Succumb

What happened?

A second ago I stepped out on the balcony for some air and to clear my head, and then an intense pain was sent coursing throught the vains in my neck.

Where am I?

I try to look around, but dark cloth blocks my vision.

"I have him. Now let them go. I did what you wanted. You have my code and you'll have his," a familiar voice echoed in my ear.

Fingers reached around the vision contraint and as my sight comes back to me, I can see sunlight peer through the blinds and shadows of two other people. Blinking a few times to have my eyes regain focus, the silouhettes become more aparent.

Luther on one side and Seth on the other.

"Seth? You...are working for him?"

Seth looked either satisfied or worried. He might have been both. Regardless, he felt no remorse at all for what he did.

"Luther took my wife and kids Kingsly. He wanted the code. What else was I supposed to do? You know...maybe you should just succumb to this monster. You'll never age. You won't have to ever experience loss. You can live forever Kingsly," Seth said sounding hypnotizing. Luther looked like he had been waiting for this moment, and now that it was finally here all he could do was smirk. Seth looked different. He had a certain posture about him that told me that he was no longer the shy, lab worker. I shot at the redness around his neck and the two sharp holes that were identical to mine.

As I struggled and my fingernails penatrated my palms as I balled up my fist in tense frustraion, Luther glared at me and burned a hole through me wit hhis gaze.

"It was actually really easy... opening Seth's eyes. All it took was a simple torture of his wife and he came to. To bad for her though. Afterward I let her go, she ran into oncoming traffic and killed herself. Seth couldn't take the pain, so I offered him an eternity of never losing anyone again. He also gave me his code. Willingly. Kingsly...why don't you follow in Seth's footsteps?"

Seth just stood there. Eyes blank and emotionless. He was gone. Seth was no more.

Luther continued as he bent down in front of me with a picture of Draven and a lighter in his hands.

"Now Kinglsy, you either give me the code or I take it from your whore. After fucking her first of course. You're choice." The picture engulfed in flames at the flick of the switch of the lighter.

My heart continues to throb painfully hard. I can't see straight and Draven's face mirrors inside my head.

"You really won't stop until everyone turns to a monster will you? Are you really that lonely? Is your hand starting to become raw Luther,?" I say in a raspy voice.

Laughing, Luther motions to Seth and he takes the itiative to check my wallet.
I headbutt him with back of my head and at that moment I felt a heat melt in my palms. Seth had pulled a lighter on my hands.
Screaming in agony as holes were being burned through my hands, I let him rummage for my wallet.
"All I found was a twenty dollar bill, a suway gift card...and this paper that says 'Sherlock Holmes Study in Scarlett Kingsly Bear.'"
It all made sense. Her code was in that book! The first book her father gave her!
Luther looked at me and tilted his head as he flicked the lighter and stared through the flame and spoke the word, "Thanks," and threw the flame at my chair that was surrounded by gasoline. At that moment time stood still. This was the end. Luther walked out as Seth said his last word to me..."Succumb."
At that instant a figure appeared behind Seth, took both arms and rippe them off like they were Kinects. The flame ignited up my chair and enflamed the room. Luther was already out, noy wasting anytime to go and raid Draven;s apartment for the book.
He knew the code was hidden in the pages and I could do nothing but sit and burn. The dark figure stood with the arms in hand and said, "Let's get you out of here bud."
Teal cut me loose and extiguised the fire on my pant legs.
"He's after her you know. You'll never make it Kingsly. Think about it. Not a care in the world. We are Kings among these puny wretches. Live with the life you've been blessed with," Seth cries as blood seeps from his open sockets where arms once waived.
"You're wrong Seth... I will make it. And I do care about something. I care about Draven. Luther may have taken away my life, but he can't take away my feelings. Me on the other hand...can take away yours."
With one fatal stomp in the neck, Seth's smiling face became a haunting one.
"You owe me an explanation Teal."
"First let's get out of here," Teal replied as the place started to collapse in the sunlight.
The word "Succumb" wouldn't leave my head.
Why?
TO BE CONTINUED.....

