Burning Souls (F.T Sequel)

Chapter One

My fingers are completely still as they insert the key into my London apartment door, despite the fact that I'm currently completely drenched with freezing rain water. I push the door open effortlessly and glide inside, before shutting and locking it behind me. The keys bounce with a shrill clink! as I discard them on to the tall copper stool next to the door, that always serves as home for my bag and miscellaneous rubbish that I'm too lazy to throw in the bin.

I shrug off my soaking coat and groan when the water sizzles down its hems and splashes onto the wooden floor drop after drop. I see all of this with more than perfect eyesight, but in this moment I'm more concerned about the stains it's going to leave on the floor than the cinematographic beauty of it.

"Damn it." I mutter, as I slide off my boots and spot the wet footprints behind me. I groan with annoyance. Am I going to clean this up? "Nope, not happening." I sing, leaving the mess behind me in the entrance as I waltz into the main but small space that gives just enough room for a simple kitchen, and a thrifted couch that I've hurriedly placed in front of a cracked coffee table and a cheap TV. There are no pictures on the walls or decorations other than a pot of withering flowers on the coffee table that could prove that I even had a life before moving to this city.

This expensive city.

I hurry to the kitchen space as I feel that familiar burning down my throat and nearly rip the fridge door from its hinges when I open it.

Oops, vampire hunger doesn't mix with me well.

I hum in delight at the sight of a single glass bottle stashed in the middle of the otherwise empty fridge, red liquid flowing inside of it and looking as tempting as ever.

'The last one,' my annoying consciousness reminds me, but I can't think straight with that agonizing hunger ripping at my insides like a starving animal with claws. Money's tight, and I'll have to work something out to get more supplied here. 'I could always borrow some money from-'

No.

I'll walk through hell and back again with my arse on fire before I even consider asking my sister for money. This is my new beginning. I can do this on my own.

I snatch the glass bottle and pop the lid, before downing it all in one go. The silky liquid laps down my throat and I moan with approval with the taste of sweet blood on my tongue. I take in a deep breath and lower the glass ring from my lips, frowning when no more liquid swooshes inside of the bottle.

Shit.

I take one step to reach the sink and twist the knob to turn the faucet on.

Shit again.

To my utter dismay, no water flows freely from the tap. Instead, only a few drops splash onto the metallic bottom of the basin, the haunting sound echoing around in my ears.

Did I not pay the bills? "I didn't pay the bills." I confirm to myself, letting out a heavy sigh and placing the glass bottle down into the sink instead with much more force than I intended. The bottom of the bottle breaks. The sound vibrates too loudly in my ears and causes a pounding headache.

No, no, this can't be happening... not now, not again.

Why did I down that blood so quickly? Those few times, when Hunter was teaching me how to survive as a vampire without necessarily killing people, and when I became too entranced by the blood presented to me because of that torturous hunger, I would finish every bottle of blood that I could find in that labyrinth-like mansion, switching on my animalistic side and letting the predator spring free. I would go crazy with the lust for more blood, just a bit more blood I swear, just a bit more blood...