We sit in silence as she picks up a piece of toast and gingerly nibbles at it. I watch her in fascination as she slowly eats her breakfast. Every bite is small, and she chews every morsel exactly twenty-five times before swallowing. She takes a sip of milk between every five bites of food. She never once looks at me as she keeps her head down, focusing on the plate before her. When she eats half of everything, she places her fork and glass on the plate and hands it to me. I notice she keeps her head down, with her arms stretched out, waiting for me to take the plate.
As soon as I remove it from her hands, she says in a soft, submissive tone, “Thank you. I hope I appeased you.”
Completely confused by her behavior, I take everything to the kitchen and place it in the sink to wash later.
Returning to the room, I see Alexandria undressing. She stands solely in her undergarments with her back toward me. Her back is a scared mess. Many raised, long strips of puckered, healed flesh stretch across every inch. They remind me of whip marks…
Anger flares throughout my body. If I ever find who did this to her…
“Please…” her voice fills the air in a quiet sob.
Confused, I say, “Please what?”
Her body trembles as she speaks softly, “Make this quick.” Keeping her back to me, she again moves her hair from around her neck, exposing the pulsing vein.
I watch her vein pulse in her neck as I stretch my jaw trying to resist the urge. Before I realize what I’m doing, I have my body pressed against her bare back and my arms are wrapped around her narrow waist, caressing her. She lets out a small gasp of shock at my sudden advance.
I smell her strawberry scented hair and press my nose into the crevice of her warm neck. I take a deep breath of the alluring aroma of her blood. Pressing my lips to her skin, directly over the juggler, I savor her with my tongue and the sweetness coats my taste buds. I draw my nose back up her neck, to her ear.
I whisper in a harsh, deadly tone, “You offer this again… It will be the last day of your life.”
She stiffens at my words and I put some much-needed space between us. I don’t know how I managed not to take advantage of her offer. But I know if I did, I would have killed her, and that is something I want to avoid.
She turns around and looks at me with hurt and fear in her eyes. “Why… won’t you drink from me again?” she questions.
I stare at her with anger. “Why do you want me to, is the question…” I growl, and my eyes flash a deadly glare.
She takes a step back in surprise. “I… I just thought…”
“Thought what!?” I snap.
“I’m sorry,” she stammers quickly. “It won’t happen again.”
“Put your clothes on,” I snarl as I walk out of the room.
I need a moment to think as don’t understand why she is so willing to give me her blood. I don’t understand her at all. She makes no sense.
I start to wash the dishes I left in the sink and went to pick up the drinking glass. As soon as I lift it from the counter, my hand weakens, and it falls from my hand shattering in the sink. I stare at it in shock.
What the hell is happening to me!? First my knees feel like they are about to give away, and now my hand… This all started when she showed up… after… after I took her blood…
Horror fills my mind. It can’t be…
Chapter 16
I storm back into the bedroom with rage filling my features. She’s in the bathroom with the door locked, so I twist the knob hard enough that I bust the lock and enter the bathroom.
She screams in fear as I grab her throat and force her to look at me. The facial cleanser is still covering her face as I glare into her pale blue eyes.
“What the hell are you!?” I growl with rage.
She tries to suck in air and I realize I’m cutting off her airway. I release my grip slightly and she sucks in a much needed ragged breath.
“Answer my damn question!” I demand in fury.
She coughs out, “Old soul. I’m an old soul.” Tears stream down her cheeks.
“God damn it!” I yell as I throw her to the floor with a bang.
I realize she hit her head on the tub and a pool of blood is starting to surround her head. I stop breathing; the aroma is too much to deal with. Looking at her for a moment, I hear her heart drastically slow, threatening to stop completely.
In a rage, I punch the wall, putting my fist and arm right through the tile, drywall, and through to the other side, into my bedroom. The tile cut my arm, and it’s not healing as it continues to bleed.
“DAMN IT!” I scream in sheer rage.
I stare at the unconscious woman lying on the floor, about to lose her life, and know I cannot afford to lose her at this point. I need her… I need her to fix this… fix me.
I run water over my open wound, cleaning it off. Once somewhat cleaned off, I lift Alexandria’s head just enough off the floor and place my open wound onto her mouth, allowing my blood to enter her lips. It doesn’t matter if she swallows it or not. The soft tissues in her mouth will absorb enough. But will it be fast enough?
I force her to swallow several times by rubbing her throat, to make sure she gets it in her system faster. Hopefully, it will be enough.
I hold her for another minute before I hear her heart stop beating. I hope I gave her enough blood because if she dies… so do I.
I leave her in the bathroom on the floor for a moment. There is nothing else I can do until she wakes up… or not.
Heading into the kitchen, I bandage my arm, as the bleeding continues. I can see a small amount of improvement in the healing process. So it will probably be a few hours until it is sealed shut. Once finished wrapping my arm, I head to the far corner of the living room and look at the old heavy door with the radiation warning sticker.
I let out a sigh, hopping it wouldn’t have come to this.
