Creatures of the Night

She leaned over the balcony. The ballroom was in full gala and Brittini was mesmerized by the women twirling around the dance floor in various arrays of color. Sapphire and emerald ball gowns blended with scarlets and golds in a silent waltz. The holographic film had been her entertainment now for almost a week.

Turning the projector off, the ghosts of memories past no longer displayed, and she was left with the tattered curtains and lifted, broken tiles. The couch in the corner downstairs in the ballroom was the only furniture remaining in this empty, hollow, palace. The mansion had been ransacked long before Brittini arrived. She was surprised she had found as much food as she did. This had been her fourth residence to survive in, this time, it was a Hollywood palace.

Brittini tossed her empty can of tuna aside, stood up from between the balcony banister poles and glanced around at the giant, desolate room below. She had been watching the same quiet dance, eating the same tuna, and falling asleep in the same bed for a week now. She knew she had to keep moving but didn’t want to. She was tired of running and really had no clue if she was running from or to someone anymore. Her parents were gone and she only knew of her aunt in Orange County who looked like her mother. Hopefully she was going to find her alive, but knew it was a long shot. Brittini, having been born and raised in the Central Valley, California, was somewhat surprised in herself making it this far. She was grateful.

Stretching, Brittini picked up her crossbow and walked her developed, routine rounds. Checking the doors to make sure they were locked and bolted the best she could, she entered the downstairs bedroom for a light nap. She could no longer sleep for any length of time, no one remaining alive really could anymore; only the dead slept.

Wrapping up in the corner, so she couldn’t be taken by surprise, Brittini reached up to her neck and tightly wrapped her fingers around the silver locket. She said a little prayer, believing it would somehow be answered, and fell asleep dreaming of the red-haired women that continued to haunt her past; her mother’s twin.

She vaguely new Aunt Marney. She was a remnant of a happier time, almost a seeming figment of her imagination. She had met her mom’s twin only a few times, but each time was grand. She would ‘kidnap’ Brittini from under mom and together they would walk through the almond orchards. Occasionally, because it was mostly farmroads outside of Fresno, Aunt Marney would even let her drive the little red Honda. It was a time when children were still able to play and feel free. Not this world now. She would hopefully find her aunt, otherwise Brittini had no one in these new, unforgiving lands.

Something startled her out of her slumber. Brittini opened her eyes but didn’t move a muscle. She strained harder to listen for where the initial noise had come from. The silence was uncomfortable. But there it was again. Outside. A small, soft rustling right outside the window.

She quietly reached for her crossbow that she had slept next to now for almost a year. After her parents’ death, it replaced her teddy bear. Brittini set the bolt. It was too dark to aim at anything; she couldn’t see through the window, and the new moon refused her any further assistance. She strained every part of her being listening for what had awaken her.

Was someone out there? Or was it one of them? You could never tell in the dark. Almost the size of the average human, they stood upright on hind feet lookinf sort of like eagle-like talons. Definitely for tearing into their food. With their arms spread, you could blatantly observe the bat-like figure mixed with with a human-like body. But they had winged capabilities. They could easily be mistaken for a man in a trench coat when their arms wrapped around themselves in the reating state. The worst part was having to watch for the pinchers that would protrude from opening leech-sucker mouths. Once grabbed, the creatures would flip the victims onto their stomach, and latching on to the back of the neck, giant mandibles extrude, snapping their victim’s spinal cord. It keeps their victims alive, unable to move and as fresh as possible for consumption.

Most who were grabbed, begged and screamed for quick deaths. At night they could be heard on the streets feeding. Screams would eventually subside, only to give way to the next victim’s screaming. It became the new, regular arias of the night, keeping remaining eyes bloodshot and open.

It was quite horrifying the first time Brittini witnessed one of them. It was eating Eric, the cute fifteen year old neighbor boy down the street, but she was grateful it hadn’t been herself. She had tried looking away, but in her sick love for horror flicks, she was compelled to watch the live-action. Ironically, that same horror taught Brittini how the creatures had quickly removed man from the top of the food chain.

They were blind, not enough room on the face for eyes when everything was created for feeding. Their giant curved, cupped inward ears were key to their hunt. They used clicking to both communicate and find their prey through echo-location. Thankfully they were not known for hunting in groups, so a person might stand a chance if they were prepared. Most weren’t.

Brittini reached for the locket around her neck. Set on a long spiral chain, she brought the little silver heart to her lips, softly kissed it, and tucked it inside her shirt. Her mom had given it to her on her 13th birthday. It was what Brittini considered her first “real” piece of jewelry, made out of sterling silver, and not some cheap copper or brassy material, it carried a photo of her mother and her together smiling. Now that her mother was gone, she tried to remain tough and perceive the image as a reminder of her aunt and who she was seeking. But at night, when screams penetrated the starry sky, she cried over the picture of her mom, wishing it was her arms wrapped around her again instead of the necklace. She would have happily given anything to have her family back.

