Catharine could hear the quick rhythmic shuffle of her footsteps as she paced under streetlights bathing her in their orange glow. The houses around were settled quietly with pitch black windows leaving the neighborhood in silence, but within her raged a hard noise. She could feel her heart beating hard up to her chest leaving a slight pain in her neck and shoulder.
Thoughts swirled in every which direction in her mind and she was having trouble grasping any one of them. Fear and confusion were in a tug of war on what to do next as she traveled with no destination.
Suddenly, adrenaline shot from her core as she noticed the familiar red and blue lights that flashed through silhouetted leaves.
Her eyes darted around and she rushed to take salvation behind the nearest yard.
The lawn held nothing great to protect her, but she made her commitment and ducked behind trash bins. She pressed her legs close to her chest while she controlled her breathing.
The wheels of a cruiser cracked on the road taking its slow decent. From over her view of the bins that concealed her, she watched the lights flash in the windows' reflections slowly coming down the houses. Her eyes focused on the irregular white light that flashed up into her view. It was searching for her.
Her breathing stopped and her eyes laid on the ground. The white light drove up onto the lawn and all of the worst was flooded through her mind.
Praying to a God she was uncertain existed she held her eyes shut not wanting to face whatever would happen to her.
Upon opening her eyes again there was no relief even after its passing. She sat for a moment. Hopelessness took over her fear. There was no longer an urge in her for escape, but to just cry and call it quits.
She knew she couldn't do that, she needed to at least fight for her freedom. With a deep sigh taking its leave from her chest to steady her breathing she had found within her the strength she needed.
New found confidence taking over, she ran further into the back where she crossed into the next yard. Needing to be quick, if she managed to cross the road and sneak into the next yard she could manage herself through the woods to the main road.
With that, taking a leap of faith into the street, she sprinted. Not even looking for the lights the searched for her she managed to scramble to the next yard. She jumped off the rock wall behind the house and gained momentum as she rolled down the hill of brown pine needles. She was paralyzed for a moment but quickly knew she needed to rally herself back up.
Lifting herself, she knew exactly where to go. She stumbled through pain and darkness but followed the path through fallen trees.
Had she not tripped at one point she would've never noticed the light hanging from the trees and the terrible music coming from it.
She watched it for a moment and realized through a cutout window that it was nothing more than some guys having fun.
Brushing the scene off, she continued to her destination. And when she had arrived, she looked across to the glorious sight of the gas station. It was brightly lit and with one car parked in the lot she hoped was the employee's.
Before taking another leap of faith into the road she hung in the shadows inspecting the street. Everything was so silent she could hear the buzz of the street lights, though on cue as she took another sprint she could hear the sirens start in the distance and it felt almost like a nightmare.
As soon as she reached across the road she gathered herself behind the building and hid in a spot she knew so well. A large bush though covered all around there seemed to be a small entrance next to the tree that was its partner next to it.
Behind the station was another house that had a fence up, but the house lived up further onto the property with almost a wooded area separating the fence and house.
Alone, she sat trying to plot an idea on how to escape and what her next move would be. Her hands dug into the pockets of her hoodie and jeans. She had absolutely nothing.
Her hands massaged around her leg and now that her adrenaline was coming down the pain flared. She was deeply uncomfortable and it didn't just end with her leg.
The wait behind the station was becoming long and the silence was playing with her mind. Every faint noise set paranoia that someone was going to find her.
The anticipation of hiding set a pain in the core of her abdomen. She needed to pee and the longer she tried to be still and silent the urge would continue to sting. The space around her wasn't going to be pleasant if she had to sit next to her own urine though the honest truth was she didn't want to be found sitting next to a puddle of her own waste.
She eased herself out of her spot trying to keep the area around her as silent as possible.
The stations lights were bright over the pumps and around the corner she looked through the windows of the store. It brought a sense of normalcy. She felt like any other customer just going to the store. She looked over the aisles and counter for any sign of a cashier and where he might be. Not seeing anyone she took the moment to sneak in quick unseen and rush back out with no complication.
She swung the large windowed door open and wobbled with as much pep as she could muster and pushed herself to the back.
After finishing up, she stood over the sink looking at her wrecked face in the mirror. It held red lines and blemishes with her eyes puffy and red.
Spacing down, the water finally getting hot, she let the flow send shivers down her spin. Her bliss for warmth was ripped away when before her glazed view she saw red washing from her hands and swirling down the sink. Shaking her head and closing her eyes she breathed in deeply.
