One Year Older

When magic had revealed itself to the world in 1900, the world had been very divided: half going on a witch hunt, and the other half begging the werewolves and vampires to turn them. Sawyer Searcy had been a part of the latter group, but it had been more a way to spite her family than out of desire. The Alpha, Jed Wight, that had turned her had been young for his species at just thirty-eight years old, and she herself had only been sixteen. Neither fully understood the bearings of immortality, it seeming more like a vague concept rather than an actual reality.

           The bonus to a Bite was that it completely swept away all of your human blemishes. All of her acne had vanished within hours of being Bitten, and her once monthly cycle now only happened during a blue moon. The only repercussion had been her family disowning her the second they saw her golden eyes. If Jed hadn’t accepted her into his pack, she didn’t know what she would’ve done.

           It had taken an entire century, but she was officially tired of living.

After all, a lot had happened in her one-hundred years. She’d witnessed beautiful things, like women and African Americans claim their right to vote, the end of segregation, and the roaring twenties. But then she’d seen some things that had shattered her heart into millions of pieces. How could the world be so broken as to put itself through not one but two world wars? She’d already seen everything the world had to offer, from its worst to its best.

           When Sawyer didn’t sit down and think through all she’s lived through, she still sometimes felt quite young. But now, it was August 9^th, 1982, and she was officially one-hundred years old.

           “I don’t know why you’re pouting,” Ewell, the New Gulf Pack’s Beta as of two decades ago, said. He was currently in the process of baking her a cake while she moped on the sofa, and the smell of the deliciousness was the only thing improving her mood. “It’s not as if you look one-hundred.”

           “You’re right. I’m permanently stuck looking like a bimbette trapped in puberty,” she groaned, throwing a pillow over her face. Her cheeks were rounded with what she swore was somehow remaining baby fat, and her eyes were large, like she’d never really grown into them.

           “You just need to veg and watch your show,” Ewell said, motioning with his chin to the television where Cheers was blasting at an absurdly high volume. “The entire pack is coming together to celebrate you tonight.”

           “No duh, that’s why I’m getting all of my moping done now,” Sawyer said, peaking out from under the pillow at him. “Besides, I’ve hardly had time to cry with everything going on.”

Vampires had started pushing their way into the pack’s territory, and so everyone had been working double the hours to keep them back. For the most part, Jed was willing to accept magic-bearing beings on their land – witches and wizards, fairies, dwarfs, and even incubai – but vampires would never be welcome. Not in his lifetime, at least, and he was immortal.

“I know, and that’s why your birthday is so well timed. It’ll be a much-needed break for everyone,” Ewell said as he pushed the cake into the oven. He walked over to the sofa, picking up her legs to take their place, albeit allowing her to keep their position on top of him. “I don’t even understand why you’re so upset. Even mid-life crises only happen because people realize they have so little time left, and you have all the time in the world.”

“Maybe that’s the problem,” Sawyer said, frowning when he snatched the pillow from her. She pushed herself up on her elbows to glare at him. “If I know I have ‘all the time in the world’, where’s the drive for me to utilize today? Or tomorrow? Or the day after?”

“Because we’re not actually immortal,” Ewell said, flicking her ankle. “Anyone with silver can kill us. Or anyone strong enough to make us lose our heads.  We can die, just like anyone else. It’s just a lot harder.”

“Alright, fair point. If only I’d magically feel better now,” Sawyer said. Her vision was blurring with tears, and she couldn’t even fully explain why. She closed her eyes to try to hide them, but it only pushed one down her cheek. She never cried, especially in front of someone. And Ewell of all people. 

“I think when you’re surrounded by all your loved ones tonight, things will be put into better perspective,” Ewell said. He handed her a box of tissues, and then returned his attention to the television. He knew she didn’t want him seeing her so vulnerable, and so did his very best to not look at her. Or pull her into a hug. “Just two more hours until the party. Maybe you should shower?”

“Is that your way of telling me I smell?” Sawyer asked, kicking him gently in the chest. She wiped away the snot bubbling out of her nose, trying to activate her super-smell to breathe in the aroma of cake through the mucus. But then she picked up something else and shot up out of her seat so quickly she fell.

Ewell shot up to catch her, his grip warm on her elbows as he pulled her back up to standing. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

But then he smelled it, too. Vampires.

Ewell ran for the phone while she hurried to the window. She reached over to switch off the lights, not caring for them to watch her watching them. Using the rainbow-plaid curtains as cover, she inched towards the window as she heard Ewell updating Jed about their predicament.

Sawyer lived on one of the pack’s farms, so her view was entirely taken up by rows of corn. The sun was almost done with its descent for the night, the ball of light already disappeared behind the horizon. Yellows, reds, and purple were all that was left, and as soon as those were gone, the vampires would likely strike.

