encounter

It was a beautiful evening with the promise of an even better night as Alex walked into the rugged terrain just outside the city. Only a week ago, he had overheard a couple of miners in the pub talking about a wierd strangely humanoid creature appearing close to the mine. They had only seen it when the moon was out and behind the creature.

Now Alex was out with a full moon in the sky and a camera in his hand to see if he could get a picture of it. Since it was still light, he sat down while he looked at the rising moon. Around him, he could hear the crickets until the light of the sun was completely gone. The field in wich he sat was mostly dryed out grasses and a couple of big boulders scattered around like someone had trown them there just to see how it looked and then just left them there. Above Alex the stars came out one by one next to the moon that continued its climb in the sky.

He took pictures of his surroundings to drive away the boredom when he heard the dry grass behind him move as is something was stalking towards him. Alex’ free hand slowly dropped to the gunholster at his side. He removed the clip holding the gun in place so he could reach for it if the need should arise.

The sound stopped when Alex looked in the direction it was coming from. He slowly took out his gun and lifted his camera with his other hand. When he was holding it up as high as he could, he pressed the button. The flash lit up the area for a short second. In the flash he could see something dash away from the light. It had the movements of a cat, but looked more like a small human. The rustling in the grass stopped and the night became silent again.

There would have been reports if a big cat like a lion or a tiger had been close to the town, so Alex guessed that the creature he saw couldn’t have been one of those. And no humans lived out here, so he wondered what it could have been. Alex waited for some time, listening for whether he could hear other sounds, before he relaxed a bit. He looked at the moon again. It was at its highest point now, but seemed impossibly close and big. It was not a strange phenomenon here in this time of year, but it always fascinated Alex.

Again, the sound of something stalking in the grass was now getting closer, this time from the front. The field in front of Alex was scattered with the big boulders so his camera wouldn't do much to help him now. The creature wouldn't be scared off that easily this time.

"Who is there?" he called out, while gripping his gun tighter. It felt like a pointless thing to do, but Alex felt the need to do something even if it was. When he called out the stalking stopped, but after a few minutes of silence it continued, though in another direction. Alex took another picture. In the flash, he could only see a shadow of a tail disappearing behind a big boulder. This really seemed like a big cat and Alex pointed his gun at the boulder. If he got out of there alive, he could tell the miners that there was a big cat lurking around here and if he could kill it he could tell them that they were safe.

The moon started to surround the boulder he was pointing the gun at and Alex moved a bit to the side, when something on top of it caugth Alex' eye and he stopped. He wouldn’t have noticed it if the moon wasn't behind the boulder. When he looked closely, he could see the silhouette of two ears pointing upwards from above the edge of the boulder. As far as Alex could see the ears looked like those of a cat, but seemed too small for a big cat and too big for those of a normal cat. Alex couldn't help but wonder what kind of feline would have ears like that.

The silhouette moved up slowly, and attached to the ears was a human-shaped head. Alex lowered his gun in astonishment. Two big round orange eyes appeared and stared directly at him.

"Who are you?"Alex asked once he had recovered from his astonishment of seeing a human head with those ears and eyes. At first he thought that the ears were like those headbands you saw in the city and the eyes some kind of lenses, but then he could see the ears move independently from each other. The silhouette disappeared behind the boulder again.

Alex holstered his gun against his intution, so he made sure that he kept his distance to the boulder. "I know you’re human and that you are out there, so you better come out", he said in the hope that whatever was behind the boulder would show itself. The ears appeared again and Alex tried to encourage it. "I'm not going to hurt you." He still had his camera pointed at the boulder so that he could blind it if it decided to atack him.

"Can you put that bright light maker down?" a soft voice said. Alex was surprised when he heard a female voice. He hadn’t expected any response, but here he got one. He looked at his camera and lowered it, so that it pointed at the ground. The eyes became visible again.

"You know, if you want to sneak up on someone having the moon at your back isn’t the best way", he said. There came a short hissing sound from behind the boulder. "What are you doing here, with that bright light maker and that noise stick?" came the next question, ignoring Alex' remark. The word choices of the one behind the boulder surprised Alex a bit. It didn't say ‘camera’ or ‘gun’, but described them by what they did.

