Ch Six: Becoming the hunter: The beast unleashed

Becoming the hunter

Chapter six:

Oskar stared at himself in the mirror, both hands resting on the bathroom sink.
He had done this so many times before, but this time it was different.
No longer was there an empty look gazing back at him.
He felt, alive, if that’s how one could call it.

Though Eli has always said that being a vampire doesn’t mean that you are dead.
She called it an infection. A disease, but in truth, even she didn’t know what it was.

Two days had passed since they left that horrible ruined castle.
A place of torment and agony, that didn’t hold pleasant memories for either of them.
Oskar was only beginning to understand what he had become, a vampire.
A creature that needs kill in order for it to live.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

The first night they had hitchhiked all the way to Stockholm.
Both kids looked like hell, their clothes were dirty and torn and both had a pale complexion on their skin. But they managed to get a ride from a married couple in their forties.

They had told these people that they where siblings on their way to their grandparents in Stockholm. But their money and backpacks got stolen along the way and they were afraid of what their parents would say.

The couple felt sorry for the kids, by the way they were dressed the couple had figured that their parents didn’t have much money, and be it by pure luck, but these people actually happen to belief their sad story.

The man, Frederick, had told Oskar on several occasions that he was impressed how well he was taking responsibility on looking after his younger sister after seeing that Oskar had his arm around Eli while her head leaned against his shoulder.

Due to the harshness he had endured in the past years, Oskar looked a lot older then he really was. He looked like a seventeen year old boy at least. He was pretty tall for his age.
While he still had two months ahead of him before he reached his fifteenth birthday.
As for Eli, she looked so fragile, a twelve year old girl, but her eyes looked so much older, even older then those of the boy.

They had been driving for several hours and the man had a rather heavy foot. They neared a sign that read, Stockholm: ten kilometres.
Oskar had told Magda, which was the woman’s name, that it was ok to drop them of at the next exit.

At first she refused and said they would drop them of at their grandparents, but Oskar had told them that Eli was very tired and that he would get her to bed. He said he knew the manager of a small motel and that they could get some rest there.
The manager would drive them when they wake up.
It had been a long day and he wanted his sister to get some rest.

Again these people believed him and for a second he thought it was an ability to control the minds of people, like he has seen Dracula do in the movies.
Maybe it was or maybe these people were just gullible. He still had much to learn about vampirism.

Both Eli and Oskar knew the sun would be coming up in less then three hours and they needed shelter by then. Magda and Frederick dropped the kids of at off ramp of the freeway. They said their farewells and the woman even gave them fifty Krona spending money, just in case the manager would be to busy to drive the kids. Then at least they could call a taxi.

They waved Magda and Frederick goodbye and made their way to the motel, which luckily had a vacancy sign up. They still had a little more than an hour before the sun would rise.

The motel here was just five hundred yards away from the freeway.
Around the motel was a parking area with wooden benches standing in front of a small forest with lots of pine trees.
At the edge of the parking lot was a small gas station with a shop attached to it.

Oskar knew this place and it was rather comfortable here.
He had rented a room here about a year ago, chasing a lead that turned out to be nothing in the end, and the manager still recognised him.

Oskar reached into his pocket were he still had a large stack of bills and paid the manager in advance again for several days.
The manager, a rather fat balding man in his fifties, did glare over a bit puzzled at Eli.
After Oskar had explained that this was his younger sister he was searching for, the man relaxed.

He had told the man that his parents split up and that he lived with his mother and his sister went to live with their father. But due to family circumstances he had to go and search for his father. Oskar always dismissed further questions, as being personal and the manager didn’t pry any further respecting Oskar’s wishes. As long as Oskar paid, the manager was happy.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Oskar splashed the water from the tap onto his face. He still couldn’t believe that warmth and cold didn’t have an effect on him anymore.
The water ran over his sharp featured face, dripping from the streaks of hair that always hung in front of his eyes.

He removed the rubber band that held his ponytail together and studied himself for a second.
The blond hair flowed wildly and almost reached halfway down his back.