Peering back down now, the water was as it should be, washing clean over her hands.
Dizzy from her own thoughts she stumbled back over to the toilet as she vomited. She sat with her face over the mess, tears stinging her eyes. After wiping her mouth and a quick clean she started to head back out into the store.
Though, turning the corner her heart sank once again and immediately hated her dumb luck. Of all the things that could've happened.
Two men stood at the counter and a clerk with a panic look on his face behind it. "Anything you want, man," the cashier says as he opens the draw with shaky hands.
One waves a bat down on the counter. "Open the draw and give us the money," he says. They laugh as he jumps and grabs a plastic bag.
The other with a gun moves over to the windows and looks out to make sure everything is still clear. As he moves back his eyes sweep over the floor and his eyes land on her. "Get on the ground," he yelled pointing the gun at her.
With her hands pressed to the cold ground, she told herself this was it. He'd either shoot her or her escape was up once the swarms of cops showed up to the fiasco. Though she was completely thrown off when the other stepped over and said, "Let's take her with us."
"Dude, no, we're not going to have time for that," he explained as he started walking back lowering his gun. He glared at his friend urging him to follow and even nudged slightly with his neck.
"Get up," he said slamming his bat into the cooler door beside him. Catharine jumped but didn't move off the floor. Offended he stormed over to snatch his pal's gun. "Get up." He repeats pointing the gun directly at her.
"Dude, come on he's calling the cops," the pal urges.
She got up and followed them out the door. She watched the look on the cashier's face as he followed them out yelling into the phone. It didn't persuade either of them from not pushing her in the back of the car and taking off.
The man who had snatched the gun rode in the back struggling to gag her with a cloth with oil all over it and duct-tape. He hadn't even finished tying her when the car pulled up into darkness and stopped. Forgetting his struggle he drops it all back to the floor.
"Now what?" his pal demanded. "You're really fucking stupid you know that? Knew your drunk ass was going to get us fucking arrested."
He didn't answer. "Help me with her," he mastered. His pal didn't move, his eyes watching in the back view mirror as he popped up and down in the back seat. "Hey!" He shouted. "Help me get this bitch out."
Finally moving, the pal opened his door slowly and then took his time to open the back door. They dragged her out into a dark garage where the one with the gun announced, "Let's take her to the tree house." Before closing the door he grabbed the bat and threw it to his pal who fumbled with it and bit his lip as he held its neck.
They dragged her at gunpoint through the back door where a light glowed into the backyard. It was normal, almost wholesome, and if she hadn't had a gun to her head, it would have been an enjoyable scenery. One could imagine young kids playing in the pool and running around the large wooded yard. The reality, though, was it was dark, cold and the trees hung with dead leaves with naked barks. And she also had every reason to fear for her life.
She stayed silent; she knew people like this, whether you begged or not, they were going to do what satisfied them. Her captures lead her down into the woods behind the fence dropping into a path. The tree house hung under the moon, silhouetting boxed edges in the shadow engulfed branches. One of her capture's nudging with the pal's gun up to the house he said, "Get up there."
"Come on, man," debuted his pal and dropped the bat. "Let's just get it over with."
She didn't move waiting to watch a dispute, but instead he picked up the bat dropping the gun and bashed it straight to her head. "Don't want to get up there? Then get down."
She groaned as she grabbed the side of her head. There was a slight ring and she began to worry of the warm thick liquid on her hands rather than the pain that blasted through her skull. She laid still with her hand on the side of her head as the bat came down hitting her twice in the back.
Rolled over, she could see there was only one guy standing near her. The obvious prick that wanted to bring her here- her punisher.
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Desmond's leather-like skinned body and large dark wings draped over his bloody pray. His clawed hands hung onto strings of flesh and vein as he pushed it into his monstrous face. The warm thick blood slowly ran down his throat taking in its taste, smell and color which was always different from each of his selections.
When he smelt the strong aromas coming from the house he knew that this was going to be lots of fun. A treat he handed had in a long time. He had a preference for his blood thirst and it was usually those with darker souls that tasted the best.
First he started in the back room with a couple that was in the process of sexually enjoying themselves. He always loved the smell of blood after sex, there was something sweeter about it.
He took his feast on the couple and set an infestation in both the other male roommates in the house. He wasn't really into corrupting humans, but once he was able to transfer his saliva into a human's bloodstream, he would just let them go off to do all their secret dirty desires.
