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A screen door opened with a clink. The owner of the house stood there, a big black Lab at his side. He was an older man, thin, and he called out with shock at the sight of me in his clothes. He set the dog on me. It lunged for me, and I for it. It’s dead body dropped with a thud
I didn’t feed of him; he didn’t smell that appetizing.
I did steal his sneakers, and I did want to feed again that night.
Or should I wait, break into his apartment, and get him then.
What should I do, I thought?
‘Patience, my love,’ the venom responded,
It was like my venom and my mind carried on a conversation.
‘Now,’ the mind demanded shrilly, ‘get him now. Drench yourself in his blood!’
His apartment was littered with loose papers, textbooks, and empty beer bottles.
I strongly suspect he didn’t have much left when I was done.
‘Parting is such sweet sorry.’
The instinct died done a bit.
the wild, crazy instinct that feared any movement at right then
It was a black bear, with golden wings.
I realized I was crying blood.
At last the twilight hours began. My skin was heavily sunburned, even though I’d kept to the shadows as much as possible.
I set out, for anywhere but where I was. I’d had enough of that alley, of just trying to make sense of things.
I wanted the thirst to return. I was so ashamed to admit it, but I did. I wanted to be lost in the instinct, to just do it. Because, when I was there, I didn’t have to think; everything just happened.
I left Mountainside as soon as it was really dark. I walked towards Downtown, aimlessly.
A shock went up my spine as I realized I was still wearing the blood-stained hoody.I think that sentence would sound better if you remove the 'A' from the beginning of the sentence and just start with 'shock'. People stopped and stared at me. Instinct kicked in again, but I fought it, barely. Survival insisted these people die. Survival also dictated I act as normal as possible.
After midnight, I crossed the river again. Downtown lay behind me, reflected in the cool waters of the Rio al Océano. Ahead of me was the borough of Riverside. I couldn’t help smiling as I realized I’d covered almost a third of San Pedro, on foot, in a matter of hours between early this morning and tonight.
I picked a new scent as I entered South Riverside. It was much different than the human smells that flooded my brain. It was cold and bland. Interest peeked, I decided to follow it.
It was difficult. There were three scents, and they ranged all over the place. They seemed to [s]very[/s] vary in potency, too. Here there was just the faintest hint of rich spice, over there a pinch of pineapple, and most dominantly, a trace of barbecue.
The barbecue scent grew thicker, newer as I approached the 200 block. Who made that? Why was it so different?
And then I spotted him. He was huge, at least seven feet tall. He knew how to dress well. A long black coat billowed in the breeze. His perfect features seemed crafted out of his pale brown skin. He turned toward me, and I saw his black hair…streaked with red!
My eyes grew wide. This man was like me! I was not alone in the world! I didn’t know his name, or who he was, but [s]relieve[/s] relief flooded my soul, and I called out to him like he was old friend.
“Excuse me!” I exclaimed. “Excuse me.” I'm not sure about that piece of dialogue. In the line before you say that you called to him as if he was an old friend. I don't go: 'excuse me' to my friends . Try find something better that shows how relieved you are that you've finally found someone like you... albeit a stranger.
In a flash, he was all over me, pulling me down a side street. His huge fists wrapped tightly against my throat.
“Who are you?” his bass voice roared through an English accent. “What are you doing in my territory?”
I tried to speak, but the words [s]chocked [/s] choked in my mouth.
“Who sent you?” he demanded.
“No…” I chocked. “No…one.”
“I have trouble believing that.” He gripped my neck tighter.
Then he noticed my hair.I think you should show his facial expressions after he notices her hair. Maybe he looks relieved? Immediately, his hands unclenched. I fell to the ground in a mess.
“You’re not a clan member?” he asked. If he's asking whether she's a clan member I think this should be: Are you a clan member? If he's just stating a fact then it's good how it is.
“Clan?” I said. “I’m sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I could almost see the light bulb go off over his head. “Ah, a newborn,” he grumbled.
“Newborn?”
He chuckled. “Boy, you are rather clueless, aren’t you? Here, take this.” He took off his coat, and wrapped it around me. “But take that bloody sweatshirt off, it’s horrible. You should learn to clean up after yourself when you eat.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You really don’t know?” he asked. His red eyes sparkled. Calm came over me. I’d not expected to ever see emotion through eyes like mine. And then he laughed.
Anger piled on top of hate, on top of frustration, on top of curiosity. Why was he laughing? [s]I[/s] had I really done something so bad as to deserve it?
“You really haven’t figured it out?”
