Vanish

Then, even though I wasn't there, even though I didn't know where I was, he looked directly at me.

"This weakling is your hero? Pathetic. I will devour you, Milo, and it's going to be delicious."

Dmitry licked his teeth, revealing upper and lower fangs.

The beast lunged at me, eager to tear me apart.

*****

I woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. The image of Dmitry stayed in my mind, like an afterimage. He was so scary, so evil, and I hadn't even seen him in his true form.

A moment later I could hear a light but insistent knocking. I knew it who it was.

I walked out to the kitchenette and opened the door. As expected, Pierce was standing there.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I whispered. "Just a little shaken."

Pierce didn't look so hot, either. He was holding his arms and wouldn't look me in the face.

I remembered how quickly and easily Dmitry was able to manipulate Pierce, make him doubt himself. What was worse was that he wasn't even lying for a lot of it. The nosferatu still had feelings for the vampire, at least at some level, that much was obvious. What Dmitry had done was psychological warfare on him just as much as me. Probably even more so.

"Pierce, do you want to talk about this?"

He ran his hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure what there is to talk about."

"Whatever you want to say, I'll listen. Wanna come in?"

He paused.

"Sure."

Pierce walked inside and I asked a question I hoped would lighten the mood.

"So, is it true that vampires can't enter homes without being invited inside? Would you not have been able to go through that door on your own?"

The fera chuckled weakly.

"Humans really come up with some crazy things. No, I just like to be polite."

We got in my room and I turned on the light out of habit. Pierce almost disappeared.

"Whoops. Do you want me to keep the lights off?"

"No, you should have the lights on so you can see."

"Okay then." Once again I was before him wearing only my underwear, but I didn't draw attention to that. Pierce had to be used to it by now. I sat on my bed and the nosferatu sat next to me.

"So, that's Dmitry? I was expecting him to look...I don't know, more beastly?"

"He's really vain, so I don't think he'd want a form that wasn't attractive. At least, not at first."

"Yeah. But still, he's...scary."

"I know. I know that better than anyone."

I put my hand on his shoulder, feeling a little silly because it looked like I was trying to comfort a shirt.

"But you still held your own out there. You stood up for yourself."

"I don't see it that way. One look, and it was like I was back where I started."

I heard him sniffle.

"Pierce, give me your hand." I held out my palm and felt a pressure I returned.

"This is how Dmitry wants you to feel. He wants you to feel powerless."

"You think I don't know that? But how am I supposed to feel?"

"I don't know, angry? Fired up? Ready to prove him wrong and wipe that smug look off his face? Isn't that what you've been wanting to do this whole time?"

"I am mad at him, but I'm really more angry at myself. I shouldn't have let him get under my skin so easily. I'm mad at myself for still caring."

I gave his hand what I hoped felt like a reassuring squeeze.

"Why? Don't those emotions prove you're better than him?"

There was a pause.

"What good is it being better than him if I can't protect people?"

"What do you think you've been doing? You saved two people already! And you killed a vampire back in the day, right?"

"I mean...yes."

"You are powerful, Pierce. I don't want to hear you so defeated. You shouldn't have to bear this burden alone."

"What are you talking about? Nobody else is suicidal enough to try to kill Dmitry!"

"I'm talking more about the emotional burden."

I got up and turned off the lights. I wanted to make eye contact.

"I'm not that strong, I know that. Maybe I can't help you defeat Dmitry, but I want to be there for you in other ways. You're my friend, and I don't want you to be sad."

I saw him bury his face in his hands.

"I haven't had a friend in so long..." he murmured.

"That ends now. If you ever need to talk...you can track me down, okay?"

"Okay. And...thank you."

He stood up.

"Try to get some sleep, Milo."

I gave him a hug.

"See you later, Pierce."

I felt him return the hug. It wasn't awkward like it was in his dorm.

He left.

I was a little apprehensive when I tried sleeping again. Dmitry was able to do a lot while I was asleep, but I had Pierce on my side. He wasn't going to let anything bad happen to me.

I drifted off, thinking of my friend.

*****

I was hanging out with Pierce in his dorm the following day when I felt the need to ask a question that had been on my mind for a while.

"Pierce, can you describe to me what you look like? I've never been able to see you very well."

