Blood Bound

Chapter 3: The lair of the vampire

I push the door open as quietly as I can but cringe horribly when I hear it creak loudly. Well, so much for the element of surprise. I take a deep breath and creep inside, wishing my shoes didn't have to crunch the snow so much beneath them. Everything is pitch black inside so I decide to leave a small crack at the door, even though the light from the lightpost outside is a bit dim. The small shack is a mess, just bundles of dirty, crumpled up rags in each corner. I do however catch the metallic scent of blood wafting in the air. It's so potent I have to cover my nose and mouth with my scarf. There are no furniture inside – a homeless person would have considered himself extremely lucky if he so much as found one on the streets – and as far as I could see in the darkness, no lurking vampire on the prowl.

"S-Sophie?" I whisper, looking cautiously around.

I hear a low grunt within one of the bundles and a moment later I see it stir.

"Sophie?" I ask again while tiptoeing towards that particular bundle.

She rises groggily from the bundle, yawns, looks around and spots me. She sends me a lazy smile. "Evening," she says and stretches her arms.

I stare at her. She looks horrible; her shoulder-length raven hair is a matted tangle, her clothes are all dirty and wrinkled, and her neck and mouth are caked with dried blood.

"Oh god," I gasp and turn away from the sight.

"What?" Sophie feels around her face, picks up some of the dried blood with her fingernails and studies it. "Oh, this? Well, I was hungry yesterday and after I was done feeding I was too tired to wash my face," she shrugs.

"So you are the one behind those decapitation murders?" I ask without looking at her. My heart is hammering in my chest by now and I'm sure that she can hear it.

She grins wickedly. "Yeah, that was all me, baby!"

I turn to her now as I can't hide my disgust and horror any longer. "Why?" I ask. "Why did you kill those men? Was it to send me some kind of horrible message?"

Sophie shrugs again. "I was hungry last month and I was hungry yesterday," she says. "But I guess I also wanted to give you some kind of hint of getting your ass here."

I realize that my hands have started to shake, out of fear? Anger? I quickly clench my fists to try to ease the shakes. "But why those men?!" I trudge on, my voice rising slightly. "And why did you have to rip off their heads?"

Sophie's violet eyes darken and her voice is low and dangerous. "Would you rather I killed someone you knew? Perhaps someone from your family?"

My eyes widen in horror and I shake my head. She rises to her feet but keeps her knees bent as in getting ready to pounce on me, her eyes fixated upon my features.

"Because, as you can clearly see, I can do that easily," she growls. "So you might want to keep your voice down in here."

I gulp, feeling anxiety-induced sweat run down my spine. "I-I just want to know why," I stammer quietly, hating myself for not being able to keep my voice even when I am standing in front of someone who I used to consider my friend. Do I not consider Sophie my friend anymore? I stare back at the creature bending low before me, its eyes dark and daring as if she is baiting me to continue shouting, begging me to give her a reason to rip me to shreds.

Sophie continues gazing at me for a moment, then sighs and straightens up. "It was just a drug dealer," she says. "I killed him because he sold me bad drugs, alright? I can't really taste much when it comes to food and stuff but I can tell when someone is trying to cheat me from a good coke."