“You do know you need a haircut, right?” Oskar turned and saw Eli standing in the doorframe, arms crossed and dressed in a jogging suit.

She had a big grin on her face.
Oskar rubbed his hands through his hair, shaking his blond locks. When he was done he looked like a caveman.

Eli burst out in full laughter upon seeing Oskar standing there in the middle of their bathroom, looking like a bewildered savage making funny gestures with his arms.

“Ok first thing this evening I’m cutting you hair.”
“You’re gonna cut my hair?”
“Who else?”
“Err…I was thinking a barber, maybe?” Oskar, grinning widely, tossed the hair away from his face and glanced back in the mirror.
A grimace was starting to replace his smile as a sharp pain struck his stomach.
Eli’s smiled disappeared as she saw Oskar staring to fold at the middle, his hands reaching for his stomach.

“Oskar? What is it sweetheart?” Oskar nearly fell to the floor clasping his stomach with both hands. He had to fight the urge to cry out in pain.
“What…the hell…is this? My stomach…it’s like…I’m being…impaled with…a thousand needles.”
Oskar tried to rise up but the pain only became more intense.
“Aaah!” He fell to his knees, his hands desperately trying to press the pain away.

Eli rushed to his side and laid her hand on his shoulder. Oskar was panting and gasping for air. She now knew what was going on, and her heart sank when the realisation struck her.

“God!”
“Oskar, Oskar, listen to me, you need blood.”
“No. Aaah, Goddamned!”
Oskar’s face looked up at Eli, and her hand immediately pulled back from his shoulder.
It kind of frightened her a little.
His eyes, they had turned entirely black. This had never happened to any other vampire she knew of.

There wasn’t a spot of white left, just two black orbs that lay deep in their sockets. When he opened his mouth she could see two large fangs beginning to emerge.

He was now breathing heavy and started to rise again. Oskar wasn’t holding his stomach any longer.
His chiselled abdomen flexed every time he took a breath.
Eli took a small step backwards, studying Oskar. She was on alert, this wasn’t normal and she felt a threat coming from Oskar.

“Oskar?” She whispered, he didn’t answer. He stood there, breathing, simply staring back at Eli, as if he was studying her in return.
“Sweetheart, can you hear me?” Oskar tilted his head a little to the right and continued watching Eli.
She looked so small. Like a little child that was two full heads smaller then he was.

He didn’t really recognise her at first, but there was something in her voice.
Then his face shot up, looking directly towards the front door. Oskar sniffed the air and closed his eyes, a sigh of exhilaration escaping his lips.
He pushed Eli out of the way and she flew hard against the wall.

He moved to the door, but before he could open it, Eli stood in front of him.
Her eyes looking like those of a cat and her fangs bared, growling at Oskar.

He lashed out with a speed that Eli could barely evade. His claws, nearly drawing deep laceration across her face, carved deep cuts in the wooden door.
The smell of blood was so strong now and Oskar ignored Eli and went for the door again.

Eli grabbed his shirt and tossed Oskar to the other side of the room.
As he flew through the air he managed to land on the wall ten feet above the ground, his hands on the wall and his feet against the ceiling, he looked like a spider.

He launched himself at her and she countered by grabbing him in mid air, pivoting on her feet and tossing him into the bathroom where he smashed against the wall.
Eli moved so fast that Oskar didn’t have time to react.

She placed her both hands against his chest, pressing him against the wall.
“No, Oskar, don’t.”
He let out an angry growl as he struggled to break free of her hold, but Eli was stronger.

“Fight it, sweetheart, come on, please don’t do this.” Eli had tears in her eyes and her lower lip was trembling.
She didn’t recognise anything familiar in him anymore.
Oskar looked more like a rabid animal than a boy.
There was even saliva running at the side of his mouth.
Oskar placed his clawed hands on Eli’s both arms and he brought his face closer to hers.

