Warning: VERY MELISSA-CENTRIC. Long and draggy chapter written by the author just to get her point across.

Nightfall –Chapter 7

Melissa lay in bed, shrouded by her blankets and deep in slumber. Next to her, a window offered a glimpse of the storm that raged in the night.

Just outside the window, a man stood in the shadows, preparing to get to his target. Drawing his Beretta 92 from his shoulder holster, he scaled the wall with ease, his sharp nails holding him in place. Setting himself down on the windowsill, the man carefully fitted the gun with a silencer and aimed the barrel at the glass.

The shattering noise of glass was muffled by the storm.

Carefully climbing into the dark room, the man’s night vision allowed him to find his target instantly. He quietly pulled a chair to the foot of the bed and sat there, waiting for his target to wake up.

Melissa bristled. Her eyes snapping open, she turned naturally like how she would in sleep. Once she was certain of an intruder, she closed her fingers around the handle of her gun under her pillow.

The intruder stood up.

Hearing the fabric rustle, Melissa immediately bolted upright, her gun aimed and ready to fire. She stared steadily into her intruder’s eyes before she was hit by a wave of realisation. Her hand trembled and her gun fell from her grasp.

Melissa parted her pale lips to scream upon seeing the intruder’s face, but before any noise could tear from her throat, a single bullet slammed solidly into her chest.

--

“Valerie... Valerie...”

“Shit, no! Get away from me!” Valerie screamed as she ran for her life. Desperately looking for an exit as she turned down dark corridors, the faint whispering of her name and her pounding heart echoed in the silence.

The voice came again.

Fighting the urge to cry, the half-vampire willed her numb legs to move even faster. The harsh cold wind scratched at her bare ankles, invisible claws dragging her back. She felt cold sweat trickling down her brow as she grabbed at the shrinking rectangle of light at the end of the corridor.

Hearing her name reverberate around the narrowing corridors, Valerie’s knees buckled from exhaustion and the tears finally spilled over as she got dragged back by the invisible claws.

She had been so close to escaping, too.

--

Su Hui stared at the quivering bundle of blankets beside her own bed. She raised an eyebrow before pulling the blankets away.

“Hey. Only me.”

Valerie carefully opened bloodshot eyes and stared at her teammate. Su Hui mildly noticed that the half-vampire’s clothes were drenched in what seemed to be cold sweat and her cheeks were streaked with tears.

Reaching out a hand to mess up Valerie’s hair, she smiled gently. “Had that dream again?”

“Dream?” Valerie snorted. “Nightmare would be a better term.” She stood up to untangle herself from her blankets and returned to her bed.

“Go change out of your clothes. Then to bed. I sure as hell don’t want you catching a cold.” Su Hui yawned. “Do you want me to get you sleeping pills?”

“Hell no. The last thing I want is to fall into a deep slumber and never wake up again.” Valerie laughed nervously at the irony and disappeared into the bathroom with some dry clothes. She reappeared, changed, and flopped onto her bed. “You know,” She said quietly, voice serious. “Just ask Shi Chun to hurry up with that experiment set-up. I don’t think I can take anymore of this.”

“I know.” Su Hui smiled again, sadly this time. “I know.”

--

See Min winced at the sight before her.

Melissa lay on the starch white hospital bed, skin turning greyer by the second. Once See Min had hooked her up to a drip, the colour transformation halted. Melissa’s eyes were glazed over, frozen in fright. Her fingers were twisted in some unnatural grip, as if she had spasms before dropping whatever she held.

“She’s got a collapsed lung. By the looks of it, she won’t be waking up anytime soon.” The medic massaged her temples and tossed her clipboard aside.

Shu Hui frowned before her expression cleared. “Does that mean she’ll be in a coma?”

See Min nodded sombrely and shifted her gaze to Shu Xian, who sat beside her. Shu Xian’s jaws were locked tight, her eyes steely as she stared at Melissa. Clenching her fists, the researcher stood up and left the room after inquiring if Joyce or Shu Hui were hurt in the shooting.

Outside the hospital, Shu Xian flipped open her hand phone and angrily punched in some numbers.

“Hello. I want to speak to the bitch that controls you useless lackeys.”

--

Melissa laughed as she watched the man writhe in agony. She took great joy in watching people suffer.

“Bitch.” The man hacked and coughed up blood.

“I’m sorry, what was that you said?” Kicking the man to a supine position and positioning her spike-heeled boot on his crotch, she smirked cruelly and pressed her foot down. “I couldn’t hear you over the coughing.”

