"Flashes: Episode Two: The First" by Emma Kathryn

The First

Emma Kathryn McDonald

She kept as far away from him as she could.  She stared at him; he was no longer a “he” or “him” but “it.”  He had been no older than her but she had ended it all for him in just a few moments.

            She sat with her knees tucked up against her chest, wrapped in her arms, and she shook violently as she wept.  The tears ran slowly, lingering on her pale face, and she felt sick, still tasting the metallic flavour on her lips, teeth and tongue.  It made her gag and she let go of her knees in order to vigorously rub the excess crimson fluid from her lips with the back of her trembling hand.  The marks it left on her skin made her gasp and, again, relive what she had done.

            She had taken a human life!  It was something which had never even crossed her mind and, here, she sat opposite a dead man with his blood tainting her being.  She tried to convince herself that it was not her doing; the condition had made her do it.  It was the condition.  The condition…

The weeping began again and she took her head in her hands in despair.  The room had been silent but now she heard those boots echoing against the cold floor.  They stopped before her and she slowly gazed up past the tears and into the eyes of her sire.  The man looked down on her with a grin.

“You did well, my pretty,” he told her, crouching down to face her.  He put his hand on her face, pushing her raven hair out of the way.  She immediately jerked away from his touch.

“It does not seem that way,” she muttered as she wiped the shed tears from her eyes.

“Well you did,” he told her firmly, putting his cold hand back on her cheek only for her to pull away again.  He blatantly ignored her dismissal and tried to touch her once more.  She slapped his hand away but this time he grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, wrenching her head back, revealing two tiny, pin-prick scars on her throat.  “And do you have any idea just how pretty you became while you were taking him?” he asked her cruelly.  She clenched her eyes shut, trying to prevent the single tear from falling.  “Your eyes filled with lust and they seemed even wilder as you sank your perfect teeth into his flesh…”

“Stop it,” she begged in a quivering whisper.  “Please, just stop.”  He did not and only tightened his grip on her.

“Hush, child.  This is but the first; it will become easier with time.  There will be many more to come…”

“I did not want this!” she burst, the strength and anger surprising her as she gathered her might and broke free from his grasp.  She frantically got to her feet and fled desperately from the horror she had caused.