Weekend with a vampire

"Pay attention." I scolded Arshiya as the car pulled up in front of the gothic-looking mansion. Rain was falling in a gentle drizzle, and I suspected a witch had set a spell to block the sun.

"I am!" Arshiya protested, fiddling with the sleeves of her jacket. "I ate the garlic bread and put nightshade extract on my throat. I'm ready."

"Oh, Gods." I sighed, rolling my eyes. My student was way too excited about this. "You didn't have to dress up so much you know-"

Arshiya was fixing her hair with the window's reflection. "I always look like this." A click and then her seat belt was off too. "Can we go now? Please?"

I whispered a prayer to the Silent Goddess. "Fine, but remember, I do the talking."

"How could I forget? You hardly ever shut up," Arshiya muttered, racing out of the car.

I rolled my eyes again, following at a more decent pace. The occupants of this beautiful, beige sandstone mansion, was Lady Ember, her adopted child Alessandro, and an assortment of staff. The staff was probably just human bleeders, so we were facing two vampires and a compelled bunch of weirdos.

Arshiya had already rung a doorbell, and when I got there the door opened, and a beautiful woman smiled at us.

Like all vampires, she had a timeless, slightly too perfect appearance. It was their glamour, their bait to catch and disarm unsuspecting victims.

"Oh my, you must be the tutor!" The woman purred, her grin showing off pearly teeth and not softening her eyes at all. Her bejewelled hand came up to her collarbone, grazing the edge of a lacy choker.

I smiled back, hoping the woman didn't notice Arshiya's keen accounting of her teeth. "That's me, and this is my young apprentice, Arshiya Qalam."

"Come in, come in," The woman sang and I smirked at that irony. She was dressed in a classy black dress, and it trailed the floor as she practically glided through the well-kept house.

Probably the work of sleepless, mind-controlled victims. I let Arshiya admire the place, keeping my eyes fixed on the woman and her gently swaying hair.

"Just you and your son here, ma'am?"

"Ma'am? Now tell me, do I really look that old?" Lady Ember asked, batting her eyelashes at me.

You're 150 years old, ma'am. I grinned back sheepishly, playing along. "Sorry, what would-"

"Yes, just my son and I. He needs a classical education, starting with history I was thinking. He's a bit...behind." Lady Ember led us up a grand staircase.

"That's okay, everyone learns differently," I said, scanning the place. No mirrors, no open windows.

"Sandro? Sandro, the tutor is here!" Lady Ember turned to smile at us as a boy shambled in, with dark, red-rimmed eyes and messy blond hair.

Sandro was clearly a new vampire, he hadn't learnt how to hide the addict-like appearance or his open hunger.

"Are you okay?" Arshiya asked, and I almost cuffed her on the back of the head right there.

"I'm hungry." Sandro declared, but Lady Ember pushed him into a seat at a table nearby.

"Not right now." Lady Ember scolded, and then smiled at us. "Have fun, all of you! Behave, Sandro." And then she floated off, likely gone to snack on the maid.

Sandro sat there, looking cold and restless. Part of me felt sympathy, only older vampires like Lady Ember wanted grandeur or cared about education. This poor fledgling would rip off his right arm to drink blood.

"So, Sandro, what's your favourite period in history?" I asked, flipping through an old textbook. Hopefully, he had one, because I for one, knew jack shit about history.

Sandro ignored me. Earlier, I had instructed Arshiya to be on the lookout for strange vampiric behaviour, but this one was too obvious.

"My favourite is the Renaissance." Arshiya supplied after another minute of stony silence.

Sandro's gaze snapped to her then and I saw his hand tremor as he stared at her. He wasn't opening his mouth because his fangs had grown out, I realized.

"Are you okay with learning about that?" Arshiya asked, already taking the textbook from me and flipping pages.

Sandro breathed out and stared at us. Not the usual, creepy but intense stares but one that truly flowed out of him.

His eyes, now red, were the only thing I could think of, or see. I counted to ten and ignored it, knowing the effects would lessen once he thought it worked.

The vampire leaned back then, mouth dripping with saliva. "I'm so hungry." He said quietly, and I snuck a glance at Arshiya.

Oh shit. She must have not used the holy water right, because my student was completely in the vampire's thrall, staring dreamily at him.

Yeah, those teenage girl and vampire romances are a clear example of vampires compelling victims. I stayed as still as possible, pretending that I too was under its thrall.

If he hadn't eaten in a while, he'd be weaker than I was. But if he managed to get to Arshiya, she was screwed.

Under the table, I let my fingers tug out the small stake in my left sleeve.

Sandro fumbled with a knife, not yet used to his fangs doing the ripping. "I'm sorry," He whispered in his blood haze, stepping around the table and towards Arshiya.

The second he stepped a little closer, I readied myself to jump at him, and-

Arshiya's phone buzzed just then, and the vampire glanced down at it.

In that second, Arshiya dug a pencil into his chest without leaving her chair. The vampire recoiled, dropping the phone.

My eyes widened, but I leapt out of my chair and rammed a stake past the ribs and into the heart. I pressed a hand down Sandro's mouth, and gently guided his way down.

We didn't need mommy vampire coming up here yet.

Then I turned to Arshiya, accepting the tissue she handed me. "I'm actually impressed," I said grudgingly, sticking the now black stained blood into a Ziploc. "I thought you were compelled."