"The gun is for my protection and the camera is to take pictures. I heard a rumour in town that a creature was around that looked like a cat and a human. So I thought I’d try to take a picture of it." Alex was curious of what kind of reaction his answer would trigger. The head came up a bit higher and the eyes of the creature seemed to light up a bit. "I'm called Selexa", it said. The more it talked, the more Alex was convinced that it was a female. "I came here to get a glimpse of the creature that lives in dens made of stone and moves in big packs."

There were still large parts of this world unexplored and the city Alex lived in was build on the frontier of an unexplored erea, but Alex hadn’t expected to find a creature that could talk and think on a human level.

"You are one, right? Can you tell me a bit about you?" it asked, before Alex could say anything. He looked at the head, a bit unsure. "How can I talk to someone who hides behind a rock?" he asked in an attempt to stall for time so that he could think over what he could tell it.

It tilted its head a bit and then climbed on top of the boulder. Now Alex was sure it was female; although he couldn't see how she looked, he could see her silhouette against the moon as it sat crouched down on the boulder. To Alex' surprise, she was wearing clothing. He was captivated by the silhouette of the creature infrond of him. Soft flowing curves told of a slender body, although the clothes in the backlight of the moon made it dificult to see. Her orange eyes were as bright as the moon and lit up from her dark silhouette. When she smiled, he could vaguely see bright white teeth. "Your mouth is open", she said. Alex saw two slightly longer than normal teeth that could have been fangs.

He repostured himself and swallowed. "I'm sorry. I have never seen anyone that looked like you before", he apologised.

She gave a soft, but warm laughter. "You are funny, not like others that I have seen. At some point they must have seen me, because they all started to run away." Suddenly she twisted her ears, listening to something. "I have to go, my pack is looking for me", she said and made ready to jump off the boulder.

"Wait, can I take a picture of you? I promise I won't show it to anyone" he asked and when he saw her doubting look he quickly added "I won't use the flash, so no bright lights."

She sat back down again. "How long will it take?" she asked. Alex shook his head while he changed the settings of his camera. "It wil only take a second. "She looked a bit puzzled on how he was going to do that in a second, while he set the camera in front of his eye and took a couple of pictures.

"I really have to go now",she said and leaped off the boulder. "Next time we meet show it to me, okay?" She dashed away through the grass.

"When will that be?"he shouted his question after her and further in the field he saw her silhouette come up from out of the grass pointing up to the moon. Then she disappeared again.

Alex looked at the picture he’d taken. She looked almost human, except for the tail, the bright orange eyes and her ears. He stared in the direction she had disappeared in, wondering and filled with questions.