Quietly she approached the window, and attempted to unnoticeably observe anything beyond the glass. She stood a little taller slinking along the inside of the window. It slammed against the window before she could react. Brittini fell backwards and looked up in horror.

It hadn’t broken through the window, but it had most certainly heard her failed attempt to be sneaky. It had consumed the whole window however, covering anything that could have possibly been seen earlier. The mouth had leeched on the the window and the ears were bent forward, ears almost flat to the glass. A ring of sharp teeth circled the inner lips in almost a perfect circle. And then there were the inner mandibles, they were testing the glass for durability. Brittini new her time was short if she didn’t move.

She stood up, grabbed her crossbow, and ran upstairs to the balcony ovwr the ballroom. From this viewpoint, she could enable the traps she had set her first night there. The glass crashed to the floor and the creature was inside.

It stepped into the ballroom. One clawed foot, after another, slowly moving with light clicking and deep gutteral growls mixed, it was identifying its surroundings, and looking for her. Brittini kept calm and quiet, this wasn’t her first encounter. She watched from above as it continued into the middle of the room. Just a few more steps.

Before settling in to her new abode, Brittini had attempted to set several booby traps. Her greatest triumph, lowering the giant chandelier then pulling it up in preparation to become a pendulum of death. It moved forward another step and stopped to listen to itself clicking. One more step.

It happened quickly, another step and Brittini released the rope tying up the chandelier and it swung into action. The creature moved faster. It must have heard her untying the rope, giving it just enough warning. Ducking and immediately using its wings to maneuver around the swinging lights, the creature flew her direction. Brittini aimed her crossbow, and fired.

The creature was broadsided on the left shoulder, but the bolt did not stop him moving forward. Now upon her, giant smooth hands with claws at the tips drive into her arm and leg. Brittini was lifted up and flipped over, exposing her back. She could feel the cold clutch release from her thigh and move up to clutch her by the neck thrusting her head forward. Before she knew what was happening, The creature had latched on.

She could feel the cold mandibles reach from the base of her neck, seeking up to the nape, but instead of a crunching snip, a blood curdling howl rose out from the demon throwing her aside against the wall like a rag doll. Brittini’s breath was knocked out of her, and she momentarily saw two creatures blurring back into one.

Something was wrong with it. Flapping its wings it flew backwards screeching and clawing at its face. Smoke was rising from its mouth and it had backed into the ceiling corner across the ballroom. Brittini thinking quickly, picked up her crossbow again, pulled the one bolt remaining her quiver attached to her hip, and let the bolt fly. It found its mark.

The creature grabbed at the bolt that had penetrated its neck. It slumped back against the wall and crumpled to the floor. Brittini stood there and stared for a moment. That was too close. Why wasn’t she dead? What had kept her from being that night’s meal?

She slowly made her way down the stairs back to where the creature had retreated. It was no longer moving and Brittini hesitantly approached. Having grabbed a candelabra that had been tossed on the floor, this now makeshift weapon was the only thing that stood between her and death.

She was now standing toe to toe with the deformity. She could see it’s chest wasn’t moving, and it remained limp on the jagged marbled tiles. Brittini lightly kicked at the foot. No movement. She took the candelabra and pushed at it. The skin sizzled. Was it dead? What was happening? Why did the candelabra burn it?

With final desperation driven by insatiable hunger, the creature lurched forward once more. Brittini slammed the silver weapon repeatedly into its skull until she was almost unable to move herself. All the pent up rage from losing her parents, friends, and community released in that moment. The creature would not seek another meal.

Absentmindedly, Brittini reflected on everything that had just occurred and tried to process what happened. Smoke still subtly drifted up from its mouth, and she began making the connection. She pulled the chain out from under her shirt. The locket had moved around to the back of her neck and was in between her and the creature when it had latched on. It had burned him. The candelabra was also made if silver. She had discovered their weakness, and her mom, and the locket, had saved her life.

Opening the locket, Brittini kissed the picture of her mother and quietly thanked her mom for protecting her. She knew what she needed to now. Somehow she needed to melt the silver onto her bolts instead of the steel they were currently made from. She now had goals beyond finding her aunt. She now had the goals to become a huntress. Brittini would no longer be hunted, but had become the hunter. She put the locket back inside her shirt, stood up, grabbed the candelabra, a satchel, and what bolts she could find, stacked a bunch of tuna cans into the bag, and began her new journey.

Brittini would no longer hide. Nor did she worry any longer about traveling by night or by day. She now knew she could and would kill them. With renewed hope and strength, she left the mansion without fear and leaving the mansion, stepped forward to find her aunt.