Book 1, page 1. Blake Rain Chronicles.

Chapter 1 "I need a vacation"

  Cold sweat trickled down my face as I slept. My dream played like a movie I was forced to watch. It was dark outside. I was underneath the streetlight playing with my dog. I hadn’t realized that it was already very dark, and when I finally looked around, the sun was completely gone. The stars were visible in areas where there weren’t clouds.
   I began to walk home. As I walked I felt a sudden chill down my spine. Clide whimpered and I had the feeling I was being watched.
    It became quiet, still, dark, and I began to panic, a small twelve-year-old boy, outside, alone, and in the dark. I began to run, the fear driving my legs to go faster and faster until I had reached my top speed. I had the horrible feeling that someone was following me.
    I ran as fast as I could, as far as I could and even then I didn’t stop. My panic was powering me further than I knew I could go. Seconds passed like hours, my ears began to throb and time slowed around me. I felt something catch my foot, then a sharp pain in my stomach, knees, chest, and head. I had fallen, hard, on the asphalt.
    The air escaped my lungs, and I had a warm wet feeling under my forehead. I was bleeding, and the blood began to cover my right eye. I looked around the best I could- I had no idea where I was at. A fury of strong emotions flew through my head as I began to panic, a small twelve-year-old boy, outside, and in the dark.
    I became dizzy from the lack of blood, from the tired, from the fear. I no longer felt as if I were followed, but I knew someone was there... somehow I could hear their silent footsteps. Fear rose up as I was about to scream. Before I moved I felt something hit my chest hard. The force of the hit knocked me on my back. I looked up with my good eye. A pair of dark red eyes stared back at me. The hand of whatever it was came down and touched my chest, and I felt a sudden burning sensation.



   I awoke Suddenly. The memories of reality come back quickly. I am no longer the scared twelve year-old boy running for his life. Today,November 18, 2046, I am a 19-year-old high school grad, unable to pay for college. I work as a slayer you know those protectors of the night that you always see on TV? That’s my job. It’s not fun either. And I don’t care if you believe me, but when you get a bump in the night, call me.
    I looked at my buzzing alarm clock. It awoke me on time, 3:00 a.m. “Nothing like a poor four hours' sleep to get you ready for work,” I said to myself. After getting dressed I walked to my bathroom. I looked at my mirror for only a second- that’s all it took usually.
    My hair is a messy black that is down in my eyes, I don't bother to keep it more than a daily washing. I shook my head, eventually moving my hair away from my face. The luminescent blue eyes with dark rings under them made me look, sadly, vampirick. I splashed my face a few times with cold water then opened my medicine cabinet to pull out two aspirin.
    I slowly moved to my kitchen and set two pieces of bread in my toaster and set it to burn them to a crisp. I looked around. “What could a bad breakfast be without a cup of black coffee?” I said to myself. I set the coffee pot on. I walked over to my fridge, opening the door to maybe find some eggs to make with my toast, or at least something else edible that I could possibly find. I opened the door, and a loud scream replied back at me.
    Suddenly a small furry gremlin-like thing jumped out at me, and out of split second reaction I pulled the Cerilium .1X from my pocket and pulled the trigger. The loud banging sound hit my ears like a brick and the smell of rotting flesh filled my nostrils. Not only did the thing stop mid-air but its head, where I had hit the mark, flew backwards as if hit by a baseball bat. "Only to be expected from the world's most powerful handgun," I said, admiring the technology for a second.
    I crouched down to get a better look at what I had just shot and then realized that there was a huge bullet wound in my fridge. "Only to be expected from the world’s most powerful handgun," I said, ready to smack myself in the face.
    I heard a loud banging on my door, followed by the rattling of keys. A few seconds later the door opened. A somewhat tall, slim, blond woman wearing strange silk PJ's came through the door.
     Normally Karen wasn’t much of a threat, but when anyone walks into your house with a gun and a baseball bat they can be scary. The bat I had concluded was for intruders, and the gun was probably to use on me. Karen had known about my profession for a while now but I don't think she ever took me very seriously. She was my landlord. 'I know it's landlady but she has issues with being called lady'. She happened to own the apartment that I live in and the only reason she hasn't kicked me out for three months' late rent is because we were friends throughout school. Karen, only being half a year older than me, had inherited this apartment complex from her parents.
    As of right now, only Karen and I lived in the six-house apartment complex, but I had the funny feeling that I could be out of the picture soon if I didn't do something. I took a step toward Karen- no need for her to think that some monster is in her place, much less the gremlin. I stopped her at the door. That was my first mistake.
"What the hell happened!" she screamed at me with little thought to how loud she was. I twitched, my ears hurting from the noise, but before I could respond she spoke again. "Gunshots in MY apartment?!" She had obviously put emphasis on the "my".
    I attempted to lie. "What, gunshots?  I didn't hear anything," I said trying to look inconspicuous.
"You are the worst liar I have ever seen, now move," she said, stabbing me in the stomach with the baseball bat. "What did you shoot? I know that you believe that you go around killing monsters and I try not to take everything you say too seriously but when you shoot things in...." A sudden stench had filled the air, burning my nose, and by the looks of it Karen's too. Karen looked as if she were about to vomit.  
    I turned around, looking for where the stench came from. I saw the gremlin-well, what was left of it. The creature had began to, uh, melt, in the middle of the kitchen floor. I looked around to find something to clean it up, to no avail. The only thing I had was a few towels, which caught fire when they touched the creature’s melting form.
    "What in the world is that thing?!" Karen said at me more than to me. Her voice had become a trembling whisper. She sat on the floor in shock. Most people have a bad reaction, usually crying. Karen wasn't much different. After a little bit of time passed she looked like she was getting better, most likely she was in denial.
She started talking, "There must be some rational explanation for this, maybe this is a dream or something." Her eyes weren't focusing well. I decided not to listen to her too much and I led her back to her apartment. Most likely in the morning she will have forgotten most of it and count it off as bad sushi.
  As she went inside, I walked around to the back parking lot ready to drive off for my next job. You see, I get hired by a group called the Balance, a powerful organization. Usually my slayer job is protecting people, but of course there is no good pay in that. No, I get my money from the Balance. When they need someone or something in New York to, well, disappear, I am the one they usually call. Of course I do my research first. I wouldn't allow myself to kill innocents. Once I nearly came after them for making me kill a 12-year-old boy when he was in werewolf form. I had no idea who he was until it was too late.