When Darkness Calls Ch. 02

The road flew away beneath Light's tires with surprising clarity. Twilight had long since passed and the sky was an unbelievable shade of black, she hadn't been expecting it to darken so quickly, or she would have waited another day to pick up the equipment. But she was afraid if she didn't do it while it wasn't raining, while the weather was nice, she wouldn't get a chance to for a while. Pampa was quite a drive and winter season was approaching with a steady and secure pace.

Light tried to keep her eyes firmly on the was flowing gently in the soft wind; fields beyond fences were littered with clear ponds and creaks, dark road in front of her, but the landscape in the country had a somewhat ethereal beauty. The slowly-dying grass on the side of the road where she supposed some farmers kept their cattle.

Although they could process the cows in plants, clone them, or even systematically raise them, some people preferred their meat to be natural. It was one of the issues that had been plaguing discussions for decades. Some people had suspicions that the new diseases that were revealing themselves to the community came from the artificial food.

Light personally didn't really concern herself with those matters, although she supposed it was possible for infected foods to cause air-borne diseases. So, many people contributed the many deaths in Pampa to the disease. Although, she didn't think that accounted for the many people that were never found.

The death population to Pampa had steadily increased since years before, when LiQuer had been in office. At least that was what she had read in her many college text-books. Although, she supposed, it was wrong to leak that information to mouldable growing adults. It would plant it in their head that the government was planning something. It was incredibly interesting how many rumors had spread about the Congress, but she supposed that it was just bubble-minded nonsense.

Light forced her attention out of her musing, and again focused on the dark road, trying to not fall asleep. She won the battle with her eyelids, and focused on the bright lights that were shining at the end of the road.

Pampa was the capital of the country. It was a major place for immigrants, musicians, celebrities, and important people. It was like Seattle in the early 21 century, a city that never slept. Although, there were fewer thieves and robbers in this era than there were in that century, you could never be too careful in city. Light knew this, and for that reason held a stun gun in her possession. She had never used it, and hoped that she would never have to.

Tall skyscrapers touched the black sky; they all were lit up like Christmas Trees, some with small botanical gardens which held gardens on the top of then. Gardens were very popular in this day and age, if you were a businessman on break, you knew where you wanted to go, the garden. It was the only place where you could see flowers in the city, and feel like you could relax. Flowers were very few in commodity, because over the centuries of cutting down rainforests, the flower population had depleted. So seeing a rose or tulip, or some other kind of fancy flower was a special experience.

Companies in the city usually wanted to make their employees comfortable, because they were afraid. After the year 2929, people who were not satisfied with their jobs had formed unions and simply walked out. They called it the second Depression because it was a time of hunger and poverty, and the people who had quit their jobs were too stubborn to come back.

So the businesses had finally broke down and provided them with luxuries. Light's veterinary clinic was considered extremely old-fashioned; she much preferred it to be that way. The clinic instead of being computer-operated was operated by Light herself, and her grouchy and pretty secretary, Faith Barter.

Many of the companies nowadays were operated solely by computers, but Light hadn't relied on computers since the Great Computer Crash of 3034. She had chosen her profession because of her love of animals, and she knew that however the decades changed culture and technology, that doctors would always be needed. Light was always awed by Pampa's advanced technology though. Seeing all of the new and fairly useful things at windows, or the screen that stood for all to see in the middle of the city, was pleasant.

Except when she was shopping with Faith, who constantly grouched that her high heels were leaving blisters on the back of her feet.

Light got to the supply building and parked her car, pushing the button on her key-ring to lock and protect her vehicle against thieves. She pulled her hood over her head against the cold air, and made her way across the parking lot to the building door. Inside, there was a receptionist with a friendly smile. The word on her name-tag held a smiley face around it, Marylen.

"Name?" Marylen bubbled with a charming smile.

"Light Solomon." she replied.

The receptionist touched a pad in front of her and swiftly sorted through a various number of names, stopping when she arrived at Light's.

"Ummm...ok...so you ordered medical supplies?"

"Yes, I did. Are they in yet?" Light asked, hoping to god she didn't make this trip for nothing.

"They just got in yesterday, come with me to the back room and I will get them for you."

Marylen stepped from behind the podium and motioned for Light to follow her. The door at the back of the room was where all the recent deliveries were kept, Light knew from the many times she had come to Pampa.

Merylen pushed through the door and stepped into the room which was lined with rows of boxes that were in alphabetical order. Then she stepped up to another podium and pressed a couple of buttons. The box of medical supplies she was looking for lit up, signalling that it was the one she was looking for.

Light went and grabbed the box from its place in the wall, moving back towards the door as Merylen stepped off the podium, and then slowly made her way back towards the entrance of the supply building. Merylen showed her to the door and waved to her as she passed from the warm security of the building into the stifling and freezing night air.

