“No, it sounds the same.” I stammered truthfully. He made a gentle murmuring sound, acknowledging our differences.
“I guess that’s a sign” he mused. “It means you’re developing your own tastes already. The beats I heard grew and they all came together in harmonies until they joined up in a mass. They led me to here. Right now I can only hear one, clear heart beat and the person who owns that is the one who I will kill.”
I took all of this in with a student’s interest. I knew that this chorus of drumming in my head was a sign that I was close to humans, strong humans who would feed my appetite. My tastes were obviously different from Gabriel’s despite my relative inexperience, and that is why I hadn’t experienced a moment of clarity like he had.
Just then a young girl stumbled out from the doorway of the building behind me. She must have been no older than 16, but to human beings she would have easily passed for 18 or 19. She wore a dress and high heels that were far too mature for her age. Her brown hair fell in lustrous waves down to the small of her back and I was immediately charmed by her scent. It wasn’t the smell of perfume that so often coats young girls, but a natural fragrance with a pleasant floral charm.
She had bleary eyes like someone who had been crying and this sadness, coupled with her ostentatious appearance, led me to one conclusion. I could almost sense her thoughts as her emotions were so strong. She was an unhappy young girl who had fought with her parents before leaving the house. They fought over her plans to go out and cut loose with her friends as she was far too young, but she had defied them anyway and now we saw her sneaking out to meet with her buddies.
She looked up and saw Gabriel staring at her. She locked on to his gaze the way I had done so many times. He casually approached her and placed a hand on each cheek, cradling her sweet face.
I followed him quietly, not wanting to disturb the trance, but secretly holding a million questions in my mind. As I got closer to her I could hear her heartbeat clearly through the other drums in my head. It was quickening, not out of fear, but out of a girly admiration for this handsome older man. As she stared into his eyes everything around her was unimportant, even me it seemed.
“You are so beautiful” Gabriel murmured to his innocent victim. She giggled like any young girl would when paid a compliment by such a man, like I had when he had told me I was beautiful.
Gabriel took his hands away and the trance was momentarily broken. The young girl looked away from him sheepishly, her cheeks blushing. This rush of blood to her face filled both Gabriel and I with desire. It made her seem so alive and healthy, and I could see Gabriel’s eyes filling with lust at the thought of how this girl’s blood would taste.
“He-He-Hello” she stammered while mentally kicking herself for not being able to conjure up her usually flirtatious facade. “My name’s Eva. Are you from around here? I mean, do you go to school here? It’s just you look older and I-“she trailed off before she could finish her questions because Gabriel’s intense atmosphere had forced her into a quiet state.
Gabriel took this girl by the hand and began to lead her down the street. He looked back at me and raised his eyebrows in a silent signal that urged me to follow them. The girl still hadn’t noticed me. She was too fixated on the enigmatic heart throb who was sweeping her off her feet.
I realised as I followed them that to the casual observer they may seem like a couple returning from a date, still in the throes of puppy love. This realisation unsettled me slightly but I wasn’t sure why. Did it really bother me that this girl had such an appeal to Gabriel? It was irrational of me to think that way. Gabriel hadn’t given me any reason to doubt his loyalty, and I knew this girl was nothing more than a meal to him, just as my kill had been to me.
At the thought of the previous night’s victim my mind was totally sidetracked, thinking only of the hunger I had been trying to force out of my thoughts. As my imagination was getting lost in my cravings and I could feel my pointed teeth begin to protrude from my gums. I didn’t know what Gabriel’s plans were, but I was growing impatient and I needed to feed soon.
Gabriel paused at the entrance to an alleyway and pulled his play thing in to it with mock excitement. I followed them and disappeared into the shadows behind me to conceal my presence from this girl. She was giggling wildly and for that moment seemed so childlike and sweet that she fascinated me.
Gabriel held her securely in his arms and leaned down to kiss her pink budding lips. I could hear her heart speeding up again and I was hit by a new wave of jealousy, as silly as that sounds.
“Wait here” Gabriel ordered. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. Don’t move.” Then he melted away from her and joined me in the shadows.
I turned to him and silently questioned his motives but he shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips to encourage my silence. He pointed out to the alleyway and I turned back to the lonely girl. She was beginning to become agitated, fearful that this beautiful creature was playing a trick on her. She stood alone and looked around the darkness, her heart beating powerfully, adrenalin pumping forcefully around her scared body.
Gabriel kicked a tin that was next to him and the clattering noise made the girl’s eyes open wide in fear. I could see her eyes fill up with salty tears as she became less and less sure that the man would return. She’d been in such a daze on their journey to the alleyway that she wasn’t certain where she was or how she would be able to get back home. She closed her eyes and the tears spilled out over her rouged cheeks.
Gabriel slipped out of the shadows and stood in front of her again. She opened her eyes and jumped in shock, letting out a pitiful squeal.
“Shush” Gabriel muttered and pressed his finger over her lips.
Even her mortal perceptions could sense the change in his demeanour. No longer was he a charming Casanova, now there was something deeply unsettling about him. She tried to back away from him but Gabriel grabbed her arms and pulled her close to him, kissing her firmly on the lips before lowering his mouth down the curve of her neck.
