The Sanctuary

by Felicia Leibenguth

  I leave the door wide open as I exit the house and head for the next-door neighbors.

  Repeating the same scenario for the next ten houses, I kill nineteen people in thirty minutes. The side effects of Alexandria’s blood have subsided, and it only drives me to drink more from each victim. But like humans, vampires can only eat so much. But I have not hit my full point yet.

  I change it up a little for the next ten houses. Instead of killing them in their sleep, I wake one of them and compel them to watch me drink their loved one dry as they struggle and writhe in agony. I enjoy the terror that fills their eyes. Their mouths wide open with silent screams, and their bodies tremble in fear, yet unable to move. Once I finish with their loved one, I slowly walk over and snap their necks, ending their terror in one fell swoop.

  After drinking fully from ten humans, I hit my full point and kill everyone in the next forty houses by taking a single drop of blood from each victim. I’ve never felt so rejuvenated, so alive. I’m doing what I was created to do. Kill, drink, terrorize, leaving pandemonium in my path. My life has been stagnant for far too long, and I have Alexandria to thank for waking me up, disrupting my life, and destroying it all at the same time.

  I shake off the thought of becoming a motionless corpse as I enter the next home, leaving holy hell in my wake.

  Chapter 25

  The last house…

  I grin darkly as I watch the lighted windows from the street. They are still up at 4 a.m. and this excites me beyond reason. Maybe it’s because everyone in the other eighty-nine houses are dead. No one left alive to hear their blood curtailing screams. I will have fun with this one.

  I knock on their front door, under the subtle glow of a light bulb hanging overhead. All movement stops within the house as everyone freezes like a wolf spider caught in the flip of a light switch. I grin and knock again. Hushed whispers run through the house as they start panicking.

  I bang again, this time hitting it hard enough that I leave dents in the steel door.

  A female yells out in fear, “We have a gun!”

  I laugh and listen closer. I hear a phone being picked up and three numbers being punched into the keypad. They’re calling 911. I laugh as I’ll be long gone before help ever shows up, but it will make for a good news story tomorrow. I’ll get to see the aftermath of my destruction from tonight, and that excites me.

  Allowing them a moment to give their address to the dispatcher on the other end of the phone, I grip the door handle, putting pressure on the lock to the point it snaps and the door swings open with a bang. I’m faced with a terrified redheaded female cringing behind her husband. The phone clangs to the ground causing the battery to skid across the floor with force. The female keeps my attention as I ignore her husband that’s standing strong with a small pistol in his hands. I guess he thinks that little toy will kill me. Just to give them a taste of my power and to see the terror in the female’s eyes, I disappear from their vision and stop directly behind them, tapping her on the shoulder.

  She lets out a shrill so loud it could wake the dead. They both spin around and her husband pushes her behind him once again. The male pulls the trigger, but not before I move out of the way. I grab the male’s wrist and bend it backward snapping the bone, causing him to drop the gun and yell out in agony. His wife wraps her arms around her husband and tries to pull him toward the open door at their backs. I allow them to back up to the door frame before I make my move to rid of the male. I snatch him by the neck, lifting him with one hand into the air. His wife screams and the male chokes out the word, ‘run’ before I sink my teeth into his neck. I drink deeply before I snap his neck and throw his lifeless body back into the house, landing harshly with a thud.

  The female is already running down the street screaming for help when I walk outside into the middle of the dead-end road. She looks back at me and her screams intensify as she runs to the door of the next house, only to find it already open with a bloody body lying in the middle of the entryway. Backing up in repulsion, she runs to the next house, only to find that door open as well.

  She stops in the middle of the road and looks all around her. Every door is wide open; some with bodies lying within view, while others still remain in their beds on the second floor, unaware of their untimely demise.

  She collapses in the middle of the road in broken, heart-wrenching sobs. Her hands cover her face as she struggles to breathe between wails. Her red hair drapes forward covering the sides of her face like a curtain.

  Just pitiful… Humans are such a weak species.

  I approach and stand three feet in front of her. She doesn’t seem to notice my presence, but I wait, wanting to see her green eyes when she sees me.

  When she looks up, she doesn’t disappoint. Her eyes scream wide with terror, then fades into hatred, and finally settles into acceptance.

  I grin darkly allowing my fangs to flash in the glow of the streetlights. She closes her eyes in reaction and allows her tears to continue to flow down her pale cheeks as she turns her face from me exposing her neck.

  I cock my head to the side in thought and wonder if I should turn her. It’s been many years since I’ve turned a human, and it’s always fun to watch them struggle. Besides, she could be useful…

  I laugh sinisterly at my own sadistic thoughts causing the female’s eyes to flash to mine. I grab her by the arm and lift her from the ground with ease, placing her on her shaking legs. She tries to pull away in a weak attempt of escape and I grip harder, on the brink of breaking the humerus bone in her arm. She instantly stops moving and her entire body vibrates with terror. I watch as her jaw clenches in pain as I put more pressure on her arm. Her hand is turning an unnatural color, but she still does not fight me.

  She will be a fun one…

  Chapter 26

  I hear sirens in the distance as they close in on our location. She clearly hears them too as I see a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Exasperation overcomes my features. Humans never stop hoping.

