Seekers of The Night

Le chapitre trois

He stopped in the middle of the narrow staircase he was climbing as he thought about her beauty.

The one thing she used to her advantage. It was true his kind was graced with the power of beauty, using it as a weapon, a prop to lure in the prey. The way her red soulless eyes would look when she saw her next victim. Or the way her perfectly blood red manicured nails would turn into sharp daggers when she had them where she wanted them, right about to pounce. Her chocolate brown hair curled and pulled up to reveal her long neck, a weakness for the hungry human men. Her favorite. He snapped out of his faze, moving up the steps faster than any human could.

In his eyes, he didn’t see all of that. She was still the same 17 year old he had known when he was human. Nothing could change that. Nothing could erase the horrible night from his memory; he regretted it every second of his life. He could not leave behind, because it was simply a part of him this one thing. The reason he did not turn humans into blood sucking leeches like him.  Regret was the only thing that tied him to her. His eyes flared red for a second before returning to the normal black.

He knew where she would be, the highest floor in the building. How cliché, he thought, fuming as he came to a dusty door in the deserted corridor on the third floor of the school. Everyone knew about the third floor corridor. Many students would sneak up here to skip class and waste away their time, making out with a crush in the dust filled closets.

The smell only intensified as he neared the closet farthest from the set of stairs. The hallway black from the lack of windows. She had always picked her meeting places so well, he thought darkly.  The dark was no problem for him, him being one with the night. He could still see all the microscopic cracks and chunks of granite missing in the floor. Could see the dust floating around in the moving air. Even the ants crawling its way up the brick wall in a straight line.

He walked purposefully towards the threatening wood door, his head high, and his cold hands in the front pockets of his black jeans.

He was going to do it, be done with her. Forever. Finally, he could be free from the guilty conscious he had carried around with him for the last five hundred years of his never-ending life. How wonderful it would feel…to be free. She was after all, the reason why he had lost everything. Why he chose to be a nomad. Or was he forced…he couldn’t remember now as he reached for the doorknob. Turning it slowly like they did in horror movies, as if they knew something bad was going to be on the other side.

To nobody’s surprise, there she stood. Leaning back against the wall. Her blood red nails showed beneath her elbows as they crossed in front of her armor-clad chest. Immediately his plan went out the window as soon as his eyes spotted the smooth, black, thick armor she wore that wrapped around her chest and neck. Her legs were left bare, only in tight fitting black jeans, her feet in running shoes, although it did little good.

“Hello, James. Long time, no see.” She said her voice smooth and silky. Yet there was an undertone to her voice. Something that was on the edge of both venomous and controlled.  

“What do you want, Mia?” He spat, crossing his arms in front of his tight chest.

“Is that really how you would greet an old friend, James?” She said coyly, pouting her blood red lips, making her way over to him at the door.

“You are no friend of mine, Mia. You’re here for a reason, tell me or I’m leaving. What will it be?” He bit out, biting his tongue as she advanced more on him. She repulsed him that much she could see. It was written plainly on his face. His eyes snapped from dark red to orange before settling on black again.

“I see it in your eyes, you know. I’m not here for the reason you think.” Mia murmured, leaning close to his face.

“And what reason would that be?” He quirked an eyebrow up at her. Not relaxing his stance, he took a step away from her. She looked momentarily hurt before her beautiful face returned to the emotionless mask all vampires wore.

“You think I’m here to use you again, to get something from you that I do not already have…”She trailed off looking towards the ground, trying to look innocent. If he hadn’t known her so long, he would have believed the fake façade.

He took in a deep breath and released it before he spoke the words he already regretted. “What do you need?” He sighed, looking down at the girl as she looked at him with a sweet smile on those blood red lips of hers.

She smiled triumphantly up at him, displaying straight white teeth.

“I knew you would come around, cannot say no to me...can you.” She whispered mockingly, grabbing ahold of his shirtsleeve. He took another step back; he hadn’t realized just how far he had gone when his back hit the wall opposite the door.

“When was the last time you talked to Luka, James?” He expected her to be mean, and coy. But this…this was something else. A low blow. It was the one thing he didn’t want to talk about.  Ever. After everything that happened between them, the fight. The reason he now despised the one…thing, standing in front of him. He expected many things to come out of her mouth, hateful or not. But this was the one thing he never expected her to ask.

“You have no right to ask that!” A growled escaped from his chest, his eyes blazing a deep red. A human couldn’t even begin to process what happened next as he swiped a hand towards her armored neck. Taking a hold of it, he slammed her back against the wall he had just been leaning against.

“I’ll take that as a ‘been awhile’ then, shall I? I can see it is still a touchy subject then…” She murmured, making no move to get out of death grip on her neck.

“What about him, Mia. Tell me!” James growled his chest rumbling as he shook her. He didn’t want to play games, not with her. Luckily, he had just fed so his strength was up, and so were his emotions. Feeding off humans always had its negatives, this being one of them. Your emotions being ten times stronger than normal.

“You mean, you really do not know? Wow…what kind of shell do you live in? Or are you just trying to blend in. Be one with the humans,” She sneered, her red lips making an unattractive line across her face “I knew you would go downhill…but this. This is at the very lowest I have ever seen you.” She purred.

His eyes dropped instantly from red to black and back again. Going over the pattern every few seconds, red to black. Black to red.

“You filthy leech!” he roared, his fangs unsheathed themselves from his gums and revealed themselves on his lips as he hissed at her. Almost carelessly but accurately he threw her into the wall on the other side of the hallway. To his disappointment, before she could collide with the hard rock she sprang around in midair, right back at him. Her own fangs showing on her lips.

“This coming from the leech himself. Tell me; does it get easier to be around them? Their sweet blood flooding all of your senses. So much so that you cannot process what is going on around you. You have become weak, brother.” She purred, stalking towards him.  Her eyes turned a vicious red color as she advanced on him.

“I’m done with you,” He snarled, his hands turning into claws. He turned his back on her, using inhuman speed to reach the stairs just as she innocently purred out, “Oh? Then who is going to save poor little Luka? Huh?”