Empire of Vampires ✔️

Chapter Twelve

Marie walked down the dark alleyway, alone and lost in her thoughts. Her easy-fitting dress swished loosely around her knees and she hugged her bare arms to herself, remembering with pleasure the day she burned her corset along with all the other suffragettes.

It was lovely to feel so comfy, rid of those stuffy ballgowns that were the norm back when she was human. It was impossible back then for her to walk anywhere alone, regardless of her being fully covered up. Her dress revealing even an ankle would've caused society to regard her as being improper.

She loved the freedom she had now to dress whichever way she liked and walk alone to wherever she wanted. But of course, the world was still far from perfect and Marie had made it her personal mission to rid it of the people who disgusted her.

It was this thought, in fact, which caused her to take such frequent walks in the less safe part of town. She mused that someday even human women would have the same amount of freedom as she did, to be able to live without fear-

Her thoughts were cut short as she sensed she was being followed.

'Hey girl!'

She quickened her pace, wondering if the two men would do the same.

'Hey girl slow down! Where are you running off to?' the shorter one jeered, 'Are you lost?' 

They caught up to her easily and the other man grabbed her by the arm. He gave her a malicious grin and his yellowed teeth showed her that he was easily over forty. He had a weird beard as well, all scraggly and greying.

'Leave me alone, please. I need to get back to campus.'

'Here now, there's no need to take that cold tone with me.' The bearded man sounded angry, his grip on her arm tightened.

'Let go of my arm.'

'Just lighten up girl.' The shorter man was standing directly in front of her now, blocking her path. His breath reeked of cigarettes and his fingernails, Marie noticed, were long and dirty. 'You need to learn to take a joke,' he said, triumphantly looking over at his friend and reveling in his own astonishing wit.

The bearded man was not to be beaten, 'I'll tell you what you need to lighten up. You need a good **cking-

Okay, it was definitely time to kill them now.

Marie decided to kill the shorter one first so that his awful friend could watch her drain his blood while he awaited his own impending doom. She could take the weird beard guy back to James to let him feed. He mostly survived on animal blood since no human ever bothered him enough to warrant murder. She was just about to overpower the creeps when she heard a shout from behind her.

'Hey! Leave her alone!'

She turned to see Andrew standing there, his arms folded across his chest, glaring at the two men vehemently. They immediately took a step back and dropped her arm.

'We're so sorry sir, we didn't know she was your girl,' said the bearded man quickly. 

'Yea, we were just messing around, we would never have bothered her if we knew,' added his friend, sounding sincerely apologetic.

Marie rolled her eyes, typical of them to only think what they did was wrong if it were to affect a man in any way. 

'You shouldn't have bothered her either way,' Andrew snarled furiously, pulling back his fist. The men just turned on their heel and rushed off, presumably to find another victim.

'Gosh darn it, Andrew, you scared away my meal.'

'Your what?'

'Just jesting!' she said quickly, 'I mean kidding!'

'I'm sorry you had to go through that.'  

Marie shrugged, 'I'm used to it.'

'That makes it even more sad.'

'I know,' she sighed, looking toward the direction the men had run off in. She hoped she could find them before they found their next victim.

'Let me walk you back to campus.'

'I'm fine on my own, I don't need you to protect me.' Marie stuck out her chin. 'And I'm NOT your girl,' she added quite forcibly.

'I didn't say you were,' he shrugged, 'If it had really come down to it, I doubt I would've been able to fight them off anyway. You'd totally win in actual combat.'

'I suppose I would,' she agreed, sounding pleased. They fell into step as they walked back to campus but Marie was still starving of thirst. She held in a sigh wishing she had drained those men sooner; but then again, she never murdered without being absolutely sure that they deserved it. She made up her mind to track them down later that night.

She still remembered their scent— and she could get James to join in her hunt.