Another night, another blood fucker to take down.

  That’s what went through the mind of Ashley Rills as she spotted a woman about to be attacked by the vampire in front of her. At least that’s what she called them. These things might as well be fucking vampires. They had it all. Fangs, bat transformation, the list for blood. All they needed was a big castle. The unusual thing was that vampires weren’t green. At least not ones that she knew of. Who cares. She just needed to take this sucker down.

  “Hey, shit vomit!” Ashley called out as she got off her motorcycle. Her green eyes narrowed at the creature that had now turned its attention to her.

  It growled at the short brown-haired woman that had called out to it. Ashley wore a dark green jacket, underneath a gray tank top, along with green pants and black shoes. She took something from behind her and brought it into view. A scythe.

  “You wanna play?” Ashley asked with a smirk. “Come on! I’ve got plenty of time.”

  The vampire sprinted towards her, jumping right at her when it got close enough. Ashley swung her weapon and slashed its side, causing it to let out a roar of pain. The blood that leaked from it was green. It landed on the ground near Ashley’s motorcycle and turned its head back to her.

  “You better not get any of that shit on my ride,” Ashley gave a small growl. Suddenly, she wasn’t where she was anymore. The woman she was helping looked around frantically, worried she had been abandoned.

  The vampire got up and scanned around but didn’t see Ashley. What it didn’t see was that the woman it was looking for had appeared behind it. She kicked the vampire away from her ride.

  The vampire growled once again. This time after turning to Ashley let out a horrific shriek.

  “You’re one ugly vampire,” Ashley commented as she held her scythe on her shoulder. “All the other ones I’ve taken on are the same. Which is weird. Aren’t you supposed to be hot?”

  The vampire walked slowly towards her. As it did, it started to transform, its size growing. Green wings grew on its back as it took the form of a bat monster of the same color. Two extra hands completed the transformation.

  “So you’re one of the ones with extra hands in your bat form,” Ashley said. The smirk came back on her face. “Fine by me. Makes you more fun to right.”

  The vampire flew at her, raising two of its hands as fists down at her. Just before they hit her, Ashley once again disappeared.

  The vampire quickly looked behind it. Ashley would appear where it was looking just seconds early and stabbed into it with her scythe.

  “You think I haven’t done this before?” Ashley asked with a chuckle. “I’ve fought plenty of you. I didn’t think you’d fall for the same trick a second time.”

  “Why are you talking to it?!” The woman called out. “You don’t need to taunt it, I don’t think that’s a good idea! You should just-“

  “Would you just shut it already?” Ashley turned to her with an annoyed look. “You do your thing and I’ll do mine.” She saw the vampire coming at her, going for a punch. A sinister grin came across her face, and when the fist got close enough, Ashley swung her once again.

  The vampire let out a painful yell. The target had been hit. The woman that had been in danger gasped a bit as she saw the vampire’s hand was now on the ground.

  Ashley laughed. “What’s wrong? You’re gonna let losing a hand stop you? You got three more!” She held her scythe towards the vampire. “Man up and fight.”

  The vampire flew up in the air, flying down and grabbing Ashley seconds later.

  “Like I’m gonna let you take me anywhere,” Ashley commented. This time she cut its leg off and the vampire let out another painful noise as it dropped her.

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  On top of a garbage can, Ashley caught herself on her feet. She jumped down and saw the vampire went crashing down.

  She let out a yawn. “I hate to tell you, big guy, but you’re boring me,” she said as she approached it. She held her scythe up once again. “So let’s just end this now that you’re down.” With one swift motion, she cut the vampire’s head off with her scythe.

  The head made its way to the ground as the body soon went down as well. The cowering woman looked at this for a moment before giving a sigh of relief

  “T-Thank you,” The woman said. “You said my-“

  “Life? I know,” Ashley replied. She wasn’t looking at the woman. Her attention was on the severed head of the fallen vampire. She seemed to be in deep thought for a few seconds before she picked the head up and finally turned to the woman. “Up for some kickball?”

  The woman had a look of disbelief on her face. “What?”

  “Kickball,” Ashley grinned as she tossed the air a couple times, catching it each time it went back down. “Come on, don’t be uptight. Your life just got saved.”

  “Wait a minute…” The woman said in realization. “…You’re that Rills woman, aren’t you?”

  “What gave that away?” Ashley asked as she tilted her head.

  “How about the way you acted during the fight?” The woman frowned. “That’s not the way to act when you’re in the middle of saving someone’s life from a bat monster.”

  Ashley shrugged. “Who made that rule? I don’t see any book that says that, and even if I did, I’d just toss it in the trash where it belongs.”

  The woman quickly ran past Ashley. She stopped just at the alley and turned her head back to her. “Look… thank you for saving me, okay? But maybe next time you’re helping someone try and take things a little more seriously.”

  The woman then went on her way. Ashley kicked the head away as she just looked around.

  “Bitch should be more grateful,” Ashley said. She then sighed. “Whatever.” She took her scythe away before walking back to her motorcycle and getting on. “Glad to see you’re okay. Now let’s get outta here.”