vampire

… Let me ask you a question. Do you believe in vampires? I'm not talking about those in films or books nor the bats but real breathing human looking vampires.
I can tell you that I didn't until a few weeks ago. I'm no different from the rest of you out there besides the fact that I'm a good for nothing sitting at home looking for a job and being single. But let's put that aside and let me tell you what happened during the last few weeks. Weeks in which i had to throw my world and beliefs upside down. So a few weeks ago I went out into the city to have a drink. every now and then you need to get out there and be among people, you know. The evening was uneventfull and after some drinks it was closing time for the bar and time for me to go home. And if you might wonder: yes there were beautiful women in the bar but the loser that i am doesn't go to them to pick one up or talk to them, I'm a very shy guy, what can i say. Anyway, I walk outside to my bike and unlock it. For some reason I decide to take a different route home than I normally would. On this route there is a small park next to the canal that goes through the city. In the park I stop at a bench and sit down to enjoy the stars because I didn't feel like going home just yet. Not much later I can see a woman walk towards me from the other side of the park. As she comes towards me I feel a cold chill run down my spine. I would imagine that it would somewhat be similar to staring at a hungry lion without the fence you have in a zoo. I ignored the feeling because what reason would I have to fear this woman? That's what any normal person would think too. Right? As she came closer I could see that she looked like she was drunk. Her footing unstable and on top of that she looked pale. There were some shouts behind her outside of the park, when she was close to me she collapsed. Startled by this I jumped up to help her back up not realising what i was doing. It was as if my body moved out of its own accord. Slowly and carefully i pick her up and set her next to me on the bench while I check if she has any cuts from the fall. She whispers something what I can't quit understand. I lean a bit closer to her to better hear what she has to say when I notice the blood on her clothing. Before she has an other chance to repeat what she said I start looking for the source of the blood. As I'm aboute to open up her blouse a bit to find a wound she grabs my arm. Taken by surprise I take a step back only to notice that the woman has a very strong grip. She looks up at my face and then at my arm. "I'm sorry." I can softly hear as she lets go of my arm and fastens her blouse. "Your wounded." I'm stating the obvious, a bit perplexed by the pained look in the womans eyes. Her eyes get a look like 'no shit sherlock' as she beckons me to sit down again next to her as she sits down aswell. She leans her head against my shoulder and closes her eyes. "Will you let me sit like this for a while?" her question is very hard to hear but I keep sitting still as a response. "What happend?" I manage to ask after a few minutes of silenceBut before she can reply I get to see the source of the shouts I heard earlier. Even before I get the chance to react the woman grabs my face and looks me deep in my eyes. "Don't let them get me." Even though I don't see her lips move I can heard the faint plea for help. I try to think of something while the men look at us from the entrance of the park. I wrap my arm around the woman while glancing at the men to see if they buy my pathetic attempt to fool them. Seriously it was the only thing I could come up with. Yes, I could have kissed her but I didn't know if she would allow that kind of forwardness from me. You tell me what else I should have done. I'm sure you probably would have done the same if you were in my position.The woman got even closer to me in the pretent that we were a couple that wanted to be together and not be disturbed by others. I can hear one of the two swear that they have lost some woman. The other trying to calm the other by saying that she couldn't have gone far. Both the woman an I keep still and look over the water in the hope the men wouldn't come over to ask if we had seen a woman. The men are hesitating whether or not to ask us if we have seen the woman they are looking for. The woman somehow reads their decision before they do and leans over to kiss me. The men had started to walk in our direction from the moment the woman kissed me and, as surprised as I am, I can see them stop. "You have to kiss me back to make it believable." she whispers as she notice that I haven't recovered from the surprise yet. Yanking myself back I do as the woman says without thinking and kiss her back. As I think back about it now I guess that the men were really desperate because they recovered aswell and walked towards us. The woman moved a bit before the men were close enough to us that there might be a chance they see the blood on the blouse of the woman. I expected them to ask us if we might have seen someone come by but the men kept on walking until they were a few metres away on our other side. "She couldn't have come by here, she would have attacked those two." I couldn't make out which of the two men said that, but I got an other shiver down my spine as the men walked back again to the entrance of the park.

I know what you're thinking. Now that the men are gone are you going to take her home? I'll get to that later. The men gave us one final look at the entrace before disappearing from our view. Unsure what I was supposed to do i stopped kissing and looked into those beautifull eyes of that woman. I really wanted to know what was going on but I also didn't want the kissing to end. Who can blame me, I mean, what would you think? Me who is a good for nothing sitting at home being single suddenly finds himself liplocked with a woman of whom he could only have dreamt of in his wildest dreams. Would you want something like that to end? Anyway she looked back at me and gave me a innocent little smile. I felt my heart melt but at the same time I became aware of that chill that had been running down my spine. I move my lips in an attempt to ask what that was all about. By 'that' I mean the men, you know, I know what the kissing was about, that was to hide from the men but, why were they after her in the first place. Ok, now that that is clear back to topic. So I tried to ask what was going on. Together with that smile of hers she layed a finger on my lips and then moved her head in closer again. I, who still couldn't belief my luck, closed my eyes again in anticipation for her lips on mine. That happend, only not the way I had expected. She bit my lower lip. I felt a sharp pain and I shuddered. A bit shocked i looked at her. She still had her innocent smile but something had changed in her eyes. They seem to be fixed on my mouth. "Why did you do that?" I asked a bit shocked. I know its a great way to have a woman leave you if you ask something like that, but honestly, it really hurt. It was not like a normal cut or anything. She split my lip. The smile on her face disappeard when I raised my hand to feel if there was any bleeding. I could see a little droplet of blood on the tip of my fingers when I removed them from my lip to look at what ever would be on them. "I'm sorry." She whispered as she sat back normally next to me. "Forget this. What is going on? Why were these men after you?" I asked. I didn't want her to leave just yet. She was beautiful and we just made out. It would be wierd to send her away or leave myself, wouldn't it? Right? I couldn't anyway. "Because of this." She whispered with a guilty look on her face as she pulled her blouse from her chest and looked at me. The blouse jerked me back out of the clouds for as far I was still on them in the first place. "You're wounded." I blurted out suddenly remebering that her blouse was coverd with it. In the distance i can here sirens aproching. the woman gave me a smile, if it was sencere or more a look like 'ah poor naief boy' i still dont know, and shook her head. At the time i couldnt wrap my head around it why she had an other persons blood on a specific place of her blouse and not on the rest of her body. now i know better. "its just a scratch." i think she said. there was no way a mere scratch would cause so much blood. would you agree with me? yes? my mind was making overtime thinking on what to do next. ask her to come home with me, leave her here on her own devices or bring her to a hospital? i know i should have done the last thing with all that blood but she said it was just a scratch and i didnt want my time with her to end just yet.


