Blood Rebel [COMPLETED]

Chapter Eighteen - Demon Soul

Selene edged towards the table, avoiding the shards of broken glass that scattered the floor.  Hector made no movement to indicate that he was aware of her approach. She hopped onto the chair next to him and pulled her bare feet up under her, in case a stray piece of crystal drew blood. The candles still provided their glittering light, highlighting the hollows of his face as she looked at him. Even in the glimmer of inconsistent flame he was handsome.

“Hector,” she said, pausing, suddenly unsure of what else to say. She stretched her hand across the table and touched his, which still covered his face. But as she made contact with his skin he swept her hand away, with a movement that flung her back in her chair.

“I’ve brought about my own downfall. You...you-.” The whites of his eyes were red and bloodshot, the dark irises a shocking contrast. Every filament in his body was tense, even his fingers were clawed and rigid. He groaned and let his body collapse towards the table.

Selene waited, hugging her knees against her chest and rocking herself back and forth.

“Professor Andrews was right. I should never have done this. I should never have had you created.” He picked up a bloodied knife and pressed the tip to the table and began to twirl it round and round so it marked the wood, drilling down into the varnish.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You were supposed to be my saviour.” He stopped twisting the knife, held it still, and then lifted it and plunged it back down into the table. When he removed his hand the knife stood upright, embedded into the wood. “It was supposed to be so easy. Fuck you, bleed you, drain you, kill you, and then I would have everything I ever wanted.”

“What?” Selene’s lip quivered as she spoke.

“You are not what you think you are, Selene.”

Again she waited. How could she speak when she didn’t understand what he was talking about? She watched his forehead furrow and flatten like the ripples of a serpent’s belly.

“When a human is turned their soul is ripped asunder. It doesn’t disappear entirely, but it splits down the middle: human soul and demon soul. All those thoughts you have that you think are bad, amoral.” He paused and took a deep breath, releasing the air slowly. “Those are your demon soul trying to control you.

“For Vampires, all that remains is the demon soul. All impulses are base and evil. There’s no humanity left.”

“But you aren’t like that.” She could barely look at him as she spoke; she entwined her fingers and held them fast around her knees. She let her chin drop onto them and stared at him.

“Only because of you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“But Hector-”

“For blood’s sake, Selene, you don’t want to know. Trust me.”

“But I do. Don’t you want me? Don’t you want to taste my blood or let me taste yours? Don’t you want to be able to know what’s going on in my mind?”

“No.”

Selene pulled her knees in tighter against her chest, and moved a hand to her breast, where she settled it over her heart.

“No?”

He raised his eyes to look at her, but she couldn’t read his expression. The muscles in his face seemed taught and strained.

“I had you created Selene, for one purpose: to restore my human soul.” He dropped his head in his hands once more.

“What?”