Carmine stared at him. Normally, she would have been focused on how cute he was - on his light, wavy hair or his gorgeous eyes. But right now, all she could think about was his blood. She could just picture it coursing through his veins. She was surprised at just how intense the thought was. Suddenly, it was all she could think about. She wondered vaguely if it was normal - did her friends ever feel like that? But then, did it matter? He was right there, all alone. And here she was, ready for him.
She smiled at the boy. She hoped it looked seductive, but in the back of her mind she thought she might look more like a predator. Oh well, at least he wouldn't be up and around long enough to worry about it.
When she got him where she wanted him, she couldn't help but smile. This was so easy! What were her friends so worried about? Carmine inched closer to him, still smiling as sweetly as her hunger would allow.
When she got close enough so that he couldn't see her face, Carmine bit down on his neck. Hard. He gasped, but Carmine didn't care. His blood tasted so warm, so delicious. She never thought it would be so great, but it was. The anticipation and the thrill of actually getting her target to go under were amazing. And the feeling she got after - she couldn't even begin to describe it, even if she tried. She kept right on drinking; the feeling was just so intense. And the more of his blood she took, the better she felt. All the weakness she felt, all the hunger, was fading away.
Part of her wanted to stop - he was barely even her age, after all. He looked like maybe a sophomore. He had friends, classes - a whole life that he was living. But somehow, that didn't matter. All she wanted was to feel some relief herself. She wouldn't kill him, she knew that. After all, how many people had her friends drank from? And none of them had ever turned up dead. Carmine had been skimming the papers since she was a freshman; that's how she found out about them in the first place. And if there had been any unexplained deaths, she would have known. So what was the harm in her taking this boy? She bit into him even harder, as if to prove to herself that what she was doing really was alright.
It seemed like forever before Carmine finally started to feel full. It wasn't full like if she'd had half a pizza or anything like that - this was something else completely. She felt alive. For the first time since her friends had turned her, Carmine actually felt powerful. Now this was more like it.
The boy slid to the ground, and Carmine did what she could to ease his fall. He looked fine. Carmine grinned, wiping her mouth. She walked away, only glancing over her shoulder for a second to make sure the kid was still ok.
The next day, Carmine couldn't help but feel a little guilty. After all, didn't she basically just attack some innocent guy? But nobody reported anything, so he must have been ok. But the next time, she wasn't quite so lucky. The attack would make the local paper, and Carmine could only hope that no one connected it to what had happened two years ago.
Carmine had been coming out of track practice. After hitting the library real quick to pick up some much-needed late night reading material, she hurried to her car.
She almost didn't see the girl standing there, by the edge of the fence. The jersey she wore told Carmine she'd just finished soccer practice. And the lost look on her face let Carmine know she was just a freshman. For whatever reason, the girl's mom hadn't picked her up yet. The opportunity was too good for Carmine to pass up.
"Waiting for your mom?" Carmine asked, leaning on the fence just a few feet away.
"My dad." the girl said, but she nodded anyway.
"Looks like he's late." Carmine said, mostly to get a read on the girl.
"He usually is." the girl replied blandly. She turned slightly and started looking towards the parking lot's entrance. Carmine stood there for a minute, trying to think. She really needed to get the girl alone - out here was too public a place. And she really wanted this girl. She couldn't say why exactly, but she could barely contain herself. She thought she could hear the girl's blood pumping in her veins, just aching to be spilled. Carmine stared at her, trying to will the girl over to her. She didn't want to be creepy, but the temptation was hard to resist.
Finally, the girl glanced back at Carmine. Carmine tried to straighten out her face as best she could, getting rid of the leer she was sure was there. The girl tilted her head to the side, staring at Carmine. Carmine watched as the girl's eyes seemed to dull.
"Are you ok?" Carmine asked. She felt horrible that more than a little part of her hoped the answer was no.
"I'm fine." came the monotone reply.
"Do you want to sit down or something?" Carmine asked.
"Sure." The girl started to clumsily sit on the ground.
"No, I meant like on the stairs or something. Or that bench." Carmine looked to a bench placed just above the short steps.
"Ok." The girl stumbled, like she was just too exhausted to make it. Without thinking about it, Carmine grabbed her hand and led her to the bench.
The two of them sat there for several minutes. Finally, it dawned on Carmine just what was going on. She had called the girl over and convinced her to sit down. And all she had to do was think about it really hard while staring at the girl. There was probably some other trick to it as well; she'd have to figure it out later.
The bench was a little ways away from the parking lot. So after a quick glance around to make sure they really were alone, Carmine leaned down and hungrily bit the poor girl.
Carmine was embarrassed to admit she didn't remember much about the attack. All she knew for sure was that she'd been so hungry. And then, after only a few minutes, the hunger lessened. When she was done, the girl lay on the bench, pale and motionless. Carmine looked around, suddenly afraid of what she'd done. Quickly, she got up and made her way to her car, not glancing back until she was locked safely inside.
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Carmine jogged casually down the street. It was Saturday morning, and she figured this would be a good way to combine training with hunting. She'd jog for an hour or so, and if she happened to see anyone around - well, she wouldn't waste the opportunity.
