Blood Relatives

21. All Too Much

Carmine stared at him. Normally, she would have been focused on how cute he was - on his light, wavy hair or his gorgeous eyes. But right now, all she could think about was his blood. She could just picture it coursing through his veins. She was surprised at just how intense the thought was. Suddenly, it was all she could think about. She wondered vaguely if it was normal - did her friends ever feel like that? But then, did it matter? He was right there, all alone. And here she was, ready for him.

She smiled at the boy. She hoped it looked seductive, but in the back of her mind she thought she might look more like a predator. Oh well, at least he wouldn't be up and around long enough to worry about it.

When she got him where she wanted him, she couldn't help but smile. This was so easy! What were her friends so worried about? Carmine inched closer to him, still smiling as sweetly as her hunger would allow.

When she got close enough so that he couldn't see her face, Carmine bit down on his neck. Hard. He gasped, but Carmine didn't care. His blood tasted so warm, so delicious. She never thought it would be so great, but it was. The anticipation and the thrill of actually getting her target to go under were amazing. And the feeling she got after - she couldn't even begin to describe it, even if she tried. She kept right on drinking; the feeling was just so intense. And the more of his blood she took, the better she felt. All the weakness she felt, all the hunger, was fading away.

Part of her wanted to stop - he was barely even her age, after all. He looked like maybe a sophomore. He had friends, classes - a whole life that he was living. But somehow, that didn't matter. All she wanted was to feel some relief herself. She wouldn't kill him, she knew that. After all, how many people had her friends drank from? And none of them had ever turned up dead. Carmine had been skimming the papers since she was a freshman; that's how she found out about them in the first place. And if there had been any unexplained deaths, she would have known. So what was the harm in her taking this boy? She bit into him even harder, as if to prove to herself that what she was doing really was alright.

It seemed like forever before Carmine finally started to feel full. It wasn't full like if she'd had half a pizza or anything like that - this was something else completely. She felt alive. For the first time since her friends had turned her, Carmine actually felt powerful. Now this was more like it.

The boy slid to the ground, and Carmine did what she could to ease his fall. He looked fine. Carmine grinned, wiping her mouth. She walked away, only glancing over her shoulder for a second to make sure the kid was still ok.

The next day, Carmine couldn't help but feel a little guilty. After all, didn't she basically just attack some innocent guy? But nobody reported anything, so he must have been ok. But the next time, she wasn't quite so lucky. The attack would make the local paper, and Carmine could only hope that no one connected it to what had happened two years ago.

Carmine had been coming out of track practice. After hitting the library real quick to pick up some much-needed late night reading material, she hurried to her car.

She almost didn't see the girl standing there, by the edge of the fence. The jersey she wore told Carmine she'd just finished soccer practice. And the lost look on her face let Carmine know she was just a freshman. For whatever reason, the girl's mom hadn't picked her up yet. The opportunity was too good for Carmine to pass up.

"Waiting for your mom?" Carmine asked, leaning on the fence just a few feet away.

"My dad." the girl said, but she nodded anyway.

"Looks like he's late." Carmine said, mostly to get a read on the girl.

"He usually is." the girl replied blandly. She turned slightly and started looking towards the parking lot's entrance. Carmine stood there for a minute, trying to think. She really needed to get the girl alone - out here was too public a place. And she really wanted this girl. She couldn't say why exactly, but she could barely contain herself. She thought she could hear the girl's blood pumping in her veins, just aching to be spilled. Carmine stared at her, trying to will the girl over to her. She didn't want to be creepy, but the temptation was hard to resist.