Bit of a Bite

Does This Smell Like Sulfur to You?

“You followed me.”

“You didn’t tell me not to.”

“You. Followed. Me.” Allison repeated, firmer this time taking a breath between each word as it slipped through her teeth. She spoke from the center of the room, standing over what looked like a humanoid body. She couldn’t be entirely sure, but the shredded pieces of cloth that clung to the blood were a pretty good hint.

The smell of raw hamburger was threatening to put her on her ass but she endured—no need for Darius the Vampire to know she was squeamish with blood. And oh my, there was a lot of blood.

“Again, you didn’t tell me not to. You were panicked, I was worried.”

She grunted, the only reply she could manage standing over the concrete painted red. Raw hamburger smells she could manage, but the wound had perforated the intestines. The combined smell of a butcher’s shop and an old outhouse brought tears to her eyes.

But she couldn’t leave, not until she knew who had died.

The black fabric that clung to his upper right torso drew her eyes. It was relatively clean—comparatively at least. Her fingers snatched it, meaning to get it away from the gore as quickly as possible. In her haste she didn’t realize it was much more than just a scrap of fabric.

The pile of meat jerked with the cloth until it ripped at his shoulder. The fabric came free with a wet smack, leaving Allison horrified as upper intestines spilled out of the man’s mutilated torso.

“Oh God, Oh God, Oh God,” she danced away from the mess, dropping her prize before she went to the far wall.

Vampire be damned—wait.

“If I turn around and you’re eating him I’m going to banish you right along with Mr. Demon-face.”

Darius’s deep chuckle flooded the room. “I might be a monster, but I’m not an animal. Besides, this is not appealing to me. It’s actually…sad.”

Allison huffed and turned back to face Darius and the body. She was shocked to see an actual frown twisting his features as he kneeled a few feet away. “Waste of food?”

“No,” he shook his head. A pained expression contorted his face before he stood and stalked away from the mess. “A waste of life.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the bloody heap and had to force back her reaction to purge. Allison shook her head and scooped up the shirt, hoping it might be a clue to the dead body there on the floor. There just wasn’t enough time to wonder about a humanitarian vampire—the idea was just going to give her a headache.

“We need to go before the police get here.”

“Lead the way, my dear.”

Halfway through the door she froze and spun on her heel to jab a finger into his chest. “No, you will go wherever it is you were going before you ran into me tonight. I am going to see a friend. Do. Not. Follow. Me. Are we clear?”

Darius’s raised eyebrow, his body tensing as if biting back a laugh. If she thought she had amused him before, she knew he found her hilarious now. At least he can’t kill me if I offend him…

“Crystal, darling.”

He moved past her, raising a soft breeze of rich cologne against her cheek before as he left. The scent reminded Allison of the room they’d left, rich with blood and a hint of sandalwood. Despite her body’s reaction to the deceased she found herself inhaling the vampire’s scent, drawing strength from him. She’d need it for where she planned to go.