Alone In The Night
Good, you’re awake. No, no, no, don’t struggle. Don’t. You’re going to hurt yourself. Yeah, you’re tied to a chair. I don’t blame you for panicking, but try to relax. I promise I won’t hurt you or kill you. This is just for both of our safeties. You don’t have to believe me. I wouldn’t. You’ll just have to see when you’re still alive at the end of this. Okay? You don’t have to answer. Yeah, I gagged you, too. Sorry. Honestly, that’s just so you shut up long enough for me to say my piece. It’s going to be a lot to take on board, and we don’t have time for all the stock denials and “why-is-this-happening-to-me?” bullshit. It’ll all make sense when I’m done, I promise. You don’t have to believe me. You just have to hear me.
So, You’re a Hunter Now
Welcome to the lonely, desperate struggle for the night. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. We’re past that now. That time is way gone. It was gone the minute you saw that damn monster. Vampire. Whatever. Call them goddamn boogeymen for all the difference it makes. They are what they are. That makes you sick, doesn’t it? That they exist at all? Walking, talking monsters among us, getting away with murder. Abandon all hope ye who enter here, right? But you haven’t. That’s just it. I see it in you. All you got left is hope. The small glimmer of hope that you can still make a goddamned difference in this fight. You can take down one monster. Take back one block. Free one slave from the undead’s power. Excise one cancer from this sick world. Make a stand. Draw a line in the sand, and let them know which side they fall on. Alone, if you have to. Which is good, because you are alone, from here on out. You don’t have to tell me I’m right. I see it all over your face, same as mine was. The good news: You can do it. Kill the bad guy, take back the block, save the kid, whatever. But it’ll cost you. Cost you what? Everything. Family, friends, credibility, a long look at the sun... your daughter. Your life. Everything.
Oh, no? You shaking your head now? You think you’re going back? You’re going to track down and murder a fucking vampire, and then what? Go into work the next day and be all, “Hey, Pam, how’s Don? The impetigo clearing up?” Push your papers around and pretend that was the only vampire, ever, so everything’s cool? What’s the matter? You don’t know what you’re gonna do, do you? You probably ain’t settled on killing it for sure, huh? Hadn’t said it out loud yet? Bah! What do I know? Maybe you’ll walk away. You wouldn’t be the first. But I don’t think so. You saw that thing and knew you had to do something. Anything. Now you’re a hunter. Like me. Some call themselves investigators, or truth seekers, or illuminators of hidden mysteries.
Met one group who called themselves the Torchbearers. Bunch of self-important bullshit. I don’t get caught up in fancy titles. It doesn’t matter what you call it. Even if you’re “just curious.” You’re gonna follow that vampire around and take little notes. See if it sparkles or has a mother or whatever you’re gonna do. You’re still hunting. You’re a hunter. Same difference, whether you plan to put a bullet in it or not. To me, at least. Either way, I want to help. I’ve been lucky enough to become an old hunter. I ain’t gonna be lucky forever. It already cost me more than I wanted to pay. All I’ve got left is knowing what I know, and it won’t do me any good to take it with me. So you just sit you a sit and let an old man learn you some things. Well, you don’t have much choice. I appreciate that. Quit struggling. You’ll hurt yourself. No. No, we’ll just leave the gag in for now. Let’s go back to the start.
Why Do This?
You do it because you have to. Same as we all do. They killed your family. They turned your son into one of them. They took those kids. They deal drugs or peddle flesh or worse from that old house. They control the government. They horned in on your turf. They’re monsters. They used you, and you won’t give them another chance to do the same to anyone else. They hurt people. Whatever the reason, you do it because you have to. You do it because no one else will.
Motive
What if I told you to dive into a shark tank and pick a fight with one? Just swim up and take a swing. You’d think I was touched in the head, right? Well... you probably think that anyway. Point is, you’re not built for the water. You don’t have the strength, speed, or agility a shark does. You don’t have the natural weaponry. That fucker is built to kill in every direction, and you barely know how to swim. You get where I’m going with this, right? That’s what you’re doing right now. That’s what I do. That’s what two dozen or so other hunters I’ve met do. What would drive people like you or me to jump into that tank like we got any business? Here’s just a few reasons I’ve come across. Revenge: The big one. I don’t have hard numbers, but it’s a safe bet most of us lost something we couldn’t stand to lose. Family, friend, lover. Maybe murdered, maybe turned, maybe they’re still alive and serving as a ghoul — a kind of slave. Whatever, the loss is the same. So’s the need to avenge it on one or all of those bloodsuckers. Straight up, you took from me, I take from you. You hurt me, I hurt you. Eye for an eye, tooth for a fang.
