Chapter Text
Seattle, Washington
The rules were simple.
First, don't ask questions. The answers you find will be far worse than what was looked for. Second, don't leave the compound unless ordered otherwise. Orders were to be followed without flaw or hesitation unless you wanted to meet your maker- not the holy heavenly one. Third, yet most important of all, never hunt outside of the designated areas. And for fuck’s sake, don't leave any witnesses.
Was it really so hard to follow those three little rules? According to the echoing screams and angry orange flames bouncing off the side of an apartment building two blocks over, apparently so.
From my perch above an abandoned office tower on the west side of downtown, I watched for a moment as the bright light from the flames danced along the side of the building ahead of me. It was almost as if the untamed flames were following their own unique dance to the tragic song of pain from the screaming humans below. How devastatingly poetic.
I let slip a growl of agitation, trying to savor my last moments of solitude atop the empty building. The crime at hand would make for a long and dreadful night. From the moment I descended into the streets below, I would be consumed by the task of reigning in the chaos until the perpetrator was properly dealt with, the scene cleared of evidence. It could take hours, perhaps even until sunrise depending on the severity of the crime.
Wonderful.
It was my job to enforce the rules and keep my "siblings" in line. If they could even be considered as such. I did my best not to see them as anything more than strangers I was merely accountable for. It was best this way, emotional attachments only making the job more difficult. Emotions would get you killed in a brutal world such as this one. It was best to turn them off completely.
So, I did.
I saw to ensure that all commands from our leader were obeyed when he was unable to do so himself. Which was very often now, especially as our numbers began to grow outstandingly over the course of the last few weeks. However, recently, I felt as if I were nothing but a glorified babysitter to a handful of bratty, shit-for-brains vampires rather than in a position of respect and authority.
I glanced at the broken watch on my wrist, having salvaged it from the corpse of a businessman on a recent hunt. The glass casing that protected the delicate hands underneath had cracked in various places after I had grabbed the original owner's wrist not so gently. But it still worked, if only barely. It was the best I could find and would make do until I could find another that would fit my wrist.
It was half-past eleven. I assumed I had fifteen minutes to spare before the general public took notice of the commotion and alerted the city authorities. Plenty of time to clear the scene and fix whatever chaos the morons had managed to stir up.
Of course, only after working in a quick snack first. I felt I deserved at least a little compensation for the annoyance this mess would cause me later.
I had chosen this particular building not just for the ability it gave me to keep a close watch on the underlings in my supervision, but because of the practical buffet it provided within the dirty alleyway between itself and one of the rowdiest nightclubs on this side of the city. It was a place no sane person would ever dare enter, knowing better than to set foot in the dark and closed-off space, save for those who thrived within it.
Just as one sorry old man did tonight. I had seen him before, spotting him one night as he crouched behind a dumpster outside a popular restaurant on the touristy side of town. I had been making my rounds through the city, making sure the group I had taken to hunt were staying out of the public eye when I spotted him. I knew he had nothing but cruel intentions, with the way he ogled the passing women and children on the sidewalk, his scruffy and unkempt beard doing little to hid the sickening grin on his blistered lips.
The look would have been missed by a human if they spared only a moment's glimpse in his direction. But not by me.
It sent a thrill up my spine to have spotted him there, as the only thing having saved him weeks ago was the abundance of tourists surrounding him. Now, hunched behind an overflowing dumpster, waiting for some poor soul to come stumbling out from the backdoor of the club and into his waiting, clammy hands.
Only this time, he would be falling into my unforgiving ones.
As if on cue, stumbling out ungracefully from behind the club's heavy metal doors, a young woman stepped out into the cool night air. Wearing tall stiletto heels that made her feet wobble like those of a newborn lamb, she attempted to make her way towards the brightly lit street ahead of her, arms out like an acrobat for balance.
She didn't make it far, the man stepping out from his place among the shadows to block her path with his heavy-set body. She nearly walked straight into him, her sight blinded behind the veil of her drunkenness. His stubby, oily hands stopped her in her path, grabbing her by the shoulders in a tight grip. Her frightened, pained gasp echoed off the cold brick walls of the alley.
I chose that moment to make my appearance.
In a single leap, I fell to the ground, landing a mere inch behind the elephantine man. He reeked of alcohol and body odor so terribly that even a human of the weakest sense of smell could have caught a whiff of his stench from several yards away. I paid it no mind, the smell immediately drowned out completely by another, one that pooled beneath his skin. The allure was so great it caused something inside of me to snap in the most delicious of ways.
Blood.
In only a second's time, faster than either human could see or react, I had the man pinned against the brick wall by nothing more than my hand around his throat. His stubby legs dangling inches above the ground as I held him there. Just like the rest of his species, it took his delayed senses another second to reach to the sudden movement.
He let out a sharp, pained gasp, eyes wide in shock and, more potently, fear as his eyes locked with mine.
I heard the woman behind me stifle a scream. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the sheer terror take hold in her eyes as her drunken mind attempted to make sense of what was happening before her. Her eyes turned crystal clear a brief second later, nothing sobering a person up quicker than having the shit scared out of them. With a nod of my head to the street to the right of us, she scurried out of the alleyway as fast as her clumsy feet could carry her. Once she was gone and there were no witnesses left, I turned my attention back to the man in front of me.
