Just Another Damned Vampire Story Ch. 03

Sophie looked up at Caine with wide horrified eyes and a greyish complexion.

For a moment he thought that she was going to pass out on him or worse throw up all over him.

"The decision hasn't been made yet." He hastened to reassure her in a low urgent tone.

He stepped back as her expression changed. She went from horrified helplessness to outright fury as the colour rushed to her cheeks and her eyes blazed.

"Who the hell are you to decide if we are to live or die? What right do you have?" her outraged whisper carried so much emotion it was like a wall hitting him.

He reached out to grasp her arms but the static prickle that emanated from her changed his mind.

"I don't have the right. No one should, but it is my responsibility for the protection of me and my kind."

"So we should die so that you can live?" She gave a short bitter laugh. "Tell me; is this a daily thing with your kind, are we lumped in with the mindless cattle?"

"No not at all! My people decided a long time ago that we didn't have to kill humans so that we could feed. We didn't have to so we didn't -- we don't."

"And yet as casually as anything you come in here and tell me you've come to decide whether me and my sisters are to be allowed to survive."

Caine moved away from her and swept a hand through his hair. "You have to understand Sophie," he began tiredly. "I'm just one of many, and I have to follow the rule of the council or I'll be.....replaced."

His lips twisted wryly and Sophie had the impression that being 'replaced' was not exactly a good thing.

"So if it's not even your decision," she asked in confusion. "Why then are you here?"

Caine gave a weary little sigh. "I don't even know WHAT you are, so what can I report? I never like to act in haste, always like to make sure of my facts before I decide on a course of action...."

Sophie looked at him thoughtfully. "I think perhaps that you are over analysing this."

"Oh? You want me to just decide and right you off on a spur of the moment thought?"

"I don't want to be written off at all!" she exclaimed in a low heated voice. "And when it comes down to it, why should I be? What have I actually done to you or anyone else?"

He gave her another look. "It's what you may be capable of that worries me."

"Maybe it was a fluke; maybe it wasn't me at all!" Sophie tried desperately.

The look of utter disbelief at her denial was enough to bring the colour to her cheeks again.

He stood staring into her eyes as though trying to read her very soul. Finally he gave another little sigh. "What are you Sophie?" he asked quietly.

Sophie returned his look with one of confusion. "I'm a woman, until yesterday a normal young woman who was trying to hold down her job whilst keeping her younger sister intact, sane and out of trouble."

Caine gave a sympathetic little grunt. "Sam? The young girl from last night?"

Sophie nodded miserably.

"She's just young and foolish at times, give her a little time and she'll grow out of it."

"Now there speaks the voice of experience!" Sophie retorted dryly.

Caine gave a low laugh. "You have no idea!" he sighed bitterly.

Sophie looked at him in surprise for a moment. "It looks like we're going to be here for a while," she said as she moved towards her bed to sit down. "So why don't you tell me all about it."

Caine's mind automatically went back over all those years. "I had a brother -- HAVE a younger a brother!" His voice was distant as he travelled back.

"We were young, I was only six when our father left us, and Matt was four. Our mum, bless her." He smiled fondly. "She tried her best but we were just too much for her."

"Caine you have to look out for your little brother." His mum looked at him with large sad eyes. The cough that racked her slender frame had taken its toll on her vocal chords, making her voice raw and raspy.

She always seemed to be sick with something; always needed to stay in bed, leaving Caine to take care of everything; keeping a tight rein on his younger brother.

As they grew into teenagers Matt began to rebel, to argue with Caine over every little thing; to neglect his small amount of chores around the home. He began to get into fights around town, and the job he'd taken at the local factory, became too much of a chore for him and he often failed to show up. In the end he lost the job and Caine never knew where he was or what he was up to or even WHO he was with. On occasion he'd disappear for days and Caine started to worry for his brother as Matt's activities seemed to become shrouded in secrecy.

"Be patient with him Caine." His mother begged tearfully. "He misses his father."

'So do I!' Caine wanted to rage. 'I shouldn't be doing this; shouldn't be the one taking care of you all, it's not my place to be the parent of this family. It isn't fair!'

He bit his lip and kept his silence as he cooked their dinner and set the table, and kept the house in some sort of order.

Matt came to the table looking surly and distracted.

"So what's the problem now?" Caine asked impatiently.

Matt looked at him resentfully. "Nothing, nothing that you would understand."

"Fine; whatever!"

They ate their meal in a strained silence and as soon as he was done Matt was on his feet and heading for the door. "I'll see you later." He grunted over his shoulder.

"Wait! It's your turn to do the dishes!" Caine didn't know what the problem was, all he knew was that for some reason he really did not want Matt to leave the house tonight.

"I'll do them when I get back."

Caine was on his feet his patience totally gone as far as his brother was concerned. "If you leave now Matt, then don't bother coming back."

Matt stopped to look at his brother. Caine meant it! He could see it in his eyes that Matt had run out of chances.