That One Night

The closeness I felt with her hand in mine was sureal and aroused me with a sensation that trickled slowly through my body. Still a bit hungover, Draven took an aspirin while she described her dream to me. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't a dream and that her father alive and monsterous, but I was enjoying the fact that she was talking to me now.
" It was so real Kingsly. I thought I was going to die. It's not possible for him to be alive. And to see him just act like a monster..."
She leaned against me and dripped her tears onto my shirt.
I forgot how sweet her touch felt and how small and perfect she fit in my arms. I ran my fingers through her soft hair and comforted her.
"Draven, it was just a dream ok. Your dad...he's...gone."
I didn't lie. Teal had disappeared with only a stone and a trail of blood leading to the woods. As I absorbed the moment with Draven, her sobbing voice is heard through my chest.
" I miss you."
Looking confused, I reassure her that I'm real and that I'm standing right in front of her.
" I mean, I miss you Kingsly. The human, emotional, sweet, Kingsly. I don't know how to take the new you."
Lifting up her head, her moist blue eyes look into my dark, yet sensitive pupils.
" Draven, let me tell you something. I am the same Kinglsy that you have always known and loved. On the outside, yes, I am...different. But, on teh inside, I still laugh, I still enjoy a good ass zombie kicking, and most of all...I still love you."
Her smile reflects off my face as I cheek back.
We have that moment where we each just gaze at eachother and know what teh other is thinking..."Why am I not kissing you right now?"
I grab the back of her head and passionatley coress her against me and press her lips against mine.
She slides her tongue into my mouth as I toss mine around in hers.
"I can't d..."
I push her onto teh bed mid sentence and crawl on top of her. Draven's shorts are half way up as my hand slides up them and grab her thighs towards me. her facial expression is both surprised and turned on.
"Since when did you become the dominating one?"
"Since all I've done is watch your sexy ass stroll in our apartment in your cute littel pajamas."
I crawl up into her ear and whisper,
"Now it's time for you to be in nothing."
I take both hands pull teh shirt off her. The red and white candy cane bra she was wearing snapped off with it... like I intended. With her breasts now exposed, I look at her like I'm just ready to be in her. Biting her lip, she grabs my head and presses it down it down to her nipples where I start biting, but not breaking skin. My tongue was all over body as I felt her back arch and her breathing accelerate. When I was human, all I wanted to was treat her with the upmost lady like respect, but a new, agreesive manner had erupted in me and she seemed to be enjoying my agression by the moans and the feet curling. Her shorts were the only piece of article of clothing left. As I went down to rip them off, she grabs me and tarts kissing my neck and simultaniously removes my shirt. i can feel my blood boil and I take her and strongly lock her to the bed. The look she gave burned through me like the blood burned through my veins.
"Take me Kingsly"
I gave her a smirk and I ripped off her shorts along with her panties and removed my pants and boxers.
I went in her so strong that she gave a squeak that only meant pleasure. With our bodies sliding up against eachother, I only penetrated deeper giving her multiple orgasms that todl me she was ready. I picked her up and nailed her to the wall and thrust inside of her. She couldn't take a breath. Every breath was replaced with a thrust that was followed by a gasp and sweat. Her nails were permantly attached to my back and I didn't plan to remove them. The bedroom was seen as endless possibilites. We rolled on the floor, I carried her into the shower, onto teh wall, against the door and finally, on the comfort of the mattress. By the time we were done, her hair was out of control and I never felt more satisfoed in my life. The whole ravished moment was fully based on my lust for her blood. I couldn't lie next to her. I had to walk around and talk myslef down.
"Where...are you going baby?"
"I'll be right back ok. Stay right there."
I give her a sensual kiss and put my pants back on.
I walk out onto the balcony for fresh air.
"What am I doing? Kinglsy...what are you doing? Ok. just go back in and..."
A sharp pain suddenly erupted in my neck.
"AHHHHHH!"
"KINGSLY!!!" I heard as time slowed down and everthing went blurry.
Tumbling off the balcony, a hand grabs my ankle and all I hear is,
"He's right here sir."
TO BE CONTINUED.....

