Amethyst Auburn & World's End

Author's Note: This short story doesn't have a nice tidy ending but instead is open-ended. If that's not your thing, feel free to read something else! ~ C

~~~~

Amethyst hated her name. Why on earth would her parents name her Amethyst when their last name was Auburn? Of course, her parents had normal names. As normal as you could get: Mary and John.

But that wasn’t why Amethyst was sitting in The World’s End, a well-known pub on an ancient cobblestoned street in Edinburgh, Scotland. Though thinking about her name did make her order a second beer. But then she changed her mind and opted for a tea. She needed to be clear-headed for this. She laughed quietly to herself, but as she sat at the bar, even that garnered her a few sideways glances. She shook her dark hair (glad it wasn’t actually auburn, or even worse, fire-red, standing out would be dangerous), and took a sip of the scalding hot tea that landed in front of her.

She smiled wistfully. This is probably the last time I’ll ever have tea, she thought sadly before pushing back the stool she sat on and standing up. She turned around toward the large windows that showed the busy High Street, even though it was on the verge of night.

She patted her clothes, taking comfort when she felt the long knives that were hidden underneath or stuffed into her boots.

She needed to do this. If she didn’t…she shook her head again, causing a chunk of dark hair to swing forward over her face. She brushed it back impatiently. She didn’t want to think about that. Her gaze focused on the people walking back and forth outside the window, minding their own business, chatting, laughing. If she wasn’t successful, she worried that those people enjoying themselves on the town wouldn’t be enjoying themselves for much longer. But of course, they didn’t know that. No one did. Or hardly anyone. Just people like her, and there weren't too many of them. But there was even less of what would be causing the end of the world if Amethyst didn’t stop it. She watched the last streak of light drain from the sky behind the tall buildings on the opposite side of the street. She stepped outside, breathing in the coolness of the air as the sun departed.

Amethyst muffled another laugh thinking about how, if people knew what she was, they would find nothing funny about it. She was a vampire, and she was leaving the safety of indoors at night. People naively thought that vampires couldn’t come out in daytime. How ridiculous! But thanks to human misperceptions, it’s what caused her prey to come out at this time, to look for people like her.

She sighed. She wasn’t a night person. Just because you were a vampire, there was no need to sleep your day away, and be up all night. How could you buy things when all the stores were closed? Vampires liked their comforts too, after all.

She walked with purpose down the high street and suddenly burst out laughing. She just realized what she was doing. She was hunting the vampire hunter!

But she had no choice. They were being reckless. They had been playing with magic in hopes of defeating Amethyst and the few other vampires that still existed in today’s world. But they just didn’t know what they were doing. And humans that don’t know what they’re doing….well, it will eventually be the cause of the end of the world.

At least they were easy to destroy. Easier than it was to destroy her, and the rest of her kind. Amethyst looked to be in her thirties, but in reality was almost five hundred and eighty-seven. Her cell phone rang in the pocket of her cropped spring jacket. She withdrew it and fumbled with it a moment before turning it on. Despite living for so long, this new technology was hard to get the hang of. She knew most other vampires felt the same way. Thousands of years of relative technologically simple times… and then smartphones.

“What?” she snapped irritably into the phone. “Yes, I’m on my way.” She mumbled. “Uh huh.” She paused for a moment, listening, and then looked up at the sky in the distance above the extinct volcano that looked down over the city, Arthur’s Seat. The sun hadn’t fully set, but there was no reason that the sky should be the frightening blood-red colour that it currently was.

“Shit!” Amethyst shouted. She started to run, and almost forgot about her phone until she heard the voice on the other end asking if she was still there.

“Yes, I’m still here!” she said, annoyed, but not out of breath. This was one reason she liked being a vampire. They didn’t tire. “Where are you?”

She listened and then turned sharply down an alley, cutting across the city and heading towards the Roman ruins perched on top of the mountain that was shrouded in a sky smeared red.

Amethyst’s hands started to tingle, and the feeling slithered up her arms. This wasn’t a good thing. This was a very bad thing. It was the vampire’s warning system that…well, everything was going to hell in a handbasket.

Her feet pounded against the ground, her hands slicing through the air moving her faster, farther.

She reached the crumbling columns to find a small blond woman surrounded by three vampires, two holding her arms and the third who had a long, slim sword pointed at her chest.

“What happened,’ Amethyst asked, though looking around she could gather what had gone on. There was an altar and some odd items, including the ubiquitous wooden stake.

Three pairs of eyes slid in her direction.

“You’re late,” the one holding the sword said with a voice like marble, cold and smooth.

“I know, I’m sorry.”

The vampire shook his head, and a scowl turned his lips.

“I mean you’re too late. It’s over.”

Amethyst’s dark eyes widened. “It’s the end?”

The three vampires nodded but only the swords

man spoke. “Again.”

~~~~~~~

Liked this short story? if so keep reading with another one below!