A piercing scream split the air. Cold air heaved through my lungs as I shot bolt-upright with a gasp. As my ears adjusted and the sound resolved into a nasal bleating, I realized it wasn't a scream at all. I blinked groggily, then reached to tap furiously at the alarm lighting up my phone-screen.
For a few moments, I stared at the ceiling. Silver light peeked through the curtains beside the bed and I reached to gently open them. The last rays of moonlight from a waning gibbous seeped into my skin, washing away the fatigue and replacing it with purpose. I was still weak and terribly lonely, but I was alive. And cold. My lips parted to speak a prayer as I stared up at the mood goddess, but the words froze in my throat. I pushed out a shaky sigh instead and steeled myself.
With a kick, I disentangled my legs from the bedsheets and yanked on a pair of thick jeans. Hands shoved in my jacket pockets and a woolen hat low over my ears, I trudged out the front door of the safe-house and began my round of the dawn-shadowed property. Again, I rubbed at my eyes.
It'd only been a couple weeks since I'd escaped and wound up in the middle-of-nowhere America. The States of all places. I snorted. Then thought better of my disdain.
I'd been lucky: teleporting without a set destination in-mind was a recipe for disaster. Thank Luna, merciful moon goddess, I hadn't been transported into another vampire ambush. If I'd been sent to one of our outposts, one of the locations that had fallen before our main Italian stronghold had, I'd have escaped right back into enemy hands.
How had the enemy located all our outposts?
I shook my head and breathed another gulp of crisp Alaskan air. I had to put that out of mind for now. Safehouses, at least, were millions in number across the globe, unlike the outposts which had been a dozen or so well-known locations among the active-duty Moonchildren. I'd be safe here. For now, survival in an unfamiliar area took priority.
Unfamiliar, huh?
It was significantly colder here than my homeland in Italy. Worthy of a cold-warding glyph, but... I wanted to acclimate. And it felt right to be uncomfortable. I deserved discomfort at the least. The wounds I'd sustained during the battle had healed quicker than I'd deserved. I barely had a limp anymore. At least in this, I could punish myself for cowardice.
While the cold was alien, other things about this place resonated nostalgia within me: the grasses waving as I crossed a brief meadow and the bluish mountains through the trees in the distance. A familiar visage... but far away. While I could see their blue lazy swells through the interwoven trees and shrubbery, I felt exposed without them towering directly overhead. The confusing maze of interlocking brush made up for that a little.
It was best that the novelty outweighed the familiarity. I couldn't afford get to comfortable.
Eventually, the pathway gave way to squelching bog. Trees began to soar higher, their bare lower branches like the rungs of a ladder, and ferns began to unfurl at my feet like cats stretching their backs. Little, unseen things darted at my passage, making needles shiver in their wake. I broke into the clearing.
The teleportation circle I arrived at sat glistening with slight dampness, smack in the center of the trees. Mosses threatened to encroach on the outer circumference, their green-gold lichenous fingers reaching, but ultimately deflected. The circle's latent magic kept it clean of plantlife and mud.
A few rainstorms had passed since my arrival, washing away the bloody evidence of my injury. I flared my nose, barely scenting it anymore. Good. I continued my patrol.
Eventually, a low tingling pulse invaded my awareness. Its steady thrum emanated from the skin in the dip of my hip where my family crest was tattooed upon my skin. Relief washed afresh through me, as it usually did, when I checked the functionality of the property's barrier spell. I lifted my shirt and, sure enough, the circular tattoo depicting the family sigil and surrounded by ancient Latin, glowed softly.
On the night my hometown had been razed, there had been a lack of response at the edges of our territory. How the enemy had managed to overcome a boundary spell, one of the strongest spells of my people, was beyond me. Now, I checked it each morning and followed it along its outer reaches until I looped back upon myself.
Frost-kissed ground crunched beneath my boots as I wound back to the house. Muddy-gray clouds continued to scuttle unendingly across the sky and an uneasiness settled in my belly.
Overcast weather: perfect for vampires. Was I truly ready to reintegrate into society? To continue my calling as a Huntress?
"Nonsense," I mumbled, then scrunched my nose, "At the very least, I'm starting to talk to myself too much."
I wasn't built to be solitary.
