Ginger: “…….I’m imagining it already…. VLAD is going to ban us from ever being agents for them again! What will we all do after that?! If they don’t banish us to the immortal realm, then we’ll still be outcasts!...Everyone will think I’m insane, trying to explain how I got fired for allowing a crazed vampire to run rampant!…..”

The seven of us including the woman we had saved earlier from the confines of the stone shed now stand gathered before the house. Dot pats Ginger on the shoulder with a sympathetic look on her face. It seems the way Ginger is acting right now is not an unusual occurrence.

Zora: “Don’t sweat it! Do you not believe in our capabilities? Plus, you know how John is, he has his ways of avoiding discipline…. That’s what makes him such a good teacher!”

Zora grabs Ginger around the shoulders and ruffles her hair with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm.

Standing on the dirt pathway leading up to the porch, I direct my gaze onto the two statue-like figures that pose there. They almost look like works of art, although in a grim sort of way. One stands mid step on the wooden stairs going up to the porch. The other is facing the front door, looking as if he were about to enter.

Luke: “Have those people really been turned to stone? They aren’t just weird statues?”

Justice: “Hmmph, That vampire must be really insane, if he did this to these people…”

Justice and I stand side by side next to the stone figure balancing halfway on the stairs. I look closer at the man’s face. His expression is locked in place. With his forehead wrinkling upwards and his eyes stretched in a permanent bewildered stare, this man could not have been more shocked at suddenly being turned to stone…. I can’t say I blame the guy.

Luke: “Looks like he didn’t expect to be turned to stone by a vampire.”

Justice: “Are you serious? Who would expect something like that?”

While Justice and I examine the stone man, Dot forces her way in between the two of us with an abrupt but strong push on either of our chests.

Dot: “Looks like it's time for some detective work! Ginger, you can calm down now... And Link, you should try to not let her get so worked up next time…. Things are serious, and we need to be careful.”

Dot adjusts her glasses as she paces between the two stone figures, moving her eyes up and down as she examines them.

Dot: “Alright, I see. It looks like these two were pretty unsuspecting when they were turned to stone. Judging by where they are positioned and the expressions on their faces….”

Justice: “Yeah…. That's quite obvious, actually….”

Luke: “Oh! Their clothes. They are wearing different attire. The one in front of the door is wearing a suit, while this guy on the stairs looks like he's dressed as…..a mailman?”

Ginger: “They were innocent bystanders caught up in this horrible situation! How are we going to explain this?!”

Clearly still in an urgent state of panic, Ginger walks up to the stone man on the porch and starts brushing the dirt off of the man’s shoulders.

Ginger: “Are you alright in there sir? Can you hear me? Guys, what if his nose itches?! He can't tell us if his nose itches! Aaaah….”

Link: “Hold on a second…. I already told you. I saw one of them move his eyes. They gotta be still alive. I’m sure VLAD will find a way to change them back to normal. Lady, who are these people? How did they end up like this?!”

The seven of us direct our attention to the woman who had been trapped in the stone shed. She must still be a bit shaken by what has happened to her. She is quiet for another moment, only looking at the ground.

The Woman: “Well, that man in front of the door… He’s my boss. My former boss, rather. I’m not quite sure why he came here. He could have been concerned for my well-being, or maybe he just wanted to scold me again. Rocky got to him before I could stop him, turning my former boss to stone before he could even say a word. After that happened, Rocky chased me and trapped inside that old garden shed. He turned that into stone as well, so I couldn’t escape.”

The Woman: “Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to the mailman. This all started early in the morning, so he must’ve just gotten caught up in Rocky’s outrage, and got turned to stone by chance. It took me long enough to finally manage to contact VLAD, dealing with the poor phone connection while being stuck inside that shed. I’m lucky I had my cell phone with me….”

Dot: “….I see. Well, the natural thing to do is notify VLAD and get these poor guys transported to their headquarters. VLAD will do what they can to help them.”

Link: “Then what do we do about that insane vampire? What’s he gonna do, hide in this house forever?”

Zora: “Why don’t I just break into the place? I’m definitely strong enough! It’ll only take a second!”

Dot: “No Zora, you shouldn’t do that. This vampire, Rocky, is very unpredictable. That would be too reckless….”

While the others debate what the next move should be, I notice odd shadows and movement from directly above where I stand. I walk back so I can fully see the front of the house. High on the side of the roof, there is a small window embedded between two sections of the building’s walls.

