IncuBUST

The Thread of Life

It was like being stabbed and punched in the chest at the same time; pain rocked through me. I stumbled back against the girl and looked down at the dirty chunk of glass sticking out of my chest. The man took a step back in shock. I reached down with shaking hands and clutched at the bottle yanking it out with a cry. The feeling of glass sliding out of ragged flesh and tattered bits of t-shirt was like fire to my already burning skin.

I folded over, breath tearing through my lungs, and dropped the bottle. My vision hazed and time slowed, I could feel my heart pounding in my ears. Blood poured out of the wound on my chest, I could see it dripping on the filthy pavement only to be washed away by the rain, I could smell it like perfume on the breeze mixed with the smell of fear from the girl and drunken shock from the man who still hadn't the smarts to run off. My blood was boiling, my skin was on fire, my head throbbed painfully and starvation twisted in the pit of my stomach, branching out into my limbs and dragging them towards the ground. It had been so long. It had been too long.

I straightened up and stared at the man in front of me. He took a step back and searched for something he could use as a weapon. I lurched forward and grabbed a fistful of the man's shirt. He struggled against my grip, but I had lost myself. I yanked the man towards me, spun around and slammed him against the wall hard enough to cause particles of the decrepit brick crumble to the ground. The man coughed from the impact and then his eyes widened.

"Y-your eyes!" the man gasped and I grinned despite the pain and blood running down my chest. I closed the space between us and whispered, "Pretty, aren't they." I removed my glasses to reveal eyes glowing a vibrant shade of blue instead of their normal dark green. I wrapped my hands around the man's chin and pried open his mouth. He struggled, but I refused to use my power to make him feel for me. I still had enough mind left to do that. Our mouths were inches apart when the white-blue thread of life emerged from the man's mouth and flowed into mine and it was peace.

The essence of his life filled my body, settling in my stomach and spreading into my arms and legs and head, clearing my mind and transforming the raging fire into a pleasant burn. I couldn't help but smile. I may not feel the desire customary of my species, but I still got the same pleasure from a feed, thank the gods! Of course, in the moment, none of this occured to me because my mind was numb with pleasure and empty of anything resembling coherent thought.

I forgot about the crying girl crouched down in the corner too petrified to run, the strange, otherworldly light of her would be murderer's life reflecting in her eyes and refracting through the pouring rain.

I meant to stop, truly I did. I didn't kill people. I wasn't that kind of incubus, but my feeds were so few and far between that I often had trouble stopping.More often than not I took from other Mythics that could stop me if I went too far, but this man was human and I was starving and his life was so short and it faded before I was even full and I suddenly felt the weight of dead flesh in my hands trying desperately to succumb to gravity. I released his throat and watched the body slump to the flooded ground dead, a huge smile spread across his face.

"Well, fuck."