Shadows Within

Chapter 1

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Aiden's P.O.V

          It wasn't such a special night but I was getting rather hungry. I was trying to find someone to feed on when I passed that particular apartment building. The neighborhood wasn't the most stellar. People here rarely reported anything that happened to them. It was out of fear that they would get themselves arrested for another crime they had committed. In other words, it was the perfect hunting ground. I stared down, from my perch on the rooftop, at the passersby below, their chaotic dance of coming and going mesmerizing. A few youngsters, most likely trying to find someone to rob or bully, occupied the front entrance to the building across the street. Their laughter and bad jokes scraped my ears. An old couple hurried to get home before it became too late for it to be safe to walk outside. A mother, holding the hands of two small children, sped up as she passed the corner of my building only to disappear into the crowd further away. It was only a moment later that I realized was she had seen. There was a prostitute being dragged into the alleyway to the side, by what was, most likely, her pimp. He didn't look happy.

          I made my way down, as silent as a ghost, my approach only detected by the woman after she saw me coming out of the shadows. By that time he was already threatening her with a knife and calling her names I find too disgusting, coming from any living creature, to repeat. I knew I wouldn't regret attacking him. When he finally noticed she was no longer focused on him, the pimp turned around. Suddenly, the fowl words were directed at me. I couldn't care any less and instead I turned to her, my eyes speaking volumes on how grave the situation was about to become.

          - Run, was the only thing I said and she complied, without a second thought, seeing her escape.

          I shut him up quite quickly and although he didn't taste that extraordinary, I had no room to complain. As I was pondering whether to finish him off or let him barely breathing, the side door to the building opened. A short, round man pushed something through it so hard that it hit the opposite wall, with a thud and fell to the ground, among a heap of plastic garbage bags. He startled me enough that I dropped my victim, leaving him barely breathing, to the ground and forced me to hide. He didn't see me however, a fact I was extremely grateful for. Instead, he closed the door behind him as he re-entered the building, without a second glance behind. I stayed hidden for a long moment, just observing the door but nothing else happened. I looked down at my discarded victim with disgust and went to leave, when I heard a strange noise. At first, I couldn't tell what it was. Then I heard it again and I realized it was a moan coming from whatever the round man had thrown out. I hesitated, not really wanting to meddle in the business of humans but my curiosity got the better of me. It was dark enough around that I had to shift my eyes and use my natural night vision. Still, it wasn't enough because it was huddled in itself so, I pushed it with the tip of my boot, to turn it over. To my surprise, it turned out to be a girl. At least, judging by her breasts since her face was so disfigured and covered in so much blood, it was impossible to tell what was what. There were large gashes on her arms along with countless other injuries, all fresh since the crimson liquid was still oozing from them. But there were other, older, injuries now healed, littering every exposed patch of skin, solid proof of the amount of abuse she had endured. Even so, mixing with humans always brought trouble and the last thing I needed was more of it.

         I turned to walk away, not that it would be the first time, when I heard her sniffle. My stomach clenched at the sound, my reaction surprising me as I hadn't felt the stab of guilt in a long time. Even more disturbing was how intensely my heart was pleading with me to help the creature. Alas, I didn't want to be involved with any human, beyond the feeding routine I was trying to maintain. I took a step away my muscles stiff, when she started mumbling apologeeze in a trembling voice.