That must be where the attic is. The window has been unlatched open. Below the window, standing with uneasy footing on the house’s slanted roof I see a man. He has short, curly hair and round glasses, with an unmistakable worrisome grimace on his face. That must be the vampire perpetrator we’re looking for… It’s Rocky!

Rocky makes eye contact with me, and a second later he begins pacing along the side of the roof. Then he starts sprinting on the black shingles, heading in the opposite direction from us.

Luke: “Hey! There’s Rocky! Quick, he’s getting away!”

Without waiting for the others to react with me, I begin running in the same direction that Rocky went. I dash around the side corner to the back of the house. At this moment I am not even thinking. Why am I doing this? How can this rash behavior have any benefit to my situation?.... That's it! This is reckless….yet I am acting on pure impulse.

I don't know which direction I am running towards. I try to keep my sight on Rocky, but he has gone far ahead. While still sprinting as fast as I can, I make a quick glance behind my back. I see Justice struggling to keep up with me. It seems that he is acting on impulse as well, and he decided to follow me…..

Looking ahead again, I watch Rocky dash through the thick bushes at the far end of the property. I take long strides through the tall grass that probably hasn’t been cut in ages… How is he so fast?!

In a short moment Rocky has made it across the backyard. Now he runs into the dense greenery of the wooded area behind the property.

I decide that I have to stop and catch my breath, or else I might pass out in some moist pile of fallen leaves. I put my hands on my knees and suck in a massive gasp of air. If only I was faster and not so unfit! I suddenly feel Justice crash into my back.

Luke: “Ouch! Hey, watch where you’re going!”

Justice: “Why’d you stop?! That crazed vampire is getting away!”

I glance at Justice. Before I can answer him, we both watch as two figures run past us towards the escaping vampire. It’s Link, he runs fast, dodging any tree branches or bushes in his path. Not far behind, Ginger follows after him, trying not to trip over exposed tree roots.

Luke: “Come on! Keep up, Justice!”

Justice: “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Justice and I start a sprint once more, now following after Link and Ginger in our pursuit.

It is difficult to keep a fast pace while trying not to topple over with dangerous obstacles like the old logs, exposed roots and mossy rocks that plague the forest floor. A couple times I think I hear Justice gasp as he nearly falls over the things at his feet. It's at this moment especially that I wonder, why did the uncoordinated kid have to follow me here?...

I keep running before I realize that we have cleared through the small wooded area. We now sprint across a wide field. I can still see Link and Ginger up ahead. Justice and I rush forward to catch up with them.

We make a narrow right turn around some sort of old, wooden building. It must be a rundown farmhouse or something…

Link leads the rest of us as we race across a muddy dirt path and enter a new secluded area. Now, it's clear that we have entered someone’s farmland. We sprint along rows of tall corn fields. Ahead of us I spot Rocky. He must have grown tired somewhere along our chase and can't keep going as fast as before.

All of a sudden, Rocky halts moving all together and stands in place. He bends down and touches one of the pumpkins that grow in a neat row beside him. At the same time, the four of us still chase the fleeing vampire. In an instant, the pumpkins that grow beside us turn grey and shrivel into hard, lumpy forms. Rocky must have used his ability to turn the pumpkins to stone. The vampire dashes away.

Without having enough time to react, Ginger, who struggles to keep up with Link, trips and falls over a large stone pumpkin. She crashes into the dirt ground and tumbles among the stone pumpkins that cover the entire patch.

Ginger: “Gyaaah! Pumpkins!”

Link whips around at the sound of Ginger's distress. He runs over to her, abandoning our pursuit.

Link: “Oh, darn! Ginger! Are you alright?!”

Me and Justice stop as well. Seeing that Ginger appears to be, for the most part, unhurt, I nod to Justice, indicating that we should keep going.

Luke: “Come on!”

We keep running ahead after Rocky. We turn left and approach an area with a few trees, sparse and spread apart. A short distance away I see Rocky look back at us. He stands below a large apple tree. He turns around and begins to climb it.

What do we do now?!

In the rapid moments of my approach, I feel as though every thought tearing through my mind lacks any certainty. Despite all of the honest effort I made to hunt down this single vampire, my arms seem to raise themselves without my command. Pushing the air before me out of its place, I feel the sharp burn of heat explode from my palms as fire appears from them. Like a shot out of a cannon, the flame flies across the small field between me and the apple tree, and crashes into the tree’s thick trunk.

