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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/02321 on 2024-10-29 17:13:38+00:00.
When you hunt monsters for a living there are two hard facts. You'll die young, and you’ll ruin all your clothing. My new jacket had been shredded during my last job. I learned how to sew and to mostly remove blood stains. My old jacket was going to be for hunting only. I wanted a new coat. One to wear outside of my contract work. Since I moved around a lot I kept what I owned down to at most two boxes. It was a little sad that a new jacket was a highlight in my life.
A somewhat high-end store was closing and having a big sale. The weather that day was awful. Wet and cold. It hadn’t snowed yet, but it was so unpleasant not too many people were out. When I walked inside the store, I found it to be nearly empty. I had expected it to be busy with others trying to scoop up deals.
A lone cashier stood behind a counter counting down the minutes to the end of her shift. Another woman was browsing the discounted sweaters. Her face was covered by large glasses and a massive red scarf. I passed by a man wearing a long trench coat waiting by the door. He didn’t look to be shopping but rather looking outside as if seeing if the weather might clear up.
There was a bit of everything in the store. Since the sale was just announced the clothing hadn’t been picked over yet. If I played my cards right, I could afford a new jacket and a sweater.
I ended up near the girl with the scarf as she added another sweater to her pile. I felt eyes on my back causing me to turn to look over my shoulder at her. She was squinting behind her glasses as if she recognized me but didn’t know from where. I glanced at her then went back to shopping. She was cute but her half-hidden face didn’t ring any bells. She ended up behind me at the cashier after I picked out my two items. She didn’t try to speak with me so she must have been staring at me for some other reason.
I wish my life was simple. I wanted a day where I went shopping, made dinner, and got to sleep early. I had no such luck. When another person entered the store, we didn’t pay any attention. The newcomer hunched over; his face mostly covered by his collar. When the cashier opened the register to hand over my change, the new man dressed in black startled us all.
“Phones and cash now!” He ordered.
After you’ve faced giant spiders and other nightmares, a gun pointed in your direction is a little less frightening. I let out a sigh disappointed in the day. I just wanted a damn jacket. Still, I was thankful this was just a robbery and not a supernatural threat.
The cashier froze in fear at the sight of the gun. The woman behind me acted in the same way. I didn’t want to put my hands in my pockets for my phone to give this guy any ideas about shooting. If he wanted to go through my now empty pockets, he could come over here and do it. I kept my hands raised more upset over losing the new coat funds than over the possibility of getting shot. A roll of thunder sounded outside as heavy rain started to hit the windows.
The newcomer had walked by the man by the door. He took no notice of him even after he calmly made his way over behind the gunman.
“Enough of that noise.” The other man said as he raised his hand.
The thief froze, clear fear in his eyes. I saw him struggling to move his body without success. My stomach sank as it dawned on me this was turning into something far more complicated than a simple stick-up.
My fears were confirmed when a new pair came in from outside. At first, it looked like a person had come in with their dog. They dripped cold rain onto the tile floor, panting as if he had run ten miles. Blood mixed in with the water. One raised his face to show four deep claw marks across it. His clothing had been torn. He appeared to have lost a fight with a large cat.
The cashier screamed as she made a run for it. The gun went off near her head. She stopped studying, too scared to move again. The woman with glasses rushed over to quickly wrap her arms around the other girl using her body as a shield. Their reaction was normal considering what the mystery man brought with him wasn’t a dog.
A thin creature hunched on the floor dripping rainwater. Its skin was light grey, and it looked like a mixture between a human and a bat. The face had a mouth far too large for its skull and tiny eyes. Large bat ears darted back at the sound of the scream. As it shook the rainwater from its body, I noticed a black ring tattoo around its neck.
“A hunter caught me. I got away but we need to move.” The bleeding man said as he caught his breath.
Seriously, what are the chances? A botched robbery and now these creatures? I just wanted to buy a damn coat.
“You certainly got yourself in a mess. It appeared we were in luck. You can heal yourself by eating one of these three. By the looks of it, we have one for each of us. We just need to leave enough for the police to assume this man had done the crime.”
The man who spoke was tall. He adjusted a wide-brim hat on his head. He was the leader of the small group. He also used some sort of power to control the gunman. If we tried to run, we would get shot. If we stayed, we would get eaten. The man with the hat directed his attention in my direction. His eyes shone yellow to study the people in front of him.
“You don’t appear very worried about the change in events.” He said in a dangerous tone.
Crap. If he thought I was a hunter or someone who knew about supernatural threats he may take me seriously.
“You’re a cop, do something.” The girl in the glasses said from behind me.
I knew her voice from somewhere but not her face. Her lie helped me out. I’m sure most police could handle the weaker creatures. However, you needed specialized information to truly stay alive against the supernatural. That one statement made this man think I was just a person who could stay calm under pressure.
I looked between the four of them. The man with the hat didn’t look worried for the wellbeing of his partner when he arrived bleeding. They weren’t friends. Just working together. The smaller creature was being controlled by some sort of contract and wouldn’t attack without an order. The gun was also being controlled. These two wanted a fresh meal, so no sending the monster to kill us or shoot us unless it was necessary. I worried about the girls. I needed to keep the attention on me to give the girls a chance to get away. Three against one wasn’t ideal though.
When I first got into this job, I got some good, yet simple advice. You should be afraid of monsters, just don’t let that fear control you. Your greatest strength is your head, use it. And always stay on your feet.
“I don’t want to die a virgin...” I muttered under my breath, but loud enough for those two to hear me.
I wasn’t one, but they didn’t know that. For some reason, virgin blood gave a great deal of power to creatures when consumed. Because of that, it was coveted. The injured man took the bait. He needed to be healed up, so he didn’t let himself consider I was lying. He charged forward, his face changing into something with bat-like features.
Since he was already injured, I was able to sidestep his first attack. He stumbled and then regained his footing just as my hands landed on a weapon. I took hold of a small table with a few items on it to hit him with it as hard as I could. He got knocked back and to the floor, his already beaten body refusing to work.
The hat man came next, yellow eyes glowing in amusement. I’d already grabbed my next tool for this fight. He came at me with a set of claws out. I expected this and spun in the ball of my foot. My heart pounding in my ears. If I slipped up it wasn’t just my life on the line. As I got behind him, I guided a pair of jeans across the front of his chest so both legs were over his shoulders. I then kicked his legs out from under him and grabbed a hold of the bottom of the legs before he fell. By some miracle, I had him on the ground, my knee in the middle of his back and the jeans around his neck. I crossed the legs to tighten the material. With my knee pushing down, I pulled up choking him with a pair of skinny jeans.
That pissed him off. A lot. I was tossed off as a large pair of bat wings burst from his back, ripping his long wool jacket. I fell hard against the ground, a jolt of pain racing from my elbow to my brain. He frantically gasped for air, his hands fumbling to remove the pants from around his neck. I used that time to get over to the still-frozen thief to grab his gun.
Normally guns didn’t do much against creatures. It only pissed them off. I only wanted to buy time. Not win.
The hat flew from his head, his body a blur of motion. A set of fangs sunk deep into my shoulder. It hurt like hell, but I wanted this to happen. Sort of. I needed him as close as possible so I wouldn’t miss him. I pressed the gun directly into his now large, pointed ear and fired. He jerked back, screaming from pain.
Blood came from the wound splattering against the ground. He rolled, shrieking but not dead. The first attack got up since, claws out about to finish the job. I emptied the gun in his direction. Who knows how many shots I landed. I’ll admit, I’m very bad with guns. At least that slowed him down.
“Fucking kill him already!” O...
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