The Sight

Vampires. Yes, they are real. David’s thoughts were racing as he chuckled to himself. He loved the look of fear on his victim’s faces as he lunged in for the bite. Their terror only excited him, as he drank them dry. Chuckling dryly to himself, David and the others landed behind Video Max, the local video shop. With their feet perfectly steady on the ground, no one around even noticed that the boys had swooped down from the air.



“What’s so funny?” Marko asked as his eyes started to trail over a brunette walking down the street.



“Nothing. Just thinking about food.”



“You are always thinking about food,” cackled Paul.



“Fuck you,” grumbled David as he began to head toward the boardwalk.



Dwayne just watched the exchange in silence. He knew better than to harass David when he had not fed. They all should know that his temper flares easily. His Sire, all the boys’ Sire, rarely, if ever, changed his demeanor.



The boys headed over to the carousel, where they were certain they could cause some kind of ruckus. Each of them scanned the area with their eyes, searching for their next victim. David’s eyes fell towards a young red head, standing about 40 feet away. She had to be around 25, he estimated. “Mmmmm red heads,” thought David. “Their blood is always so warm.” The girl was staring out into the ocean, absently rubbing her neck. David figured she was just warming it for him. She looked like a tasty enough meal. She was around 5’ 7”, average figure. Lots of curves like David enjoyed. No skinny waifs for him, they did not even make a good appetizer. Her hair was just a bit past her shoulders, with long spiral curls. “Good enough,” he thought to himself.



David decided he was in a bit of a mood, however. He wanted to frighten the girl, get her blood pumping. He centered his attention on the girl’s mind, carefully allowing himself to enter her thoughts without being noticed. It was time to play.



~ * ~



Charity smiled as her nerves, finally for the first time in weeks, were calm. The boardwalk was beautiful. It had so many attractions, laughing faces, tasty food, and the overwhelming feeling of someone staring intensively at her back. “What?” Charity spun around on her heel, but saw no one looking her direction. She laughed quietly, chastising herself. “You are just being paranoid.” Suddenly, she felt a tightening in her lower belly, something she had not felt in a very long time. “What the hell?” She turned around again to face the ocean, as soon as she did so; everything went deathly quiet around her. She turned around for the second time, and stared at the people passing her by. The scene did not change; people were still walking, talking, running, and playing games. They obviously could hear each other, but Charity only heard utter silence. She saw their lips moving, but no sound escaped them. She couldn’t hear the distant hum of the carousel, nor could she hear the child that was crying into his mother’s shoulder a few feet away.



She clapped her hands over her ears several times, nothing changed. She waved her hands frantically at the couple passing her; however, they acted like they didn’t even see her. Charity jumped in front of the next couple walking, and they just walked around her, not even bothered by her presence. “Ok. Ok,” she thought, “I’m just freaking out. It’s ok.” She closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths through clenched teeth, while counting to ten.



“Are you lost?” said a deep voice, unmistakably male. Charity’s eyes snapped open, expecting to see someone standing next to her. No one was near her. The silence continued to keep her captive. Suddenly, the sound came back with a deafening roar. Charity stumbled, only to be caught by a middle aged man, who wore large plastic frames. He smiled kindly at her, helping her to her feet. “Hey, there. Are you ok?” He asked with genuine concern in his voice. Charity could not help smiling at his warmth and his seemingly honest nature. He meant her no harm, no reason to fear him.



“I am. I guess it was vertigo or something. Thank you.”



“Well, I am Max. If you need anything, just come over to Video Max,” said Max as he pointed to the direction of his store. “It’s my store. I will be more than happy to help you. You are new here aren’t you? Where did you come from?”



Charity felt alarm bells go off in the back of her head. Suddenly, Max didn’t feel quite so honest or warm. Charity felt her blood turn cold in her veins. She knew she shouldn’t tell him where she came from.



“Yea, I am new, but just stopping through,” Charity lied.



Max smiled warmly at her, “Ok then.” With that, he turned and walked in the direction he pointed, assumingly towards his Video store.



~ * ~





David cursed under his breath as he noticed his Sire, Max, the head vampire of Santa Carla; break his mind spell over the girl. “What the fuck does he think he is doing?” David snarled in the direction of Max’s retreating back. “Bastard.”