The tree makes a loud ‘crack’ sound as it engulfs in flames. Rocky, who has climbed up half the length of the tree, now starts clambering up in risky, hastened movements. The vampire has a grim expression as he looks down at the flames climbing up the apple tree.

Justice: “For goodness sake, Luke! Why the heck did you do that?!”

Justice pants as he catches up to stand beside me.

Luke: “I….I don’t know…. It kind of just happened….”

Justice: “Well how are we supposed to catch that vampire now?! You really are some kind of genius... You know, it helps to think before you do something, especially if you’re a living flamethrower….!”

High up in the branches of the apple tree, Rocky contorts his body in various poses, frantic to try to avoid the flames. I can see the sweat dripping down the entire length of his face.

Luke: “Hey….Uh, Rocky, why’d you turn that lady’s boss into stone? And, why did you trap her in that garden shed?”

I yell up to him, as if a conversation with the perpetrator will help at all in this situation. Rocky shouts back, over the sound of fire.

Rocky: “I never wanted to hurt anyone…. I swear! I just…. I just couldn’t let her leave me! You’re a vampire yourself! You must understand how it is…. A vampire’s kismet is….most important…! She said she didn’t want me around anymore, but I just couldn’t accept it!”

Thinking about what the vampire has just said, it occurs to me that I don’t understand all of his reasoning... For a moment, I think back on various moments in my life up until now. I can’t remember ever feeling such strong emotions for another person. What could that feel like?...

The vampire-kismet relationship is…odd. Whatever this is that I’m witnessing this vampire experience…it can't be anything good…surely…

Rocky: “I’m telling you, I didn’t want to hurt anybody. It's just that I felt like I had no other choice! And the mailman, well, that was an accident… I’m sorry, really! Things were perfect in the past, but now… it's like her heart is just stone cold!”

Justice: “Save your apologies for the moment of your punishment, vampire! You’ll get what you deserve for what you have done!”

Justice raises a fist in Rocky’s direction and scowls at him.

Luke: “Justice, what are you doing? Are you trying to intimidate the guy? I’m pretty sure he’s going to cooperate with us now…”

Rocky has tears streaming down his cheeks, and his laboured breathing isn't just from all the smoke.

Rocky: “I promise, I’ll accept any punishment that I’m deserving of, but please, don’t let me burn up here!”

Approaching from behind, Link and Ginger catch up with us. Looks of shock are quick to appear on their faces as they see the burning apple tree.

Link: “Oh, damn! Luke, what did you do?! Catching the guy would have been enough! You didn’t have to go ahead and burn him to a crisp!”

Luke: “Sorry…. I know it sounds dumb, but I wasn’t really in control of what I was doing….”

Without a reply, Link raises his right arm straight out in front of him. His hand is open, as if he is grasping for something. The sheen of dark metal emerges as a silver chain shoots out of his hand. The chain increases in length as it clatters like a long metal whip.

Link's hand closes around the chain. He gives it a slight pull and the end wraps itself around Rocky’s torso. Pulling back on the chain, Link lifts Rocky from the burning tree. The chain stays wrapped around his middle, acting as a restraint for the caught vampire.

Ginger clears her throat and walks forward to stand beside Link.

Ginger: “Okay….Now that we have the vampire perpetrator restrained…..what are we going to do about the blazing apple tree?! You didn’t think about that, did you?!”

Ginger seems to have lost her calm once again… She thrashes her arms through the air at her sides and begins to rant about the current situation in sharp, unintelligible sentences.

She stops jabbering however, as we all hear a voice being sent down from above us. It's John.

John: “Hey! Caw! Everything alright down there?…….. I’m being sarcastic, of course! Haha… Now just how did that tree end up set on fire?”

John, in his raven visage, circles us from the sky. If birds could smile, something tells me he would have a huge, mocking grin on his face right now.

Before anyone can respond, a storm announces itself with a single boom of distant thunder. That’s odd. The sky wasn’t even cloudy before. Rain begins showering onto us from above. We all lift our arms in an attempt to shield ourselves from the onslaught of sudden rain.

With the arrival of the random rain shower, the fire on the apple tree is put out soon enough. Now the remnants of the tree are left as a crisp, black sliver of a tree trunk. Smoke rises from the burnt apple tree in a thick cloud…

The thought occurs to me that I had in fact caused damage to some unsuspecting farmer’s property, all because of my careless actions, yet I can't help but to enjoy the rain right now.