As I crested a hill, a small geometric structure, the safe-house, appeared amid a tight copse of scruffy evergreen trees. The little green entourage stood only just higher than the roof's spine. The safe-house was nestled in the shallow scoop of a hill: a small, two-story abode with separate garage. The awning didn't cast a shadow as I approached.
In my two-hour round of the property, the sun had never deigned to show its face. And, according to the weather channel I put on during breakfast, it wouldn't for the entire day. Too much of this weather, and I'd loose the Italian warmth to my olive skin.
Maybe that, too, is for the best, I thought sadly.
I needed to blend in.
~
Vast, swathes of green, gold, and blue stretched before me as if upon an artist's canvas as I stepped outside with my backpack. The Gods had smiled upon Homer, Alaska. It sat upon the tip of a peninsula, the Kenai Peninsula, and was firmly sandwiched between a Wildlife Refuge, State Park, National Forest, and National Park. One only needed turn her head to find a natural wonder. But I'd sat indulgently on the porch for far too many hours already.
Out in the two-car garage, I slid into the second hand Jeep. It smelled stale with a hint of ocean-salt as if the old owner had enjoyed many fishing trips. The Jeep was the least ostentatious of the three vehicles at this location but it started. I took my time drifting through radio stations before giving into my elderly-habits and choosing the news.
"You deserve a name," I decided, cautiously backing out.
The Jeep clunked its gears in response as I shifted into drive and ventured out onto the long gravel way. The popping under the tires ceased as I made it out onto an asphalt road.
"A rough and tumble Jeep... Chief? Randy? Those are American names, no? Maybe Marvin, like the Martian; you're green and your transmission sounds rather angry."
The vehicle let out an approving huff.
"Nice to make your acquaintance, Marvin."
A long, skyline drive wound precariously along the sloping bluff and it was there that I finally laid eyes on the wide bay. It was muted-blue, and while not as vast as the ocean, still stole breath from the lungs of a girl who'd grown up around winding rivers and puddled lakes. And that odd, hooked peninsula that traced into the bay like unraveled yarn, reaching for the ruffled-green distant shoreline. I'd never seen something quite like that.
Downtown was busier than my safehouse had let on. It was still a lazy bustle more than a businesslike, city-feel, but that suited me just fine. It wasn't too small as to remind me of home, but not so big as to make me feel dwarfed either. In this, at least, perhaps I'd gleaned some meager amount of luck.
My destination, a satellite college campus was, in the small, downtown web of streets. Just a twenty-five minute drive from my recluse abode on the edge of town.
College, again, I rolled my eyes.
It was unavoidable. I needed the grace of youth to navigate this country. Particularly as I needed a job. The safe-house funds weren't inexhaustible. I'd fabricated documents to get myself in-state tuition, at least, but education was still so expensive here. And complicated. Though, perhaps that was due to the locale.
Jumping into a four-year program would've required that I relocate to Anchorage nearly four hours away. I didn't want to abandon the safe-house. The thought made me shudder. I couldn't be that exposed.
So, over a virtual meeting with my adviser, I'd arranged for attendance at a satellite site to complete breath requirements locally. An arrangement that was grotesquely humbling. I'd served as a nurse during World War One. I'd been healing humans for longer than any of these professors had been alive.
And I'd continued to practice as a nurse in our stronghold's hospital; my second calling after being a Huntress. It was the job I'd rotated home to whenever I'd needed a break from active-duty. That meant nearly one-hundred years of nursing experience, albeit, none of it done in the United States. Aside from country-specific laws and regulations, the coursework would all be familiar material.
Except the first classes I'd attend today were not biology, anatomy, or even chemistry. They were something entirely unrelated: Oral Communications, Writing Fundamentals, and Music Appreciation. I scowled.
"A waste of time and money..."
At least, for someone like me, I supposed, eying the shy, fresh-faced college kids. Students milled about in various multicolored jackets but many hurried inside as I did. Some glanced after me, but most minded their own groups either out by their cars or meandering up the steps.
I shouldn't stand out too badly: I'd stopped aging physically at nineteen. But it was a small town. Perhaps they recognized my otherness as a new student.
Once out of the chill, I wandered a bit slower through the halls. I'd arrived early, but I wasn't the only one. A pair of girls sat in the lobby on a bench, chatting away. At least, one was. The other leaned in despite her hush, invested in her friend's gossip.