"Oh my... what do we have here?" I said, my voice low as I grinned, fighting to keep the excitement I felt from creeping its way into my voice. I always found delight in their realization that the being who had captured them was far from a defenseless mortal girl. If the effortless ability to lift and pin them up wasn’t enough of an indication of my unnatural strength, the burning, bright red eyes staring back at them was what always stole the show.
He began to panic almost instantly, his beady eyes blown wide in terror as he began to squirm in an attempt to flee, yet to no avail in my hand's hold. Gibberish was all that he could manage to get out of his mouth, all ability to form a coherent word lost.
The scent of urine permeated the air as he pissed himself in fear.
I tutted at him, lifting a finger to my smirking lips.
"Shh… now, now dear. What's got your panties all in a twist, hmm?" I asked sweetly, smiling wide in my enjoyment of causing such panic, the display of my teeth causing his terror to escalate instantly at the confirmation that indeed I was not human. He wailed in desperation once again, his hands clawing at my pale hand in a hopeless attempt to loosen my grip.
I only tightened it in response.
He choked on his own saliva, his airways moments from collapsing under the tremendous pressure of my hand. Only once his face turned the shade of a ripened tomato, then the deep purple of a bruise did I speak again, moving even closer. Never ceasing eye contact.
"I don't appreciate it when puny bastards such as you take advantage of such helpless creatures like that poor girl," I said, reaching my face upwards towards his own, the heat of his suffocating flesh radiating onto my own like an oven, the blood's aroma only growing stronger as a result. My mouth pooled with venom.
I swallowed a mouthful of venom, the usual burn of thirst sparking into molten lava down my throat.
With the quickest of movement by my other hand, I gripped tightly onto the gray hair that remained on his balding head, yanking his head to the side as to expose his pudgy neck. He groaned in agony at the strain the position put on his tendons and spine.
Maintaining the closeness I had held before, I leaned into his ear, standing on my tiptoes to do so. He gasped for breaths, face now purple once again as his time left on this earth alive ticked away into the seconds.
"Go rot in hell," I whispered, before gripping his throat so tightly, and without hesitation, snapped it back in the other direction. The bones of his neck and spine gave the most satisfying crack under the pressure. Whatever breath had trapped itself in his now dead lungs escaped in a wheeze through his clenched teeth. Dropping his body from its height above me I finally went in, tearing into the skin where the shoulder and neck met, draining him dry.
Once finished, I let his body sag to the ground in a thud, wiping my face of any remnants of the meal. Checking his pockets for anything of value that might would serve me any purpose, whether it be cash or jewelry, I spared a moment to take in the sight as I stood. I scoffed, rolling my eyes in distaste at the blotchy, pale face staring blankly up at me.
What a pathetic creature, I thought.
I tossed his corpse into the dumpster behind me. I let the rusting metal lid drop over the bin in a loud clang.
No one spared a second thought for the bodies found in places such as this one. They were assumed to be drunkards, druggies, or gang members who had simply met their match at the bottom of another bottle or syringe. No need to file a report or autopsy - the city was tight on funds as it was. No use throwing those resources away on yet another outcast. That sad truth made for little effort having to be put into the disposal on my part.
I scaled my way back up the brick wall of the office building. According to the lagging watch, I had just under ten minutes to spare to get to the scene of where I was sure something just short of a massacre had occurred. Jumping across three rooftops and down to the abandoned lot where the commotion was, I barely managed to contain my rage as I assessed the scene.
It looked as though the idiots had tried to catch a meal by grabbing and throwing a small car off the road and into the adjacent lot, the fire I had seen earlier coming from the explosion of the engine upon impact with the crumbling wall of an old building.
As I neared, taking in the sight before me, I came to the sudden realization that this was not done out of a desire to feed, but to cause chaos. For nothing more than a sadistic thrill.
Something that was not tolerated whatsoever. Not under my watch.
I marched over to the prime suspect, one of the newest additions to the coven and the least experienced on the scene, a scrawny blond kid named Jack.
He stood with two others over a pile of mangled limbs seeping with the now wasted blood, laughing along with whatever one of the others said as they kicked a stray finger across the lot with their shoe. Lost to the moment, none of them had noticed my appearance until I gripped the youngest boy by the shoulder and punching him square in the jaw with my other hand, which sent him crashing into the car ahead of us.
A dent that dwarfed the small boy in size appeared on the side of the vehicle at the force of impact. I made my way over to him slowly, the sheer look of rage on my face and the growl that emitted from my chest an explanation enough as to why I threw him, his eyes wild in fear as I approached.
There was complete silence as the others watched from behind, their laughter dying instantly in their throats. The only sound heard was the crackling of the engine's fire and the distant noise of the bustling city around us.
Jack cowered against the silver frame of the car, curling into himself as I stopped before him, the shadow of my silhouette shading his face from the flames. He refused a glance up, his eyes shut tight as he lifted his hands to shield his face in mock surrender.