It's Only a Vail

It was as if time had stopped for the three of us, but even slower for Draven. I saw a mixture of anger, joy and confusion in her face and to retaliate to what she just saw, in her drunken stupor, she smashed the whiskey bottle against the side of the building and was standing with the newley created weapon in her hesitant hand.
"Who the SHIT are you?," she directed at Teal.
Her breath inflamed the air with the scent of hot whiskey. When had she picked up this habbit?
Teal looks at her and in his calm, slightly raspy voice, he commands Draven to put down the bottle.
"Honey, it's me, Dad. Put down the bottle Draven. Let me explain. You're not even here right now. You're wasted off your ass. Honey, I'm sure you're gunna piss out a brewery. Just put down the bottle."
I stood there feeling like I was watching a movie where the guy is convincing that death is not the answer.
This wasn't a movie.
Draven swung the broken glass at Teal and sliced his bicep.
"MOVE BACK FUCKER!"
At that moment, time sped up again and Teal's eyes widened.
"Why would you do that! HUH?"
He lunged at Draven knocking her down as he took the weapon meant for him and sliced her arm and started devouring his daughter's own blood.
Screaming, Draven tried to kick but Teal was too stong. With his eyes glazed over with black, he was blind sided by the crack of elbow against the back of his head.

I stood over Draven with my hand exteneded, and with a firm grip I helped her to her feet. Teal was right, Draven was a walking brewery. She could barely walk, so I carried her back to the apartment like a dad would carry his injured daughter. The blood from her arm seeped on my shirt and I could feel my skin turn hot and my mouth moisten.
Not now.
Not in her time of need. I couldn't let my alter ego escape. With the help of liquor, my Draven would have peace at least for a short span of time.
I left her for short second to go rescue Teal, but found that all that was in his place was a teal stone in a puddle of whiskey and a blood trail leading away from the apartment building off into the surrounding neighborhood. The drenched stone had a saying etched on the bottom.
I wiped off the mixture of blood and alchohol and read the inscription,
"Failure doesn't exist, just lack of persistance to fix them exists."
The stone took a residnece in my pocket.
I had to escape from the lingering scent of the sweet, rose smell of blood that was intoxicating the air around me.

The apartment was exactly how I left it, with Draven passed out on the couch and her arm stained with dried crimson rose blood. There was a medical kit that hid behind her lotions and shampoos in our bathroom that I retrieved to patch up her wound.
Softly, I wiped away her stains and cleansed the deep gash in her arm. Her arm was taken care of.
She was taken care of.
I brushed her hair away from her face and felt myself wanting this cure more than ever so I could spend a normal life with her and always be here to take care of her. Right here.
I laid a blanket over her and a trashcan beside her in case she wanted to get rid of excess brew.

It felt relieving to just relax and pretend like I was a normal human again.
To think, six months ago, I was a normal pizza man, substitute teacher, husband, human, and one day a future father.
All that, gone in a blink of an eye and replaced by something so unimaginable that it only makes sense to Bram Stoker.

For right now, I want to pretend I am human again and that I live a normal American, male life. So I do what males do, search the kitchen for something spicey and a beer. Lucky for me, Draven loved cooking Mexican food, so there was a pot of chili with every spice imaginable in it. Ranging from jalepenos to hot peppers.
Yeah, I was planning to burn my taste buds out and love every second that I'm not crying. Of course Draven had beer handy. It wasn't beer, but she was Teal's girl, she had bottles upon bottles of whiskey and Malibu. Me dying must've struck her hard enough to crank out the liquor.
I'm sorry Draven.

With my bubbling chili and my glass of whiskey, I sink into the lazy boy that still held my cheek impressions and propped up my feet and unbuttoned my pants for pre lift off before my food settled. The remote was at hands reach, of course. And I did what any man would do at that point, turn it straight to cartoons. It was around the time that Robot Chicken, my favorite Adult Swim comedy, was on. It takes me back to where my human plants were rooted. As the stop motion Batman crawls through the sewers making fun of The Shawshank Redemption and says,"Wow smells like Batman Forever down here," I lose it and for the first time in six months...I laugh. It sounds like someone had just been coughing and then a full laugh explodes. It feels like I'm me again. I feel like I'm back.
But I'm not. I can't escape reality. Robot Chicken, extremely hot chili and alcholic beverages only vail over the truth.
Things are changing.

