Crimson

01

Kai

~

My cold stare seared through the people that passed me on the street. They were so clueless, so in the dark about what I was and what I was capable of. They walked around aimlessly and utterly without purpose, unknowing of the predator in their midst.

A smirk pulled at my lips as I tucked my hands in the pockets of my jacket. I got what I wanted, when I wanted it and there was no acception.

A cold chill blew through the air, a few people shivering and tugging the collars of their coats up to cover their exposed skin. The cold bit at me but did not draw an effect. The cold was my domain and I ruled the bitterness of it thoroughly.

I snapped out of my thoughts as another body crashed into mine, halting me in my steps. The woman hit the sidewalk with a thud and I looked down on her with a slightly displeased expression. She sat there, staring up at me with wide brown eyes. Her hair matched her eyes, long and curly but still looking like silk.

She was beautiful and I was hungry.

I offered her my hand, my eyes following her timid movements. The woman took it, her warm hand fitting into my colder one. I pulled her from the concrete easily and as soon as she was up, I was dragging her six feet down the sidewalk and into a nearby alley. The woman stumbled after me as the tight grip that I had on her hand was unrelenting. She let out a small scream but was cut off when I whipped her in front of me and clamped my hand over her mouth. She struggled against me, her long nails scratching desperately at the skin of my wrist.

I drug her deeper until we were in the darkest part of the alley. I slowed to a stop and then spun her and slammed her back into the brick wall. She let out a grunt as the air left her lungs and her head snapped back to knock against the red brick before bouncing off. I held her tightly by the neck but removed my hand from her mouth. Her head rolled back to rest against the cool wall that she was being held against.

She glared at me, mustering up her courage as her chest heaved up and down. I simply let a smirk pass across my lips before I flashed my crimson eyes at her. She caught the change and her muscles stiffened, her teeth grinding together in a cringeworthy sound.

"Wh-What are you?" She whispered, her voice smooth and intoxicating even with the short and quick breaths she was taking.

"Take a guess," I replied, my red eyes surfacing once again.

She closed her eyes and bit down on her bottom lip as she tried not to show the fear that was coursing through her veins. A feeble attempt, she was so consumed with the emotion of fear, just like every other human was. "I see."

I brushed her chocolate hair from her eyes and she slowly opened them to look me straight in the eyes. Her expression was emotionless as she stared into my crimson depths. Deviance reflected in her dark amber eyes, a glittering contrast to those who fell victim to me before her.

"What is your name?" I suddenly asked on a whim, even I was slightly surprised with the light question.

"A-Ajae," she stuttered.

I smirked at her again, this time the tip of a canine emerging, making her eyes widen. I removed my hand from her neck and stepped froward to press our bodies together, making sure that she had no where to run as I pinned her between me and the wall. She swallowed, her wide eyes still staring up at me. Her chest rose and fell rapidly against mine and I could feel her heart beating from within her, the quick and erratic pace of it not matching her exterior demeanor. But Ajae was inevitably just like all of the others, weak and frightened and unable to do anything to stop me.

She closed her chocolate orbs once again as I leaned forward. To say the least, she knew what was next. I brushed her hair from her neck, the tips of my fingers barely brushing her jawline. My hand stopped at the collar if her coat, fingering the item of clothing that was in my way. I moved away from her just enough to unbutton the front of the light jacket. To anyone else, it would look like we had just found a convenient place to do something naughty. But that wasn't the case as I slipped the jacket just off of her left shoulder.

My hand reached into the jacket and gripped at her waist. I could feel her heated skin through the shirt that she wore. Smirking, I leaned forward, just barely brushing my fangs against her delicate skin on her chest and then ran my lips against her soft and flushed skin until I got to her neck. As I did this, one hand was placed by her head on the wall and the other crept under the back of her shirt, my hand splaying on the smooth skin of her lower back. She didn't move, just sucking in a breath of pain as I bit into her. Ajae let out a small whimper as I dug in deeper. Other than that, she did nothing, just stood ther and let me do whatever I wanted with her.

My eyes suddenly widened and I paused in shock. Her small arms had slowly moved upwards, one hand placed loosely on my shoulder while the other gripped my hair tightly. Nobody had ever done this before, never reacted in such an inhuman way. Usually they would scream and put up resistance and try to run even though they knew that there was no escape. They would make their situation worse, my fangs tearing their delicate flesh into ribbons. But here was this woman who was accepting her dire situation openly.

I shook it off and began again, her delicately sweet blood flowing into my mouth. It wasn't long until I realized that if I took any more blood from her, she would likely die. Humans did not matter in my eyes as they were pointless and insignificant beings that led the same type of life. Every single one of them. But she deserved better than to be left in this dark alley to die, she was peculiarly different. I let go of her and she steadied herself against the wall, the deviance still held in her fading eyes as she studied my uncaring demeanor with a glare. I stood and stared at her, my eyes slowly fading back to their original color as I wiped the excess blood from my lips before licking it off of the back of my hand. Blood still ran down her neck, pooling at her collarbone for a moment before draining down into her shirt. She tipped to the side, her eyes closing as her body went limp and slid off of the wall. Something inside compelled me to catch her before she hit the concrete and injured herself even more than she was. Ajae fell into one of my waiting arms before I reached under her to carry her in my arms, her limp body being unexpectedly light. Her head lolled against my chest and I decided to take her back to my sister Nara's apartment that I was temporarily residing at before making my decision to leave this city for another one. I made my way back to the apartment complex, making sure to take the back way as to not be seen. Humans may see it strange to see a man carrying a passed out woman with dribbles of crimson leaking slowly from her neck.

Fifteen minutes later I opened the door and froze as soon as I had set foot inside. The whole place smelled like blood. Nara looked up, an unreadable look on her face as her human best friend was passed out on the couch. She had lived in this world, this city, far longer than I had. That and I felt no need to make trivial connections that wouldn't last. Humans lives were far shorter than ours, far more fragile.

"What have you done?" She glared at the woman in my arms.

"No, Nara. I believe the question is what have you done?"

My sister cringed, looking away from me and explained what had happened. I let out a sigh and shook my head. Of course she would take too much blood from him. I told her what had happened on my end and she told me to set Ajae in her room. I did as she said and left her there to rest and made my way out to the living room where Nara was kneeling by the couch, brushing her fingers through Liam's hair. I watched as she leaned forward and placed a light kiss on his forehead. Then she took his limp hand in hers and held it close to her chest.

I just watched as this happened and that was when I realized something. That I was incapable of loving something. I felt alienated, I was a cold and heartless monster that was to be feared and that had no depth to them but ensuring their own life. Nara was something else entirely, this world changing her once icy heart. She had changed what she was and what she stood for all for this man that she stared so lovingly at. A vampire loving a human, breaking the laws of both nature and our society completely.

It was then that I realized that I had truly lost my soul and the beauty of not having a soul was that you couldn't seem to care that you no longer had one.