The Kiss From Hell

7

The Escalade bumped over the gravel tracks, I could feel the air thickening and growing colder as the effects of my "coffee" began to wear off.

I rubbed my eyes and slowly opened them to take in the surroundings around me. My parents and Gage were in a hushed conversation before William caught me waking up in the review mirror.

"Morning sleepyhead! We are almost there! About 10 minutes or so and we start the hike to the cabin!" He said excitedly. Gage looked over at me and grumbled something about not wanting to hike there before a look from William silenced him.

Looking out the car window, I could see we were in some type of deep forest, surrounded by evergreens and maples, stretching into the sky as far as the eye could see. The only path through was the rickety gravel road upon which we were traveling. I cracked the window and saw my breath frost up as I was hit with a bone chilling cold. We must be pretty high up because the forest floor was untouched by snow and I couldn't see the sky looking through the trees.

The car came to an abrupt halt as my seat belt tightened against my chest. "Sorry!" William sang out.

Rubbing my chest, I opened the door as the family began filtering out stretching their arms and legs as bones cracked from being cramped for so long.

Looking at my watch, I could see we had been driving nearly 12 hours. Funnily enough, the forest was still light out, so we must have driven into another time zone for it to be daytime again. Susan yawned and made her way to the back of the car, cranking hard on the trunk to knock off the small icicles that had sealed around the handle. She grunted as she strained, before Gage easily cracked it open and threw open the trunk door. He smiled down at her and she rolled her eyes, starting the process of pulling out the bags. We had packed relatively light, one bag per person. I was grateful because I wasn't in hiking shape and eyeing the road ahead, I could tell this was going to be a tough trek for me. Pulling my parka closer to my body, I eagerly grabbed the gloves, toque and scarf Susan held outstretched to me. It felt like the cold was penetrating straight through to my bones.

William came alongside the car holding out two cups of steaming coffee. I eyed him suspiciously.

"Its real coffee, don't worry, Eliza. We just had to sedate you because these family trips are rather secretive. We can't say much else other then we will do our best to include you in everything from now on." He looked wistfully at me as I gratefully gulped the coffee, enjoying the burn as it slid down my throat.

"I don't really understand, dad, but I'm just so glad to be here, I'll trust you with my life." I joked.

His smile didn't reach his eyes, as Susan looked sadly at him. "That's good, dear."

They took off walking and left me and Gage to huff and puff our way through the mountain. The only trail was the one I could see by following Susan's bright pink parka.

I wasn't sure how long we had been walking, surely we were close. Gage had made it a fun game to try scare me by running off and jumping out at me. I could hear his giggles and smiled through my out of breath breathing.

The forest was quiet, oddly quiet. Not a single bird, deer, or creak could be heard. The only noises were the ones we made as we stepped over rocks and through bushes. I tried to quicken my pace as an eery feeling began to settle over me. I could no longer see Susan or William and I began to worry I had missed a turn.

Just as I climbed over the latest boulder, Gage popped up "boo!" He yelled, causing to lose my footing. Before I could crash to the ground, he leapt and caught me, landing perfectly like a cat. "Gotcha", he grinned at me.

Before I could retort, I started hearing whispers. At first I couldn't make out what they were, but as I stood rooted in place, I could hear voices, lots of voices. It felt like I was being watched by hundreds of eyes. Gage grabbed my arm and bolted through the bush only to halt in a clearing where I could see Susan and William with their backs to us, talking rapidly into the forest. They stiffened and turned to me.

"Eliza," Susan said, "don't move and don't talk, we need to take care of a misunderstanding before we can continue to the cabin." While I was distracted by the feel of wind rushing around me, I hadn't even noticed William had suddenly gone missing from the group.

Gage was still clutching my arm, he gave me a slight smile before putting his finger to his lips to motion me to stay quiet.

Icy cold fingers trailed down my arm faster then I could see who or what it was. My senses heightened and I could feel supernatural beings here. Before I had a chance to process this, William stepped back into the clearing with a man in a classic suit and red tie.

This was no ordinary man. His scent hit me and my mind started trying to place the familiarity. Ahhh, yes. The Handler. He smelt exact the same, with his noxious breath and beady eyes.

He approached towards me and I felt Gage shift his stance to a protective one. Glancing over at him, I could see his beautiful brown eyes had turned burgundy and the points of sharp teeth protruded below his top lip. Susan shrieked at Gage to stand down and just as he was about to move in front of me, he gasped. His fingers let go of my arm as electricity shot down into his hand.

I looked down and saw black smoke starting to pour around my feet as my nails grew 3 or 4 inches in size, sharp points, ready to draw blood.

The man was unafraid. I hardly noticed hundreds of red eyes closing in around me while I wearily watched the man in the suit walk confidently towards me murmuring in an ancient language. His eyes shifting from icy blue to red and back again.

Just as he reached me, his face twisted into a grin and he breathed that familiar noxious scent into my nostrils.

The forest floor rushed to meet my face as I fell, the world darkening around me just as I felt Gages protective arms enclose around me.

Vampires.