Young Writers Society

Evie watched as Caius picked up his head after hearing the disturbance. The girl sat on the sofa looked down at Caius puzzled as he retracted his fangs and got to his feet from his kneeling position before her. He just stood there a moment, staring at Evie. His demon-like black eyes watching her like a stranger as the tip of his tongue captured a droplet of blood from the corner of his mouth. His chin was caked in it. A crimson beard that ran down his throat.

And then he came back to her, the black reducing to just the pupils, revealing the pale blue hidden underneath. His expression changed. The muscles in his face slackened with fear and guilt. The girl stayed silent, glancing between the couple before grabbing a tissue from her pocket and wiping up the blood that was dripping down her inner thigh and onto the sofa. She ruffled her dress, smoothing it down over her thighs to cover Caius’ bite mark.

“Evie…” Caius said tentatively.

Evie’s heartstrings jerked at the sound of his voice. A pang of pain and nausea. When he started to close the distance between them, she shook her head frantically, and tried to force herself further back into the wall she was pressed against. Tears swelled and burned the backs of her eyes.

Caius paused a few feet from her when she lifted her arms to shield herself from him. Angst tightened his features. Evie saw and lowered her arms. She cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his dressing gown when her eyes dropped to it.

“How long…” Evie finally managed to choke out. “How long have you been using blood whores?”

“This is the first time.” His voice was low, hoarse.

Her tense muscles slackened. “But…why? You said you never would…”

“Because of you, Evie.” He stared at her flush in the eyes with so much intensity that a chill passed over her.

“What do you mean?”

His jaw flexed and he ran his fingers through his long, shaggy hair, shifting his eyes to the floor. “Ever since I drank from you…the bags haven’t been enough. I haven’t drunk from the vein for fourteen years. I never wanted to go back. But I can’t seem to help it.” He looked back up at her. “And living with you…” he sighed. “I can smell you. I can hear your heart beating. Hell, I can almost feel the blood coursing through your veins when I touch you.” Red started to gather under his eyes as his lips trembled. “I promised I’d never feed from you again yet last night I did, without even realising it. I couldn’t let that happen again.” As if looking at Evie’s blanched face was too much to bear, his eyes casted downwards. “That place changed me, Evie. I killed. For the first time in since the Rage. I was teetering right on the edge and your blood saved me. I crave that rush of being pulled back from the depths-”

A loud throat clearing cut off Caius and he turned. The girl he had just being feeding from was stood in the doorway. She looked to Evie, then back at Caius. “If you’re finished with me, that’ll be a hundred.” She held her palm out flat to him.

Caius gulped, looking awkward, and turned back to Evie. She rolled her eyes and gestured to the girl. “Pay her.”

He disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a wad of twenties. A flirty glint sparkled in the blood whore’s eyes, making Evie’s jaw set, as she said, “Pleasure doing business with you.”

Before she could grab the notes, Caius pulled back, glaring down at her. “Don’t utter a word of what you just heard to anyone.”

She scoffed and arched her eyebrow. “Please, I wasn’t even listening. I don’t care about your stupid lovers spat.”She plucked the notes from between his fingers and counted them before slipping them into her bra. “I hear and see tonnes of crazy shit doing what I do. I don’t even take notice anymore. So don’t you dare try and do that compulsion shit on me because my boss will know and he’ll cut you off.”

Caius watched her for a moment, bemused. “I’ve paid you, now you can leave.”

She flashed him a charming smile as she backed her way to the door. She pointed at herself. “Remember, Anna-lynn.”

“I won’t be requiring your services anymore.”

She shrugged, glanced at Evie then fixed her eyes back on Caius. “Just if you change your mind.”

Evie watched her sweeping red hair disappear behind the closed door, before slumping against the wall. “She even looks like me…” The observation made her feel hollow inside. He probably chose her for the same reason she had Michael come round when Caius was away. To feel closer to him. But Evie was right there. That was proof that they were growing apart.

“I’m so sorry-”

“You know what?” Evie cut through Caius’ apology, her anger almost boiling over. She turned to him, her eyes blazing and jaw locked stiff. Caius’ brows lifted helplessly. “When I came in and saw you…I was shocked.” She laughed without humour, pushing herself back off the wall. “Shocked. I was shocked that you were using a blood whore. That is not what I should have felt after walking into my house and seeing my boyfriend’s head between a random girl’s legs.” Caius stiffened as her tone dipped into one laced with venom. “Not horrified. Disgusted. Cheated. Upset. Angry. All emotions that would have been completely acceptable. But no. I just felt shocked…because you weren’t drinking blood from a bag.”

Adrenaline was coursing through her blood, making her heart pound so much it hurt. Her body was shaking. She could hardly breathe. The world was pulsating.

Tears welled in her eyes as she let out a hissing sigh and yanked off her hat to run her fingers through her hair. She threw it on top of the plastic bag with the new phones in. She didn’t even remember dropping on the table beside her.

“I’m human now, Caius,” she said in a more calm, resolved voice as she twisted her head back to him. “I shouldn’t be coming home to that.”

“It will never happen again, I promise,” he pleaded desperately.

She shook her head, releasing tears. “I don’t want your promises, Caius, or your apologies.”

“Then what do you want? Tell me.” He placed his hand delicately on her shoulder and she jerked away from the touch.

“A human life,” she admitted, finding it hard to bear the defeated look on his face. He stepped away from her and dropped his arm. They stayed there in the heavy silence for a moment before the intensity got too much for Evie and she forced herself to explain. “Vampires and humans, they just can’t be together.”

“Yes they can. I’ve done it before.”