Marko sauntered up next to David, chewing on his thumbnail. “Screwing with the locals again, David? It isn’t nice to play with your food, man.”



“What happened?” Dwayne quietly asked as he approached his Sire.



“Fucking Max. I was having some fun with that chick over there, prepping her you know? He had to go and break it. Fucker.”



“Why would he do that? He has never cared about who or what you ate before.”



“I have no idea. I intend to find out. But first, I need to find that girl.”



“Why? Just pick out someone else. Look at those chicks over there? All smiley and full of pot.” Dwayne smiled, eyeballing the young girls as they passed around their joint.



“No. I want her,” David answered curtly.



Suddenly Paul leapt up from behind the boys, and jumped on Marko’s back, causing the shorter man to stumble. Marko threw Paul backwards, who in turn knocked into Dwayne, causing Dwayne to fall into David. David stepped away absently as he continued to stare into the crowd.



“What’s the matter, David? Feeling the need to get your dick wet?” yelled Paul obnoxiously as he roughly shoved Marko back into the crowd. Marko easily walked out, avoiding all of the bodies around him in the process.



“Something like that,” David growled in response.



“Really David, why go through all of the mind games though? Just fuck her if you want, and get it over with,” Dwayne countered. His argument was useless however, as he knew his Sire loved mind games above all else when hunting for his victims.



“Go feed. Meet me back here.” David nodded towards the carousal. The boys exchanged nervous glances as their Sire walked away.



~ * ~



David walked through the crowd, his eyes scanning for the girl. He found her sitting on a bench, casually chatting with a brunette who had wavy unbrushed hair. The brunette smiled a full set of dazzling white teeth at the girl, while he pointed at something in the distance.



David could hardly care who the boy was, except the fact he was messing with his dinner. Silently he slipped into her mind carefully, mentally directing her to head back to the carousel.



He heard her say, “Bye Michael. It was nice meeting you.” The brunette just nodded and grinned again. “Idiot,” David mumbled under his breath. His eyes never left the girl as she began to head towards the carousel for the second time that evening.



David smiled cruelly as he followed her.



~ * ~



Charity laughed as the brunette that had joined her on the bench pointed out some of the odd attractions. His name was Michael, and he just moved to Santa Carla recently with his mom and brother. They moved in with his “insane grandfather” Michael babbled. He was friendly enough, and Charity enjoyed talking with him. It had been a really long time since she was around friendly people, well, people at all for that matter.



Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming urge to return to the carousel. She must go now. Charity stood up, and spoke quickly to Michael.



“Bye, Michael. It was nice meeting you.”



She turned and quickly made her way towards the beautiful carousel, which had enough multi-colored lights to illuminate the entire boardwalk. She slowly approached it, feeling a sense of unease as she did so.



“You look cold,” said a deep male voice, causing a chill to slide down her arms. Charity recognized it immediately as the voice she had heard in her head earlier. She spun around and found herself face to face with a tall platinum blonde man. He gave a half smile as his arctic blue eyes bore into hers, causing her pulse to race. He wore a long black coat and black leather gloves. One gloved hand rose to caress her cheek. Charity found herself suddenly breathless.



“I’m fine,” she answered and began to walk away. Her stomach was churning. This wasn’t right. She felt the need to run, to get far away from this man. His gloved had reached and grabbed her wrist as she turned away.



“Are you now?” He purred into her as he pulled her closer in his arms. Charity tried to ignore the thoughts invading her mind on how hard his chest felt, and how their bodies seemed to fit together perfectly. He gripped her shoulders, never losing eye contact with her. Charity began to shiver involuntarily. She knew this. He was a vampire. She tried to remain calm. “He won’t notice,” she told herself over and over. His blue eyes suddenly shifted, amber replacing his blue irises. Charity gasped, and his eyes immediately turned back to blue.



He leaned over her, pressing his lips into her neck. Charity realized he was sniffing her neck. “Oh God, he knows,” her brained screamed to her.



The blonde raised his mouth to her ear, and whispered, “Pretty girl.” With that word, he was gone, leaving Charity looking around wildly for him. Why did he leave? He had to know. He had too.