A Slayer's Curse, A Vampire's Afterlife
By: K. E. Gibbons

A woman and a man sat in their living room with their four-year-old son. The boy was on his father's lap while his father explained to him "One day your going to have to do what I do,"

"Why daddy?" The little boy asked in a winy voice, "I don't want to. You always get hurt."

"I know, but I do it to keep people safe," His father told him softly, "Don't you want to keep people safe?"

"Yes, but mommy always gets scared when you go to work," The boy said looking at his mother.

"Yes I do, but I know that he's helping people," The woman said gently, taking her son's small hand in hers.

The boy looked back at his father, "Why do you do it if you get hurt and it makes mommy scared?"

"Because everyone in our family does," he replied, "Grandpa David did it and so did Grandpa Harry,"

"So if I do it I'll be like you, and Grandpa David, and Grandpa Harry?"

"Yes, you'll be just like me," The man said, smiling at his young son.

"What do you do for work?" The young boy questioned curiously as he looked up at his father.

"I have to get rid of the monsters that hurt people," he said.

"But you and mommy say there are no monsters," the boy said.

The man chuckled, "No, we say there are no monsters in the house. They're outside, hurting people every day because the monsters are very bad,"

"Why do they hurt people?" He asked in childish curiosity. Normal parents would be annoyed by all his questions, but his parents knew that his questions should be answered sooner rather than later.

"Because they're stronger and faster than us, and they think they have a right to hurt good people, if it wasn't for what I did you and your mommy might be hurt by them,"

"They'd hurt mommy?" The boy asked in a small voice, obviously worried about his mother's safety.

"They'd hurt anyone who is weaker then they are," He explained.

The boy nodded, "I want to do what you do, I want to keep them from hurting mommy,"

He man smiled, "I know you do."

A knock, loud and hurried sounded on the door. The woman let go of her son's hand and went to answer it. When she opened the door, a large, heavy set man came in, "Come on, Aurthur, we've found a few more,"

The man moved his son from his lap and stood up. He kissed his wife then, kissed the top of his son's head.

"I'll be back later and we'll talk about this more, do what your mother says. Good night," The man said before quickly leaving.

The boy waited, and waited, and waited only to have his mother put him to bed at ten that night. The boy went down reluctantly, and was awoken at dawn to a knock at the door. The boy, with hopes it was his father, jumped out of bed and ran downstairs only to see his mother open the door to reveal the same man from the night before. Few words were said before the woman broke out in tears. She covered her face and sobbed while the man patted her back and shoulder and whispered to her.

"Mommy, what's the matter?" the little boy asked going up to his mother slowly. He didn't understand why she was crying so and why his father wasn't here to stop her crying. "Where's daddy?"

The woman looked at the little boy with tears in her eyes before scooping him up into her arms. "Your dad died," she sobbed, but the boy still didn't understand why his mother was crying and what she meant by what she said. Little did he know that his daddy was never coming home again.