Draven wakes up from my laugh.
"I love this show," she says in a quiet voice. I'm sure she is feeling the hangover now like running into a parked car.
"Yeah, it never gets old does it?"
"I had the weirdest dream Kingsly. I saw my father and he was trying to...bite me."
I set my drink on the table and held her.
"Let's get you some asprin ok."
She followed me to the bedroom...hand interlocked with my fingers.
TO BE CONTINUED.....

Teal

I couldn't beleieve that I was staring into the eyes of Draven's deceased father.
"Draven told me you were..."
He followed up with the word,"murdered."
My grip loosened and I dropped the whiskey bottle. The shattered glass echoed in the night and I leaned up against the wall and asked the question that we bith knew was coming.
"How are you here if you were murdered?" I asked confused and disoriented at the possibel thoughts as to what teh answer would be.
Teal looked at me with his cold eyes and his smirked. a sharp edge was sticking from his gums.

"I'm sure Draven has told you about the antidote I was trying to come up with, a cure for vampirism. My research started when my lab partner and I were researching a cure for ALS, When testing my subject, I noticed that his blood was extremely thin and his heart looked dry. It was if something had drained the life out if him and left him an empty black hole. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. My lab partner, who was my best friend, took a deeper look and traced the reason of this discoloration of the heart back to a transfer of disease way back in the 1600's... vampirism. We both stood in awe over this historic corpse. Vampires were fictional..until that day we both stood and stared fiction in the face," he took out a cigarello that smelled like mint and puffed the sweet smoke like he had just an unforgetable one night stand," So, after our findings, i had to call Draven and confide in her, to tell her what has been discovered. While I was outside, my lab assistant was left alone in the room with the "dead" creature. He loved to just get closer and closer until he couldn't find anymore to squeeze out of our finding. He had been way to close...and the creature came to and transferred the disease to my best friend. I heard an ear piercing scream that was followed by loud crash, a growl, and shot. I rushed into the lab and saw a bullet hole through the once dead body's head and a blood trail that led right to the product of the vampire...my assisants neck."
Teal took another puff of his minty cigarello while I hung on every word of his story. I felt like i was around the camp fire of Are You Afraid of the Dark.

"I tried to bandage him up and stop the bleeding, but he had lost so much already that I was trying to win a losing battle. I pulled the monster's tooth from my assistant's neck and put it in a plastic bag to examine. He was scared. he kept asking me what's happening to him and that he felt cold and his mouth was dry. I told him to resist any tempation to drink. He just looked at me and his eyes dialated and his gums began to bleed. I've never forgotten the sound he made when his fangs potruded from his gums. It was like pushing a knife through sheet metal. I held my friend until he was done screaming. That day, I vowed to find a cure for him."

The minty air flowed through my lungs as I took a deep breath.
" What was your friend's name?"
Teal shot me a look, and a tear fell onto the broken glass of the whiskey bottle as he told me the name in a raspy voice.
"Luther Gaza."
My heart shriveled and cringed. The hairs on my skin felt prickly and I squinted my eyes at the sound of his name.

"Luther was your lab assistant and best friend? He turned me into the fucking beast that I am today! He stoel my life from me! And you're saying he's your best friend!"

Teal replied, "Was my best friend. You see, after that incadent, we both vowed to find a cure for him. I told Draven about it and I asked for her help. She was studying to become a microbiologist like myself, so she knew what to look for and what was at stake. For five years Luther, Draven and I tried to create an antidote but funds were running low due to teh lack of support from the government and the company I worked for. They both said the exact same thing. Like they emailed eachother what to say, 'Vampires don't exist. Are you trying to steal our money or our serioulsy that crazy?' I had little support, but Draven always seemeed to pull through for me. One day, I told her to go down in the lab basement to retrieve what I believed was teh last ingredient for the cure, while Luther and I mixed the last of the concoction. Luther hadn't been doing so well those past few years. He looked pale and he looked extremely weak. He fed on birds most of the for his quick fix. He would become violent, irratable, and nonreachable. The vampire within him was taking over. And I was there when he finally succumbed. I rememebr asking him if was ready to be cured and his words were, 'I am cured. I've never felt so alive. If only you could feel what I feel. We could turn everyone.' I looked at is dark stare and those were the last eyes I stared into before I knew what was about to happen. Luther lunged at me, mouth agape and he tore a chunk of my neck out. I collapsed on the floor leaving a puddle of blood at my feet. He bends down and says, 'Join me. You eventually will,' and escapes out the window, but not before buring all my books to the ground. He knows the recipe, but it takes way to long to make, but in my knowledge of what Luther was becoming, I put the remaining ingredients ina safe and gave the code to three different people. Two other assistants and Draven."