Opening the door, I take a stair at a time down to the floor below. I haven’t been down here for quite a few years, but other than being dust covered, it hasn’t changed. I had done some slight remodeling when I first moved in. Well… remodeling as in chains bolted to the cement wall, long enough for a human to walk around, but not far enough to reach the stairs. I also placed sound barrier on the ceiling. There is a toilet and sink in the one corner and several buckets and rags lay around in different areas. Several small mattress lie on the floor along the walls, each with an old blood-stained pillow and sheet.
The memories of my first few years living here come flooding back.
I wanted to keep a low profile for a while after moving into this abandoned building as I didn’t want to bring attention to myself. I kept four females at a time chained to the walls, unable to see one another in the darkened space. I’d drink from them whenever I wanted, and when one would bore me, I’d kill her and head out to the inner city clubs to find another one to entertain me. I liked the fresh blood, and the new terrified screams that would fill the air once they woke up. I liked picking the girls that would frequent the clubs, the girls known as the big partiers. They weren’t missed as much because everyone figured they would end up dead, eventually. They would be right, none of them survived to see daylight again.
Shrugging off the old memories, I decide what needs to be done.
Heading back up the stairs, I enter the bathroom to check on Alexandria. Her heart hasn’t started beating yet. This might take a while. She is an old soul after all…
Chapter 17
Moving forward with my new plan, I head back down to the fourth floor then down to the third floor. Opting to use the stairs, I take one step at a time, entering the storage area. The floor space is massive, and the old items are scattered throughout with no organization. I start pilfering through the old dusty items and pull out what I think I may need for Alexandria when she wakes up.
Walking through the darkened space, I easily see some items I can use. Dragging an old box spring and mattress, I take them up the stairs one at a time, and pla
ce them in the corner of the fourth floor by the toilet. It’s a bit dusty, but otherwise clean. I can’t say he same for the other small mattresses already littering the floor of the fourth floor. I go back and third floor and grab a small TV I bought years ago, and a small table to put the TV on.
I place everything in the corner and bring over a metal bucket and place it by the sink and toilet
Heading back up to the first floor, I finish grabbing a few items from my bedroom and take them down to her new make shift room. It looks a lot better than it did, but she’s still not going to like it. Turning on the small lamp, it illuminates the space just enough that Alexandria can see, but not beyond her small space. I can’t have her seeing the horrors the rest of the fourth floor holds.
Finishing, I check on Alexandria once again, and find nothing has changed, no signs of life and it’s worrying me. I scrunch my eyes in frustration.
I need to keep her alive, and I need to build her trust, and quickly. I don’t know how long I will have before I’m completely incapacitated. She needs to learn that if she allows me to die… she will die along with me… a long, slow, painful death. Alone and shackled to a wall.
Back in the bathroom, I look down at Alexandria… the one human continues to confuse me with her actions. The surrounding blood has clotted and is stuck like glue to the floor and throughout her hair. I shake my head in disgust.
“Stupid human,” I mumble.
I pick up her lifeless body, place her in the tub and start undressing her. Washing the blood from her hair, face, and back, I notice the wound on the back of her head has healed and I breathe a sigh of relief. She will be okay. When I finish, she smells like the strawberry shampoo that I’ve come to enjoy. I dry her off and that’s when I hear the faint beating of her heart.
It won’t be long now.
I dress her in pajama pants and a tank top and take her down to her new room. Taking the chain that’s attached to the wall, just above her bed, I place the shackle around her ankle with a padlock and lay her on the bed under the black satin comforter I took from my bed. With the light still on, I go to sit in the folding chair across the room to wait.
I listen as her heart becomes stronger, and it isn’t long after that she sits straight up gasping for air. She quickly looks around and I watch in enjoyment as panic and fear shows in her face. She glances around the dimly lit space then her eyes land on me in the shadows, just sitting outside the reach of the light.
She frantically places a hand behind her head, surely to feel for the wound that caused her untimely death. Too bad for her, I saved her life.
Tears stream down her face as she curls herself up into a ball, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. Confusion crosses her features as she pulls the blanket back to see the shackle around her ankle. She gently pulls it and her heart races. Panic sets in and she’s frantically pulling at the chains as she glances at me.
I watch, quite enjoying her fear and anxiety and I smile darkly as her body trembles.
I stand and start to walk in her direction. She quickly freezes in her movements as she glares at me.
“STOP!” she screams. But I continue forward. She lets out a blood-curdling scream that causes me to laugh cruelly.
“No one can hear you. It’s a cement building, to which I added soundproofing. So go ahead and scream all you want. No one is coming to save you.” I grin darkly.
She busts out in tears. “Why!?” her voice shakes.
“Why what?” I pause. “Why did I save you, or are you asking why you are chained?” I cock my head to the side waiting for an answer.
She hesitates in her response. “Why… me?” she says as she pulls her legs closer, embracing them to her chest.
“You should know why!” I growl.
She flinches at the venom in my voice. She takes a breath then says slowly, “It’s because I’m an old soul, isn’t it?” Her eyes bore into mine looking for an answer as tears threaten to spill over once again.
