Fiction
The Girl by the Road
A Jasper Ford Story
The old truck purred as we rambled down the country road.
“Do you want to pick the music Jasper?” Tobias asked.
“You sure you want me to pick?”
“Does it have to be country?”
“Don’t sound so sad I heard you singing along back in the hills.”
“Cause it was the middle of the night and I didn’t want you driving over a cliff.”
“Uh huh.”
“What’ll be?”
“My grandpa said when you’re driving past cornfields in the middle of nowhere there’s only two choices.”
Tobias reluctantly scrolled through his phone, “Willie or Waylon?”
“Throw on Waymore Blues.”
Just as the ghost of Waylon Jennings was telling us how to get to heaven something ran out in the middle of the road.
“Watch out!” Tobias yelled.
“I see it.”
The truck skidded to a stop.
But it was no deer.
A young woman knelt in the road, her shirt torn and she was covered in blood.
“Get her in the truck,” I yelled and Tobias hefted her into the cab.
“What happened?” I asked as Tobias used his flannel shirt to staunch the bleeding from her scratches.
I thought she had called, or perhaps a bear had found her.
“He’s a monster,” she said before passing out.
“The hospital is two hours away. Let’s get her to the cabin.”
“Yeah we need to get moving.” Tobias said, inhaling deeply.
“What’s up?”
“Jasper, she reeks of vampire.”
I pressed the gas pedal even harder.
“Jasper.”
“What?”
“She looks a lot like…”
“I know.”
A half hour later we were set up in the cabin.
“So you met him in town?”
The young woman, we learned her name was Kayla, had recovered enough to tell us what happened.
“Yeah, at the Hilltop.”
“Had you seen him here before?”
“No he wasn’t from around here.”
“Was it the lack of flannel and chewing tobacco,” Tobias started to say.
“Quiet,” I said.
He shrugged and leaned back in his chair.
“I mean your friends right. Him and his friend didn’t look like farm boys or some pipefitter. I thought there were lawyers or something.”
“Did they take anyone else?”
“No it was just me. My friend Jo was talking to them first. She could tell they were rich. But once we got in the car when she went to the bathroom.”
She started to cry again, “And that’s when it happened. They were so charming. God.Then the second we pulled away it was like I was in the car with the Devil himself.”
“There were only two of them?”
“Yeah.”
“How did you get away?’
“When…when… they were taking turns scratching me I ran towards the door. I heard them say, ‘Let her go. It’s a good night for a hunt.’ And then I ran into the road.”
I put a map on the table, “Show me where the cabin is.”
She put an x over the spot. Got to love country kids. They knew where everything was and could still read maps.
“Wait here,” was all I said.
It took me 45 minutes to find the cabin on that warm spring night. It took another half hour to hike back to the small building so they wouldn’t hear the truck.
From what I could tell the girl was right. There were only two of them. That was a small number for a vampire nest. The clans in these parts were relatives tame. I hoped it was a couple rogues and not the start of a larger problem.
Finally one of them came outside. I raised my bow. The old Fred Bear recurve was once my grandfather’s and I wondered what he’d think of it being used to take out vampires and not whitetails.
The arrow was made from oak and functioned like a stake once it hit him. The wood wouldn’t kill him like the books said but he couldn’t move.
I was at the door in seconds. The other vamp was in the doorway wondering what the commotion was when I doused him with a bottle of holy water. He screamed and I jabbed him with a stake. I dragged the monsters into the little cabin’s kitchen.
“Are you the one who picked up our meal?” One of them asked.
It was always funny how insolent vampires could be even facing their impending doom.
The other one wasn’t nearly as cocky.
I could see it on his face.
He knew who I was.
“Nathan shut up.”
“I’m not being quiet just because some dumb human…”
“Nathan, it’s Jasper Ford.”
After that he promptly shut up.
“We had no idea we were in your territory,” the vampire started.
“How many in your clan?”
“Don’t tell him anything,” Nathan said.
I poured another bottle or holy water on Nathan. His screams were enough to make the other one talk.
“It’s just us.”
“No clan.”
“No, we left ours over a year ago.”
“Why?”
“They were weak,” Nathan said, “they refused to hunt. Kept thinking someone like you would come after them.”
“They were smart,” I said.
“No it’s pathetic,”Nathan said, “we’ve feasted on your kind for thousands of years and suddenly a handful of our kind are taken out by humans and they flee to the shadows.”
“I’d say it was more than a few.”
“Oh yes. I’ve heard the rumors, Ford. They’re so scared of the great Jasper Ford.”
“I”m touched. How many girls have you attacked since you’ve been in town?”
“Oh wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I would,” I said, taking a pair of pliers from my belt.
“What are those for?”
“You’ll see.”
A few minutes later I had a blood pair of vampire fangs in my hand as well as the knowledge that there were only two other victims. Unfortunately they were already dead. But at least I wouldn’t have to chase the woods for a new vampire.
I picked up an old lamp that was sitting near the window and started dumping the liquid out on the floor.
“W-what are you doing?” The one vampire asked.
“Well can’t have rogue vampires running all over the place.”
“We’ve been defanged. We won’t hurt anyone.”
“Can’t take that chance,” I said, picking up a pack of cigarettes from the table.
“What are you guys doing with these?”
“It helps with the affectation. Makes us seem more human.”
“Huh,”. I said lighting one of them and taking a small drag. The nicotine rushed into my system like old friends meeting for dinner.
I tossed the lighter on the kerosene and walked out of the cabin listening to the vampires’ screams.
I drove in silence back to the cabin, tossing the finished cigarette out on the road.
The cabin was silent when I got there.
Tobias’ look told me everything.
The girl wasn’t even crying. Just staring out the window.
He came up to me, but I knew what he was going to say.
“She’s bit isn’t she?”
“On the shoulder. I was in a hurry dealing with the scratches on her stomach.”
“Does she know?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
The young woman didn’t even look when I sat down.
“I can’t turn into one of those things.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“You’re going to-“
“I’ll make it quick.”
We buried her behind the cabin.
Neither of us wanted to stay in the cabin after that.
We hit the road just as the sun was coming up. The only music this time was the wind whistling.