One last puff on the cigarello and Teal stomped out the ashes.

"He knows that one way will create a antidote and another way will create a serum to turn genes into vampire genes. But, what he doesn't have is the code for the lock o the safe or where the safe even is."

I sort the information that's just bouncing in my cranium walls and put the pieces together.

"How long do you have before you start following in the steps of Luther?," I ask not only for him but for me too.

Teal begins to answer when a figure steps into the shadow given off by the moon hitting him. There stood Draven with a bottle of whiskey in her hand. Like father like daughter.
TO BE CONTINUED.......

My Truth, Her Truth, Our Truth Part 2

It was like I was another person to her. In her eyes I wasn't Kingsly, I was Luther.
"You're like him! Exactly like him! You're a monster! You're not Kingsly!," she bellows in her towel.
With the nail still in my chest and lack of thirst, I start to feel a bit weak. The knife in my face just adds more pressure and sends my heart racing.
"Draven. Please understand I'm not like him at all. I..."
She interupts.
"How many people have you killed King...," her voice trailing off refusing to say my name,"you have to feed obvioulsy or you wouldn't be here."
I uncomfortably pause. The air was thick with tension.
"Oh my god. You're a murder!"
The knife then sliced through the air towards my throat.
Luckily, I saw it coming and slid to the side to take away the knife.
Distracted by cling that knife made when the knife hit the solid kitchen floor, Draven blindsided me and with a solid punch that met my left cheek bone and grabs the knife from the lenolium.
At that moment, everything went blurry.
I can't lose consciousness. She'll kill me.
With an agonizing plea,"Draven, please let me explain. You have no idea how much hell I've gone through. The hell I'm going through right now. You don't understand! I've spent teh last 6 months wondering how you've been to the point I would stare at you from the roof across the pond. Draven. I may be a damn monster, but I haven't changed how I feel about you. I haven't lost contact with reality yet because of you. You're keeping me going Draven. Please. Keep me safe... I lo..."
Black.

