Chapter Text
Her long and slender fingers slid above my navel–her arms holding me in place, surprisingly strong despite her girly-girl appearance. My childhood best friend Eve, a stunning sorority girl… was holding me while slowly breathing down my neck??? I cringed at my almost-naked body below, embarrassed that such a beautiful girl was seeing me in just my underwear. I was acutely aware of the feeling of her skin on mine; despite trying to hold it together, my breathing hitched.
She whispered in my ear, "Don't be embarrassed Bun, it's okay." I felt her getting closer and closer. How did I get here? What is happening right now? Considering the circumstances one might expect a kiss or… something more erotic to follow. But no.
The next moment I felt her teeth sink into my neck.
…
Five hours earlier
"Stop laughing!" I practically fumed out, "you know my thesis project partner bailed on me. I need your help!"
"No, no I'm not laughing at you! It's just… pfft," the pretty girl sitting in front of me said, shifting into full laughter, hiding her mouth fully with her hand as she did so. I thought to myself that her mouth covering habit was always cute… quickly shaking the thought from my mind. My childhood best friend Eve was stifling her laughs in front of me. Asshole. She leaned forward, "no please, run through the whole presentation. I want to really understand," the last few words said with a strangely serious tone, her eyes focused intensely on me.
I pushed my glasses back into place, moved my bangs above them and sighed out, "This is my criminology thesis, it might sound silly but I think I'm onto something big here." Eve gestured her hand for me to continue. I gave a slight smile and in a practiced tone said, "Ahem.. cryptid attacks are on the rise, the monsters and dark creatures who plague our world. The most popular story regarding their creation, especially overseas, is a children's fairytale about a deceitful witch. While obviously nobody credits its validity, there are modern, potentially deadly misconceptions that spawn from this fairytale!”
Eve nodded her head several times, blonde hair falling up and down, "mhm mhm, I'm following," she said smiling again, a deep grin with her mouth shut, red velvet lips full and curved.
I said, "To recap this story – a really long time ago there was an expansive and terrible famine. Legend says that desperate townsfolk sought the help of a powerful but deceitful witch. They begged her, 'please, please save our children.' This wish she would grant, but what would be the price? One by one she gifted the famine-starved children with magical blessings: feathers, claws, fangs. With these new attributes the children hunted deep in the woods where the humans were too afraid to go. New food was brought back and the famine was solved."
I pointed a long, pink plastic ruler at my laptop screen which was haphazardly covered in medieval style drawings of witches and half-beast children. I snapped out, "But! There was a price for their gifts!" clicking to the next slide showed a charcoal drawing of a young feathered girl, face covered in gore and blood, eyes glowing yellow—the only part of the art with color. Slowly I said, "The children were robbed of their humanity. Following bad hunts many children would return home to devour their pets, friends… their own families."
I clicked through more slides showing art hundreds of years old and transcripts from old, oral legends. Eve made a sad noise and stated, "I never liked that story as a kid. I hate how it ends, with the world hunting down nearly every cursed child and killing them one by one. The children they failed to find hid in the wilderness, and without human intelligence, they became nothing but wild beasts hiding in the dark. It was never their fault for being transformed."
I gave a small frown and said, "no comments from the audience for my defense please, plus I almost got to that! I… actually agree though. Oddly gruesome for a fairytale."
Eve covered her mouth and blurted, "Ah! I'm sorry Bun. I'm listening."
I smiled at her attentiveness and willingness to help me with my project, "As I was saying. Nobody knows the real reason cryptids exist, a black box even with modern research. This story is most people's best interpretation even though we know it's too fantastical. The idea that they lost their intelligence, however, is a faulty belief completely accepted by the public! There are many accounts of cryptids speaking after being captured, always written off as a mimicking of human speech to trick us. As a criminology student aiming to be a cryptid investigator, I think it is imperative that we understand them. And most importantly, that we don't underestimate them. We then come to my thesis statement.”
Eve rhythmically tapped her fingers on her legs, imitating a drumroll. I dramatically pushed my hand towards her, stating, "I believe that the monsters did not lose their intelligence! The ones without obvious animal features, those who pass as human, are hiding within our society and are attacking us from within!"