The man whimpered piteously and tensed. He looked at the vampire with eyes filled with hate and self-pity. Melissa merely shrugged and took out her knife.

The victim’s eyes widened.

“No... Please... Don’t do this. I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry.” Having resorting to begging in order to save his life and his family jewels, the man didn’t like his position very much but hey, what choice did he have? “I won’t do it again. I swear. Promise.”

“I do recall you saying that about 2 weeks ago.” Melissa yawned and ruffled her hair. Pressing the tip of her boot into his genitals, she wielded the knife like a dart. “You know, I hate people who don’t keep their promises. They’re despicable.”

“I know. I’m despicable. I’m sorry. Just let me off, please.” The man’s eyes filled with tears of misery. “I’m sorry for hurting you, alright? I’m sorry.”

Melissa said nothing as she flung the dagger towards his forehead with deadly precision. Watching in silence as metal crunched through flesh and bone, she lifted her foot and dusted her hands.

“Easy come easy go.” She reminded herself as she stripped her hands of the latex gloves and casually dumped them, walking away from her ex-boyfriend, or rather, his corpse.

He had such a handsome face too. Too bad his soul ruined it all.

--

“Bastard!” Punch. “Asshole!” Kick. “Son of a—” Slam.

“When you’re done beating him up, let us have a go.” Evelyn commented drily as she sipped her coffee. Flipping a magazine page, she studied the interviews of Lee Min Ho and Kim Bum intently, oblivious to her surroundings.

“Why aren’t you all helping me?” Xia Yu whined as he dodged another hit from Larry. “I just recovered not long ago!”

Valerie glared at him. “Because he’s doing the job for us. I was going to whack you too.” Su Hui nodded solemnly in agreement.

“You had us all so worried.” Shi Chun shrugged. “I’d say you deserve whatever Larry’s doing to you right now.”

“All of us, and more.” See Min cast a side-glance at Chun Zi, who hurriedly busied herself with studying her fingernails.

“It’s only natural to be worried for your colleague.”

“Sure honey. Keep telling yourself that and soon enough you’ll believe that hugging your colleague when he’s in a semi-conscious state is perfectly acceptable.”

Chun Zi blushed full-force.

“So how far have you two gotten?” Joyce held up her right hand and counted the fingers. “Holding hands? Hugging? Kissing? Or even...?”

“It’s nothing like that!” Chun Zi wailed. “It was only an act... of comfort... to let him feel safe.”

Xia Yu blithely ignored their conversation and instead focused on dodging Larry’s punches.

--

The woman sat in her office, staring intently at her phone. She waited patiently for an inevitable call.

The call came.

“You promised you wouldn’t hurt them.” A stoic voice rasped once she picked up the receiver.

“I only said I wouldn’t hurt her, not them.” The woman smiled at the anger in the caller’s voice. “Anyone else not in our deal is fair game.”

“Fair game my ass.” The caller spat. “Your exact words were ‘Tell me everything, and I won’t ever hurt them.’ How about actually fulfilling your end of the deal for once?”

“What for? Chaos is so much more exciting.” The woman laughed, a strong cruel laugh that struck fear in many. “Without chaos, what would your little hunter party do?”

The caller chose to keep silent. Wise choice.

“Without chaos, you wouldn’t be the little organization you are today.” The woman continued in her mocking tone. Voice dripping with condescension, the woman grinned, revealing polished white fangs.

“Without chaos, you wouldn’t have any amusement at all.” The caller deadpanned before hanging up.

The woman grinned. She loved chaos.

--

Melissa hummed tunelessly as she strolled along the streets. It was night and streetlamps bathed the area in a warm orange glow. Turning her head to the left, she admired the pretty river streaked with the moonlight’s creamy colour.

She sensed something move behind her.

Tune forgotten, Melissa stood deathly still. So as not to arouse suspicion, she moved into the shadows where it would be hard for anyone not of her kind to spot her.

In short, anyone human.

Melissa reached into her pocket and retrieved her trusty pepper spray. Frequent unfortunate incidents with men taught her to arm herself. Then, just to be safe, she forced yellow into her eyes.

A dark blur moved beside her in a flash.

Startled, Melissa pressed hard on the spray can, emitting a cloud of red mist. She got no response. Abandoning her pepper spray and bag, she readied herself for combat.

The dark blur delivered a swift kick to her back, knocking the vampire to the ground. She gasped as her attacker leapt onto her back and held her head down. Melissa felt a knee sticking into her upper back and cursed silently. Rolling herself over, she managed to deliver a sharp slap to her attacker’s face before jumping up.

