Yalith Stood Silently in the Dark Alley. She Looked All Around Her. It Was a Dead End

Day 1

Yalith stood silently in the dark alley. She looked all around her. It was a dead end and she had no escape route. Expect... she jumped onto the side of the building on her right and scaled the wall like a cat. When Yalith reached the roof, she stood with her hands on her knees and waited.

She heard footsteps behind her and stood up straight. It was Adrian, of course. “You know, you really ought to be more predictable.”

“But you love a good chase, don’t you, Adrian? Why do you even bother? You know as well as I do, you never would have caught up to me if I hadn’t stopped. Twice,” Yalith replied, holding up two fingers. They attacked simultaneously. They moved so rapidly that anyone who might be watching would see nothing more than a blur of movement. Yalith blocked Adrian’s attacks with ease and when he least expected it, she attacked with a back flip and kicked him twice in quick succession. Adrian fell back, giving Yalith enough time to sprint to the other end of the roof.

When she got to the edge, she crouched, placing on hand on the roof in front of her to balance herself and looked back at Adrian. Yalith shot him a fiery smile and dropped off the roof. She landed effortlessly on her feet and she didn’t stick around waiting for Adrian to catch up. Yalith trusted that his chase had not ended, but sunrise was quickly approaching and they’d both have to return to their proverbial corners until night fell again. She kept running until she reached the abandoned warehouse she had made her home. It was a perfect place for a creature of the night, such as Yalith. There were few windows and they were all up high and far away from where she slept.

Slowly, Yalith undressed and tossed her clothes to one side. She lay on the thin mattress that was her bed. She remembered a long, long time ago, when she had been human. It had been nearly two hundred years since she had been made. She had been a very naïve sixteen that year. She whispered his name, “Adrian.” How had she ever trusted him? She was in love with him and had no idea of the lie he told when he said he was only seventeen. She hadn’t any suspicion when he would only meet her at night. They’d been together for six months when they walked into an alley on that particularly dark night; the last night of Yalith’s life as a human girl. “I have a gift for you,” he’d said, “close your eyes.”

Yalith had done so more than willingly, but now she regretted it. As a young girl, she’d wanted nothing to spend all of eternity with Adrian and they had spent many lifetimes together. But Yalith had chosen to leave the coven and Adrian had been sent after her. It was his duty to the clan to kill her. Yalith would not give into him again, no matter how much she still loved him.

Adrian paced in the darkness of the Father’s sitting room. Dariath was the Father of the coven and Adrian’s leader. Most of the coven simply addressed him as Father. Adrian was troubled again, as usual after a night of hunting Yalith. He had stopped chasing her because the sunrise had been threatening. It briefly crossed his mind that he had torn apart some young girl in his self-induced rage. It was the only way he could attempt to kill Yalith. Still, every time he came home after a night of trying to catch her, he felt as though he had betrayed himself. He hated himself for doing Father’s bidding after she had left the coven. He had been too afraid to go with her. He should be running with her, not after her.

Adrian’s punishment for his fear was that he was the one assigned to kill her. After all, she was a rogue and rogues were dangerous. He knew he couldn’t kill Yalith even if he wanted to. She was much faster and stronger than he could ever hope to be. She was also unpredictable and incredibly resourceful. Adrian recalled the night’s chase. More than once Yalith could have killed him with ease. Instead, she ran. She simply put distance between, killing time. Adrian well knew that she still loved him and it was plain to see that it hurt her to run from him. He simply could not let her see that he still loved her, too.

Adrian stopped pacing and removed his black leather jacket, throwing across the room. He pivoted on his heel and fell backward into an armchair. He smoothed back his long black hair and drew in a deep breath. He slammed his fist into the arm of the chair with a growl of frustration. “Yalith, my love, please forgive me. I never wanted it to be this way,” he whispered. “We were supposed to be together forever.” The first tear he had cried in over three hundred years burned into his cheek. He wiped it away. Yalith would never allow herself to be weak enough to cry and neither could he.

