Esther's Progeny (6 page)

After Katie had gone to sleep once more, Esther immediately
moved to her laptop, checking for news on her search for a remedy for Katie’s
situation. She scrolled through the very long list of responses, sighing in
frustration as she tried to sift through the scams. Most of them seemed false,
offering her healing techniques involving voodoo and sacrifices, magic objects
and even pills and injections.

It seemed like there was no hope until she noticed one of
the messages, titled
I know a Vampire-Seer crossbreed
. It didn’t seem
like much, but Esther clicked on it, trying not to get her hopes too high as
she scrolled down to read the message.

I know a man who was a Seer who was then turned into a Vampire.
I was in love with this man, and did everything in my power to save him. I
discovered a treatment that has kept him alive for 5 years now. I can help.
Please contact me.

Esther felt hope swell in her throat as she replied to the
message.

Where are you? We will come immediately.

Esther clicked the send button, sitting back in the chair
and sighing. She suddenly felt the urge to pray, a feeling she hadn’t had since
she was mortal.

She glanced back at Katie’s sleeping form before pondering
the idea. She had never been religious, even as a mortal. It had simply been
what everyone around her taught her to believe as she grew up. She had attended
church along with the rest of the town but she never truly believed in God.
And, once she was turned into a Vampire, it only cemented her suspicions. Of
course there wasn’t a God, right?

With a world full of Vampires, Witches, Seers, and more,
plus all of the hate, crime, and destruction, how could there be? She had never
once believed in a higher power, but suddenly, she wished there was one.

She closed her eyes, sending up a mental prayer to whatever
force might hear her.

Please, if anyone is up there, God or otherwise, please
help me save Katie. She doesn’t deserve this. She deserves to live.

With that, she opened her eyes, staring at the screen once
more, hoping that something had heard her and would grant her the only wish she
had ever had.

She continued to stare at the screen for a while, trying to
rid her mind of its constantly chaotic thoughts. Suddenly, she saw a
notification in the corner of the window, and sat forward quickly.

She clicked the message, seeing the response. Her heart once
more filled with hope as she read the words on the screen. A smile played on
her lips as she opened up a map in the other window. She clicked the search
bar, her fingers trembling with excitement as she typed.

Ogboinbiri, Nigeria

As the map centered on the edge of Nigeria where it met the
Gulf of Guinea, she smiled once again, and began mapping their flight route as
Katie slept silently behind her.

Esther had crawled into the large, heart shaped bed with
Katie a few hours later, after making sure her plans were set in order. She
awoke just as night was falling outside of their suite, and shook Katie gently.

Katie yawned, stretching, before rolling over and smiling at
Esther. She immediately embraced her, snuggling close to her new lover, before
asking her a question.

“So, what is our plan for today?”

Esther smiled brightly, full of excitement as she told Katie
the news.

“I found someone that might be able to help you,” She said.

Katie’s eyes widened, and she smiled.

“Really? Where are they? When can we go see them?” Katie
gushed.

“Everything is in order, we leave in an hour,” Esther said
happily.

Katie smiled once again, and then practically jumped on top
of Esther, hugging her tightly.

“Thank you for not giving up on me,” She said quietly.

Esther once again felt touched, and almost burst into tears
on the spot. She had truly become a different person, she realized.

Like an overemotional teenage girl,
she thought to
herself, once again irritated by her uncontrollable and irrational emotions.

Katie saw the annoyance in Esther’s eyes and looked at her
curiously, and Esther shook her head.

“It’s hard to get used to having so many emotions around
you. I was so cold for so long, I feel…I don’t know, weak? Immature? I don’t
know how to handle all of these feelings.”

Katie smiled, looking deep into Esther’s eyes.

“Well, I guess that’s love, right? A constant roller coaster
of unexplained and stupid, irrational emotions?” She said, giggling.

Esther smiled.

“I guess so,” She said quietly.

Katie leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips, and
Esther felt herself once again consumed by electricity running through her
veins. The kiss ended too soon, and Esther almost began to pout like a child,
but stopped herself before Katie noticed.

Katie got off of her, grabbing her clothes off of the floor
and began to dress herself.

“Well, if we leave in an hour, we had better start getting
ready to go!” She said happily as she tried to put on her bra.

Esther then noticed that she was having a lot of trouble
with the snaps. Her hands were shaking as she tried to hook the bra together in
front of her, and the elastic band kept pulling free from her grasp. Esther
immediately moved to help her, gently clasping the bra together and helping her
turn in around her body.