Light's stomach growled with hunger as she made her way to the car. She looked around the block and saw a diner just at the corner. "Clara's Country Cooking" it said on the entrance. She decided to stop in and order some food.

Light went to the entrance of the diner and peeked in, taking in the cosy-looking seats, the over-head lights, and the warm and friendly atmosphere. The room was in the shape of a large "D", a counter and bar facing the outermost corner of the diner. It was a pleasant place all-together, a little old-fashioned maybe, but Light loved things that were old-fashioned.

A waitress sat at a stool beside the bar, looking broadly into space. Light cleared her throat slightly and the unnatural red-head turned in her seat with a slightly sour face. Light took a seat at one of the booths of the diner and the woman came sauntering over. The woman handed her a plastic-covered menu and waited patiently with her pen poised above a yellow pad of paper. Light considered the choices on the menu and turned to the woman and said,

"I think that I will have an iced tea and a chicken salad." The woman scribbled the order down quickly and turned her slightly up-turned nose towards Light.

"Is that all that I can get you?" she said in a voice that practically screamed I-don't-give-a-damn-about-your-order.

"No, thank you though." Light said in a dismissive way, fiddling with the fork and spoon on the checkered table clothe in front of her. There weren't very many people in the restraunt.

There was a couple in a booth by the corner, whispering in hushed tones to each other, which made Light blush and turn away. There was the waitress, who was waiting for the cook to finish her order, and there was a man in a booth by the window with neon-blue hair, piercings in various body parts, and dark clothes on.

Light turned her attention back to fiddling with the silverware, and waited patiently for her order. She grew bored with it, and then looked out at the dark sky. There were many orange post-lights in the street, but the street was still fairly dark. She wondered idly what all roamed the streets at night. It wasn't as if it was completely bereft of thieves and perhaps even worse.

The waitress came to her table, pulling her attention from the darkness. She turned her eyes toward the salad and tea, and slid a straw into the amber liquid. She sipped it slowly, savoring the taste, and then picked up her fork and dipped it systematically into her salad.

The waitress came back by, giving her the tab and leaving. Light finished her food and put a tip on the table, paying her tab as she went out the door. She decided to take a short-cut to her car and went into a near-by alley.

The alley was full of shadows, and she regretted her decision, then she registered someone was following her. She tried to hurry down the alley, but found that the shadow ran quickly, and she found herself being pushed to the ground. The man from the diner stood hovering over her, a knife in his hand; he looked like a cold-blooded killer from her point of view. His eyes were glazed over, and Light knew that he was on some kind of drug. She was afraid.

"Please, take my money! Anything!" she sobbed and tried to hand him her purse. He simply smiled down at her and raised the blade...

*****

Dante had fed earlier, but the delicious smell of blood floating in the air hit him like a wrecking ball, a battering ram. He sniffed in the air and filled his nose with the scent, let the particles soak through his brain and burn into his memory. He knew that his eyes, yet again, were glowing red. But he couldn't help it. Because the smell that was in his nostrils now was the best he had smelled in all of his life. If he had ever known that the smell even possibly existed, he would have combed the entire earth for it. Looked in every country, searched under every rock and in every cranny.

He followed the smell like a man in the desert, desperate for a drink of water. The smell led him to a dark alleyway. There were two people in the formally mentioned alleyway. One was a man with blue hair, holding a bloodied knife. The features of the other he couldn't see, but he knew that it was the one whose blood was on the knife.

A growl came from deep in his throat, and the blue-haired man turned slowly around. He supposed he looked like a monster with thirst now, actually he knew, because the young man quickly dropped the knife and ran like the flames of hell were at his heels. Dante found himself walking towards the body; the body which he found was that of a woman.

Her lips were almost bloodless and she was shivering convulsively from head to toe. Even through his lust for her blood, he looked into the hazel eyes of the woman, and felt an outrageous amount of pity for her. Her every breath seemed laboured as she clutched the side of her slender neck where the man had stabbed her and her long dark blond hair was plastered by sweat to her forehead. Her eyes fastened unfocused upon him and her breathing continuously began to become more infrequent and laboured as the seconds ticked by.

But however much pity he had for the poor creature, the lust was too much. He moved his lips to the place where the knife had plunged in her neck and sunk his teeth in. All of his senses exploded as the blood hit the back of his throat. It was like liquid fire, the best blood that he had ever tasted, but as the blood flow began to weaken, he pulled back. For some insane reason, he wanted to save this woman, wanted to protect her. So he would.

"I'm so sorry....." he whispered, feeling as if his non-beating heart would fall from the territory of his chest. "But once you wake up, it will be better," he crooned as her breathing cut off; the only indicator that she was still alive was by the movement of her unfocused eyes.

"I won't leave you." Dante said, mostly to himself. A moment after he said that, she died.