Darkness can sometimes overcome somebody, but just remember that however dark a person may be, the way to cure them is to allow your soul to wash away the darkness, for any darkness is weak compared to the light your soul has to offer.
Romania, 262 B.C.
Height of the Roman Empire
A demon stared down at the corpses around him. The sight of the slaughter called a hint of a smirk to the corner of his lips. He had just destroyed a patrol of twelve soldiers of the Roman Empire. They came looking for Carthage soldiers, but, instead, found death. It had been an easy battle, the blood of which caked his armor, sword, face, and long, dark brown hair. Small chunks of flesh stuck inside of the small cracks along the sides of his large claymore. He brought the blade to his lips and ran his tongue over the smooth, cool steel, savoring the delicacy of the blood, shivering at the refreshment it brought.
"So this is what you do all day?" a female voice demanded, as she approached from behind.
"If you mean kill, then yes, mostly," he replied, without turning to look at the woman.
"I must say, Casmiere, I thought you better than this," the woman said, gently. "You didn't leave me a single one."
He turned a smirk to the woman and slid the sword into the sheath on his back. "What can I say? I have a knack for killing," he replied.
The woman responded with a slight chuckle, and he moved to embrace her, wrapping an arm around her waist, and pulling her hard against the chest plate of his cuirass. He then leaned forward, planting a soft kiss on her lips.
She pulled away from him and stared into his red and orange eyes. "You taste like blood," she noted, before going in for a harder kiss.
America, Present day
Casmiere opened his eyes as a soft wind blew against his cheek, and the morning sun bore down hard through his eyelids. His eyes opened slowly, and he looked up at the blue sky, which was covered in clouds, too thin to stop the sun from breaking through. He lifted himself off of the grass that he was lying on, and studied the forest around him. The trees were complete quiet, despite the number of birds that surrounded him. Animals tend to keep quiet when they sense him, no doubt sensing the evil he knew to be resting inside of him. Casmiere smelled the air. There was definitely something different about it this morning, than when he fell asleep the previous night. With a raised eyebrow, and a face contorted in confusion, Casmiere followed the smell.
It led him deeper and deeper into the woods, until he came across a thin hiker's trail in the middle of the dense forest. He studied the trail from afar, not wanting to invade the personal space of whatever creature he could be smelling. When he got close enough to the trail, he stopped, completely mesmerized. It wasn't a single smell, it was multiple, the majority of which were human, and they were all coming from down the trail. He followed the scent to a campsite, which must've just opened, judging by the multitude of busses that were piling into the large, circular dirt driveway at the front of the camp. The camp had a large flagpole in the center of the dirt circle.
There weren’t only busses, but individual carpools, as well. He stiffened as he heard the sounds of their heartbeats so clear, the sound seemed to come from his own head. He closed his eyes and fought back the temptation to rip the campers' throats out. The shuffling of feet, the beating of hearts, and the loud screams of the children chasing each other around began to overwhelm him. He wanted nothing more than to hear their hearts stop as his teeth sank into heir soft, chewy flesh, and his claws ripped them apart. As he pictured the bloodbath and feast in his head, he felt a familiar pain in his head, as he felt the darkness in him begin to reveal itself. He clenched his fists at an attempt to calm himself. His claws began to grow and dig slightly into his skin. Feeling himself about to lose control, he forced the thoughts out of his head, and focused his attention on anything else, though he couldn't find something that would relax him.
Not until he heard a sound. It was faint and quiet, but it was the most heavenly sound he'd ever heard. It was the soft sound of laughter. Not heavy laughter, but the slightest hint of a chuckle, so soft he nearly missed it. He opened his eyes and looked around for the source. After a few seconds of scanning the grounds, he found the source in a young woman, not too much younger than himself, at probably sixteen or fifteen years old, while he was seventeen. She was gorgeous, too, the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid his eyes on.
He forced his eyes to the ground. It was pure torture looking at her and the group of beautiful girls that surrounded. Despite his rippling muscles and devilishly good looks, he had never been with a woman, and never planned to. He didn't deserve it after being responsible for enough carnage and mayhem to last two lifetimes. Even though, he decided to take another glance at the woman on the other side of the camp. If it wasn't for his enhanced vision, he wouldn't have even been able to see what she looked like.
She had long, bleach blonde hair, which shimmered oddly in the bright sun, and formed what appeared to be a soft halo of light around her head. If her summer gown was white, instead of red and black, he would've even been able to say she looked like an angel. As he stood, admiring her, she looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. Frantically, Casmiere ran his hands over his forehead, letting out a sigh of relief when he found his horns were fully retreated.
Victoria sighed as she stared out the window in the back of the jet black Dodge Charger, watching the trees fly past the window. "How much longer?" she asked the driver, not wanting to be on this trip, as it is.
"Just a little further up the road, Ma'am," he responded. "Would you like some music?"
Victoria smiled at her driver. "Thank you, Markus," she said as he slipped a cd into the drive. Several seconds later, the sound of 'Starships' by Nikki Minaj filled the car, and Victoria couldn't resist singing along. It had always been one of her favorite songs, and she always managed to calm down when listening to it.
The drive didn't last much longer, and she found the car parked in front of the old campgrounds with some of the song left to spare, but her mood had already been heightened from the song, and when Markus opened the door, holding his hand out for her, as always, she accepted it with a large smile plastered on her face. "Thank you, Markus," she repeated.
"You are more than welcome, Ms. Jade," he assured her. "Now, you're father told me tell you, you will not be here, alone. There will be multiple other vampires for your protection, though not even I know who all of them are." He motioned to a group of females climbing off of a buss and walking towards them. "I'm sure you're acquainted to Ms. Sarah Gardner?"
Victoria followed his gesture to a slightly shorter female, not too far ahead of her, with bright red hair. "Yeah, I know her," she assured him.
"Shall I leave you to it?" he asked her.
She smiled at him and, for the last time for the rest of the summer, repeated, "Thank you, Markus."
"Good day, Ms. Jade," he concluded, climbed behind the wheel, and took off down the road. Victoria chuckled softly at the sight of the man doing well over 70.
"Hey, Victoria," Sarah said as she and her friends approached from behind.
"Hey," Victoria greeted, turning around to face them.
"It's good to see you again," Sarah continued. "You look great."
Victoria smiled at her. "Thanks, you, too."
"So, shall we get started with camp stuff?"
"Of course," Victoria agreed. As they headed towards the cabin that had been assigned to them, Victoria stopped. She got the weird sensation she was be watching. She looked to her left to see a man standing in the background of the camp. Being a little paranoid, she decided to read his mind to make sure he wasn't one of the people that were after her. She delighted herself in a smile when she found him thinking something about her looking like an angel. "Not even close," she couldn't help herself from muttering. She raised an eyebrow at him when he began running his hand over his head. She read his mind, again, to find he was actually searching for horns. 'A demon, then?' she thought to herself. She had only ever met one other demon, named Xero, who was like a brother to her.
"Are you coming, Vic?" Sarah called, pulling her from her thoughts.
"What, yeah," she responded, almost completely forgetting where she was. After another quick glance at the demon that was still staring at her, she followed her bunk mates to their cabin.
YOU ARE READING
Prey {editing and revising}
Vampire**The Unwanted, Book 1** Casmiere has never had an easy life. Ever sense his birth, he's been nothing but trouble. He's the last of the demons known as Tesheerans, and doesn't believe he deserves the life he has. His past is filled with carnage an...