She was crying harder now and something about her had lost its appeal to me. When Gabriel first approached her she had been vivacious and full of life, and the thought of taking that life from her had excited me, but now she was nothing but a meek little girl and something about it repulsed me. I had little time to think about my sudden aversion. Gabriel’s fangs were already extended, and he pierced her fragile skin with their sharp points.
She let out a strangled cry at the sharp spike of pain, and her whole body tried in vain to push Gabriel away. Everything about him was changing before me: his eyes darkened, his body took on a primal demeanour, and that glow about him filled with shadows. He stopped half way and let the girl flop into his arms like a rag doll. I had no idea how he could stop in the middle like that and exhibit such self control but he did it with ease. His head fell back in pleasure and he licked his fangs to clean the blood away.
I stepped fully out of the shadows now and walked cautiously towards him. I had mixed feelings about the changes I had seen in him. It was terrifying to see such a different side to Gabriel, but something about it impressed me. I couldn’t deny that this new experience was a thrill.
He extended the girl’s dying body towards me like a cup being passed around friends. “Want a taste?” he asked in a guttural voice.
Despite my lack of interest in this girl’s feeble personality I was becoming desperate and so I eagerly bent down over the wound in her neck. I lapped up the blood from her throat like a hungry kitten before placing my mouth fully over the puncture marks, sucking the last remnants of life from her quickly weakening body.
Her blood had a different taste to my first kill. It almost seemed to mimic her scent, with floral undertones and a sweetness to it that couldn’t be bottled. It was fresh and light compared to the rusty, metallic taste of my first victim. Eventually the heart beat pounding around my head began to slow and I knew she was on the edge of death.
G
abriel pulled me up from her neck and I could tell that his animalistic nature had been enhanced by sharing a victim with me. He kissed me with a deep urgency, equally as passionate as his kiss with the dead girl, but different somehow. The girl dropped out of our arms and came to rest on the alleyway floor with a rough thud.
I watched the girl for a while, reliving her last moments. I didn’t feel remorse for her. I couldn’t feel that anymore now that I was a vampire and had no conscience. I felt something though. My strange lack of emotion was being rattled by some feeling just beyond my grasp. Something was developing under the surface of my beastly new nature, but I couldn’t quite reach it.
Gabriel took my hand and we strolled out of the alleyway at a leisurely pace.
“Shouldn’t we hide her?” I asked him, remembering how he had disposed of my own kill from the previous night.
Gabriel shook his head, still recovering from his game of cat and mouse “No. You see, we hide the body to avoid detection. People begin to get suspicious if they find a hundred dead bodies lying around. However they also get suspicious if hundreds of people go missing in the dead of night. It’s all about avoiding a pattern. The man you killed, he would have raised questions: who could kill such a strong man with two tiny holes? Who lured him into the alley? This girl won’t matter.” With that the conversation was over.
We went back home as we had both had enough blood to keep us going for the rest of the night. Even though I hadn’t satiated my veins with the blood of a victim, I had drained enough to restore my strength and appease my hunger. Yet for some reason I wasn’t satisfied. I fell asleep that night in Gabriel’s arms with an uneasy feeling churning in my stomach.
Chapter 6After the beautiful man saved my life I woke up in a hospital bed with doctors peering over me. They told me I had a mild concussion and when I asked them about my family they did the usual adult thing, avoiding any mention of death. Penny broke the news: my father, brother and sister had all been drained of blood while my mother was recovering in intensive care. I had escaped with a concussion and mild bruising.
The weeks since the murder held a storm of questions: the press pushed their cameras into my face and ask me for an exclusive; the police officers begged to know what the murderer looked like; even Penny asked me why I had been spared above everyone else. Some conspiracy theories even blamed me, calling me Lizzie Borden for the modern age.
I had little to tell these interrogators. I didn’t answer the press at all as I had quickly learned not to trust them. I told the police officers vague accounts. I had walked from room to room and found my family dead. I then walked downstairs and found my mother dying on the patio, when I had been knocked unconscious. I didn’t know who the killer was or who phoned the police. When Penny asked me I told her what I really thought: an angel was looking over me.
I had always shied away from attention but after the murder of my family I had to adjust to all eyes being on me. Everyone wanted a piece of the “murder girl” who had survived a brutal slaying. The press camped outside my home waiting for my aunt to emerge. They even gathered at the hospital to wait for news about my mother. Penny was looking after me while my mum recovered. I was still struggling during my mother’s absence. No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake the scent of blood which followed me everywhere I went.
My mother eventually left the hospital and came back to live with us. We had been living in Penny’s house while our own was cleaned up, but my mother insisted on moving back. Penny was confused. She thought my mum would want nothing to do with the home which held such terrible memories, but we moved back in anyway and I was soon in my old room. It was different, though. The house lacked the life it once had. My life became an endless cycle of loneliness as I watched my mother drink her life away. I barely said a word to her.
For three months after the accident I watched the world pass me by and I didn’t even blink. I went back to school, studied for tests, cared for my mother and engaged in one mindless activity after another. My life had become cold and empty. Then one night everything changed.
