Alexi leaped past the blood to the hallway, her strength carried her gracefully to the unsoiled carpet. Small feet, that could only be Savanna’s, were followed by a larger boot. Away from the blood, she took a deep breath to steady herself when she smelled cologne—Connor and Savanna’s jasmine body wash hid behind the blood. She was fine, but why was Connor here? The blood in the room was too much for one person and it smelled wrong to be all Savanna’s.
Glancing down at herself she realized she stood in the moonlight with nothing on but her skin. She ducked into her empty room. She had yet to own a single possession, no paintings or flowers. Clothes were the only thing she spent her money on. She pulled a trendy pair of jeans on over her long legs. She followed it up with a black tank. Her shoulders were bare but it wasn’t like she could feel cold or heat.
Worry spawned a frown on her face. Even with Connor, that was a hell of a lot of blood. With her boots on she left her room and swiftly moved to Savannas. Her hand hovered over the doorknob to her friend’s room. She was sure she was fine, but part of her nagged at her. She couldn’t know until she saw. She pushed the door open enough to see the bed.
Savanna lay in her bed intertwined with her sheets and Connor. His arms draped over her waist. His head nuzzled in her neck. The two were fast asleep. Alexi listened to their shallow breathing for a moment—behind it was a pair of strong heartbeats. They were exhausted, but fine. She grinned at the thought of them together. If she and Victor had been an odd pair—thinking of him out of the blue sent a pang of guilt through her. She pushed it out of her mind.
The door closed as quietly as she had opened it.
There was more to worry about. What had attacked her? Alexi hadn’t been alive, at least not in her current state, for that long. In the time she had been around, four zombie movies played in the theater and at least one show on TV every Sunday night. Savanna was addicted to it, now she wished she paid more attention when the witch made her popcorn and watched. Alexi didn’t like all the blood and the dying, she had enough in her real life.
For now, though, the powers that be said they didn’t exist and she wasn’t in any shape to go snooping around. Her stomach rumbled reminding her of her hunger. The living room was a mess. She couldn’t go back in there. All the blood would make her lose it and she was barely holding on as it was. She forced the thought out of her head that there were two unconscious people she could feed on not twenty feet away. That she even thought it told her how bad her hunger must be. Based on the amount of blood on the floor she was certain neither had any to spare.
No, what Alexi needed could only be found elsewhere. Outside on the streets. She needed to feed which meant she needed to hunt. Intellectually it wasn’t her favorite thing to do. But her body and her soul relished the thought of trapping someone, feeling their heart beat under her hands, the warmth of their skin as she pressed them against a wall and filled her mouth with their life. A shiver of delight ran up her spine. She didn’t usually fantasize about feeding unless she was close to losing control. All her little hairs stood on end and she realized it was time to go!
She went out her bedroom window to avoid the living room. The night air kissed her skin sending a shiver up her spine. Cold she didn’t feel, but goosebumps she did. She shut her window behind her thankful that she no longer needed them boarded up.
Her boots sunk a half inch into mud covered by a thin coat of grass. She loved how everything smelled clean and new after a down poor. On the other, it made it hard to track. Not that she was going to need her enhanced senses tonight. Fresh prey was never hard to find in the Seattle-Tacoma sprawl.
With each step, her body anticipated the hunt. Her mind, though, burned with shame. You’re not a monster, Victor's voice popped in her head. Thinking of him brought a smile to her face. He told her he would always be there to remind her of her humanity. In a way he was.
The house was fortuitously located a few blocks from two bars and a club. All within easy walking distance, including the place she used to work. She had a route she followed—the bar first.
A pair of large oak doors led into the barely lit pub. Alexi could hear the suppressed sound of live music before she opened the doors. When she did the music washed over her. The thick crowd packed the place from wall to wall as they always did when there was a live band. The floor was alive with dancing and the tables were all packed. The only place for her was at the bar.
