The Man With The Gloves (mxmxmxm)

6. Bloodlust

" It is terrible to destroy a person's picture of himsef in the interests of truth or some other abstraction." (Doris Lessing, The Grass is Singing)

"What's wrong, Fayez?"

When he heard the unknown voice call his name, Fayez didn't really want to look up, as some idle chitchat with a stranger wasn't what he wanted to do right now. What he envisionned was drinking blood until he was drunk on it, then sleep and forget everything about this crappy day.

Being social was the last thing that was on his mind right now, but what if it was exactly what he needed ? After all, a distraction of some sort would be very welcomed - it couldn't possibly make the hunger dissapear, but it could temporarily alleviate it.

Plus, he suspected the owner of the voice to be a student, so it meant a potential source of information on how to find animals he could hunt there.

WIth that in mind, he slowly raised his chin and took a glance at the newcomer.

It happened to be a teenager, who couldn't be more than fifteen or sixteen. This fact in itself was quite surprising, as he remembered his father telling him that students at the ISB were aged between twenty and thirty.

"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" he asked.

The teen let out a small laugh, which made them look even younger.

"Everyone knows your name here, but I'm rather offended you don't know mine. After all, I have been called the smartest and prettiest girl of the ISB. I will forgive you, though, because you're new here, and you do look a bit lost. My name is Lindsay."

Although he could tell that she was joking, Fayez was still amazed by the confidence that oozed through this Lindsay's every pores.

Where did all this confidence came from? Was it her undeniable beauty ? - She was tall, slender, with long legs, a light brown skin, hazel almond-shape eyes and shoulder-lenght wavy brown hair, which were tied in a loose braid.

Then again, most of the supernatural beings were beautiful - based on humans criteria, at least. It must be something else, then. Was it because she was the smartest student here, as she had claimed to be?

Whatever her reason was for being so assertive, it was slightly annoying to Fayez, making him feel shy and inadequate in comparison.

"Nice to meet you, Lindsay, my name is Fayez."

Well done,you dumb shit, he internally cursed himself, slightly blushing in shame as the girl laughed again - a louder, more honest laughter than the previous one.

"You're a funny one" she concluded, once she had finally calmed down enough to speak. "You don't look so good, though. What happened?"

"It doesn't matter, what happened." Fayez muttered, not willing to relive the painful, humiliating and slightly confusing memory of Akhenaton mentally torturing him.

And touching him oh so softly afterwards to sooth the pain - no, it wasn't wise to linger on this recollection either. Akhenaton was an A-grade asshole, and Fayez didn't want to believe that the guy had shown him kindness, even for a brief moment. There must have been an underlying motive for his unexpected gesture.

"You look like you're going to faint" Lindsay insisted, and Fayez knew he had to say something, or the girl would never leave him in peace.

"I'm fucking starved."

"Starved?" she asked, a confused look on her baby face.

"I need blood" he snarled, his patience thinning. "Can you help me with that? No? Then kindly leave me the fuck alone"