The screams of the men being slaughtered could be heard throughout the silent night; their cries gurgled and in vain. Though there calls for help were many and loud, there was no one around for miles to hear them.
One man panted as he ran from his attacker, his clothes and face covered in the blood from his own wounds as well as the spattered blood from those whom had been slain near him. His legs felt weak beneath him as they carried him farther and farther from the site of the massacre, he knew that soon they would give out and leave him with no way to escape, and then his attacker would soon come to finish him off like the vermin he was.
No sooner had those thoughts passed through his mind did he feel his legs begin to wobble beneath him and the then ground was rushing up to meet him. He collided roughly with the stone floor of the hallway which he had run down in an attempt to make an escape. He groaned quietly at the pain and rolled over onto his back so that he was facing the low ceiling. A few moments of silence passed, which meant that the killings in the other rooms had come to an end. For a few brief seconds this gave him hope that the murderer had left, but then he heard the echoing footsteps coming from just down the hall. He sucked in a quick breath and groaned again, knowing that he was done for. It was foolish for him to have imagined that he may have escaped.
He waited silently as his soon to be killer took her time coming down the long stretch of hall. He knew she was toying with him, purposefully making him anxious and enjoying his fear. Suddenly he heard her voice near him and shivered involuntarily as she laughed cruelly. He realized that she was now standing before him, and saw that what little light there was in the room reflect off the blades that were attached to her wrists. He tried to breathe evenly and not show his fear, but it was a useless attempt as she could sense his fear as easily as she could hear his heart pounding in his chest.
She laughed again before coming even closer so that she was now standing over him, and then proceeded to lower herself so that she was straddling his waist. She leaned forward so that her mouth was right beside his ear and whispered in a low, menacing voice, "Thought you could escape, did you?" She ran one of her fingers from his jaw down to his throat, drawing a thin line of blood. She lifted the bloodstained finger to her lips and licked his blood off. He stared up at her defiantly, determined not to show any reaction, and she sneered down at him, flashing him her fangs in the process. Without another word, she reached out and gripped his head and twisted it so that his neck snapped at being turned so fast to such an unnatural angle.
The young woman stood immediately after killing the man foolish enough to think that he could escape her. Her business wasn't done; while she had technically completed her mission that the Brimstone Society had sent her on, she still sensed life in the building, and she was determined to kill every scumbag mortal that inhabited the place.
She followed the scent of living human flesh and the sound of a heart beating and pumping sweet blood through some mortal's veins. She reached the end of the hall, which turned out to be a dead end, but upon closer inspection she was able to see what looked like a latch in the wall. She tried to open it, only to find it locked. "Figures," her voice echoed. Then an idea struck her. She turned back to the corpse lying on the floor a short distance away and started to rummage through his pockets until she found what she was looking for; a key ring.
She took the keys and approached the hidden door in the wall one again and began to try one key at a time until she found the right one. When she heard the click of the lock on the other side of the door unlocking she grinned and pulled the door open then threw the keys aside.
The passage on the opposite side of the door was dark and consisted of a spiraling staircase descending underground. She sighed and began her descent down the winding stairs, and soon noticed that the presence of life was becoming ever closer, and she licked her lips in anticipation of the sweet blood that was yet to come. After what seemed like an eternity she reached the bottom and found herself in a small room that appeared to be empty.
It was then that she heard a small whimper, and she knew that the human life she had sensed was in the room with her. She stopped and listened carefully and she could just barely hear the sound of a small heart beating, as well as the breath of the person. Their heart sounded weak, as if close to death, and this made her very curious.
"Hello?" a small voice called from the far corner of the room. The woman whipped around to face the direction the voice had come from. The voice had sounded female and very young. She heard the sound of clothes rustling and of soft steps on the floor, and then a small figure emerged from the darkness. It was that of a small girl dressed in torn clothes with wild, tangled black hair.
She was shocked. What was a child doing here? She took a few slow steps toward her so as not to scare her, and then dropped down to her knees so that she was eye level with the girl. Being a dhampir, she didn't really care much for humans, but for some strange reason she felt as if she had to help this child who had been kept in the dark for who knows how long.
"Little girl," she said slowly and put her hands on her frail shoulders, "what is your name?"
The girl was silent for a moment, her wide slate grey eyes staring at her in a frightful way, and then she answered, "Jessi."
"How old are you Jessi?"
"I'm five," she answered holding up five fingers on a small hand.
"How long have you been here?"
She was silent again, as if trying to remember how long she had been kept in the cold of what seemed to be the basement of the building. "I…I don't know," she answered quietly, as if ashamed that she couldn't give her the answer she wanted.
The woman sighed out of frustration before saying, "I'm going to get you out of here, you're safe now," she said picking the child up and ascending the stairs slowly.
She felt the Jessi's thin arms snake around her neck and hold on as if for dear life. "Lady," she heard her small voice say close to her ear, as the girl had her face buried in her neck, "what's your name?"
"Rayne," she answered just as softly.
