Innocence Lost

Red. Thirst, hunger, I am hunger, I am thirst. The agony gnaws at
me, and I fight to keep control, to keep my soul. I double over as my
veins burn, screaming for release. My animal side, the raging primal
monster that I hide behind my eyes surges forth. I hear footsteps, and
the predator stops, silent, waiting. A thin trickle of saliva drips
from my lips, I feel my fangs elongating and excitement floods through
me. I smell her perfume, and underneath, the rich scent of life pulsing
through her fragile body. I don't want to do this&;#8230;I can't,
please&;#8230;what have I become. Without my conscious decision, my
body&;#8230;my corpse stands slowly, smoothly. There is no finesse,
no art in this. I do not call upon my gifts, and I move like some
monstrous spider through the dark maze of the streets. My hunger
defines me, makes me lethal, and I quicken as I see her.

I see her, and see myself as if I am outside myself, watching
impassively as the other, the thing I have become moves towards the
girl, pulled by the perfume of her blood. Why cant she sense that I am
here, she is utterly oblivious to the danger I represent, she is
utterly oblivious to me. I want to warn her to scream at her to run,
but the loathsome poison in my veins has made me a starving dead thing,
and in my need, part of me doesn't care, all I want is to crush her too
me, and to feel her blood spurting into my parched throat, to swallow
her, to make her mine.

My feet scuff on the pavement. I hope, perhaps in vain, that she has
sensed me, that she runs screaming to safety and that I lie here
deranged in my hunger, screaming at the uncaring sky. She turns,
startled, and&;#8230;I sense another, a heavier heart thuds in the
silence&;#8230;another human waits here in silence. My predator
growls its lust, now I would feed well, a low snarl escapes my throat,
I do not breath and I regain a measure of control, or am I deluded.
Perhaps the beast requires my human intelligence to serve its purpose,
I don't know, and by now I don't care. Using my blood gifts, I draw the
shadows around me, smothering me in their nebulous blanket, I call upon
my dwindling blood to give strength to my limbs, hunger sharpens my
cunning.

I crawl up the wall, my dead fingers grip the concrete, as I haul
myself above the street lights into the concealing darkness three
stories over the alleyway. The girl turns, I have difficulty seeing
her, the red obscures my vision, and I feel myself falling into the
thirst, feel myself slipping to the predator&;#8230;Her voice jolts
me back&;#8230;partially.

"Hello? Hello is anybody there?" She sounds weak and timid, frightened
by the night. When I was alive, I would have wanted to run to her, to
reassure her, now the thing I have become wants to drain her dry and
cast aside her exsanguinated corpse as if it were nothing to me. I wish
I had the strength to end this, wish that I knew how, but I can't and I
don't, I go on, night after night as I have done for three months,
after I was murdered and then brought back. I notice something else,
finally I realise where the other distant pulse is coming from. I can
see him, stood in the deepest shadows, he is waiting here for someone,
or something, waiting for his victim, just as I do. I understand his
motives, and a distant part of me is horrified. He means to assault
her, kill her and rape her. I sense this from his crowded thoughts,
from the adrenalin, which floods his veins which causes his eyes to
bulge and his muscles to spasm. He has only done this twice before. I
have killed twelve people, my thirst causing their fragile hearts to
collapse as I fed upon them, breaking their necks with my need.

I see him drift forward, as if entranced by her, while simultaneously a
wave of searing pain rips through me, as my blood lust becomes
unbearable. From this distance, I can hear the rasp of his breathing,
and imagine thick flow of his blood gushing down my throat, the coppery
scent filling my nostrils, and the thrill of his heart struggling to
pump the dwindling life through his veins as I feed.

The girl turns around, but far too late, the man moves forward into the
light, behind her. He is blurred and hazy as the bloodlust overrides my
senses. I can hold back no longer. The girl screams as he wraps his arm
round her throat. With unnatural speed, I blur from the top of the
building slamming into the man, gripping him with one hand, I make a
single leap that carries the two of us 20 meters up the alley and into
the shadows. He is stunned and punches me frenziedly, the knife in his
hand skitters away from me as I crush his wrist with my powerful grip.
I did not notice he had the blade, but even that would not have stopped
me. He screams, a high, agonised wail, which turns to a choked
gurgling, as my jaw dislocates and my knife-like fangs shred his
throat.

The blood rises like a tide, it fills my senses with warmth and life. I
close my eyes and drink deep draughts, the pounding of his heart
overwhelms me, and I fall into the moment, as my veins expand with the
stolen fluid. His arteries are filled with adrenalin, and the high
takes me over. On the edge of my awareness, I hear a woman screaming,
but all that matters now, is the blood. I tighten my grip, as his heart
falters, my fangs cutting deeper, gore covers my face, and I suckle at
his ruined neck like a babe at its mother's breast.

Its over too soon, and I need more. I rise from the corpse, and I
notice his features for the first time. His face is ashen, and
withered, drained of all moisture. He looks like an accountant, middle
aged, doughy and soft. A family man perhaps? Idly I wonder what his
family would taste like. I should be horrified, but I'm not. That
realisation comes like a breath of fresh air, have I lost all humanity?
Perhaps I can finally accept what I am, a vampire, a drinker of blood.
Slowly I turn from the body, I sense the girl watching, frozen like a
rabbit with fear. She sees my gore streaked face, the blood already
beginning to congeal.

She chokes with fear, and staggers back, she tries to speak, but she
can only make stuttering noises. I watch her with the detachment of a
hawk studying a dying mouse, she is no more than that to me now. It is
ironic that I let my human feelings weaken me for so long. My god, what
have I become? I push the tide of grief into the deep dark thing that
still screams for blood. I smile, more like a rictus than an attempt at
congeniality, then I am on her. She struggles, screams even, but that
just makes me hotter. She wears a dress which tears as my fingers grip
her thighs. I scent blood, my jaws distend, my fangs sink into her sex.
The taste of blood, and of her pussy. Not enough there. I seek her
deepest arteries, and find in her thigh. I am now so monstrous that
almost my entire mouth can fit around her upper leg. My fangs sink in,
and the hot fluid gushes into my mouth. I suck lustfully at her, she
has lost so much that she is going into shock. She looks waxen, her
breathing coming in short, sharp gasps.
"Just a child, just a child, just a child&;#8230;"
She repeats it like a mantra, in time to my greedy slobbering. I slow
down, savouring her life. Her eyes have rolled back into her head, her
lips dry. The alley looks like an abattoir. But the blood still pulls
me, thick rich, and coppery. I feel her heart collapse, and she spasms
like a mannequin in some macabre dance.

Slowly I stand. The sky is brightening in the east, and I must seek
shelter soon, or the sun will destroy me. I have my own survival to
think about. A part of me imagines how I must appear to the humans, a
gore soaked teenaged girl. Lost in an alley, perhaps these two were my
parents, but the girl is too young. They will try to comfort me, all
the time asking what kind of monster could do this? Little realising
that I was thinking of their blood, thinking of my need.

That's right I'm a girl. You didn't think I was a man did you? Anyway,
I have to go now, perhaps I'll see you tomorrow night? You'd better
hope that I've eaten before hand though&;#8230;

This is my first short story, done to test the waters. Please let me
know what you like or dislike, and any constructive comments are always
welcome. Thanks for putting up with it!