Light of Day

"I'm sorry, but I had to talk to someone."

"Marie, what is the meaning of this?"

Dr. Dennis Brantley woke up tied to a chair in his office staring up into a twisted version of a face he'd once known as a patient of his, Marie Matheson. She wore a long nightgown stained with dirt and blood, her hair was long and matted, and her mouth and eyes were lined thickly in black. Her cheeks were sallow and her teeth appeared bloodstained. The only trace of emotion she betrayed were her eyes. Dr. Brantley knew sad eyes when he saw them.

"I didn't know where else to go, so I came to you." Marie looked listlessly past him to the door.

"Marie, it's okay. Everyone goes through rough times. You just have to remember that you're not alone. I can help you."

"I know you can help me, Doctor. That's why I came to you."

"You said you had to talk to someone, what do you want to talk about?" Dr. Brantley asked as professionally as he could muster.

"I'm having nightmares again. But this time they're different."

Marie's voice sounded disconnected, like she wasn't really there. Dr. Brantley thought better of commenting on that and instead asked for more information.

"Different how? My memory's a little fuzzy, if you could untie me, I'd gladly grab your file and,-" Dr. Brantley was suddently interrupted.

"No! What kind of fool do you take me for?" Marie's eyes turned a sudden shade darker as she scowled at the doctor.

The doctor tried to move his arms in front of his face to no avail and instead trembled in fear. Marie's face switched to one of worry and compassion and she reached out with a hand and mouthed the words "I'm sorry" to Dr. Brantley.

Recognizing the shift in her personality, Dr. Brantley jumped at the chance and whispered "Please, Marie, cut me loose!" as he sobbed. His hopes were dashed just as quick when the sad eyes and hollow voice returned.

"My nightmares used to be about my husband coming home and killing the children and myself. You may or may not know this, but those dreams came half true."

"What? Marie, I heard nothing of the sort in the news, nor did any law enforcement official ever come by to notify me that anything happened to anyone in your family. They are under strict orders to notify me if anything happens!" Dr. Brantley, still sobbing slightly, managed to splurt out indignantly.

"You were never told because it was never reported. I was right about my husband's new friends. They were a bad crowd. They came into town last year and brought nothing but pain and suffering with them."

"Why don't you sit down and tell me what happened? Untie me so I can keep notes, I prom-," Dr. Brantley began and held his head low and to the side, trying to avoid Marie's wrath, "I promise I will not try anything, I simply need to keep notes, Marie. I cannot help if I'm not able to keep my thoughts straight."

"Fine. But if you try anything, I'll snap your neck."

Dr. Brantley looked into Marie's face trying to discern whether she was serious. He finally nodded in agreement and Marie untied his hands. She grabbed a notepad and a pen lying on his desk and handed them to him, then settled into the couch next to his chair.

"Here. Let me know when you're ready."

Dr. Brantley took the notepad and pen with trembling hands and, after readying the pen, looked at Marie. "Please, start at the beginning."

"Like I said, my husband fell into some new friends last year. They were bad news."

"I remember you saying you didn't like them, but please remind me. What about them was bad news?" Dr. Brantley asked.

"Trent started staying away from home later, at first, then more frequently. He was always a good husband and a good father, but now he wasn't coming home to be either." Marie's hollow voice answered.

"When last year was this?" Dr. Brantley asked.

"January."

"Marie, I remember you suffer from seasonal depression and I remember you saying that your husband always took it hard and couldn't sympathise or relate. Is it possible he was staying away as a retaliation against your depression?"

"No. Trent wouldn't deliberately hurt me or the kids." Marie's face seemed emotionless as she responded.

"Okay, go on. How did Trent meet these friends?"

"Dr. Brantley, I told you all of this before."

"Yes, Marie, but in addition to not having your file, sometimes it's just good for you to retell the whole thing. The value of just talking about a problem can be enormous."

"Very well. Trent met them at a bar one night while he was throwing darts. That year he played in a league with some guys from work. It got him out of the house for a couple hours every week and it gave me and the kids time to do little things. We used to bake cookies when he was gone."

"What happened next?" Dr. Brantley asked, jotting some notes down.