"Funny, because I thought you were the compelled one," Arshiya smirked, picking up the stake that had fallen out of my pocket and handing it to me.

"Okay, shut up, stop smiling. We need to deal with this." I pointed at the body and directed Arshiya to help me pick it up.

She wrinkled her nose and dropped Sandro's legs twice.

I growled exasperatedly, trying to be quiet. "Can you please just-"

"-do you have any idea how awful he looks?" Arshiya hissed back, and I looked down on Sandro's quickly darkening and now smooth face.

We finally got him onto his bed and under the covers, which was a good one because vampires don't sleep.

"Where's the coffin?" Arshiya whispered to me.

"Would you shut up?" I rubbed my eyes. "Turn off your phone and get to the car. Take anything that could identify us with you."

Arshiya gave me a thumbs up and gently walked back to our desk.

As she started going down, I watched her carefully, trying to make sure she didn't die or run across Lady Ember.

Then she was out the door and I breathed carefully, loading my stake gun and checking I had the other, full-size stakes too.

Then I went downstairs, looking for Lady Ember.

I would never admit this to my blabbermouth apprentice, but it was much scarier without someone to be strong for.

The maid was washing dishes, looking emaciated and tired, her skin grey as she scrubbed one plate after the other. I winced when I realized the "dirty" stack of plates was pristine.

If I was an immortal parasite, where would I be? I wondered, entering the living room. Empty sofas and beautiful plants. Nothing betrayed the nature of the creatures lurking in this house.

I heard a slight thump from downstairs. Now, when I watch horror movies I roll my eyes at displays of stupidity. But I picked a job where I need to go into the basement.

The door creaked open and I cringed, cautiously heading downstairs. The vampire down here would be ridiculously strong compared to Sandro. I grabbed my vial of stake ash and dabbed some over my eyes.

Finally, I was in the basement, and I could hear noises now.

Describing them would forever ruin food for me, so I just stepped forward, finally getting enough light to see Lady Ember hunched over a limp body.

She got up then and tossed the man's body aside.

She knew I was here, there was no point in playing games.

I pulled out my gun and shot.

The first two stake bullets missed as the vampire sped to the side, but I buried three into her; arm, leg, and shoulder. Blood that she couldn't afford to lose trickled out.

She growled and wiped the blood off her mouth. Her eyes flashed red but I ignored her, firing again.

She caught that one and dropped it, racing at me again.

I fired the gun until it clicked and then threw it at her head, rolling to the side and punching her side.

All half measures until she got close enough for me to stake her.

The vampire grabbed my arm and threw me across the room.

I hit the dead worker's body and jumped up, retrieving a stake.

The vampire shot at me, one arm extended to grab my throat, and I let her, then chucked garlic powder into her face.

She screamed, and her skin sizzled, allowing me to stab her in the heart.

I kicked at it, pushing it deeper and breathing out harshly. Shakily I got to my feet, wiping sweat off my forehead.

"Yo." Arshiya barely glanced up from her phone when I got into the car.

"Hello." I rolled a shoulder. "Ready to go home?"

"Was it hard?" Arshiya climbed clumsily into the passenger seat, whacking me in the face with her scarf. "Killing Lady Ember?"

"She's not even the scariest sort of vampire. She's only a little old, so it was hard but not impossible."

"What happens to her servants?" Arshiya asked, peeking at the house as I reversed out of the driveway.

"I don't know. I called the police, after disposing of her and her son." I turned the car and started driving away.

"Why did she have a son-"

"She didn't want to be alone. Some of the older vampires enjoy training and raising something like them. He used to be Joshua Ingram, a foster kid that had been bounced from home to home until she got to him." I blindly reached for my coffee and took a sip of the now cold and bitter liquid.

Arshiya was quiet for a moment. "So she killed him?"

"They think they're improving us," I muttered, wrinkling my nose at the coffee. "She found a kid that was easy to get to, and thought she'd be bettering him."

"Can I come with you next time?" Arshiya asked, and I glanced at her. "And stay?"

"Hmm. Only if you improve in training." I smiled tiredly, pulling up into a gas station right as police cars rushed past us.

My phone buzzed then, and we both glanced down. The Big Boss was calling me and I was in the opposite of a polite and conversational mood. "Ah, let it ring, maybe she'll assume I died, or something."

Arshiya giggled. "Can you get me-"

"No, get it yourself. Self-sufficiency is important for a vampire hunter." I clicked off my seatbelt and got out of the car.

She rolled her eyes, reluctantly swinging her legs out of the car.

I had another few precious seconds of silence before Arshiya ran up next to me.

"When's the next time we do this?" She asked, and I sensed the adrenaline rush that hooked all of us.

"Okay, eager beaver, relax. I, the actual hunter between the two of us, need a break first."

"You're the worst." Arshiya scowled, petulantly entering the quiet shop.

"File a complaint with HR," I replied, spotting a glorious sunset outside and sighing.

Another weekend wasted training this obnoxious brat.

My phone buzzed again. "Yes?" I asked, rummaging in the chips aisle.

"We've already found the next target." My boss said, sounding distracted. 

"That's nice," I balanced my phone between my sore shoulder and jaw, grabbing a drink. 

"Will your protege be available same time next week?" My boss drawled, no doubt multitasking.

I remembered Arshiya's excitement, and smiled. "Yes."