Black Blood

17

Once inside, I was immediately met with the overwhelming sense of dread. I heard whispers in an empty room. I could hear faint screaming, and only Kieran seemed to notice it. He held his breath in order to remain calm and I did the same, but it just kept bothering me. I wasn't used to it. All of a sudden, I looked around and could see faint. misty, blue and white figures that lurked around me. They looked like people, except that they were people who had been tested here before. A few of them. I recognized them from back when I was here, but I knew that they were killed. That was when I realized that I was seeing the spirits of the people who never got to live the remaining time of their lifespan, and so they were trapped in this realm. I looked up at Kieran who still had a face of annoyance. Not at me, but at the situation. You could tell that he did not want to be here.

Kieran kept perking up and staring at any and every sound that he could, even sounds that I couldn't hear, he would. He would sniff the air to smell if anyone was coming towards him. Kieran and I had come up with a strategy. He would tap my shoulder once for me to answer whoever was talking, twice for reassurance that I was safe as long as he was around me, three times to say "I love you," and he would flick my shoulder if I needed to take action. The same rules went for him as it did for me. If I was in trouble and Kieran was around, I would flick him secretively, or I would hold up four fingers. One of the more common hand motions was if I wiped my nose with my arm, then I was uncomfortable. I continued to walk down the grimmy and dark hallway of the headquarters. Everything was very high tech, but it was in a dim-lit area with concrete floors and cheap drywall for the walls. It didn't make much sense, but that's how it was.

I was led to a room where there was a big, round table where a bunch of men in uniforms sat. I recognized a few of them, the ones that... hurt me were smirking at me as I walked past them. I was getting catcalled the whole walk to the end of the table where the one and only Neo was sitting. Daku Neo, the man who deserved to burn. His red eyes stared into my soul as he grinned wider than what should be possible. I clenched my fists, really wanting to strangle this man. He was the one who killed my family. He drove my adoptive father into insanity to the point of him taking his own life! He killed my sister to get to me. He tortured me. He took every last piece of innocence of my childhood from me. This man was going to die.

"Nice for us to meet again, Talia Mei Kuro." Neo slurred. I could hear Kieran faintly growling under his breath, only because he was so close to me. I gave him eyes that only saw red. I had my hands tied behind my back at this point, with Kieran holding me back from killing him. I could read all of Neo's thoughts as well as the ones closest to him. Despicable. Sadistic. Insidious. It made me sick just reading his mind. I didn't know how to stop, I had only read minds one time and it was an accident. My eyes glowed red as I stared at him and he just laughed and then whistled at me before the whole room except Kieran and Peyton were catcalling and mocking me. "Looks like the subject in question has grown up and has a pair of fangs!" Neo laughed. I sank back, not knowing what to do before Neo called one of his men from the back to come and see me.

Who I saw coming out of the room next door was the idiot I worked with over in America. The one who just made everything worse for me. I looked at Kollin and he smirked at me as he walked towards me. He began to get really close to me. Too close. I could feel his breath on my neck. He chuckled softly before taking a knife out and stepping back. He smirked and then put the blade in his hand before ripping it out, causing blood to pour from his palm. My eyes, that were already glowing, grew a brighter red as my hunger for actual blood kicked in. I remained collected though and I wasn't trying to kill anyone... yet. That was thanks to the training that Kieran had given me to control my bloodthirst. Kieran held my wrists tighter so that I couldn't get out of his grip. He really didn't want me to get hurt or to hurt anyone. Kollin seemed satisfied with my reaction towards his blood and he ended up taking his hand and smearing the blood on my face. I dare not lick my lips at the taste of the copper fluid.