Dark souls made for great blood.
His bat ears twitched to the sound of the car pulling back into the garage of the house. Peering past the dead bodies his view landed on the mirror propped on the floor and he watched as his body transformed from a flying bat-like beast to his more pleasant form. Almost the same as before his curse and besides his endless blood thirst there were the permanent horns stuck up from his temples through his greasy curled black hair.
Before departing out of the room, he collected jeans and a shirt from the young males draws. He stumbled into the rest of the house and found it still dark as he crept through the shadows. Greeted only with silence, he sniffed the air to smell only the corpses from the back room. His lips pursed walking into the garage, the car was back, but he had lost his two minions.
Out through the back door, he stepped onto the leave dusted lawn. As he walked the earth under him made no noise on the darkness itself. His nose morphed, as his nostrils extended up and widening as the middle of his face extended out. Through his beastly feature, he picked up the scent of the strong infestation he had released into the souls of the unexpected young men.
Into the woods he followed the trail of his prey, feeling excited about his next bloodshed taking place in the cool open. This is where he truly felt alive, but humans didn't make it a habit of walking through the woods at this hour. He was used to killing the homeless who took mediocre shelters in the city.
The scent moved through the dead foliage and it was almost too easy as it approached towards his direction. He didn't feel a need to transform as he grabbed the male through the darkness. Lifting the screaming man to his mouth before puncturing his dagger transformed teeth into the side of his victim's neck and ripping back with a loud crunch and then snap.
The blood gushed forth and then flowed down his hand and arm.
With a thrill taking over his body he whipped around expecting to find his other prey terrifyingly running, but there was no one else around. He took in a deep breath through his nose into his dead lungs and picked up the scent of his next victim.
As he followed the scent imagining how he would take his last meal, but when he started to get closer his face pinched. A foul smell wafted through his nostrils as he approached a scene he would have normally loved to enjoy. His infested minion was hunched over the limp body of a young woman. With his supernatural eyes, he took the sight of the blood that matted over her hair and winced. It was her that smelt. He figured she had to be dead, but even the dead didn't emanate such a smell.
His red demonic eyes could see clearly through the darkness as the young man took his gun and slide it down her shirt. A soft moan from the girl tweaked his ears as he smirked. She wasn't dead though her soul sure smelt like it was. He'd never encountered something like her before and he was fascinated.
His beastly senses couldn't handle the odor any longer and shifted back to his humanoid disguise. "You know why I'm doing this?" the infected human says as Desmond was approaching. "Because I'm a bad guy- I'm what evil is," he boasted. At least he had a chance to voice his last words before his throat was grabbed by a clawed hand and flung to the ground.
Desmond smiled widely jumping over to the dead body and puncturing his hand through his prey's stomach. His face was beginning to morph as he was about to plunge his face into flesh. He was about to enjoy the best tasting of his whole feast but was reminded of the young woman who laid on the ground as her smell lingered around him. He wouldn't be able to enjoy eating in his monstrous form if she was around.
Containing his composure back to his dead human shell he turned and headed over to her. She was like any other girl he'd see, there was really nothing truly unique about her. Though, here she was, on a cold dark night with blood from her head and bruises on her face oozing the smell of a rotting soul. She was surely interesting.
Her cold fingers curled around his bare foot as he examined over her, "Please," she whispered. "Help me."
He pinched his lips and took the moment in. He wouldn't dare try to eat her, but perhaps he could just kill her and keep her quiet from trying to say a monster attacked them. He knew no one would believe her and that killing her would just be for fun. Instead, he knelt next to her and whispered backed, "What's in it for me?"
"Pl-please," she slurred before her face dropped into the dirt and her fingers fell flat on the tops of his toes.
When he mutated to his beast form, he found it was going to be difficult to fly her that way with her smell making him dizzy. He morphed his human face and kept as much beast as he could to fly.
He'd never taken a form like this and liked the idea of how terrifying his human head must look on a large bat's body with arms and legs.
After picking up the girl into his black skinned arms they took flight into the air. He flew in the dark clouds and watched below him as red and blue lights flashed everywhere within the town. It had been awhile since he'd seen so much mayhem and felt excited.
The smell from the night's air and excitement he felt brought him back to the memories of the ones he used to surround himself with. His family. It had been a long time since he had remembered them and almost felt guilty for moving on, but he figured why linger on those he couldn't even remember the faces of.
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