| The small town of Bomer had never seen much excitement. It was in the nature of its people. Throughout it’s history it was never much recognized as being particularly special in any way, shape or form. There had been little to no domestic conflicts within its small borders, even during the civil rights movement. A small community where each could live their own life, raise their children, and live the American dream. The community was private enough to assure that you could live in comfort, yet active enough to hold each other accountable to a lifestyle that had been maintained for centuries. With a population of just over 800 people, Bomer was easy to glance at and forget all within a matter of seconds while driving down the highway. Though small, the inhabitants loved their security. The population was too small to support any drug trafficking, there were no major companies or large banks that could run the risk of being robbed, there was nothing to fear that couldn’t be dealt with in an orderly way so that no one could be hurt, nothing that could arise suspicion. Hatred, violence, terror, demons were not a factor in the lives of the inhabitants of Bomer. All these factors became a thing of the past when Colin Ranti moved into the little apartment building next door to the grocery store. Colin Ranti was the first stranger to move into Bomer in the last 10 years. He was young in comparison to most of the town, medium height and weight, the only thing peculiar about him was a small scar on his neck. No one was particularly suspicious when he moved in, the neighbors were friendly, though they couldn’t help but describe his wearisome demeanor to each other. It was not uncommon for this small community to show small acts of kindness, including giving plates of cookies as housewarming gifts. This was the only good look most people got of Colin. Colin was a quiet man who seemed to spend most of his days asleep, and most of his nights awake in his apartment. He would venture out on occasion during the day. Mostly, he would just go to the grocery store, where he would buy Garlic, Coffee, water and canned food, and that was all. All of his daytime adventures were limited to the repetitive task of going to the grocery store once every two weeks to buy these meager supplies. This was a way of life that the community could accept, one that they had no need to get suspicious about. It wasn’t until the first disappearance that they became suspicious of Colin Ranti. A young woman by the name of Sharon went to sleep. It wasn’t until the next morning that her parents realized she was gone; one would have dismissed this as a simple case of youthful spirit, a child that couldn’t stand to be in the clutches of her parents any longer, someone that wanted to be free. There were two reasons that this was not considered. The first, Sharon was well known in the town, it was against her nature to do something like this. The second was the small pool of blood that rested on the base of her pillow. The police didn’t have much to go on. There was no sign of a struggle, no finger prints or DNA other than Sharon’s. The missing person case was filed and the community grieved the loss. The town had been secure the night Sharon was taken, there were no cars that had come in or left the town. Sharon lived only blocks away from the Sherriff’s department. It could have been a kidnapping, it could have been a murder, but whatever it was it didn’t happen from outside. No one wanted to even mention Colin as a suspect, there was no evidence, there was no reason for him to do anything of the sort, but deep in the stomach of the citizen’s they knew there was something odd about him, but was it something that would make him hurt or even kill Sharon? No one believed it, but the feeling remained the feeling that Colin Ranti knew something. Naturally the police force had their hands full interviewing the residents of Bomer to see if they had any information at all on the whereabouts of Sharon, and it was this that gave Officer Smith the chance to talk to Colin Ranti in his house. Smith knocked three times on the solid oak door of apartment 4, there was no answer. He had every intention of knocking three more times, but on his second attempt the door swung open and there stood a very tired and slightly confused looking Colin. “Can I help you Officer?” Smith stared at the man and wondered how he could be so tired at 3:30 in the afternoon, then he spoke. “Yes, as a matter of fact you can. I’m Officer Smith with the Sherriff’s department, we’re just getting any follow up we can on this case, I’m sure you heard, the little Connar girl disappearing. I wondered if I might ask you a few questions.” Colin hesitated slightly before speaking “Please, come in. I wish I had known you were coming though” Officer Smith entered the small apartment and had to stop himself from covering his nose and gagging. The apartment reeked of old garlic and was strewn with cans from past meals. Colin also appeared to be very religious; he had crosses that lined the wall. Colin motioned to a wooden chair for the Officer to sit in. “Sorry” Colin said “I would offer you something more comfortable if I had anything” “This will do fine” Smith remarked as Colin