She had already counted three vampires. From their smell, she knew none of them were purebred, but she guessed them to be well over three hundred if they were moving around before the sun was even fully set. That, and the few she had seen were dressed as pilgrims. Top hats, bonnets, and all. What was it with vampires not changing their fashion with the times? Too proud, or too stupid?

“How many?” Ewell asked. He had placed himself behind the window opposite to her, doing his own investigations from behind his curtain. “I’m at seven.”

“Six so far,” she responded. A couple had transformed into bats, and another three were prowling the grounds as hounds. Good.  She preferred a dog-on-dog fight. After all, her wolfhound was much bigger. “So, how are we going to do this? You take your seven, and I take my six?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. These vamps have lived three times as long as both of us, at least. We can’t take them by ourselves,” Ewell said. He closed the curtain and motioned for her to do the same before moving to peak into the oven and check on the cake. How could he still be thinking of the party at a time like this? “We have to wait for Jed to arrive with the others. As long as the sun’s out to keep them weak, they won’t attack.”

“We’ve already counted thirteen. Who’s to say they won’t decide their numbers make up the difference?” As she spoke, Sawyer rummaged around her kitchen drawers for all the essentials. Holy water. Stakes. And lots and lots of garlic. “It’s you and me. We can take them.”

“I thought you were just having a moment earlier, but now I’m starting to think you really do have a death wish,” Ewell spat back, but still accepting her stake when she held it out for him. “Are you trying to commit suicide? Because I would think at one hundred, you’d know by now not to rush into things.”

“And I would think at ninety-eight, you’d know by now not to be such an asshole!”

“Oh, great comeback, Sawyer. I’m an asshole because I’m trying to help us both stay alive.”

“No, you’re an asshole because–”

The window shattered and nearly a dozen bats swarmed into the house. Sawyer dove down as the bats screeched, and she cursed herself for being dumb enough to stay in human form. “I’m Changing,” she yelled to Ewell.

She heard something that sounded like ‘no’, so she opted for ignoring him and focusing on finding her wolf. Aludra was the best partner Sawyer could’ve asked for, and she was always hungry for a good fight. All Sawyer had to do was ask nicely, and Aludra was ready.

But Changing was never fun when the moon wasn’t full. Sawyer groaned as her bones began to crack and pop in her back and neck, forcing her to crouch over. Her teeth burned as they sharpened, and her skin prickled as thick fur took over her arms, legs, and back. The world turned to black and white as she fell down on all fours, and the world was no longer hers. It was Aludra’s, and she definitely wasn’t willing to share it with damned grody vampires.

Aludra was a force to be reckoned with at over four hundred pounds of pure muscle, but still clinging to her femininity with beautiful silvery fur that almost glowed. She howled at the half-moon before charging the small pack of hounds that had followed the bats through the window. She was vaguely aware of Ewell striking at the swarm of bats surrounding his head with his stake, but he was foolish to stay a human. There were plenty of ways to kill a vampire, and Aludra’s favorite was a rather basic one. Decapitation.

She tore at one of the hound’s neck and ripped its head off in one bite. Her snout warmed with its blood, and she smiled. Vampires always had the best tasting blood.

A few of the dogs leaped at her, taking bites at her ankles and belly. Aludra flung them around, tossing them into the wall as they tried to pile onto her. Just as her jaw went to clamp around another, the dog faded away into a swarm of moths. She turned to another to see it fall into a horde of rats. They scurried around her feet as another hound jumped, and Aludra whined as its jaws clamped into her neck.

She spun around, trying to swing the beast off of her, but its jaws were resilient. So she slammed it into the wall. It whimpered just before her own fangs found their way around its neck, blood spattering over the neon wallpaper as she tore off its head. She threw it towards the rest of the vampires, and they accepted her challenge.

Even the bats that had been focused on Ewell charged her, and Aludra squared her legs as she prepared to pounce. But Ewell was quicker, and he sprayed them with the holy water. The bats screeched before falling back to their human forms, and angry vampires with burnt skin turned back to him. 

He continued to spray as Aludra pounced, flinging herself onto one of their backs. The red-headed vampire twisted as his top hat fell off, and he hissed. Aludra bit him, tearing his face clean off. His body writhed under her as she chewed, stepping out of the way for Ewell to plunge the stake through his heart.

Aludra growled, dipping her head low to the ground, as the other vampires joined them in the house. The other red head (he must’ve been the newly dead one’s twin) stood at the smashed window with the others. The two that had been rats and moths had transformed back into their human form, and the remaining eight formed a line over the shards of broken glass.