Carmine had really meant to talk to Anna and Mia about their hunting practices - did they go out almost every night? She was pretty sure they didn't. It almost made Carmine feel bad that she was going out so often. But she just couldn't help it. It seemed like she was hungry so much of the time, and that feeling of euphoria when she was done was just so hard to pass up.
When she first started going out with her friends, everything seemed fine. And even the first week on her own wasn't too bad. But lately, she just couldn't help herself; she'd started to view everyone as a potential meal. She caught herself staring at kids in class, wondering what it would take to get them alone in the hallway. It was getting so bad, she occasionally had trouble paying attention to whatever her teachers were talking about.
Carmine wanted to talk to Anna and Mia about it. But by the time she realized there was a problem, it had kind of been too late. Besides, everyone had been keeping such close tabs on her lately - she had at least two of her friends ask how she was every single day. She was glad they cared and all, but it was kind of smothering. She felt like the boys were waiting for her to slip up, and the girls were trying to prove that she wouldn't. So in the end, Carmine decided not to tell any of them. She would just make sure on her own that she was ok. Maybe not go out quite so much. Hopefully, that would solve most of her problems.
But a week later, Carmine had forgotten why she'd made that promise to herself - why didn't she go out if she wanted to? So this week she went out whenever she felt like it - every other day, sometimes every day. But it was getting to be too much. Carmine might enjoy the feeling she got after she had fresh blood, but that didn't mean she could keep going this way. So she made a decision: she was going to stop.
Not completely, of course - she wanted to live, after all. But she wouldn't go out more than three times a week - at most. Six was way too many.
There, she said to herself with a smile. She was glad that was settled, and she felt good about making the decision. She'd had her fun; now she was on the road to moderation. Carmine looked around her, wishing there was anyone she could tell about her new plan.
A girl with a short ponytail and pink running shorts jogged across the intersection up ahead. Carmine recognized her from track. She didn't know the girl of course - whoever she was, she was only a sophomore. Still, Carmine decided to follow her, see where she went.
Carmine followed the girl for six blocks, and she had no idea why. But as they rounded the corner on the seventh block, Carmine realized she knew exactly why she was stalking this girl.
They followed the road as it curved, bordering the forest on the left. Carmine knew she should be careful - after all, Anna and all the boys each lived within about a ten minute walk from here. But the only thought on her mind right now was that this girl might get away.
She increased her pace, until she was jogging right next to the girl. Now, if only she could think of a way to get the girl to stop without being too obvious about it; she couldn't afford for the girl to remember anything about this later.
The girl had her headphones in, so Carmine couldn't exactly turn and talk to her. Besides, the music was so loud, there was no way she'd be able to hear. Carmine didn't know if she was still getting used to hearing better or not, but this was ridiculous - Carmine could actually sing along with the girl's song.
They jogged past a couple more houses, before the girl finally slowed down.
"You're really good." the girl said, taking out her headphones.
"Thanks." Carmine said, grinning. "You're pretty good too."
Carmine noticed the girl was sweating - had they really been jogging that hard?
"You're on the varsity track team, aren't you?" the girl asked.
"Yeah." Carmine admitted. Great. Just what she wanted - to be recognized. But it was still salvageable. She just had to get the girl under before she made a lasting impression.
"I'm on JV - I see you guys practicing sometimes. I'm Megan." the girl told her.
"Nice to meet you." Carmine carefully avoided giving out her own name. "So you run here a lot? By all these houses?"
"Yeah, but there's a shortcut back around here - come on, I'll show you."
Carmine followed Megan as she made a sudden turn between two houses. There was a small path that snaked between the houses at the edge of Luke's neighborhood before cutting back to the main road. Carmine's eyes widened, and she tried to contain her grin. This was even better than she could have hoped for!
Carmine walked alongside Megan, remembering the promise she'd made to herself less than twenty minutes ago. Just one more, she thought. After tonight, she really would cut down. But this opportunity was too good to pass up - who knew when she'd get another meal this easily?
"So, Megan," Carmine said, slowing down.
"Yeah?" the girl asked.
"I was just thinking..." Carmine trailed off. She tried to make it seem like she was trying to figure out how to phrase a question. Of course, the girl stared into her eyes, waiting.
It took almost no time at all for Carmine to get the girl under. Her eyelids became heavy, and she started to wobble. Carmine reached out and gently helped ease her to the ground.
When Carmine was finally done, she laid the girl in the thick blanket of leaves off to the side. It wasn't much, but at least it was something. Carmine had just finished zipping up the girl's windbreaker when she heard something behind her.
Carmine stiffened, listening. She hadn't seen anyone when she and that girl - Megan - were running down here. Had she really been that careless? Carmine had almost convinced herself she was just imagining things when she heard the noise again. The crunching of leaves, off to her right.
Carmine whipped around, ready to face whoever it was head on. She was already running through a list of excuses: the girl just tripped, or maybe Carmine just got there herself. But when she saw that face staring at her, eyes wide and jaw set, Carmine knew that no excuse would be good enough.
Zev marched over to her, a look on his face that Carmine couldn't decipher.
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