the unwelcome intruder.
“Who are you? Don’t come any closer to me ‘less you tell me who you are. You from the camp?”
The man ignored Kenneth’s questions and continued to walk in his direction. Kenneth backed up, forgetting he only had a few steps to go before his feet landed in the icy water. He stumbled as the water lapped over his boots.
“Goddammit!” he yelled, looking down at the ice that immediately crusted over the wet boots.
Kenneth looked up to see the man now standing directly in front of him. He had yet to say a word, and Kenneth felt a chill go down his spine as he realized the man was not wearing a coat, hat, or gloves.
“Ain’t you cold, man?” he asked. “Where’s your coat?”
The man continued to stare at Kenneth with penetrating blue eyes that betrayed no expression.
“Don’t you speak English?” Kenneth asked. “Are you new here? Working for Mr. Dzubenko?”
For the first time, Kenneth saw the man react to his words. His ears perked at the mention of Kenneth’s boss.
“Mr. Dzubenko, you know him? Did he send you out here looking for me?”
This time, the man smiled at the mention of Vasyl Dzubenko’s name. But it wasn’t a smile that eased Kenneth’s nerves. Instead, it was a smile that turned his veins to ice. There was something strange about this guy’s teeth…
Kenneth stepped to his left this time, making sure to avoid the water of Cook Inlet. He tightened his grip on his gun and pointed it directly at the strange and menacing man standing in front of him.
“I’m warning you, man. Back off, right now. I won’t think twice about shooting you if you come one step closer to me.”
The man widened his smile, exposing fangs that glimmered in the light of Kenneth’s lantern.
“What the hell?” Kenneth yelled. “Get away from me!”
He fell backwards as he fired his gun, his hands shaking so much that he worried he may hit himself. Instead, he was immediately relieved to see that the bullet had struck his unwanted visitor in the chest and knocked him onto his back.
Kenneth let out a deep breath and returned to his feet.
“Goddammit I warned you to get away from me. Son of a bitch, I didn’t wanna shoot ya.”
Kenneth’s relief turned to terror as the man sat up and continued to smile at him. The bullet had blasted a hole in his chest that tore and bloodied his shirt, but as he stood up the gaping and exposed wound that reddened his chest began to close.
Kenneth dropped his gun and turned to run away, but didn’t make it more than two feet before he felt an iron grip on his shoulder. The man spun him around as if he were no more than a child’s toy and brought his face within an inch of Kenneth’s. Kenneth opened his mouth to scream but was unable to make a sound as the man’s smile again widened. He leaned towards Kenneth’s neck, and Kenneth felt a stab of pain as razor sharp teeth punctured his flesh. Within seconds, the world around him faded to black.
Aleksei felt nothing but euphoria as he drained Kenneth’s body of his blood. Even though he was used to it by now, the rush he got from hunting and feeding was like nothing he’d ever felt as a human. It never got old.
He dropped Kenneth’s limp and lifeless body to the ground and removed the man’s coat and gloves before kicking his corpse into the water next to the abandoned fishing line and empty bucket. He knew the coat would be small on him, but it didn’t matter. He could button it to hide the blood on his shirt and it would help him blend in. While he didn’t need the lantern to see he picked it up anyway. He had learned quickly that it was always smart to act like the humans.
While he had no idea what sort of gibberish the man had been spouting before he killed him, Aleksei knew one thing for certain. He had mentioned a Dzubenko. Surely a man with that name would be able to understand Aleksei’s language. He needed someone he could communicate with so he could learn English if he
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