Dead Matter

We were standing on the edge of a forest at evening. A cobblestone trail led off into the distance, and through the trees we could see the spires of a castle rising up high. Something in my brain snapped. I wanted to say something, anything, to bring me out of my sudden dream-state feeling, but I was at a loss for words.

“Please tell me you see this, too,” Co

“I do,” I said. “What wardrobe did we just step through?”

Dark shadows flew from the forest, the low light hiding whatever was closing in on us. I had sense enough to pull my bat out and extend it. My eyes tried to follow the shapes as they flitted back and forth, but it was near impossible. Co

The dark shadows hit the ground about twenty feet in front of us. Despite the darkness, I could tell they were humanoid, which gave me a sense of hope. Being humanoid meant that my bat might work on whomever the enemy was.

I choked it up over my shoulder and ran forward, ready to strike. Co

13

Co

“Steady, Co

“Aidan?” Co

The boy in the hoodie looked perplexed.

“You know who I am?” he said to Co

Co

The boy stared in wonder at Co

I stood there, bat still held up high on my shoulder. I had no idea if this was truly Co

“You were the one I chased the other night,” I said, gripping my bat tighter. “I saw you at Co

The boy raised a finger to his lips, silencing me. He walked toward us, radiating calmness.

“All in good time,” he said, placing one hand on Co

His touch was like a drill of raw emotion ru

The boy looked on, unconcerned. “This might not be the best place for that,” he said, spreading his arms out to the surroundings.

Taking my eyes off of him was difficult, but I pulled them away only to notice the presence of several dozen other “people” standing along the edge of the shadowy forest. I looked back at Co

“Aidan may have a point,” I said. I looked down at the stake. “A better one than yours…”

“This thing isn’t Aidan,” Co

“Co

As Co

“What are you?” Co

“I think you know, friend,” the boy whispered into his ear, “but as I said, all in good time…”

The quiet crowd around us surged forward from the shadows, all with the same preternatural speed. They were from all walks of life-different skin tones, different styles of dress-but all with the same snarling look on their faces. Then I noticed even more commonality among them-fangs.

As the crowd closed in on us, Aidan looked up and waved them away. “Enough! I have these two under control.”

“You do?” I stepped closer, swinging my bat down in a preparatory arc before me.

The boy let go of Co

A woman who looked to be in her midtwenties rushed like the wind up to the boy. She looked Hispanic with a head full of curly brown hair that looked almost alive in a Medusa sort of way.

“Please,” she said, fixing a wide-eyed glare on me. I felt a strange sensation of passiveness wash over me, and I knew she was projecting it at me. “Let me have this one to deal with.”

“No, Beatriz,” the boy said. “They’re both here because of me and that puts them under my protection.”

The woman eyed me with dark glee. “So selfish,” she said, then ran at me anyway. The boy let go of Co

“Let… me… go,” she spat out.

The boy held her aloft a few seconds more, and then tossed her a good fifty feet into the forest. The female vampire crashed into one of the thicker trees with a dull thud accompanied by what sounded like cracking bone. She slid to the grass below, unmoving.

The boy turned to the rest of the crowd, which had closed on him. “Anyone else?”

The rest of the group was seething and writhed with an excited energy, but none of them dared move forward.

“Good,” he said after a minute. He walked over to Co

“You okay?” I asked.

Co

I looked past Co

“Yeah. That was me.” The boy smiled, the tips of two fangs showing at the corners of his mouth. He laughed.