Inner Demon

He would feel it right away.
The blood suddenly stopping to make the heart beat and being replaced by a thirst, a murderous thirst for those who have the life substance.
He would feel it.
The heart being turned to ice as all emotions seem to disappear and only one consuming all of them.
Hate.
He would live with it.
Being alone and hiding in the shadows as both the hate and the thirst consumed him. Until he, too, would kill...to quench the demon inside.
I did that to him.
I created that monster.
As I sit in the barn, thinking of the man I had taken my rage on, I remember the things I took away from him.
Happiness.
Life.
And a wife.
When tearing into the man's throat, I catch a glimpse of his wedding band. It shimmers in my eye and realize what I'm doing.
I had feasted and quenched my thirst.
For now.
For the past 6 months, I was confused as to how I was going to quench this thirst.
How long will this last?
How long will it be until I feed again?
I can hear the sirens wail over the sound of my own speech.
"They're wasting their time. They won't be able to find me. What am I? I've killed a husband. I've killed...me. I'm no better than Luther," I clench my fist at his name," I lost him....I..."
My pocket starts screaming Korn's classic Coming Undone.
Unknown number.
Luther.
"What do you want from me!?"
"Kingsly! Bravo! You finally grew a pair and gave in to your inner demon. I applaud you! That was very well staged!"
I can hear him smiling through the phone.
I can see those fangs as he laughs his sinister cackle.
He continues...
"You're becoming just like me Kingsly. How'd it taste? Warm? Satisfying?"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!! I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU! You kill for the thrill. I..."
I can't finish my sentence.
Luther takes advantage of the silence.
"Ya know Kingsly, whether you like it or not, you're like me. In more ways than one.
You can't finish the sentence because you enjoyed the kill. Admit it. You enjoyed the fullfilment it gave you. It was like you were alive again."
The bastard was making sense.
That kill made me feel more alive than I've ever felt. Even when I was human, I didn't feel that alive.
Luther continues his rant.
"Remember who you saw in Draven's apartment?"
My pupils dialate.
"Who...was...that?" I say through clenched teeth.
"Kingsly. She's a young 26 year old who needs a man to help her start a new life. You're dead to her. You don't exist. She's. Replaced. You."
Those words boil my veins and make every lifeless one pump with anger.
"Why are you doing this? What have I done to you?"
"Hahahaha Kinglsy. You're funny! What haven't you done to me? But that's for a later day, pumpkin. Do you want Draven's new boy toy dead?"
The question lingers in the phone lines like a virus ready to release a sickness.
"....Yes," I answer slowly.
"Good. I'd be worried if you didn't. Since I'm feeling sympathetic...I'll tell you where he lives and you can do...what the demon inside tells you to do. But I want something in return. He has a code...etched on his right leg. I need that...and don't ask questions. If you want pretty boy out of Draven's life, you'll bring me that right leg...and the rest is yours."
Why am I considering this?
The line stays quiet.
I go through his request and give an answer.
"Luther. I would rather cut off my own leg and end your life with it than do your killing for you."
"I thought you were smarter than that Kingsly. Oh! Hey, while I have you on the line...someone wants to say a little word."
My legs buckled and I fall to the ground as the voice, the sweet, now terrified voice, cried.
"KINGSLY! I'M SOR..."
"DRAVEN!!!! LUTHER YOU'RE DEAD!!! YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD!!!"
"Ah...now Kingsly you can hurt my feelings later. My deal?"
"....fuck you. Where does...this man live?"
All the hair raises on my skin. I want nothing more to find this monster and show him who he's dealing with.
"2704 Beamount Avenue. And Kingsly...thank you. I'll call in 4 hours. Give you plenty of time to be pissed off and do what I ask. Love you."
"IF YOU HURT ONE HAIR...I'LL FIND YOU...I PROMISE!! I..."
Click.
Silence.