"Trent quit the league and would instead hang out at the bar with his new friends. The usual hours at first, then he was staying out until the bar closed. Eventually it got to the point where he'd go out one night and not come back until morning. I thought he was cheating on me, at first. I confronted him about it and he denied it, saying I was crazy. Whenever I'd ask him what he was doing out so late, he would never answer me, just say he wasn't doing anything wrong and that I was the only woman for him and that I should trust him."

Dr. Brantley quickly wrote some notes down and when he caught up with her, he turned a single eye toward her, "But you didn't trust him, did you?"

Marie slowly turned her head toward the doctor, he cold, emotionless eyes fixed on his, "Would you?"

Dr. Brantley shook his head, "No, I wouldn't. So what did you do about it?"

Marie turned her head back to facing the wall in front of her as she began. "Well, at first, all I did was complain and sulk about it. Then, one night I had my best friend Jeanette come over and watch the kids while I left and followed him. That was the night everything changed."

"How so?"

"I found them at some dive named Tony's. I waited outside because I knew Trent would be mad if he thought I was following him. Through a window I saw them throwing darts. It was Trent and four other guys and some brunette."

"They were just throwing darts?"

"And drinking. It all looked innocent enough, I guess. But something told me to stick around. I stayed in the car until the bar closed. Trent and all his friends came out and they told him to go grab something to eat with them. He told them no, he had to get home to me and the kids. Then I saw one of the guys walk up to him and look him in the eye. I thought he was intimidating Trent, but then all of a sudden Trent smiled and agreed. Said that we'd still be there when he got home."

"You thought the one friend was intimidating Trent but now you don't?"

"No," Marie answered, "Trent wasn't intimidated. I'll come back to that in a minute.

"Trent parked his car and they got into a van. It was one of those big vans with no windows and the outside was painted with a wizard and a dragon. I expected to follow them to a Denny's or something, but they pulled up to some motel. The kind where you park outside the door to your room."

"A motel?" Dr. Brantley asked.

"Yes. One just outside of town. I followed them there and watched as they all got out. They each walked up to a different door and knocked until someone answered. The brunette walked over and said something to the guy that answered. His face lit up that way that men's faces do when they think they're about to get some."

"So you think the brunette woman propositioned the man at the motel? To what end?"

"Dr. Brantley, your interruptions are starting to irritate me."

"I apologize, Marie, but I am trying to help you." Dr. Brantley reached up with his right hand to adjust his glasses so he could read his notes better. "You said the brunette walked up to the man who then smiled. You think she offered sex to the man?"

"I do."

"Why would she do that? Was she a prostitute? Was he another friend they were picking up? Is it possible he smiled for some other reason?"

"No. She made him think they were going to have sex. That's why he let her in. A minute or two later, she came to the door and let the others in."

"What do you think happened?"

"I thought they were there to rob the guy. I didn't call anyone, despite thinking I should. Ever the idiot, I drove up to the door thinking that if Trent saw me, he'd leave his friends and come with me."

"You went to the door? What happened?"

"I opened the door. They left it unlocked for some reason. When I opened the door, I saw Trent's friends leaning over the guy. It looked like they were all kissing him, until they turned their heads. That's when I saw their fangs and the blood on their mouths."

"What?!" Dr. Brantley asked, "I trusted this would not be some joke, Marie. You abducted me from my house while I sleep, tie me to a chair in my office, then proceed to tell me you did it so you could talk. Then you give me some ridiculous story?"

Marie's head turned slowly once more, coming to a stop when she was looking directly at Dr. Brantley. When she spoke, instead of the hollow voice, her voice was harsh, rich in anger. "This is not ridiculous. Now shut up unless you have something usefull to say or ask!"

Dr. Brantley was slightly unnerved by the tone her voice had taken and simply nodded. When she continued, Marie's voice was hollow again. "The man that answered the door was lying on the bed, he wasn't moving. They killed him while Trent looked on. He was horrified, I could see it in his eyes. But his face was locked into that same, stupid smile he had when he agreed to go with them. I took his arm and pulled it toward the door. I begged him to come with me, but he couldn't. He didn't even look like himself. I know that now."

