The Heir

KIERAN SALVATORE

I brushed my hair through my fingertips as I felt the breeze of air. The scent of the Metropolitan City was a mixture of smoke from the vehicles, bread from the pastry shops and my favorite, mortals and their sweet blood. One hint of that sweet scent passed through my nose, and in a blink of an eye, I was standing right next to a grocery store with an empty parking lot. The sun was about to set, maybe the reason why the place was deserted. Well, almost.

My vision travelled far as it searched where that eminent scent was coming from, the fallen leaves made crunching sounds as I stepped on them at the ground. At the back of the store I saw a guy throwing away the trash. I observed how ignorant this human was at my presence as he tried to wrap his hands with what seems to be a worn bandage. At his clumsiness, his bandage flew off. And as the scent of his fresh blood lingered at my nose I can't help but feel the thirst inside me.

The guy saw me as he desperately tried to get ahold of his wound. It was fresh, looks like a cut made from something steel or perhaps it came from one of the broken glass that was included in the trash. His bandage however fell right on my tracks.

"Hey man, do you mind handing that-"

His pained expression changed to fear the moment he caught a glimpse of my eyes. "Y-you're a-!" His words stopped when I held his neck, tightly on my grip. I could feel his blood rush through his veins.

"L-let me go!" He whimpered. I grinned, "I love it when my food fights back." With bloodshot eyes I stared at the man and bit his neck. He struggled but at my strength it meant nothing, I didn't even flinch. I savored the sweet taste of raw blood as I sucked the life out of him. Hunting for my prey always tasted better than feeding from those bodies the palace brings. I heard his final gasp for air before I felt his struggling stopped. The rush of blood soon tasted like iron, a sign that the human's heart is no longer beating.

His body fell lifeless at the cold hard cement the moment I let him go. And at that moment, the back door of the grocery store swung open, revealing an elderly woman on a wheelchair. I recognized her as she was the owner of the grocery store.

"Sonny, where are you my boy?"

I stared at the woman as she tried to stand up. I quickly got to her before she could even see the terrors awaiting her at the back of her grocery store. Before she could even react, I stared at her eyes and it gave a reddish hypnotized glow.

With my soft still voice I whispered, "Look me in the eyes, heed the crimson light. Whatever you see tonight is only a fragment of your mind. You didn't see me here, and your deceiving Sonny, Dear. Go back to the store, and put the closed sign at the rear. You will call the authorities first thing in the daylight. Now, go."

As I finished the enchantment, the elderly woman blinked. But the moment she opened her eyes again, I was already nowhere to be seen. From the top of a near building I saw her go inside the grocery, followed by the lights from the store slowly fading away one by one, completely ignoring the horrors outside.

I took my handkerchief and wiped my lips, and I decided to walk home.

As I was walking the shadows of the night I felt a strange presence behind me, with a swift move I was already holding the creeper by her neck. I was greeted by the same set of crimson eyes, grinning towards me. I let her go.

"Aleyah." I said irritated.

"Wow, your reflexes are getting better, Kier."

"I told you not to sneak up on me." I said, irritated. But she only rolled her eyes and walked past me.

"Whatever, Kieran. I saw what you did earlier."

I ignored her and continued walking the dark path of the street, I was getting nearer to my house. But I don't want to take this noisy beast with me.

"Why didn't you kill that lady? She saw you Kieran."

Ignoring her was impossible as I saw my path just repeating, I stopped as I saw her in front of me. I sighed and brushed my hair, "What the hell do you want from me, Aleyah?"

"You know you can't ignore me, you'd just keep walking this same loop over and over again." Aleyah's ability was to create loops through her mind, it's like entrapping someone to a reality she created on her own. Making her opponents easier to mislead and lure out.

"She didn't see anything, Aleyah."

She looked at me unconvinced, "So? What stopped you from killing her, Kier? Has your heart gone soft now that you are no longer living in the palace? Is it beating again like before?"

I gripped her wrist tightly and showed her my crimson eyes, I saw her eyes turn white before she closed it again. Her illusions stopped and I was able to walk freely away from her. Even without a beating heart, I could feel her strength weaken.

Feeling her now weak presence still at the same spot I left her at, I stopped at my tracks and said, "I don't like the taste of the blood of the innocent. And the next time you come back here to pester me again, I swear the only thing that will be left of you will be ashes."