Jeremy stood in the elevator. His wristwatch showed him nine colon zero one. He could feel his weight was increasing as it went up. He took out his personal digital assistant mobile phone and slipped the stylus out from the side. He tabbed the touch screen and checked the notes. The elevator in the hostel was slow. The hostel was located above HUC, in one corner of the maze of offices and outlets. He reached the designated floor and walked across the corridor until he found the room was looking. He knocked once and someone answered the door.
"Is your roommate here?"
"No, I think she's at one of the restaurants eating."
Jeremy thanked her and took the elevator back down. He exited the hostel and walked on the road out of the guardhouse of the hostel. He headed for the food outlets along the stretch of buildings. He walked past the first outlet and saw someone else there. It was Ben. He was having his dinner with his laptop beside his meal. His body was largely built with glasses on his face. He wore a red collared t-shirt and black trousers. He hung his jacket on the head of the chair behind of his back.
He headed on to the next few outlets which were pretty empty. Then something happened. Something small and dark dashed by across the road and into an alley. Jeremy halted. Following that was something bigger and humanoid. The shadow of the creature fell upon him. He glanced up and he could see a feminine figure moving with grace across two rooftops, blocking the moonlight. For a moment, her long, red hair flew up as she jumped from one building to another. Her face was pale but not as pale as the moon. He turned left and started running through the alley and into the maze of concrete to chase after the figure.
---Carmen was running after a stray dog. She was pacing herself. If she actually used her speed, the dog would have been a goner. But this was her evening jog as well; she wanted some exercise. The dog yelped as she chased it through the buildings. The dog ran through the alley; she decided to scale the walls and used the rooftops. She jumped down the building and right in front of the poor dog. As she was about to pick up the corner dog, she heard footsteps. She heard roaring sounds. The world around her slowed down. She turned around and she saw a nice yellow sports car about to hit this boy. She sprinted across the street towards the boy and dragged him on the sidewalk. Both of them tumbled on the hard ground before rolling onto soft dirt. She looked at him who was lying next to her and was shocked.
"Jeremy?!"
---Jeremy chased the figure between the alleys and appeared on the other side. He saw the girl jumped down in front of the little furry creature. However, instead of going straight at her, he headed for the nearest main road. He saw a bright light and he stepped back. He was still afraid, after the last incident. He hesitated for a moment but he closed his eyes and stepped in the bright light, right in front of the oncoming car. To himself, he thought, "This better work."
The light got brighter; he saw it through his eyelids. All of a sudden, he felt a great force pushing him to the side. He flew with the thing that came at him but it did not feel like a car. He felt flesh and bones and hair.
"Jeremy," he heard the concern voice of the girl, "Are you alright?"
His eyes were closed as he rested on the moist dirt. It was comfortable. He could feel a bit of grass beneath his palms.
"Carmen, is that you?" he asked as he opened his eyes and sat up straight.
"Yeah, it is. That was crazy. The car almost hit you."
Both of them stood up. Jeremy dusted himself but stopped as he winced.
"I think I cut myself," he said, showing the long slash on the opposite end of his palm, below the knuckles. The breach in his skin was covered with fresh, crimson red. Glittering teardrops of ruby dripped to the floor.
Carmen stared at it as though it was a sin. Her expression changed though she tried to hide it. It looked as though she wanted it, needed it. The sin of lust was written all over her face. She was controlling it, but not enough. It was dragging her nearer and nearer and nearer. The temptation was killing her. She slapped it away but the sticky red was smudged all over her palm. She brought it to her face and stared at it for a moment before licking it.
As she opened her mouth to taste her palm, Jeremy saw the predicted abnormal top canines on both sides of her mouth. She froze when she heard the sound of a dog. Jeremy too heard the soft sound of a howl.
"I'm sorry, Jeremy," Carmen apologised and pushed him aside before running into the maze of buildings.