I had been in my bed, avoiding falling asleep. Whenever I fell asleep, my dreams were filled with blood and fear and I couldn’t stand it. Insomnia was better than the nightmares that hid in the corners of my mind, waiting for an opportunity to pounce.
I heard a tapping at my window pane, as if tiny fingernails were scratching at the glass. I walked cautiously to the window and threw it open, ignoring the bitter breeze that was blowing through the gap. Then I saw him. That beautiful man was standing in the garden below, looking up at me with the incredible presence he had had the night I first saw him. I didn’t know whether to run to him or not, but something told me he was friend and not foe so I decided to trust my instincts.
I tiptoed down the stairs the same way I had on the night of the massacre, although this time I was filled with excitement. I bypassed my mother who had fallen asleep in a drunken stupor, and then slipped out into the garden. The man was still there and I made my way up to him with no idea what to expect. My heart was beating wildly and my sensible inner voice had completely shut down.
I stopped just in front of him. For several minutes it seemed that my breath was the only sound in the world, resonating above all the creatures in the garden and the woods beyond. Eventually this mysterious creature did something I wasn’t expecting. He smiled at me. He was so distant and yet so familiar. In that second I felt like I’d known him all my life.
“You saved my life” I whispered. His smiling face took on a more serious look.
“I am so sorry I couldn’t save your family. I only knew when you were in trouble, not them.” He replied. I really should have been more worried by how this man had such a connection to me but everything he said washed over me like a calming breeze. “I imagine you have many questions” he carried on. “I will try to answer them the best I can. Come.”
With that he took my limp, sweaty palm in his own strong one and led me to the bench at the side of the garden.
We sat together in silence while I tried to prioritise my endless questions.
“Who are you?” I asked in exasperation, having failed to pick the most important question.
He let out a soft laugh that warmed me deep inside. I was only a young girl but something in my innocent mind knew that this laughter wasn’t the kind that comes between friends. This man was something more than a friend.
“That’s tricky.” He mused. “Well, my name is Gabriel. I live...around. I travel from place to place and the moment I got back in town I came to see you. I’m a lot older than you.”
It was my turn to laugh and I could see soft wrinkles develop on his perfect face as he took his turn to be confused.
“Gabriel? Like the angel? You’re like my guardian angel.” I saw that wonderful smile form again.
“Alright then, it’s my turn to ask a question. Who are you?” Gabriel asked me.
“I’m Louisa Reed. I live here, obviously. I’m 13, nearly 14.” I answered with ease. “My turn: What happened to the man who tried to kill me?”
The comfortable mood between us stiffened and I could tell Gabriel didn’t like this question. He took his time to think of an answer, and I regretted asking him at all.
“The circumstances surrounding your family are unusual. I can’t tell you much just yet. Maybe one day I will, but not now.” He took my hand as he could sense I was beginning to become upset. “You may not realise it Louisa but you are special. You didn’t survive out of luck. You were meant to live. I saw you in the garden that night and I knew I had to protect you. I was across town when the murders started but I could tell something was happening. I got here just in time to save you and your mother. The man who killed your family...he was special too. He was different, evil. I made sure he’ll never bother you again.”
Gabriel stopped suddenly and I was left with an uncomfortable feeling. It sounded as if he had exacted revenge on this man on my behalf, and I didn’t like the
sound of that. I knew then that Gabriel may have been my friend, but he could easily become dangerous if I let him.
I didn’t really want to think about the murders anymore so I changed the subject. “Why did you come back? Are you going to come back again?” I asked.
Gabriel was happy at the change in topic and he gently squeezed my hand.
“I came back tonight for the same reason I came back three months ago: you are special. I can’t let you go, not now. I will come back, of course. I don’t know when. I’m a traveller by nature so it might be months, but I will come back to you. I promise.”
This response made me elated. My heart swelled with pride that such a wonderful man could take interest in a little teenager. We sat together in comfortable silence for a while as Gabriel’s fingers gently stroked mine, but this paradise didn’t last forever. Gabriel turned to me and I felt his sweet breath against my cheek.
“I have to go Louisa. I’m so sorry.” He whispered.
I felt like crying. I had found this man out of such a tragedy. He was the only person who spoke to me and listened, not pressing me for answers to questions I couldn’t understand. I felt as if my oxygen was cut off, as if I needed him to survive.
“One last thing” I called desperately as he stood up, never letting go of my hand. “I know who you are but what are you?” I asked him.
That questioned raised the biggest grin on his face yet and he gave the most wonderful laugh. “I don’t quite know, but I know I’m yours.” He kissed the top of my head and ran into the shadows.
I sat alone on the bench for hours, thinking only of Gabriel. I fell asleep on the hard wood, dreaming about him and not blood for the first time in three months.
The next morning I woke up in the garden, alone, wondering if it had all been a dream.
Chapter 7 When Gabriel and I woke up after our first hunt together, it seemed as if he had forgotten the previous night. For me the same uneasy feeling was clawing at my stomach and I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. I had no real emotions, no soul, and no conscience. There was little chance of me being able to drag up the feelings buried at the bottom of my being so I tried to ignore it.
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