Nodding, I race over to the upside-down car and peer in through the broken window. The driver hangs from the seat, his arms lifeless. I can smell the blood; my fangs dropping out of my gums in response. I shut my eyes tight in an effort to stave off the bloodlust, but it doesn’t lessen the slow thud of his heartbeat. I bite into my own lip to stop myself from biting into the vein I can see pulsing in his neck.
I’m injured, starving and barely holding the hunger at bay, but I start to hum a tune I once heard my mother sing. Anything to drown out the thump, thump I can hear.
The crash might not have been my fault, but I still feel responsible for getting him out of the car and to a hospital. Careful not to jostle him too much, I reach into the car and press my palm against his chest, holding him in place while I release the seat belt. I can feel the moment his body succumbs to gravity, but my palm holds him steadily in place. It’s difficult to manoeuvre him down to the ground from this angle but it needs to be done. I can smell the petrol leaking from his car. That’s never a good sign.
By the time I get the kid out of his car and a safe distance away, all mine and Remmie’s injuries have healed, but the kid’s looking worse. There’s so much blood that I can’t even breathe without shaking. “We need to go Derrin; the ambulance will be here any minute.” I know Remmie is right, but I don’t want to leave. I want to feed. My fangs tingle as I lean over, my vision narrowing to that single point where his pulse beats in his neck. “We need to go!” Rem grabs my arm, pulling me away from making the biggest mistake of my life. He drags me towards what’s left of my car. We can’t leave it here or the police will start asking questions, but I’m not even sure it’ll run after the beating it took. I run through the possible issues we might have getting the car going, anything to distract me from the burning need to go back and drain the guy of every drop of blood. To my shock the car starts first go.
It doesn’t take us long to get out of there, but once we’re far enough away, I shut the engine off, jump out and toss Rem the keys. “I’m going back to make sure he’s alright.”
“No.” Rem snaps grabbing my arm.
“I need to make sure he’s okay.” I hiss.
Rem frowns at me but nods. “We’ll go together. Neither of us should be around anyone injured right now, but together we can keep each other in check.”
I forcefully pull my mind back from the memory, “The kid turned out to only have a concussion, but it was touch and go for a few days. I don’t know what I would have done if he’d died, but it was a close call.” I say ending my story.
Areyna’s wide blue eyes stare at me for a few moments before she lifts her hand and traces the scar running down the side of my face. “I’m glad you helped the human, and neither you nor Remmie were hurt too badly, but that is nothing like what I’m going through. You didn’t drain the kid. You kept your hunger in check and saved him.” She scrubs her hands down her face, wiping the tears away, “I killed Richard. Drained him dry and then ran away like a coward.” She begins to sob harder and my heart breaks at the sight. There’s nothing more I can say, so I wrap her in my arms and just hold her tight until her sobs subside and she falls asleep.
FOUR
Areyna
I wake in a cold sweat,my body stiff and sore. I’m not sure how I got home or how I ended up in my own bed wearing a clean set of clothes, the last thing I remember is running through the woods. As my mind clears, bits and pieces start returning, things like Derrin keeping me company while I bathed, him holding me after telling me how he got his scar. How I broke down and he held me, whispering words of comfort. I feel like I should still be crying but there’s no tears left inside me.
There’s nothing left inside me. It’s too painful to feel, so I shut it all down.
I pull myself from the bed, walk into the bathroom and shower before throwing on my favourite jeans and button up shirt. The roses running down the sleeves make me feel brighter than I am, but it helps with the façade I’m putting on. As I stand in front of the mirror brushing out my long blue and black hair, I practice smiling. The first one looks too much like a grimace so I tone it down so it’s a thin wobbly smile, but it’s a smile none-the-less.
“Fake it till you make it. This isn’t the first time someone has died by your hands Areyna. It won’t be the last.” I hiss at my reflection. My gaze catches on my eyes and for a moment I see another set of eyes staring back at me. They belong to the face of a ghost I’d long since forgotten, but it brings my thoughts back to the nightmare I’d had right before waking up…
The rain pours down, forcing me to get out of bed or have an accident. The last time I had an accident, my father got angry at my mumma. I don’t want that to happen again so I sneak out of my room and run down the hallway on soft feet. With slow careful movements, I turn the handle and slip into the bathroom. Lightning flashes, illuminating the spacious room for a heartbeat before plunging me back into the dark. I count the seconds until I hear the thunder, just like mummy taught me; I count to twenty before the boom rattles the windows. The next flash comes just as I’m washing my hands. This boom comes within the count of ten. Mummy says it means the storm’s centre is coming closer. I finish in the bathroom and sneak back out into the hallway. Every flash has me counting off the seconds until I reach my bedroom, thunder booms at the same time as the flash and I jump into my bed, pulling the covers up over my head.
I know it’s silly to try hiding from the thunder. It’s not like a sound can hurt you, but it feels so much safer under here.
I feel someone bounce on my bed and I laugh, knowing that it could only be one of two people. My brother or my mother. No one else ever comes into my bedroom after lights out. “Eliza, can I sleep in here? Mummy and Daddy are still at the party and that scary nanny is here again.”
I laugh at my little brother’s frantic words. I don’t blame him for thinking the night nanny is scary, she looks like one of those assassin ladies you see on TV, the ones who look far too perfect to be real and she talks like she has something stuck in her throat all the time. It’s this creepy husky rasp that makes me shiver.
“Come on squirt.” I say, patting the bed beside me. My little brother climbs up, his little hands gripping the sheets tightly. He’s only five, I’m only seven myself, but I’m bigger and smarter than he is. He lays down beside me, facing me with a wobbly smile that’s illuminated by the lightning. I grasp his hand without saying a word. He knows he’s my best friend, even if he does annoy me sometimes.
We’ll always be best friends.I think to myself as we both drift off to sleep to the sound of the thundering rain.
Boom!I bolt upright in bed, staring at the window wondering why the thunder sounded strange. Another boom rings out and I twist around, grasping for my brother’s hand. “Ozzie?” I call softly. The lump under the blanket doesn’t move. I grab his shoulder and shake him, “Ozzie!” I shout, ripping the sheets back.
Lightning flashes and all I see is red. The red covers the pillow, the blankets and my brother’s dinosaur pyjamas. He’s not moving, not even breathing. I scream, falling from the bed in my hurry to get away from the horrible sight of my brother covered in red. Tears blur my sight as I run out of the room, searching for my mumma. She always knows what to do when we hurt. She’ll make everything better.
I ran down the hallway straight to Mumma’s room. Her bed is still made so I turn back around and run to the stairs, peering through all the rooms I pass. There has to be someone who will help.
“Mumma!”
No one answers me.
I run to the kitchen in the hopes of finding the cook who is always up this early. I slip in something on the floor and scream my heart out at the sight of my mumma lying in a pool of red.
“What do we have here?” A cold voice asks behind me. I turn just in time to see the barrel of a gun. I see the flash it makes but the sound is drowned out by the peal of thunder outside.
Darkness surrounds me.