Small Town Legend

The sun had no more than dropped beneath the horizon, hiding its golden rays, when the young couple pulled their old Lincoln Continental onto the shoulder of the deserted county road just outside Barrensfield, a small village on the outskirts of Kingston, Ontario. The driver, Chris, a young, average looking man barely out of his adolescence with a dark complexion and hair and eyes to match, looked over at his passenger with a wide smile on his face. Erica was a petite brunette, maybe a couple years younger and, if we speak in all honesty, with a beauty that clearly placed her out of his league.

"Why look at that," he exclaimed with obvious playfulness and mock concern, "We are out of gas. Whatever are we going to do?"

The young woman needed no further prompting as she leaned across to kiss her lover passionately. She always loved his sense of humour. It was just so cute that it made him irresistible to her. After a few moments she let her hand slide down his chest, across the loose material of his shirt and the contrasting hardness of his abs underneath it. She continued downward cupping the bulge in his pants, rubbing it as it grew with her touch. When it reached its full length, she undid his zipper and buried her face in his lap as she teased the head of his penis with her tongue.

"Oh yes, baby!" Chris panted heavily. She knew how to please him, how to push all the right buttons and he did too. He knew she liked to hear the right words when his voice was so thick with desire he could barely speak. He brushed the hair from her face and told her how much he loved her. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the seat enjoying the moment. He smiled even more as he thought of how fun it was going to be to return the favor. The moment was perfect.

It was true. Nothing pleased Erica more than knowing she was pleasing her man. She loved to watch his facial expressions throughout their lovemaking sessions. It was how she could always tell if he liked the new techniques she always tried to surprise him with. Nothing made her feel better than hearing that moaning sigh he made when she finally gave him an orgasm. This day however it was her that was in for the surprise.

With her lips around his swollen manhood, taking as much of him as she could inside her mouth, she heard the sigh that she had been longing to hear. She raised her eyes so that she could see the smile she knew would be on his face only to witness something totally different. The sharp, shrill sound of Erica's scream rang out into the night.

Chris had been impaled by something. A metal spike or tire iron, she couldn't tell for the blood covering it. Whatever it was had been driven through the seat into his back and came exploding out of his chest creating a gaping wound and splattering her with his blood. His eyes, still open and wide with shock, stared down at her lifelessly, his face void of all expression. The love of her life snuffed out right in front of her like a candle in the breeze.

Erica bolted upright in her seat knowing whoever or whatever did this must still be in the backseat. Being in a panic stricken state of mind, she couldn't seem to find the door handle. A mistake that would cost her life. Her eyes widened as she felt the cold steel of the blade slice into her throat. Then there was only darkness.

***

The two solemn figures stood quietly, reflectively staring at the memorial dedicated to their best friends. Skyler put his muscular arms around Tanya in response to her muffled sobs. As the tears began to run down her beautiful face, she buried herself in his chest. Chris and Erica's deaths had hit her hard. She had known Erica since grade school and they had shared everything with each other. They often spoke of the future and their dreams of a better life. When they entered high school, they thought their dreams were about to come true. Chris and Skyler, the two stars of the school's provincial championship football team, had started dating the girls. The guys were close too. They weren't just teammates, not just friends, they were like brothers. So when they had that first double date they all knew that this was how things were meant to be even if it hadn't turned out exactly as they had it planned. It may have been a foolish thing to believe but they thought that this joy could last forever. But if it wasn't for the grisly murders, it may have actually happened.

Now Skyler and Tanya felt have empty. If it weren't for each other, there is no telling the drastic measures that might have been taken. Their love for one another was too strong for that though. By sharing each other's pain, they would eventually heal from this.

Tanya cleared her throat and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked up into the sympathetic eyes of Skyler and said with a heavy heart and in all seriousness, "It was the Psycho... I know it was! He is real!"

Skyler closed his eyes and hung his head, shaking it in mild frustration. He didn't need to hear this again. Not here, not now. It was bad enough to lose his friends in the first place but to think they were taken away by some make believe, legendary bogeyman created to scare the young ones was just too much to take. He could admit to the similarities but that was nothing more than depraved coincidence. The sick mind games of a homicidal freak... nothing more. Now he just needed to find out how to convince Tanya of that.

"Skyler," she continued, "you know they never believed it either and look what happened to them. I... I just don't want to lose you too." Again the tears began to flow.

He understood where she was going with this. The Sundown Psycho, the being who was supposedly there waiting in the shadows, ready for the slightest slip in the morality of a young man or woman. There to make them pay the ultimate price for their indiscretions, their carelessness, their hubris. The fact was that Chris had never been a careful guy. He was willing to do nearly anything to get what he wanted. Erica had calmed him down now however. It was almost like he had become a new man.

