Devil Inside

Gone.

*AN - if you're followng the soundtrack then it's Long Hard Road Out Of Hell by Marilyn Manson and theSneaker Pimps for this chapter - enjoy!*

The vampire had no idea how long it had been. Her body was screaming at her, her throat was on fire and every muscle trembled. All she could here was the pulse of blood pumping through veins. She needed blood. She could smell it. She was past caring where it came from. Why hadn’t she gone to the source of that smell before? She placed her hands down on the cool concrete floor and pushed her body upright. Through the curtain of her hair she could see the skin drawn tightly across her fingers. It looked grey and paper thin, severely dehydrated. She had to get blood.

Her bones and muscles stretched and creaked with effort as she turned her body towards that beautiful, sweet smell. Ah, there it was, she could see it now, a small human body sat in the corner, watching her every move through a glassy eyed stare. Fresh red blood seeped gently over the raised build up of darker, dried blood around puncture wounds to its neck and she could tell it was weak. Good, so was she, but she would still be the stronger force.

She leaned against the wall, using what strength she had in her legs to push herself up to standing. All she could hear was the human’s breathing, shallow and rapid and it’s pulse fluttering like a trapped butterfly. Its fight or flight response was engaged and it had nowhere to fly to. It would fight, of that she was sure, but it would lose.

As she began to shuffle towards it, her thin, cracked lips drew back over long, cruel fangs. She felt the skin of her lips split and the taste of her own blood made her smile. Yes, that’s what she needed. The human, pushed itself as far against the wall as it could, looking wildly around for a weapon but there was none. It had only it’s hands and that would never be enough. The human tensed its muscles, it was ready. The vampire smiled again, so was she.

The human fought more viciously than the vampire could have ever anticipated. Teeth, feet, hands; all flew at the vampire in an attack that had one aim, to kill. Momentarily stunned with the ferocity of its self-defence, the vampire stepped back but the human kept coming, fighting for its life with everything it had. The vampire was impressed but also ravenously hungry and quickly reassessed it’s opponent. There was a rhythm to the blows and within seconds the vampire judged its gap and sent its prey flying across the room with one backhand swipe. The human hit the wall hard and slumped to the ground, a fresh wound to the temple gushing blood.

This sent the vampire into a frenzy, the smell of the blood as it pooled on the floor was almost too much and howling with hunger it descended on the tiny, broken figure on the floor.

A crash from behind it did not make the vampire pause and turn. Its focus was the warm, inviting pool of dark red life on the floor and nothing else. But it did feel the grip of strong hands pull it back, away from the human figure, away from its meal. Equally strong arms then encircled the vampire and held it close to a heaving, hard chest.

“Elsa, no!” a voice shouted, a voice the vampire recognised as it struggled against the grip of it’s captor. But wait, this was a living, breathing creature, with blood flowing through its veins. The vampire sunk its teeth into the skin it was pressed against and finally, finally felt the heat of liquid life flowing past its lips and down its throat.

Sebastian.

Elsa felt as if an electric shock had passed through her body. She jerked back from her feeding with a force that almost broke Sebastian’s grip. The taste of his blood awoke her and her mind was filled with the last moment she’d tasted it. Christmas night, in his bed.