The coat he was wearing leaned forward a little under the lights.

"I'm not really sure if I remember what I look like. I haven't felt the desire to look at myself in a long time."

"Well, can you look at yourself at all? I heard that vampires don't appear in mirrors, or on camera."

He chuckled like he often did when we talked about human perception of vampires.

"I think that started because we can make ourselves invisible in a moment. But if we wanted to we could be in pictures, or mirrors."

He stood up.

"It's going to have to be dark for me to do this. Walk over to the vanity, please."

I went to the sink and mirror outside the bathroom as Pierce turned off all the lights and drew his blackout curtains closed. I couldn't see two inches in front of my face, but I knew the fera had powerful night vision. I heard him approach and stand next to me.

"Yeah, I'm not that different than I remember. What do you want to know?"

"I don't know, I guess the basics."

"Alright. I have green eyes and reddish hair. I'm kind of pale, but that's to be expected."

I heard his hand rub on some skin.

"When I was turned into a nosferatu, it kept all the traits I had when I was human. I still have that little scar on my cheek. I still can't grow a beard to save my life."

I laughed in spite of myself.

"I'm sure you look very handsome."

"I definitely look better than I have in decades. I'm glad my training finally put some meat on my bones."

"How old do you look?"

"From what Mor told me," he said, referring to the nosferatu he met in Norway (Mor was what Norwegian children called their mothers), "Fera age at about half the speed humans do when active. I've been awake for about seven years total, so...twenty-three, twenty-four? Somewhere around there?"

"That sounds about right."

There was a pause.

"Why do you want to know these things?"

"Well, it's just kind of weird that I don't even know what you look like. We hang out all the time."

"I suppose."

He turned on the lights and returned to being floating clothes.

I looked at my phone as saw the time.

"I have class soon. See you later."

"Bye."

I could have sworn I heard a smile in his tone of voice.

*****

The buzzing and loud beeping of my bracelet woke me up with a start.

Holy shit. That was close. I was almost out the door. Dmitry must be up to something.

Immediately I felt unsafe. I wasn't comfortable going back to sleep, at least not alone.

I called Collin and he answered in a groggy voice.

"Dude, what the fuck?"

"I know, I'm sorry, but I sleepwalked again. I'm scared to go back to sleep on my own. Can I come over, please?"

"Ugh, fine."

In a few minutes I had gathered what I needed and went to his dorm. He led me to his room and we got under the covers.

"Thank you so much. I feel a lot better."

"Don't worry about it. I always sleep better with someone next to me."

He spooned my body and sighed.

"I gotta say, I'm surprised you called me and not your new boyfriend."

I felt my cheeks burn and knew I was blushing up a storm.

"What? I don't have a new boyfriend!"

"Don't lie to me. You keep visiting a new 'friend' for a few hours every day. You light up when you talk about him. He walks you back at night, I've seen it a few times."

I remembered that on Tuesdays and Thursdays he had a class with a window that would have given him a clear view of Pierce walking me home.

"He's not my boyfriend, he's just a friend."

"Whatever you say, man. I just could just tell something was up. If he's not your boyfriend, who is he?"

"He's named Pierce. We just met because we...had common interests."

I'm terrible at making things up on the fly. I'm sure he could tell I wasn't being honest, but he would have thought my reasons for lying were completely different than what they were.

"Well, if he's not your boyfriend, can you introduce us? That guy's a smokeshow."

"Collin, please just drop it."

"Okay, okay."

He kissed my cheek.

"'Night, babe."

He fell asleep. I followed suit, still unsure of why the conversation made me so embarrassed.

*****

I didn't see Pierce again until the next night when he walked me back to the dorm.

"Did Dmitry try something last night?" I hadn't heard about anything happening to a student that morning.

"Yeah, he did. How'd you know?"

I explained what happened to me.

"Damn. Smart move on your part getting that alarm."

"Well, what did he do?"

"See, I wanted to talk to you about that. I need your help with something."

I furrowed my brow, not understanding how those dots connected.

"Dmitry was able to make you dream something specific. That's a skill I had never heard of before. It made me wonder if I could do the same thing, but I need a human to test it on. Are you okay with that?"

"Absolutely. I want to help you out."

