The Beast Within

Chapter 7

~ Emily's Point Of View ~

I GROANED AS Eli shook me rapidly, desperately trying to wake me. I tried to swat him away. "Sleep..." I muttered.

"Emily," his voice came out in a sharp whisper. "There is a man here."

My eyes snapped open instantly and I sat up. Eli was right. There was a man. He was standing in the door frame. He was wearing a hooded cloak, so I couldn't get a good view of him, but I could see some sort of staff in his hand. A sorcerer?

I watched Eli go for his assassin's knife, which he had tossed on top of the duffle bag before lying down. He then got to his feet.

"Who are you?" Eli asked, gripping the weapon tightly in his hand.

"I should be asking you the same thing." The man replied, not moving from the door frame. "As you are the ones on my property."

"Your property?" Eli paused for a moment. "But this place looked abandon when we got here. Looked like no one has been here in months."

"No one has." The man said. "Because I have been away on... business. And I come back to see a tree smashed into my house and people staying in it."

'Look," Eli said, not putting his knife away. "We didn't know anyone was here. We will be on our way..."

"I Don't think you will." The man moved from the door frame, stepping further into the house. He removed the hood from his head.

I let out a small gasp. He had pale skin, charcoal black hair that spiked out on all sides, red eyes... and fangs. I got up, ignoring the silent protests my body was giving. "You're a vampire." I stated, trying not to let my voice tremble. Why, of all things, did he have to be the dreaded creature of night. Anything but one of these blood suckers. A werewolf even. At this poimt I would have rather had the king himself burst through the door rather than to face one of these things.

"Ah, now the young lady speaks." The man - vampire - spoke. "I was beginning to wonder when you would."

"Look." Eli said. "Just let us leave and you will have no problem. We will just take our things and leave. We are sorry for tresspassing on... your land."

The vampire smirked. "What could a couple humans do that would be a threat to the undead."

"Not just any humans." Eli shut up. I silently pleaded. "We come from the Aiker Clan."

The vampire muttered something under his breath. Something what sounded like the word perfect. "So you two are assassins." He chuckled darkly. "Good, good."

I had a bad feeling about this. Assassins had a bad history with vampires. "Take one more step and you will regret it." I growled. I wish I had my own weapon, but it had been buried in my duffle bag along with all my other stuff when I had nearly died from the poison.

The vampire gave me a grin, flashing his fangs. "Now, dear don't there is no need to threaten. Such a pretty little helpless damsel such as yourself would be killed before you could even so much as lunge at me."

"Do you have any idea who we are?" I crossed my arms. Yes, I knew that was a vampire but I didn't care. No one called me a helpless damsel. Especially not one of those blood sucking freaks. I may have been weak from the poison, but that wouls not stop me from holding my ground. Even if it might even cost me my own life. "I would be the one snapping your neck in half."

"Yes I do." The vampire said, looking rather bored with me. "You are an assassin. I heard your friend here, who is most likely your partner in crime, say that you were from the Aiker Clan."

Oh great. Yet another person - er being - that the Clan had pissed off. Then again, who didn't our Clan piss off. We were the oldest group in existence.

"We are from there." Eli said. "That doesn't mean we are still part of the Clan."

"Once an assassin, always an assassin." The vampire's voice sent chills through my body. Was he right? Could we never truly escape our past? Eli and I left because we were both sick of the Clans ways. It was horrifying to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, dreaming of the way the body fell at your hands. Nightmares of my kills had plagued my dream worls for years. I hated the feel of the blood seeping onto my hands as I slit throat after throat. I was a murderer, a cold blooded killer. I wanted to change that. I wanted desperately to start fresh. But was he right? Could we ever truly escape such a past?

"No," I said. My voice shook a little as I spoke. "You're wrong. We can change."

"No one ever truly changes." The vampire said.

"Who are you?" Eli asked him.

"My name is Jake." The undead man replied. "I work for the King."

"Figures." I sighed. "Look. We don't want to kill you. Now if you would just let us go."

"I'm sorry," Jake said. "But I can not do that." His grin only grew. "Sound familiar?"

I swallowed. It did. That saying was said countless times when a victim pleaded of his or her life to be saved.

"Look," Eli said. He hadn't loosened his grip on the knife. "We are no longer part of the Aiker Clan. We left that life behind."

"I don't believe you." He tapped his staff on the wooden floor. The staff morphed into a sword. Nice magic. I thought. I had always admired the skill for magic, though I never could learn it. It wasn't in my blood. I shook my head. Now wasn't the time for admiring the creature's skill.