The Powerful Beat

chapter one

Thump Thump! Thump Thump! Thump Thump!

It was driving him mad, every night from when he woke at night to the morning when he slept, nothing but that sound. He was both fascinated and annoyed about it, that little heart calling to him like a spell. He could tell by how it was beating that the little heart was fighting every second, rebelling against the natural order to give in. It fascinated him how such a mortal could keep going like that. How it was him who heard its cries. He had asked the others about it, but they all denied its existence. Lestat was sure it was real, either that or he was going mad.

It was one fateful night, fresh from a kill that Lestat stumbled upon a house.  Secluded from the rest of the street, tucked away in a world of its own. The front garden overgrown, windows bordered up or smashed in, it looks older than Lestat. Though years had not been kind to it.  The vines of nature claiming it, but Lestat knew there was life in there. He heard that oh so familiar heart beat that was so strong. He made a feline leap over the rusty gate, landing gracefully in the front yard. He fully intended to know what that sound was.

He could sense others of his kind, three he thought. Rather young ones, no more than ten years into the vampire life. They were in the upper part of the house. The heart beat he could hear didn't belong to any of them, it was located a lot lower down in the very bottom of the house.

He followed it like a spell, needing to find out what it was. What it was that had bothered him so much for many nights. He decided to look around the house first, seeing if there was a clear entrance in that wouldn't alert the occupants of the household. He had moved to the back, finding it a safe route then the front, there he found the back door locked and very intacted. He managed to unlock it with his mind and enter into the building.

Lestat had no real clue where anything was in the house and was purely running on the heartbeat to guide him. He was led into the hallway, a little small square space just before a giant kitchen, the whole building inside smelt of decay, he was sure someone had died here recently or maybe a few given the intensity of the smell. To the left of him was a door, he could hear the powerful thumps of the heart.

He, too, had to unlock it to get inside. The door creaked open as the hinges protested. He was met with a darker room one mortal eyes couldn't see in, but him, having vampire powers, could see just fine. He started his descent down the old wooden stairs, each creaking under his weight.  He made it to the bottom in seconds, a big open area before him and the smell of decay even stronger.

He scanned the room quickly, disgusted with what greeted him, in the room filled in every corner were bodies of the young. Stacked up on each other  like garbage. He could see them with their eyes wide open and their necks torn to pieces, each holding the same lasting expression of terror. The vampire that did this was fussy, each person mirroring each other, same build, same hair, same eyes. All girls around 15 to 20. It eerily reminded Lestat of his begins as a vampire. He stepped over bodies to dive in further, still following that oh so powerful heart that beat the loudest he'd ever heard it.

He saw a room at the back of the larger one. The door was shut, but he was convinced that the mortal with the powerful heart was behind it. He unlocked this one too and slowly pushed the door open. He was met with a dim lit room the bulb in which the poor light was coming from was barely working and flickered every now and then. The room felt cold, even to Lestat. He scanned around the small box like room finally landing his blue eyes on a figure huddled in the corner.  She was curled up against the wall, her whole figure trembling as she attempted to push herself further to the wall. Lestat took a slow step towards her, not wanting to scare her too much. He could hear the fear through her mind and didn't want to add to her torment.

Her neck too had been torn at, but multiple times. She had refused to die to her attacker, and by the looks of it, the vampire had returned for more. She whimpered a delicate noise to Lestat ears as he stood in front of her, he bent down as to not appear so intimidating. The heart beating faster in her chest as a silent cry that it was ready to battle again.

The girl looked exhausted though even the little act of moving towards the wall had worn her out and she rested her head on the wall trying to preserve her energy a little.

“ I won't hurt you" Lestat stated to her calmly. She made no attempt to response in words, just tighten her hold on her legs a little bit and pushed her head close to the wall.

“ I heard your heart, Cherie, I came to save you.” He stated again, hoping she would believe his sincerity.

She raised her head a little, and he was met with these very intense blue eyes, a little too big for her face. Her face an oval shape, very pale with little freckles adorning her cheeks and nose. Her lips were full though dry and cracking, her thick mousy brown hair fell in front of her face, a thick wild mound with a mind of its own stuck out from every direction.

Lestat could see her beauty even in the filth that it was caked in. Her eyes were weary, filled with tears and bloodshot from lack of sleep.  Lestat could see she was battling to believe him. Her small, petite frame shocked from either the cold of this small room or fear.

He waited patiently for the girl to make the next move, and that she did. Very delicately she reached her small hand out towards him and the rattle of chain connected to her shackles filled the room. He stayed still curious about what the girl would do. She rested her hand on his chest, pushed very little, but he barely felt it.

“Real?” She muttered, barely audible but Lestat heard it with his sensitive vampire ears.

“Yes Cherie very real. I'm here to save you.” He stated to her again.

“Do you want that Cherie. Would you like to come with me out of this place?” He asked, trying to prompt a response from the girl to get her out of this place. He was listening intently to the occupants upstairs to make sure they weren't coming anywhere near down here. Even though Lestat could take them with all his strength, he just wanted to get the girl out calmly and quickly.

The girl nodded after thinking a lot. This gave Lestat the permission he needed to do. He reached for her wrist gripping at the shackles on either side and pulled, breaking the shackle from her wrist. He then scanned over her other limbs to make sure that she had no more attached to her. Her wrist looked sore, lestat was sure the girl had been here a while.

“Im going to pick you up, Cherie.” He warned her as he moved closer, scooping her up, careful not to hold her too tightly for he could break her so easily.

She curled up into his chest. Her head buried in the side of his neck.