Thawing a frozen Rose
The pale king watched from his window as the bobbing lights of torches carried by his soldiers disappeared into the forest that surrounded his castle like a silent army. His onyx eyes flashed crimson in anger as he remembered the reason why he had to send his guard, his personal infantry, out into the unforgiving wilderness in the first place…
"Milord…all the new dogs you have ordered have been poisoned…just like the last pack…" the servant had said not but a week ago, kneeling fearfully before his king. "And more chickens have been stolen yet again."
Just a week ago, the latest band of robberies against the Uchiha, Sasuke the Dark King, the very last of his families vampyric line, was the last. Sasuke decided that the string of crimes, a string that had gone on for almost a month, had gone on long enough. He had grown tired of the thieveries, and now, sending his personal guard would hopefully do the trick. He was going to catch the culprit and make him, or her, pay. With interest.
This thief had stolen his livestock, poisoned pack after pack of dogs and wolfhounds, and practically spat in his pale face. Oh yes, this thief would pay a very dear price indeed.
"Uchiha-sama." A servant walked in and bowed as the last of the lights disappeared into the forest. "You're meal has been prepared and is waiting in your dining chambers."
Sasuke allowed himself a small smile. Without turning to the servant, he said "You are dismissed." in a stern tone that did not betray his smile. The servant obeyed the order in a hustled hurry, causing the smile to grow a bit larger on Sasuke's face. He may be having trouble with a thief. That trouble may have been great enough to where he had to actually organize a group to go out and track the thief down. But never in his life had he had any trouble with dealing with his faithful (though most likely just fearful) servants.
Moments later, Sasuke entered his dimly lit dining chamber, beholding a young pink-haired, green-eyed girl awaiting him, sitting at the end of a table with only a few small candles sitting upon it. She watched the candles, not knowing that the Uchiha had slipped in.
Ah, so even the proud Haruno family wanted to be in his good graces now? Where they, actually, hoping that he would wed the young girl instead of drain her? It so, it was quite a foolish thought.
Even though he wasn't interested in her in the slightest aside from the way a hungry man would behold his diner (which was what Sasuke, in context, was doing), Sasuke had to admit that the girl was not hideous by any means. Her pink hair flowed in a glistening pink waterfall that nearly passed her shoulder blades, and her eyes glowed in the sparse light the candles provided. They were able to keep the shadows that were concealing Sasuke from claiming her lovely visage, though Sasuke was not in need of the candle's assistance to gaze upon the face and take in every detail.
Sasuke crept behind the girl, making no more noise than the darkness that very nearly dominated the room. Despite his movements, the girl was still oblivious to his presence, and continued to stare at the candles as she waited for him to make his entrance.
"I have yet to learn your name." he said, not loudly, but made it so that the girl would be able to hear him clearly. The pink-haired youth jumped and gave a small shriek of surprise, getting out of the chair and turning to see who had spoken. And though he could have done so easily, Sasuke didn't wipe the amused smirk off of his face when she got a good look at it.
And when she did, she couldn't help but give a light gasp as she set her eyes on the face of the Dark King. His fair skin looked as if it were made of fresh snow bathed in moonlight, his cheekbones high, his nose straight, and his eyes lined with full thick lashed, and seemed to go on forever. They were accented in an almost art-like manner by straight ebon hair that looked as if it was silk woven from raven's feathers.
The face was enough to grab the girl's attention from the start, so much that she didn't even make a quick sweep with her eyes over the ornate robes he wore to cover his body, not even taking the time to guess what it looked like underneath the undoubtedly expensive fabric.
But once her eyes truly met his, it was over for her. Her mind became nothing more than a useless haze as Sasuke looked back down into her eyes.
"I still haven't learned your name." Sasuke said softly. "S-Sakura…" the girl whispered. "That seems quite appropriate." Sasuke said with a light chuckle as he reached out and stroked the girl's pink hair lightly, moving it so that her neck was exposed.
"Thank you…" she muttered politely as Sasuke leaned down. Sasuke took the smallest of sniffs, finding the girl's scent to be full of youth and health, perfecting the image of life. In other words for the Uchiha, ripe.
