Fear and Blood

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The night was dark and cool, the stars and moon the only light. There was no noise, no wind, nothing, all was perfectly peaceful, but he knew there was something wrong. How could the world be at peace when he was on fire inside?

The more he drank the worse the cravings became. He couldn't stop them, they were driving him insane. All he could see, all he could feel, all he could think about was the blood. Maybe he was already insane, but he found he didn't care. What did it matter? As long as he had blood, everything was fine.

His teeth pierced the soft flesh of her neck easily, spilling sweet, delicious blood into his mouth. Her body was stiff with fear as be began to drain her, but as he fed her struggling slowed and she went limp in his arms. The blood tasted so good, so sweet, he couldn't get enough. The red haze was all he saw as he sank further and further into the dark, the taste of the blood on his tongue.

Ly sat up in bed, panting and covered in sweat. The dreams were back, worse than they had been for the past year. Just as he thought he was getting over them, that at least one aspect of his life was back to normal, they came back. Dreams of before he had been saved by Tristan, reminding him of how good it felt to be free, how much better living blood was when compared to the packets he drank now. Reminding him of what a monster he had been then, what he still could be.

He lay back down and looked at his clock. It was only two pm, to early for him to get up, but he knew he would never get back to sleep, not after what he had just seen. Sometimes he wished Tristan had done the merciful thing, the right thing, and killed him three years ago. At the very least it would have stopped him from having to relive his past over and over again.

Groaning he got out of bed, walked to his private bathroom and closed the door. He didn't look at his reflection in the mirror as he washed his face with ice cold water, he just stood, arms resting on the edge of the sink and watched the water flow from the tap, into the white basin and down the drain.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath in an attempt to dispel the images that still clouded his mind. Why now? He thought angrily as he turned off the tap and began to peal off his sweaty clothes. Why do they have to come back, this strong? I thought I was getting better.

He sighed and stepped into the shower, knowing that the dreams would never really go completely. He would never truly recover from his life before. He knew, with an absolute certainty, that he would always be the monster his brother feared he had become. There was no taking back what he had done.

After a long shower, he made his way downstairs to the kitchen, hoping to find something to calm him down and take his mind off the past. He was out of cigarettes, but he could probably find some vodka or, failing that, some chocolate.

No one else should have been awake that early, so it shocked him to find that Cassian Varro, one of Tristan's closest friends, was also wandering about. Ly stopped, wondering what the other vampire could possibly be doing this early in the afternoon.

Cassian had lived with Tristan in the Aleron family estate since before Ly had come back. He was very thin and a few centimetres shorter than Ly. His dark brown hair was shoulder length, but he kept it tied back to keep it off his face and his soft brown eyes always seemed friendly and inviting.

Ly hated him with a passion. From what Tristan had told him, Cassian had moved from a small southern group of vampires to be closer to the centre of action. He was almost as dedicated to the peace movement as Tristan was and this annoyed Ly. Tristan had a real reason to want peace, were as he felt Cassian was just sucking up to Tristan, to be close to his power. For some reason Ly had never felt Cassian was sincere in his support of the peace movement.