I woke up in a cold sweat. I felt around my body to make sure I was still alive and that I wasn't tied up. I looked to my right and there was Draven cleaning her bloody hands with a warm towel. A nail lay beside her on the table.
I felt my chest and I had been stitched, and cleaned from every wound. From the bullet that penetrated my shoulder, to the broken wrist, to the nail.
Draven had abided my wail.
"Thanks," I coughed grabbing her hand.
She flinced at first, but embraced my hand cautiously.
"You hit like a man. I honestly thought I had been punched by Vin Diesel."
There it was. Her smile that lit up the room.
"Kingsly...what's it like...being a vampire?," she asks through sympathetic, curious eyes.
"It's like hell frozen over in me. I have this burning passion within me, but all I feel is cold. I constantly fight the urge to kill. Some people say they were born to kill. That's how I feel...born to kill."
She looks away and wipes a tear from her face.
Her curiousity continues.
"Do you..want to kill me?"
I can't tell her that her blood smells like an orchard full of apples and that I just want to sink my teeth into every one. She would be even more scared. So, I painfully lie.
"I don't want to kill you Draven. I've been too focused on being with you that I haven't even thought about...killing," I say with a blanket over my eyes so she doesn't see my lie.
I remember why Luther wanted her.
This mysterious code.
"I have a few questions of my own. Why did Luther want you and what's this code that everyone wants from you?"
She looks deep into my dark pupils with excruiating pain.
"Do you remember that story that I told you about my dad and developing an antidote to cure vampirism?"
I nod as I ponder where this going.
"Kingsly, I've been helping to continue that work. Seth and I have found the antidote, but we don't know the order to mix the ingredients. One mix will make the cure, the other could create a syrum to produce vampire genes. It's taken us several years of testing and...money to do this."
The way she paused when she said money clicked in my head.
"You've been using the money...my hard earned money to do research on creating an antidote behind my back? Are you even studying to be a zoologist?"
The same tension that was in the air when she asked if I had murdered had returned in the air.
I continue with my rage.
"Why didn't you tell me Draven? We told eachother everything! The only reason I was working that pizza job was to help pay for your college. That was the motivation behind that job. I put up with the messed up orders, the rude customers, the long, boring drives, because I was helping you through college. If i would've known you were using ot for research, I would've been fine! I would've helped! But thanks to you, I am what I am today, a monster because I wanted to help you be successful!"
Through her sobs she cries,
"You don't understand! I couldn't tell you! I have people after me for that code. I was protecting you!"
Enraged at this point I open my lungs and roar,
"SAVING ME??! LOOK WHAT I'VE BECOME BECAUSE OF THAT PIZZA RUN!! LOOK AT WHAT SAVING ME DID"
All my anger that I've held in has finally been released from its chain. I was looking for someone to blame for what happened to me. My anger took residence in me long enough.
I feel my hand raise and see her flinch.
It took every ounce of life left in me to hold back.
"I'm out of here."
An intensified crying Draven wails,
"How dare you! GET OUT!"
Through clenched teeth, making sure she sees ,my fangs, I snarl,
"I'm gone."
the door slams knocking down the picture frame of our wedding day on the entertainment center.
Her sobs pierce my heart and I slide against our apartment door and start crying.
"I don't need this," I whisper to myself.
I walk down the hallway to the outside and I'm greeted by some stranger.
He had gray hair and thick glasses. He looked dead with his extremely white skin.
His eyes were about as blue as Draven's and his smile looked oddly familiar. I know I haven't seen his man before, but for some reason I feel like I can confide in him.
"Rough day?," the old man says concerned.
"You don't know the half of it. No offense."
"None takin. Wanna drink?"
The man extends a bottle of whiskey towards my direction.
He has to be a tough guy if he's drinking whiskey straight.
I look at him as he's shoving the temptation my way.
"Thanks," I say after forcing down the hot liquid.
"It's a beautful thing, alchohol. It's the one thing that you can always count on to make you feel better," the man says as he takes a huge swig.
"Who are you?" I ask.
"The name's Theodore, but I like to go by Teal...it's my favorite color. Who are you?"
"I'm Kinglsy. I don't know what they call me these days. The days just seem to be a blur."
Teal thrusts the remaining quarter of whiskey towards me and I swallow the rest.
"Does your mood have anything to do with Draven?"
I break the whiskey bottle and slam Teal onto the wall looking at him through fierce, fiery eyes.
"Who are you? And what do you know about Draven?!"
The broken whiskey bottle rests againts his adams apple as he whispers,
"I'm her father."
TO BE CONTINUED.....

My Truth, Her Truth, Our Truth Part 1

Hand in hand, we walk into the place that I once called my home. The sweet smell of cinnamon thinned out the air. Memories started consuming me: the video games, the long talks, the plans for the future, everything that was disrupted in one night.
It was a little awkward being with Draven at first because of the 6 month time lapse. What should I say to start conversation?

"So Draven...for the past 6 months I've been watching you cry through the window from the building across the street. Oh and I've killed two people. On top of that I can't stop thinking about how sweet your blood smells and how much I want to taste it."

