The Broken Promise

2012-01-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

Young love is alwaysbeautiful, especially during the first few months. Then, all I could thinkabout was him. Thoughts of him reclaimed room in my mind and occupied everycrack and crevice. It’s hard to imagine how I managed to constantly maintain mywell above average grades. As my mother would relentlessly remind me, “All goodthings must come to an end,” and, no matter how intense our love for each otherwas, it did. The break-up was unanticipated and I still have no good explanationas to the reason.

Exactly one year ago,I was routinely checking my e-mails and at that exact moment, my heartshattered into pieces. The saying, “Breaking up is hard to do,” was provenerroneous as his blunt two sentence piece couldn’t have taken him ten minutesto compose. It felt as if someone had taken the sharpest of knives andheartlessly penetrated my chest with them, one after the other. The hyperventilation commenced, then came thetears. I took hold on my pillow, burying my head in it, and let the river flow.My mother hadn’t bother come to ask me what was the problem because it wasquite evident. I turned down meals, had troubles getting to sleep, played lovesongs that encouraged the tears and wasn’t very socially inclined, which was allnew for me.

A week of barely anyfood, no showers and no sleep really makes a difference. My reflection in themirror showed me what I was reluctant to see: reality. My normally straight,shoulder length, golden brown hair was now the untamed beast that lurked underthe beds and in the closets of petrified seven year olds. The now dried tearswere still visible against my chocolate brown skin. I raised my stainedt-shirt, which had now developed a horrid stench and yellow spots in the armpits,to evaluate the damage. My relatively flat stomach had decreased considerablyin size. Just then, I learnt the lesson that reality had been trying to teachme, “Don’t rely on anyone or anything to make you complete.” The healingprocess began.

I began with brushingmy teeth and a shower because it was impossible for me to digest food with thatdisgusting odor around. I opened windows to let the sunlight in. Stripped mybed from the sweat drenched sheets and made it with a clean set. I gathered thedirty ones and dropped then in the washer. There was a loud sound as theylanded in the bottom. I examine them and bundled in the comforter was mysecond-hand BlackBerry. I ran the washer and sat down to reminisce.

I scrolled through oldtexts Nic had sent me when we were a couple, all of them ending the same, “Ipromise to love you always, babe.” That was a promise he definitely didn’tkeep. Even though it’s been a year, I typed my reply, “You broke your promise,”and hit send.

Metamorphosis - Chapter One - Unexpected Encounter

2012-01-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

Therewas the juicy squelching sound as I sunk my teeth into her neck and puncturedher skin, releasing the blood that flowed beneath it. Her agonizing screamfought its way through her lips and her eyes were wide with fear, pain, andsomewhat confusion. I could feel the rocking tremors of her body in my handsand smell the blood which flowed from her veins and into my lips. Most of all,I could taste this blood. Itsrichness and warmth flooding my mouth and following the path down my parched,burning throat. I weakened her struggles with my iron grasp and proceeded toempty her of the blood which flowed within her veins. It was all a minor tasteof heaven to me...until she ran dry. I let her go in disappointment and shesnaked to the floor like a lifeless puppet.

Thiswasn’t enough for me though. I needed something more. Something to put out theflicker of a flame left inside my throat. I hadn’t had a decent hunt in weeksand this made satisfying my thirst harder than usual. I looked around thesurrounding forest, as if waiting for a meal –or rather, someone- to come inanswer to my thoughts. And that’s exactlywhat happened, bringing a whisper of a smile to my lips. I heard quick, runningfootsteps before another hiker bustled forward through the wall of treespanting from exhaustion, his eyes darting around the scene before him. He wasyoung with shaggy dark hair which flopped into his face, partly concealing grayeyes. His body was of tall, lanky build which was bent in on itself as herested his hands on his knees. His eyes rested on me as I stood beside the nowpale corpse which I had taken care of just minutes before.

