Casey Chapter 1

I’ve been tailing this guy for about an hour now. Of course he hasn’t noticed me. I’m too fast and too quiet, stealthier than the greatest ninjas in the world… Wait, do ninjas even still exist? Whatever. I’ll just assume they do. It definitely helps that I’m watching him from the rooftops of Berkeley, leaping over alleys from building to building, while he follows this poor, unsuspecting college girl.

 

He’s about six-two, big muscles, and a thick head of hair. He smells horrible: like dog poop, mixed with old pizza, alcohol, and definitely vomit. Scratch that--lots of vomit. God it reeks. I almost want to vomit myself, and stop following this creep, but I know if I stop following him, he’ll hurt this girl. He’ll hurt her bad. From his heavy, labored breathing, and vibrator beating in his chest I can tell that not only is he tired, he’s excited.

 

The girl is pretty: blonde, big b***s, big butt, and a tight, black dress"who wouldn’t be attracted to that? Hell, I know I am! Those heels clicking and clacking against the cement of the sidewalk only make her look even hotter. Those eyes too… damn, the sparkle like fireworks under the moonlight, like it’s the fourth of July. She grips her purse tighter than before, and takes a glance behind her. She finally noticed that this guy followed her all the way from the party. Her heart beats faster, and she starts to perspire lightly, little droplets forming above her brows and on her chest.

 

She walks faster.

 

The creep follows, and his heart starts to accelerate"he’s even more excited. He enjoys the chase. He likes that she’s scared. It’s part of the excitement"part of why he likes to do this.

 

“Come on, turn into the alley,” I whisper to myself, keeping my eyes on the prize as I leap from one rooftop to another, expertly. “Come on, sweetheart. Turn into the all"YES!”

 

She turns into an isolated alley, trips over a homeless man, and falls onto her knees. The creep doesn’t hesitate to follow, and already, he pulls out his knife. The homeless man stands up, notices the situation, gathers up his few belongings, and skirts out of the alley, never looking back.

 

I take note of his scent. I’ll find him later. I never could stand cowardice. Not even my own.

 

“Please, I have money,” the girl begs, shoving her skinny, delicate fingers into her purse and throwing her money at the man.

 

He kicks the wallet away, and licks his lips.  “I don’t want your money, baby. But you could make me happy some other way…” He licks his lips again, and slowly approaches the girl.

 

“Please, please, no. You don’t have to do this.” The girl tries to stand up, but her legs are wobbly from fear. She loses balance and falls back on her butt. The fall makes her luscious body jiggle, which sends tingles up and down, under and over, my goddamn spine.

 

The creep looms over, smiling widely. “Just take those panties off and make it easy for all of us, baby. I don’t want to have to hurt you, you know?”

 

“Yeah you do!” I yell from the roof of the building above them.

 

They both look up, instinctively. The girl backs away and manages to run to the end of the alley before the creep refocuses his attention on her.

 

He walks towards her while shouting into the air, “Whoever the hell you are, you get the f*ck out of here, you hear me? Get the f*ck out of here or you’re next. I like boys too!”

 

“Do you?” I’m behind them now, at the entrance of the dark alley, the streetlight hiding my face in the shadows. “Or are you just saying that because you think I’m scared?”

 

The creep spins around, rage incarnate reddening his face, but before he can really catch a good look of me, I’m already behind him. A nanosecond later, I have his knife in my left hand, pressed against his back; my right hand clutches his throat.

 

“I’d really be careful about what you say next, man.”

 

My canines automatically sharpen into fangs, and my fingers lengthen slightly and sprout short, sharpened claws. My skin suddenly turns deathly, paper white, and my eyes turn inky black.

 

The girl screams in terror.

 

“Oh sh*t!” I yell, and I toss the creep against the brick wall of the building on the left. He lands with a crack on the floor, and blood drips out of his head, but he’s still alive and well. Maybe a couple cracked ribs, but alive.

 

“I’m sorry!” I say to her, but she keeps screaming hysterically. I don’t blame her, though. I do look pretty f*****g scary right now. “Hey!” I yell. And before she can blink her eyes again, I have her against the wall, a hand over her gaping mouth, muffling her terrified shrieks. “Hey, it’s okay. Calm down. Just calm down,” I whisper lovingly, but she still attempts to struggle, and I can feel her itching to scream for help. “I won’t hurt you.”

 

It took me a few months to really get this part down, but I know she’s starting to fall for it. They always do. I stare deep into her eyes, and she stares into the dark blots of black where mine used to be. I suddenly feel all her emotions, all her fear, and her urge to run away.

 

“You don’t want to run away,” I say, my velvety voice slowly creeping in to her ears, “You don’t want to scream anymore. All you want to do is go home. Nothing happened here, okay? Nothing happened. You just got held up at… where were you again?”

 

I remove my hand, certain the trick worked, and she wipes her tears away and smiles, “I was at my fiancé’s birthday party.”

 

“Damn, he let you walk back to your dorm room by yourself this late at night?”

 

“He was drunk and I was drunk. I don’t like staying at his house when there are all those random, drunken nerds there. Their not really used to seeing girls, you know?”

 

“Dating a nerd? All right, maybe you’re not as much of a bimbo as I thought you were.”