---A dog, Carmen and Jeremy. Carmen kneeled down with a dying dog in her mouth. Jeremy stood behind Carmen, watching the whole incident. She placed the what-was-once-living dog on the ground. There were two holes pierced near the neck of the dog. She sniffled; she was crying. Glittering teardrops of sapphire dripped from her eyes. He went in front of her and extended a helping hand. She took a while before accepting it and he helped her up.
"I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry," he consoled.
"You can't say that if you don't know what I've been through!" she yelled at him with her head up and facing him. He could see a lipstick of blood on her face.
"Carmen, nineteen this year, student of HMC, last semester this year," he spoke as though he was reading out and then hesitated before saying the last point, "Vampire."
"How... how'd you know?" she stammered.
"Mr. M told me."
"Who's Mr. M?"
"Someone you'd love to hate," he said, "He wants me to form a team and you were top of his list."
"A team?" she asked puzzlingly.
He nodded and added, "Some weird things are happening."
"What can be weirder than being a bloodsucker creature of the night?"
"If I knew, I wouldn't be dragging you into this."
"That'd suck," she commented.
"What?" he said in shock.
"Well, all my life I've been alone. Now I know there's someone like me."
"In a sense," he added.
"So, who are the..."
Before Carmen could finish, Jeremy placed his palm onto her mouth and beckoned her to move aside, into the darkness. He pushed her against the wall.
"Waas at boot," she spoke with a hand muffling her voice. Jeremy hissed back at her.
"Keep quiet," he whispered. He let go of her mouth and she gasped as softly as she could. Both of them stayed very still for a while. Then, Carmen broke the silence with a whisper, "What's that about?"
"Something's following us."
"How do you know? I don't hear anything."
Jeremy whipped out a penknife from his pocket and flipped the knife out. He came out from the shadows and headed for one of the walls. He brought it quickly across the bricks. There was a draft and a cough. Out of nowhere, blood splattered to the ground. He glanced at his knife and there were smudges of red liquid. A blur outline of a human fizzled in the air.
"Was he-" started Carmen but stopped as she realised that the image was running away.
"Yes," replied Jeremy hastily before going after the translucent figure. She too decided to help him and started chasing after the strange thing.
Jeremy ran through the maze of buildings, following the image of a person. The person tipped over the trashcan in front of Jeremy as he entered the through the alley. Drips of blood dropped to the floor, leaving a trace of red dots. Jeremy jumped over the trashcan and as soon as he landed, his feet pushed the ground to accelerate him.
Carmen took the high way; she was going through the rooftops as though she was flying. She ran on top of a couple of boxes until she could reach a very small ledge of the building. She pushed herself up from the ledge onto the window and pulled herself up onto the rooftop. She started sprinting until the ledge of one building and sprang her legs at the very last moment. She extended her legs, reaching for the other end. When her first leg touched the ledge of the second building, she would ground her foot and propel herself forward.
The almost invisible runner kept dragging things down to slow Jeremy. He toppled down bins, dragged chairs behind him and tipped tables. He pushed his fifth trashcan down. Jeremy glanced to the ground for a split-second and he saw something. He slowed down just a bit and pulled back his right leg. The runner found himself in a T-junction. Jeremy shot a tin can at the back of the runner's head. For a moment, the runner was disorientated, just a brief moment. Jeremy took a slide and blocked off the right entrance. With no other option left, the runner took the left turn into the short alley and headed for the main road. Dead ahead of him were railings parallel to the road which was a safety precaution in case people fell off the hill. The drop was deadly and the edge was perpendicular to the ground.
The runner ran on the main road, heading to the left when suddenly Carmen appeared out of nowhere in front from him. He spun around but noticed Jeremy had already caught up to him. He pushed both of them aside and both of them got ready to grab him if he went back into the alley. However, instead, he headed for the cliff. Both of them headed for him, with Carmen in the lead. The partially seen person climbed over the railing. He hung on to the other side as they approached him. He lifted one hand to wave before he let go at the same time completely disappeared from view. When both of them reached the railing, they glanced down and saw a vague, possibly imaginary, outline of the runner.
What will Carmen and Jeremy do?
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