Drip. Drip.
Deep red blood pooled on the ground, the dead air filled with the soft splatter of the life giving liquid hitting the ground. It cascaded down the silver blade in thin steams, dark against light, small high-lights in the blood.
The girl's death had been swift; she had never seen her killer. Pity. Her death would've had more meaning if she had seen the man that had killed her. The look of fear in her eyes would've done nicely, but they were frozen over in shock. Not knowing of the murderer. They meant nothing that way.
Drip. Drip.
The stone floor was becoming a puddle of red blood, delicious red blood. A life giving liquid wasted on the weak. The torches reflected their light as red high lights and matching red eyes watched the flickering fire. A tongue pressed up against abnormally sharp teeth, wondering whether it would be able to taste the red substance or not. If the killer wanted it now, he'd have to get it before it sunk between the stones and was lost to him forever.
He was on the floor, tongue lapping up all it could. It was too much of a waste while on the floor. It was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted; he could remember nothing that could compare. He lifted his head, blood running out of his mouth. Her body still possessed its blood. Not all of it had run out yet. He crawled towards the corpse, as if it would give him something he had always craved.
He straddled over her body, one of his legs on each side. He looked upon her face, it frozen in last second fear. Blood no longer coursed through her veins for it now was pooling on the floor. He pushed her hair aside, exposing the soft pale neck. Shoving one hand into the hole of her chest, he sunk his teeth into the flesh of the neck; ripping apart the skin and releasing the blood.
His tongue entered the wound and persuaded the blood that remained to come to it. When it no longer came to him, he went to it instead. He tore away her flesh with his teeth, searching for more, but alas…he found none. His eyes traveled her body, wondering where blood still remained in the stiff corpse. He remembered the wetness against his hand and looked down to see it jammed within the chest cavity, the location of the heart.
With total digression to what the corpse's gender was, he tore open the clothes and went for the chest. He stopped suddenly. In his greed, he may damage what he sought the most and this would all be a waste. That…he did not want. With great care, he pushed his bloody hand back into the shredded flesh, careful to the treasure that lay within. He soon found his prize and pulled it out, severing the vessels that fed the once living organ.
It was still warm to his touch, but pumped no more. Did it still hold what he desired? He did not know and knew only one way to see. He sunk his fangs into the top of the strong muscle and ripped a piece free, swallowing it when finished. He held the hole to his lips and titled it, with his head, backwards. Warm liquid rushed down his throat and soon there was no more. Slightly disappointed, he sunk his fangs into the flesh once more and ripped a chunk off, swallowing it. His interest with the dead girl was leaving. He had taken what he wanted from her and so had no more use of her body.
He rose from her body, his knees soaked with her blood. He was about to finish off his prize when footsteps reached he ears from the empty halls. He gasped in alarm. He had killed all he saw and those with sense stayed out of his sight. Who was this foolish being who wished to be seen? He decided to wait and find out.
A man as young as he skidded about the corner, his face ridden with sweat and shock. At first, the man's blue eyes locked on to him, but then went to the disreputably treated body. The blue eyed man looked almost shocked to see her dress stripped from her torso and her chest ripped open. The blue eyes locked back on the murderer, they were filled with hate. The killer's red eyes looked calmly back, enjoying the last piece of the woman's heart as it went down his throat.
"What kind of monster are you?" the blue eyed man asked, but seemed more demanding.
"Not monster," the killer replied smoothly. "Monsters are huge, ugly, and are very stupid. I am none of those things."
"What in the hell did you do here?"
The red eyed blood-drinker shrugged casually. "What I please."
The blue eyed man snorted. "People like you disgust me."
"Is that so?"
The blue eyed man just looked completely infuriated.
"What is it you want from me?" the red eyed killer asked, growing bored. "I'm not going to stay here much longer."
"Why did you kill her?"
The red eyes rolled to look at the torn up body.
"I wanted her blood. It's that simple."
"You can't kill her!"
"Why can't I? There are other women, are there not?"
"Not like her."
The red eyed man chuckled.
"So you come before me because I murdered your lover. Is that it?"
The blue eyed man did not answer with words, his cold steel answered for him.
Yes.
The red eyed killer brought up his own sword from no where in a shower of sparks when steel met steel. The blades shrieked as they slid against each other and the red eyed man was thrown backwards to land on his feet. He simply stood and awaited the blue eyed man's next move. The wait was not long. Sparks flew again and again as the steel hit steel again and again. The red eyed man was not worried for he had nothing to fear from the blue eyed man.
The fight dragged slowly on, blades clashing blades, but not cutting flesh. As by an odd twist of fate, the killer's guard dropped and his offender took the moment to stab his sword through the murderer's chest. The soft tear of flesh filled the soft air, as the air inside the body met with the air on the outside. The murderer fell to the ground on his back. Blood that had once belonged to the woman flowed from the wound and to the floor, again; where it had been before the killer had ingested it.
The blue eyed man sighed, thinking it was over. He looked at his sword stabbed in the murderer's chest and then looked over at the corpse that had once been a woman. There was nothing he could do about it now. The dead were everywhere, but none had suffered the fate the woman had.
The red eyed killer didn't feel well. He didn't like having the sword embedded in his chest. He groaned and sat up, feeling his clothes become soaked with blood. The blue-eyed man was startled to see him move and get to his feet.
"What in the hell are you?"
"Something unlike you," was the breathless answer.
"And what would that be?"
"I do not know. I do not know where I came from. I simply know that I am here to make your life as much as a living hell as I can!"
He ripped the sword from his body, forcefully yet careful as to not to cause excessive bleeding. He took the bloodied sword and tossed it back at his enemy.
"You'll want that if you plan on lasting just a little while longer."
"You bastard!" the blue eyed man shouted. "How dare you kill her!"
He launched himself at the murderer, a thunder of sparks flying in the dead air. His strength fueled by rage, he swung his sword as hard at his lover's killer as he could.
The red eyed man blocked every blow. His opponent had taken his freshly acquired blood from him. He'd have to get more…and there was only one other living being with him. The blood-drinker turned the tables suddenly on the blue eyed man. He swung his sword with such force that the offender had to use all his strength just to stay standing. The killer gave a horizontal swing and his enemy was forced up against a wall.
The murderer was upon him. He held his sword at the blood filled throat and squeezed the man's hand until he dropped his sword. A defenseless being. The blue eyed man was breathing quickly, sweat running down his face. He was unarmed and could no longer fight this whatever-it-was.
"Doesn't this seem familiar?" the murderer asked. "Except the woman died without knowing who did it. This should be more entertaining, now shouldn't it?"
The pinned man did not reply, he could not reply. The red eyed killer leaned in close, hovering right above the now exposed neck; moving his sword to his side and away. He could smell the blood rushing through the veins in panic; hear the heart pound at a rate of fear. Music to his ears. The warmth of the flesh near his mouth was heaven, if there was such a thing for a being such as he.
"Since you have taken from me what I fought so hard to acquire, you'll have to replace it yourself." He gave a laugh, getting ever closer to the man's neck. "If you had just stayed away, you would still live, but you didn't."
The blue eyed man was taking quick and shaky breaths, eyeing the man that was going to kill him.
"Who are you?" he asked softly.
The red eyed man laughed again.
"If it would make any difference to you," he replied, "you might know me as your shadow."
The name popped into the blue eyed man's mind, but he had no time to speak it. The red eyed man sunk his fangs into the living neck and tore it open…