“Marie?” he asked softly as hetook in the lady’s body. I could already pick up the sound of his quickeningpulse and sense the fear which engulfed his body. His stare remained glued to“Marie” on the forest floor, his eyes now filled with mourning. No big deal, I thought, you’ll join her soon enough. And Iattacked him.

Iwasted no time in pinning this guy to a tree, using my strength to freeze hisstruggling body. Frightened grunts escaped through his teeth and the tasty fearwhich shook his frame was in abundance. I jerked his head roughly to the side,this forceful action causing his neck to break with a quick snap. Thatsquelching sound hit my ears again as I bit into his jugular and forced theblood into my mouth with an eager sucking. My throat’s burning reduced tonothing by the time I was finished with him and threw his body to the side. AsI licked the excess blood from my lips, something glinting in the dim sunlightcaught my eye. I bent down to take hold of a silver necklace on the malehiker’s neck. With a slight tug, I had pulled it from around his neck and wasexamining it. The chrome-silver dog tag was engraved with a name, most likelyhis: David. I could see my reflectionin the square face of the tag. My eyes were a bright crimson, different fromthe hard, flat black they’d been earlier this morning. My skin was now flushed,though still extremely pale and the violet shadows under my eyes were only abit noticeable, not the prominent way they had been before.

“Huh. A souvenir.” I said softlyto myself and tied it loosely around my neck before I raced away with lightningspeed from the soon to be crime scene.

Ididn’t even bother to cover my tracks. It wasn’t like I was bound to be asuspect or anything when the bodies were found. And even if I was, I’d never befound. But though I was happy that my thirst was quenched, feeding alwaysroutinely left a bitter aftertaste within my mind. Guilt. I was never a fan ofmurders and such things and though it was a part of my new life, I still feltguilty after each time I fed. This was only afterthough. During my feeding, it always felt as though something came over me andI didn’t care what I did or to who I did it.

Iweaved through the forest like a streak of lightning, barely leaving anyfootprints behind me. I loved this feeling that I was experiencing now. It wasalmost as good as the feeling of rich, human blood oozing down my throat. Thisfeeling always made me feel so alive and free. It was the feeling of the warmSeptember breeze rushing through my hair and tickling my skin as I raced,pushing myself to go faster. But the awareness of this feeling was cut short assomething new came into realization. A new scent wafted around me. It wasfamiliar but yet still strange, not as good as human blood, but yet stillpleasant; sweet even. Then I heard the sound of a stranger’s flight. He or shewas moving with amazing swiftness, even faster than my astonishing agility. Mymuscles began locking in defence one by one and I slowed down a tiny bit as Ibegan to realize who or what I was crossing paths with; even my lips becametaut with caution. All the signs: the amazingly fast pace the stranger wasmoving at and the familiar, strange smell meant that this stranger could beonly one thing; a member of my category. And that was a vampire.

Ipulled myself to a smooth stop, my muscles still tense. But they got even tenserthan they were as I realized that the vampire I had sensed was not far awayfrom me. I turned warily to see that there was a male standing between thetrees, his gaze appraising me slowly as I did the same to him.

Hisperfect, symmetrical features were as expected but I had to admit, he was morebeautiful than any other vampire I had ever seen; both male and female. Hisface was oval-shaped with a well-structured jaw which came to a delicate pointat his chin. He had short, dark curly hair which ran thickly from his foreheadto the nape of his neck. The darkness of the hair and his smooth, ebonyeyebrows created contrast with the pair of deep-set, long-lashed, butterscotchcoloured eyes which he used to survey me. He also had a straight, flawlessnose, below which full, perfectly shaped pink lips sat. He was of a tall, lankybuild but he was still muscular as I could see the distinct outline of hischest and definition of his arms through the close-fitting sweater he wore. Thesnowy paleness of his skin with satiny-looking texture was routine for vampiresthough, along with the indistinct purple shadows under his eyes. In addition,the sweet smell which emanated from him was a mixture of lavender and mint. Icontinued to appraise him before he broke through my thoughts with his words.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked in a soft,smooth voice. His eyes had somehow taken on a knowing look by now, but I feltlost as to what he was saying. When I didn’t answer, he spoke again.

