The Kiss: An Anthology About Love and Other Close Encounters(73)

Tim had taken two steps when the front door of the chapel burst open...

And a thing stepped inside the church.

Blue veins spider-webbed across its white skin, which was pulled tightly over a skeletal face and body. It had long, pointed ears and absolutely no hair. Its eyes glowed red in the candlelight.

It smiled, revealing a mouth full of very sharp teeth. “Hell has come to this house of God,” it hissed in a serpentine voice.

Two identical creatures stepped into the church and stood behind the first.

Several people in the church began to scream.

“Everybody, be quiet!” Abbie yelled.

She quickly evaluated the situation before her. All her life, Abbie’s greatest strength was her ability to adapt to any situation. Five minutes earlier, she lived in a more or less “normal” world. Five minutes earlier, her greatest enemy was poverty. Five minutes earlier, her life’s mission was to feed the hungry.

Not anymore.

Within the span of a few seconds, everything changed. Abbie suddenly found herself thrust into a world where monsters were real. And these weren’t metaphorical monsters. They weren’t serial killers or wife abusers. They were actual monsters, straight from the depths of Hell itself.

It took Abbie roughly one second to accept this new reality. As the three creatures made their way toward the group of cowering humans, Abbie wrapped her hand around the rosary hanging from her neck.

“What are those things?” O’Reilly stammered. The terror in his voice indicated he wasn’t quite as good as Abbie when it came to adapting to a new reality.

“I bet it’s connected to that werewolf video, Father,” Tim said. “Apparently, some monsters are real.”


“Are you suggesting these things are werewolves?” O’Reilly said.

“Yes, Father,” Abbie said, no longer able to hide her sarcasm. “Those completely hairless creatures are werewolves.”

Despite the horror of the situation, Tim laughed.

“Come now, holy man,” the lead creature hissed. “Your people have hunted us for centuries. You really don’t know what we are?”

“Everybody,” Abbie yelled, “grab a cross. They’re all over this place. Find the nearest one and pick it up!” Her mind raced with memories of old movies and books. Anything that might give her a hint about fighting these things. It wasn’t exactly a scientific approach, but it was all she had. “And if you see anything that might serve as a wooden stake, grab that too.”

Father O’Reilly wrapped his hands around the crucifix at the end of his rosary and fell to his knees.

“What are you doing?” Abbie said.

“Taking your advice,” O’Reilly answered.

“Get up,” Abbie ordered. “The crosses aren’t for praying, Father.”

O’Reilly looked at her with confused eyes.

“They’re vampires!” Abbie screamed. “I hope you’re just in shock, Father, because if you’re normally this stupid, I fear for our religion.”

The lead vampire laughed. “Save your fear for more tangible things, Sister. Like the fact that we’re about to kill you all.”

Abbie took a step forward, putting herself between the creatures and the humans. She snapped the rosary from her neck. Most of the beads fell to the floor. “You won’t be killing these people tonight.”

The vampire laughed. “Yesterday, you didn’t know we exist. What makes you so sure the old legends have any impact on us?”

“I’m not sure,” Abbie said. “I simply don’t see the downside to trying.”

Without another word, Abbie slammed the top of her crucifix against the vampire’s face. The creature screeched and fell back, a trail of smoke wafting up from its face.

“How did you do that?” someone asked. Abbie wasn’t sure who said it.

“I have no idea,” Abbie said as she looked at the bubbling vampire flesh attached to her tiny cross.

“Looks like I’m not the only person who’s been kissed by divinity,” Tim said.

“Okay,” Abbie said. “Crosses work. We can check that off the list.”

“You’ll die for that, bitch,” the vampire said as it climbed back to its feet. The shape of a cross was burned into the right side of his face. His two companions stood silently behind him. Abbie wasn’t sure if they were intimidated or just waiting for orders.

“You were going to kill me anyway,” Abbie said, “so it’s not really honest to say you’re going to kill me because I burned you with a cross.”

“True,” the vampire said. “Allow me to rephrase my statement. You’ll die painfully because of that.”

“That’s definitely more believable,” Abbie said.

“Back, you creature of the night!”

Abbie glanced back to see Father O’Reilly slowly walking toward the lead vampire. He held his own crucifix in a trembling hand.

“You got that from a movie,” the vampire said. “Please tell me you didn’t come up with that on your own.”

“I said, back!” O’Reilly pressed the cross against the vampire’s forehead.

Nothing happened.

The vampire flashed a toothy grin. “Looks like yours is defective, Father.”