"Please... Please!" he said, stammering as he tried to find his voice. I narrowed my eyes, reigning in my anger as I prepared to listen to whatever sorry excuse he came up with this time.
The others stood frozen in place, either from terror or suspense of what would come next, I didn’t care enough to gauge.
"I swear, it wasn't my fault this time! I only followed Tom over here when we heard the commotion, we can prove it! You can go check the docks, we disposed of two bodies by the old loading annex! I swear it, I learned my lesson last time," he said, his broken pleas racked with sobs of tears that would never shed.
I considered his plea and accusation for a moment, studying his face hard for the slightest sign of deception in his features. The last rule he broke had left a severe impact on him, judging by his current state. The fearful tremors racking through his chest a clear sign that he did not want to endure the repercussions again.
I scowled at him, before turning around to look at the remaining two.
Tom, the auburn-haired boy he had vouched for, was standing the closest to us. Frozen in a broken stride, as if he wanted to reach out to his friend to help him, yet he knew better than to interfere. His wide and shock-filled gaze didn't look to me, rather they were glued on his friend on the ground. His eyes confirmed Jack's claim, his wide eyes a bright red that always accompanied a recent feed.
That left one suspect on the scene.
Behind him stood Noah.
Noah had been a part of the coven for months, being brought in not long after our creator had begun to mold me for the role I played now. He knew the rules, and he followed them well. Yet, the evidence left him as the only possible culprit. I growled in irritation as I came to the confirmation in my mind, the fact that he indeed was the guilty party.
His eyes were black, not a hint of burnt orange or reddish tint to be found that would suggest a recent feed.
"You mean to tell me that Noah, an educated vampire, who knows better, " I stilled my gaze on the accused party before looking back at Jack, my voice low and full of anger, "did such a thing as this?"
Jack’s swallowing of what venom had pooled in his mouth at the intensity of his fear was the only sound he made, eyes wavering for a moment before he brought them to look at me. They were bright red, just as Tom's were. He nodded in hesitation, the fear of what would come from the crime rippling through his lanky body.
In less than a second later, I had turned and pinned Noah against the ground, his throat in my hand as my foot pressed into his chest. The sound of metal grating against metal filled the air as I tightened my grip further, the strength of our solid bodies causing the hideous sound.
He looked at me wide-eyed in surprise, as if he had been completely confident that he wouldn't be blamed, before showing his anger a moment later at the younger boy ratting him out. He roared in his frustration, though he knew better than to fight me off. Instead, he forced his torso to remain still, least I decide to twist his head clean off, settling for flailing his arms and legs in outrage.
He turned his face to the side to glare at Jack, who sat still in his place by the car, finding it to be the safest place far out of my rage's way. Tom had moved to a defensive crouch beside his friend in case Noah charged at them.
"You nosy little shit! I knew I should have kicked your ass to the curb when you and your pal Tommy came snooping. And then you turn around and blame me? Do my threats mean nothing to you?" He roared, venom spewing from his mouth as he yelled. Annoyed and done with this display of childishness, I pulled his head up from the ground in one swift motion before throwing it back down into the pavement with such force cracks creeped up his face and into the concrete around his head at the force of the impact. He stilled again, shakily closing his mouth and turning his head back to me. His face was blank now, not a single sign of the angery outburst from second before.
He knew better than to show even the slightest sign of emotion towards me.
"I am severely disappointed in you, of all the survivors of your batch I had expected better," I said, my voice so low that only with our heightened senses was it possible for him alone to hear.
I raised my voice only slightly for my next words, letting our audience hear my distaste.
"And after all the mercy you were spared in the beginning... I would expect nothing but gratitude and respect from you. After all I did to keep you from being disposed of," I said, the calm I managed to portray in my voice beginning to startle even myself. It was only because of my position at the time of his creation had I been able to convince our leader that he was valuable, did he live past the first waking hours of his new life.
Rarely did I use my position to pull strings or show any kind of favoritism. But when I saw that there was potential to mold this youngling into a valuable asset for our coven, I made a great effort to sway our leader to spare him during the first wave of cullings.
I didn't appreciate my generosity being wasted.
He gulped down a mouthful of venom, turning his eyes to something behind me, desiring to look anywhere but at me, his jaw clinched in finality. He knew what would come from this. I spared him once. I wouldn't do it again.
I stood, leaving him to lie there in wait. He knew better than to run.
He wouldn’t get far.
I sidestepped around his rigid form towards the pile of lifeless bodies ahead. I took in the sight, letting it fuel my rage. Though there wasn't a single body left completely intact, nearly every limb torn from its socket, I could tell there were four individuals murdered here. Their smells each unique, yet I didn't need to take in the underlying notes of the blood pooling at my feet to tell me they were related. The wedding rings on the adults' hands... The severed, small hand of a child clutching a blood-soaked teddy bear... The disfigured head of a middle schooler was all I needed to see to tell the story.
A family.
"I hope you learned a very important lesson here tonight, Noah," I said, no longer bothering to hide the anger and sheer disappointment in my voice before turning back over my shoulder to look at him where he lay, still frozen in his state of submission on the dirty pavement.
"No one goes against me and survives it."