“You’re the vampire that has been responsible forall the killings that have been happening lately.” I didn’t answer to this. Hedidn’t need any verification for the way he said it indicated that he waspositive of that statement. But there went that guilty feeling again...

“How can you do this? Take all those lives at such afast rate without a care in the world? Portland’s population has droppednoticeably in just a few months.” Slight anger crept into his voice, thehoney-like softness slowly disappearing. “Why are you here in the first place?”

Wehad just crossed paths for the first time and he was basically scolding mealready, questioning my being and awakening the guilt inside me all over again.This distracted me from his stunning form.

“Does it really matter what I’m doing here? And whatdo you mean ‘how can I do it’? I can’t help it, can I?”

I expected him to answer but instead his lipstwitched slightly as if trying to fight a smile and I wondered what could befound funny in what I had said.

“Why are you here?” he inquired again.

“I’m living here.” I answered simply. I decided toask him the same thing since he was questioning my intentions, but before Icould, he spoke, his tone icier now.

“So you’re planning on staying, continuing to usePortland as a feeding ground.” It wasn’t a question. It was an accusation.Deciding I didn’t owe a stranger any explanations, I turned to leave. Theresults of my hunting seemed to upset him but I wondered why it would. Itwasn’t like he was any different. I was about to speed off when a thought hitme. Speaking of differences...

Iturned around to see him still standing there, his golden butterscotch eyesstanding out.

“Why are your eyes gold?” I asked. It was a strangehue for a vampire to have. The routine eye colours were either red or black andthere were no cross-markings in his eyes to indicate that he was wearingcontacts. I half-expected him not to answer but his lips stretched into a fullblown smile, highlighting a dimple in each of his cheeks.

“That’s because my family and I don’t feed on humanblood. We feed on the blood of animals,” he answered, seemingly proud of hisstatement. But I was taken aback by it, as I’d never heard of such a thingbefore. It seemed like something impossible, unsatisfying and a completeturnoff. I didn’t believe him. I figured he’d probably lie about his eyes sincehe didn’t seem to like me because of what “I was doing in Portland.” But then,I couldn’t come up with a logical explanation for their colour. So to get the truth,I moved a little closer to him. Using only an ounce of my concentration, I immediatelyhad his complete attention. His face became almost blank and his eyes unseeing.

“Why are your eyes gold?” I asked once again. Atonce, he began answering my question, almost in a monotone, and his answer wasthe same as before: he and his family hunted animals. This second answer waswhat caused me to believe him. There was no doubting him now. What I’d justdone, my mind control, wasn’t something that could be resisted and now I had noother choice but to believe. I released my hold on his mind and he blinked, dazed. Without a word he turned to leave, a confused look still plastered on his face. He darted quickly into the mass of trees, leaving the sound of rustling leaves behind him along with the questions in my mind as I pondered his story.

At Gunpoint

2012-01-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

One foot in front the other, he drew closer. Beads of sweat didn't hesitate to emerge from the palms of my clenched fists. My heart racing, fear consumed me making me weak in the knees. The seemingly endless black hole of the barrel of his hand gun stared me in the face. I'd never once imagined what it would feel like to be held at gunpoint.

We were both heavily breathing from the previous and hopeless escape that I attempted. I didn't think I would've made it this far. I presumed that my generally scrawny legs would had collapsed beneath me before I'd come to a dead end. He had me cornered.

People always speak of their near death experience, saying that various fragments of their life flashed before their eyes. I began my search for this montage of my own, because this could only end one way; death. His rugged hand tightened around the gun, index on the trigger. A sudden click obstructed the sound of breathless lungs panting for air. I squeezed my eyes closed, awaiting what was to come.

MONIQUE

Voiced Thoughts

The Broken Promise

Metamorphosis - Chapter One - Unexpected Encounter

At Gunpoint