Fading Darkness (Bloodmarked #1) Read Free Page B

ground. Then, I dragged him up against the side of
the building by his neck. As he fought back, more instincts kicked in and I
punched and kicked him into a bloody pulp. Eventually I found a broken sheet of
glass from a window and picked it up with both hands knowing exactly what to do
with it. That night, all the uncertainty and unanswered questions had
manifested into a truth that I wasn’t ready for and have never really been able
to deal with.
    Some loud obnoxious jingle on a commercial
snapped me back to the present, and I prepared to go out on my nightly patrol
through town. I entered the bedroom and grabbed the first thing off the floor I
could find to wear. I was definitely going to have to make laundry day sooner
than anticipated after coming up with only dirt-covered jeans and blood-stained
t-shirts. I have learned to only buy dark-colored shirts, but I could still
smell and barely make out the dark splatters on most of them. I opted for a
pair of black yoga pants and old violet tank top I found at the bottom of my
closet that I forgot I had. I topped it off with a black fleece jacket, and
pulled my mess of hair back in the usual knotted ponytail. I grabbed a couple
railroad spikes from the stockpile I collected and tucked them into the inside
pockets of my jacket. Oh yeah, that whole wooden stake thing was a myth too. It
didn’t matter what the material was as long as it hit the heart, the still beating heart.
    I have encountered several vampires in the
past four years and it seemed that the hungrier they were the darker their eyes,
as if the inner demon was coming to the surface desperately fighting to
survive. The only way they can survive is with human blood. It keeps their
bodies functioning. From my observations, it seemed that vampires only retained
the functions of humans that they needed, except, they were somehow amplified
immensely, probably by the demon within them. They retained things such as, but
not limited to, the nervous system for amped up senses and motor function,
respiratory for taking in smells I assumed, and circulatory system for
distribution of the thing that keeps them going, their fuel- blood.
    Their heart beats seem to slow with the
hunger, and I have heard that they can go into this coma-like state, and the
only thing that can wake them is the scent of blood. They don’t sleep, but sun
exposure kills them, so my guess is that the daytime weakens them so much they
have to go into that nearly comatose state until the night rejuvenates them. I’ve
actually seen this before, but that’s a story for another time.
    Blood is still the only thing that can fully
strengthen them. They use what energy they have in them to get what they need
like animal instinct, or demon instinct, but without a heart to pump that fuel
the demon within can’t even keep the body functioning. Without a heart, the
dying body gets burned from the inside out by the dark demon energy. At least,
that has been my working theory from what I’ve gathered so far. I do have a
source for this type of information but he wasn’t always very forthcoming. I
know the myths about vampires, but even modern libraries aren’t equipped with
full knowledge about the kind of monsters I face, and I never let them live
long enough to get to know them that well either.

2
     
     
     
    The next few days went by as another one of
those monotonous routine-induced blurs, and tonight was shaping up to be no
different than the last few nights. It was Thursday, not quite the weekend, but
there would normally be more people out and about, which usually meant a little
more activity for me. I was getting edgy waiting for some real action, so I
hoped tonight would be a more prosperous outing than the previous nights, but
it has already been a few hours and not a peep. Briefly, I wondered what
detectives did on stakeouts to stave the boredom. Then, I remembered, they had
partners. I’ve never really worked well with others. Turning a corner