"Hello..." The Vampire stood, almost towering over the door, barely able to fit in the frame as they looked down on me.

  "Hey..." I knitted my brow, getting ready for a fight. Naomi did as well, preparing herself behind me. "What are you doing here?"

  "You all have gifts... I'm surprised by them. It's similar to my gift. C-Could you let me inside so I could show you my gift?"

  "Seems that that myth is true to an extent. Do you burn in sunlight as well?"

  "Not to such severity... I am hungry... could you... Let me give you my gift?"

  "Like I said, no thank you."

  "Why not... Why won't you take my gift?" Tears streamed down their face. "My gift... please..."

  Naomi stepped up, "Are there more like you?"

  "There are... but I didn't want to hurt anyone. I became so... hungry. But I've always been open to spreading my gift to others. So... if you let me inside, I--" In a sudden decision made by Violet, she took one of the crosses we had and threw it at the creature in front of her.

  "Leave! Leave us be!" It slapped against their body, the symbol burned into their shirt momentarily before falling to the floor.

  "That's not nice. It also wouldn't work like how you would want it to."

  "What do you want from us?" I spoke up again, taking a step back from the doorway.

  "I just want to spread my gift. Yet you deny me my purpose."

  "Sorry, but as I said before. We ain't exactly interested in your 'gift'."

  "And I asked you, 'why'?"

  "Because we like being in the sun and eating all kinds of meat. Is that reason too crazy for ya?"

  "Come on..."

  I closed the door in the Vampire's face. Naomi spoke up. "I could've ended them."

  I sighed, "It's best not to test our luck and just wait."

  Thwap!

  A hard hit to the door, before a momentary silence. "Sugar..." the man groaned. A moment later, I could hear them walking away from the door.

  "That's hopefully enough of that guy. Had my fill of Vampires for the day." I walked back over to the couch I was dozing off on before getting a call from my sister, Kyra. I picked up the phone, "Kyra?"

  "Where the hell are you?"

  "I-I'm surprised, why're you calling me?"

  "Just because I hate your guts doesn't mean that I don't care if you're alive. Where are you?"

  "I'm at the Student Council President's house, staying for the night."

  "What? Why!?"

  "Uh... It's hard to explain, but I want to tell you j--"

  "Hey... there's an odd man outside the house."

  I broke into a cold sweat instantly. "Don't invite them in, or open the door for them. They can't do anything to you if you do that, call the police as well."

  "What's goin' on?"

  "I'm bein' serious, okay? Please, hear me out."

  She paused for a moment and sighed. "Okay, I won't. Wouldn't have done it regardless, but yeah, I'll call the cops. You said you're at the President's by the way?"

  "Yeah."

  "Is it that the one estate up on the hills?"

  "Yep, the Rascean house."

  "Crazy how you managed to squeeze into that place. What'd you do to get that to happen?"

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Just needed her. Violet dragged me out for one of her adventures, and we're sorta dealing with the consequences of that."

  "Well, alright." A beat, "The guy left."

  "That's good." How'd they even find my house to begin with? Was it because of my blood? "Well, just stay safe, okay?"

  "Yeah, alright."

  I hung up, splaying myself across the couch, the exhaustion of tonight catching up to me all at once. I snapped back awake as another knock appeared at the door. I grogily pulled myself up from the couch, stumbling onto my feet. I spotted Violet in the kitchen, seemingly falling asleep at one of the tables, while Jordan seemed to be struggling to stay asleep due to the incessant knocking.

  "Gael, open the door!" I whipped my head around at the sound of my sister's voice. I rushed to the door, opening it to see her standing right outside wearing a coat. "God, you're so annoying! I couldn't sit still and wait!"

  "W-What the hell a-- what if that fucking freak got you, you idiot! Get the hell in here!" I pulled her inside.

  "What!? What the hell, Gael!?"

  "What the hell to you!? Why are--" I made a grave mistake. I was vulnerable, tired, and weakened. My guard was taken down so quickly that I didn't even bother to think if a Vampire had any sort of powers of their own that could be used to manipulate a person. I fell for the bait, and that realization dawning on me was seen by it as it stumbled forward, as that same hollow smile creeped across their face. I spun around on the balls of my feet, breathing in as deeply as I could before screaming out, "Naomi!"

