Nosferatu

White noise crackled across the screen of the old television set and moonlight floated through the uncovered window, illuminating the room with an eerie glow. Senna stalked through the room in her natural silence, though unafraid of waking whoever happened to be in the house. Her ebony eyes slowly made their rounds, memorizing the position and shadow of every object in the area. Her ears tuned themselves to the silence, making note of and separating Nature’s symphony of nighttime sounds from those being made by the residents of the house. A wave of chills ran rampant down her spine as an icy hand brushed the wine-red hair from her neck. Senna launched herself into the air, spinning, and landed facing the empty door she’d just walked through. She sniffed shallowly, taking in little by little the scent of her pursuer.1

/Nosferatu/, her mind hissed. A wave of crimson anger danced in her eyes as Senna’s body slowly began to reshape. A layer of silky burgundy fur enveloped Senna’s pallid skin and a long, narrow snout formed from her elongated face. The transformation, though brilliantly swift, was nonetheless beautiful in its ferocious simplicity. In an instant, a red wolf stood where the human Senna had been, teeth bared and fur bristling. The wolf’s senses instinctively sought out the source of the impurity in the atmosphere and moved to correct it.2

The creature leapt from its hiding place atop the bookshelf and landed a mere two inches in front of the she-wolf. Senna jumped, snapped, and caught the rancid flesh in her teeth. The vampire hissed and swiped at the animal, which had already relinquished its hold on the beast and was circling slowly; lethally. Senna growled and pounced, catching the jugular of the monster in her massive jaws. With a swift /rrrip/, the neck of the vampire was no more. Tainted blood cursed the floor and nearby furniture, making a faint hissing sound as the acid bubbled and boiled. Senna shifted quickly from the she-wolf into her human self, commanding her left hand to transform again into the mighty paw of a tigress. Claws extended, Senna hurled herself at the chest of fallen one. In a moment, it was finished. 3

With a snarl, Senna flung the withered heart across the room and retrieved a pack of cigarettes from the inside breast pocket of her leather motorcycle jacket. She opened the cellophane-wrapped box and retrieved a cigarette. Putting the thin white cylinder to her lips, Senna walked over the writhing vampire toward the small gas stove. Senna’s eyes trained themselves on the undead as she fiddled with the burner switch. A silent /hiss/ of gas filtered through the room. Senna leaned back on the counter, unlit cigarette hanging gracefully from her luscious mouth. Absently, she pushed a mass of red curls behind her neck and waited.4

When her sensitive eyes brimmed with tears, Senna walked silently to the front door of the building. Grinning sardonically at the semi-paralyzed vampire, Senna opened the door and stepped outside. She brought a single match from her pocket and struck it against the rough brick on the outside of the house. With a wink toward the corpse, Senna lit her cigarette and flung the remaining flame into the entryway of the gas-filled house. Immediately, flames engulfed the building and an inhuman wail escaped into the night. Senna laughed as she took flight in the form of an owl. The residence exploded, ridding the world of one more piece of undead trash.5

Soaring through the night, Senna’s acute vision and hearing scanned the ground below.6

/Nosferatu/, she hissed. With a predatory cry, she dove toward the earth.7