"Hello," I interrupted, squeezing the backpack strap that hung over one of my shoulders, "Are either of you here for Oral Communications?"
"Both of us," the chatty one supplied, "I'm Alissa Brown. You can call me Allie. That's Catalina Romero."
"Cat," the quiet one corrected.
"Sara Luzio."
It wasn't a very good false name, but I hadn't wanted to pick something too different. Something I'd actually remember to respond to when called upon.
"Can we form a practice or study group?" I asked straightforward.
Allie clapped her hands together.
"Absolutely!" she then cocked her head, raising an eyebrow, "You know, you weren't in high school with us. What brings you to an Alaskan college?"
"My Dad's job," I shrugged, sitting beside Allie on the bench, "He flies overseas for work. He'll be contracted with some company in Japan and figured it'd be easier if we were closer. Hence..."
I waved a hand at the scenic mountains visible through the glass back-doors. Another gust of chill-wind blustered through the lobby as a few more students pushed in.
"Should've dropped you off in Anchorage - that way you could actually be on campus," Allie pouted, her auburn waves bouncing as she moodily recrossed her legs, "Mom said I can live in the city near main-campus my third and fourth year. Something about how room and board would be too expensive. I think she just doesn't want to be an empty-nester just yet."
"It's smart," Cat rebuffed, adjusting her glasses upon her nose, "You'll thank her in the long run when your student loans are less. Are you going for a four-year program, Sara?"
"That's the plan," I said with a nod, trying not to wrinkle my nose, "Nursing. You both?"
"We always need more medical professionals up here," Cat nodded, "I'm going for civil engineering. All I can do from the satellite campuses are the breadth requirements, I'm afraid. Though I have to drive up to the Soldotna campus for my chemistry lab on Fridays. It's not offered here on the Homer campus."
"Oh, me too! It's only an hour or so; want to carpool?"
"Can we?" Cat pleaded, pressing her palms together gratefully.
"Can I go with you? Just to get out of town for once?" Allie huffed, "I'll put money in the gas fund, I promise."
"Sure," I laughed.
"We'll have to be careful though," Cat fretted suddenly, "The campus should be safe, but there's been folks going missing around there..."
I perked up suspiciously at that.
"Oh, that's just in the parks," Allie waved a carefree hand.
"Alaska's got a lot of wilderness," I shrugged nonchalantly, "Don't people go missing around here all the time?"
"Yeah, but they say we might make National Headlines at this rate," Cat ran her hands over her long braid. It was neat, but brown curls looped out from behind her ears and at the end of the braided rope as she fidgeted with it. "And the last tourists that went missing were on common trails."
"So their families claimed," Allie scoffed, "Not only that, but out-of-towners underestimate our wildlife. It's not uncommon to see moose and other critters walking the streets - forget the popular trails."
"Moose are herbivores though," I frowned.
"Ah," Allie snorted, her brown eyes sparkling with amusement, "Such a tourist thing to say. Moose kill more people than bears do most years."
"Mainly due to car accidents," Cat allowed, "Since there's far more of them than bears."
"You really think moose are the mystery killers?"
"Who said anything about killers?" Allie raised her eyebrows, "In Alaska, folks mainly just go missing. Like I said, they underestimate the wildlife, the climate, the wilderness... You name it, they don't get it."
"Huh," I murmured, standing as we moved into the lecture hall.
Despite Allie's assurances, perhaps my earlier instincts had been right. The overcast weather here was far too convenient for vampire-kind to ignore. Leeches would perfectly explain a higher-than-usual disappearance rate.
So much for a safe-house.
My belly buzzed. Was that determination or apprehension?
As we sat in the back-most row, I set a hand on my stomach. I frowned. It wouldn't be surprising if that was apprehension I felt, but still. I couldn't back down. Just because I was alone, didn't mean I shouldn't uphold my people's core mission.
If human lives were threatened by the supernatural, I had to protect them.
The door to the lecture hall cracked open to admit the final students. It gusted in that cold breeze from the outside, albeit slightly warmed by its passage through the lobby. And upon that wind, I caught-scent of something that made my stomach drop.
A sharply familiar, dangerous mint: vampire scent.