Hunter or Prey?

5

There is a saying that all good things must come to an end. My end came far sooner than I had wanted it to. For the first time ever, I felt loved and cherished. I know that it's foolish to say that. John himself warned me that he isn't kind and I know that he doesn't really love me, but it's all part of the illusion I wish to have.

I had just finished dinner, or breakfast or maybe it was even lunch? The meals are never specified and with no sun it's hard to tell which meal it is. It doesn't matter, it's always delicious.

John had come in and we were talking and even laughing as I ate.

But still there was a part of me that wondered why he hasn't  been drinking from me. I finally decided to ask him.

"John, have I done something wrong?" I didn't mean to but tears started falling.

John looks at me seriously his laughter cut off like a switched had been flipped. "No, why do you ask?"

I do my best to keep the sobs from coming out as I answer him, "You never drink from me anymore. Is it because I have offended you in some way?"

"No, I have gotten me a new blood donor." His words cut into me deeply.

"I don't understand." That's all I can say. Then I wonder if he's fucking them too.

"I don't want to accidentally kill you, Emily. So I went and picked up another blood donor. Actually I've had two since I stopped drinking from you. The first pissed the hell out of me and so I killed her and the second I don't think she'll last very long." John says casually.

"What did the first one do?" Now I'm afraid that he'll hurt me too.

"She tried to kill me." John's eyes start glowing but not in a way to hold me, but in a way that terrifies me. "Somehow she managed to break the table that was in her room and she tried to stab the leg into my chest." Only after that was John able to see how scared I was of him in that minute.

"And the second?" He said that she wouldn't last very long.

"Her blood is very delicious, I have a hard time stopping." I know he doesn't mean to hurt me, and the words shouldn't, but they do.

He caresses my face and brings me in for a kiss. "I didn't have sex with either of them. That's something I will only do with you as long as you are here."

"Drink from me, John?" I plead with him. 

"As you wish," John says as he starts his seduction. His bite is what sends me over and he soon joins me.

I don't feel tired afterwards, at least not enough to sleep just yet. "John?" I'm not sure he'll want to talk but, I need to try. 

"Yes?"

"I know I'm not the only one you've taken as a lover, so I'm confused as to why you haven't taken this other girl as one. Don't all your donors become your lovers?"

"No, actually I have had only a handful of lovers, you being the longest lasting one. Usually they only lasted a day or two. As for why, the others don't interest me enough. They are here strictly for my feeding."

"So why me?"

"You asked me my name after calling me a sexy vampire." John chuckles. "No one has ever told me anything remotely like that. And no one has ever bothered to ask me my name. I sure as hell never bothered to ask theirs. They were there for one reason only. Humans don't name their cows or chickens or whatever else they eat. Just like I don't bother to learn the names of my food."

"But you did me?"

"Like I said before, you asked me mine. You are completely different from the others."

"What about the ones you took as lovers?"

"Mm, those I seduced out of need. You damn near seduced me without even touching me that first fucking time. I didn't like you looking so sad. That has never bothered me before. But seeing your blank expression drove me insane. I didn't and still don't like it when you leave me. I don't want to see you like that any more."

I smile at his words. I'm still jealous at the attention he's giving others. I know, Stockholm syndrome. I am a pet to him. Perhaps a beloved pet, but a pet none the less. Or perhaps it is more correct to say I'm a slave. I don't dare ask him to tell me how he sees me. The hope that it could be more than that is all it could ever be, hope. To find out that it isn't would destroy me. I couldn't take the risk.

Then my body decides to force the issue as I scream in pain. 

The agony is unbelievable. How could I have forgotten? How long have I even been here? Like his lovemaking, (my illusion, it's lovemaking and not fucking or just sex thank you very much), waves roll over me, but this time it's not pleasure but pain so intense I just want to die.

Next thing I know something is choking me, I swallow but it won't go away. Between the choking and the pain I lose consciousness. The blackness swallows me and relief is all I know.

I wake up, but the thought of opening my eyes is repugnant. I ache all over and moan at the duller pain. It's infinitely better than the sharp agony I went through the night, or whatever, before.

John's voice speaks, "Are you feeling any better?" He sits me up and puts something to my mouth. "Drink, it's juice, your favorite one I believe."

Hearing those words I start drinking and find I can only stop when the demands of my body make themselves known and I need to breathe.

"I'll give you some more in a minute. Do you feel better now?" John doesn't like repeating himself and so this time I make sure to answer him.

"The pain is a dull ache instead of the piercing of knives. So I guess in that manner I feel better. Thank you, I don't know what you did, but thank you."

"Emily, we need to talk. I meant to talk to you about this earlier but was distracted by other things and people.

"Now that the disease has progressed, more pain and worse, you said, will be coming. I can take the pain away in two ways. I wasn't sure if the one would work, but it did so we still have two options. After I give you the options, depending on what you choose, I will have another choice for you."

His serious tone makes me open my eyes where before I couldn't find the strength to do so. "Okay. Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like what you have to say?" He is serious and his face betrays nothing of how he's feeling. It's like he's a stranger and that makes me more than a little afraid of him in that moment.

He see this and lets out a sigh and he closes his eyes. "I don't mean to frighten you, Emily. Come, sit up and get comfortable." He helps me sit properly in the bed with pillows behind me for support.

"Last night I was able to take the pain away by forcing my blood into you. This time you didn't reject it. So that means that way is still open to us. The other way is more permanent and lasting. I can kill you. I wish there was more I could do for you, but if my blood didn't heal you then there isn't."

I look at him with tears in my eyes, "You would kill me?"

"To make sure that you don't suffer like that again, yes. But if you accept my blood, I would be a willing donor for you, for however long you wish." The fact that his blood has already entered me and I didn't reject it is only now filtering into my brain.

"Did it work?" I ask in a small voice, like that of a lost child.

"I won't know unless and until you are encompassed by agony again. I hope it did work, I don't think I could stand to see you twisted in pain like that again."