It wasn’t a trendy place, the customers were rough looking bikers and other unsavory individuals. No suits or fashion here. In other words perfectly. The only downside was that she preferred to feed on people with a little less life experience. To her, the purer the soul the more delicious and nutritious the meal.
Alexi wasn’t like the other vampires who mind controlled their prey. She exchanged something with them, some emotion. If the person she fed on was an angry bitter person, then she got some of it and they got some of her. It was almost symbiotic… almost. Because of the unusual nature in which she fed, she tended to be choosy about who she picked. Too rough and broken and it depressed her, too innocent and she felt guilty. It needed to be somewhere in between. Even in this, she wanted to help people. She liked to think it made up for what she did to them.
She searched the tables for someone who she could feel would benefit from her strength and was healthy enough to lend her theirs. There were a lot of guys in the room, she discounted them all. Feeding was to intimate to do with a man. The only she had ever fed on was Victor. No, she didn’t want a sexual exchange, though the process of feeding tended to have some sexual charge to it. If she could avoid it she would rather share her feelings with women, as opposed to a random man. It didn’t make sense to her, but feeding on a man felt too much like having sex with them, and she didn’t want that. With girls, she felt more of a connection than anything else.
She spotted a prospective meal, a lithe girl who couldn’t possibly be old enough to be in the bar legally. She had brown hair and eyes that matched. She looked down when Alexi made eye contact. The sudden subservience triggered her predator instincts and she moved to the table weaving her way through the crowd with little effort.
She didn’t take her eyes of the girl, ignoring her boyfriend and anyone else. She stopped next to her, a hand brushing the girl's shoulder to move her hair. The contact made Alexi’s fangs grow
The man with her growled and reached for Alexi’s hand. She let him grab her wrist as his effort to pull her to him ended with him pulling himself up.
“I don’t know who you think—”
Alexi broke contact with her prey to gaze directly into the man's eyes. Her will crashed out and swallowed him whole. He dropped his hand, followed by his eyes dilating and he stood there slack-jawed waiting. Mind control wasn’t her favorite thing, but ass-hats like this guy deserved it.
“Go to the bathroom, don’t come out until the last call. Forget you ever knew this girl. Now go, and contemplate your life choices.”
He turned without any fanfare and made a beeline for the bathroom.
“How did you do that?”her prey asked.
Alexi slid into the chair next to her, letting her hand fall on hers. The girl's brown hair fell in curls over a bare shoulder that was lightly covered by a red satin top. She smelled of perfume and alcohol. Alexi’s eyes roamed the curve of her neck looking for the tale-tale twitch of her carotid artery. Heat rolled off her skin in waves inviting Alexi closer.
She could lose herself in this. It would be too easy to fall into the feeding until the girl gasped her last breath. To revel in it, and make her beg for death… Alexi shook her head. She wasn’t that person.
Alexi leaned closer. Instinctively, the girl leaned forward as well. Alexi knew better than this. The longer she went between feedings the more the vampire in her whispered in her ear.
“He’s an asshole, you should leave him and,” she waved to the bar around them, “stop coming to places like this. You won’t find a guy worth having here
,” Alexi whispered to her. The girl involuntarily leaned closer to hear what Alexi said. Alexi scooted her chair closer until their legs were interlocked. She placed her hands on the girl's shoulders and lightly pulled her in. For Alexi their connection was instant. A spark leaped between them and her neck beckoned. The noise of the bar disappeared and all Alexi could hear was thump of her prey’s heart. Her tongue darted out to caress the spot where the carotid artery touched the skin. The girl shivered, her hands clasped the table.
“How…,” she moaned as Alexi placed her lips against soft skin.
She closed her eyes and let her fangs slice through to the vein beneath. She shuddered as the blood coursed into her mouth.
The girls breathing picked up. Alexi reached out pulling her close holding her head and body so that she couldn’t move. In this moment she felt her bond grow. The intimacy of the moment stunned her. It had always been there, from the first time she fed on Savanna to the last time she fed on Victor.