Sasuke's cold fingers brushed Sakura's warm cheek, sending a weak shudder down the young girl's spine. Her knees weakened, so much that Sasuke had to loop one of his arms around her slim waist to keep the mortal from falling into a pink-haired heap onto the stone floor that was just as cold, though much more merciful, than Sasuke's own heart.
The girl, to Sasuke, was as light as a rabbit, and he could feel that her heart was beating just as fast as one. Sasuke's eyes flashed red once more, but this time, it wasn't in anger. It was in nothing but pure hunger as he looked down upon the girl's smooth exposed neck.
Sasuke's other arm wound itself around her shoulder and allowed his long pale fingers to wind themselves into the cheery blossom-hued locks, and in doing so exposing more of the girl's soft flesh.
It was then that Sasuke knew that Sakura was officially nothing more but putty in his dangerous hands. It would be so easy to crush the life out of her, to snap her in half, to break every bone in her young body. He chuckled darkly, dipping his head so that he could kiss the spot where Sakura's jugular vein was closest to the surface.
A euphoric moan passed through Sakura's lips, and if there was anything still solid in the girl's spirit or mind, it was obvious that it, if it had existed in the first place, had melted like butter over a raging bonfire.
Sasuke had been waiting for this, this exact moment. It was the moment that he always waited for : the complete surrender. Although there were times where Sasuke loved nothing more than a good struggle, he felt just as powerful when he was able to lull his victim into a trance that only preceded a calm, painless death that his prey was unable to even know about, an end they were completely unable to see.
Sasuke took another breath, taking in a taste from the perfume of life that surrounded and came from the girl in floods. It was youthful, fresh, and completely pure, not a single bit contaminated by disease or genetic defect. It was perfect.
'It is time.' It didn't come in words, but it was a phrase that the Uchiha was able to understand it all the same. It was the language of his hunger, a dialect that he was able to understand as soon as he was reborn, or to the mortals, turned. It was as much a part of him as the very icy blood that ran through his veins.
At first, when Sasuke had hit Uchiha "puberty", he wasn't able to control his hunger. Anything with a heart beating warm blood was fair game in his book, and his family didn't mind. He was a fledgling, and such rampant attacks and feeding sprees were nothing more than purely natural.
But now, the Uchiha was mature. He was seasoned, and was able to control his urges until HE decided it was the right time, HE decided the right place, and HE decided the right victim. He watched and waited, looking for what he really wanted to plunge his fangs into. There were times where he had taken a drink from something truly unsavory, and he had paid for his impatience.
"Yes…it is…" Sasuke replied, opening his mouth and licking the same spot he had kissed not but a moment before. Sakura moaned again, and her face flushed. She reached up and held Sasuke weakly, a titanic feat on it's very own, a feat that barely any others in her state would have been able to accomplish.
"It most definitely is." Sasuke murmured with a grim smirk as Sakura unknowingly embraced her own death. Sasuke opened his mouth a bit wider, exposing fangs, like the rest of his teeth, that seemed to be made of the very pearls of Heaven itself, and they were poised over the girl's throat, hovering like twin ivory daggers.
"Good night, young blossom." Sasuke said softly, petting the girl's pink hair, pressing the tips of his fangs against her throat-
"Milord! The thief, he has been caught!" A servant burst into the room, right before Sasuke's fangs broke through the girl's skin. Sasuke paused, but not for long.
He drew back and looked into the girl's dull eyes. His own flashed crimson with the power that he had developed, the power that his family had cultivated and perfected generations before he was even born. "Sleep." he said, and Sakura fainted immediately. Sasuke dropped her, letting the mortal crumple into a heap on the stone floor.
"Have her moved to one of the guest rooms." Sasuke said in a tone that said that he only wanted the girl to be kept fresh, and didn't give a damn if she was comfortable or not.
"And have the thief moved to the judging chamber." he said to the servant as he moved past him.
Sasuke didn't care about the girl. He never had. As far as he was concerned, she could be dropped out in the ditches lining the manor and end up as food for the wild dogs or a whore for the local scum. She wasn't important.
Because, for Uchiha Sasuke, the Dark King of Konoha, his prey always came before is toys.