"Okay. Go to sleep tonight like you normally would. At around 2 AM I'm going to try to show you what happened with Dmitry last night. Let me know what you end up seeing."

I nodded. For the first time in weeks, I was excited to go to sleep.

It was like waiting to see a movie, and I was going to get a front-row seat.

*****

Pierce knew something was wrong when he saw the deer carcass on the ground. He had come to investigate the smell of blood, which would usually hang around Dmitry like a cologne. But drinking a deer's blood would serve him none, vampires fed only on humans.

Then it clicked. This was a diversion to draw him away.

The nosferatu ran as fast as he could, the trench coat he was wearing whipping in the wind. By the dorm, he could see a student walking alone. The curfew had been lifted for students, but it was well after midnight. When he got a little closer, he could see the young man's eyes better. They had a glassy look Pierce recognized, indicating he was under vampiric hypnosis.

Desperately, he counteracted the command with his own. He projected an aura of menace and whispered in the human's mind.

It's not safe out here. I'm in danger. Something horrible is going to happen to me.

Luckily the kid got the message right away. Seeming to snap out of his trance, he turned around to go back inside.

At that moment, he saw a shadowy form rise nearby and move towards the student. Running as quickly as possible, he lunged at the shadow right as it reached out to take the young man, causing it to melt back into the ground.

A few moments later, the human was inside the building. Pierce was reeling from the close call.

He saw another shadow form on the ground and heard a dignified, haughty voice.

"You really are a nuisance."

The shadow rose from the ground and coalesced into a what looked like a human. Dmitry was in a form Pierce hadn't seen before.

The vampire appeared a similar age to him, though more slender and an inch or two shorter. His skin was fair and his hair a coffee brown, quite long and messily tied up in a ponytail, contrasting with a neatly trimmed beard. He was wearing a white ruffled shirt, tight brown pants, and leather boots. The most striking part was his nails, which were long, sharp, and pitch black.

Pierce looked at the bright eyes and full lips the vampire had gained and scowled. Of course Dmitry would want to be beautiful no matter what form he took.

"I will never understand you," Dmitry said. "You must have worked for a long time to develop those skills, yet you choose to remain a halfling. There's so much power right at your fingertips, and you refuse to grab it."

"I'll never become a demon like you. I'd sooner die."

The vampire laughed, his voice light and youthful.

"Well, I suppose that can also be arranged."

The fera reached into his coat and pulled out two things: a wooden stake and an iron hammer. Ever since Dmitry humiliated him that one night he made sure to have them with him at all times.

"Pierce, do you know what happens when a vampire bites a halfling?"

"I can't imagine anything good would come of it."

"That's a matter of perspective, my boy. The vampire gets nothing from it, all the life force the vampire could steal had already been taken away. But that doesn't mean the halfling has nothing left to lose. They would be drained dry of all things that attach them to this earthly realm, and before long they would disappear completely."

Dmitry curled his fingers and his nails became longer, resembling claws.

"I never thought I'd create a halfling so troublesome I would have to put it down. But I'm not too proud to acknowledge a mistake I've made. A mistake that needs to be erased."

Pierce tightened the grip on his weapons. A moment later both sprang into action.

It was a blur of punches, kicks, blocking, and weapons. The two beings held nothing back in their brawl.

A minute later, Dmitry got close enough to swipe at Pierce's chest. The nosferatu howled in pain, the vampire's scratch burning his flesh. Despite his agony he found an opening a few seconds later, and pounced with his stake.

The wooden point was just a hair's breadth from impaling Dmitry's chest when the vampire changed form. In an instant, he morphed into a swarm of bats, flying high in the air. Pierce could see them melt away into the darkness once more.

The fera fell to his knees, mentally overwhelmed. He was so close. Did he hesitate somewhere? Was Dmitry just toying with him?

The cuts on his chest burned. He winced and held the wound closed with his hand. Pierce felt mocked, beaten and maimed while that bastard ran away without injury.

He remembered what Milo had said. Even though he didn't kill Dmitry, he had saved an innocent. The night wasn't a failure.

Dmitry's presence was gone. He must have retreated for the time being. The nosferatu stood up and left to go to his dorm.

*****

I woke up with a smile on my face the next day. It had worked!

