First Blood

Elias sat in the corner of the room, watching for any change in the rise of the red silken sheets. He heard a large mouse, no, a young rat, run in the walls above and cursed under his breath. The knowledge of its existence would bother him during such an important day. The grand bed moved slightly, drawing his attention back. But it was just the breeze swaying the lace canopy, not the girl. He grunted and slammed the window shut, cracking the glass.

Elias stared at the bed, brown eyes willing her to wake up. She had to work – the warlock had divined her success himself, led Elias to her door, and casted the curse that left her ready to be turned. If the warlock was wrong, Elias thought to himself. He will face serious regrets. As Elias began to muse the old techniques used to torture practitioners of magic, the girl gasped, panicked.

She screeched, still feeling the searing pain of his blood working his way through her deteriorated body. Elias appeared at her side, holding her flailing body down as he smelled the progress. Her blood’s fighting spirit was admirable but ultimately foolish. It was simply delaying what Elias was determined to make the inevitable. Extreme ideals require extreme action, after all. He bit his arm and shoved her panicked face into the wound. The moment the blood passed her lips, she gripped his arm and drank, barely stopping to breathe. Blood dripped down her chin, covering her blue night shift in deep red. He smiled, satisfied. As he moved to pull away, her grip tightened and deep, guttural snarl came from the back of her throat. “Extraordinaire,” he marveled.

He stood up, letting the young woman collapse back into the bed, panting and clearly still in pain. Elias returned with a handsome young man who looked at her, disgusted. “This is not our usual agreement,” he finally said.

“Aaron, she needs this,” Elias replied as he wrapped his arms around him, kissing the nape of his neck.

Aaron rolled his eyes and playfully pushed Elias off, agreeing. Elias took off the silver chain around Aaron’s neck before gently biting him. The moment the scent of Aaron’s blood hit the air, the woman on the bed began moaning loudly, unable to figure how to move but desperately trying to. Elias lifted her head and tenderly placed her against Aaron’s neck. She latched on, and Aaron shifted, uncomfortable. Elias brushed his concern off, “She is newer to it, she does not yet know how to be gentle.”

It did not take long before Aaron moved to pull away, but she was not done. Again, she growled and pulled him in. “Elias,” Aaron hesitated.

“She needs this,” Elias repeated, trying to calm Aaron.

“That’s enough!” Aaron decided and tried to stand up. The young woman tightened her hold, biting down deeper. Aaron screamed out in pain, calling, “Elias! Elias, make her stop!”

Elias did not help, choosing to instead sit on the bed next to her, stroking her bald head as he soothed, “It is all going to be okay, ma chérie. There you go, my child. You need this to make it stop hurting, my darling.”

Aaron struggled for a minute, begging for help, until he passed out. The girl kept drinking until she suddenly pulled her head away, staring beyond Elias. As her eyes rolled back into her head, she collapsed, letting Aaron fall completely to the wood floor. “No,” Elias hissed, listening to her rapid heart rate increase before suddenly dropping.

Elias could feel the bloods struggling to move through her body. He flipped her onto her back and began chest compression, ignoring Aaron’s slowing breath. “You. Will. Live,” he commanded as he pumped her heart.

He was about to give in when she took a hazardous breath. And then another. Her heart began pumping, so slowly it would’ve barely been detected by a monitor. But Elias heard it and smiled, finally certain that his blood had won the fight. He could smell almost no separation between his and hers; instead, they mixed into an invigorating scent he had never encountered before. Elias pulled her upright, resting against a pillow. He gently smoothed her nightgown and tucked her under the blanket. He looked at her face, still twisted in pain, and lovingly cupped her cheek, “You, ma chérie, will be more than even I can imagine.”

Elias returned to his seat in the corner, no longer concerned. As he stepped over Aaron’s body, he frowned ever so slightly. “Such a waste of a beautiful body,” he commented casually, kicking Aaron onto his back. His child should not have to see such, not yet.

He called quietly for people to come to remove the body and take care of the details. He normally would have done so himself, at least for someone who had been with him as long as Aaron had. But his eyes were firmly set on the young woman in the bed.

Elias considered himself a collector, a purveyor of fine and unique finds. While his mansions were filled with trinkets and tokens from his long life, they meant little to him in comparison to this young woman. He had waited centuries for her, and he would not let this opportunity disappear.

There nothing that Elias Elhassan wanted that he did not get eventually. He prided himself on his ability to smooth talk humans without the need for any mesmerizing; that felt like cheating to him. And he was many things, but he was no cheat.

Elias was respected amongst not only his kind, but all creatures, even the humans who knew of their world. He took care of those under him and worked to stay under The Council’s radar; his interest in their affairs ended long ago. This girl may get him in trouble, but she was worth it. If she could do even half of what the legends said, she would be worth everything.

And she would be his.