Unable to make up my mind I move around a bit uneasily, I also had that chill that went down my spine. Last time it had stopped, now it hadn't since she made my lip bleed. Thinking of my painful lip made me touch it again without thinking to much about it. The bleeding had stopped but it still hurt. If she felt my uneasyness or not, I don't really know but she layed her head against my shoulder again. "Do you live close by?" she suddenly asked. Could she be thinking of coming home with me and continue where we had stopped when the men left? Before I could answer she already stood up to face me. She seemed to have a better footing than before, like she shook off her drunkeness. "It will be a bit problematic if i walked around town like this." I couldn't argue with that statement, if somebody were to see her like that they definitly would involve the police and call an ambulance. "Are you sure your okey?" I managed to ask, still hesitating if it wouldn't be better to bring her to an hospital. "I will be if you lend me your coat and let me clean up a bit at your place." I swear that was what she said. I hadn't told her if i lived close by or not, but she had already decided that she was coming home with me even before I decided it. Her attitute had changed a bit aswell, she was more confidant than before. I was sure that she would change her mind halfway to my home and would say "Hey you're a nice guy but I think I'll go to my own home afterall." But she didn't. After I handed her my coat to cover up the blood on her blouse we walked back home. Along the way I could not help thinking that I might get lucky, I'm still a guy afterall. So yes, I took her home and looking back on it, it might have been my biggest mistake, but I wasn't thinking of that at the time.
At this time I do have to tell you that the myth of vampires needing permission to enter a home seems to be true. But it could also be that I have a the belief that if somebody wants to hurt me won't be able to enter, this is also only my belief so I could be wrong. In any case the woman stayed infront of my door waiting. "What is wrong?" I ask when I saw that she is still standing outside when I had taken off my shoes and opened the door to the livingroom. "Can I come in?"she asked, she still sounded confidant but for some reason she didn't step over the threshold until I invited her in. I knew these myths form tv and all but I still didn't link her behavior to that of a vampire because in my defense I didn't knew that they were real at the time. I was a bit confused about why she would ask me such a question. "Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have brought you over." I answered while I dropped my wallet, phone and keys in the bowl on the table. After some hesitation the woman stepped through the front door with a look on her face that she might expect something to happen at any moment. I, in my infinite wisdom, tried to make a joke out of her reaction. "Don't worry it's not like you're going to be killed if you didn't have my permission." I said from the living room. Not my smartest move ever, I have to admit and I realized that when I saw her face. I'm not sure what the expression meant at the time, but I could see that she didn't think it was funny. "I'm sorry. Bad joke." I said quickly, in the hope to save some of my already virtually non-existing dignity. The woman came into the living room looking around while she held my coat in her hand. "I'm afraid it's has become stained." she said.