The fera looked happy when I told him the news, but then got a little nervous.

"You know, if you want...I could show you more."

"More as in, what exactly?"

Pierce shifted in his seat.

"Well, I have a lot of stories. A lot of experiences. Things I've never told anyone about. But you told me the other night that I could tell you about what was on my mind, get things off my chest. I'm bad with words, I don't talk to people much. But I could show you some things."

His tone was very apprehensive, like he feared the request was crossing a line. I was quick to reassure him.

"If it'll help you feel better, yes. Just give me some warning ahead of time. That fight was pretty intense, I don't think I could dream like that every night."

He nodded. "That makes sense. I'll wait a few days."

Talking about the fight reminded me of something.

"Do you still have that wound?"

"Yes, but I'll be okay."

"Can I see it?"

Once most of the light was gone he took off his shirt.

Pierce had five jagged, deep cuts raked across his chest. It reminded me of the bite mark on his back, it looked freshly made and incredibly painful.

"You and I have very different standards for things being okay."

"I'll be fine. If one scratch was enough to take me down I would have given up a long time ago."

"All the same, you shouldn't push yourself too hard."

He snorted.

"I'll stop pushing myself when Dmitry's dead. Then I might be able to relax."

I think he was trying to be flippant, but something in his tone made me worry. All that training, the years of solitude, an entire life being dedicated to one mission, it couldn't have been good for his mental health.

Then I remembered something from the dream. There was a moment where he was being harsh with himself, but remembered something I said and felt a little better.

It was so strange to know I was playing any part in his mission, but I was more than happy to help.

That's what friends are for, after all.

*****

The sunlight was dampened by the trees, making the forest look gloomy. Snow crunched under Pierce's feet as he walked into the village.

In his research, he had found evidence that a vampire named Astasia had been living here for decades. She had an entire village under her control. Men, women and children alike would disappear every so often, but they believed that it was because of monsters in the woods, and Astasia was a guardian angel sent to protect them. They gave her offerings, prayed to her, did everything they did to curry her favor, while she was the one responsible for their suffering. It was vile.

The nosferatu looked at the children playing in the snow. He wanted them to have bright futures, ones free from such fear and uncertainty. If he could kill Astasia, he would be doing some good in the world.

He made it to the biggest house in the village and entered the door without knocking. His hands trembled slightly as he held the hammer and stake. He had spent months preparing for this moment.

Inside, the cottage looked like a palace, with animal skins and marble staircases. It was an illusion the vampire had created.

"Hello, boy."

Pierce turned to the sound and saw a nude woman descending the stairs. She had alabaster skin that seemed to glow. Her body was curvy, with an amble bosom and wide hips. Her face had angelic beauty, except for her eyes, which were solid black and burned with evil.

"I've never seen you before. Welcome to my humble abode." Her voice was a clear soprano, like the call of a bird.

Astasia got closer and tilted her head.

"That's odd. Normally men find this form...distracting, but you're fully present. I wonder, are you one of those men who long for something different?"

Suddenly her body shrank to that of a nude boy that appeared to be 20 at most. His hips and buttocks flared out even more. His shoulders were narrow and his features were cherubic, with a button nose and rosy cheeks.

"Does this please you more, sir?" Astasia chirped, her voice even higher in pitch as the boy.

Pierce swallowed and felt himself harden. He shook his head, trying to block the arousal. The fera needed to concentrate.

"What are you doing here?" the vampire asked.

He raised his weapons.

"I'm here to stop you."

"Is that so? You look like one of those in between. You're not even a proper vampire. What makes you think you have what it takes to kill me?"

Pierce didn't answer, he just sprang into action.

The moment he got close, the entire room turned upside down. The nosferatu needed to hold on to the stairwell's handrail to not fall. He had never encountered illusions so powerful. Pierce fought with an illusion of his own, turning everything upright again.

"Impressive," Astasia said, now back in her female form. She had a dagger in each hand. "This may not be as easy as I anticipated."

The two fought using their might and magic. The room shifted around them, morphing and contorting to match their illusions. Astasia seemed to like shapeshifting; over time she had transformed into a wolf, a snake, even a beast that had fur matted down with dried blood. That must be the form she had used to convince the villagers that monsters lived in the woods.