She wouldn’t be doing any of those things now.
“Please. Please don’t hurt me.” She squeezed her eyes shut. A single tear escaped as her heart slowed. It wouldn’t be long now. Death was coming for her. Eternal peace from this harsh world that both sadden me and made me roar with a strange jealousy.
“Shush little one.” I gathered her in my arms and settled against the rock holding her steady. “I’ll make this painless. You will never suffer the horrors of this life again.” I brushed her hair back cradling her face in my palm like a broken baby bird taking its final flight. Her free hand grabbed for the lapel of my suit jacket. Her pale shell colored nails gripped me tight and then waned from the effort. All I had to do was lift the knife out of her chest and she would bleed out in my embrace. The guilt of not finding her sooner would keep me from drinking her lifeforce away as much as the sweetness called to my inner demon demanding to be fed.
“Please, I don’t want to die. I’m so cold and it’s so dark.” Her body shivered eyes darting wildly like she couldn’t see. Despite her valiant fight, her body was shutting down as I predicted.
I parted her blouse exposing her to the chilled air to remove the knife. Her fragile chest was home to two perfect yet slim breasts that heaved under my perusal. Cream lace tarnished with rust colored blood cupped the plump flesh and goosebumps peppered her pale skin under the winter moon. A wolf howled. A night owl flew overhead watching and judging me as I slipped a hand under the blood-stained lace cupping her. Her body had just enough warmth left to singe my skin with the connection to her.
“Please, I want to live, my life it’s barely begun.” She had no idea what she was asking.
Her throat choked on the blood that filled her lungs and I shifted her in my arms to make her more comfortable. I would stay with her to the end. A dark guardian guiding her to eternal rest. Her nails made a final grab under my jacket raking down my chest and over my dress shirt. She mewled attempting to crawl closer into my embrace.
I stroked her fear damp locks from her forehead.
“It’s true kitten. Your life has barely begun.”
I didn’t turn her. I couldn’t, and given the state of what I just drank from whilst defending her honor when I thought death would be a kinder ending, it would be impossible. Turning required my full strength, and healthy blood running through my body.
“Please.” Her mewled whimper broke my remaining humanity and my decision was made.
My hands skimmed her body one last time before I tore the flesh in my palm with my teeth lifting her head to my hand. “Drink kitten.”
She refused the sustenance at first. They all did fighting the instinct. Feeding was an intimate thing and I cupped my palm so the blood collected and I could hold it to her mouth. She wouldn’t suck the same way one would if already introduced to the blood sport. I was force feeding her to heal her.
Church bells tolled ringing in the new year like this was some wretched omen. A wolf bayed answering a call, and that damn night owl circled overhead. It was probably a witch seeing as how we had a coven of those nearby. Russian gypsies I sometimes did business with, but never cheated for fear they’d hex me.
My quarry finally began drinking earnestly, the tug of her mouth on my hand was like a string pulling my face into a smile with marionette strings. I stroked her messy hair out of her face. Her expression was that of a newborn babe first glimpsing the world, bright eyed and hungry.
“Looks like you’ll have another year to make bad decisions, my little one.”
My free hand reached for the knife and pulled it out of her chest slowly and cleanly. I watched it heal sluggishly, blood bubbling at the surface. Pity, I tasted those idiots. She’d bare a scar two inches long over her heart and no recollection how she got it. I licked her wound hoping my saliva would speed up the process, but it was unlikely. It needed time to properly knit itself together which meant I had to take her home.
Closing the wound was my mistake.
Her flavor burst into my mouth like candied apples. Sweet, tart, and unbelievably delicious. Pulling my head back from her breasts I cursed myself snarling. I’d never get her taste out of my mouth now. She continued to struggle in my arms in a way that teased the hunter but in no way invited further debauchery. I was truly cursed.
I disengaged my hand from her ruby stained lips and shushed her whimpers compelling her to sleep. Getting up, I carried her the few blocks to my house and compelled a group of drunken idiots passing by that there was nothing to see. My door opened as I willed it, and I carried her inside my parlor room laying her down on a sofa from the French Revolution. She looked pale against the gently worn icy blue silk brocade.
She didn’t stir.
I paced the room and waited until before dawn. I worried a path in the carpet and drank my whiskey like water. She finally woke looking like something the cat dragged in, though her beauty shined like the first rays of sunlight over freshly fallen snow.
“What happened to me?” She rubbed her chest as she sat up swinging her legs to the side more disorientated than not.
Kneeling in front of her, I reminded myself I