She noticed how thin and pale she looked as she pushed her
straps up over her bony shoulders, and felt her heart wrench in pain. Her
shoulder blades were hard and noticeable as her taunt skin stretched around
them.

“Sorry, I guess I am getting weaker,” Katie said, avoiding
her eyes.

“It’s okay, Katie. I am here for you,” Esther said, rubbing
her arms up and down encouragingly.

Katie shook her head, and Esther saw the tears shining in
her eyes before she moved away, focusing on packing up her suitcase, readying
for their departure.

Esther once again found herself wanting to pray, and
silently sent out her wishes to whatever God might be listening. She then moved
to pack her own bags, picking up the clothes that were strewn about the room
and stuffing them a little too forcefully into her bag as her emotions
threatened to spill over.

She landed the plane with ease in Nigeria. As they stepped
off of the plane, they felt the intense heat and thick humidity. Esther almost
wanted to turn back because of how uncomfortable it was. She then looked down
at the piece of paper in her hand, the message from the woman, and pointed.

“We need to head in that direction. The sun shouldn’t be up
for a few hours, so we should be okay. It’s not too far from here,” She said.

Esther picked up Katie, feeling her thin frame in her arms,
and began to run. She ran faster than normal, letting out some of her emotions
as she tore through the jungle. She expertly dodged all obstacles as they moved
at lightning speed, and made it to the Witch’s hut in no time.

The hut was small and falling apart, and the only thing that
made it seem less than primitive was the huge satellite dish sitting on the
ground next to it.

As she set foot in front of the Witch’s old, run down shack,
the curtain in front of the doorway moved and an old, frail woman stepped out,
peering at them curiously.

Esther gently set Katie down and looked at the old woman,
nodding.

“I am the one who contacted you online. This is Katie, the
crossbreed I spoke of,” She said, gesturing to Katie.

The woman didn’t say a word, only nodding at them before
turning back and entering her hut. Katie looked at Esther, fear in her eyes,
and Esther nodded. Something was off, she could feel it in her bones. Still,
this might be her last chance, and she couldn’t give up now.

They both stepped into the hut, and were immediately
engulfed by the smell. It was dark and dingy, and smelled of dead things. Herbs
and plants hung from the ceiling, and shrines laden with rotting food were
littered about the single room.

They made their way inside, and that was when Esther saw it.

It was a small symbol painted on the wall. It was almost
unnoticeable, except for its bold, purple color, standing out against the tan
wall. She looked closely and saw the familiar symbol and felt her heart sink
into her stomach.

It was a circle with two large V’s drawn in the center, both
opposite each other, their tips breaching the circle and pointing outwards. It
was the mark of the Vampire Hunter.

“We need to go,” Esther said, looking around.

The old woman was nowhere in sight.

“What?” Katie whispered.

“We need to get out of here, now!” Esther said, turning
towards the door.

The old woman was suddenly standing before her, and large
knife in her hand.

The knife was dripping with something, and one whiff told
her what it was. Colloidal silver. A liquid concentrated with millions of tiny
particles of silver. One of the most ingenious inventions the Hunters had ever
come up with. A powerful Vampire bug spray.

“Katie, go! I am right behind you!” She yelled, grabbing the
old woman’s arm as it came towards her.

A drop of liquid dripped onto her arm and she screeched as
it burned like acid on her skin. The old woman was surprisingly strong, and
Esther fought with her, struggling as flecks of liquid silver flung from the
blade, hitting her face and exposed arms.

She saw Katie move past them and out the door into the
night. The old woman continued her assault, moving with an unnatural amount of
ease up against a 200 year old Vampire.

Esther finally managed to throw the old woman across the
room. She collided with the wall, herbs and other unknown things falling from
the shelves and smashing onto the floor. As one of the containers smashed open,
the liquid inside burst into flames. The fire spread quickly, engulfing half of
the hut in seconds as the woman tried and failed to get up.

As Esther moved to leave, her newfound emotions suddenly
reached out to her, telling her to help the old woman. She shook the thoughts
away though, her anger taking over as she smiled at the woman on the floor.

The woman looked up at her with pleading eyes and Esther
turned on her heel, leaving the burning hut with the old Hunter inside.

She ran through the forest, finding sick satisfaction as she
heard the structure collapse, drowning out the last of the old woman’s screams.

She saw Katie in the distance, who was crying as she sat on
a log. Esther took a seat next to her, rubbing her shoulder, trying to comfort
her.

“She was a Vampire Hunter,” Esther explained.

