Hidden Life

It was pitch black in Louisville, Kentucky. Not even street lights lit the alley where she walked silently, watching and listening. All the sounds distinct as she altered between them. A child cried in a home across the street, a cat chasing an electronic toy through an apartment in the building beside her, and a couple fighting about cleaning their apartment down the street. A heart pumping, blood coursing through a man's veins. That man was her goal. 

She ran through a fence in the dark and damp alley. A little farther ahead a man was screaming for help, but finding none. The town was sleeping, and he had found himself in an empty corner. He shrieked as the thing chasing him finally came down out of the shadows. "What the hell are you?" His eyes were wide in panic, but they could only see the smile of the person now standing opposite him.

"My name is Nikol, and I," the woman looked at the man; her face was hidden in the hood of the long black cape, "will be your death." 

The cape dropped to reveal the figure of a slender, dark blonde hair, misty-blue eyed young woman. Her hair was a fountain of loose curls that softly blew in the wind. She moved quicker than his eyes could follow. She was not next to the man and her smile grew, showing her sharp, snake-like teeth that gleamed in the moonlight. A black surge pulsed through her veins, the black substance going to focus on her eyes which turned from their blue to a solid black. 

The man stared at her with a mixture of surprise and terror. He tried to look away, but he couldn't because her gaze held him. "Don't worry, your terror has served its purpose." She took a deep breath, licking her lips as she did.

"Sleep" The man fell limp into her arms. She pulled his head back gently, and moved her head to his neck, taking in another deep breath of his terror-stained skin and blood just beneath the surface. Her teeth sank deep into his neck, the blood flowing past her lips and into her mouth. 

It covered every inch of her tongue for a split second, only to fall down her throat and be replaced. It was sweet and bitter all at the same time; it warmed her to her very core as she drank deeply. She allowed the blood to spend a moment more on her tongue as the flow began to slow. 

There was no struggle as she fed. Nikol dropped the man on the ground after draining him, the last of his blood falling around him onto the ground. She bit her own finger and put a single dot of blood on the marks her teeth had left, watching as the wound closed. She wanted more the second she finished, but she knew she shouldn't get too greedy. 

"Don't be getting blood drunk now." She smiled at the voice as it spoke through her mind. She knew better than to risk that, it's a very dangerous state to be in.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about me. Just cleaning up now." She looked at the body lying on the cold ground, nearly encased in the darkness thanks to the ally. Her eyes didn't need light to see, so she was able to take her time and carefully follow the steps needed to cover up the kill. 

She broke one leg and then the next, making sure to do so as if a foot had kicked them from behind. It had to look like another mugging. The knife in her pocket was pulled out. The dark blade is ready and cool. A quick single slice across the man's neck. Different from the last few to avoid an exact pattern. No need to make it look like a single killer. 

She removed her gloves; in the beginning, she never wore them, but in this world, all precautions had to be met. Something she figured out the night she found her hunting ground under watch by the police. If they thought it was more than a random attack they'd spend much longer investigating. Then one mention of a serial and there would be panic in the general community, causing the feeding supply to start staying in their homes. 

It was around two in the morning when she returned to her bedroom. No one noticed she had left, but that was nothing new. Her black curtains hid the outside world just as she wanted them to. She put on some nightclothes and hid her hunting clothes in the empty drawer in her dresser (she kept a lock on it under the pretense of holding her diary). She looked into her mirror, cleaning her face and looking at her eyes, bright from her recent meal. 

She wasn't very tall, maybe five foot and four inches. She hated being short, but her boots, which she was very fond of, helped to hide her height. She laid down and covered up with her black and white cover. Then her eyes closed and she drifted into a world of unconsciousness. 

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The night was dark, the road she was on was empty, and the boy in front of her stood waiting. She felt shaky, covered in the blood of the young woman lying behind her. She didn't ever want to do that again. Breath sounded in her ears, hers and the boy's in front of her, he took a breath in and out slowly, evenly. She looked at him, seeing the face she had grown to love, had grown to trust, the face she had sacrificed everything for. 

"You will never be able to live in their world now. You're one of us." Speaking was the misty blue-eyed man, or so it would seem. His shaggy brown hair fell around his face giving more shadows to his chiseled cheeks. 

"No, you're wrong." She was defending herself against the man. Defiant to live her life, trying to avoid repeating tonight's events.