“No,” I growled. He jumped back. His face faded. His face faded? This doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe you should change it to something along the lines of: the smile on his face faded.
“Sorry,” he said. “Would you like some help?”
“Please,” I begged.
“You hid from the daylight today, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I did.”
“You tracked him down a human and killed him last night, right?” he fought hard to surpress a maniac grin.
“Yes.”
“You drank his blood, right?”
I nodded.
“Why?”
That was a good question. I hadn’t really thought of it. ‘Cause I was thirsty,’ I told myself. But, that couldn’t be all of it. No, there had to be more. I had to have some other reason.
“But who drinks blood?” I asked allowed.I didn't understand that last part. 'I asked allowed?' I would suggest rephrasing it. My voice echoed through the street, and I felt startled. The poignant silence amplified the question, and an answer suddenly dawned on me.
“Can you not think of a creature [s]with[/s] who shuns the daylight, hunts humans, and has an insatiable thirst for blood?” Something new crept into his voice; concern.
Reality struck me like a Barry Bonds home run. I fell to my knees, unable to say the horrible word. No, no, it was impossible. I think the comma after the second 'no' should be replaced with a '...'
I drew a long, slow breath, and I realized I’d not been breathing before then. In fact, I could notremember actually drawing a breath once all day.
I clutched at [s]me [/s] my heart; it lay still, silent. I thought of my breast, where I had a horrible scar of teeth marks. ‘Not dog teeth,’ I realized, ‘human teeth.
I thought of my eyes, my horrible red eyes.
“Oh, shit.” I moaned. “Oh, damn. Oh, shit. I’m…I’m a…but, that’s not possible!” I exclaimed. “I don’t believe in,” I yelled at the top of my lungs, and [s]the[/s] then finished with a petrified whisper, “vampires!”
He laughed insanely. “Yet, you’re here. I’m here. We exist. Sort of makes not believing stupid, right?” He sighed in a very pleased-with-himself manner. “Welcome to the dominant race.”
My only response was silence. I doubled over, and the uneven bricks of the street were stained purple with my tears.
I wasn’t certain how he’d respond. I was surprised when he approached me gently, and lifted my head. He held my chin between his fingers as if my face were a wonderful, soft jewel he wished to admire.
“Shh, shh,” he crooned. “Yes, miss, I am a vampire. I’ve been one a…long time now.”
“How long?” I implored.
He glanced at me, and then away.
“Now, I don’t mean to scare you, friend,” he continued, purposefully changing the subject. “But, you’re a vampire, too.”
I sobbed. He sat down on the ground, his long coat trailing in the dirt. He just held me and I sobbed on his shoulder until I had no tears left to cry.
“I remember very well being a newborn,” he said. “The dramatics end with time. Are you still scared of your night vision?”
“Yeah,” I said, glad he brought it up. “What is that?”
He stroked my hair. “Your new eyes can see more than your old ones. It’s the infrared spectrum. It comes in pretty handy in a hunt.”
I remembered Dr. Jameson’s green, yellow, and red body in the dark of his apartment. “That one I figured out already.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
He ran his hands through my hair. He stood up, and offered me his hands. “Billy’s the name. What’s yours, love?”
“Jess.”
“Well, Jess…what do you want most right now?”
I thought for a second. Two things sprang immediately to mind. First, I wanted to not feel like the world was out to get me. I needed some place to hide till the thirst came back; a place to be me until I could feed. Second, I really, really wanted a change of clothes.
Billy laughed again when I told him. “Well, I know a place where you can get both.”
He started walking out of the alleyway. I stopped, a frightening thought crossing[s]m[/s] my mind. I’d just met him, and now I trusted him to tell me the truth, to protect me?
“Why should I trust you?” I asked.
He pointed towards his own scarlet locks, and smiled. “Birds of feather must stick together, right?”
I nodded.
“Come on.” he offered.
We walked a short time, out into the dark night. He turned to me.
“Where’d you spend the day?” he asked, curious.
“In an alley, curled up like a baby next to a dumpster.”
He laughed a long, glorious howl that sounded more like a playful roar. It was a good thing it was well after midnight; humans would think a wild animal was loose. I felt safe there, with him, and his laugh. There was nothing of the monster about him.
“You are a baby,” he told me with a grin. I had to laugh, too.
And the adult lead the baby home.
The Streets of San Pedro
That first night passed like a dream. I wondered aimlessly through the streets of San Pedro.
