The noise of jungle animals in the night coupled with the cries of the woman in labor on the other side of the curtain had Caleb’s nerves wearing thin. The smell of her discharge from when her water had broken mildly disoriented him. That the hour was so late only added to his agitation, and the yawn that came ended in more of a snarl than usual.

Mark, his handler, calm and vigilant as ever, merely turned his head to look at his charge. “It cannot be long now. Miss Wangi will deliver any moment, and then it will strike.”

In response, Caleb merely grunted and stared out the open window. He really hated the idea of using a human as bait, but there was no other way to draw out the target.

The two of them wore plainclothes, as instructed. Mark had opted for a pair of khaki shorts and a floral shirt that obviously came from the discount rack of a tourist shop on the way out here, while Caleb had chosen jeans and a black t-shirt. The heat had eased up over the night, but the humidity still lingered, and both of them were damper than they preferred.

“Seriously, though,” Caleb grumbled, “don’t you think this assignment is a little…played out?”

Mark raised an eyebrow as he pondered the statement a moment before asking, “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you know…” Caleb gestured to himself. “We’ve been sent to stop a vampire. There are lots of movies about exactly this sort of scenario.”

Mark frowned. “No, I don’t, and the dossier said ‘a vampiric creature,’ not a vampire necessarily.”

Rolling his eyes, Caleb snorted. “Oh, come on. A vamp’s a vamp. A bit of garlic to keep ‘em at bay, silver,” he shuddered, “a pointy stick, and maybe some fire if needed.”

At that, Mark nodded slowly, “Yes, those are the items in the case, but a vampire is a class-7 creature, and intel suggests that we’re after a class-5. Not exactly the same danger level, but that means that your implied expertise in vampire hunting will not be of much use.”

“Wait, no, I didn’t mean I had hunted vamps.” Caleb slouched. “It’s just…cliché, is all.”

“If you have not hunted a vampire, then-” Mark fell silent as Caleb bolted to his feet.

“Ssh!”

Mark nodded, listening, but the woman’s cries carried on amid the midwife’s prattling in the local tongue. Though he did not notice anything himself, he trusted his charge’s senses and opened the weapons case. Within was their comm gear and an array of stakes, silver knives, vials of what Caleb assumed to be holy water, an aerosol can, and…

Without hesitation, Caleb pocketed an incendiary grenade. “Jungle’s gone quiet. I think it’s close.” He grabbed a stake, choosing to forego the silver.

Mark, deeming it wise to arm himself as well, gripped a knife in each hand.

The lights flickered as a baby’s cries joined the new mother’s, and the hair on back of Caleb’s neck stood up. As the mother quieted, between the newborn’s shrieks he could hear another sound – a rasping breath and shuffling, squelching movement beneath the floorboards.

The hut went dark.

The mother whimpered, and the midwife started babbling something that was likely a prayer.

Caleb padded quietly toward the curtain and pulled it aside, raising his finger to his lips, but then lowered it when he realized only his eyes had already adjusted.

Mark, whose eyes were only a little slower, silently stepped beside him.

Neither said a word, not wanting to alert the creature.

The squelching stopped, and the noise of the creature’s breathing sounded closer. Something scraped against the underside of the floorboards.

Both agents crouched low, eyes scouring the floor for any sign of a breach.

A few inches from Mark’s foot, a thin, slithering tongue poked through and began probing toward the smattering of bodily fluids. Without hesitation, he slashed before it could get a taste.

The thing beneath the floorboards shrieked, and the severed tongue withdrew. An overpowering stench of vinegar filled the air as the detached portion dissolved before their eyes.

In the dim light, Mark’s eyes appeared to flicker briefly as Caleb followed the squelching toward the exterior wall. Before Caleb reached the window, Mark said, “Mr. Thornton, command says you are to stop that creature by any means. Once outside the village, you have faze clearance.”

Caleb turned his head, glancing at his handler out of the corner of his eye. He grinned, but said with a disapproving tone, “Cliché, man.”  With that, he jumped out into the night, leaving Mark with the three humans.

Movement at about shoulder height caught his eye, but even he could not make it out. Though the moon was high and full, the trees blocked out too much to be useful, and the ever-shifting shadows as the leaves fluttered in the wind hindered his vision. Very well, he thought.

He ran out into the jungle in the direction the thing had gone. Once far enough, he fazed. There was no lengthy transformation, no snapping of bones and sinew. Nothing of the sort. He simply inhaled in a man-shape and exhaled as a wolf-man. Dark fur covered his body, safe for a bit of grey that tinged his temples and eyebrows. The jeans he wore now only reached his knees, and his t-shirt was stretched but did not tear. He had chosen them well.

Though his eyes were sharper now, he saw no sign of the creature. No footprints, no branches pushed aside, nothing. Shrugging, he sniffed. Vinegar. He grinned and followed the scent. The trail was direct. Leaving no trace had made the creature complacent. I’ll bet it’s hiding in a cave, or it set up shop in an abandoned temple, or…

His musings stopped as, two minutes out from the village, he came within view of a simple hut. Huh.

