Chapter 9

Brianna

Not being able to sleep was handy when stalking prey, but when all I had to do was stare at college kids it was infinitely boring.

And all these kids were so excruciatingly mortal.

No one seemed to be slipping up. No more blood. No crazy rituals. Just a lot of TV, chatting, sleeping, and sex.

What was strange, was the absence of any of those things. Ever since the girl had gone off with the demon, the apartment had been empty. Where were the other residents? No one had come in or out as long as I’d been watching.

“Fuck it. I’m tired of waiting.”

I got close to a window and with my vampiric strength, jimmying the window hard enough to break the latch wasn’t a problem. I snuck in and closed the window behind me. Vampiric night vision also hella came in handy when sneaking around somewhere spooky.

All the lights were off in the bedroom and, from what I could tell, the rest of the apartment. It didn’t seem like anything was awry. Blankets were draped over couches in a normal fashion. Beds weren’t made but who makes their bed? The food in the fridge was as good as could be expected from college students.

Nothing out of the ordinary… until I reached the far right bedroom.

I was surprised but not shocked. It felt good knowing that my suspicions had been warranted. Well, good is relative because in front of me were three lifeless girls.

“Hm…” Okay, maybe not completely lifeless.

One… Two… Three…

Okay, each had a pulse, but it was slow and weak albeit consistent.

Something about them though was off.

I’d not been able to feel their presence until I walked into the room. That was borderline unheard of. I scanned the walls and the ceiling. There was nothing special put up. No liner or weird paint.

I took a deep inhale.

It was the girls themselves. Even in the room with them, their scent was especially faint and unfulfilling. Like their blood had been diluted and tainted with something else.

My mind went to the rancid-sweet smell from the woods, but that wasn’t quite it. Maybe the lack of interesting blood was another symptom of whatever had these girls comatose.

I bent down closer to inspect. No visible wounds. They appeared to be the girls in all the photos here in the apartment.

If the evidence lined up better I’d think maybe it was the demon girl who did this. Her description sounded about on par with these girls’ current states. It was almost as if…

“Worried about another succubus, babe?”

I turned, grabbed his neck, and pressed my hand hard into the gap between his ribs before he had time to blink. Wind whirled around us following the trail of my movements.

“Oh. How interesting…” he said seemingly unphased.

I could smell the rotting stench of rancid blood all over him even though his clothes were clean.

“You’re one of them huh?” He seemed almost delighted.

“What did you do? This past week. I want answers.”

I recognized him from some of the photos in the apartment.

“Come on. Just let me down. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“No way in hell you could put even a scratch on me.” I pressed harder into his ribs, causing what I was sure was a rightfully high amount of pain. “You’re remarkably confident for someone being held up off the ground by their neck.”

“Let’s not kink shame okay? You don’t even know me yet.”

“Let's keep it that way. Answers. Now!”

I could see his eyes flicker red and what he said next felt coated in honey and lavender.

“Set me down, get on that bed, and let me do what I want with you.”

Interesting. I could feel the power his words were meant to have, and yet they had no effect. I could choose to ignore it. If I was mortal, he’d have had some sort of power over me not too dissimilar to the kind my grandfather had when I was his thrall.

There was no way any man was ever going to have power like that over me again.

I felt this boy’s throat begin to give way under my grip. He’d triggered me and was liable for the wrath it unleashed.

And yet, I didn’t see his face contort in the kind of pain I would expect. Instead, he appeared to roll his eyes.

I didn’t see why until it was too late. I was so caught up in his words and my own reaction that I’d neglected to see him fiddling with something behind his back as he brought it down onto my arm.

I cried out in pain. I’d not been hurt like this in almost two years. But the pain was nothing compared to the panic I felt seeing what had done it to me.

The knife.

I could feel my grandfather’s back caving in as I drove that knife into him. I could hear the screams of my old life dying in front of me in his attempt at serving final retribution. My old friends dying around me, paying the price for my actions. Because of this knife. I could see my grandfather drawing it along his forearm, dripping his blood into my mother’s mouth. That knife had caused me and those I cared about so fucking much pain. It was my grandfather’s hand still coming back to kill me. That’s what it felt like.

Whether because of the knife or because of my overwhelming panic, I dropped the inhuman man.

I grabbed my arm, watching the blood pour down it and onto the floor.

The power my blood had. I couldn’t let someone like this asshole get a hold of it.

“What?” he asked, stretching his neck back and forth to loosen where I’d been squeezing, “You think I want to be like you? Well at first I did. But then I found I could be better. Less of a penchant for bloody murder seemed like an upgrade if you ask me.”

What? He knew? He was different!? What was he?

I could see him running at me at the same speed as I’d rushed him. I tried batting him away, but he grabbed my good arm, this time being the one to slam me into the wall.

The long knife pressed up against my throat with my good arm pinned up.

“I’m curious. Why didn’t the charm work on you?”

I spat at him.

Then the knife pressed harder up against my throat.

These past two years I’d felt completely immortal. It was almost depressing as I’d looked into the future and seen myself there forever. And yet here I was… so very mortal.

“Look... There was still some blood left on the knife.”

No.

“Now I didn’t drink the blood exactly. But in ritual, the blood of one demon can be used to create an even better one.”

No no no no.

“As I understand it, you get stronger, see further. We do too. But we have other powers too.”

I felt the honey and lavender start to layer over his words.

“Let’s try this again. I’m going to kiss you, and it’s going to be the best kiss you’ve ever had.”

He leaned in, knife still on my throat with enough pressure to begin a trickle of blood. I wanted to struggle away. He closed his eyes as he placed his lips on mine. He was cautious, but after I didn’t pull away for a split second he came in heavier-handed.

And that was just what I was waiting for.

My fangs extended and I bit into him.

I kept my tongue far away. I wasn’t feeding or enthralling. I was hurting.

“Ah!” he shouted.

In his surprise, I used my injured arm to pull his knife hand away from my throat and kicked him away once I was sure the knife no longer posed a threat.

I stood up and made a break for it. Running out the front door and into the woods.

But he followed.

Both of us ran as fast as a car through the roots and branches.

I tried to pull back springier branches to whack at him as he kept pace behind me.

And just like that, we crossed a road. Into a larger wooded area. Over a creek. More trees. Down into a gulley. Out again. Up the hill. Over the cliff. Across the river.

I ran and ran and ran, not looking back to see if he was keeping up but assuming he was until I crossed into a farm a few miles outside of town.

His senses weren’t heightened, at least not at the moment. He would’ve noticed me hiding out all day. Whatever he drew his powers from had been wearing off or he would’ve been more direct. Right?

I slowed down to finally catch my breath.

In...

Out... 

In...

Out...

“Ahhhhhhhggg!!!” I shouted into the ground, balling up bits of wild grass and tearing it out of the ground.

I looked over at my arm. It was healing already, but the gash was pronounced.

Maybe I was stupid to try and surveil this thing all by myself. I hadn’t known what I was up against and it had nearly gotten me killed… or worse.

“I can’t… I can’t… I can’t…”

My breathing was picking up again.

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

I wasn’t going to be used like that again. I wasn’t going to let anyone be used like that again. But I couldn’t face him alone. Even with him not at full power, he’d managed to get the jump on me. I needed help, and I think I knew where to get it.

I was going to fight fire with fire.

blue98

I decided to do individual chapters for both characters this go around. It's the longest we've gotten of Bri so far. Thoughts on the format? Thoughts on what just happened? The last chapter is now this story's second most favorited chapter, what about last chapter was so interesting?