"What happened next?" Dr. Brantley asked.

"The brunette walked up to me, said something about seeing why Trent was always so eager to leave. I tried to pull him away one more time before the rest of them were up, two of them blocking my way out the room. Then one of them said something about needing more family members. The rest of them laughed and next thing I know, I'm waking up in my bedroom with Trent and the kids."

"So it was all a dream?" Dr. Brantley asked, confusion painting his face.

"That's what I thought at first. Until I felt hungry. Not in that "Gee, I could go for a burger." kind of way, but in a different way. Like "Gee, I wonder what drinking the blood of that person would feel like?" So I went to the door and walked outside. It was dark out and there was some kid just walking along the road. I'd seen him before, he lived in another neighborhood. He just walked through ours when he was walking to or from work. I ran up to him and snapped his neck like it was nothing, then drug his body back to the house. I went upstairs and Trent and the kids and I sank our teeth into him and started to drink his blood."

"Marie! This is outrageous!"

"It is true, Dr. Brantley, I assure you. For the last year, my family and I have been vampires trying to survive. But it's cold and dark and I hate it."

"Marie, it's been a long winter and these have been trying times. Don't you think it's likely that you've simply constructed this to explain to yourself why you aren't getting enough sun and all your depression? It's fairly common to do such things, Marie. You just need to come to terms with your illness. I can't help you until you do."

"Dr. Brantley, for the last time, this is neither a joke nor a figment of my imagination! Would you quit thinking of the world you know as the only one that exists and realize this is true and vampires really do exist?!"

"Marie, tell me one thing. If this is true, why are there no reports of missing people, strange attacks, and the like? Certainly you must have to feed every night? Why do we not hear of nightly attacks?"

"Dr. Brantley, remember how I said Trent wanted to come home after the bar, but then his one friend got in his face? Looked like he intimidated Trent?"

"Right. You said that you didn't think it was intimidation, after all."

"Are you familiar with the belief of vampires being able to charm people?"

"Oh, you can't be serious! So Trent went with them because these friends were vampires and forced him to just come along? If they were vampires and they were going out to feed, why would they drag a simple human along, seemingly just to watch? This couldn't have been the first time, according to your story."

"You're right. I found out later it was because they wanted to lure me out to find him."

"Let me guess, breeding stock for some vampire orgy?"

"Well, breeding stock, yes. Only females can turn humans into vampires."

Dr. Brantley was practically livid at this point. With a quick jerk, he blatantly untied the final knot that he'd been slowly working on with his left hand and bolted upright, "This is ridiculous, Marie! I'm calling the police and you will get the help you so desperately need!"

Dr. Brantley walked over to his desk and picked up the receiver. In a motion humanly impossible, Marie was standing next to him, the phone cable ripped from the wall socket.

"I thought I told you to stay put?" Marie's dark, angry voice had returned now.

"What? How?" Dr. Brantley stammered while Marie walked him back to the chair.

"All I wanted was some help! You couldn't even offer some to a person that was in distress? How DARE you call yourself a doctor?"

"Marie, what's going on?" Dr. Brantley was shocked at the small woman's incredible strength.

"Read your notes, it's why you needed a notepad!" Marie's voice thundered.

"But that's impossible! Vampires aren't real!" Dr. Brantley blurted.

"Oh, we are real, Doctor! And sadly, almost everything about us is real. Did you know it's been over a year since I've even seen the sun? Oh, and not for lack of trying, either. Once I burned myself so badly I fell as soon as I got out of the sun and it wasn't until Trent brought me some food that night before I could walk again."

"Marie? Oh, my, Marie! You suffered from a fairly severe case of seasonal depression. I can't imagine what going this long without sun has done to you!"

"I miss the sun, Doctor!" Marie shouted, now in tears, her chest heaving with each sob. "When I became pregnant, I used to think the children would help me feel better. I used to think that knowing they depended on me would help me keep from getting depressed. It helped a little bit, but soon there was nothing they could do or say to get me out of my funks. Only the sun could ever help. Now, I can't even look at sunlight without hurting my eyes."