Legend has it the Psycho would stalk his prey for days, even weeks, before he would strike, killing the target in some of the most gruesome ways imaginable. If the horror stories were to be believed, he would rip the heart from his victims chests and drink from its still beating mass. He then decapitated the body, taking the head as a trophy. Chris had mentioned that he felt like he had been being followed but he was always joking about that sort of thing trying to freak everybody out. Skyler hated to admit it but the whole thing had been making him a little uncomfortable.

"You won't lose me. Not now... not ever," his words were sincere when he finally answered her concerns and they did comfort Tanya a little. He leaned down and kissed her. "Let's go home."

They walked to their car and just as Skyler was about to open the door, he heard it. The sound was faint but he had always been very perceptive. They were not alone. The snapping of twigs turned into the low rustling of leaves only a short distance away. He looked around trying to find the source, any movement whatsoever. There was only silence. Not the normal quiet of the night but an absolute void of all sound. Skyler's eyes flitted about relentlessly. For the first time in his life, Skyler actually felt afraid. After a few awkward moments, and one last look around, the couple got in the car and left the cemetery.

** * Skyler ran into the kitchen of his small bungalow and fumbled with the locks behind him. He was drenched with blood and his clothing had been ripped to shreds. He leaned back against the door exhausted, his eyes filled with pure terror... a sight that scared the hell out of Tanya. She had never seen him like this... ever.

"I'm sorry baby. I'm so, so sorry. You were right... he is real!" Skyler's words were nothing more than the mad rambling of a man losing his mind. They were also his last as a metal tipped pike crashed through the door and his rib cage piercing straight through his heart.

Tanya screamed and fell to her knees at her lover's side. The tears streaming down her cheeks left her vision blurred and her own cries of despair nearly drowned out the crack of the wood as the door was splintered into a million pieces.

The man who walked in the house over the debris of the door and the now empty husk that was the man named Skyler, did not appear to be a hideous monster capable of the destruction that came with his reputation. He was an average looking man, some might even say ruggedly attractive. He was not hideously deformed or some huge lumbering mass of mindless violence. He was an ordinary man driven to his limits by hatred and despair. Emotions that few of his victims ever had time to notice. Tanya knew. Very few emotions went unnoticed by the empathic teen. She knew the pain this man felt and she could sense that it all stemmed from one of her kind.

Tanya rose to her feet and took a few timid steps back from the killer preparing herself for a fight. She may not have been as strong or as quick as Skyler but she had always been able to hold her own before this. She realized she was in for a war but she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Tanya could see it wouldn't work on its own but maybe, just maybe, if she could try and reason with him, it might buy her enough time to think of something better. He merely looked at her with regretful determination as he began stalking her in that way that fear always seemed to prolong. Every step, every move, like it was in slow motion despite being lightning quick in all actuality. His hand seemed to take forever to entangle itself in the long sandy strands of her hair but she just couldn't seem to move at all to avoid it.

Like a wild animal, fangs were bared and all semblances of humanity were lost. Claws and teeth lashed out in unbridled fury with the intent to rip, tear and shred all that came in contact with them. The true monster had finally shown its face and it was a horrid sight to behold. Lesser people, those weak of will or lacking in courage, would have turned to flee. But this would not be an ordinary confrontation. This would be a true test of faith versus savagery. The Psycho was practically un-phased by her transformation into her true predatory, vampiric form.

Tanya should have expected it. She knew the mythos, the campfire horror stories that owed their origins to this creature known only as the Sundown Psycho. He was unrelenting, fearless and extremely dangerous. Capable of taking her to her limits if not even further. He had killed her friends, the only people she had ever considered true family, and her beloved lover and sire, Skyler. She was going to ride out her frenzy of fear and anger, using it to avenge those now lost to her.

She lunged violently forward not caring that the grip he had of her hair was causing it to be ripped free of her scalp. She was fast. Blindingly fast. But even she was not fast enough to land a solid blow on the stalking hunter. She had read his mind. She knew that he wanted to bring about the end of that which he saw as the "vampire menace." To kill all those of the race which took his wife and little girl from him. This is where it ends though. This is where the legend dies.

With one quick move the Psycho was behind Tanya with a blade to her neck. "You fought well leech. Now become a part of my greatest weapon as I send you to meet your unholy maker... a part of the legend that is the Sundown Psycho." With that he drew the blade across her throat and watched as her head fell to the floor.

So beware my fellow brethren of the night. For this tale is not mere urban myth... BEWARE THE SUNDOWN PSYCHO!