SCOUT
“Welcome back, Scout.”
I spun around to see a Hispanic man in a suit, standing beside a fireplace. The world around us was dark, pitch black. Just a rug, the fireplace, and two tall, antique-looking chairs. Somewhere off in the distance, creepy music played from a record player. I squinted and stepped forward.
“I know you, but from where?”
“Forget me so quickly? I am the demon Samson. I was called to greet you upon your death as a human. I welcomed you to the vampire world, just last night. That’s disappointing that I’m not more memorable.” He put his hands behind his back and started to walk toward me.
“We sat down in these very chairs and discussed your life thus far. How you thought it went, what you wished you’d done differently, what you loved. What you’d miss. All the while, your body was up on the earth, changing.”
“Into a vampire.” I nodded. The memories of him were returning. We had sat and talked. It was terrible, discussing my short, miserable life as a human. I’d been orphaned, then struggled my entire adulthood, only to have my heart broken in my last few minutes of it beating.
He nodded. “Now, you wanted to make a deal. What do you want?”
“Desiderio Amato…” I gulped. “Save him.”
“Really? From what exactly?”
“He was shot. I saw him go down.”
“Ah, and you were shot too. I see it there.” He pointed to my chest.
I spun around and felt for the hole in my shirt. It was there and trickling blood. “I don’t care about me. Just save him. I’ll do whatever you want. He has my heart.”
“I can do that. But everything comes with a price.”
“Fine. What do you want?” Time was of the essence. I couldn’t let Desi die. “Kill me if you want, just don’t let him…” A pool of pain hit my stomach. “Don’t let him die.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’d enjoy that. I’d much rather make a deal. Those always work better for me.”
“Just tell me what you want.” My thoughts went to a dark place and Samson must have had some power to see them because he shook his head and grimaced at me.
“No, I don’t want your body. Disgusting. I’ll save him, but in return, I want your memory of him. He will live, but you two will have no knowledge of each other.”
“What?” My voice cracked.
“Yes!” His red eyes grew wide with excitement. “You will return to Earth with no memories of this man and vice versa. In fact, I will put you in two separate cities so it will be as if you never met.”
“But I don’t want that either. Can’t you save him and let us have the memories?”
“For a price.”
“What do you want, then?”
“Souls. Evil souls. One thousand of them. That should come easy for you, considering your drive to drink now.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I will save the one who has your heart, but you and him will not remember it. If you want your memories back, you need to kill one thousand evil men to send their souls to me. You will remember none of this, except your task. As soon as you get me my souls, you’ll get Desiderio Amato back.”
“How will I remember?”
Samson drew a line in the air and I gasped as my chest began to rip open. I looked down to see the large gash right where my heart was. Slowly, it began to close back up, leaving a large, ugly scar.
“There. Every time you look at your heart, you’ll know something is missing.”
“And he lives?” I asked one more time. It was better this way, I decided.
“He lives.” He extended his hand for me to shake.
“Deal.”