Eve once again laughed despite my pouting face. Asshole!!!
Between small giggles she said, "No I like it Bun, it's actually a good theory. If true it would change everything. Maybe even allow us to understand them. It's just… don't be upset if they don't take you seriously. There's a ton of fiction about tall, handsome vampires or tormented wolf-men. But that's all they are: stories." Her face turned deadly solemn. She looked out the window of my dorm, "the beast-hybrids and otherworldly cryptids," she paused, "they're monsters. That's all they are."
The moment instantly felt seriously awkward. I fidgeted in place… "aa maybe my thesis actually is stupid," I thought to myself. Even though she’s my best friend, it’s clear she doesn’t believe my thesis at all. Honestly, it often seemed like she treated me as if we were kids again, as if I was simply talking rapidly about another unrealistic dream. Eve was lost in thought, in that moment all I could think of was how much I wished I could look like her. Flawless skin, perfect hair. Not to mention a killer laugh. For some reason my heart ached. To avoid looking at Eve I pulled out my phone. I practically yelled, "Eve! It's already 10pm! Don't you have that late sorority… something something event???"
"Shit," Eve blurted out. "It's fine, I'll head there now. I'll be super late, hopefully they aren't too mad. Also it’s a sorority rush event." The tension of the previous conversation faded as she stood up and fluffed my hair. She was nearly a head taller than me when I stood up in protest.
"Hey stop that," I pouted loudly. "I know new recruits are crazy busy but forcing you out so late is nuts. I wouldn't put up with that. And be careful! You know that a sorority girl already went missing.”
Eve laughed and poked me, "Hah as if you'd ever be in a sorority. Seriously not your scene girl,” she said, completely ignoring my comment about staying safe. She quickly threw her things into her bag, a trendy yellow tote bag with flowers, a perfect match for the late summer vibes. As she opened my door to leave she looked back, smiled and said, "it won't be too bad. I'm actually excited for this event, the other girls seem to love me. Don't stay up too late working on that thesis Bun. Sleeeeeep." The last word drawn out. I could still hear her saying it as the door clicked shut.
"Heh, totally gonna sleep," I said to myself, pulling out an energy drink and cracking it open. "I still have lots of research to do if I want to be taken seriously." I pulled out recent missing persons reports, news clippings, and various lengthy looking books. "This might take awhile."
Hours passed as I worked. I flipped through each source, taking notes and scribbling post-it notes between many pages. It was long and boring, but I loved every second of it. Eve was right, sorority girl was never my vibe. An academic loser was more like it.
After another hour of reading I groaned, "ugh if only I could find something about organized, intelligent cryptid activity. There's nothing on it no matter how hard I look. Not even half-baked conspiracy forums.”
As I said that I pulled out another book, a set of papers bound together flew out from under it. Picking it up something was clearly different. The formatting was serious, a gruesome picture of a cadaver girl on the front, her ribcage showing through a gaping chest cavity. I instantly dropped it onto the table in fright, reading the top line, "CONFIDENTIAL REPORT."
Steadying my breathing I realized I was looking at an official police report about a cryptid attack, something the public was not supposed to see.
"How the fuck did that get in with my research," I thought to myself in both horror and excitement. I flipped through the pages, the criminology student in me ecstatic, despite knowing that I shouldn't. As more angles of the victim came across my vision I thought to myself, "wait… this girl looks familiar." My hand flew to my mouth, a pit developed in my stomach, a feeling that something was deeply wrong. “The missing sorority girl…” I shakily mumbled.
At the beginning of the next page, written in bold, sat the following statement, "Sorority Psi Omega, suspected as a vampire den. All recruits are potential prey."
A storm of different feelings hit me—a sense of vindication upon realizing I was right, cryptids are living among us and preying on us in secret. The feeling of panic and fear quickly devoured that thought. Psi Omega… Eve’s sorority. Quickly and messily pulling out the trash can from my desk, I threw up everything in my stomach. The energy drink made it a disgusting red.
Everything made sense all at once. The sorority event being abnormally late, the rise of recent attacks, and the dead sorority girl.
My best friend Eve was going to be devoured by vampires, unless I did something to stop it.
