Short stories

Chosen

    I didn't think it would end up like this. I've assisted in assassinations and murders before but never killed a person with my own two hands. I've come close, but instead of my hands they were with my teeth. Sometimes I get too hungry and go wild. I don't mean to, I just do. My parents are assassins, so it's the only world I've ever known to live in. I knew one day I'd be forced to become one from my parents. That's just how this world works now. My parents have been training me to become an assassin all my life. They've hounded me to stay in shape, sharpen my senses, and hunt. A few years ago I'd been bitten and left alive by a vampire while on my way home. The whole world is now full of all these "fantasy creatures" and now I've joined them. I have been immortalized since the age of twenty-two.

    Not many things stay consistent in my life anymore. Synn and Nadine are the only ones that have stuck around long enough to care. They're the only people I really care about anymore. I'm the tallest out of all of us. I'm extremely tall and svelte while Synn is very small and insubstantial; then there's Nadine who is very ordinary and looks the most normal out of all of us. Synn seems capable of nothing but her skills with a knife are extraordinary. Quite honestly if Synn has a knife I just stay out of the way so that I don't get stabbed. They're the most involved in my life but they don't know that I'm involved in anything criminal. They will never find out about it either.

I'd been planning for months on end and tracking her. My world had stopped when I was told I would have to kill Synn. I sat for months on end wondering what to do. All that time all I became was cold and numb to the world. I had planned and watched Synn to know all of her daily routines and anything I didn't know before. It also helped knowing her for years on end.

She trusted me which I can't say was wrong considering that I never let her know anything about this side of me and my family. I knew about her strengths and especially all her weaknesses. It was easy to get into her house, all I had to do was plan a sleepover. Little did she know it would be an eternal sleepover. I had planned to kill her when we had her house all to ourselves. I had made sure her parents didn't know I was here as well. I knew that it would have to be something close range. I would have to make sure Synn wasn't armed, because she excels in close combat, especially with knives. With these things in mind I packed knives. The knives I had packed I had meticulously sharpened.

There was one thought that has stuck with me throughout this: am I really capable of going through with this? I've wondered and thought about this question for hours on end with not even a beginning of an answer. I wondered if Synn knew about my plan and was already planning to kill me? What if she was an assassin? Could I really kill her? I weigh my options once more. I can't put my parents in danger. Much less, myself. Why couldn't live a normal and boring life?

I had packed my bag into my the car. When my stomach grumbled at me saying that it was empty and needed blood. I looked at my phone to see what time it was. I'm supposed to be at Synn's house at around sixish and it was five-thirty, I grumbled. It takes about fifteen minutes to get there in a good day and I had checked my phone earlier and it didn't look like a good day. I ran inside to grab some left over blood to drink. I opened my fridge doors to only the cold air from the fridge brushing against me. I was out of blood. I realized that I couldn't get anymore until after today. I thought back to the last time that I ate. The last time I remember eating was a week ago. I guess I've been too stressed to even think about eating. Well I didn't have time to think about it now. I ran back to my car and started driving over to her house. Traffic was horrendous trying to get to Synn's house. Once I had arrived I grabbed my bag and locked my car. I just walked in because we've known each other for so long. I called out to her.

"Honey, I'm home!" I hear Synn's full and rambunctious laugh signaling that she was upstairs in her room. I ran up to her and met her with the biggest hug I've ever given. This might be the last time that I actually hug her. The reality is really setting in that I have to kill her and it hurts like hell. We decided that we'd go up on the roof to watch the sun set into the twinkling stars. Throughout this time we talked about anything and everything that our minds landed on. As the sun was setting I had realized it. I don't want to go through with this. I know I can't do it as well. She's the person that means the most to me and I know it's not worth it. She's been more of a family to me than my parents have ever been throughout my whole life. I told Synn that I'd be right back. I went to splash water on my face. As I was walking back, Synn met me in one of the doorways.

"Are you okay, Derr?" She furrowed her eyebrows together with worry. "I can tell you've been trying to hide something. You've been off for a few weeks and now that I'm seeing this in person it's starting to freak me out." She held her arms open motioning for a hug. I dropped my phone. I ran into her arms and just sobbed.

"I'm so sorry." All I could do was sob. I could barely get my words out. "I got turned into a vampire years ago and all the pressure is building. My parents are assassins and I'm becoming one. I have to kill you. They're making me kill you. You're the chosen one." She pushed me away.

"You didn't tell me?" She didn't have a set emotion on her face, it was flooded with so many emotions at once. "I'm sorry, I've been so caught in my own business that I didn't even ask you how you've been for weeks." Her face relaxed to her normal expression. "I love you, Oderria." She smiled.

"I love you too, Synn." I smiled back until she flipped her hair onto her back, exposing her neck. At that moment I lost control of myself. I lunged for her and we toppled over onto the floor. With my last bit of control I spoke my last words to my best friend, Synn Vega.

"I'm so sorry, please know I love you." As soon as I had gotten the words out the monster inside of me took over. My teeth sunk into her soft neck. The blood came rushing into my mouth. I can't fight this monster that has risen out to take over. I watch as the color drained from her skin as the blood rushed through my body. All I could do cry. The monster in me was feeding while tears ran down my face.

All I felt was numb after the monster had faded away. I wiped the tears off my face as I looked at my best friend. The color was gone out of her skin and she had long turned cold. I sat there staring at her only to feel nothing. I closed her eyelids but felt nothing. Something in me had snapped and I felt nothing now. Only the lust for more pale skin and blood. I call my mother.

"I killed her," I scoffed. "Whenever my next job comes in text or call me," I hung up before she was able to say anything back. I realized the monster inside me had won and there was nothing I could do about it. I told Nadine the news only I had lied to her. I told her that a vampire had broken into Synn's house and killed her and that she was long gone before I had gotten to her house. Synn had been the chosen. The monster had won but it hadn't faded away. I had become the monster. I really didn't think that it would end up this way.