Punish

Here's a link to the first story: .net/s/5486475/1/Save_me

Preface:

Tears stroke down my face as I flew like a ghost through the dark forest. There were no other sounds than my heart-broken sobs, but I continued running, trying to stop the impossible from happening.

"So you're going to starve yourself just because of this one single human?"

The voice startled me, and I glanced up from the floor that I'd stared at the whole day. Lucas stood in the doorway to the room, looking at me with slightly bored eyes. In his hand was a plastic bag with blood which he now reached forward, expecting me to take it.

I looked away from him again, regretting that I'd showed any interest.

For over a week I'd been sitting in Isaac's room, refusing to both talk and drink. My throat was aching worse than ever and my body felt oddly weak, but it felt as a good punish for what I had done.

Every hour or so, Isaac came to the room, always begging me to speak to him. Although it hurt inside of me when I heard the pain in his voice, I couldn't do as he asked me to. I felt too horrible inside.

Lucas sighed and took a few steps into the room, but I kept my gaze focused on the floor. From the corner of my eye, I saw how he bent down beside me.

"Look, Isaac's been nagging me for three days now, so I'm not leaving until I've made some progress," Lucas said in a voice that matched his expression.

Unable to stop myself, I opened my mouth and spoke in a quiet voice. "Just go. If I don't want to talk to Isaac, then I definitely don't want to talk to you."

"If I go now, Isaac will probably drag me up here again."

I shrugged.

"He's losing his mind, Jessica. You can't do like this to him."

Again, I couldn't stop myself from speaking. "But don't you understand? That man probably had a wife and children, and I killed him."

Lucas hesitated, as if he wasn't quite sure what to say, so I continued talking.

"The worst part is actually that I know how it feels to lose someone I love. And now I'm responsible for bringing that pain to someone else."

"I know…"

"No, you don't know", I interrupted him. "Because you have done this over and over again without caring about the pain you've inflicted in someone's life."

I closed my mouth as soon as the last word was out, regretting that I'd said anything. I hadn't forgotten how he'd threatened me last week.

I glanced quickly at his face, which was why I saw how his eyes flashed with anger.

"Don't blame anything on me. What you're doing now is just plain stupid, and you know it," he growled.

I looked away again, this time to hide how shocked I was to hear his furious tone.

We sat in silence for a little while, until Lucas suddenly sighed and began to speak as if we were in the middle of a conversation.

"Even Isaac has done it. And although I know he regrets it, he hasn't tried to kill himself just because of it."

"He has?" I asked, too shocked to keep quiet again.

"He had no other choice in the beginning."

The curiosity started growing inside of me, washing away the regret. "How long was he like that then?"

A tiny smile appeared on Lucas lips. "No, no. You'll have to talk to him about that."

Before I could prompt him for more information, he got up and held out the bag with blood again.

"Isaac is my brother. Don't hurt him."

"Why do you even care?"

He ignored my question and dropped the bag in my lap before he walked out of the room. I sat still for a minute, just watching the little straw that was taped to the side of the bag. The thirst in my throat was painful, but I was too lost in my thoughts to barely notice it.

Although I didn't want to admit it, I knew Lucas was right. I couldn't really understand where all his compassion had come from, but he was obviously worried about Isaac. And even though I hated myself for the moment, I couldn't be the one who was hurting Isaac.

I was not quite sure if it was the thought of bringing pain to Isaac or the burning thirst that made me change my mind, but I didn't stop myself as I stuck the thin straw into the plastic bag and gave up my depression.

Although I was disgusted by drinking, the blood once again made my whole body feel healthy and warm. The feeling of well-being almost washed away the last depression inside of me. Well, almost.

The curiosity hadn't fully vanished after my conversation with Lucas, which was why I now walked slowly down the stairs – listening intently for any sound that could lead me to Isaac. The whole house was dead silent.

I stopped outside the door to the living room, deliberating whether or not to check inside. The idea of meeting Lucas there instead of Isaac was not very comforting.

After a long moment, though, I couldn't help but to slowly open the door and peek inside. To my great relief, the room was empty.

Without hesitating, I walked inside and sat down on one of the couches. There was a small table standing right beside me, and on it was a newspaper with today's date on it. Although I'd never been interested in reading the news, I was suddenly very curious about what had happened while I'd been lost in my depression.

The front page caught my attention at once, and I bent my head closer to read more intently.

Another victim lost to the serial killer

"Early yesterday, Mary King was found dead outside her house. The cause of death was exactly similar to the nine other deceases this week; blood-drained body and a snapped neck. No fingerprints were found on her body, though, which confuses both the police and the citizens of the town.

The police are now ordering everyone to stay inside their houses as much as possible until they've found the murderer…"

The sound of a hemming startled me, and the paper dropped from my hands to the floor with a quiet thud. I looked up to see both Isaac and Lucas standing in the doorway to the room; Isaac smiling at me and Lucas staring at me with the same bored expression on his face as before.

"Did you do this?" I hissed at Lucas, stabbing my finger at the newspaper that still lay on the floor beneath me.

The happiness drained from Isaac's face immediately, and was replaced by a frown.

"Do what?" Lucas asked hesitantly.

I got up from the couch and walked over to where they both stood, grabbing the paper from the floor on my way.

"Don't play all innocent now," I growled at Lucas at the same time as I threw the newspaper in his face. "Ten people have been murdered."

Lucas read the front page intently for a minute, until he suddenly let out a low chuckle.

"You think I've killed all these people?" he asked.

I gave him a dark look. "I know you have. What I don't know is why you did this. I thought you were finally starting to act a tiny bit nice, but now…"

"I haven't done a thing," Lucas interrupted. The amused tone he'd used before had now completely vanished.

"Then who has?" I asked. "You're the only one here who could have done something like this."

Lucas took a step closer so that he could hover over me. I glared up at his face, refusing to show any sign of fear.

"I did not do this," he said slowly.

Isaac was suddenly standing right next to me with his hand pressed against Lucas' chest, shoving him back a few steps.

"Back off, Lucas."

"But she's accusing me for this."

"Well, there's no other explanation," I growled.

"Yes, there is," Isaac said quietly.

Both I and Lucas stared at him for a long moment, waiting impatiently for him to speak again. When he did, his voice sounded more serious than I'd ever heard it.

"There's another vampire in town."

Du-du-dum. That was supposed to be my "To-be-continued-sound" ;)

Anyways, don't forget to review and tell me what you think about this first chapter (: