Aurora Sky Vampire Hunter - By Nikki Jefford Page 0,16

agony. Its eyes widened until they looked like they would pop out of their sockets.

I lay spent across the floor, like a bloody human rag. I looked toward the mirror. "What did you do to me?"

"Congratulations, Aurora, you have poisoned your first vampire. As you can see, he is in a state of paralysis. He can barely move. Unfortunately, the effect is only temporary, a contingency we're working on, but eventually he will get up and want to feed again."

I felt like throwing up when I heard the word "feed." Instinctively I touched my neck and pulled back bloody fingers.

"This is your gift, Aurora. Your blood. Now finish the creature off."

I pushed myself into sitting position and looked toward the mirror. The ghoulish wheezing behind me didn't let up. Several minutes passed before the faint crackle reemerged.

"If you don't take the creature's life, you will have to do this all over again. We can't let you out of this room until the thing is dead. A word of warning - the creature is capable of killing. He could snap your neck or suffocate you."

I thought I was too overcome to allow terror to return, but the first shiver rocked through me. I'd avoided looking at the body behind me. The sounds it made were ghastly. I almost wanted to kill it just to make the noise stop. It was that four-letter word that anchored me to the ground.

Kill.

How could I?

"You're asking me to commit murder," I said to the mirror.

"Murder would involve killing another human. This is not human."

I gathered my knees in my arms and laid my head on them.

"Aurora, this creature is a killer. Before we captured it, it killed women and children without discrimination - hundreds, possibly thousands of victims over time. Think of the lives you could save. This isn't murder. This is justice."

"Please just let me out of this room."

"You know what you need to do to get out."

I looked up at the silver table in the center of the room. From the ground, I couldn't see the weapons. I got to my feet and stumbled on the first step. The weapons were spread across the metal table like a killer's buffet.

The gun had been a no go. The knife gave me shivers, as did the ax.

I grabbed the wooden stake, tightening my fist around the smooth handle.

The intercom was silent, but I could hear the static voice inside my head. "Good, Aurora. Now take that stake and drive it through the creature's heart."

I turned around. The vampire twitched on the floor. Blood trickled down his chin - my blood. I approached slowly. Now I was the hunter. I knelt so close to the body it touched me every time it convulsed. Its fetid breath prickled my nostrils. I raised the stake. I held my arm high, as though preparing to swing a hammer into a nail. The stake remained suspended in air. I was a photograph, a statue, a cartoon frozen in still life until the creature stopped twitching and attempted to lift himself off the ground.

I raised my arm higher then slammed the stake down. It pierced the vampire in the gut. The thing cried out and clawed at my ankle. I lifted the stake again.

It's like a peg, I told myself. It's like putting a peg inside a cribbage board.

I closed my eyes at the last minute and ended up puncturing the vampire in the throat. Blood gushed out. Bile filled my mouth. I swallowed and screamed; raised the stake again, aimed, and pounded the weapon into his heart.

The vampire went limp. I pulled out the stake. It slipped from my hand and clattered to the ground. For a moment I was only aware of my own shaky breath.

The door to the room opened and Agents Melcher and Crist walked in. Melcher applauded. "Bravo, Agent Sky."

I swiped several loose strands of hair off my forehead. I'd probably just rubbed blood over my face, but I didn't care. At the moment, I wanted to smear it like war paint over my cheeks, leap up, and attack Agent Melcher.

Melcher grinned. "It may not feel like it now, but you did well, Aurora. You passed."

I stood up slowly. My arms and shirt were covered in blood. "What happens to people who don't pass?"

"Some let themselves get killed by the creature." Agent Melcher walked over to the body. "This one nearly destroyed the last test subject."

"And you let him live?"

Agent Crist stepped in. "It is not