Sally had reached her favourite spot and stood with the skirt hiked to attract much needed attention. A professional sex worker for ten years, none of her clients had ever complained.

The cold night air of the sleepy hamlet blew past the nearby bins as another homeless man wandered toward her.

“Any chance of keeping an old chap warm?”

“Sorry mate no can do. Why not try that church?”

The homeless man opened his eyes wide with apparent alarm.

“Haven’t you heard? The old priest was murdered within that building.”

Sally had caught the awful news, but like most sensible people had chosen to ignore it.

“There is a shelter you know.”

The old gent stopped at this and grinned.

“They chucked me out for crapping one of their darn beds.”

“Serves you right.”

He shook his head and waddled past like some deformed duck. Sally watched him go and felt rather sorry for him.

“Where are you off to then?”

“Don’t know...Just keep walking until I find somewhere warm and dry. I can feel rain approaching.”

Sally glanced up at the dark clouds and seemed to agree.

“Look mate, I have a small pad nearby. I’ll take you there now.”

The old gent was terribly grateful for the offer and put out his moth eaten arm, which she took with a smile.

“It’s not far now,” she muttered.

She led him down Main Street and off to the right where a small apartment was located. As he entered the warm room, he glanced around at the recently painted wall.

“Do it yourself?”

Sally nodded with pride.

“What do you think?”

“It looks terrible. Yellow and green? What possessed you?”

Despite herself, Sally coloured up and offered him a seat. He took it wearily and glanced at the expensive furniture.

“You must make a packet.”

“It pays the bills and that’s all. Fancy a drink?”

The gent glanced up and nodded.

“You don’t have bourbon I suppose?”

She smiled and swiftly opened the drinks cabinet.

“Large or small?”

“Oh it has to be large mam. Then I’ll tell you my own story.”

She poured it out and then settled for a rum herself. As she sat, she handed the glass over.

“Cheers.”

The gent smiled at her kindness and clinked the glass.

“Cheers to you too mam.”

As they drank, he prepared to tell her his well-hidden secret. He seemed to become nervous, and only began when she offered a top up.

“Now I can start,” he muttered after a third mouthful.

“You had a hard life then?”

“More than I should say perhaps. You see, I used to be a hunter.”

Sally envisioned a big game hunter and said so, but he shook his head.

“Not that kind of hunter. I meant the denizens of the night.”

Sally raised her eyebrows sharply and squinted.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Ten years back in Montreal there was a rather weird outbreak of hysteria. Or so the authorities wanted us to believe.”

“Yes I can remember that. They blamed a contaminated water supply.”

“Well, let me tell you that the water was clean. Those four folk were killed by vamps.”

Sally almost laughed but stopped herself in the nick of time.

“How do you know?”

The homeless gent lowered his eyes and then his voice before whispering, “My wife was one of the victims.”

She thought this over for a moment as he drained the glass again.

“Another?”

“I had better not mam. Do you want to hear my side of it?”

She nodded and settled back, as her strange guest coughed and ploughed on with feeling.

“She had been missing for a week you know but the damn cops simply shuffled their feet. In the end I got so pissed off, that I decided to look for her myself.

It was hard that you know. Checking with friends and workplace.
After another three days, I got a firm lead. Someone matching her description had been seen wandering a graveyard at night, so I headed there.

“Was she there?” Sally asked.

“Oh yes indeed mam. I saw her all right. At least I saw what she had become.”

Sally glanced away as the story continued.

“She approached me then, red eyes boring into my damn skull. I stepped back and tripped over a ruddy piece of wood. As I lay there, she simply watched in a strange manner. Even when I rammed that wood into her chest.”

“You killed her?”

He shook his head.

“Her body fell apart until only dark dust remained. After that of course I became the hunter.”

Sally drained her glass and said softly, “Now you live upon our merry streets.”

“Happens to the best of us mam. I need to go now so you just take care.”

She followed him out and into the unlit street before heading back to her normal haunt.

She spotted the strange couple because they were staring hard at her.

“Can I do business with you?” the dark gent asked.

Sally liked the look of them and nodded.

“It’s two hundred for a threesome.”

The woman smiled strangely and nodded.

“Sounds like a fair price but we don’t do those.”

“I was thinking of watching whilst you eh...”

“I get the drift. Call it fifty then.”

Trayhas pointed across the dark street toward an alleyway.

“That’s a good enough place.”

Sally led the way as her strange customers trooped behind. When she entered the dark place, Sally leaned against the wall and put out her hand.

“Pay first eh?”

Trayhas stepped forward and smashed her mouth into a pulp before picking her up in his unearthly arms.

“That was rather rude of you.”

Trayhas smiled and carried the victim further into the dark before dropping her hard. Hollandia saw the boot being raised before the skull was shattered for all time.

“She won’t mind,” he whispered.

The couple knelt and licked the blood as it flowed onto the dirt, as the peaceful town slept on.

“I think I need more of this,” she said.

Trayhas ripped at the clothes, exposing the now silent breast.

“Be my guest.”

Hollandia bared her fangs and sank them into the cooling flesh whilst slurping noisily.

“That should keep you contented for a while.”

When she was done the creatures faded into the darkness, leaving

Sally for the trash men to clear away.

To be continued...

Will write nxt part when feel better..Had hellish night though no breathing attacks..Trying to entertain whilst life ebbs away..PS decided no more doc..No point now!