The Eye of the Moon by Anonymous

back at him, her eyes betraying the shock and pain she was feeling. He knew it was bad – the blood and the gaping hole in her neck made that plain enough – but confirmation was there in her dilated pupils and shallow, panting breaths. His mother would never normally show her pain, either physical or emotional, but this was a pain she couldn’t hide. The woman was dying and she knew it, and JD was slowly realizing it, and attempting to come to terms with it. Finding something meaningful or even comforting to say was all but impossibe. There wasn’t enough time to think of the right thing to say – this was a time for the stunned brain to disengage and the autopilot to take over.
    ‘Don’t die, Mom. Please don’t die. What should I do? What will Casper do?’ JD’s voice was cracking. This was the last time he would ever speak with his mother, the one and only consistent person in his life. Yet he knew he had to try not to think of himself. She was dying and needed comfort in these last moments.
    She looked up at him, still gasping for breath. It was clear that she could barely see or recognize him. It was his voicethat was providing her with comfort in her final minutes.
    ‘Son,’ she panted. ‘ Kill me. ’
    ‘You’re in shock,’ JD mumbled, stroking her hair. ‘I’ll call an ambulance.’
    ‘It’s too late. Kill me. ’
    ‘Mom, I’m not going to …’
    ‘ KILL ME! ’ Her voice suddenly took on a different tone. This wasn’t a request, this was an order. And it was the voice of a vampire. One of the undead. For that was what she was becoming. Her pupils shrank and she lurched forward at her trembling son, revealing a new set of bright white fangs protruding beyond her lips.
    Startled, JD jumped back and fell on to his ass. ‘ What the fuck? ’
    ‘ KILL ME! ’ his mother hissed again. Her body and soul now belonged to the undead, but her heart still belonged to her son, for a short time at least.
    ‘I can’t kill you. Don’t be stupid.’
    ‘If – you – don’t – kill – me – now,’ she gasped, ‘I’ll become one of them. ’ She pointed at the unconscious figure of Kione slumped at the other end of the kitchen. Her voice grew stronger. ‘A creature of evil. I’ll kill you – and your brother. Don’t make me do that. I can feel the bloodlust coming over me already. Please kill me. Quickly, before it’s too late.’
    JD climbed back to his feet and shook his head. ‘I can’t. It’s crazy. I can’t kill you. You’re my mother, for Chrissa–’
    With shocking speed, Maria suddenly sprang up from the floor and leapt on him, fangs searching for the soft flesh of his neck. His sharp reactions enabled him to fend her off without even realizing what he was doing. Then, using all his strength, he threw her against the cupboards above the sink behind him. Her head hit one of the doors and she slumped to the floor in a heap at his feet.
    ‘Oh God, Mom, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.’ He crouched down and lifted her head from the floor. ‘Are you … ? Oh fuck. No. NO!’
    The realization that his mother was now dead hit himlike a sledgehammer in the back. Her face was almost unrecognizable. Her skin was pale and clammy, blue veins had crept to the surface, her eyes blackened, her teeth pointed and razor sharp. He released his hold on her head as a cold chill ran through him. The feeling of sickness rushed over him again and he covered his mouth to stop himself vomiting again – not that his stomach seemed to have anything left in it to bring up anyway.
    After a few moments of staring down at the body of what had once been his mother, he allowed the autopilot side of him to take the controls again. Close your mind, he told himself. Don’t think about what you’re about to do. Just do it. You have to, and you know it.
    Moving as though in a trance, he left the kitchen and headed up the stairs to his mother’s bedroom. She kept a gun in a drawer of the cabinet beside her bed