  She drove away from the alley, the remains of the vampire staying behind her.

  ——

  Ashley walked into her favorite bar not paying anyone any mind. All she wanted right now was a good drink. She took a seat. The bartender noticed who and smirked.

  “I was wondering when you would show up, Ash,” the bartender said. “The usual?” He had black hair and blue eyes. He wore a brown t-shirt that said, “Rich Rope” in green and blue pants.

  “You know it, Rope,” Ashley replied. She had been best friends with Roper Gaines forever. He was basically her brother. They were partners in crime and always had been. Most of the time when Ashley found herself in trouble throughout her childhood, Roper was there right beside her.

  Roper got the drink and set it down for Ashley. “Fight any good ones tonight?”

  “Just one right before I got here,” Ashley said, sipping her drink. “Four-handed. Didn’t really put up that much of a fight.” She chuckled a bit. “I was kinda disappointed.”

  Roper chuckled as well as he crossed his arms with a smirk. “I’d say there’s no harm in taking it easy and fighting the weaker ones once in a while. Why do all that work when there’s others out there to do it?”

  “What others?” Ashley asked, drinking again. “No one in this town has the balls to take out these vampires like I do.”

  “True, but there’s still plenty out there,” Roper said. “Like look around.” He motioned around the bar, causing Ashley to look around at the people there. “Quite a turnout tonight, right? Don’t normally see it when one of these vampire situations pop up, but these guys have all been training from what I’ve heard. They’re ready to fight that could fight, too.”

  “And let me guess,” Ashley smirked at her best friend. “You’ve been thinking of ways to make money off of each and every one of them?”

  “How’d you know?” Roper laughed. He looked around again before leaning and whispering, “I’ve also been thinking of just doing a little shifting to help make me richer.”

  “You’re gonna change into something small and take people’s cash?” Ashley asked. “Not bad. Better on you than them. They oughta be paying us for the help we’ve been giving this town.”

  “I hear that,” Roper chuckled as he began to wipe a mug. “Though my plan would be much better if I could turn invisible like you.”

  “Or teleport?” Ashley replied with a grin.

  “Yeah!” Roper responded. “Now that I think about it, your powers would be more useful to me than my own for this.”

  “Hey, the shifter stuff can still get the job done,” Ashley leaned, drinking from her mug again. “Just a matter of how you do it.”

  “Ash,” A voice spoke behind Ashley.

  The woman knew exactly who it was. She looked to see her sister Lynn, younger by a year. Her hair was short like Ashley’s but black and her eyes were black. She wore a black jacket, underneath a blue tank top, and black pants. The expression on her face was unreadable for a moment before she took a seat next to Ashley with a sigh.

  “I should have expected to see you here,” Lynn said.

  “What? Not happy to see your big sis?” Ashley asked with a tilt of her head as Roper handed Lynn her own usual.

  Lynn held onto her mug and frowned a bit at her sister. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant I thought you would be still out.”

  “Or were you hoping I would still be out?” Ashley asked, a grin growing on her face. “That way you wouldn’t have to worry about seeing me.”

  Lynn sighed again. “I don’t feel like getting into this with you right now.” She drank from her mug.

  “Getting into what?” Ashley pried. “You still sucking up to old Harv and not listening to me? The guy’s a piece of shit, Lynn.”

  “That piece of shit is our father, Ashley,” Lynn glared at Ashley.

  “Heh, some father he turned out to be, right?” Ashley finished her drink and set her mug down. “Rope, imma need another round.”

  “Another round coming up,” Roper nodded, getting Ashley her second drink.

  “You can’t keep this up forever, Ash,” Lynn told her sister. “One day you’re gonna have to face him again.”

  Ashley turned and leaned on her back with a chuckle. “Oh, I wouldn’t mind seeing him.” She held up a fist. “My fist wouldn’t mind punching him again.”

  Lynn rubbed her head and gave a small growl in frustration. “Sometimes I feel like I really can’t talk to you.”

  “Maybe you can’t,” Ashley said with a shrug. “After all, why are you so worried about me when you clearly care about shithead Harv a lot?”

  “You know what?” Lynn quickly finished her drink and set the mug down, getting up seconds after. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should stop worrying about you. Since all you seem to care about is being as shitty as possible.”

  She started to walk away. Ashley watched her for a moment and was just gonna let her go until something came to mind. “…How Mom?”

  That made Lynn stop. She just stood there in silence for a bit before turning her head to Ashley. “Nice to see you worry about someone other than yourself. She misses you, Ash. A lot.”

  “How could she?” Ashley asked. “We talk every couple days.”

  “On the phone,” Lynn pointed out. “She’d like to see her daughter in person every once in a while.”

  “I’d like that too you know,” Ashley frowned. “You know how much I love Mom. But she’s too attached to Harv. I’d rather not have to punch him out if she’s around to see it.”

  “….You know what?” Lynn sighed. “Maybe we should talk about this another time.”

  She walked out of the bar after that, leaving Ashley to her thoughts and her drink.