Ache

Ch 2

He smiled.
The couple cowering, like the stupid weak creatures they were stared wide eyed, their mouths open in horror at the sight of him.
And why shouldn't they?
With his mouth smeared with blood so thick it dripped steadily down his chin. With his teeth stained the grisly vibrant color and his face flecked with the stuff from when he'd torn open his preys' throat- his was a sight to see to be sure.
Speaking of prey... he nudged at the lifeless crumpled corpse before him with the toe of his shoe until it was clear out of his way. The couple flinched in unison when he did so. He didn't know who the guy had been nor whether the couple even knew him. All that'd mattered at the time was the smell, the scent the guy had emitted. Such an intoxicating aroma, such a heady infusion that turned everything else into white noise.
It had been glorious.
He'd shadowed them for hours. Biding his time until he could corner them... or rather the young man with them. By the time he'd found the perfect time to strike he'd been like a man possessed; a raving, uncontrollable beast intoxicated by the scent that wafted all around him, drowned him. Like a starving dog he'd tracked them and when they'd least expected it he'd struck.

 The first taste that touched his tongue was ecstasy and he nearly keeled over from the wave upon wave of pure life that crashed into him. He could've sworn his eyes rolled back into his head and he lost consciousness for a second. It was hard not to when thick hot life flowed down his throat and the very essence that made a person human and alive filled him, exploded inside of him.

Before he knew it he'd sucked the boy dry.
Trembling and with heart pounding (pounding!) in his chest he'd turned and stared the couple down.
Which incidentally brought them to where they were now.
He licked his blood coated teeth and smiled wider. The taste of the man still sang on his tongue, pounded a concerto through his veins.
He closed his eyes and took a deep satisfied breath.
The night had  proven to be a most successful one..
He'd already found one (those with light racing through their veins) and the night had only just begun.
"W- wh- what... are you?!"
He opened one eye and trained it on the cowering male holding onto his female protectively.
"Hm?"
The male was trying desperately to swallow his fear. It only took him two tries to get his words out and for that he had to commend him. Not many could look at him, witness what he'd done, the carnage he'd left behind and even think about speaking much less gather the strength to speak.
"You're a vampire?!"
His other eye opened and he found himself at a loss for words. He blinked. Once. Twice. A third time.
Flabbergasted he cocked his head to the side.
"I'm sorry." He frowned annoyed. "What?"
It actually wasn't the first time he'd been confused for one of those filthy pathetic creatures straight from the minds of poor, delusional humans. The mere thought though that he appeared to resemble those imagined beasts was what appalled him. The sudden need to correct the mistake was far to great to pass.
"Please don't compare me to those glittering, man-made weaklings."
The male's eyes widened and he could see an array of different emotions flit by behind the wide brown eyes; confusion, shock, doubt, regret, fear and revulsion.
Unfortunately however it appeared as though the spark of courage the man had felt earlier was gone. He didn't respond to his question. Apparently the male had decided silence was better.
Pity.
He thought it would be different this time.
He sighed wearily and squat down to his haunches before the terrified couple. He was almost starting to feel genuinely sorry for the two poor stupid humans.
Almost...
And,
It was that 'almost' that gave him pause. Made him cock his head and frown. He felt it then, slowly but surely
it was fading.
He could feel it slip slowly away like lukewarm water through his fingers.
Such a shame that his prey had been so weak. The effects had only lasted a mere twenty minutes at the most.
He grit his teeth and ached with loss.
Fists balled into tight fists then all too quickly relaxed. Eyes began to grow tired, droopy and oh so heavy. The violent crescendo crashing through his veins slowed into a soft lull. Even his thoughts were becoming too exhaustive to put into words.
He was reverting.
The couple before him, unbeknownst to the rapid decline going on inside him, still cowered in terror.
The sight in itself  was enough to make him want to smile, that they still believed him a creature worthy of fear, he found though that it was something he couldn't do anymore.
Still he forced his already sluggish body to move. He painstakingly brought a finger to his blood caked lips and made a sad attempt to shush the whimpering female.
Her wide, frightened eyes spilled silent tears down her pale cheeks and just as he was sure she was about to scream she quieted too afraid to do anything other than obey him.
It was almost gone.
Every single thing he'd taken from the man earlier was all but gone. One more minute, maybe less and it would vanish completely leaving him an empty shell once more.
A blank vessel.
He had to be quick about it then. He barely managed to breathe the sorriest excuse for a sigh (which didn't even come close to projecting the exhaustion he felt) and accepted the inevitable.
It had been good while it'd lasted.
Short but those glorious minutes had meant everything to him.
Any amount of time really where that hot, frenzied sense of BEING... feeling ALIVE... was larger and greater than anything he'd ever known. He should've been content that he was able to experience the exhilaration for it allowed him to feel. Yet...
He couldn't help but be jealous.
Envious.
And oh so greedy.
He grit his teeth. Or at least he'd like to think he did. It was getting harder to tell between what he was doing in his head and what he was actually doing physically.
Before it was gone completely though he used the last of it to nod his head in the direction of the alley opening behind him, motioning to the couple to leave.
He counted a full thirty seconds before their eyes finally widened in understanding and they all but scrambled to their feet. He could hear the harsh slap of their receding footsteps behind him as they made their escape.
The slow even sound of his breathing was the only sound in that cold damp alley after the pounding footsteps of the couple long faded away. It was just him (and the shredded broken corpse of his prey if one cared to count it) alone on that filthy alley floor. With the knees of his jeans growing wet with the mixture of blood, dark murky water and who knew what kinds of other bodily fluids there were on that cracked concrete floor, he breathed.
His heavy lidded gaze stared blankly, completely devoid of any emotion- of the light found in someone full of life, at his blood smeared hands, the razor sharp points of nails that resembled talons more than anything. Slender and elegant, pale and unmarred by any visible mark under all the dirt, grime and dried blood his hands were perfectly still as he held them before him.
He swallowed.
There was nothing inside him anymore.
Nothing
but
a
spiraling
emptiness.
No emotions. No feelings. No desires or wants.
Just a body taking up space.
'Perhaps' he might've thought if he could've at the time. 'Next time I catch the scent of those with Light... I'll keep them. Alive.'
But he didn't think that.
What he did do instead was slowly and unhurriedly rise to his feet. Gently brushed his jeans off with equally unhurried movements and walked out of that alley as if nothing had happened at all.
As if he wasn't covered head to toe in dark blood. As if the few people still out at night weren't pointing shaking fingers, gasping in disgust, horror and alarm at the sight of him.
He walked with that empty gaze towards wherever it was his feet would carry him...
which almost always ended up with his next prey.