Luckily, she wouldn't stop hugging me. I felt such a sensation hugging her back. Trying to ignore the want, I start to remember that I once lived for these embraces.
"I've missed you so much Kingsly. I thought you were dead."
I haven't yet told her what I am. She thinks this flesh is alive, but in reality it's just a walking constant hunger. I don't want her to know yet and I wish I could hide it, but the fangs, the constant bitter cold skin, the never aging, would be a problem and hard to cover. I want to be upfront with her because I know she's always been upfront with me.
I trust her.
As I'm rubbing her back, I swallow hard as I begin to tell her my curse.
"Draven...I...."
She interupts.
"Babe, I'm so happy you're back. I can't stop smiling now that you're here...with me again. I thought I lost you. I thought I was going to age without my true love. But here you are," her smile is brighter that fluorescent light in the apartment, “and here I am...dirty and unpresentable. I'm going to wash up and we are going to lay down so I can talk to you. OK?"
I nod, and with a close lipped smile so that I am not showing my sharpened murder tools, I reply,
"OK angel. Wash up. I'll be right here."
She walks away to the back room where the bathroom is and runs the bath water with the door closed.
I can't believe I'm back here with her. But nothing will be the same after I tell her what I am...what I've done...what I know.
I hear her step in the tub and slip in the steamy relaxant.
The cinnamon air draws me into our bedroom where curiosity then takes over. Looking in my old drawers, I see some of the clothes were thrown in there. Her aroma was drenched in the mess. I picked up my favorite black V-neck shirt and smelled it. Draven's scent filled my lungs. I take off my old, torn, blood stained shirt and replace it with the Draven scented V-neck. I felt new again. It's been 6 months since I felt any kind of new sensation worth smiling about. Under all the shirts, I find a photo of her and I in Hawaii on our honeymoon. It's obvious that Alchohol was our favorite guest that evening. We were posing with a massive tattooed Hawaiian. Her leg was across the protruding belly while I was on the other side holding it up. We had such a great time.
I miss it.
It will never be the same.
I stroll to the living room and find our ping pong table.
I was a beast at ping pong.
Her and I would bet who did dishes by playing a game to 21.
I would always win...but somehow she would always bat those crystal blue globes at me and I'd end up with the bejeweled gloves on, scrubbing dishes beside her.

Walking back to the bathroom, I see her naked body covered in the soapy oval of bubbles relaxed her. The steam was rising out of the water and all I could feel was ice.
Her head was tilted back, eyes closed, and I smiled.
The shampoo bottle that smelled like violets was sitting beside her. I take a seat on the floor and grab the bottle, squirting a quarter sized dollop in my hand.
"Are you going to wash my hair?" she asks with a bright grin on her face.
"Just close your eyes, sweetheart. I'm here to take care of you."
Rubbing the thick shampoo in her wet hair, the violet aroma replaces the steam. I take a deep breath and I feel my heart thump two times harder.
I have a conversation with myself.
I can do this. Ignore the fact that she smells like violet and that her blood smells just as sweet. Ignore it.
The other voice starts to talk. The demon.
"You know how hungry you are right now. It won't get any better. She would just be another meal. Just. Another. Meal."
I concentrate on thoroughly massaging the shampoo in her hair.
The moans she makes reminds me of the last time we made love.
The sounds she made. The curling of her toes. The flutter of her eyelids. Everything she was doing right now made me want to take her out and ravish her.
"Thanks baby. You haven't changed one bit," Draven whispers as I solomnly disagree.
"I'll always love you Draven."
The purple towel was just in reach for me to grab and dry off her hair. She rose out, with her silky skin exposed dripping. The dirt had been washed away and revealed a clean, sexy Draven. From her damp brunette hair to her smooth legs, she had stolen my heart all over again.
The purple towel was then used to cover up her nakedness...unfortunatley. I may be a monster, but a man at that. Someone that beautiful should be ashamed to wear clothes and hiding such magnificient glory.
I rub the towel on her in a dry off fashion and she tucks in the towel to get dressed.
Heaven is staring back me while I stare deep in her blue eyes. I can't take it.
My lips hit hers like a wrecking ball would hit an beautiful aged building. They press hot against her lips and her tongue starts moving around in my mouth as if she tasting a new flavor she's never tasted. My hand slides in the back of her neck to pull her closer. Our tounges meet and she curls hers making my lip curl up to her up lip to suck. After about a 5 minutes in my own heaven, I pull away slowly and kiss her forehead.
"You're going to wanna hug me for me to tell you this," I plea so she won't see my death weapons in my mouth when I tell her.
"Gladly," she exclaims.
Wrapping her arms around me, I swallow hard, and reveal my secret.
"Draven, you know that I always wanna be honest with you. The past 6 months have been literal hell for me. When I made the pizza run, I swerved off the road, almost hitting a man."
She gasps and I continue.
"I followed the guy in the guy in the woods and overheard him plotting to kill someone. He...smelled me...and he ran after me in the woods. Being stupid, I turned my head to see if he was behind me, and ran head first into an oak. He then finds me...drags me to the shack you were held hostage...and bit me."
Puzzled she asks, "Bit you? ...how?"
I grab her hand to rub over the scarred tissue where his teeth had penetrated. Her hand jerks away along with her whole body.
"I'm a vampire Draven." The words escape painfully.
And the look of shear pain and fear will forever be burned in my skull as Draven runs into the kitchen. I follow her and I'm faced with a dangerous Draven...with a butcher's knife reflecting in my direction.
TO BE CONTINUED.....