Righteousness: The do-not-suffer-them-to-live set. Vampires are blasphemies, unclean, impure, or just plain not right. Whether it’s religious or racist, the righteous just cannot stand that these creatures tread the same earth as you and me. And they won’t hear otherwise. The very notion makes their skin crawl and their fists tighten. No price is too high to pay. If innocents get in the way, well, acceptable losses and all that. Who among us is truly innocent after all? Don’t look at me like that. That’s what they think. You probably don’t want to talk politics or religion with them, but they hunt as well as anybody.
Duty: You got a responsibility. Maybe you took an oath at some point or simply need to see right done. Cops, soldiers, doctors, reporters — I even met a psychiatrist once — all see the hunt as an extension of what they swore to do. Duty is almost always in service to something bigger than you, even if it’s just an ideal. You do it because you said you’d do it. You made a promise to someone somewhere. Doesn’t need to be God, or some institution, or anyone at all. Could be you see the vampires picking on the weak and you see yourself as strong. Well, less weak, anyways.
Power: Some people simply cannot abide they ain’t king shit on shit hill. Vampires rule the night? We’ll just see about that. The rich and powerful don’t like other sharks in their pool. Maybe some mixed-martial-arts dude who needs to pit himself against the toughest motherfuckers. Or maybe some chick out to prove there’s nothing she can’t do. Funny thing is, we lose the most of these guys to the other side. They eventually get noticed and are made an offer they can’t refuse: more power. Not all of them, but a lot. Don’t turn your back on this type, but they’re good for drawing attention away from you.
Curiosity: You caught a peek behind the curtain, and you can’t just go back. Some, their drive is purely academic. Others have a personal need for truth. If there’s one vampire, then there must be more. How many? How do they make more? Are they biological or magical? Are they monsters or victims? How do they socialize? What’s their sign? Will they date me? Blah blah blah. Sorry, I hate these guys. Mostly tourists and starfuckers, you ask me. A few are okay when they come back with something valuable. Eventually, most of them walk too far into the lion’s den and never come out. Neither do any of their notes.
Thrills: This type just plain freak me out. Listen, if you make it out alive, your heart pumping, all that sweat and adrenaline going, hey, it’s a rush. I get that part. Not enough of a thrill to be your only reason, though. You got your privileged and entitled used to getting whatever they want. You got the kinks who can only get off if they’re so close to death they hear it call their name. One way or another, brushing up against the undead is a thrill to them. Takes all kinds, whatever makes your grapefruit squirt, and all that. But this type’ll get you killed just so she can strum herself in Dracula’s bathtub when she thinks he’s not home.
Insanity: Then there’s the rest. The crazies. I mean, shit, the hunt takes its toll. We’re all a little crooked in the head, but some just come that way. Some got a death wish. Some got urges better taken out on the vamps than other folks. Some see angels and demons or extradimensional whatzits where you and I see... well, vampires, but you get the idea. How do I know I’m not one of the crazies? By now I got enough corroborating witnesses, I’m not that worried about crazy anymore. Plus... well, I just know. How do you know? You don’t. Not yet.
Last Words
We’re almost to the part where I untie you. Almost. First, I have one more bit of knowledge for you. A last word of warning and a request. Two requests. You see, when you get good at this, if you get good at this, it means you’ve gotten good at the not-dying part. You get good enough at surviving and tracking and killing and knowing when to cut bait and when to go to ground, who to trust and who to stab in the back before they do the same to you. You get good at all that. You get so good that your enemy comes out the other side of fear and comes to admire you. Gets to think you’re worth more to him alive. Forever. I got took a couple weeks ago. I’m one of them now.
And while I took the bastard that did it right back, it doesn’t undo the damage done. That’s one thing the movies don’t have right. So now I’m going to untie you. And if you’ve learned anything at all, you’re going to kill me. You’re going to tie me to that same chair, and you’re gonna take that machete right over there and you’re gonna do your best to take my head off in one. I sharpened it as good as I could. Then, if I can ask you one more thing, you’ll take this envelope. There’s an address and some info, everything you should need is in it. Find the girl — well, woman now. Find the woman in it, and give her everything that’s in there. And tell her... just tell her I’m sorry.
Don’t you fucking pity me! Don’t you dare go soft on me either. You think, what? Maybe it doesn’t have to end like this? Maybe I can do some good this way? Fuck you. I’ve already tasted blood once. Human blood. I held that girl down and took her life away in great big gulps. You watched me do it, remember? It won’t be long before I have to again. Do you understand that? No, you don’t. I’m starving. Like no hunger I’ve felt before. That hunger is a little monster inside of me rattling at his cage for me to tear your throat out. It’s getting bigger and louder as we speak. I don’t care if you want to do it or not. I can make you do it. I’ve got their powers now. I’ve got.... I’ve come too far to become this. I’m only sorry I don’t have the time to get you more ready. But what’re you gonna do?
The hunt takes everything eventually
