Soul's Divide Ch. 01

She looked up at him then, eyes brimming with tears. The hands holding the wine glass were shaking. "I'm so scared, Daniel. My heart is nearly beating out of my chest."

Daniel knew that. He could hear it; hear its siren's call. The monster inside of him cared nothing about this woman's life. It was hungry and it wouldn't be delayed for much longer. The loudness of her heart pounded against his ears, awoke in him a deep hunger. A hunger he couldn't deny.

"Please, let's end this. I can't stand it anymore." Her voice tore through the fog of hunger and pierced his heart.

Daniel closed his eyes and nodded. The monster purred excitedly in his chest. But he was in control. He was always in control. He would never kill as a monster.

He left Lily shaking where she sat and walked over to the wall where the light switch was located. He flipped the switch off and let his eyes adjust to the semi-darkness. Candles that he had lit earlier were the only source of light now.

"Daniel?" she called hesitantly. "Are you getting your equipment?" She sat in the small pool of candlelight, her eyes searching the dark corners for him.

"Yes," he lied, as he made his way around the couch and approached her from behind. "Are you ready?"

"No," she whispered. She hung her head and her shoulders shook. "But let's do this anyways. What...what do you want me to do?"

Daniel couldn't fight the hunger anymore. It had been six long months since he last fed. The time for resisting was over. His vision slowly slipped out of the visible light spectrum. He knew if he looked in the mirror he would see the green of his eyes slowly fade into a deep red.

The heat of her body glowed in the darkness. He could see all the veins in her body, carrying the oh-so-sweet river of life. He groaned in pain and pleasure as he felt his fangs burst from the top of his gums and descend down his teeth.

He could see her hunched form, glowing red and yellow from the heat in her body. His hands shook in anticipation as he slowly moved toward her. His footsteps made no sound on his expensive carpet.

Lily jerked in surprise as Daniel lovingly wrapped his arms around her chest. The wine glass fell to the floor. He felt her try to turn around in his grip so she could face him but he held her tight. "Daniel? What are you doing?"

Daniel suppressed the vampire inside of him so he could speak. "Fulfilling my promise," he replied.

And that was it. The human side of him was gone. Only the hunger mattered. He plunged his head down toward her exposed neck, which was glowing so fiercely with the heat of her blood. His fangs punctured two deeps holes and he clamped his mouth down tight around the bite marks.

Lily gasped and jerked in his grip. But he held her tight until the poison in his fangs was carried throughout the bloodstream. He could tell the moment when the poison overloaded the pleasure centers of her brain; she gasped loudly and shuddered. Her body glowed even brighter in his Sight.

The vampire inside of him drank deeply and greedily. Ecstasy. The sweetness of life. The blood, the sweet, sweet blood. Daniel closed his eyes in pleasure and squeezed her tighter. She groaned in pleasure, just as he promised her she would.

The crucial moment was arriving. The vampire squeezed her even tighter in anticipation. Nothing but the very life-force of a human being could sustain his life. Feeding on blood eased the hunger but only delayed the inevitable. Six months was the very limit of his control.

He felt it, felt that indefinable moment when the spark of life passed through her body. The heart, which had pounded so fiercely the longer he fed, went suddenly quiet. Daniel swallowed the last of the blood and pulled away. Lily fell from his arms and slid off the couch.

The vampire threw back his head and howled. Thick streams of blood ran down his chin and dripped onto the carpet. The veins on his neck bulged as he screamed defiantly. Every muscle in his body tensed. Daniel held on to the small spark of humanity inside of him as the overwhelming surge of pleasure roared through his body. The pleasure was too much; he felt that small spark dwindle down to nothing.

This, this was life! Humans had no idea what true pleasure was! Their insignificant minds could never handle this truth! He was better, supreme. All life quailed in his presence! He was the top of the food chain.

"Nooo," Daniel gasped, as the surge of energy continued to course through him. He struggled to take back his mind. The spark flared back to life. Always, feeding drove him to the edges of his sanity. One day, he feared, he would lose his grip and never return.

And a terrifying monster would stand in his place.

He dropped to his knees and fought for control. He was still a man and he would be damned if he let the monster win. Slowly, ever so slowly, the surge faded away. It left him shaking and nauseated.

When the feeling passed long enough for him to move, he crawled on all fours until he made it past the couch and toward Lily's body.

She was indistinguishable from the furniture in his house. She was already cold and blue and faded. Lily was gone; only a empty shell remained. He let his Sight fade and grimaced in pain as the fangs retracted back into his gums. He knelt on his knees and pulled Lily into his lap.

"I hope you knew nothing but pleasure in those last moments," he whispered to her. He wanted desperately to keep his promise. He knew the vampiric venom overloaded the pleasure centers of the mind, but he could never be sure she hadn't felt any fear.

"I hope you found peace." He stroked her hair. She looked so peaceful. She had died with a half-smile on her lips.

As he stared down at her body, he tried, as he always did, to convince himself that this was the best way to go. To be overwhelmed with pleasure as you died? What better way was there?

But, as always, he could never convince himself of that. He was what he was. The fact that she would have died soon anyways didn't make one lick of difference.

He was a vampire. And he was damned.