“We underestimated you,” the tall raven-haired woman in the center said, who’d been the moths. Her mouth was bloody, red dripping from her chin to her black dress, and Sawyer realized she’d ripped a chunk out of Ewell’s shoulder. “That was our mistake.  We won’t make it again.”

“That’s too bad. I was having fun,” Ewell said as he gripped his injured shoulder. He swayed on his feet, and her eyes fell to the puddle of blood there. He’d lost way too much.

“It’s time for you both to die. Any last words?” the woman asked.

Bite me, Sawyer thought. Because even if she wasn’t sure she was happy to continue on living, there was no way she was dying at the hands of vampire.

Aludra, seeming in agreement with the sentiment, charged the raven-haired bitch with a renewed vengeance. The woman fluttered away to moths yet again, but she was too late. Aludra chomped on the swarm and gobbled them down before the other vampires realized what had happened.

They pounced all at once, and Aludra howled. They tore into her, biting out chunks of her fur. All of them finding the most painful parts – her neck, hind legs, underbelly. She was being torn in seven different directions. Aludra mewled as she tried to shimmy out of their grip, and the world began to blink into darkness around her.

That was when Sawyer realized something very important. She didn’t just not want to die at the hands of vampires. She didn’t want to die at all. Smiling, laughing, hurting, crying, howling. That was life, and in comparison, Death just seemed so… dull.

She was vaguely aware of Ewell screaming murder as he attacked them with his stake and chucking garlic cloves at them. The vampires hissed but didn’t relent in their attack. One pinned him to the ground just as the world fell into fuzzy confusion.

Sawyer smelled her pack before she could see them, and one by one the vampires attached to her by the jaws were ripped away. She saw Jed’s wolf, Betelgeuse, in all his black-fur glory. She remembered thinking Aludra was big until she saw him. Alphas always looked like two werewolves put together, but she didn’t have time to appreciate him before the world blinked black.

She could still hear everything. Wolves growling, bats screeching, and her favorite: vampires dying. She could also still feel everything. The warm puddle over her own blood soaking into Aludra’s fur. The burning from fang bites and claw scratches covering every inch of her skin. And the unexplainable sudden need to stay alive.

Aludra forced herself to stand, even as she swayed, and started blindly taking chomps out of the air. On her third bite, her teeth sunk into something meaty, and Sawyer heard a man scream. Colors blurred into the blackness, and she realized she’d found the other red head’s leg.  Good. It was only poetic that she killed both of them. Aludra tore his leg from his waist, sending him plummeting towards the ground. She jumped on top of him and growled.

“You beast! You are nothing! Do you here me?  You are lower than dirt! You’re scum!” he screamed as he thrashed under her.

And you’re a dead man. Sawyer chomped onto his arm, a geyser of blood squirting out as she tore it from its socket. Now that she’d decided she did, in fact, want to live, she decided she wanted this man to die slowly and painfully. Seriously, these idiots had ruined her birthday!

“Keep him alive,” she heard Jed say.

Aludra looked up to see about twelve very naked pack members standing in her kitchen. Some of them had bruises, and others bite marks, but everyone was still very much alive. Sated by this fact, Aludra allowed herself to be tamed, and Sawyer’s bones again snapped as she turned back into her human form. She stayed kneeled on top of the dying pilgrim as she pouted.

“He ruined my birthday.”

“And that’s why I’m giving you a second birthday present,” Jed said as he walked forwards until he was over the pair. His bare feet splashed lightly in the puddle of red – damn, that would be hard to wash out of the carpet – and he grinned. “You get to be the one to interrogate him to find out why these damned vampires think they can come on my land.”

“Your land?” the vampire growled. “It was ours long before you beasts contaminated it! For nearly two hundred years! You scared away our old leader, but we’ll stay silent no more. This land is ours! Did you really think you could just decide it was yours, and we’d let it go?”

“Isn’t that exactly what you did to the Indians?” Sawyer asked. She dug her nails into his neck as she leaned over him. Vampires couldn’t die from blood loss, but it apparently made them sick, because the vampire turned his head and vomited all over her floor. Sawyer shook him. “You idiot! As if the blood wasn’t bad enough!”

“Well, you seem to be feeling better,” Ewell said, stepping forward from the pack to stand behind their Alpha.

Sawyer smiled up at him as she stood up, content that the surviving vampire was too weak to stand or transform anyways. “I am!  And I’m ready for that cake now.”

“Oh!” Ewell cried before running towards the oven. He sighed in relief when he looked inside. “Phew!  The cake’s okay.”

“Wait, what’s this about you seeming better?” Jed asked, stepping in between Sawyer and her precious cake. “It’s your birthday! How could you be upset?”

“It is my birthday, very good,” Sawyer said, patting him on the head jokingly. She skipped around him, more than ready to eat her well-deserved dessert. “One hundred years down, and one hundred more to go!”