She wondered if all vampires fed in this way but only she possessed the empathy that followed? When she fed on men it was too easy to mistake the meal for sex and Alexi found it difficult to share the intimate parts of her in a bond. With Victor, it had been easy. After all, he was a werewolf and could regenerate nearly as fast as her. Other men, though… despite the awkwardness of sharing intimacy with a strange woman, she found it preferable to sharing it with a strange man.
She squirmed for a second, then Alexi sunk her fangs in deeper. She moaned as their minds and emotions mingled. Alexi felt her need, a need born of frustration. With her life, with her choices. She wanted to be loved but more than that she wanted to be needed.
Alexi understood that. She drank deep, not just of her blood but her energy. It ran hot into her mouth revitalizing her and invigorating her cells. With each passing drop Alexi grew stronger. The girls breathing was heavy now, her moans and sighs filled Alexi’s ears. She felt her prey stiffen as the inevitable collapse approached.
There was always the desire to take everything. To make her prey beg her to take all they had. Her stomach tingled and the excitement of feeding washed over her. New blood rushed to her cheeks. She leaned over the girl the urge to take it all screaming at her.
She pulled off with a gasp. Before anyone could notice she ran her tongue over the wound closing the fair skin. Alexi put a hand to her face and realized she was crying. Her meal was too. The sense of her dissatisfied life filled her and Alexi hoped she could help if even just a little. She grabbed the nearest guy, a tall man with a goatee.
“Hey, what the fu—?” The man began. Alexi slammed her will against his before he could finish the sentence and he diminished in front of her.
“Take her home, keep her safe, then forget where she lives, understand?”
“Yes,” he said. He moved past Alexi to the girl, “Let's get you home and safe.”
Alexi made sure her food made it out of the bar okay. She leaned against the wall for a moment, her cells were on fire! Life burned through her and everything looked fresh and new. Behind all of that, though, was her guilt. She enjoyed it, god did she ever enjoy it. She hoped she left the girl with something of herself, something that would help her in the future. Or maybe that was what she told herself to get through another feeding.
Deep down Alexi knew the answer. She was a monster and nothing could change that.
THREE
“They have no idea,” Savanna said as the door closed behind her. She checked one more off her list from her smartphone.
“Why are there so many underground occult bookstores in the Seattle-Metro area?” asked Alexi.
The cold of winter hadn’t let go of Seattle just yet. Today, people were bundled in coats and scarves and with the ever-present threat of rain, umbrellas.
Capital Hill stretched from I5 all the way to 25th Avenue, of which they already walked half off and stopped at four different bookstores. Alexi wasn’t sore, or even mildly tired thanks to her meal from the day before. But just walking bored her to tears.
“I told you before, it’s the ley line. Portland has just as much activity in the winter as we do in the summer. All these shops are gearing up for the season.” She sipped her latte and smiled. Nothing seemed to dampen Savanna’s spirits of late. Alexi couldn’t miss the irresistible smile, the twinkle in her eye. There was certainly something different about her…
“Oh my god, you had sex with him,” Alexi said as soon as the thought had entered her head.
Savanna spit out her coffee, “No!”
“So you haven’t…”
“Not yet, we slept the together the whole day yesterday.” Alexi could see the dreamy look in her eyes, the excitement on her face and the uptick of her breathing.
“It was glorious, snuggling with him all day, I couldn’t have recuperated in a better way.”
Alexi gave her a knowing smile but changed the subject to spare her friend, “How may more? I hate being out in the day.”
“Four more and I thought you liked being able to see the sun?”
“I don’t die if that’s what you mean but I feel weak and it gives me headaches.” She put her sunglasses on, “Besides, do you see the sun?”
Savanna looked up into the overcast skies and gray clouds, she smirked, “I guess your right, let’s go.”