----------------------------------------------------------------
"Your husband is a scary man hahaha. I'm real intimidated."
"It's not him you that you should be intimidated by. It's me, you shit!, Draven smirks.
SMACK!
"You're precious."
Draven headbutts Luther and welcomes another hit.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Here it is.
I stare at the address.
2704 Beamount Ave.
Seth Balkner reads on the mailbox.
What now inner demon?
To Be Continued...

Monster Unleashed

What did Luther mean "he knows me better than I think?"
He doesn't know me. If he did know me, he would know that that I'm the type of person that doesn't take threats lightly.
He would also know that not only threatening me was dangerous, but scaring Draven was also a huge button he shouldn't have pushed.
Luther doesn't know me.

I can see our apartment.
It's five minutes until she's supposed to eat dinner and I'm two blocks away. Where my heart used to be, there is a hard thump that won't settle until I know that she is safe.
All I can see in my mind is Luther in our apartment. Walking towards her. And her kicking his ass with her brass knuckles that she has taped under the couch.
I should know, I gave her those for Christmas last year.
Then, in my mind, I barge in and take over.
Ripping his head off from the jaw.
After, of course, I torture him like he did when he turned me into this vile creature.

I'm on top of my post where I do my dreaming and have my keen eye on our apartment.
7:30
No Draven.
No sign at all.
I grow extremely weary and my veins run thick with hate, replacing the blood that once ran through them.
7:34
No Draven.
What did Luther do to her?
Should I go in there and see what's wrong?
What if she turned in early?
As I sit debating with myslef, I realize that six minutes go by.
7:40
No Draven.
No more debating!
I jump from the roof landing next to a woman who's mouth became agape.
"I'm...a Grayson," saying the first thing that popped in my head.
The woman made no connection between my comment and the Batman Forever reference.
As I take my running start forward, a light glows in Draven's direction.
I jump up to the edge of my post, and find that she is ok...
and not alone...
She brought home another guy.
My throat clogs up as she sits him down across the table in my spot.
What was this bastard doing with my wife!? She's still married! I'm still alive!
I can't take this!
Jumping off the post again, I jump in front of the same woman.
"Grayson, huh?"
"....Luther?" I snarl.
He throws off his disguise and starts running.
My legs move faster than when he was chasing me six months ago.

"Come on Kingsly, you can run faster than that!"
He has a tendency to bring out the vampire in me.
I thirst for nothing more than his blood!
During my rampage and twisting through crowds to keep up with him, I crash into a middle aged man who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I thrashed into his neck in a blind rage in front of everyone in the crowd.
Nothing else matters.
Not even Draven.
The blood tastes so good! It's like I've been in the desert fro six months and this is the first taste of water I've had.
Is this what Luther wanted? To bring out the rage in me....
To bring out the vampire...
The sirens howl in the air and I run as fast as I can towards a safe place...the barn where I was tortured.
That was my only home.
I wasn't just a monster now...I was a murderer.
Should I feel bad for what I just did?
Yes.
Do I?
No.
What have I become?
Has this rage that Luther created within me changed me?
I know I was changed, but now, I have killed...and liked it.
What is happening to me?
What will happen to me?
To Be Continued...

Sweet Memory

"Baby! Its fine come back to the couch. It's cold," Draven said with her usual sweet tone.
As I lay seemingly lifeless in the dead autumn leaves, the memory of our last date ran clear in my memory.

Even though the movie kept skipping, nothing cold ruin that night with her. Just seeing her all curled up on the couch, warm under the blankets with those gorgeous blue eyes staring back at me made me forget that this night was failing.

"Kingsly, its fine. We've seen Tropic Thunder a million times. Come back on the couch, your cappuccino is getting cold. I made it for you, ya know."
The way she said that last sentence drew me in. I was guilty of letting her cappuccino go cold.
I smiled.
Looking at her just smiling back at me made me feel like no one else existed in the world but her and I. She was and still is the most wonderful woman on this planet.

"But I feel so bad! I have to work tomorrow. And it's going to be an intense night... Sunday plus football games equal a crazy night! And this is the one night in the week I got called off. I wanted it perfect. With one of our favorites, all warm and what not, eatin' Chinese and laughing our asses off."