"I'm meeting someone," he grunted sulkily.

"Tough!"

"I promised."

"They'll understand."

"You are a real shit sometimes Caine; do you know that!" Matt stormed over to the table and started to snatch up plates and cutlery.

"Let him go out for an hour." His mother whispered softly. "He'll feel better for it, you know he will."

"No mum." Caine gritted his teeth to still the awful dread that washed over him.

He couldn't explain it, couldn't identify the source of his unease.

All that evening he presented a cold unyielding front to his brother, finding reasons for him NOT to leave the house.

For all the things that Matt was, he still had a respect for Caine. To the big brother that took care of him. When Caine put his foot down Matt still came to attention; and tonight he was wielding all the authority he could muster.

Sophie sat beside him on the bed, enthralled by his story and compelled by his low husky voice.

"For the next few days, I kept him at home doing jobs and sorting out all the things he'd let stack up. I kept telling him I was worried about him and that he could always talk to me, that I wouldn't judge or condemn him."

"What happened?" she asked in a low whisper.

Caine gave her a wry little smile. "Nothing earth shattering, Matt just seemed to come out of the black mood that he was in. He started to relax and talk to us and then one day he went out, and I didn't worry for him."

Sophie laughed in disbelief. "So what you're saying is that I should keep Sam at home until she cracks?"

Caine gave a low husky laugh. "Well it WAS a lot easier for me to do that with Matt. This all happened several decades ago, and there was a lot less reason for young people to go out and about. No Nightclubs or disco or anything like that to entice them."

"So what should I do?" she turned to him. As a kindred spirit, someone who knew what she was going through, who understood her uncertainties; someone who'd been there and had done what she was trying to do now.

"Just let her know that you're worried for her, let her see that she can talk to you about anything and you won't judge her." His soft certain voice brushed along her nerve ends, it was so in tune with what she thought that she should be doing it was as good as a pat on the back and a 'you're doing a good job.'

She gave him a shaky little smile. "That's what I thought too," she whispered.

As they fell into silence Caine looked around her bed room, with its blue painted walls and plain furniture. This room was used for sleeping in, and for no other purpose, Sophie didn't spend any other time in this room, obviously preferred to spend time with her sisters in the living area, rather than looking for solitude and escape.

He could hear her breathing gently next to him and could feel the warmth of her body where their arms brushed against each other. He looked down to her legs and her feet with her pretty little shoes.

Everything about Sophie was pretty and feminine and Caine felt the hunger stirring in him. More than anything else at that moment he wanted to hold her in his arms and feel her mouth against his.

He turned to her slowly with a soft growl of frustration. "Sophie."

Sophie met him half way and for long moments the two of them indulged in a passion that always seemed to be bubbling just below the surface.

His lips felt cool against hers, like ice on a hot day; cold and refreshing and stimulating her senses like nothing else before. His arms wrapped around her and she felt the strength he possessed. To give in to him and let him take charge would be oh so easy. She gave a soft little groan of pleasure and Caine shuddered against her.

The heat and the sweetness of her lips were intoxicating to him. He felt as though some of her warmth passed from her to him, sinking deep into his being to lie like a seed; ready to sprout into growth at the slightest provocation. She leaned in closer and he instinctively wrapped his arms tight around her, holding her to him and soaking up the essence of her. She gave a tiny little groan of pleasure that brushed all the way up his spine straight to the little pointed fangs that began to appear.

They were as sharp as a needle point and cut straight into Sophie's lip.

"Oh!" she gasped as the pain mixed with her pleasure points to create a mini orgasm in her.

The blood gathered and went straight onto Caine's tongue.

Sophie opened her eyes to stare into the hypnotic silver of Caine's vacant stare.

One taste of her blood and rationality had gone out the window and need had taken precedence.

He was beyond reason and pity and thought.

She saw his fangs as they became more and more prominent and she knew that Caine the man had gone and Caine the vampire was now in his place.

She knew that her life was in danger.

"Caine!" she whispered in terror.

His liquid silver gaze was cold and lifeless, but there was a hunger there that scorched her soul.

"Caine please!"

He leaned over her as he drew in her scent, and Sophie put up her hands in self defence.

Her palms rested flat on his chest with her fingers spread over his still heart.

He moved closer his fangs aiming for her throat and Sophie let out a muffled squeal of terror and the energy poured through her system straight to the hand over his heart.

The discharge could be heard as a zapping sound and Caine jerked and pulled back with a grunt.

"Caine?"

He kept on moving closer and again she felt the adrenalin rush of power.

Another zapping and another spasm from Caine and this time his grunt was accompanied by a blink of his lifeless eyes.

"Soph?"

The confusion in his voice was music to her ears as she breathed a shaky sigh of relief.

Caine slumped down on her; his groan of pure anguish buried as he nuzzled into the side of her neck.

"Caine!" she sobbed as she continued to push at him.