They walked east along Mercer street. Capitol Hill was the center of culture for the city, bookstores, boutiques, thrift stores, they had it all. The variety of people from Goths to Sailors on leave from Bremerton amazed Alexi. She could lose herself in this place and no one would look at her twice. If anything, she looked a bit normal for the city.
“We should move here,” she said to Savanna as they opened the door to the next shop.
“I’ve grown rather fond of the ‘Tacoma aroma’, you sure we should leave it?” Savanna asked.
Alexi pushed her into the shop. They split up. Alexi went to the back to cover her while Savanna went to the counter to talk to the proprietor. There were a few other customers browsing the nick knacks. Alexi didn’t see anything worth buying. Even the things that looked like genuine antiques had seen better days.
“I’m looking for books on the undead. Do you have anything about zombies?” she heard Savanna ask. It was the same line Savanna used at the last half dozen bookstores.
“I do but it’s very old and expensive,” the man said. Alexi gave him a sideways look. He was tall, at least a couple of inches over her. Shaggy brown hair fell to his ears, and his eyes twinkled a brilliant green, like emeralds in the light. Alexi realized she was staring. Her face burned when he looked up and he winked slyly at her.
She turned away, and examined the first thing she saw on the shelf, a little statue of a man, or a goat man, she wasn’t sure.. her mind wandered down a path she hadn’t since Victor died. The cold reality of the thought of him closed the door immediately. Mostly, she was lonely, especially at night. She had grown used to Victor being there when she opened her eyes.
“Perhaps a necklace? Or a ring of protection?”
Alexi jumped, bumping into the little statue she had been examining. The man with brown hair whipped out his and caught it mid-fall.
“I’m so sorry is it okay?” she asked.
He smiled up at her the statue mere inches from the ground. He placed it back on the shelf, careful to make sure it was further from the edge than before.
“It’s fine, other than being ugly. I think it will go on to grace my store shelves for at least a hundred more years,” he said with a wry grin.
His smile and tone brought a giggle out of her. She looked to Savanna, the witch was huddled over the counter turning pages in an old book.
“You, on the other hand,” he continued, “are not ugly and can stay in my store for as long as you wish,” he said. He moved closer to her as he spoke. His eyes were pools of brown and she found herself staring.
She shook her head, “How kind of you but,” she looked over her shoulder to the outside, �
�unless Savanna’s found what she’s looking for…,” Savanna’s chirp of excitement caught her attention.
“Alexi, come look!”
The book was ancient, Alexi didn’t know how old it was but it was easily a hundred years. Savanna turned each page by waving her hands over it. The slight pulse in the back of Alexi’s head told her that she was using magic.
“Is that necessary?” she asked.
“The pages are old, I didn’t want to risk damaging it, why?” Savanna gave her a ‘does it matter’ expression.
“It’s fine, what did you find?”
She turned to the middle of the book, a drawing of a man with a beaten in head dominated one side and a script describing each bit on the other.
“This looks like a dissection of a zombie. It’s bound to be helpful but it isn’t particularly detailed.”
“Zombie?” The shopkeeper peered at the two girls.
“You're the vampire and the witch….” he ran his hand down his face.
“What?” Alexi felt her hair stand on end.
“I didn’t know it was you two, she asked for me to call if anyone came in who looked like her.” He pointed to Savanna.
Alexi slammed the book closed.
“We’re leaving,” she said putting the book in her bag.
“Wait,” Savanna put her hand on Alexi, “Who asked?”
“Another witch, blonde hair, calls herself Illyana…”
Savanna’s hand tightened on Alexi’s shoulder, “we have to go—now!”
The door opened with the ring of a bell. Savanna stepped in front of Alexi, she raised her hand up. Alexi hissed at the newcomer.
Illyana walked in.
***
Illyana smiled, her blood red lips parting to show perfect teeth, “You two are so dramatic. I can’t use any magic, can I, Warren?”
Blood Sacrifice (Faith of the Fallen Book 2) Page 3