The Alley

He sank his teeth into the tender flesh of her neck and closed his eyes in ecstasy as blood filled his mouth. The metallic taste was rich enough to drive him wild, almost pushing him over the edge. He held the fragile body of the small woman that had the bad luck to cross his path that night reverently as he pumped the last dregs of blood from her erratically beating heart. Pulling his head back seconds before her heart stopped he avoided the dreadful taste of death that once tasted would pull him into its depths. He bit his lip and let some of his powerful blood heal the puncture wounds before he dropped her broken, lifeless body carelessly onto the street and moved on to find another victim before the dawn drove him into slumber.

He climbed the side of the building, his feet barely touching the bricks. One floor, then another and another until he reached the roof, his boots landing soundlessly on the thick tar. He brushed at the auburn hair that barely skimmed the collar of his long black coat. Flexing his hands he perched on the edge of the roof and stared down at the city below waiting to hear the signs of his next victim. He opened his mind and heard the conversations of all the people far below him, their heartbeats and their inner most thoughts were his to possess if he so chose to.


His body became rigid when he entered the mind of a young woman walking alone in a dark alley not far from his perch. Her thoughts intrigued him. Instead of feeling fright at such an undertaking, the woman was thinking about a scene that had just occurred moments before between herself and her now ex-boyfriend. She walked with a purpose, with her head down, her eyes focusing on the ground in front of her instead on the path with which she walked. He picked her name from her mind. “LisBeth,” he whispered to himself, her name rolling off his tongue with familiarity.
Jumping off the building, he flew to the alley in which she walked and hid in the shadows a few feet in front of her. He watched with curious eyes as she came closer to his hiding place. Before she could pass he stepped forward and said barely above a whisper, “This is no place for a lady to be walking at night.”


Lisbeth jumped at the sudden sound of his voice but then calmed down when she saw who it was. “It’s a good thing I’m not a lady.”


“If you’re not a lady then what are you?” He came closer until they were only inches apart.


“I’m just a girl walking alone exchanging a greeting with a man she met while passing through a dark alley.”


“Aren’t you scared?” he whispered even closer to her.


“Of what, you? No.”


He grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the brick wall. “And what about now?” he asked his long pale fingers wrapped around her slender throat.
She did not answer. He penetrated her mind and sensed no fear. To his great surprise he felt her excitement. He stared at her closely and saw her chest heaving with it. Her low cut blouse rising and falling, her breasts taunting him. “Why don’t you fear me?”


“Because I have no need to, Aaron,” she breathed wetting her lips with her sharp pointy tongue.


“How did you know my name?” he asked unbelievingly.


She grabbed the wrist that held her throat and peeled his hand away. As her feet touched the ground she stepped forward as he took a step back. “There are worst things than vampires roaming the streets on this night.” Her eyes shone silver in the moonlight.


Suddenly her hair turned white and she opened her mouth to reveal a large set of fangs. She lunged at him, her claws raking across his throat. He fell to the ground instantly the blow opening his jugular. As his life blood flowed all over the dark alley Lisbeth knelt close to him. “We are a new breed. And I am hungry.”


“Why?” he choked his blood gurgling his speech as it flowed from his mouth.


“We feed off vampires and tonight it's your night to become a meal for something else." Without another word she bent down and sucked the rest of the blood from his quickly draining body, lapping it up the dog she was. She felt the vampire die. When there was no more blood she raised her head to the moon and howled. The vampires that heard this wild cry felt fear, an emotion some have not felt for more centuries than they are able to count.








THE END