Adrian forced himself to stand and leave the sitting room. He silently climbed the stairs to the upper levels of the mansion in which the coven housed itself. He crept into his room and shut the door quietly behind him. He peeled off his shirt and his jeans then lay down on the bed. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

Dariath heard Adrian enter his room and went downstairs to the sitting room. He picked up Adrian’s forgotten jacket. The frustration that Adrian felt was so thick in the air that Dariath could almost taste it. He knew Yalith was still alive, he could smell her on the jacket.

Dariath had never liked Yalith, but he’d had no choice but to accept her into the coven when Adrian had changed her. It disgusted him how weak that bitch had made Adrian. When she had left the coven, Adrian wouldn’t leave the solitude of his room, not even to feed. He almost let himself starve to death. He had almost shriveled to nothing until Dariath forced Adrian to feed on him. After Adrian was healthy again, Dariath told him to find Yalith and kill her. Adrian had tried to refuse but eventually gave into Dariath’s order.

His explanation to Adrian was that she might try to come back and kill members of the coven, therefore she was a threat that must be dealt with. In truth, Dariath was afraid of her. He had power as the Father of the coven and she could take it from him. He had always been afraid of her for that reason. She was just as strong as Dariath, if not stronger, and he didn’t want to deal with anyone who could challenge him and actually stand a chance of winning. To Dariath, Yalith was a threat that must be eliminated.

He had chosen Adrian to kill her for two reasons: no one knew her better than he did and as punishment for bringing her into the coven in the first place. It suddenly occurred to Dariath how much he might enjoy watching Adrian kill Yalith. The thought brought an evil smile to his face. He savored it for a moment then chuckled under his breath. He headed back upstairs toward his own bed. On the way there he decided to speak with Adrian the moment night fell.

When Dariath opened the door to his room, he looked in at his four post bed, the black silk sheets and red velvet comforter. Upon it were three young triplets that beckoned to him in unison with one finger and eerily childlike voices, “come to bed with us, Father. We want to play.” As he approached the bed, he removed his clothes. He stopped for a moment and admired the triplets from fang to foot. Then he climbed in with them and took his fill.

Day 2

Dariath called for Adrian as soon as he woke. Adrian dressed quickly and headed downstairs into the sitting room. Dariath was sitting in one of the arm chairs. Adrian walked over to the chair and went down on one knee, bowing his head. “You summoned me, Father?” he said.

“Rise, Adrian. I did summon you. I found your jacket in here yesterday. The frustration in the air was palpable. I simply wanted to see if you had anything to tell me,” Dariath said.

“No, Father,” Adrian said, rising. “I have nothing. The rogue still evades me. No matter how hard I try, she always seems to be one step ahead of me,” he finished, truthfully; though that was not the reason for his frustration.

“Very well. You will keep me apprised of your progress?” Adrian nodded because although it was phrased as a question, it was more like an order. “Please do not leave your clothing in my sitting room anymore.”

“Yes Father.”

Yalith didn’t want to leave the comfort of her shelter tonight, but she was rather hungry and must feed. She prayed she wouldn’t meet Adrian while she was out. She put on her black jeans and a tight black tank top under a duster length black velvet riding jacket. After dragging a comb through her long black hair, she left the warehouse and headed into the city to find dinner.

She walked through the streets of New York, stopping at several bars and clubs along the way. It wasn’t difficult to get past the bouncers at each set of doors. Of course, she didn’t have I.D. since she was born before the twentieth century. She had to use her mental ability of compulsion to manipulate them.

After a long hour of nothing, she came to a club that positively reeked of human weakness. The weaker the prey, the easier it would be for Yalith to manipulate them. The bouncer stopped her at the door, “Can I see some I.D.?”

Yalith looked him straight in the eyes and replied, “Don’t you trust me?” The bouncer smiled and let her through. Like a walk in the park, she thought. She made her way through the crowd of people on the dance floor and sat in an empty barstool. “What would you like?” the bartender asked her.