  I lean my face closer to her and her breath hitches in her throat, but she does not move. She is still as ice as I take in her scent, running my nose along her smooth skin, from her chin to her hairline. Her skin smells of facial cleanser and lotion as if she recently showered. Her hair smells lightly of coconut and hairspray as the scent clings to her soft curls.

  I move to her neck and she reacts suddenly by yanking out of my grasp and starts running down the street. I watch her run as I follow behind at a distance, letting her tire herself out. When she nears the community entrance, I grasp her around the waist, pulling her back into my chest, and she lets out a blood-curdling scream, flailing her arms and legs to get away. I snatch her around the throat with my free hand and sink my fangs into her flesh. I drink from her until her attempts at escape weaken, and she passes out, becoming lifeless in my arms.

  The police cars screech around the corner just a half mile away and I quickly take my leave with the female in my arms, through the woods back to the place I call home.

  On my way back to the park, more police sirens sound off around the area, seeming to race toward the massacre I left behind, I grin. They will soon see my masterpiece.

  Once back to my building, I go to jump to the roof and only make it up to the second floor, before landing back on the ground. I thought drinking all that blood tonight would subdue these damn side effects. While my knees are feeling better, my ability to jump is slipping away. Not to mention my damn veins are still purple. I guess there’s no avoiding the inevitable.

  With nothing to hang onto on the walls, I round the building to the back side to where a large pipe leads up the wall to the roof. I pull the female over my shoulder and proceed to climb to the rooftop. When my feet hit the cement, I enter my living room and lay the female on the couch. I know she will be out for a while, but I padlock the hatch anyway before heading down to see Alexandria.

  Her bedside light is on and she’s sitting on the floor with her back against the bed. H
er head is slightly leaned forward and her breathing is steady. I guess she got tired of waiting for my return.

  I ignore the need to place her in bed and instead walk over to the dark corner of the fourth floor. An area Alexandria can’t see with her small light. If she could see it, she would be horrified.

  Taking the key out of my pocket, I place it in the lock and turn it, opening the heavy steel door. I have not used this space for at least twelve years, and it dawns on me that I have not turned a human in some time. The memory of the last human I brought down here comes flooding back…

  Veronica was a drop dead gorgeous bombshell, with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a body to kill for. She knew how to have fun and always knew where the best parties were. She knew I was a vampire, and she accepted it. I never had to compel her to forget or keep her mouth shut. She took me to the best places to feed, knowing I enjoyed feeding on potheads the most. When I was feeding off this one female, I saw a flash of something in Veronica’s eyes. I dropped the current human from my hands and walked over to Veronica, placing my hand on her cheek. She looked up at me with a pure trust in her eyes and I leaned down to her neck. She never flinched as I pierced her skin. She wrapped her fingers into my hair, pulling me closer. When I finished, I sealed her wound and placed my forehead to hers. Veronica breathed heavily as she stared, unwavering into my eyes. She spoke the words, ‘turn me,’ and that’s all it took. I brought her back to my home at the park and I turned her.

  The process to turn her was the easy part. Veronica went through the transition period, but once she was a full vampire, that’s when everything changed.

  The day after her transition, I gave her the first human to drink from. After drinking the blood, she vomited violently and foamed at the mouth. She became a rabid animal, not even I could control her. I locked her down here in the solid steel cell as I had no other options.

  I sat close by watching her, hoping it would pass. But she only got worse. In between having seizures, she would claw at her skin, and the seizures would give her skin enough time to heal, just for her to claw at it once again. She no longer formed words, only making animalistic sounds. She was no longer the Veronica I knew, but every so often she would glance at me with pleading eyes as if asking me to end her suffering. Then she would smash her head into the bars repeatedly, bringing on another seizure. Only four days after turning her, she had a massive seizure and laid on the cell floor for a moment before turning toward me with her stunning blue eyes. She spoke her last words, ‘I love you,’ before reaching up and ripping her own heart from her chest. She died instantly.

  I tolerated Veronica as she proved to be useful. I didn’t love her as she did me and I used her feelings for me to my advantage. I enjoyed the services she provided for me, but a part of me cared for her. If I didn’t care for her in some sense of the word, I wouldn’t have tried to turn her. Little did I know her body would reject the blood.

  Looking around the cell before me, my heart pains as I glare at Veronica’s dried blood streaks on the walls, and dried puddles on the floor. I could never bring myself to reopen this door and the flood of memories that comes with it.

  I shake my head trying to rid of the past and bring myself back to the present.

  Chapter 27

  Turning around, I decide on what to do with the female upstairs. I will turn her, but figure I can use her to my advantage to get what I want from Alexandria first.

  I lock the cell back up behind me and walk over to the chains on the wall closest to Alexandria. It’s still within the shadowed space where she cannot see. I hold the heavy, cold chains in my hand and pull it with the force of a strong male human. They don’t budge from the wall. Good.

  I pull over one of the old, dusty mattresses and place it on the floor next to the wall before heading back upstairs. Grabbing an extra sheet from my room, I grab the still unconscious female from the couch and take her down to keep Alexandria company.