I remember that laugh.
It's the type of laugh that when you hear it, you just automatically become happy.

Draven retaliates in her usual manner.
"You know as long as you're here with me I'm fine."
There it is. That smile that melts me every time.

As I'm being sniffed by raccoons in reality, my memory continues.

"Kingsly I have to tell you something."
"What baby," I reply, anticipating her news.
We had been trying for a kid for a year, and no matter how hard we tried, our little family was put on hold.

She continues.
"My dad was a scientist. An underground scientist. He was the one that they went to to create antidotes for rare diseases. He didn't get paid for his work because he felt that he shouldn't be paid to help people. He was working on a very important antidote one night. One that he said would revolutionize the world and stun people who don't believe. He never did explain what he meant by that. But anyway, one night he almost had it done, and his lab partner killed him in cold blood and was never seen again. He never left a note as to why he slaughtered my father, but all he did was take loads of his journals and burn them. Two years ago, I found one that was left behind. He was working on a vamire antidote."

I remember laughing. Hard.

"Baby. Vampires are myths. They aren't real. Only the ones in Underworld are."
She smirked at my little joke.

"Is that all you wanted to tell me? I'm ready to kick some Resident Evil ass!"
Draven looked away to wipe her long brown hair out her face and responded,
"Yeah....that's all. LET'S DO THIS!!!"
She grabs her Xbox controller, the one with the brass knuckle sticker, and winks at me.
I couldn't have loved anyone else.
Draven Harding was my match. And me hers.

The smell of the morning fog catches my nose and I wake up from the cheap shot that Luther gave me several hours ago.
DRAVEN!!!
I rose up from my stupor and glided through the leaves to make sure my love wasn't harmed.
If she was...
I would stop at NOTHING to brutally kill Luther.
I promise.
I always keep my promises.
To Be Continued...

We Speak

"Hello?"
The voice sounded sweetly familiar.
I hesitated. Should I talk back?
No. Why would I do that? I would be giving her false hope.
I'd be giving me false hope.
Each second that passed seemed like months.
The sweet voice became more irritated at the silence.
"Answer me! This isn't funny! The last time you called you threatened me! I'm calling the cops!"

The sound of the click symbolized my own existence.
Alone.
Silent.
Worthless.

"Draven!," I howl. Knowing I was too late to speak up.
She was in danger.
Luther had called her and made threats against her.
This guy just keeps building up my anger past boiling point.
At this point, I'm ruthless.
Revenge has taken over me.
It's one thing to take me away from my love...but when he threatens Draven directly...he's pushed me to a limit that makes me blind to reality and the only thing I can see is me ripping every appendage of his and burning them right in front of him.

I drop the cell phone into my pocket and head to the only lead I have now...to my old apartment...where Draven lives now.
What does Luther want with her?
She's just a mere girl who has had 6 months of pre mature heart ache thrust upon her because of him.

I feel like I should warn her.
I have her phone number heating up my pocket and screaming for a warning.
Reaching for my phone, my fingers wrap around it ready to take it out and call her, but as I take it half way out, I think to myself
"She wouldn't believe me. I've been "dead" for 6 months. This could drive her insane. Give her false signals. I can't"

What does he want with Draven?
If he even looks at her wrong...I'll...

I hear a ringing coming from my phone.
"Unknown number?"
Who could it be?
Draven?

I let my Korn ringtone carry on until my curiosity gets the better of me.
"Draven?" I anwser quickly.
My heart turns even more black and my pupils widen as the voice on the other end laughs.

"Listen to you. 'Draven? Oh Draven!' HAHAHAHA, how cute Kingsly! How stinkin' cute! I see you've found my,uh, little present."

"Luther! You SON OF A BITCH what do you what with her!? She's so unimportant! This is between you and me. Don't involve her. Unless you're ready to endure some serious consequences. More than you already have coming."