Just to be sure, he made a quick lap around the small building, but, no, the trail definitely ended here. Rather humble accommodations for a vamp.

He shrugged to himself and inspected the building. There were no windows, and it was barely large enough to have a single room. Rather anti-climactic, really. My first vamp, and we’re to do battle in a shed. Grandpa would never let me hear the end of it, God rest his soul.

Silence permeated the nearby forest. Though he could hear animals and insects some distance away resuming their activity, nothing living dared come near. Caleb reached up to his ear but found that he hadn’t grabbed an earpiece from the equipment.

With no way to call for backup, he waited as long as he dared, but the dark sky was beginning to gray. Oh, what the hell.

Caleb stepped forward and quickly kicked in the door. Oh, what the hell!

The mingled stench of death, decay, and vinegar billowed out, causing his bile to rise, and he had to force himself not to throw up. Against the far wall sat a decapitated body. It wasn’t the first Caleb had seen, but he had not often seen a body that was both decapitated and hollowed out. To one side was a table.

Upon the table was a fish tank. Within the tank was a mess of entrails, stomach, and lungs – all still attached to a woman’s head and submerged in what definitely smelled to be vinegar.

This vamp is a rather messy eater and has terrible taste in décor, but where did the sucker go? Caleb frowned, a growl rumbling in his throat as he began to explore the very empty hut. There were no hatches. No secret doors. No passages to a proper hiding place. Just an empty husk and half a fish tank of vinegar.

…wait.

A rasping breath echoed through the hut, and Caleb barely ducked in time as a length of intestine swept past. He snarled and rolled away before turning to face his assailant.

Which was the severed head of the woman, floating in the air, her lungs inflating and deflating and rasping all the while, stomach and intestines dangling beneath.

…what the hell?!

Without a word, the thing documented to be a vampiric creature floated toward him. Her mouth opened, and two long, tusk-like fangs protruded from her upper jaw, curving toward away from her chin. Long tongue whipping out and tasting the air, her hate-filled eyes glared at him as she screamed.

Caleb bared his fangs and snarled.

Both attacked simultaneously, she with her dangling intestine, and he with his claws.

Both jerked away, she as her intestines rapidly recovered, and he as his hands sizzled as acidic slime ate at them.

Okay, I wasn’t expecting that… Caleb wiped his hands on the ground to get the slime off, but to no avail. His own regeneration was being hampered. Not good.

The thing screamed at him again, and they met in another brief clash. As much as it stung him to claw at her, it did at least keep her at bay. He just wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever.

Then he kicked himself and drew the stake he had armed himself with earlier. She eyed it and screamed again but seemed hesitant to attack.

Caleb lunged forward, stabbing with the stake. Without a heart to aim for, he made do with her stomach. His aim was true.

She screamed again and flailed about, acid leaking out and spraying everywhere, scorching him wherever it hit.

The stake dissolved, and her stomach sealed up. Oh, what the-

Her tongue darted forward and wrapped about his throat, closing tightly and strong as iron. She began drawing him closer, her jaws opening wide and intestines quivering and dripping. He reached up and drove his claws into her tongue. She screamed but held him fast.

His air cut off and being sprayed with her bile, he collapsed to his knees, scrabbling at her tongue and face as the sky grew brighter outside.

Suddenly, she released him. Gasping for breath, he rolled to get the slime off before attempting to rise. Before his eyes, her intestine was starting to slither into the husk, and her mouth curled into a laugh.

Coughing, he forced himself to rise. Oh, so that’s how it is…

He reached into his pocket. What hair remained unsinged rose as he growled, then he lunged forward and grabbed her by her throat. She blinked at him. He ripped tore her away from the body and flung her to the far wall. A second later, he turned toward her, fangs bared and eyes gleaming.

The creature regained her senses and locked her eyes on his. Screaming once more, she moved started him, but a sudden glow that filled the hut stopped her.

The incendiary grenade he had dropped in the husk ignited, rapidly burning flesh and bone into a foul-smelling puddle and ash.

The creature froze, as if unable to comprehend what had happened nor what to do. As fury twisted her face, Caleb mustered his remaining strength, darted forward, and punched the face hard enough to send it hurling out the door, where sunlight dissolved it into a vinegar-scented cloud.

Adrenaline fading, Caleb returned to his human form, but the acid burns remained. The pain now excruciating, he staggered outside into the early morning.

Mark stood silently, eyeing Caleb and his wounds.

Not a word was spoken for nearly a minute.

Finally, Mark nodded and said, “Mission accomplished. Let’s find the local shaman. You won’t be able to heal until he removes the curse from those sores.”

Caleb, no longer in the mood for banter, winced as he trudged toward the village. Mark, in a rare gesture of kindness, grabbed Caleb’s arm and put it across his shoulders, helping his charge travel.

The two walked in silence until at last the village came into sight. Mark asked, “Vampiric creature versus werewolf. Was it like the movies?”

Caleb simply grunted.