The Monster Within ON HOLD

Part I-Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My eyes flew open as a gasp escaped my lips. As I took in my surroundings, I realised quickly that I was no longer in the safety of my woods. Nor was I alone.

Guilt flooded me as I took in the faces of my latest victims. Two bodies lay next to me. Two headless bodies. The heads, I realised, were both deliberately set in front of me, eyes wide open in horror and pain as their horrifically blank eyes seemed to gaze into my very soul. A harsh sound escaped my bloody lips, half sob, half growl. I hadn't put them there. Even in the midst of a blackout, I would not have done that. Which meant...

Slowly, I got up and looked around the dark alley. My eyes immediately focused on the wall.

Run little pig.

The message was written in blood, which had slowly begun to drip downwards. Even as I was repulsed, I had the urge to walk closer; I was entranced. In some distant part of my mind, I knew that I should run as far away from this place as I could. But the rational part of my brain was swept aside. My feet carried me forward even as my mind told them to stop.

That was when I tripped. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over me. I looked down to see what I'd fallen on and gasped. A body. Of course. What else would it be?

I knelt down beside it and gently touched the person's hand.
"I'm so sorry," I whispered, closing my eyes as I felt flecks of green begin to well up in them, the tell-tale sign of my anguish and despair. They only changed colour with powerful emotion. Bloody tears began to well in my eyes, but I blinked them back. Now was not the time.

I took a deep breath in through my nose as I grappled with my emotions. And that was when it hit me. While I no longer had a heart beat, my breathing picked up pace. Even though I no longer needed to breathe, it had become somewhat of a habit that I could not shake. 

My head snapped towards the mouth of the alley as a brunette walked past, completely oblivious to what lurked in the shadows. The night was thick, enveloping Norfolk with its cool embrace, hiding from its people the monsters that skulked within its streets. 

It wasn't that fact that the young woman was walking past that bothered me; she hadn't seen me, so I didn't have to do damage control, which normally ended up with me using a form of glamour to cloud the human's mind to prevent them from remembering what they'd seen. It was an act that drained me immensely, as it used a lot of vampiric power. Power which I didn't have to spare. 

Nor was it that fact that her blood called to me, although I will admit to being more than tempted to take a bite. No, it was her exquisite scent that drew me in. Her scent that smelled like home to me, even more so than my cabin in the woods. She smelt like a field full of roses in the summer. Her scent reminded me of the perfume my mother always used to wear, except on this woman, it seemed less obnoxious, less fake. 

Before I registered what I was doing, I had sped out of the alley and grabbed the woman, dragging her back into the alley, using my hand to muffle her shriek of panic. Her flailing attempts at freedom were futile; her strength was no match for mine.