The Vampire's Rival

Nurture

"Ruq?"

I snapped at the voice and realised that I hadn't blacked out. I'd just drenched myself in the Scavenger's blood when I'd decapitated the poor sod. And now, I had my lips on the carotid artery of the headless body, gorging myself on their blood. I drained the body's last dregs of blood then turned to the voice that had said my name. It was Drew. At identifying him, I bolted to my feet and let the corpse fall.

"Are you okay?" Drew whispered.

The little boy was grabbing his canine best friend's fur a little too tightly, but he wasn't afraid. He was concerned.

Almost disgusted.

But not afraid.

That hit me, pulling me further out of my stupor.

My hands were painted in blood, and I couldn't even begin to imagine how the rest of me looked. I could feel the stickiness on my face and in my hair. All I wanted to say was 'I'm not a monster', but I was covered in blood and standing over a decapitated body, looking down at this six-year-old child who'd witnessed it all.

And I wanted more!

More debauchery.

More blood.

More gore.

More!

"Are you okay now, Ruq?" Drew asked again, genuinely wanting to know.

I nodded. My fangs were still down, and I was afraid that talking would force me to spit out the blood, bone, flesh and sinew in my mouth right now, and that might just be the thing that finally frightened him. Drew gave me a small smile and nod and then turned to Brownie and began talking to the dog, promising him that he was safe now. That Ruq was here, and she'd take out anyone who would try to hurt them.

I swallowed what was in my mouth, chewing be damned, and then pulled my fangs up, even though it was harder to do that than it had ever been. My body was fighting me. Crying for more blood. But I won this battle.

I'm not a monster.

A tingle ran down my right leg. The black veins that had burned their way from the wound, rotting every piece of flesh they touched, were disappearing. Against all odds, I was healing! I thought about that for a second.

After a Turn, the Master's blood would always run in the fledgling's veins. While I had failed to fully transform Hadley, this fact was still true. Even though this poison was Hadley's blood, some of it was mine too. I had been the unfortunate recipient of her toxic blood twice now but was still alive after a feed. As far as I could tell, no other vampire had even had a chance to try and survive it.

Her blood was the poison and mine was the antidote.

Great.

Yet another life-or-death secret to add to the mountain of life-or-death secrets I already carried.

I suddenly buckled, falling to one knee, my craving for more blood overpowering. Drew took a step back, pulling the dog with him. Smart boy. I had just consumed more blood in one sitting than I had drank in decades! I hadn't drained a human in centuries. It was a habit I'd quit the very day I walked away from Sleritu because it never ended with just one human.

And because it made me invincible.

Even now, as my dead blood wound healed, I could feel the human's blood reaching other parts of me. Parts of me that stayed unused and underutilised when I adhered to feeding like a Norm, which I had strived to do after breaking up with Sleritu. My heart expanded, pulling in more blood and shooting it through enlarged veins, arteries and capillaries and powering musculature that was stronger than steel. I opened my eyes to the view of a caterpillar crawling slowly on a leaf twenty meters away, before my vision adjusted. I could now peer into the shadows as if they were fully lit, every morsel of light seeming as bright as tiny suns.