The Missing Boy

Chapter 28 - Hate

No one expects to be an addict.

It's not something that's planned.

No one would have ever guessed that Miles, out of all people, would become one.

But he is. He can admit that now. The desire he has for the venom isn't normal. He's desperate. Incredibly desperate. So desperate, in fact, that he is willing to do anything for it.

"Just one bite, got it?"

Anything.

•••••••••••••

Miles doesn't go to school for a week. It's almost as if his body is giving up on him, breaking down like it depends on the venom to function properly.

He tells his mother he's sick, which isn't hard to believe given the state he's in. Shivering. Sweating. His body not being able to figure out whether it's hot or cold.

His nightmares haven't faded yet. The worst dreams are the ones when Axel bites him. Miles wakes up feeling just as shitty as he was before.

••••••••••

He didn't mean it. It's not true. He doesn't hate you, he's just angry. It's the venom. It's. Not. You.

••••••••••

Today is the first day in a whole week that Miles leaves his house.

And it isn't to go to school or to the grocery store.

It's dark, the moon is at its prime and Miles is walking down the street. His shadow the only thing following him.

Miles stands outside the bar waiting not so patiently for someone, a vampire, to walk out. And when he spots one finally leave, he emerges from his waiting spot and approaches the unaware vampire.

The vampire seems to be in their early twenties, however age and appearance are very different things when it comes to these timeless beings. For all Miles knows, he could be ten times his age.

Miles had rehearsed what he was going to say but couldn't phrase it in a way that didn't seem utterly ridiculous. So he asks the blonde haired vampire "How much do I have to pay to get you to bite me?"

When the vampire says forty dollars, Miles doesn't hesitate to drop two twenties.

Miles knows what he's risking. An untrained rogue biting him could be lethal. But he's so far gone that he quite frankly doesn't care.

Miles never imagined himself going down this route.

No one did.

The vampire stuffs the money into his pockets, grabbing Miles' wrist and dragging him to a deserted alleyway.

This should scare Miles. It would have scared Miles before. It doesn't scare Miles now.

The vampire has no personal connection to Miles, he doesn't care about what happens to the peculiar kid that just paid him for a bite. But he couldn't turn down the offer. Not when he was getting forty dollars and a bite out of it. He has bitten humans before. Even if they did both end up dead.

"You ready kid because I ain't giving you your money back if you change your mind about this?"

"Yeah. I'm ready."

Miles knows he's adding fuel to the fire.

"Just one bite, got it?"

Now he's about to get burned by the flames.

"Just like you said kid."

Then the vampire bites.

He isn't careful like Axel. He's clumsy and messy and there's blood dripping everywhere. Miles can feel the warm liquid sliding down his collarbone and soaking his shirt.

The venom releases into his body. But he can't feel it. Not tonight. Not like this. All the pleasure is replaced with pain, the poorly calculated bite causing an excruciating ache in Miles neck.

The vampire is close. Too close. Pressed up so against Miles that he feels like he's suffocating. I can't breath.

But he isn't, not yet.

Miles, unable to talk, tries to push the vampire off of him, his small hands applying as much force to the other man's chest as possible. But the vampire can barely feel it, too intoxicated by Miles' blood. His rich, fresh blood. It makes his head spin.

I don't want to do this anymore. I-I don't want to do this.

But the words aren't said, the vampire's teeth still sunk into his tender flesh.

I'm sorry Axel. I'm so so sorry.

Salty tears runs down his cheeks, a cry unable to fall from his lips. Miles hates that he let himself get into this position. Physically and mentally.

I hate you.

That's what he had said a week ago to his neighbour. The lie that at the time did hold some validity when it was aimed at Axel. Now however, Miles says it to himself. He believes it to be true, that the hate he has in himself is for himself. Others care to disagree.

"Hey you! Get off of him!"

A woman seems to have noticed Miles' discomfort and runs towards the two. The vampire, at last, rips his fangs out of Miles' neck (also not carefully), and runs away into the darkness.

Miles collapses to the ground, holding onto his wounded neck. The tears have yet to stop falling.

"Honey, do you want me to call the police or the ambulance?" The woman asks as she surveys Miles. She pulls out her phone despite not having an answer.

Miles stops her before she can dial the three numbers, cringing as he smudges her phone with some of his blood.

"No, don't call them." It pains Miles to say the words, his neck burning.

"But you're hurt. We can't let that man get away with what he did. He was sexually assaulting you."

She hadn't seen the bite.

"Did he cut you?" The woman asks as she spots the blood. "No, we have to call the police. This isn't right."

"Please." Miles coughs and the action makes him want to scream. "Please don't make me."

She doesn't.

•••••••••••

The woman had guided Miles back to his home but left once Miles insisted he could make it on his own.

It's now, as Miles is standing on the road that separates his house from Axel's, that he can feel the blood welling up in his throat.

Like a well getting full.

Rising and rising, as if he's holding his head above water that's quickly filling up.

Now he's suffocating.

It's impossible for Miles to call for help. It's would be impossible for anyone to hear him.

But Axel isn't anyone. He's a vampire. A vampire who has been waiting for the boy he loves to return to him. But not like this.