“Oskar it’s me, Eli, I love you, remember, Oskar, remember!”
He let out a menacing growl and Spun around, still holding onto Eli’s arms. Now she landed hard against the wall.

He let go of her and swiftly moved away. Eli heard the front door open with a loud crack.
When she hurried after him, she saw that the door hung halfway out of its hinges.

“Oh god, no.”

The wind was blowing rather hard and Oskar looked at the gas station where a brown haired man had parked to refill his gas tank.

The man was young, in his early twenties, maybe younger. He was whistling the tune of the A-Team as he filled up. The lights in the store where still on and behind the counter sat and elderly man reading a newspaper. He lifted his head to check the licence plate of the car. Just in case the driver sped of without paying, as was sometimes the case.

When the young man was finished he walked over to the store, grabbing a wallet from his back pocket before he entered.
Oskar, like a predator stalking its prey, moved slowly towards the car and looked around.

The freeway was rather quiet at this time of night and only the young man and the storekeeper where the only to people in the vicinity.
The man came out and went back to his car, flinging his keys, like a cowboy flinging his gun, around his index finger.

Oskar stood with his back towards him and the man paused as he saw the shape of the young teenager.
“Can I help you kid?”

Oskar spun around grabbing the man’s face with a force that nearly snapped his neck.
He tilted the head to the side and his fangs dug their way deep in the man’s jugular.
Blood sprayed against the car windshield and Oskar let the copper tasting fluid run down his throat, afterwards tossing the man’s lifeless body to the ground.

Oskar then looked over to the storekeeper who had just witnessed this event and was about to dial the police.
Before the man could dial the numbers the glass window crashed as Oskar leapt through it, grabbing the man by his grey shirt and flung him half way through the store.

He landed hard against a rack of potato ships and before he knew what hit him Oskar sat on top of his chest.
The elder man’s eyes opened in terror as he saw the teenager, with blood covering nearly his entire face.

Oskar bit down, tearing the man’s throat to pieces with his fangs and drank the remainder of the blood that was now flowing onto the white tiled floor of the shop.
Oskar tilted his head back and let out a large sigh.

Then he was yanked of the man and slammed hard against a wooden door that buckled under the impact.
Eli grabbed him again and threw him inside a small office with a metal desk in the centre of the room, a plant on the left and a calendar with a picture of a naked woman against the back wall.
Oskar flew up, instinctively, grabbing her arms and pinning her against the wall.

“Sweetheart, stop, it’s me Eli, please sweetie, stop! Look at me!” Eli’s eyes filled with sorrow.

She then felt his grip on her arms loosen and his fangs started to retract.
The white was returning to his eyes and the iris became blue again.
Sweat was beginning to drip from his brown as his chest moved heavy up and down, trying to catch his breath.

“Eli? Oh my god, No!”

He fell to his knees, as realisation what he had just done sank in, and hugged Eli’s legs, crying like a little child. His face buried deep against her knees.
“I’m sorry.” Was all he could mutter in-between sobs, over and over again.

Eli was heartbroken, not only for what he had just done, but for what she had done.
She had turned him into this, it was her fault he became a monster. She should have realised that when you turn all the feelings you carry inside are multiplied and Oskar carried a lot of rage in him.

Eli placed both her hands gently on his head and helped him to his feet, hugging him closely and then pressed her lips on his. The blood of his victims now clinging to her mouth as well.
“I’m so sorry.” She whispered softly in his ear and laid her head on his shoulder.

About twenty minutes had passed and both of them had managed to get back to their motel room, placing the door back somewhat back to its original state, and now sat on the floor in the bathroom.
Oskar’s head was resting in Eli’s lap, her arms draped around him as she could clearly feel him shake heavily.

“What just happened to me?”
“I don’t know, I’ve seen transitions before, I’ve seen others go without blood for over a week.
But what happened to you? I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“I felt nothing, I didn’t even recognise you. Please, forgive me. The only thing I wanted…was blood.”
Eli closed her eyes as she heard Oskar’s plea for forgiveness, a tear started to fall from her eye onto his head.