*NEW* #27: The Best I Ever Had (Part I)

            I should have told her the truth.

            Had I told her the truth then maybe I wouldn’t be alone. I sat in the silence of my home, body aching to be fed but mind made up. I would rather starve than take another life.

            But even the silence was haunting me; as I saw in the still darkness, the outside world continued to press on and in my home, her spirit moved throughout it. I could hear her voice. “I love you….I want you….I need you.”

            I should have told her the truth. If I had, she might still be here.

            I met her on a late Monday night; a young woman she was, leaving work late and trusting in her city that she could walk the next eight blocks undisturbed. She passed me when I stepped from a small Italian eatery; looking more like a local than a monster she paid me no mind. I watched her turn onto a quiet street, sprinkled with a few street lights.

            Her scent overpowered anything else that hung in the air and her blood flow was rhythmic and alluring. Never had such a sound filled human life the way it did her. I was cautious to follow her, planning to pounce on her and devour her musical lifesource. She was like the Pied Piper and I the mouse, I would follow her to the end of time just to taste her and see if the rhythm would carry on through me. But as I followed her, intoxicated by her harmonic liquid life, I listened to her thoughts.

            This young woman was a raw soul and a restless one, unable to find her place in the sun, “Maybe I should have just done the report for him.” She spoke to herself internally. “I’m such an idiot.” Her self loathing was disturbing and unsettling. I started to wonder how a woman with such a confident walk, bold and beautiful features be so broken inside?

            By the time she reached the second block, I picked up some new scents; it was vile, strong and reeked of cheap liquor. Two men emerged from an unseen alley, blocking my view of her and ignoring my presence. They quickly made an attempt to catch up to her. She sensed their arrival too; her blood pumped faster and her heels went into overdrive. “Hey miss, where are you headed?” One of the goons asked. She opted to ignore them and keep her quick stride. Mentally she was focusing on her safe haven while I moved faster too.

            I heard their thoughts. They were dirty, sinister and pure evil. They had a plan and they were going to do whatever it took to follow through. They were going to kill her.