In the Shadows

[Emmeline (DELETED 2818)]

Pain. Intense pain. She heard the shot before she felt it. A sharp stabbing pain that tore a path through her head and then there was nothing.

Her eyes opened to darkness . She was laying somewhere unfamiliar. Last she remembered she had been in a hotel’s service corridor. She struggled to move, rolling to her side took every ounce of energy that she had. It was all she could do to move her left hand slowly along her body. It was so dark that even when she passed her hand in front of her face, she could not see it. She felt the brush of her fingers along her arm, touching her face, and slowly probing her hair. The pain was gone, but she felt nothing but the light touch of her own hand. She heard nothing but her own breathing. She realized then that she was dead. Finally. It was almost a relief. The hunger that had gripped her for so many months was gone. In its place was, well, nothing. She was so tired, so weak but in a strange way, she was resigned to her fate. She’d heard about the shadowy place that followed a death wound but had never seen it. It had been the threat she'd been warned about when she was first taught to deal with her new vampiric abilities. Keep quiet, don't show off your new powers and don't feed in public... or else.

She’d known that they would come for her. Those nameless vigilantes wielding their weapons that had chased her incessantly for the past month. She’d tried hiding in the sewers, in dark corners, had gotten lost in the woods a few times and finally decided that no matter what she did, they’d find her. They never told her why they were attacking her. It wasn’t like she could fight back when confronted by trained experienced fighters.. She had no allies, no friends, and her only weapon was a knife. She simply assumed that she’d been seen feeding. Again. No matter where she went, how deep in the woods she went, she was always seen if she dared savor the warm nectar that was human blood. She’d tried to learn to enjoy rats, or rabbits but they didn’t satisfy her. Some days, she just couldn’t find any. What was she to do? Go hungry or risk finding a lone human in some quiet corner of the city? The hunger had driven her to take the chance, one time too many.

She was tired of it all. This was not the life that Alexander had promised her when he lured her to this godforsaken cold city. Eternal life. No pain. No disease. A close bonded family. She snorted to herself at that. After he disappeared, so did that family. She could not honestly remember the last time that she spoke to anyone. Last time that she snuck into a web café, she logged into email, and found only spam, junk mail and advertisements. Was this a better life? A better city? If she chose to never come back from the shadows, would anyone notice? Would anyone care?