"Do it again Sophie!"

She could feel his fangs as they grazed her skin and again her hand released an electric discharge.

This time she felt his heart beat in response and his groan seem to come from deep within him.

"Do it again!"

His heart was faltering and she releases another shock.

"Again!"

The weight of his body as he pressed her against the bed, his mouth nuzzling on her throat and the raw emotion in his voice; the whole thing was so overwhelming that Sophie felt her energy fading.

"Again Sophie!"

"I can't!" she sobbed. "I've nothing left. Please Caine!"

His heart grew more sluggish under her palm until with one last beat it stopped.

His low cry of despair and agony ripped through her soul, as his body became a dead weight on her.

For long moments he just lay there, still and lifeless and oh so cold.

"Caine?" Sophie pushed against him timidly and with a little sigh he moved away from her to stand and put a little space between them.

"I should go." He muttered raggedly.

"You can't! It's not dark yet." She eyed him anxiously seeing his colourless skin and haunted eyes. "You're too weak you'd never make it."

He gave her a twisted tortured smile. "You're right, I am too weak; if I stay here YOU'LL never make it."

The silver glitter was still there glinting in the dimness of the room. Sophie could only guess at what it was costing Caine to keep in control and not give in to the mindless beast.

The quiet tapping on her door brought a startled gasp to Sophie's lips.

"Sophie? Are you awake...I've made a pot of tea if you want one?" Sarah's worried voice had her on her feet.

"Go!" Caine ground out through gritted teeth. "If you're not trapped in here with me I might be able to control it."

She looked at him worriedly for a moment. "I'm just coming Sarah," she called softly.

She heard the quiet tread of her sister going back down stairs and stepped towards Caine.

"Don't!"

"But...."

"Just go Sophie."

The look of anguish in his eyes and the clenching and unclenching of his fists told her just how much it was costing him to not give in to the monster.

With a silent nod she slipped out of the room closing the door quietly behind her.

The scent of her perfume lingered and the knowledge that this was where she slept and undressed and....

With another groan he turned away from the bed and stared sightlessly at the blank wall.

It was going to be a very long afternoon, and the hunger would not leave him until he'd taken steps to quench it. That single drop of Sophie's blood had the monster within him raging to be satisfied. Someone would die tonight nothing less would soothe the beast. Someone would die a violent horrific death and he had to make sure that it wasn't one of the sisters.

Alone in that room Caine wrestled with his inner demons, he fought a slowly losing battle to keep control.

If anyone stepped into that room their life would be forfeit if anyone came near him the beast would attack.

"Please don't come back." He groaned in despair.

The tread on the stairs had him by the door listening. The creak of the floorboard had his fangs growing. The smell of a human was more than he could stand as they drew closer and closer to that closed door.

Caine left and the monster stepped in. Growling and hissing and waiting.

"I've got it Sophie." Sam called as she ran lightly down the stairs again. Sophie and Sarah stood by the open front door.

"Excellent! Let's go then; shall we?"

As her sister passed her in the door way Sophie leaned in to grasp the handle of the door.

With one last glance up to her closed up bedroom; Sophie pulled the front door too with a loud thud.

"So why this sudden need to go for a walk?" Sarah asked curiously as the three of them strolled casually down the street.

Sophie forced herself to give a light hearted carefree laugh. "Well it is such a beautiful day, and none of us seem to get out nearly enough. It'll do us good."

"Well you'll get no argument from me." Sam grinned happily; just glad to get out for a bit.

"We could stop off at that pub by the river and have some lunch?" Sophie suggested lightly.

"It's a bit late for lunch." Sarah replied in surprise.

"Well an early tea then. By the time we've done a couple of circuits of the park it will be getting on."

"A couple! What are you planning, a mini hike?" Sam asked appalled.

The other two laughed at her. "It's not that big a park."

*

Alone in the house, the animal raged. Chaffed and cursed at the need to feed but the inability to move, to hunt.

As the minutes ticked by its hunger didn't abate, it increased in fury and force.

By the time the sun was setting Caine the man was locked deep away as the beast took over. The moment darkness descended he was on the move, on the hunt.

No weak little victim would satisfy this rage. The beast sought out someone who was strong, someone who could put up a fight. Someone it could totally annihilate.

It found him down a darkened alleyway; a big brute of a man, who was towering over a cowering woman. The knife in his hand was not necessary; for she was tiny and terrified and powerless to defend herself against him.

His aim was to rob rape and then murder this woman. He grinned maliciously at her as he waved the knife once more.

The beast found him before he could touch the woman.

He did put up a fight, but the demon brushed him away as though he were nothing.

They found the woman the next day. Sitting where it had left her; by the side of some remains; they couldn't even identify for certain whether they were human remains, there was so little left; just some ragged old material torn to shreds, and slivers of bone. They tried to discover what had happened but the woman couldn't talk. She stared vacantly ahead and the only sound she made was the odd little sob.