"Marie, the University Medical department has an amazing research department. If you and your family were to check yourselves in, I'm sure they could run some tests and figure out how to help you. Maybe even figure out how to cure you."

"Doctor, no matter how depressed I am or ever get, I will never let myself or my family become guinuea pigs or lab rats. Thank you for finally trying to help, though."

"Marie, you have to do something. At the very least, you and your family have to move out of the area. Surely you know that hurting people is wrong?"

"Doctor, what choice do I have? If we don't take someone every night, we don't eat. If we don't eat, we die very painfully. I can't allow my family to do that, can I?"

"Marie, you need to understand that everyone has a survival instinct, but it can be turned off. Normally I would never condone self termination, but if you're unwilling to seek a cure, there's really only one option left. You need to think about what's best for everyone."

"Dr. Brantley, don't ever think that I'm happy with what happened to myself and my family. If I could go back and stop this from happening, I would. You know, those miserable bastards actually moved into our home, as well? They refer to it as our "nest". They sicken me and I hate them. I want to kill them."

"Marie, listen to me. You are feeling helpless right now because you feel victimized and because you think they took your life away. Marie, listen. I think I just figured out what's going on. In fact, I feel silly for having bought into the vampire story. There are many drugs that you could take that would allow an adrenaline rush to make you move faster and be stronger. I also suspect my fear had helped convince me of this delusion as well."

"Delusion?" Marie looked at the doctor menacingly, "Please explain, Doctor."

"Marie, did Trent leave you? Take the kids and move somewhere? I suspect you invented these "friends" of his as a way of explaining why he would leave you in the first place. The depression was intense, and you have associated the sun with happiness and nighttime with depression, so the vampire connection makes sense. If vampires were real and you had become one, that would be the equivilent of hell for you. Marie, I can help. Let me check you into the local hospital. I promise you, Marie, we will take care of you."

"You still don't believe me?" Marie asked, echoes of the sad, compassionate person she once was coming out.

"Let me show you, Marie. I'll open the curtains and the sun won't hurt you!" Dr. Brantley said, moving towards the curtains.

"No, Doctor, the sun will kill me! You mustn't!"

"Marie, let me show you that you have nothing to fear!" Dr. Brantley said in the most calming voice he could muster. He held one hand out, palm facing the ground, trying to calm Marie, while slowly reaching his other hand up to the curtains.

"Doctor, I'm warning you, if you open those curtains, I will make you regret it!"

"Nonsense, Marie, you need to see this delusion for what it is!"

Dr. Brantley's other hand jerked down quickly, tearing the curtains off the window rod. No light flooded in, however, only the darkness of night. He could see streetlights on in the parking lot below and the traffic lights of Emery Avenue just beyond the tree line that bordered Dr. Brantley's office building.

"Why did you try to kill me, Dr. Brantley?" Marie asked, her voice no longer hollow, but also lacking an intense anger.

"I didn't, Marie. I'm trying to show you that you can't be a vampire, they're not real!"

"I told you that you'd regret opening those curtains, Doctor. Now this puts us in a bad situation. If I don't make you regret it, I'll be setting a precedent, I think you called it. You said that if I told Trent to shape up or I was moving out, that I had to make good on that threat or he'd walk over me for the rest of our relationship. So now I have to make you regret it. You understand, right?"

"Marie, this is hardly the situation-," Dr. Brantley stammered as Marie inched closer and placed a finger over his lips.

"Shh. Your approval is neither needed nor wanted."

Dr. Brantley whimpered faintly as Marie's hand came up more quickly than he could've anticipated. He felt a sharp blow to the back of his head and barely felt himself hit the ground and darkness enveloped him.

#

Sunlight poured in, shining on Dr. Brantley's face as his eyes blinked, adjusting to the bright light around him. He heard some shouting in the distance and, shaking the haze from his thoughts and mind, got up to open the door. As he opened the door, he saw two uniformed police officers approach. Upon seeing Dr. Brantley, they stopped cold and, reaching for their handguns, asked, "Are you Dr. Dennis Brantley?"

Dr. Brantley blinked once, then stammered, "Yes, yes I am. What can I do for you, Officer?"