"You will starve if you don't feed Nadaline." He took a step closer, placing one hand on her arm, begging her to listen. She didn't move away, just shook her head.

"I'll survive Nicholas." She had survived worse than hunger. Yet even as she spoke she felt the statement was more of a lie than she realized. The hunger she had known before was a need for a mortal body, there was an end to it and at times she'd been able to make it past the hunger to the numbness. She knew, deep down, this new hunger would never be numb, and it had no end. 

"NO YOU WON'T!" he yelled, obviously agitated. He looked up at the stars. The millions of rocks running through the galaxy, some long gone and others just starting. In their foreseeable lifetime, they'd see them shift and move. 

The universe was moving on, uncaring about the events in their life. He had done this for himself, it was selfish, but it was already finished, and he had to move on with where it would lead. 

"Maybe, maybe not. We both know I can't give up without trying though." She was stern, not speaking out of anger or fear. Just certainty, she was not the type to give in without putting forth the effort.

He looked back at her, his face calm once again, "Fair enough, but for the record, I am against this attempt."

"Noted, but you'll let me try, right?" A small smile turned her lips.

"Yes, I will let you try. Just once though, if and when it fails, no second try." He brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear, smiling at her as he did. "Now, pick another name for yourself, for us to call you. You don't have to of course, but if you ever wanted to reinvent yourself, here's your chance." 

She was quiet for a moment, contemplating the decision. "I can go by Nikol, I always liked that name. Nicholas, look I just want to try to keep my life. You might be right, but I can't just give up without trying, you know me better than that. If I need help I'll come and find you."

"Just come home anytime, my home is your home now. Whether you choose to live there or not is your decision, but you are just as welcome as you have always been." She felt his hesitation and it met her own. They hadn't discussed the most important part. Leaving it as the elephant in the room.

"Well, we are still together, I'm sure I'll be there just as often at least." She let out a small laugh that met his own. She knew the moment she woke up her heart didn't blame him, and still loved him as it had before. 

"I'm thinking you'll be there even more now actually. Once you're ready to move past your mortal life, we'll be there. We have a gathering once a week. It's a party for us and a dinner invite for the humans." 

Nikol seemed to be upset by this as she took a step back and looked at her feet. "You could always leave before the dinner part if you wanted. I wouldn't stop you. Although you may change your mind."

"Thank you, I know you only want to protect me. I'm not mad about what you did, but I can't just leave and pretend my life never existed, not yet, maybe not ever, but I know I'll still be with you whatever I decide." Her voice was a little above a whisper, she felt as though she had spoken some dark secret by admitting she wouldn't leave him. After what he did she should leave. He didn't exactly ask her permission before making her into this creature.

"You have fed well tonight so there shouldn't be a risk of harm to anyone you come in contact with." He said pointing to the dead body, "Make sure you hunt every few nights at first, this will keep you full enough to not have to kill your meals while you are against the idea. Within a few weeks, you may feed more or less often, depending on where your metabolism settles."

"Can I use anything besides people?"

"Sure, but I wouldn't recommend it. You can visit me to feed at first."

"Thanks," she hesitated, "anything else I should know?"

"Only about a million things. The main ones though are you won't digest human meals anymore, you can stomach a few bites before becoming sick, but that's about it. You will also need to be invited to enter a mortal's home. Your family home will be an exception because of the blood link to the ones inside. However, when hunting you need to find those already out."

She nodded, at least she would be able to go into her own home. He paused as Nikol stood still, waiting for him to continue. Her eyes were wide with either fear or shock, his face was one of concern and love. His tone was steady as he spoke slowly, "One thing, you must kill all who discover what you are." His lips twisted into a smile that she had never seen. Blood began to fill his mouth until it was falling from his lips and to the ground.

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Nikol shot awake forcing the image to the back of her mind. She remembered that night all too well for her liking. The night she died, the night she realized her boyfriend wasn't who he had led her to believe. It was the night that introduced her to a life of murder versus survival. She had finished that school year with people avoiding her, the last half of the school year in fact. 

Over that time she had gained acceptance for what she is. The sun peeked through her curtains. It didn't burn her as so many believed it would, the sun couldn't kill her, though the high noon sun gave her a migraine worse than any she'd experienced before. She covered her eyes from the sun, trying to go back to sleep to no avail