Talisman 01 - The Emerald Talisman

when I felt him go limp and fall heavily, right on top of me. I heaved him off and watched as he twitched with a wooden stake protruding from his back.
    Not sure if he was actually dead or not, I began to crawl away. He grabbed my arm.
    “Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded with a raspy voice.
    I pulled with all my might to get away when suddenly, fire spread out from the edges of the stab wound and consumed his torso. The thug squealed as I yanked harder, ripping his arm off his body in the process. I screamed and flailed my arm, with the smoldering appendage still gripping me tightly. The fire continued to burn down like a candle’s wick towards my skin. But, right before the flame reached me, his arm’s flesh disintegrated into a plume of dust that flew everywhere. I looked back at the rest of the thug’s body as he dissolved into a pile of ash.
    I stifled a scream with my hand and watched wide-eyed while the remaining pieces continued to sizzle. All that was left was his greasy handprint on my arm. I rubbed violently until it came off, surprised to discover my skin unharmed underneath.
    The sounds of fighting and destruction drew my attention from the ashes to the other end of the alley. I watched in fear for Nicholas’ life as the blur of what seemed like twenty other animalistic men-creatures ambushed him. Every once in a while, one would come flying out of the pack, slam into the pavement, stand up unharmed, then jump back in. After a few seconds, I realized it was the same two guys. They were hurling themselves at him, biting and hissing, trying to get some sort of contact. But Nicholas was faster and fought them off with a graceful ease.
    I sat mesmerized at how the incredible fight looked; like a planned, choreographed event. Nicholas was actually having fun, while the thugs were just getting angrier because they couldn’t defeat him.
    And then, after I felt Nicholas’ boredom, he whipped out two more stakes and in one fluid motion, stabbed them both in the chest at the same time. And just like the first one, they squealed and burned up in smoke too.
    Nicholas was at my side before the stakes hit the pavement.
    “Are you okay?” he asked, cupping my elbow and helping me stand up.
    “OKAY? Am I okay? He . . . they’re . . .” My mind swam in confusion. I just used my hands to motion to the scorched shells of people.
    “Did he hurt you?”
    I blinked and shook my head, still tongue-tied and shaken.
    “Just breathe. It’s going to be okay.”
    I furrowed my brow and slowly looked around at the three piles of dust, complete with wooden stakes. My head started feeling woozy, so I grabbed the wall to steady myself. Nicholas’ worry heightened.
    “Julia, I know this is hard to comprehend, but I can explain what you just saw,” he said slowly and deliberately.
    “Yes, you need to explain,” I whispered, my voice shaking uncontrollably.
    I realized I was breathing again.
    “I’d prefer not to do it here. Can we go someplace else?”
    “Leave?” I questioned, afraid there were more of them hiding around the corner. I only felt safe next to Nicholas.
    “Yes, someplace other than here?” he asked in urgency.
    “But . . . there could be more . . .” my voice sounded frightened, raspy and broken.
    “There are no more, Julia. But it’s not safe out in the open. Let’s go to my car.”
    I took a few small steps forward and kicked a bag of trash, the one I originally needed to throw away.
    Work. I’m still on the clock .
    “I need to ask to leave early,” I mumbled.
    Nicholas gently put his arm around my waist and directed me out of the alley to the front of the store. The short walk got the blood moving into my limbs and I started to think a little clearer.
    “I’ll wait out here,” he suggested. I stared blankly into his green eyes, managed to gain composure, and pulled open the door.
    I don’t remember what I said, or how I managed to collect my things and make it out of the store without causing my manager alarm, but I did.
    Nicholas escorted me over to his black Chrysler 300, opened the passenger door and helped me get in. The door shut and left me alone in the deafening quiet. I drew my feet up onto the seat and hugged my legs. My heart was still beating a mile a minute.
    The word vampire kept ringing over and over in my head and I wanted it to stop. I started to rock back and forth. There had to be a rational explanation for what just happened. Vampires were not