The second officer stepped forward, "Do you live at 224 West Gentry Street?"

"Yes, that's my address. What's going on?"

"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to come with us."

"What is this about?"

Again, the first officer chimed in, "Sir, officers responded to a 911 call placed earlier saying they heard screaming from inside and saw smoke coming out of the home."

The first officer's voice started to break towards sadness while the second officer's voice hardened, "First responders arrived and put out a fire. Your wife was killed in the fire, her body was discovered tied to the bed. It looks like she was burned alive. Your neighbors say they saw you leaving the place less than an hour before the fire started."

Dr. Brantley's jaw dropped and his heart caught in his throat. His Melissa. Gone. The words of the officers faded away and he barely registered when they placed the handcuffs on him. He didn't even notice when the second officer searched his office. When the officer returned with a notepad and questions, however, Dr. Brantley found his voice.

"Marie Matheson. She was a patient of mine. She attacked me last night and brought me here. Started telling me some fantasy about being turned into a vampire and such. She said I'd regret not believing her."

"Right."

Dr. Brantley didn't even look at the second officer when he scoffed, deciding instead to continue. "I have her address in her file. Go find her yourself. You'll see she's in a deranged state!"

The first officer nodded to the second officer, "You take him in, I'll check this out."

"Sure thing." The second officer grabbed Dr. Brantley by the arms and moved him toward the elevator.

"In the meantime, Doctor, you have the right to remain silent."

#

"This is where that Matheson lady lives?"

"Got the address from Dr. Brantley's files, myself."

"Nice neighborhood, but the place looks like a shithole." Detective Martin Anderson sipped his coffee and put it back in the cupholder as he got out of his car. His coat hung easily off his broad shoulders as he walked to the door and knocked, taking a small contingent of uniformed officers with him. He knocked again, but no answer.

"Mrs. Marie Matheson, are you there?"

Detective Anderson listened carefully at the door for any response. He was about to give up when he heard the gentle sob of a child and a calming reply from a woman's voice.

"Ma'am, this is Detective Martin Anderson, Portland Police Department. Please come to the door, we have some questions for you."

Detective Anderson waited, but still no answer. He tried the door knob, but it was locked.

"Ma'am, come to the door now or I will be forced to break the door down."

The officers behind Detective Anderson shifted nervously. Few officers relished the idea of a situation escalating like this.

"Alright, Ma'am, you've left us no choice. Stand away from the door, we're breaking it down!"

Detective Anderson nodded to his men and they brought up a small battering ram. With one quick motion, the door popped free of the jam. Detective Anderson and the officers also heard the distinctive sound of a wire snapping. They dove for cover, expecting an explosion. When one didn't happen, they started poking their heads up. One of the officers shouted, "The curtains tore open! Oh my-!"

The officer didn't finish his statement. Detective Anderson raced into the house only to find Marie sitting on the floor, clutching her children at her sides, the three of them on fire. Also in the living room were six other people, five men and one woman, also on fire.

It was a few hours later by the time the fire had been put out and a thorough investigation of the Matheson house was complete. A Fire Marshall walked up to Detective Anderson and gave his report.

"Well, Detective, no doubt about it. Same burn patterns and MO of the Brantley woman. Same person killed them both."

"When we opened the door, we heard the wire snap, otherwise we'd probably have been in there, too. You suppose Dr. Brantley set this up as a trap for us, as well?"

"I don't see any other explanation."

"Dr. Brantley said this Marie woman was deranged. Come to think of it, she had kind of an odd smile on her face until the fire completely engulfed her. Any chance she started both fires?"

"Highly unlikely. She'd pretty much have to get the others in the house to be okay with it. Not saying it's not possible, but gosh, how often do you suppose seven people get together to set themselves and two small children on fire? Nah, this is the work of a really sick bastard."

"Alright, well, between what the officers got at Dr. Brantley's home and office and what you're telling me here, I think this Dr. Brantley's going to go away for a long time."

"This is really tragic, Martin. I hope they throw away the key."

"Oh, don't worry. If I have my way, this bastard won't see the sun for a very long time."