“I am not Catherine!” she screamed. “Stop comparing me to her!”

Caius shrunk back, his pale eyes wide and fearful. “No, no, I wasn’t.”

“I know she was willing to put her life on hold for you. I know she was the most perfect woman in the world. But she’s dead. She died because she was with you.” It was a low blow, she regretted it as soon as she said it. Devastation slackened Caius’ features, making him look like a lost little boy. His eyes dropped to the floor. “These last few days…I know we said we could make it work but this just shows that we can’t. Caius, we can’t even make love without you turning me black and blue.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his messy head of hair as if to try and fend off her words.

“I was happy with you, Caius, don’t think for a second that I wasn’t. I loved every minute we spent together. But I’m human. I want to embrace that.” She laughed whimsically. “I want to have picnics in the park. I want to watch the sun set. I want a career. I want to get married. Have children. Have grandchildren…and I can’t have any of that with you. And I’ve wanted that. I always have. I can’t hide it anymore. And I don’t have to.”

His eyes flickered back up to her. He watched her through his fallen strands of hair before picking his head up fully. Blood tears had run down his cheeks staining two streaks down his face and blending into his bloody beard. “You’re ending this?”

The words pulled Evie inside-out. The impact of the question was as painful as being sucker punched in the chest. What felt even worse though was the honesty of her reply. “Yes.”

Caius sucked in a shaky gasp. “Y-you can’t.”

Tears blurred her vision. “I have to.”

“But you are all I have.”

“We both need to move on. I’m not your progeny anymore, Caius.” She paused for a moment, the déjà vu knocking her sick to her stomach. “I’m nothing to you now.”

He shook his head furiously. “I love you.”

A lump lodged in her throat at the raw desperation in his tone. “I love you, too. But sometimes that’s just not enough.”

He shook his head again, squeezing his eyes shut and releasing more tears. “I don’t believe that.”

She sighed and moved from the wall. “I’m going to pack up some stuff. I’ll come back for the rest.”

His eyes flew open as she passed him to climb the stairs. “Wh-where are you going to go?”

She shrugged with her back to him. “I’ll figure it out.” She turned slightly when she began ascending the stairs. “I got you a new phone. It’s the silver one.” She nodded over to the plastic bag before disappearing upstairs.

Evie didn’t have much. They moved around a lot so it was always easier to travel light. But she grabbed a backpack and filled it with some clothes and toiletries. She walked over to their bedside table and lingered, her hand hovering over the drawer. No, it’s best if I leave it. It’s all I have left of him. I can’t lose it. Caius will keep it safe for me.

She wavered for a moment before slinging her backpack over her shoulder and heading back down the stairs. She passed Caius in the hall, still standing there looking completely lost in his own home – like a patient waking up after a coma and realising everything had moved on without him. She went into the kitchen to grab her purse and when she returned to the hall, Caius had moved a fraction, peering over his shoulder at her.

“Please don’t do this.”

Her heart ached. She hated doing this, especially in the state that he was in, but it needed to be done. He had covered her in bruises without even realising it. If he could do that, what was stopping her from doing serious damage? A heated argument could cause her to be hospitalised. She just couldn’t take that risk. He could heal her physically, but how many accidental injuries could she endure before she began to hate his guts? She had to leave him while there was still love there.

“I don’t want to hide anymore. I can be normal. I don’t want to be trapped, staring at these four walls.”

“It’s only been a few days.” He turned to her fully. “I just need time. Things can go back to how they were.”

She shook her head. “No, they can’t because we are not how we were. I don’t want to have to train myself to become nocturnal. I like the sun. And I’d like to be able to share it with someone.”

He slowly made his way over to her. She watched as he stood before her, studying her face as if for the last time. Her skin prickled and a warmth spread through her chest as he cupped her face lightly with his big hands and leaned in. Her eyes closed as their lips touched. They had kissed countless times before but this time it was different, it was if they both knew that it would be their last. Her fingers curled into the sides of his dressing gown and she pulled him against her. He sighed and parted his lips, deepening the kiss. Tears ran down their cheeks and Evie was trying her best to hold back her sobs as she clung onto him.

The kiss was so long and so intense that when they finally broke, Evie was left gasping for breath. Caius squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his forehead against hers. “Please. I can’t live without you.”

She framed his beautiful face in her hands, pressing her nose against his. “But I can’t have a life with you.”

She broke away from him with an effort. Caius stumbled, falling towards her before regaining his balance. She replaced her hat and noticed he had taken his phone, leaving the pink one alone in the plastic bag. With dragging feet and a heavy heart, she made her way to the front door.

“You’ll still have to hide, you know.”

She turned to see Caius stood in the middle of the hall. He elaborated, “Nico’s men. They might be out there. And if you leave, you are putting yourself in grave danger.”

She just looked at him. “I’ll watch my back. As you said, you can’t protect me anymore anyway.”

Pausing for a moment, her eyes wandered around the hallway. “I’ll be coming back for my stuff so, this isn’t goodbye.”

He huffed bitterly. “Sure feels like it.”

Her lips lifted into a faint smile. “You’re a big boy, Caius. You don’t need me. And anyway, if you’re lonely, you can always give Anna-Lynn a call.”

His brows fell into a scowl. Evie laughed half-heartedly. “Just a little joke.” She lifted her hand and gave him a wave before leaving the house. When she turned in the porch, Caius was at the open door, watching her. He gave her a slight nod and before she turned back and disappeared down the driveway and into the dark streets, wondering how long she’s last before her emotions took hold and she completely unravelled like a spool of thread.