  I throw the sheet on the disgusting, blood stained mattress and lay the female on top. I then place the chain around her ankle and lock it with a grin on my face.

  As I walk past Alexandria, her head rises, and she looks at me. Her eyes widen as she takes in my bloodstained clothes.

  “What have you done?” she whispers in disbelief.

  I glare back at her, unwavering and say, “Their blood, is on your hands.”

  She shakes her head slowly, not wanting to believe me. Tears stream down her cheeks and she chokes out, “Why?”

  I turn away from her and head for the stairs. “You know why,” I say flatly, then head through the door, locking it behind me.

  Alexandria’s face plagues my mind as I shower. I can’t get the look of sadness out of my head. I want to kill her for what she has done to me, but yet, I can’t bring myself to. The moment she entered my park, and I caught her scent… it changed me. It has dredged up human feelings I haven’t had in many years. I want to protect her, ravage her in my bed, and kill her all at the same time.

  I try to shake my mixed and confused feelings as they won’t matter in a few days, anyway. I’ll be a motionless corpse by then, and she’ll die a slow death on a chain. I grit my teeth at the thought of letting her die. But remember that she refuses to cure me, and there isn’t a thing I can do about it.

  All the blood tonight hasn’t kept me from feeling the effects of an old soul’s blood as it continues to destroy my body. I stare in the mirror as I step out of the shower and see that my hair has lightened to nearly a light grey. My eyes look older as circles have formed under my eyes. Growing angry, I punch the mirror causing it to shatter into a thousand pieces. My knuckles bleed into the sink from the gashes across them and I watch as it doesn’t heal as usual.

  “Damn it!” I yell out aggravated.

  I rinse it off the best I can and wrap it in a towel to slow the bleeding. Of all the things I that love about being a vampire, the ability to heal is at the top of my list. But now I don’t even have that.

  I drag my naked body over to my bed, not bothering to bandage my hand or get dressed. Why should I care?

  As I stretch out across my mattress, my joints snap sending pain shooting through my legs and back, causing me to grit my teeth. Looking up at the ceiling, my vision blurs for a moment before returning to normal. The pain of the earlier muscle spasms starts to creep in. My muscles cramp throughout my body and I know I’m in for the long haul this time. My back arches off the mattress and I scream out in agony. The last time was nothing compared to this…

  The agonizing torment becomes too much, and I fall into darkness, possibly to never awaken again.

  “Why are you doing this my son?” my mother’s voice rings through the darkness before I open my eyes to the faint crying coming from below.

  “Because I have to,” I whisper back to her.

  I sigh getting out of bed and realize I’m still alive.

  “Heh, not ready to go down yet,” I laugh harshly at myself.

  Staring down at my hand still wrapped in the towel, I unravel it from my wound. Seeing the blood loss, I immediately know it took a long time to stop bleeding. I peel the towel from my hand and see that the wounds are still not one-hundred percent healed, but at least the bleeding has stopped.

  Standing up, I take a few unsteady steps and realize my knees are now grinding as if they are turning into a jagged stone. My elbows, shoulders… every joint in my body is becoming harder to move. It won’t be long until the pain breaks through and sends me into a true hell on earth. A few days left? Hours maybe?

  I have to move quickly and not allow the females below to see my weakening body. If Alexandria thinks it won’t be long until I am rendered useless, I will never get what I need from her.

  Tiring of the sobs coming from below, I create a loud bang through the floor with my foot, causing me to grit my teeth in agony as the bone in my heel cracks. At least the new human has shut up.

  I’ve become this fragile since lying down and going
through another agonizing episode. I sigh and shake my head. I don’t see myself making it to tomorrow… today will be my last…

  Taking a moment to get through the pain, I limp to my closet and put on a black pair of jeans. Foregoing the shirt, I head into the kitchen and cook up breakfast for Alexandria, and grab a package of pop-tarts for the other female.

  Slowly going down the stairs, as not to break any more bones, I hear Alexandria telling the other female to quiet her cries.

  “Sandy, please be quiet, it will be okay,” she tries to soothe.

  It doesn’t help, but once the female named Sandy, notices me in the dim light, she lets out a shrill cry and panics as I approach her. She’s pulling on her chains, causing her ankle to bleed more than it already is.

  I force myself to ignore the stabbing pain in my heel and walk normally over to Sandy. When I stand within feet of her, she wraps herself in a tight ball and sobs. What is with these females and turning into a hedgehog?

  “Don’t hurt her… please,” Alexandria begs with a desperate concern for Sandy.

  My plan may be working already. I toss the pop-tarts on Sandy’s bed and turn my attention to Alexandria.

  “Well, dear Alexandria that is up to you on how I treat her now isn’t it?” I cock my head to the side, with an evil grin on my face.

  She narrows her hate-filled eyes. “How so?” she questions.

  “After your breakfast, we will discuss Sandy’s fate.” I walk over and watch Alexandria’s eye widen in shock as she looks over my topless frame. I hand her the plate of scrambled eggs and the glass of milk. She takes it slowly and places it on her bed as she sips the milk, still looking at my bare chest.