 

“Hey, just because I like to wear nice, tight dresses and high heels does not make me a bimbo. I actually just got my acceptance letter to medical school, d*ck!”

 

“Damn, okay. Which"“

 

Wait a minute.

 

The creep had pushed himself to his feet behind me, and ran at me. I spin around, grab his neck and hold him up in the air. My arms aren’t even straining. The girl doesn’t scream anymore, following my recent instructions.

 

“How are you doing that?” She asks.

 

“None of your business,” I say, finally focusing on the task at hand. I turn to her and look her in eyes again, forcing her to get lost into mine. “Go back to your dorm room, walk fast. Here, take this knife, put it in your purse. Just in case another creep tries to get at you. All you did was go to the party, have a good time, and leave. Nothing else, okay?”

 

“Okay,” she answered before taking the knife out of my other hand and walking away, as if nothing ever happened.

 

“Now, back to you.”

 

The world starts to blur, and the creep is all I can see. Fight or flight hormones are secreted throughout his bloodstream, but he knows he can’t do anything. The blood rushes to his head, and the artery on his neck pulses faster. All I can smell is the blood now"any other stenches associated with this man were gone. Nothing matters but his blood… his sweet blood. I throw him towards the end of the alley with one hand. His bounces from the wall and lands on his knees with a definitive crack! He screams in pain and starts yelling for help.

 

“No,” I say as I rush at him, and lift him up again in a second. “You can’t scream.”

 

He shuts his mouth.

 

“That’s right. Be quiet, dude,” I say, my voice becoming more guttural, influenced by the bloodlust that makes my throat suddenly seem drier than it really is. “You like scaring innocent girls, dude? Is that what you like?”

 

I put him and he presses his back against the wall, as if he could fall inside of it to hide from.

 

“Answer me.”

 

“Ye"yes…” he says, looking into my darkened eyes. “Yes.”

 

“Is that what gets you off? Forcing people to have sex with you in dark, nasty alleys? Is it, dude?”

 

“Yes… I can’t… I just can’t…”

 

“How many?”

 

“How many what?”

 

“How many have you killed, dude?”

 

“I don’t"“

 

“You lost count, didn’t you?” I can feel myself seething with rage, so much so that the claws on my fingertips grow slightly longer and my skin pales even more"to the point where you can see my veins and arteries all over my face, neck, and arms.

 

“Yes.”

 

“You want to know how many I’ve killed?”

 

“No!” He yells, crying suddenly.

 

“Say yes, dude.”

 

“Yes,” he says.

 

“1005.”

 

“What the hell are you, man? What the hell are you?” He’s so scared he’s shivering, and his teeth start to chatter.

 

“Not telling,” I smile, and flash my teeth.

 

The bloodlust takes hold of me, my predatory instincts sending sparks to my brain, telling me to feed. I grab his shoulders and pull his body towards me, before I bury my fangs into his neck. The blood gushing down my throat tastes like expensive, sweet, and decadent chocolate, warming up my entire body. He tries to push me away and beat at my head, but soon he weakens from the blood loss. I’m a rock compared to this man. Nothing he can do to stop me now.

 

Just a few more drops… but already I feel him go limp and his life starts to fade. His heart rate and breathing slow, and just as he suddenly thinks it’s time for him to be punished in hell, I push myself away.

 

My breath is heavy, and the smell of blood continuing to trickle out of his neck sends tingles throughout my whole body. He needs to get the hell out of here before I drain.

 

I prick my index with my fang and rub it into the wound. Instantly his neck seals itself, and color returns to his cheeks. I grab his chin, and force him to look into my eyes yet again.

 

“Steal a car. Drive to the Golden Gate Bridge, and throw yourself off. You’re a disgusting human.”

 

He nods, and slowly limps away.

 

I flee the scene.

 

Twenty-five minutes later, I’m at the Golden Gate Bridge, on top one of the big, rusty red arches. Waiting. I always do this. Tell myself to let them jump without any second thoughts and go home to get some sleep, but I like seeing them pay. I like seeing them die for their cruelty"for their sins against the human race.

 

After another twenty-five minutes, I see him park his car in the middle of the Bridge. Several cars stop behind him. Some people already start getting out of their vehicles, yelling curses and abuses towards this evil, cruel man. A policeman hops off his motorcycle, knowing what is about to happen. The creep steps out of his car, pushes the cop away, and jumps off, like I told him to. Seconds later, his body hits the water, and he’s dead.

 

I scramble down the Golden Gate’s metal suspensions in minutes and run back to my home.

 

Thirty minutes later, I’m outside of my apartment building. I sneak through the window of my apartment without making so much of a creak. My roommate sleeps soundly in the bedroom across the hall, intermittently switching between snoring and speaking in his sleep. If my hunger hadn’t been fulfilled earlier, his speedy little heart would drive me crazy right now; but I’m good. He won’t be dinner tonight. I use my super speed to get out of my dirty, blood-drenched clothes and into clean, dry pajamas within seconds. Then, I quickly speed to the kitchen, grab a plastic bag, return to my room, and have my dirty clothes inside within another few seconds. I shove the plastic bag into my closet"I’ll just burn them tomorrow. I just don’t care enough about it right now.

 

I jump into bed and close my eyes, praying to see another day tomorrow. Then I remember, like I have every night since I was turned, that I will live to see the next day for the rest of my immortal, unending life.