Red Eyes

Chapter IV

The faint smell of cigarette crept around the room, together with the sunlight seeping through the window blinds, woke the sleeping girl from her sleep. When her eyes opened, she could feel the sting in her head and the blinding light directed to her eyes. In an instant, she closed them and covered them with her hand.

Groggily, she sat up on the bed. Kieran tried to look around with only one eye opened and immediately found an unfamiliar place. Her heart beat quickens. Both eye now opened, she stood up from the bed.

"Nasan ako?" she mumbled, still disoriented.

She caught the hint of that awful smell, making her nose scrunched up.

Then Kieran saw a sudden spark and suddenly her head felt like exploding.

"God you taste so good." Lethia uttered between her teeth. Her fangs screwed deep inside Kieran's neck. Blood continuously flowed out from the human girl as Lethia fed herself.

Kieran had her eyes shut, she was biting her lower lip. Feeling the pain from the vampire's fangs but also feeling pleasure from the way Lethia lick her skin with her tongue. "Fuck."

Lethia pulled out then began sucking the girl's skin. Gulping down loads of blood from Kieran. The latter felt herself getting weaker and weaker as the vampire continue with what she was doing. Kieran had her arms around Lethia's neck, while the vampire was pinning her on the wall with hands gripping her waist.

It was too much.

The pressure was too much for Kieran. Any more bloodsucking will make her faint.

"Lethia..." she whispered weakly.

"Hmmm." Lethia responded, still busy sucking.

"I...I can't anymore," Kieran's arms slowly slid down until her hands were on the vampire's shoulder. She had a vice grip on them as Kieran could feel the immense pain that was coming.

Sensing Kieran's pain, Lethia stopped.

"Are you okay?" Lethia wiped the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand as she looked at the girl worriedly.

Kieran couldn't answer right away, she was breathing heavily.

"Kieran...Kieran?"

"Kieran."

Her eyes met red ones and instantly she felt rage.

"Ikaw." She started.

"Anong ginawa mo sakin?!" Kieran heaved her breath, her chest went up and down. "Anong ginawa mo sakin!" The girl continued as she shouted her lungs out. Tears were starting to form on the corners of her eyes.

"Calm down Kieran, dinala lang kita sa bahay—"

She slapped Lethia's face.

Silence embraced them while Kieran was still burning in anger. She was staring hard at the vampire. She doesn't know what happened, she doesn't know what that memory means. Was that even a memory? Kieran really doesn't know. The only thing she does know is that she's feeling anger towards Lethia. She felt angry, she felt like she wanted to hurt Lethia as much as how she was hurting.

The thing is, she also does not know why she was still hurting.

"I hate you. Bakit mo ko iniwan?" Finally, her tears rolled down to her cheeks. Even Kieran was surprised in her own words. She continued staring at Lethia's face. The latter sporting a shocked and in pain look like she was guilty of doing what Kieran had said.

"If you're going to be like this...like a monster who, who keeps violating me—"

"I did not violate you! I would never do that! I told you, hindi ko," Lethia tried reasoning but Kieran cut her off.

"Lethia ano ba. Sabi mo walang bloodlust? Pero anong ginawa mo!" Kieran sobbed out. "You drank blood, MY blood."

The vampire looked at her with a confused expression. "Please Kieran, what are you talking about?"

"You sucked the blood out of me!"

"I did not! Dinala lang kita dito after mo mahimatay kagabi!"

Kieran couldn't take it anymore, she dropped on her knees and continued crying out her tears. Her sobs were heartbreaking, like a glass cracking through the pressure. Hearing her own voice break like that makes Kieran cry even harder. She pities herself for being human.

She doesn't understand anything at all.

Her head then was stricken by a sharp pain again. Kieran inhaled and cigarettes filled her sense of smell. She looked up at Lethia, "bat mo ko iniwan?" Before she closed her eyes and her whole body fell to the floor, unconscious.

---

"Sage," Lethia said with a pleading tone. "Please do something. Si Kieran..something's wrong with her."

Sage puffed out smoke into rings. She shook her head while looking at the vampire. "Lethia. You're a vampire. Everything's wrong with her simula nung pinili ka niya maging jowa."

"Alam mo ginagawa mo, siya hindi." Sage continued, she sat down on her couch and crossed her legs. Her cigarette's in between her fingers. "Ngayon, wala na tayong magagawa pa kung hindi mag hintay."

Lethia frustratingly grunted at her with a scowl on her face, "Pumunta na ako sa oracle! Ano pa ba hihintayin natin!?"

"The north star. Hangga't hindi nagpapakita yon wala tayong magagawa."

The vampire continued to glare, her fangs beginning to grow in anger. "She's not a northstar. She can't be. Kieran's human."

"And she was rejected diba? Kaya nga siya nahimatay kagabi." Lethia continued as she started pacing around the room.

"Wrong timing ka kasi." Sage looked at her disapprovingly. "Nagmamadali ka masyado, hindi mo siya dapat muna pinunta don. Wala ngang mga bituin kagabi diba?"

Another puff of smoke then Sage stood up. While Lethia stayed quiet, trying to calm herself down.

She was livid. The stinging on her cheeks were still burning. The loud ticking of the clock was annoying to her ears. Lethia could not handle it. She liked to think that after all the years of living as a vampire, she could manage her emotions well by now. She does, manage well that is, however Kieran was always an exemption to her.

There were always reasons as to why Lethia does things the way she does. It's not just because she was a crazy vampire—maybe she is. Sometimes she moves purely based on emotions and hunger. Lethia craves for a lot of things: blood, cracked bones, cruelty, entertainment, and Kieran. Most times she moves purely for the last reason. Even if she will be hated for it.

As Sage quietly did her potions, Lethia's legs were bouncing and her veins were popping. Before the former could address the vampire, Lethia was out of the house in a blink.

"Etong potion baka makatulo- Lethia?"