Beautiful Moon

Snow drifted down out of the sky around her, the air was cold and cut deep into her coat and clothes to her skin. She had the realization upon her that only a child could possess calmly that she was going to die. Her parents had left days ago to do something very important, though they hadn't said what, her mother had promised to return that night. She stared up into the night sky, the small crystals falling lightly against her face, no wind disturbed their peaceful decent. She could see her own breath before her in rushed puffs that were destroyed against the cold, her heart fluttering against her chest as she stayed as still as she could.

The street was well abandoned, the lights along the sidewalks uncharacteristically dark. A single lamp was left across the dark and dim road that she stared at longingly from her dark alleyway. A chill ran up her spine like a shock, her feet and mind finally deciding to move, but she could feel his eyes. Something dark and dangerous her parents had forever battled was very close, very deadly close. She gasped in a large amount of the cold air but she didn’t feel its sting as she stared with wide hazel eyes at the celestial being under the drawing light. She could tell he was very tall, even while he sat cross-legged like a fool in the snow, and he was eerily thin and pale. The light glinted off his dark eyes and a sudden glimpse of a smile she didn't have time to appreciate. It was malicious and evil and dreadfully beautiful to her, but every muscle in her froze and couldn’t move. His dark eyes held her fast, trapped in the gaze of a predator far more superior than she.

I'm going to die…I'm going to die…

She wished she could simply pull away from him, but before she could do anything he was before her, having moved so quickly her human eyes couldn’t conceive the image. She thought it vastly strange that she could feel the warmth of his breath against her face as he sat as he had before only inches from her. Surely something that was supposed to be dead couldn't breathe, or feel warm for that matter. His pale skin looked thin and delicate as her ungloved hand reached up to touch him in wonder. He was stunningly beautiful, his skin looking too hard to be flesh but rather stone.

Her small fingers caressed his cheek then his jaw up the bridge of his nose to the flawless forehead. He was hard, his skin refusing to give under her fingers; a small smile captured her, and a flash of fang and something else she couldn't place. He wasn't going to tolerate her much longer, but she couldn't run, he was far to fast. Her lips parted slightly, allowing air to her ever-tightening throat as his hand reached up lightly to her face. She realized then she was crying, a small sob escaping her throat as his fingers wove through her long auburn waves. A growl that wasn't meant to rise from the throats of humans came from the creature as he scrambled to bare her small throat, protected by layers of clothes and a coat. The instinct rose in her then, the spell he had cast on her was broken as her heart fluttered again into a panic inside her. Live! Her tiny hands tried to push away his sure fingers but it was as if he was made of stone, and before she could cry out his long fangs found their mark in the small curve of her shoulder.

She was lost then, her body collapsing to the oppressive mind of the creature. The darkness was swarming around her, she felt pain in her fingers and toes and the biting cold drawing ever nearer. His iron arms were wrapped hopelessly around her small shape as her breathing slowed. Every beat of her heart felt labored but it beat on, harder and harder against her ribs. He was feeding quickly, draining her fast, she wasn't sure if she was thankful. The initial bite had wounded her but pain was beyond her now, a slow dull ache filled her in rhythm with her heart. She managed to open her eyes again, her head pulled painfully back as the light snow caressed her cheeks and lips and eyelids. The stars shown brightly against their black backdrop but the moon was behind the corner of a building and beyond her sight. She almost wanted to weep at this realization; no more was she to see the sky or stars again, and never to see the white-pitted surface of the beautiful moon.

*********

A poised body rested soundlessly only yards from the feeding fledgling. He wouldn't hear the vampire's approach, not in the heat of his feeding. The sweetly strong blood of the child witch would hold him prisoner until she died. A dreadful smile touched his lips then, he had been searching for a way to become close to the Tana witch clan, and this child had fallen so wonderfully into his hands. He wanted to know how they tracked and hunted his kind to better avoid them and elude their witch trickery. He was not an old vampire yet, but he was far from young, and wished to become ancient rather than a tally on the Tana family wall of death. The girls heart was beginning to f ail as the fledgling shuttered with her life. His skin was gaining color now, her life becoming his. This could not continue if the girl was to live, and he was sure the fledgling would not give her up willingly.

He moved to the fledgling's side at that uniquely vampire speed, his iron hand closing around his throat. The monster was held fast by the girl, her blood a stronger call than protecting his life but a threatening growl emitted from his closing air way. The vampire smiled coolly as he listened to the sweet crack of the fledglings' trachea one by one until his sounds were strangled and wet. The creature managed to pull away from the girl now, dropping her carelessly into the snow as he turned to his attacker. The iron hand tore outward leaving behind a gruesome gape in the creature's throat that his fingers flew to, his air escaping him as blood showered the snow. The vampire smiled at his wide eyes and the fear emitting from him now in strong waves of sweet aroma. He grabbed what remained of the fledglings' neck and tore it away as easily as one tears a flower from the ground.

His limbs flailed about as the vampire tossed his head away, the smell of blood filling his nostrils to bursting. The body fell into the snow, blood leeching out of the throat. He knew the fledgling wasn't dead, not really, only rendered. But it was the girl that concerned him now, her heart was still beating, if only weakly, but she was alive. Her aura was still very strong around her, which soothed his worry. He knelt down in the snow to gather her and help stop her bleeding. His saliva held a coagulating property that most fledglings lacked, but as he pulled her up towards his lips her arms flew out against him, her stunningly hazel eyes flying open to meet his black stare. She tried to hold him from her, a wave of sweet fear radiating off her small frame. He smiled and lowered his lips to her ear.

"I'll not kill you."

Her hands were still hard against his chest in a futile attempt to stop him as he lightly kissed her lobe, her neck, and lightly licked her wound. She gasped at the sensation of pain he knew flew through her but she was soon soothed by his healing abilities. He gathered her up quickly and wrapped her close to his chest; the cold was her enemy now. Bending down gracefully he flicked his lighter and lit the poor fledglings pant leg, the body flailing to life again as he took the girl from the scene. He had done what he could for her, it was time to present her to the Tana to finish what he started, and he would be repaid, of this he was sure.