Her attacker leapt back into the light of a streetlamp. Melissa noted from the silhouette that it was a woman of her age with short messy hair.

The other woman fumbled with something in her pocket, making no move to get out of Melissa’s way. Once she had found what she wanted, she grinned, revealing her fangs.

The last thing Melissa saw before being clouded in a mist of chloroform was yellow eyes, like her own.

--

See Min studied Melissa’s medical report carefully, pausing to glance at the unconscious vampire every now and then. However, she lingered her gaze long enough to realise that something was bothering the vampire.

Melissa’s hands were relaxed, but clenched into loose fists. Her breathing became ragged and heavy.

Su Hui noticed her fellow medic’s alarm. “What’s wrong?”

“Melissa. Look at her. Just look.”

Su Hui watched Melissa for a few tense moments before blurting out, “She’s dreaming.”

“What?”

“She’s dreaming. By the looks of it, it seems to be rather action-filled. Sometimes patients in a coma create this alternate world in their minds, which is why they take some time to adjust when they wake up.” Su Hui exhaled before brushing Melissa’s hair away from her face. “Sometimes, it’s nightmares. She could be having a nightmare. Either that or it’s flashbacks. But sometimes, patients have dreams in forms of flashbacks.”

See Min furrowed her brow. “That would mean?”

“It’s like living her life over while in a coma,” Su Hui explained. “Only with a different outcome in the end.”

--

Melissa felt like she had been run over by a truck by the time she woke up. Raising her arms to stretch and failing, she found that she was imprisoned.

The terrified vampire glanced furtively around the room. Bound to a chair, she could barely move her limbs and had grown sick of screaming for help. The ropes were starting to cut into her blue-tinted skin, adding even more cuts to her already beaten-up self.

Melissa wanted to cry.

She could not, of course. She was supposed to wait until one of her captors came and 'discussed some matters' with her.

She hated the room. It was deceivingly bright, with unnaturally clean furniture and a heavy mask of dread hanging in the air. It sickened her.

The door opened. A young long-haired woman barely older than her stepped in. She was not wearing anything threatening; rather, she looked rather defenceless and weak.

Melissa's eyes zeroed in on the gun in her captor's hand.

"Hello. My name is Shi Chun," the woman said easily and smiled blankly at the vampire. Taking her time to circle the imprisoned vampire, she casually filled her .22 with new shells.

"Who the hell are you? What do you want with me?" the vampire managed to choke out. She hated this. Was she going to die?

"Ah, I'm sorry. Please do let me introduce ourselves. We're just a group of scientists experimenting and researching on the supernatural," Shi Chun announced calmly as she loaded her rifle and faced a trembling Melissa. Her blank smile widened. "Basically, it's just a fancy way of saying we're serial vampire-killers."

Melissa’s heart stopped for a moment as the barrel of the rifle stopped just three inches short of her head. Laughing nervously, she choked, “You’re kidding right? You’re kidding.”

“I kid you not.” Shi Chun shrugged. “We do kill vampires. I have their ashes to show you.”

“No need!” Melissa cried out. “There’s no need. Please. Don’t kill me.” All of a sudden, she thought of her ex-boyfriend. How he begged her to let him off. How she ruthlessly killed him like she did the others. Her mouth went dry.

Shi Chun smiled. The sheer lack of emotion in the smile sickened Melissa once more. “Maybe. Maybe not. We don’t always kill vampires, you know.” The woman chuckled. “Which is why I’m giving you a chance to join us.”

--

See Min watched, enthralled. Melissa’s fists were tightening, and her breathing was growing heavier.

“She’s agitated.” Su Hui observed. “She’s going to snap.”

--

Join us? Join them? Join their group of scientists who hunted down her kind like vampires were pests?

Melissa spat at Shi Chun in disgust. “Join you? Please. Never. Over my dead body.”

“Really?” Shi Chun arched an eyebrow. “That’s a rather interesting thing to say. We just saw great potential in you. Such a pity that you talk about death so easily.”

“It’s my mouth. I say as I please.” Melissa lifted her chin defiantly. “If you’re going to wipe out my kind, just do it. I’m offering you my neck now.”

“If you wish,” Sighing, Shi Chun raised the rifle to Melissa’s neck. Finger tightening on the trigger, she whispered a Japanese farewell, the language that Melissa always had a soft spot for.

“Sayonara.”

And Melissa died.

--

“She’s gone.”

--End of Chapter 7—

I told you it revolved around Melissa.