Hope: Guilt

Pain struck through her legs as her tender feet hit the rocky roads through the alleyways. Her lungs were beginning to burn from the cool morning air. Around her, the large stone buildings stretched up to the sky, lit only by a few street lamps and the remaining moonlight that would so be overpowered by the awakening sun.

In front of the blonde was the end of the dark alley, causing her to turn around and face the demon that was behind her. She pushed closer to the wall as she saw the figure come closer to her, letting her see that her attacker was quite shorter than she. She wore a red skirt with a black pattern stitched into it and a white ruffled top, exposing a small cross that accented her supple breasts. Her long brown wisps dangled behind her tanned shoulders, showing off her green eyes and soft pink lips.

“Hope,” the woman said. She raised her arm, pointing a crossbow loaded with a wooden arrow.

“You’re the Slayer? Aren’t you?” Hope asked.

The woman was only a teenager when Hope and Michel had been attacked by her in an underground vampire sanctuary. She had killed a few demons before going after the vampires, giving them the opportunity to escape. Before Hope had left the town, she sired the girl’s mother, turning her into a vampire.

She shot an arrow at Hope, who fell to the ground, dodging the blast. She then jumped to her feet and kicked the Slayer in the chest; and knocked Hope to the ground.

“You made me slay my own mother,” she said. “You’re a monster.”

Hope lay on her back, held down by the girls arm. She could feel the girls weight crushing her rib cage. She ran her hands over the ground, trying to find a weapon, but found only emptiness.

“I have hunted you my whole life,” the Slayer said.

The vampire put all of her force into her legs and kicked the Slayer in the crotch, causing her to loose balance and tipped to the side. With her new advantage, Hope pushed her way over the Slayer, pinning her to the ground in the process. The girl tried to reach her fallen crossbow, but she was only fingertips short of reaching.

“What is your name, Slayer?” Hope asked, looking into the girls frightened eyes.

“Jacqueline,” she said, gasping for air.

Hope touched the girls face with her free hand and saw a flash in mind, followed by quick flashes of the girls life, including her childhood, training, the death of her mother, and then felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness followed by a deeper sense of guilt. As her mind became clear again, Hope looked at her most deadly assassin.

Hope pushed her weight over to the crossbow and smashed it into pieces. She then let her weight off of the girl and kicked back so she was on the entrance side of the alley. With a deep feeling of sorrow and pain, Hope turned from the Jacqueline and began to walk out of the alley.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” She asked, she whispered to Hope while touching her throat.

Hope stopped where she stood, and turned around to face the girl for the last time. She thought for a moment, and then said, “You are the thing vampires fear most, yet you are deader inside than we are. If you try to follow me again, I will kill you. I will not give it a second thought.”

She walked out of the alley, with a feeling of death. Her hands were scratched up pretty good, and she had lost her shoes sometime ago. Her power of visions had lead to her being sired, killing her family, siring and then killing Michel, and finally saving the one person who has hated her, her whole life.

"What am I looking for?" Hope said to herself. She walked down the main streets of the town, and could hear the Slayer running in the opposite direction of Hope. She hoped that maybe the girl would find a better life than slaying vampires.

“You killed me,” a voice said behind her.

Hope turned around to see Michel standing behind her, with a stake in his hand. He drove it straight into her chest, and she felt to her knees. When she hit the ground, she put her hand to her chest and realized that there was no stake to be seen. She opened up her clenched eyes and saw only the darkness and a few shadows around the street.

"What is going on?" She said, loud enough to echo down the long narrow street.

“Would you like to donate a few coins to the local church?” A voice said behind her.

Hope turned to see a young girl, no older than seventeen, holding a small wooden box with a slit on the top. The vampire smiled, showing her white teeth to the girl, and dropped a coin in the box. “Don’t spend it all in one place,” Hope said.

The girl dropped the wooden box and looked at Hope as though she was suddenly much older. With no facial expression, the girl said, “We don’t have much time.”

“What is it girl?” Hope said, turning to her.

“They know that you are here,” she said, almost looking through Hope.

“Who is they?” Hope said, grabbing onto the girls arm. She gasped as she felt a surge of energy run though her body and exit back into the girl. “Michel?”

“I need you to leave this town quickly,” she said. “You haven’t much time.”

“Michel?” Hope asked again. She put her hands on the girls pale face, slightly touching the girl’s dark crimson curls.

“The town’s people know where you are,” she said. “It is not safe.”

“How is this possible,” Hope asked, tears running down her face.

“Just go to the court house were we met the Master,” she said. “You will have immunity once you are under his protection.”

“I killed you,” Hope said. “I had to do it.”

“I know of the vision,” Michel said, through the girl. “I still love you, but you need to be the woman I feel in love with. No more saving Slayers.”

“She was filled with pure hatred,” Hope told her. “She will take her own life.”

“That cannot happen,” she said. “You know what to do.”

As she spoke the final words, the girl fell to the ground over the few coins that had fallen from the box. Her breathing began to return to normal, and she opened up her eyes in relief to see that the Hope was gone.



“Jacqueline,” Hope said, standing in the doorway to the inn that she had stayed at a year ago with Michel. She walked over the threshold and toward the Slayer. As Hope approached, the Slayer grabbed a wooden stake behind the bar and ran to the vampire, who pulled out a short dagger from the belt of her silk dress. Jacqueline plunged forward as Hope jabbed the dagger into the girl’s thigh, causing her to scream out in pain.

Hope grabbed the stake from the girl and threw it across the disserted room, and then plunged her fangs into the girl’s neck. Her eyes widened as Hope quickly sucked the blood from her body, letting the blood tinkle from the cracks of her mouth and drip onto the girl’s pale flesh.

Before the girl was fully drained, hope scratched her left breast and pushed the girls mouth towards it, letting her suck blood from the wound. The cool blood rushed into Jacqueline’s mouth and down her throat. She began to slightly twitch, and then Hope lowered her body down to the ground.

In a day, Hope knew that the girl would rise and take on a new life as a vampire. She picked up Jacqueline’s body and ran toward the door and to the court house, where she was questioned by the demonic council who ruled over the clueless town.

Hope laid the Slayers body to the floor, and she just laid there.

"What do you wish from us vampire?" One of the judges asked.

"I need to plead for sanctuary," Hope said.

"You are not welcome here!" One mad said sitting on the far left. "You have killed one of your own."

"She is welcome to house here," a voice said from behind Hope. The woman had long black hair and pale skin against her red lips and black and red dress. "She has been given a pardon by the Master,” she said.

Hope recognized her as the Seer, a vampire who also had the gift of sight, but was driven mad by her sire. She walked toward one of the walls where a door reveiled itself. After picking up Jacqueline, Hope followed the vampire into the underground hall to seek the blessing of the Master Vampire.

Once she reached the end of the hall, Hope was told where to lay the Slayer until she awoke. Hope then was given a place to stay and a change of clothes along with a pair of shoes. As she sat in her room, Hope realized that she had found her sense of purpose that she had had with Michel. She now had to watch over the Slayer until she discovered her true purpose.