“Give me a Fifth Element,” she replied. The bartender grinned at her.

“You sound like my kind of girl, honey.”

“Gotta love those five J’s. Johnny, Jack, Jim, Jose and Jager.”

“I’ll have that up for you in just a minute.” The bartender went about making her drink and Yalith waited to see who would sit next to her. “Here you go, babe.” He handed her the glass and then went to handing drinks to several cocktail waitresses. Yalith didn’t have to wait long before a young man sat beside her. She smiled at him and watched his head to toe appraisal of her out of the corner of her eye.

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you here before. Do you come here often?” the young man asked. Yalith looked at him shyly and smiled.

“No. Actually this is my first time being her. I got tired of the clubs near where I live, so I thought I would branch out some and someone on a bus said something about this place to one of their friends and I overheard so I thought I could come here and maybe meet some new people to hang out with or something,” Yalith replied.

“I see. That’s an interesting way to find out about a club. Well, do you like it so far?”

“Well, it certainly seems to be getting better by the minute.”

“That is quite promising. You must be saving this seat for your boyfriend, perhaps I should move elsewhere?”

“No, no. No boyfriend. I’m actually quite single as of just recently.” As she said it, Yalith winced at the thought of being alone again; being without Adrian.

“I’m sorry. Can I buy you a drink?” Yalith smiled and nodded. Human men are all the same. They’re only after one thing, she thought. “Hey, Mikey, how about you get the lady another drink?”

“Sure thing, buddy.” Yalith sat and talked with the man all night as he bought drinks for both of them.

“You know, we’ve been talking all night and I don’t even know your name,” Yalith said near closing time.

“It’s James. What’s your name, baby?” he said.

Yalith leaned in and whispered in his ear, “What do you want my name to be?” She touched the tip of her tongue to his ear and he caught his breath.

“What d’ya say we get outta here?” James asked. Yalith nodded and took him by the hand, leading him out of the club. There was an alley to the right of the building, so she led him there. She slammed him up against the wall and ran her fingers down his neck. She was so hungry she could hear the blood rushing through his veins and his rapid heartbeat. She felt his skin break under her fangs, letting the blood roll over her tongue and gave herself to the sweet abandon of the taste. She put James to sleep while feeding without a second thought.

Yalith fed for what seemed like hours but in truth was only a few minutes. When there was no blood left in James, she pulled away and let his body fall. As she turned to leave, she spotted someone standing at the end of the alley she had come in through. “Adrian. How long have you been standing there?”

“Oh, not that long,” he replied. “Since just after you started feeding, I suppose.” He started toward her, but Yalith ran to the other open end of the alley.

Adrian didn’t watch her run from him; he simply followed her, chasing her through backstreets until she had no where left to run. Yalith spun on him when she met the brick wall, looking like a cornered cat. Damn, she’s beautiful when she’s ready to fight, he thought. He quickly banished the thought from his mind; he couldn’t let her distract him. Yalith attacked with no warning and Adrian couldn’t move fast enough to dodge her. The next thing he knew, she had him pinned to the concrete. “Just like old times, huh?” Adrian taunted her. Yalith pulled a dagger and held the sharpened point at his throat.

“Why didn’t you kill me while I was feeding?” she hissed at him. “It’s probably the only chance you’ll ever get.” Adrian smirked, refusing to let his surprise at her attack be known.

“That wouldn’t be an honorable way to kill you, Yalith,” Adrian replied. He knew before it left his lips that it was a lie. He hadn’t tried to kill her then because he didn’t want to kill her at all. He wanted to give her the chance to run, or to kill him first because God knew he’d rather die than kill her.

“Since when do you know a damn thing about honor?” she spat. To Adrian, she almost looked like she was in pain. He didn’t respond. Kill me, Yalith. Kill me so I don’t have to do this anymore, he thought. But she didn’t hear his thought because she simply sprang over him and headed in the direction they had come from. Adrian got up and let her get a good lead on him before he followed.