“I am so sorry I brought you here. I never meant for this to
happen. I was just so…naïve. I wanted to believe that I could save you, and I
leapt into this like a child and put us both in danger. I am so sorry,” She
said, swallowing her sobs.

Katie’s shoulders continued to shake as she cried, and she
leaned into Esther’s embrace.

“It’s okay,” She sobbed quietly.

Esther felt her sorrow as she sobbed in her arms and knew
that she was lying.

No, it most definitely is not okay,
she thought
angrily as she stroked Katie’s hair.

They stayed through the day in the plane, still in Nigeria,
waiting for the sun to set so they could figure out what to do. Esther felt so
guilty, and she was trying to come up with something special for them to do.
They were in Africa, after all.

She had pulled her laptop out after sleeping and was
browsing through all of the things to do in Africa. She wasn’t sure if Katie
would be interested, and looked through the pages, trying to find something
that stood out.

She just wanted to make Katie feel better, and didn’t know
how to do that. Once again, she had been selfish and made a mistake that had
hurt Katie. She was really beginning to hate herself for being such a bad
person.

She scrolled mindlessly through the pages as she heard Katie
get up and move behind her.

“Oh my God, can we go on a Safari?” She asked, excited.

“A Safari?” Esther asked, a smile playing across her lips.

“Yeah, that would be so cool!” Katie said.

She seemed to have completely forgotten about the night’s
events, and Esther sighed with relief.

I guess when you only have two weeks to live, it’s best
to let things go as soon as you can
, Esther thought.

“Sure, we can go on a Safari. It won’t be official, as they
don’t have any during the night as far as I can tell. But we can do that,” She
said, smiling at her.

Katie seemed to be bouncing with excitement as they prepared
for takeoff. They flew to an area where tours normally took place and touched
down. They then raced through the savannah, using their Vampire speed and
stealth to sneak up on any animals they came across.

Katie was amazed as they encountered lions, elephants and
giraffes. Most of them were sleeping, but she was amazed none the less. They
approached a sleeping giraffe, and noticed a small, baby giraffe shifting
around.

Katie moved suddenly, crouching down next to the baby
giraffe and petting it as if it were a kitten. She was even making faces at is
as she whispered cute things to it. It got up, standing awkwardly on its lanky
legs, and pranced around her, playing with her.

The mother giraffe’s ears were twitching, and it awoke,
opening one eye to peer at its baby. Esther was fearful that it might attack
Katie, but it simply grunted at the baby, and then closed its eyes once more.

Esther smiled as she watched Katie play with the baby
giraffe, seeing the happiness in her eyes. She once again felt her sadness
consume her, and a few stray tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.

Katie looked over at her and beckoned to her excitedly.

Esther wiped the tears from her face and swiftly joined
them, petting the baby giraffe. It truly was an amazing experience, and it
seemed to awaken something deep inside of her. She had forgotten about this,
the miracle of life, the innocence and glee of childhood. She smiled warmly as
the giraffe pranced around them playfully, and found herself prancing as well.

Katie saw her and laughed, moving with her as they danced
around the excited giraffe.

They continued to dance until light barely touched the
horizon, at which point they bid the giraffe farewell and prepared to leave.

“Goodbye, Gerard. I will see you again someday, hopefully,
in another life,” Katie said as she kissed each of the giraffe’s stubby horns.

“Gerard?” Esther said, giggling.

“Well, I had to name him something,” Katie said, smiling.

“But Gerard?” Esther said teasingly.

Katie pouted her lips as she mocked Esther and then turned
back to Gerard.

“You love your name, don’t you, Gerard?” She said in her
best cute voice.

Esther laughed as the little giraffe wiggled a little in
response.

“See?” Katie said, turning to Esther and putting her hands
on her hips.

“Yeah, he seems to like it. Alright, Gerard, we have to go
now,” Esther said.

She waved at the little giraffe and then they both raced
back to the plane, shutting the blinds just as the sun breached the horizon.

She booted up the screen, displaying the outside world, and
they sat together, watching the rising sun over the African savannah.

It was beautiful, and they both sighed as they admired it.

After a moment, Esther booted up the plane and looked over
at Katie who was seated in the copilot’s chair beside her.

“Where to now? We can go any place in the world,” Esther
said, smiling.

Katie looked down sadly before answering.

“If it’s alright, I would like to go back home to Salem,”
She said quietly.

Esther felt sadness nipping at her insides as she realized
what was happening.

“Yes, that’s fine. Let’s go,” She said quietly.

The end was coming soon, and there was nothing she could do
about it.