Kept Promise

I felt like TNT in a dark room. Once Luther had slapped Draven, that fuse became lit, unsure when it would explode.
"Oh, I didn't see you there Kingsly. How are you? I see you managed to escape from Seth's house. I'll have a talk with him later. Wanna seat?"
Luther was testing my already short fuse. His yellow tinted fangs were those of a monster. A heartless, black hole. I looked past the dark hair that covered his glass eye and saw a demon. This asshole wanted me to "take a seat?" I'll humor him, but my eyes are still fixed on Draven. After getting past the busted lip, the brutally bruised cheeks, the puffed right eye and the bloody left, she was still beautiful. She was still the Draven I married and loved with all my heart. Luther looked like he had taken a beating as well. The goose egg on his head and the dried blood on his lower lip told me that Draven hadn't taken her beatings lightly.
After looking at her and looking back at Luther...
"FUCK TAKING A SEAT!"
The TNT inside me had let off an earthquake within me.
I lunge at Luther who moves quickly to the side, avoiding my thrust, and grabs my head and slams it to the ground like he had palmed a basketball and bounced it.
"Kingsly!" I hear Draven yell in her concerned voice. I see her scrambling to untie herself. What a fighter.
Luther takes a seat down to my level as I stare him in the eyes. His glass eye is filled with anger, deception, and murder.
"Hi Kingsly," he says through a smirk, "I'm glad you could see your wife like this. Wanna say hi?"
He picks my head up by the hair and forces me to see her in her bloody stupor.
A tear falls to the floor and it seems to burn the concrete.
It's not her tear...but mine.
She looks at me, and without words I can hear her say,"Here I am Kingsly. You have to fight. You have to continue...for me...for us."
She nodded her head as she knew that I caught the message I had received from her deep gaze.
I reached and grabbed Luther's wrist, hearing multiple satifying snaps.
With my head free, I had gathered up just enough energy to rise up and stomp on Luther's already broken wrist.
The floor of the shack was littered with rusted nails from previous carpenter's projects. I took advantage of these gifts left for me and nailed one straight through Luther's hand.
A satisfying howl came from the depths of Luther's diaphragm.
I smirked.
"Luther. Do you realize what you've made me? Do you realize what you've created for yourself? You've done this to me and by creating this you've shaped your tombstone."
Luther starts laughing.
"You know what Kingsly...how many people have you killed to get to me? How many husbands? I know what I've created. A brother."
He takes out the nail and throws it. It lands squarely in my chest as he runs off.
The nail penatrates to the point where only the flat end can be seen.
It doesn't matter. I turn to Draven.
Draven.
I didn't know how I felt. I felt light headed,ashamed, dirty...monsterous.
Through her sobs she looked at me, her brunette hair matted from days without
shower, and beckoned me over.
"Kingsly! Get over here and untie me damnit. You get over here."
My feet seem to be walking on ice as they slip and stutter over to her from the lack of equalibruim throuh my body.
Untying the thick ropes seemed like to take those 6 months that I lost with her.
The final knot had been untied and she was free.
Free to embrace me. Just like I remember.
I embrace her so tight that I can feel her feet being lifted off the ground.
She was really in my arms. After 6 months of watching her eat alone in the apartment and cry,wishing she had someone to talk back to her, she was finally in my arms again. I felt her grip tighten and I could feel her smile and tears through my black torn shirt. Each tear was a reminder...a reminder that I wasn't the same. As much as I missed her, the scent of her sweet blood ran through my veins and hardened my grip.
No.
Not now.
I let her go.
Our tears mix and create wet stains on eachother's clothes.
"I've...missed you so much Draven. Words can't....can't even describe."
I hold my chest where the nail lies hammered in.
"Baby...let's get out of here. Let's get you fixed up. We have catching up to do."
She grabs my hand, fingers interlaced;we walk in sync to the opening of the shack door.
"I promised myself I'd find you. I always keep my promises."
TO BE CONTINUED....