• Chapter 1- Blood Scent, Part I


    She screamed, horrified and obliviously angry as I approached her carefully. Warm, salted tears rained down her face uncontrollably. Somehow, she had figured out something about what I am. She had seen me. But doing what to prove her crazy thoughts? I didn’t let my guard down; I always make sure I don’t in civilian places, like this bar. I wondered if she had seen me coming here. That would have been the only way. Only, I had come in the back alley and hadn’t sensed anyone. I decided for now it didn’t matter.

    She was a human. Of course what I was terrified her. It was natural human instincts. What ever they don’t understand scares them. I held my hands up in front of me, trying to show her I wouldn’t hurt her. I surely didn’t want to scare her anymore. Poor woman might have a heart attack. Didn’t want that. I walked closer, never speeding up my pace or slowing it further until finally, she was backed up against the alley wall, trying her best to stay away from me. I stayed at least two feet away.

    “It’s alright,” I said in a low, calmed voice,” I’m not going to hurt-“I was cut off by a sudden blow to the left side of my head which shocked me at first. I quickly regained my composure and my hand instinctively went to where I had been hit. I rubbed the sore spot and winced slightly. I looked over to see what I had been hit with and found her purse as the culprit,” Ow,” I complained,” what the hell is in that thing?” she whacked me with it again in response and I stumbled a bit. She saw the opportunity for escape and ran for it. I didn’t bother to follow her. There was no real point to it anyways. So she knew what I was. I doubted she would go off gossiping about me to her friends.

    She’d probably be too frightened anyways. If she did start blabbering about me they might throw her into some insane asylum somewhere. Plus I think she was drunk. I could smell the alcohol coming off of her even though I wasn’t that close. Heightened senses. Gotta love them. I decided not to think about it anymore. I was getting a headache anyways.

    The purse was awfully large and had something hard inside. I wondered if women really carried bricks in their purses like in the movies. America was definitely different from Italy. Women had purses there but not as many as here. I sighed and left it at that, promising myself I’d ask someone with a purse someday if they carried bricks in them. I sank down the alley wall where the woman previously was. The purse wasn’t very effective on me, naturally but you have to be a good actor if you’re going to walk around with humans. I really was getting a headache but it wasn’t from the purse. I knew why. And I’d have to fix the problem soon. Humans never understood so why bother with them?

    They only believed in their myths and legends that they read. I believed it was alright because it kept them occupied from the truth. For the most part anyways. But their myths and legends only spoke of us as monsters and killers that took enjoyment out of it. I smirked. We weren’t all terrible monsters.

    But we could be.

    I looked up at the sky, the sun just deciding to come up. Morning had finally come. I decided it was time to head back to Azami and Kinta. I wondered if Luke would be there as well. I stood up lazily and stuffed my hands into my pockets. I just hoped Azami didn’t tackle me in a hug like she normally did. I brushed the thought from my mind and disappeared from where I stood. Like I had dematerialized but more like faded. That’s what we liked to call it. Fading. Much faster than walking. I mentally laughed as I thought of Houdini. This was beyond the boundaries of magic. Much more powerful, much more dangerous.

    I appeared again, having faded into a medium sized, half destroyed house. The poor building had been a victim of some kids that had supposedly started and ‘accidental’ fire. A year or two later the whole neighbor hood was destroyed to make more space for other things. They stopped the project though, and left everything how It was. The remains of the other homes were around, the one I stood in the last that had at least some part of it standing.

    I looked around and sighed again, continuing to walk more into the middle of the room that we assumed to be the living room. Almost instantly I was hit by something-or rather someone- ramming into me at full speed out of no where.

    “Hello, Azami,” I said warily, grunting a little. The woman from the alley started seeping back into my mind again although I didn’t know why.

    “Good morning, Kane!” Azami replied brightly, completely ignoring my bland tone. She let go of me and smiled up at me like a small child. She always had that smile and held on to it but I just couldn’t figure out how. Azami was a beautiful girl like the majority of our kind. She had unnatural silver-gray hair that glowed and bright, amber eyes that shined. She told everyone who asked at school that she dyed her hair. As for her eyes we can change their color at our will. She let herself have light green eyes out in public.

    Azami posed as my little sister at school and that’s how I’ve learned to look at her. I’ve always seen her as one either way. The air around her could lighten your mood almost instantly. So I couldn’t help but smile. Her gaze soon zeroed in on the left side of my head, where I had been hit.

    “Ooh, what happened here?” she asked, gently touching the spot.

    “I was attack by a woman and her vicious purse,” I answered as she moved her hand back to her side. She giggled at my pathetic statement. I looked up over her head at the doorway, sensing someone else. I saw Kinta leaning against the door frame stifling a laugh,"What? I can’t be attacked with a purse and survive?” he chuckled and walked over, he smiling as well.

    “So what made her angry enough to attack you? Were you hitting on her?” he asked, nudging me on the side with his elbow.

    “No, you idiot! That’s your job,” I responded, shoving him slightly.

    “That’s right. Leave it to the pros,” he shoved me back and I did the same until the shoving turned into play fighting. Azami just watched, that smile never leaving her face. I put a temporary stop on the play fighting by catching Kinta in a headlock,"But really? What set her off?” he asked through his struggle to get free. I let him go and became a little more serious.

    “She found out what I am…what we are,” I answered. Azami’s smile was lost for a split second and Kinta’s playfulness had left his face.

    “How did she find out?” Azami asked,” were you drunk and went up to her saying, ‘Hey! My name’s Kane and I’m a vampire, wanna have dinner?’” She pretended to imitate me with an annoying, deep and obtuse sounding voice. The smile was plastered back on her face as she crossed her arms, happy with her supposedly successful imitation. I made Kinta laugh. He grinned and I couldn’t help but smile a little as well and roll my eyes in fake annoyance.

    “Was she the only one?” Kinta asked.

    “Yes, and that’s why I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. She’s just one human who’ll probably erase it from her memory and pretend it didn’t happen for her own sanity. Or she’ll just think she was imagining things from ebeing drunk,” I answered dryly,” I still cant figure out how she found out though. But oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter much,” I added, shrugging. I didn’t see her as a threat and neither did the others by their now laid back attitudes.

    So that was over and done with. I walked over to the nearly broken and dusty chair that we had kept from the first time we found the house and plopped down into it. It was one of the only things we kept that was originally here. Kinta and Luke had gone and gotten knew furniture. I rested my elbow on the arm of the chair and my head in my hand. The poor little chair only had one arm left.

    “I’ll have to go hunting soon. Probably tonight, or earlier,” I said.

    “Us, too! We can all go together!” Azami suggested, bouncing up and down excitingly. I didn’t understand two things about her; her smile and her endless energy. I simply shrugged and closed my eyes, my foot beginning to tap unconsciously. Our small coven preyed on wild animals instead of humans. It was a strict rule we went by that we had set up.

    “Are you nervous, Kane?” Azami asked randomly, bringing me out of my thoughts. The tapping of my foot must’ve caught her attention.

    “No,” I answered simply.

    “But you always tap your foot like that when you’re nervous,” she insisted. I made my foot stop and looked over at her. I hadn’t really noticed that about myself. That’s Azami for you though. Oh, well.

    “I'm not nervous,” I repeated, lifting my head up,” is Luke here today?” I asked, trying to change the subject pathetically.

    “We haven’t seen him yet since yesterday,” Kinta replied. I nodded a little and got lost in my thoughts, making sure my foot was completely still.

    I was a little nervous about something. A new scent had appeared in the city and I was somehow…attracted to it.