The Skin Of A Killer

Abuse

"Kristina Rye James!"

Of course, what other way to end my night with the usual beating upon from my dad. I already knew what he was going to say, so I did not want to go down there. I was just about to fall asleep too.

I glanced over at my twin, Christa, who was already looking at me from under her own bed covers. She knew what was going to happen too. Even though both of us got beaten often, I always took my sisters beating. She was too precious and innocent, even though she was the older one. I couldn't let anyone hurt her.

A few more seconds and I could hear my fathers loud footsteps coming up the stairs. We had a fairly big house that was mostly empty so every little sound echoed. The door burst open, interrupting my thoughts as the silhouette of a drunken man stood in the doorway. Sometimes I just couldn't believe a man like this was the one I had to call dad.

Within half a second he stomped over to my sisters bed, lifting her up by the neck as her small body dangled beneath her. Anger sparked in me and I stood up in my own bed, yelling at my dad.

"Leave her alone she didn't do anything!" I yelled without regret. Also I forgot to mention me and my family are rarebreeds in this weird world of ours. But my mom was a normal vampire so it made me and my twin half breeds. I guess we were terrifying even as young as we were, with a breed as dangerous as my dads.

My thoughts trailed off as I was thrown onto the ground, slight flames sparking on the floor as I hit the carpet, which gave me a little burn that, by now I was used to. I looked up at the figure, the only thing visible were the flaring red eyes that illuminated only part of his face.

Without thinking I stood up, not caring what would come my way as I grabbed the lamp me and my sister had in my room and used my sisters bed as a boost to smash it on my dads head. Kinda reminded me of a fight scene from those fake wrestling shows, made me laugh on the inside. But that laughter quickly faded as I seen my dads face in the light that was now on thanks to my life saving mom.

He grabbed me by my neck, lifting me up as I struggled for breath. I could go quite a while without breathing but not when I'm struggling like this. I used what strength I had and kicked my fathers chest, eventually getting to his neck making him drop me. He grabbed his through, and my mom pulled me away from him. She already had my sister, who had by now grabbed me in her arms as I caught my breath. We watched in fear as the shouting between the two began.

"Why do you always do this?! They're just kids, Daniel!" My mother yelled at the man whose eyes were now flaming. A weird side effect of being one of us, was that eyes changed depending on mood. I could never have a crush on a girl without them finding out soon because of it.

"But they're the ones always making this house fucking messy!" He yelled back.

"It's you that never cleans up your mess but instead makes them do it! All we ever see in this damn house anymore are beer cans and whiskey bottles!" My mother snapped back at him. Then just like that, she fell to the ground as tears welled up in her eyes. My father had hit her, which made me even more mad as I struggled to get out of my twins grip. I'm pretty sure by now my eyes looked almost like my dads, the flaring red lighting what was left of the darkness.

My sister continued to hold me back as I watched my mom take my fathers powerful hits. My vision blurred as a bright blue overcame the red from my eyes. Icy tears fell on me and my sisters arms, which I was pretty sure were mine.

I don't remember what all happened that night, but I do remember getting out of my sisters grip and running to my dad. It went black after that.

I woke up, cold and shivering as I struggled just to open my eyes. The door was open, my window was shattered, and all the lights in the house were off. Or so it seemed. My room was only lit by the moonlight and the blue from me. I sat up, noticing the headache that had crept up on me. I winced and grabbed the side of my head, only to meet a warm gooey liquid that was my own blood. Sadly, it didn't surprise me.

I simply shrugged it off, knowing whatever the wound was would be healed in at least thirty minutes or else I wouldn't be getting up right now. I forced myself to stand, looking around the room as I seen my twin in the corner, looking limp and pale. My hands shook, as I ran to her and kneeled down, afraid to touch her lifeless appearing body.

I set my hand on her cold shoulder, gently shaking. To my relief her eyes opened, and she groaned slightly. She didn't appear hurt or with any major wounds, so, with care, I grabbed her and hugged her tightly.

"What happened.." She muttered. I smiled through cold tears.

"I was just going to ask you that." I replied into her shoulder. Suddenly we both stopped, hearing footsteps coming to the door. We both turned our heads in fear of what was coming, only to see the gentle and caring, yet bruised, face of our mom. She quietly ran to us, grabbing her two daughters in her arms.

"Oh my babies I'm so sorry. I so, so, sorry." She said between gasps. She gently stroked my head until her hand met the liquid, as she quickly retracted and looked at it.

"Is this...?" She mumbled barely audible to us two as she studied her hand in the darkness, before smelling it. She gently grabbed my head to inspect the wound, which was halfway healed from earlier already. She knew about our dads ability to heal, along with her own so she knew we'd be fine, but still had the look of concern on her face.

"Where's dad?" I asked, hesitating at the word 'dad'.

"Don't worry about him sweetie he's taken care of." She said, glancing at the busted window.

"Are you sure?" Christa asked, looking at the window where the curtains blew softly with the chilling wind.

It seemed as if she hesitated a bit before answering. "Yes, I'm sure."

I just pushed off the hesitation as I slowly faded back to sleep, still shivering. Yet soon I was laid down and a blanket of warmth fell over me. I fell back asleep, the normal nightmare of my sister leaving returning, causing me to awake.

I sat up, looking around as I seen the moonlight still shining through. I looked out the window, seeing a line of blue over the distant mountains that surrounded our small town, signifying morning wasn't too far.

I laid back down uneasily, curling up under the blanket as I was earlier. But just as I was about to fall back asleep I heard my sister whimper, as if scared. My eyes opened lazily, as I faced my sister who was rolling over in bed. 'Probably just a bad dream.' I thought to myself before fading back to sleep, only to be woken by my mothers screams, and the familiar voice that belonged to the man I was forced to call father.