A Little Bit of Rain

         "Tell me about your parents little one.  Why is there so much pain in your eyes?"

         Rebeca knew that she shouldn't trust him.  He was one of the reasons she was this way right?  "It was nothing, no big deal."

         "Don't lesson the experience of what happened to you.  I know it is important to you, and no one should take that away from you.  Allow me to carry a little of this burden, it is the least that I can do.  Who hurt you so?"

         "I don't know why I'm telling you this.  But if you hold it against me, I will walk... regardless the consequences.

         I was very small then, and the world was very big. Daddy worked at a research center on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  He believed in conserving life; he devoted his life to it.  Do you know what a Red Wolf is?  I suppose not.  They were Daddy's pride.  He loved them like he would love his child.  They are a type of American wolf which is on the brink of extinction because of cross breeding with coyotes, domestic dogs, and other wolves.  There are only a few left in captivity today.  Daddy wanted to bring them back.  He thought that every type of creature deserved to have a chance at life regardless of wither they were human or not.

         The Indian thought that the Red Wolves were the ancestors of the modern werewolves.  Daddy had this great idea to capitalize on that and was working with my Uncle Richard in New York to set up an exhibit to raise money and awareness to further the breeding program at the Bronx Zoo.  Everyone thought that it was a great idea.  Daddy brought the whole family to New York to see the grand opening of the exhibit.

         We visited the Bronx zoo the day before the exhibit was set to open.  I remember Mommy saying that it was very late when he left the zoo.  I was so tired because we had to walk a long way to the train.  I was only 10 at the time.  That week I guess they were doing some maintenance on the train because we had to change trains just a few stops into the trip, in the heart of the Bronx.  It was very dark.

         My parents took the wrong hall looking for the train.  We walked down a poorly lit hallway looking for the right subway stop.  I remember that it smelled a little worse in this hall than some of the other ones.  My mother told me to hold her hand tight.  We ran into a dirty man.  I think that he wanted to rob us.  I remember my Dad yelling at the man.  The man got very quiet, and then I heard this terrible ripping sound.  The man was Rolph McBee, and he was a werewolf.  I learned later that the scent of the Red Wolves made him go crazy."

         Rebeca got very silent.  "I watched that monster maul and main my parents, I watched him devour them, I watched those intelligent eyes enjoy every second of it, I watched those eyes watch me and how it excited it."

         Victor put his hand on her arm, "Little one, you don't have to go on."

         "No, you wanted to hear it.  You wanted to know why I look at your kind with such pain and loathing.  You listen.  I've never told anyone this. 

         They thought that I didn't see, but I did.  It was like a movie in slow motion.  I can remember ever single moment of it.  I was so scared that I couldn't run.  I just stood there, and I let it happen.  Did you know that three trains passed by, and no one stopped?  I had to count to keep my mind of what he was doing;  what he did to my parents, and what he did to me. 

         My dad had a hunting knife in his bag; it was present from Uncle Richie.  I don't know how I managed, but I got it.  I tried to stab him.  I was so small, and he was so big.  He smelled like blood, he smelled like my mother when she was really angry at me for not eating my vegetables.  He smelled like my Daddy when he had one of his bad days at work.  Although I don't think I did a lot of damage, it was enough to make Rolph run.

         The police found me the next morning under a bench.  I had passed out sometime during the night.  Someone stole my dad's bag and his knife.  Uncle Richie took me in until he died a few years ago.  Ever since then I have devoted my life to exterminating the non human plague that can destroyed my childhood.  You say there is a difference between you and him Victor, but I have yet to see a difference.

         The police never found Rolph.  They said that he was a lawyer and even if they did catch him, there was very little at the time that they could do to prove him guilty because werewolves do not leave fingerprints.  All the blood at the scene was my parent's or mine."

         Rebeca looked at Victor with many years of tears shed in her dry eyes.  "The pain is mine.  I do not want to share it.  It drives me, and it moves me.  It gives me a reason to live, would you take that away from me?"

         "I would only hope to lesson that pain by helping you to fight the real monsters instead of allowing yourself to become one."  Victor turned and walked out of the room, unable to meet her eyes.  He had no ideas what it meant when he had asked her to investigate the Vampire killings.  After all, he was asking her to defend the very sort of people who she thought might commit those sorts of crimes.  He hoped that he could prove her wrong.