Chapter 1 - Red Tide
"Hey, thanks for taking Gillian's shift today, Leah. Take tomorrow off if you want."
"Yeah, no problem, Nick," Leah responded while slipping into a light spring jacket. "And you know I wouldn't have come in tomorrow regardless."
The bar manager smirked, chucking the cloth he was using to wipe the counter at her leaving figure. "Man I love it when my employees behave like employees."
Leah easily caught the rag and flung it back at him along with her own sarcastic retort, "Hmm, maybe you should start behaving like a real employer then."
"Sure thing! I'll have shackles and a strict uniform waiting for you next time."
"Sounds hot."
"That's the way I like it, babe."
Laughing, Leah opened the restaurant door, turning back for a final goodbye. "Alright, Nick, see ya on Wednesday."
"Night Leah," he waved with a grin.
Stepping out into the night, Leah was met with a sudden gust of cool breeze. It wasn't dreadfully cold, but just cool enough to penetrate the fabric of her jacket and graze her skin. Folding her arms, she proceeded down the dim street toward the direction of her apartment. The sidewalks were empty, expected for this hour of the night, and the headlights of cars could only be noticed once every minute or so a few blocks ahead at the main intersection.
In any other city, trekking alone on a deserted street at 3 a.m. would never be attempted by a young woman. But this town was different; crime rates were practically non-existent, and there has never been a record of aggressive assault anywhere on anyone. One could literally label Falls Hill as the safest city to live in.
Until today.
Leah wasn't sure when she began to notice a shadowy figure treading on the other side of the street from the corner of her eye. The person's gait was casual and unsuspicious. At first, she did not pay too much heed to it, dismissing the person as just another late-night employee returning home. It was not until the figure swiftly slipped into the shadow between two buildings as she turned to blatantly glance in his/her direction that she realized something was strange. The stirring unrest caused her pace to quicken into a slight jog.
'Just two more blocks,' Leah repeated in her mind. This was the first time since her accident that she felt unsafe.
Upon rounding the final corner before entering her street, she definitely knew she wasn't alone. A set of rough arms pulled her into a vice grip against a bulky body, and a ring clad fist connected with her face. She was mildly aware of a sickening ripping sound across her cheek as metal tore through flesh and beckoned a spray of blood from the now-gaping wound. Luckily, the injury was not enough to force her into unconsciousness, and to the attackers' displeasure, Leah was not as soft-shelled as she appeared.
"Let go of me!" She screamed, struggling furiously in her captor's arms. "LET GO!"
"Shut the hell up!" The man holding her clapped a hand over her mouth only to snatch it away with bloody teeth marks in it.
"You bitch!" he screamed, "You bit me!"
Leah took this chance to thrust her head back into his face in an attempt to shatter his nose. A 'crunch' followed by a loud howl confirmed her success, and the arms immediately released from around her to embrace his face. With her captor now shaken, she broke free and sprinted off back in the direction of the restaurant, allthewhile screaming bloody murder.
"I can't believe she bit me! My hand's bleeding! She BIT me!" She could hear the heavy cursing and threats from behind her as she ran without inhibition. Luckily, the first man seemed to still be in shock with disbelief at her aggression and was currently incapacitated.
"You idiot! You can't even hold a girl down!"
"BUT SHE BIT ME!"
"Shit! Come back here, you bitch!"
Heavy footsteps thundered behind her, and judging by the sound patterns the chaser was clearly a faster runner than she was.
Leah snuck a glance over her shoulder only to see the man who punched her easily closing the distance between them. A silver glint in his hand caught her eye, reminding her of his ring. It appeared as if he was preparing to throw it.
Paying little attention, she returned to looking forward, eager for any signs of people. Barely a step later, a sudden intense pain shot through her lower back. Her steps forcibly faltered and she fought to breathe normally, choking back while an eruption of blood spurted from her lips. Her gaze slowly lowered to find the crimson-stained tip of a knife protruding from her stomach. The shock from the impact prevented her from fully registering the extent of the situation, and for a moment she contemplated reaching behind to pull out the blade.
Before she could do so herself, she felt the knife slide out roughly. This was met with a renewed wave of pain that finally brought back her senses. Her pained facial expression only conveyed a fraction of what she felt as jolts of burning pain swelled from the wound's epicentre. What should have been a blood-curdling scream was replaced by guttural noises from a throat clouded with blood and vomit.
Some time during all this, she had fallen to her knees then forward face-first onto the pavement. 'I'm dying...' she thought, unwilling to believe it. A crimson pool began to grow around her, covering the pavement with the warmth of her existence. She never thought it would end like this.
Heavy breathing in the background reminded her that her attacker was still there. He turned her body over onto her back then proceeded to kneel over her, his legs straddling her waist.
"Alright, I'll make this quick," he said gruffly, bringing the knife over her once more. "Just need your beating heart..."
'My... beating heart?..." The comprehension slowly came, and fear gripped her eyes as she realized what he intended to do.
"Please, stop..." Leah tried to call out but only managed to bear a pitiful whimpered. She tried to meet his eyes and search for any remaining signs of conscience and humanity, but all she found was fire and indulgence.
Her aggressor merely laughed at her futile attempts at communicating. He raised the knife in both hands high above her chest –a flash of silver in the darkness...
It was at this moment that her head rolled to one side and unconsciousness threatened to take over. So this was it...
She waited for the final strike; the crash of the tide that will drown away all her pain and senses. She waited... and waited...
Nothing.
"Maybe I'm already dead," her voice was barely a whisper in the breeze.
"I'm afraid not, miss."
The low, mellow voice of a man significantly different from that of her attackers prompted the opening of her clouded eyes. They were met with the blurry image of a man with sharp, well-sculpted facial features. And his eyes... did she detect a tint of red? Or maybe she has blood in her eyelashes...
Unable to do anything under these new circumstances, Leah stared back at this strange new man. He wore the faintest of smiles, almost as if he found this entire situation rather interesting or amusing.
"Now, let's see to healing you," rang his melodious voice.
Before she could say anything, he had gently scooped her up into a sitting position against him. This ushered a set of audible winces and groans from her, which he quietly shushed.
"It'll be alright, miss," he reassured, "just drink up and you will be fine."
Her confusion of what he meant by 'drinking up' grew when he pressed his slit wrist to her lips. At first, she thought he was trying to suffocate her, but when he instructed her once again to drink, she understood his intent.
And boy was she freaked. Apparently a psychotic self-proclaimed vampire was taking advantage of her vulnerability to make her drink his blood. The grotesque thought mixed with her initial pain and discomfort brought another wave of blood to pour from her mouth.
"No. The other way. In, not out," he repeated, pressing his wrist more firmly against her lips. She began to hear the annoyance and urgency in his voice.
Try as she might to resist, a bit of his blood was bound to enter her mouth. Upon first taste of the blood, a dull foreign ache emerged from within her belly, and she was suddenly hit with a boisterous craving for more. Forgetting about her pain, Leah grabbed onto the man's wrist and held it tightly against her mouth, sucking away at his life force with renewed spirit.
"That's it..." he said, pleased at her obedience.
As she continued to drank, her body felt increasingly light. The burning pain in her abdomen still existed, but grew fainter with each heartbeat. A strange warmth seemed to envelop her, beckoning her back into unconsciousness. The last thing she remembered seeing before finally drifting into darkness was the satisfied smile of that red-eyed man.