sat in a similar chair. “Mr. Ranti-“ “Colin” “Alright, Colin. Where were you on the night of the disappearance? March 15th between the hours of ten pm and five thirty am” Colin thought for a few moments before answering. “I was here, working on some…things” “Things?” Colin continued “yes, I know this will sound strange to you, but frankly I don’t feel I’ve done anything wrong. I was bottling water” Smith probed the explanation further. “Bottling water? Can’t you pick up bottled water from the market next door?” Colin was slightly unsure of how to go about explaining his story. “Sir, if you want my alibi, I stand by that I did not leave my apartment that evening or early that morning. I am not required by law to answer your questions, and I have done nothing wrong.” Colin made his intentions of having Officer Smith leave his apartment quite clear, not so much in the words, but the lack there of. Officer Smith bid him good day and walked out. It took some time for the town to adjust to the strange disappearance that had hit the Connar family so hard. After a month of nothing the family began to accept that they may never see their daughter again. This was something that weighed heavily on two of Sharon’s siblings, and would have weighed just as heavy on her third, a brother, Derik, who disappeared in the exact same fashion on the morning of April 15th. The crime was exactly the same as before. A small pool of blood, no sign of struggle, just as last time there was no sign of a struggle. There was however one thing different about this disappearance, and that was the fact that only one person had been seen walking the streets the night of the second disappearance, and that was a man whom almost no one talked to, Colin Ranti. The second round of questioning was done at the police station. Officer Smith was unable to get an answer that made any sense to him, and after accumulating a warrant, searched Colin’s house. The apartment smelled just as bad as last time, and aside from a number of primitive looking poles and large quantities of water, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Colin had done nothing wrong that could be seen, but with the second disappearance in their town’s history accompanying the arrival of Colin, they became suspicious of this man. It was two weeks later until the next strange event happened. Upon patrolling the neighborhood, a young police officer came across two forms in the bushes, it wasn’t until closer inspection that he realized that these two forms were once one, and that one form was once a person. He was now looking at the remains of a man, whose head had been sliced off and garlic shoved in his mouth. Shaking, the Officer called in the finding; he set up crime scene tape, and waited in the cruiser for backup. The grotesque image was unexpected by much of the police force, most of which had been recruited from the town. It appeared that the head was sawed off at the top of the neck, and afterwards the mouth propped open and stuffed with cloves of garlic. The garlic, of course, seemed all too familiar to the force. Anyone who had even approached the doorstep of Colin’s apartment could smell the aroma of fresh garlic, the same aroma that surrounded the corpse that they stood over. The department was unable to find anyone that could identify the man that had been killed. With one suspect in mind, but none in evidence, the police force buried the body in a local cemetery with an unnamed gravestone. They were forced to close the case. The murder and strange disappearance of two of the Connar children were disturbing to the town, and they all believed they knew who had been behind the strange happenings. Mr. Ranti, the stranger. The lack of evidence was weighing not only on the police force moral, but that of the community. Justice could never be served if this man had found a way to avoid the system. Colin did not notice the whispers, looks, or threats he received as he went to the grocery store. He never took notice, had no reason to, he didn’t care, he had always been followed by strange looks and threats, he showed no fear. Where the absence of fear was apparent, the deep frustration was well hidden within him. He purchased his normal supplies and went back to his apartment. While there were no more disappearances in the town, there were a surprising number of murders taking place. Some in the same fashion as before, with the head decapitated and stuffed with garlic, others were severely burned, and some were stabbed through the heart. The federal government was brought in, but they were as hopeless as the local police at their attempt to find any suspect. None of the victims were ever identified. With the body count up to six, not including the two children that were taken, the town became frightened, and with this fear came irrationality. Some moved away from the town, the first of which was the Connar family. Others took it upon themselves to patrol the streets themselves. It was this act that brought about even more devastation. Three men were found in the course of two weeks, all well known within the town, and all bled to death in the cold of the night. While it was expected for a crime to be committed, there was only one man that was known