A hoody, a shirt, and a pair of jeans hung there. I jumped silently over the chain link fence, and put them on. The hoody was a little large, the shirt a little tight for me. I had to roll about three inches of the jeans up.
I killed the owner, too. I didn’t feed of him; he didn’t smell that appetizing. I did steal his sneakers, and I did want to feed again that night.
In the distance, the eerie illumination of San Pedro rose luminescent against its polluted sky.
The light reflected off my white skin in cool, electric blue. I walked along the highway, feeling, listening to each human in each car as it passed me on the highway. None was my quarry. My hair fluttered in the wind of the traffic. I walked with firm purpose, mouth watering. I was beyond beautiful; I was magnificent, and lethal.
A green information sign told me that San Pedro had a population of 3,947,265. The venom churned fiercely in my throat as I realized what this meant. I was a kid walking into an ice cream shop with four million flavors.
I caught scent of him as I entered downtown San Pedro, a labyrinth of black skyscrapers with glowing yellow eyes for windows.
Soon, very soon, he would be mine.
What should I do? I thought. Should I pounce now, take him so quickly he’d never know what hit him? Or should I wait, break into his apartment, and get him then?
My mouth watered.
‘Now,’ The Mind demanded shrilly, ‘get him now. Drench yourself in his blood!’
‘Patience, my love,’ The Venom responded, ‘Desire is a thing best gratified slowly. His blood will be just as divine later as now. Patience.’
The venom flowed in deep, juicy waves of intensity, and the chocolate and cinnamon taste flowed everywhere.
‘Good-bye, dear one,’ the venom addressed him. ‘Parting is such sweet sorry.’
Next, the instinct told me to sleep. I did. I slept long, hard, and without interruption. When I awoke, it was still night. The green glow of his alarm clock told me it was just after three. [s]I didn’t know how long I’d slept for.[/s]
I wish I could say I was sorry I killed him. At that time, I really wasn’t, anymore than a restaurant patron is sorry a cow had to die to give him his sirloin with grilled onions.
For the first time since I woke in that operating room, I felt I could make conscious decisions of my own.
A part of me wanted to know who he was. Or, at the very least, I wanted to know if there was some trophy I could take away. After all, it was my first kill.
I found a gold band in his sock drawer. He’d not worn it in some time; there was an area free of dust beneath it as I picked it up. I placed it on my finger, admiring how it reflected the light next to my white skin.
My clothes would need to be changed again. The hoody was absolutely soaked. The shirt beneath it still smelled like cinnamon, so I kept it.
Around 6:30, the sky grew suddenly orange. The dawn was coming. Blast! Instinct took control again. What was I thinking, staying so long? I needed to get out of there, find someplace dark, where I wouldn’t have to be trapped by that horrible orb.
The stinks of the garbage mingled with the harsh feel of the asphalt beneath me.
It was shapeless, black and blank.
It was a black bear, with golden wings. The bear loped towards me, its muzzle open in a growl. Hissing, I turned to face it. It would die as easily and quickly as the black lab from the night before.
I don’t know what tipped me off, but suddenly I realized I couldn’t win.
Terror gripped my heart, my soul, as I tried to escape with no success.
Oh, this day just kept getting better and better.
I couldn’t help smiling as I realized I’d covered almost a third of San Pedro, on foot, in a matter of hours between early this morning and tonight.
I couldn't help but smile as I realized...
I picked up a new scent as I entered South Riverside.
They seemed to very in potency, too. Here, there was just the faintest hint of rich spice, over there a pinch of pineapple, and most dominantly, a trace of barbecue.
And then I spotted him. He was huge, at least seven feet tall.
I didn’t know his name, or who he was, but relieve flooded my soul, and I called out to him like he was old friend.
I tried to speak, but the words chocked in my mouth.
“No…” I chocked. “No…one.”
“What are you talking about?”
I had I really done something so bad as to deserve it?
“No,” I growled. He jumped back. His face faded.
“But who drinks blood?” I asked allowed.
In fact, I could remember actually drawing a breath once all day.
In fact, I could not remember drawing a breath all day.
I clutched at me heart; it lay still, silent. I thought of my breast, where I had a horrible scar of teeth marks. ‘Not dog teeth,’ I realized, ‘human teeth.
I doubled over, and the uneven bricks of the street were stained purple with my tears.
I was surprised when he approached me gently, and lifted my head.
I sobbed. He sat down on the ground, his long coat trailing in the dirt. He just held me and I sobbed on his shoulder until I had no tears left to cry.
“I remember very well being a newborn,” he said. “The dramatics end with time. Are you still scared of your night vision?”
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