5: Blood Tide Rising
He tells me that he loves me.
I pretend not to hear.
I can't control this hunger any longer, and I am on him before he even has a chance to blink. He goes sprawling, landing hard with my full weight on his chest, knocking all the air out of his lungs.
I pin him down, hands like talons digging into his arms. He arches his back, tries to buck me off, but I won't be dislodged so easily.
He utters one single, shattering cry as my fangs sink into his neck.
I have just enough awareness left to think poor lost soul, before the blood begins to flow, warm and alive, into my mouth; and everything disappears in a flood of red.
Later – it could be a minute, maybe a lifetime – I come back to my senses. I can feel Death's presence in the air as the body grows ever colder.
I think maybe Death is me.
For this brief moment he is mine, his body, his soul, his very life. He belongs to me, little mortal child, flickering out of existence like a candle.
For this brief moment I love him more than I have ever loved anyone.
: : : : :