Attack

Maya sat at the bus stop, a beaten black umbrella shielding her from the pouring rain. Her foot jiggled impatiently; the bus was late again. The bench was in the shadow of a burned-out streetlight. Her only source of light were the headlights of blurry cars zooming past.

Someone sat down next to her, making no noise, but their body pushed air against hers. Maya peered out of the corner of her eye. The person was tall and wrapped in a shapeless jacket that made it impossible to tell if they were a woman or a man. The face almost glowed, it was so white, with messy black hair tossed carelessly across the forehead. It smiled at her, unusually long and thin teeth winking from the shadow of its mouth.

Maya pulled her jacket closer around herself and hunched forward, redirecting her attention to the cars. The person sitting next to her inched closer.

Maya scooted to the far end of the bench with a shiver. Far from throwing off heat, the body seemed to radiate cold.

It slid right up next to her, pressing Maya between the bench's armrest and its own cold body. Her arms successfully pinned, it slammed a hand over her mouth.

Maya's scream was muffled by its strong hand as she wriggled under its grip. Its face came closer- it looked vaguely female, with ice blue eyes- and grinned again, the malicious grin of an empty skull. Squeezing her eyes tight, Maya leaned as far away as the iron bench would allow. Cold, clammy lips were pressed against her neck, and suddenly, she was pressed up against the back of the bench. The woman had flipped them over the backrest, hidden from the view of the highway in a puddle of mud.

A sharp, ripping pain tore along her skin, pulling itself from the edge of her jaw to the hollow place where her collarbones met. Another silent scream, and the umbrella fell from her grip and into a puddle behind her. As hot sticky blood flowed out of Maya's neck, the creature caught it in her mouth and Maya realized with a surge of shock that the thing must be a vampire. How odd- she'd read plenty of books, but never dreamed these things existed. But this wasn't like her books- the thing was merciless and hungry, with no seductive charm. This was real.

Her vision fuzzed over and her body felt light and weak and cold. The vampire dropped her on the wet ground, a satiated smile on her face, and darted away.

Maya was too sleepy to even attempt getting up, and the ground didn't feel near as cold or hard as it should have. The mud was soft, so she curled up into herself and fell asleep.