"You think that scares me Kingsly? I've seen five years worth of horror. I've caused decades of horror. You. Don't. Scare. Me. Nice try pumpkin."

At this point I'm shaking from rage. I want this scum's heart pried from his chest and into my hands.

"Why do you want her!?!"

"Your innocent little Draven has held secrets for a long time, and tonight I'm going to uncover them."

"Secrets? She wouldn't hold secrets from me."

In a very annoying, matter of fact tone,
"You think she doesn't have secrets?! You are sadly mistaken Kingsly. Come on, you think she really want to go to college to become a zoologist!? HA! How naive of you! Typical Kingsly."

"What do you mean 'typical?' You don't know me! You will never get the chance to know me! You'll never reach her. I'll make sure of it Luther!"

"You make me laugh! I know you better than you think. And what are you going to do stop me?"

As I started to continue my threat, I heard the familiar silence of the phone hanging up.

Leaves started to fall, owls started to hoot as the night approached its peak, and birds flew out of the trees, swirling above me.

"Goodnight Kingsly."
I felt a very sharp crack in the back of my head and stumbled as my vision blurred and saw a dark figure watch me fall.

"You won't be stopping me tonight."
I yell at the top of lungs,
"LUTHER!! DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!!"
I can't gather the gumption to move my legs.
Black.
To Be Continued...

He was Here

There it stood.
The oak tree with the head gash marked onto the trunk.
I look back now and think to myself," What if I hadn't looked back to see if that frigid breath was his on the back of my neck? Would I have not turned into the sturdy trunk that became my headstone?"
Clenching my fist, I hurl it into the blood spot, not even caring that my fist was now dirtied with both blood from my knuckle and bark.
"Why did you look back Kingsly?" You should have just ran," I say to myself with an annoying tone.
Why am I here?
Just because I return back to where I turned into this vicious demon, doesn't mean I'll find any evidence on where to find him.
Or am I just here for closure?
Closure?
I'll never have closure.
Closure doesn't exist to me. Nothing exists anymore.
Just me and him.
Rummaging through the woods, all the memories start flashing back.

"I'll find him, bring him back here so we can do what we do best...persuade."
"You would do that to your own brother?" You're sick. I love it."

I still remember his smirk when he said "persuade." His white teeth and the sharp fangs seemed to penetrate my skull before his actual teeth sank physically into me.
His dark hair that swept over at an angle across his dirty bearded face, covering one eye, seemed like he was hiding something.
He was.
His other eye was gone. Replaced by a glass one.
He was hiding something else though.
He knew I was there.
Listening.
As I look past the trees in the woods, I see the silhouettes of where they stood and hear the last thing I would hear before I was running for my life and thinking I actually had a chance to survive.

"How do you know, Luther?"
"Because, Ican smell it! I know my brother has the cure! Don't you hate being like this? My brother is holding out on us. I'll find him, kill him and..."

There was something in his raspy voice that had me question whether he believed what he was saying.

That's when those deep blue eyes stared into mine and I felt a fear that no human should ever feel.

My past is behind me now.
What was I looking for?
What did I expect to find here?
Where to find it?

What's that smell?
It smells familiar.

"What...are....you doing here?"
I hear a man scrambling in the leaves.
It's him. The man Luther was talking to.

I pull him out of the leaves and find my hands covered in blood.
He coughs up a spurt of it onto my black jacket.

"Gross," I say with a discussed look on my face.
I don't even care that his arm is twisted and his leg is missing.

"Where's Luther?"
"You think I'd tell you! You piece of shit! Why'd you come back? Revenge? HA! Kingsly you should have kept your nose in the pizza box and left business to us real vampires."

I've had enough of this fuck. I was growing impatient and I stuck my finger deep in where his leg was missing.

"You tell me right now where Luther is and I'll let you die peacefully."
He hocked a spit of blood in my eye and took a rock and smashed in his own head.
A lifeless, vampire corpse, the only one who knew where my killer was, now lay limp in my grasp.