to be nocturnal, and he lived next to the grocery store. While the walk from his apartment to the store was a short one, Colin found it increasingly difficult to get his one errand accomplished. One afternoon, while walking to the produce aisle of the small store, he had a fist thrown directly at his face from a rather large man who was screaming something at him that he had not been paying much attention to. The first would have hit him fairly hard had he not ducked just in time. He looked up as the man brought his hand back and continued shouting. “scum! Think you can fool the government and the police, but you don’t fool us! Killing those people as if they were nothing! And for what?!” at this point the manager of the store was trying to pull the large man away from Colin, but it was no use. A crowd of people gathered just in time to see a second punch be thrown towards Colin, and just as before, it missed. Colin grabbed the man’s extended arm and turned to flip him over his shoulder. The man fell hard on the ground. He attempted to get up, but was swiftly put down by a kick to the face. The crowd stood astonished as Colin went to pay for his groceries, as he left he turned to the manager. “No use calling the police, I was defending myself, and I don’t wish to press charges, good day” three more murders were committed that month. Two were unknown victims and the third was a police officer who was patrolling the night. Colin’s windows were often broken; he installed bars on the windows and heavy locks on the door. It wasn’t until the announcement of the Fourth of July picnic that Colin started talking to anyone. He would approach people and awkwardly warn them not to go to the picnic. If he was shouted at he was ignored. He even attempted at a town meeting to stop people from going. Colin was not only disliked by the majority of the town or Bomer, he was hated by them. The Fourth of July was exceptionally warm. The turnout was surprisingly well, the citizen’s needed a get together like this, something that would allow them to comfort each other, a gathering that would unite them and remind them that everything was going to be alright. The celebration was a joyous one that was the highlight of the year for everyone, until the sun began to set. Someone spotted him, the man that they despised. Colin waited in on the outskirts of the celebration. No one looked his way, no one wanted to acknowledge his vile existence, but they were cautious. He worse a cross around his neck and had cloves of garlic hanging from his pockets. His belt was lined with small wooden poles and he had large containers of water that looked as if they must have taken him most of the day to carry from his apartment to the park where they now were. It was almost time for the fireworks show, the lights went off, and even so, everyone was aware of where Colin stood. When the lights went out, a sickening sound was heard. Before the first round of fireworks was seen, a flurry of wind rustling against cloth was heard, and screams were emitted into the air. As the first of the bursts of light were seen, there were an unknown number of attackers who had lunged at the necks of their victoms and then flew up into the air to survey the next of their victims. What looked like humans were know flying into the air and diving on people like birds of prey. As people scrambled to help one another, they saw Colin, illuminated by the light of the fireworks. He was seen burning the vampires as they attempted to feast, by throwing holy water on them. He lunged at them and buried deep, wooden steaks into their hearts. His cross kept his attackers from coming too close. This wasn’t just any night, this was the final showdown. Vampires continued to attack, Colin was shouting at those around his to grab the water. He urged them as he killed as many of the demons as he could. Panic had taken most of the citizens, but a few were able to come to their senses and aid Colin. The vampires attempted to make a tactical retreat as they now were outnumbered with weapons that they could not fight. Hissing, they flew high into the night sky as the last of the fireworks died out. Bodies lay dead on the field, families found familiar faces lying motionless on the ground as the lights came up. And then all attention was turned to Colin as he began to walk away. He was drenched in sweat, and blood. The large man that had attacked him in the grocery store grabbed him by the arm. “Where are you going?” Colin looked up and knew that the man was not going to harm him. “They’re moving north” Colin announced. “You know how to defend yourself, you’ve seen my methods, and you know the legends. I have no choice but to follow them, for every day that I do not know their whereabouts they grow stronger.” Everyone stared in astonishment as they man that they had hated, the man they had threatened, and attacked just simply walked away. Just before his departure he was asked why he didn’t just tell everyone what he was doing he smiled for the first time in a long time and replied “Vampires? No one wants to believe that. Murderer, madman, liar, thief, people can live with and accept, but something bigger than them? No”
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