Chapter 5 #2
It had already been time to move on, so I explained it away, pretending I was just taking a better opportunity so I could let it go.
The next night, when we had locked eyes at the concert, I recognized her potential to become a problem, but I had already booked my flight to Russia, and killing two nights in a row would draw too much attention, even if I was about to leave, so I left before killing her.
I shouldn't have.
I was sure now that it was her. I could smell her, and my body ached to take a single peek at the girl that shouldn't be here, watching me play in a theatre that no one ever came to. My heart longed to see her, but I refused to give up control to my infected heart’s demands.
Instead, my head dropped to my viola when the first song ended, and I twisted the tuning pegs slightly as if they might take my mind off of the past come to destroy me.
I was in control.
I was always in control.
Until suddenly, against my will, I wasn't. My eyes flicked up to the audience, frantically scanning for the face I was determined not to see. Maybe I was finally losing it. It wasn’t the first time I’d been tempted before by pretty things, but I’d always destroyed them without a second thought.
Then I saw her.
The same brown curls. The dainty cupid’s bow that dipped into the faint pink of her top lip. The rosy flush in her cheeks, dotted with faint freckles. I could hear the pace of her heartbeat nearly double as we locked eyes. It was true, then. She remembered me.
I would have to kill her.
I didn't see humans twice. Not once I'd fed three times and moved on to the next city. She was an annoyance at best.
In the history of my life, I had recognized scents before, but they had only remembered me one other time. It was the last time I had lost control, devouring them to a point of nothing more than unrecognizable shreds of gore.
No. This girl was a problem in more ways than one.
She was a reminder of a man I’d worked hard to leave in the past, but I was so…
so hungry. I could almost taste the dark liquid heaven that ran through her veins.
My breathing was shaky as I forced a breath in, and I gripped the neck of my viola harder.
No matter how much it hurt to wait, I was never going to break my rules again.
I tore my eyes from hers and a wave of relief washed over me.
Her appearance was simply the answer to my life’s biggest question.
I didn’t have to search for my next victim this time.
For now, all I had to do was let myself melt into the music, then I could focus on the simple task of hunting my next meal.
I smirked at the idea, then let my mind relax, quieting to nothing but the melody at hand.
— ?? —
My gloved hands shook with the anticipation of feeding again.
Waiting was a special hell that made the kill that much sweeter, and that paired with the effort she’d taken in finding me?
A rush of adrenaline sent a chill down my spine.
Living this long had taught me coincidences weren't real, so I reveled in the idea that she had come this far just to be in the same room as me.
There was a certain… purity to it, really.
Chasing someone down to the ends of the earth was a devotion no god deserved—least of all me, but I would honor her efforts. I would allow myself to take as much time as I needed so that this would fulfill all of my darkest desires.
After more than eight hundred years, had I not finally earned the right to play with my food?
Even the rain wasn’t strong enough to wash away her scent. The thundering of her heart was too loud to be obscured by the hush of water against the cobblestones, and my body ached at the opportunity to break the rules.
I could devour her a single day early. I could take her life now. The rain made humans sloppy, distracted. I could use it as an excuse.. but I didn’t. I couldn’t.
I watched as she stood under an arched doorway only a block down from the theatre, unknowingly waiting in front of the bar I'd chosen my last victim from. She wasn’t afraid.
She had no reason to be, so she tilted her face towards the rain, letting the faint glow of the only street lamp that still had a functioning bulb shine on her face.
The shadows darkened the girl's face slightly, and I searched it once again for a reason to spare her. A sign that she deserved to live. Logically, I knew I shouldn’t entertain the idea, but perhaps it was the last crumb of my humanity that forced me to do it—perhaps it was the last shred of hope my victims had to be spared—but I found no reason not to tie up loose ends.
I stepped into the street and stood there until lightning flashed once across the sky, waiting just long enough to ensure she’d caught a glance of me before slipping back into the shadows.
A small smirk curled at the corner of my mouth while I listened to her heartbeat increase.
She was looking for me. I was completely sure.
Thunder rumbled again, shaking the buildings as I closed the distance between us. I couldn’t wait to show her what kind of monster she had crossed an ocean for… or how easy it would be to make her thank me for it.