I search his velvet purple jacket for anything I could use to get me closer to Luther.

He comes up empty.
All I found was twenty dollars and a condom.

I was about to give up when I spotted a piece of paper in the leaves and a note next to a spilled glass that reaked of rat poison.

"Smart move. Having the combination on your leg. I knew you were helping him. Thanks for the limb. I haven't eaten in weeks.
Your friend,
Luther"

I crumpled up the note and screamed.
The resting birds flew into the air.

I took out my cell phone and dialed the number.
A woman's voice answered.
To Be Continued...

Just Lost

I can't even look at her without smelling the aroma of sweet blood.
She could be wearing her Sunday best perfume and still the only scent that I would choose to acknowledge would be that of the blood that ran through the veins of the love of my life.

We were married for 1 year exactly the day he took my life away and cursed me with a new, colder one. Draven Harding is the name of my love.
Draven.
What a unique name. A unique name that went along with a unique couple.
She and I were inseparable, and she didn't even care that we were living on a pizza guy salary.
We worked it out though. She was going to school to be zoologist and I was supporting her while working two jobs, a pizza man and a substitute teacher.
Draven always wanted me to go back to school and pursue a career in computers. At the age of 14, I built my first working computer. I told her after she was taken care of, I'd think about it.

She was my everything. Still is.
7:30 every night she eats dinner, alone and she cries as she stares at the empty seat across from her. I cry too. Then I grow angry because my tears aren't because I miss her, it's because I want to sink into her and drain her of every ounce of her blood and just feed on her.
So much pain. No one will ever know this pain that runs through me. The only one that I hope will one day be the victim of my rage because of the pain is him, the one that so viciously created a barrier between me and my soul mate.

It is now midnight, and I sit on old abandoned roof across from my old apartment and watch my Draven sleep.
I wasn't the only one that died that night in the woods, so did Draven Harding.
I saw her from afar during the funeral and I remember her saying, "You aren't dead. You're just lost"
I believe that to this day. I'm not dead, I'm just lost.

I'll make sure I didn't become this vile creature for nothing Draven. I promise. He will pay for what he did to you and I. You know I never break my promises.

I jump off the roof, and start where I remember last...the woods...where it happened.
TO BE CONTINUED...

Won't Stop

I can still remember it.
The leaves crunching under my feet as if they were advising me to run faster.
The thump each heart beat made and how my chest had become an African conga.
He wouldn't give up the chase. How could he, he couldn't resist the smell of blood.
How do I know? Because, now I can't resist the same warm, life substanence that once ran fluent in me.

Maybe, I was supposed to make that pizza delivery that Sunday for the football game.
Maybe, I was destined to swerve my car off the road, almost ending a "man's" life.
Maybe, I was supposed to overhear his plot to kill his brother.
Maybe, that tree, the giant oak tree imprinted with the blood from my head, was grown there just for me.

Just for that day.

He couldn't have just spared my life. No. He had to drag me to a secluded place, wait until I came to, ask me if I valued my life, and savagely tear open my neck; ripping every tendon in between my throat and my shoulder, leaving me with a hot pain that would never again feel the warmth of human flesh, but be replaced by cold frigid skin that I am now forever trapped in.

All this runs through my head as I hear a combination of both my neck veins pounding and him pompously degrading me.

"Kingsly. How weak of you just to give up like that. I thought you had better blood than this. You weren't worth the effort. Enjoy the rest of your life, as one one us. Like you'll even survive. Look at you. Shriveled up and boney. You were just a warm up for me Kingsly. I get better blood from birds. Pathetic."

My eyes flutter under my eyelids as that moment fades and I wake up with a jolt and remember... remember that it will never stop. The hate, the want, the thirst. In my mind, my head that constantly throbs with the thought of revenge, wonders what it will taste like when I find the man who ended my life so abruptly. I want answers. I will get those answers. The curiousity of the taste of revenge overpowers my own hunger and hideous behavior...for now...
I fear the future. Both mine and his.
TO BE CONTINUED...