Her voice seemed a bit different from before, almost playful, like she would have dropped her stockings while sitting in a chair with her legs open for a nice view and than saying oops. But I didn't realise it at the time what went through her mind... and I still don't know when i think about it. "Just drop it on the chair there. I'll wash it tomorrow." I said in my infinite ignorance while pointing to a chair in the corner of room. I walked to the bathroom and pulled out a blanket that she could use after cleaning up. "You want anything to drink after you cleaned up?" I asked as I turned around to hand over the blanket, only to find out that she was standing right behind me. Before I could do anything she was already kissing me. To be honest with you I could discribe what happened after that, but it has been kind of a blur, as if you're watching what was happening on tv or from an other room instead of really experiencing it. At some point I fell asleep. If it was after the love making or during I don't know but I passed out. Yes you're reading it correctly. I passed out. Now the next day I woke up. My head felt ten sizes too big for my skull, my lip was still cut up and I had my right wrist wrapped in bandage. At first I thought it was all a dream, of coarse until I saw the bandage and felt my lip. I was thinking by myself at the time 'if I have all this, then the woman should still be here aswell. I mean  it would be a bad joke if she wasn't here.' As it turned out she was gone and it wasn't a bad joke. I walked into the living room again to see if she was there, but instead I found my writing pad lying on the table with a piece of paper on top. The paper said: "Thanks for everything. See you around." She didn't leave a name or a way to contact her. Just that. And with that my first contact with a vampire was over. I didn't know at the time she was one, until I unwrapped my wrist later that day. Little did I know I would have more dealings with her, but that I'll save that for next time. Unless she herself pays you a visit first.

Beat

I am standing on the side of the stage. Nerves are raging through my body while other players are standing on the stage in the spotlight doing their performance. The neckband of the guitar hanging around my neck feels heavy. The curtains drop and stage hands spring into action to setup the stage for us. Setting up drums, mic stands and keyboard. I grip my guitar a bit tighter then necessary and we all go to our places on the stage. We only get an short look at each other before the curtains go up again.
Then it's time, the curtains go up and the drums start playing the rhythm of our first song followed by me who is playing the bass. The keyboard and finally the guitarist completes the sound of our song. The lights blind me when the curtains are completely up and they make it difficult for me to look beyond them. Although we can't see past the lights the sound does and gives us the feedback we want to hear. The song appeals to the public. The sound of screaming people reaches us as the song ends and we catch our breaths for a moment. We glance a look at each other and on their faces I can see how I feel, knowing they can also see it on my face. The fear that we had at the beginning is gone and was replaced by happiness and joy. Without waiting we start our next song. The rest of the concert goes by in a flash leaving only the memory of the musical beat from the songs resonating from our bodies and instruments into our very beings with the cheers from the croud as support.

Ghost lullaby

In the empty room on the end of the hallway this time, in another room the next or in the hallway itself the time after that. People have come to the place before and all have claimed to have heard it. A strange sound on moonless nights like a soft breeze of the wind. Others claim it's like a musicbox that makes soft plinking sounds but it's always a strange tune. When you try to look for it the sound moves or disappears only to reappear somewhere else. The sound both follows and is followed by you as you walk through the place. The longer you stay in the place you get the feeling the sound gains volume as though amplified by the walls around you. It gives you the feeling that you are getting closer to the source. The sound now fills the room you entered but still is it impossible to tell what it is, although you get the feeling that you know it. It keeps luring you to the center of the room, where the feeling of familiarity is coming from. As you try to figure out where you heard the sound before you come in the center of the room and you close your eyes to focus on the sound. Slowly your mind fills with flashes of memories of the past, except it's not your past. Although the memories have a calming effect they are laced with an eery edge as if something bad is going to happen. You open your eyes again and look around the room to find the source of the sound but you can't find anything. Although the room has been empty for a long time you can still see what used to be in the room, as if the images are carried by the sound. Then the sound grows more familiar and your feeling of unease grows as you still can't find the source. The sound changes into a lullaby as it keeps awakening the memories that are not yours. You start humming along with the lullaby and as soon as you hear a voice you realise that it is your own that is singing along at first unclear but slowly gaining power. You notice that its an lullaby that you should not know. While this is happening the flashes of memories increase and your sences are on overdrive. Someone is coming up from behind you, or is it an memory? The line between present and past blurrs as the lullaby reaches its peak and you turn around. The air in the room grows cold the sound stops and everything turns black.