  I pushed myself back into a wall just in time before it could swipe me, one of it's nails getting caught onto a chunk of my cheek, flaying it open, exposing the membrane between the expose air and my teeth, blood quickly spilling down my body as I collide into the plaster behind me. I purposely sent myself tumbling down the stairs to get away, everyone in the living room coming to attention, panic quickly setting in.

  Naomi rushed out of her room. "What happened!? W--" She saw its body contort from the form of my sister, back into its Vampiric form. "Damnit!"

  The man smiled. "My Sugar... is great for these situations."

  "This son of a bitch acted like my sister to get in, fuck!" I growled, placing the arrows upon my back, sending me toward the couch, removing the arrows just before I would slam against it.

  He observed with half-slitted eyes. "I like how you use your... Boon."

  "I don't think we're gonna be able to hurt this thing normally."

  Naomi took a step forward. "I can, I just need to freeze it. Tidal Lock."

  In the blink of an eye, the Vampire before us was a bloodied mess, barely keeping it together as a frigid cold had frozen them in place. Naomi stood in front of the creature, a sigh exiting her lips.

  "I'm on a 10-second cooldown, make--"

  It broke out from its restraints in that moment, an arrow appearing in my hand as I threw it at Naomi's feet, sending her into the wall as its frozen arm flew past her face. Naomi was shocked by the persistence of this creature in front of her, the smashed ice around its arm being weaponized, the shards flying straight into me.

  I attempted to run away, but as I slid away, the shards impaled my leg. I screamed out in pain, my legs shredded, blood spilling out from every wound. The pain was great, enough to knock me out of the fight before Violet yelped. "Stop!" She cried out, tears in her eyes, and in that instant, my leg was brought to its original state.

  Violet proceeded to break the leg of one of the chairs set in the kitchen before charging the Vampire recklessly.

  Just as she was about to reach their chest, they batted her out of the way, causing her to collapse onto the ground in a heap, gasping for air. In a desperate attempt to get some damage in, she threw the piece of wood into the creature, causing it to burst into splinters against their arm. "That won't get you anywhere!"

  Violet looked astounded at the sight in front of her, the broken chair leg now back in her hands, everyone watching in stunned silence.

  "How?"

  I pulled myself up from the floor, pointing to Violet. "That's it... That's that thing. You have it like Naomi and I do... a Boon!"

  Jordan stared at the rest of us. "W-What are you talking about!?"

  "The manifestation of someone's will brought about through hardship. That's what I, Naomi, and Violet now have. A Boon." I took a couple of steps forward, holding my wounded cheek. "Jordan, keep yourself safe. We're gonna win this now."

  Violet looked at me for guidance. "W-What do I do?"

  Naomi chimed in. "Pull from your thoughts and experiences. And it will come to you, what do you call your ability?"

  Violet looked to the piece of wood gripped by both hands as a creature that looked similar to the shape of a lizard made up of geometric shapes, a clock embedded into its head floated in front of her, watching her expectantly. "Monday."

  The Vampire desperately thrashed out at Violet, and in that moment, time slowed, his body coming to a near halt as he slowly descended from the air. Violet stepped to the side, all of us circling them like a pack of wolves.

  Naomi took out a set of knives, and I got ready to beat this guy into hell itself. Violet herself, reeling back the sharp piece of wood in her hands, her grip so tight that it scraped the skin off of her palms. In an instant, we all attacked at once. My fist flew into their jaw, taking a few teeth with it, a right hook stunning them in place as they fall to their knees, the knives then embedding themselves into the Vampires head, shoulder and stomach, Violet coming in with the final blow, stabbing them in the heart, taking them to the ground.

  Blood bubbled at the Vampire's lips as they struggled to stay alive, arms helplessly slapping against Violet's body. Violet attempted to remove the stake, jostling it violently into their chest before pulling themselves back to their feet, slamming a foot down onto the flesh surrounding the wound before straining, slowly pulling it out of their chest with a violent fleshy pop, a trail of thick red liquid following her.

  She slammed it down into their chest again, and again, and again, until they went still. Pulpy crimson liquid pooled across the ground before their body slowly turned to dust, one final gasp leaving their lips.

  In the morning, we were utterly exhausted. I made sure to walk Jordan and Violet home just in case before passing out in my bed. Another day, another time where I had to call out of school because of something fucked up happening in the town.