t managed to get yourself killed, so that’s something positive, right?”

Smiling, Aaron plonked himself down onto the floor, crossing his legs like a schoolchild. He had needed to escape the deathly grip of Harper Rock, that much was certainly true, and there had been far too much suffering and bloodshed. Aaron used to have fantasies about lounging around in a luxurious bathtub that was overflowing with fresh, luscious blood, but he had found himself almost drowning in the damn stuff due to all the violence and mayhem. He had to pull the plug, even if he risked getting sucked down into the sewers with the waste.

Yet here he was, back in Harper Rock watching someone he cared about recovering from a gunshot wound. There was a genuine sense of déjà vu. Had anything changed? Was Aaron right back at square one?

“And now I’m back,” he added. “So… I suppose I must have missed this place.”

Aaron’s hazel eyes scanned the room. Had he really missed all this? Did he crave the rush of the running, the fighting, and the hiding?

“What about you?” he asked. “What’s new in your world? It looks like you may have been doing some running too, but at least you’re running free.”