I squint my eyes in accusation. “I didn’t know what you were until the side effects started. Then it dawned on me. Your actions are what caused me to place you down here. I know what you are now and you will no longer tempt me with your poisonous blood!” I spat. “Just know if I don’t get what I require from you, you will die here, right along with me… alone and shackled.” With that, I turn on my heel and head for the door that leads to the fifth floor.
Before I can open the door, I hear her call faintly, “Wait.”
I pause and turn slightly to peer at her out of the corner of my eye. When she notices I’m giving her the chance to speak, she continues.
“Are… are you working for… Him?” she questions breathlessly as if she doesn’t want my answer.
I glance at her, wanting to see her reaction when I speak the name I found in the back of her drawing pad. “Quillon?”
Terror shoots through her features. Her body immediately shivers in horror and tears stream down her face as a sob breaks from her chest. She’s petrified, and Quillon is to blame. Again, I find myself being drawn into her past of what she has been through. Curious as to what has happened to her, to hear her story. But, I must remember, she is poisonous, and my knees once again remind me of the effects of her blood, as they threaten to buckle once again. I growl under my breath.
“No, I’m not,” I say before I jump up stairs to the top floor, leaving her behind in the dimly lit corner.
Chapter 18
As I shut the door, I hear Alexandria’s faint sobbing coming from below. I ignore her and head off to clean my bathroom. Halfway across the room, my knees finally buckle without warning and I collapse to the floor.
“God damn it!” I yell out as I punch the floor in frustration, instantly silencing Alexandria’s sobbing.
Old souls are supposed to be rare, and yet, one walks right into my park and I drink her blood like a fool. I should have known she was an old soul, but her scent didn’t give her away. I was so wrapped up in her strawberry shampoo that I didn’t notice anything else…
I let out a hard laugh. She’s clearly learned how to hide her scent well.
I sigh getting off the floor, allowing the stinging pain in my knees to subside before I continue to the mess in the bathroom. I clean up everything and head outside for some much-needed air. The sun is finally setting and I find that a comfort. I can hunt soon, and hopefully in doing so, it will subdue the side effects of the old soul blood. I will only become weaker as the days pass; to the point, I can no longer move, can no longer speak, or think properly. To the point, I no longer exist. But I will exist, I will remain. My soul will not leave this body. It will be condemned within my body, suffering, starving to be revived. Like a mummy of sorts, but perfectly preserved as I am now, just motionless and in agony until I am cured. The blood that will ultimately destroy me is also the cure to end my suffering…
If the blood of an old soul is forced from their vein, the stress of the situation causes a hormone to flow into their bloodstream. It is that hormone, that only old souls possess, that is deadly to vampires, it’s truly a venom. If a vampire draws this tainted blood into their own system, that vampire will suffer a wretched, motionless, and excruciating existence, an unrelenting hell.
If an old soul gives the blood of their complete and total free will to a vampire, they will experience an ecstasy-like they have never felt before. They will remain unharmed, but at times it can be difficult for the vampire to stop, which then leads the old soul to stress and inadvertently release their venom into their bloodstream. But for a vampire in my current situation, receiving the blood of a willing old soul will cure me of my torment, as if nothing ever happened.
Old souls, many years ago, were hunted to near extinction by vampires as they are the only beings that can incapacitate a vampire. But it was soon learned that it was pointless as old souls recycle and are reborn soon after death. So it’s a never-ending cycle for vampires and old souls.
Humans
have attempted to come up with ways to kill vampires, such as a stake to the heart, wooden bullets, silver, and holy items, but they don’t work. Vampires are truly the top predator of the human race, and yet many vampires decide to live alongside humans as if they are human themselves. It makes my stomach churn.
Over many years, vampires have become works of fiction to humans. They no longer believe in our existence, which has only benefitted us. There is an occasional vampire hunter, but they are never successful in causing our demise… only their own. There are only two ways to kill a vampire. One is by ripping the vampire's heart from their chest, to which no human has ever been successful. Only other vampires have succeeded in this method.
The second way to kill a vampire with ease, if done properly, is to cover a bullet in an old soul’s blood, and place that bullet into the heart of a vampire… That is the ultimate death sentence, one of which there is no return. Even if given the cure, our body will turn to ash within an hour of the bullet piercing our heart.
I shake my head ridding of the history that I had long forgotten until now. Had I known she was an old soul the moment she entered the park, I would have killed her without a second thought. Then I wouldn’t be in this situation, having to build enough trust with her so she will willingly give me her blood to cure me before it’s too late. At the rate I’m deteriorating already, I might have a week before I’m flat out on my back in a comatose state.
It's late enough now that I can hunt. I think I will head to the housing track tonight, scare a few kids, and drain a person or two… nothing too obvious.
Chapter 19
Arriving home before daybreak, I check on Alexandria and find her in a tight ball in the center of her bed, sound asleep. I can smell the dried blood around her ankle from her failed attempts at escape. The washcloths I left for her are covered in her blood as they sit in the metal wash bucket. I leave the bucket and head back up to the top floor to lie down for a while. It was a long night, and I hope the blood will help subdue the side effects.
The Sanctuary (Union Cross Park Series Book 1) Page 5
