Short and Sweet

Scarlet Eyes (continued)

    The darkness crowded the streets more than people this night. No one seemed to be interested in being out in the big city anymore. There had been a rash of animal attacks lately, but anyone who had seen the bodies knew that the only animal that could leave a puncture wound such as the ones found on the dead bodies was a snake. Snakes don't drink blood. The bodies were found at odd angles, dangling from high buildings. The corpse's eyes were always wide with terror, and sometimes they had broken bones. There was no correlation between the victims; they didn't know each other, or if they did they didn't live anywhere near one another. The cases were frustrating the police, but Samuel knew what was going on.
    "I didn't starve myself for thousands of years, to have greedy little impure monsters to make me look bad," he growled to himself while clenching his teeth, sneering. He was sick of having to be a vigilante for the humans, and sick of these imitations of his kind roaming around making him look bad. It irritated him to no end that these creatures were around.
    From far away Samuel heard a scream. A woman screaming like she was being attacked by something she had never dreamed could be real. That was Samuel's cue. He stood from the bench where he had been sitting, dusting himself off, and disappearing in a blur of motion. His long, black shirt and blue jeans making no sound as he moved. He followed the scream to a dead end in an alleyway. As he had thought, a woman was cowering in the corner; a strange creature looming over her. Samuel spat on the ground getting the creature's attention. The strange being turned its head to look at Samuel, it growled and hissed frustrated by the delay in its meal.
    "Shut up and come at me." Samuel grinned slightly drawing a hand up through his shaggy auburn hair. The creature charged. Samuel sighed looking at its slow movements. This wasn't the one responsible for the previously killings. This creature had never fed before. It was too slow, movements too jerky, too much like a child learning to walk. He reached his hand out and slapped the creature away. It had potential to regain its thought processes. The creature hit the wall with a soft grunt as it went unconscious. He went to the creature, shaking his head he mumbled.
    "Poor thing. I'm going to find out who is doing this to people." Then he stood up, and walked over to the woman. She was curled up into a ball sobbing. This was common, but she smelled of blood. By the strength of the smell he would say she was bleeding out, and needed to be rushed to the hospital... but she wasn't bleeding anywhere that he could see. Gently, he reached his hand down and turned her to face him. She wasn't a woman; she was a girl no older then sixteen and she was bleeding from her nose, and eyes.
    The girl scrambled for her purse, grabbing a bottle with odd greenish pills inside. The pills were almost as big as the girl's thumb nail, but she swallowed one whole without water. Then she began to wipe at her face with a blood stained handkerchief. Samuel was beside himself with astonishment. In more than two thousand years he had never seen something like this.
    "Did it do that?" he asked kneeling down, and holding out a hand. The girl swung her hand around towards his face; he caught her by the wrist. "Don't do that, you'll get hurt." He let go, but he continued to examine the blood streaks on her cheeks.
    "No," she said in a hushed tone. She understood he was her rescuer, but she still seemed to be quite nervous about him. "It's a medical condition. Physicoticoxide, the short explanation is my body over produces blood." The girl pulled a spray bottle from her bag, dampening her little cloth with it and continuing to wipe at her face. Soon all visible traces of blood were gone.
    "Someone like you shouldn't be wondering the streets alone at night," Samuel said offering his hand once more to help her to her feet. She ignored him, and pushed herself up wiping the dirt off of her hands on her black tights.
    "Thanks for saving me and everything, but I'm not a damsel in destress. You're not my hero. Take your pet monster and go away." She grabbed her bag and turned her back to him, walking towards the mouth of the alleyway .Samuel watched her confused, and rather astonished by her attitude towards him. He scooped up the fledgling that he had knocked aside, before following her.
    "Why, after being attacked once would you go out of your way to be alone?" he asked from behind her. She turned back to face him, her hands on her hips.
    "I wiped away the blood. Now it doesn't matter," she said frowning at him. He looked at her tilting his head.
    "You smell like blood whether the physical traces are gone or not. You are human, they will know and come after you. The face that you're a walking blood phosit is just an upside." He raised his nose to the air, sniffing at it like a dog winding. "I can still smell the blood you wiped away, it's all over your bag now, your hands, your face, and that little cloth you carry. It isn't stronger than it was, but it is definitely more noticeable." Samuel took a step closer, and she took a step back.
    "Look girl," he sighed softly. "I have to get this thing back to my place and locked up before it hurts anyone else. I can take you to your place, or you can come back with me. I'm not leaving you out here alone." He held out his hand, one last attempt at a semblance of friendship with the girl. She stared back at him; trying to hide her fear, but the scent came almost as strongly off of her as the smell of blood. She closed her eyes, reaching her hand out and taking his.
    "My name is Tess, don't call me girl again," She muttered as Samuel gently pulled her close enough so that he wouldn't drop her when he began to travel.
    "Alright Tess. Hold on then," he said in a hushed tone. Tess would have screamed if the breath hadn't been knocked out of her by the sheer speed that they traveled at. The world flew by them in a blur, colours and lights mixing around her. Creating a world she had never seen before.