Scarlett Eyes

She walked delicately across the wide stone bridge, her silky blond hair shimmering in the moonlight. The way her crimson eyes sparkled would make any male drop to his knees. The water stirred gently as the moon played across it. She stopped and stared into the night.

“Of course,” she whispered gently, glancing at the moon before continuing on her walk.

The resounding sound of her feet hitting the stone was the only thing to be heard. The silence was overwhelming and if you really listened even her whisper could still be heard, echoing.

No nocturnals were out this evening because they dared not step outside. They understood it was not a fit time to be walking about. Not when they felt her presence.

Slowly, she started to ascend above the gleaming river. A breeze tumbled by, stirring her old-fashioned Victorian dress, the red and black silk gleaming in the moonlight.

A strange chant began to escape her blossom lips. The language spoken was none known to man, yet it was her native tongue. And as her voice became stronger, echoing through the night, she rose higher above the river.

The moon’s gleam became seemingly obstructed by a strange red Haze.

People peeked out their windows, staring agape at the beautiful scarlet moon.

Soon she heard footsteps and quickly jerked her head in the direction from which they came.

“Hello?” squeaked a soft voice.

A young girl stood at the edge of the bridge, a teddy hanging from her dangling arm.

The girl hovering in the air quirked her head and narrowed her eyes at the disturbance.

“Looks like I’ve found tonight’s dinner,” she grinned in an innocent voice.

The petite girl’s eyes widened as she stared into a pair of larger crimson ones.

Quickly, without a sound, the demon was upon the child, slitting open her throat. Once she had this dirty task finished she gauged out the girl’s eyes and plopped them in a jar.

She placed her plump red lips to the blood dripping from the stained throat.

The red clouds around the moon faded to gray and people sighed in disappointment from their windows.

The Haze had a way of drawing people in, even when they knew the dangers. Especially then.

The girl began to shrivel between the monster’s arms, who then wipes her bloodstained mouth clean and left the Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. laying there.

“The chase is always the funnest part,” she murmured, closing her blood-red eyes as if to relax. Then her eyes shot open and she flew into the awaiting forest, searching for her cave.

The next few days she would wait out, so as not to be a suspect.

But the killings continued and people were afraid to walk in the sun, let alone the reddened moon. The villagers were starting to understand that moon was an omen of a slit throat and gauged eyes. The girl, of course, only needed one pair but she liked to keep a wide variety.

On the fourth day she took the little girl’s eyes and placed them where her own should be. Then she rode into town like she hadn’t a clue. It was a great accomplishment for her to have gotten a horse to obey her. For the skittish creatures weren’t very fond of her kind.

People stared in amazement at the gorgeous visitor. It was rare to have any strangers, let alone one this beautiful.

A short stout well-dressed man stepped Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. and extended his hand to her.

“I’m Mayor Tom O’Brian. We are pleased to have you join us today.”

Of course, not everyone was pleased. In fact, she was causing quite an uneasy stir among the women. But the men were blind to everything but her beauty.

They didn’t notice when she rather rudely snubbed the disappointed looking mayor by ignoring his elevated hand.

“I am Scarlett Haze,” she stated, her voice only making the men fall harder. It was a voice of honey and dew with a pinch of sugar.

Only a tiny little boy noticed the red Haze that seemed to be rolling off her body. No one else noticed the evil gleam in her stolen eyes and the way it seemed as if she had fangs when she smiled. No one else noticed that the eyes she had stolen were the ones of his sister only a year younger than him.

Somehow, he knew if he pointed this out everyone would be dead then and there. That was the only way he restrained himself from avenging his throat-cut sister.

That night the haze appeared again. People knew not to go out at night, but that didn’t stop all of them.

From her usual spot on the bridge, Scarlett heard giggles. Following the sound she observed two young adults on the riverbed.

“Miss Scarlett, you mustn’t be out alone at night!” cried the girl, her chocolate eyes widening when she saw the fiend.

“Neither should you,” the monster snickered.

“But we’re together. We’re safe.”

A satisfied smirk crossed her face becoming more and more prominent until she finally decided it was time to stop her act.

“And what makes you think two humans would stand a chance against me?” she ginned, flashing her sharpened fangs.

Then, before either could even gasp, she was dragging them by their necks into the deep forest.

Their faces turned ruby as they struggled to breathe. Just as they thought they were dead, Scarlett dropped the couple onto the floor of her icy cave. It would’ve been better off for them if they had died earlier.

The destructive animal eyed them maliciously as they quivered with terror under her crimson eyes. She licked her burgundy lips, anticipating what was about to happen.

Meanwhile, inhabitants of the town were whispering in their homes. The smoky scarlet sky loomed above the village menacingly.

The mayor paced back and forth in his office, trying to fathom who could be the killer. He was a very narrow-minded person and didn’t believe in the supernatural. No, he didn’t think the Haze had anything to do with the murders of countless people.

The townspeople, though, were a different story. They may have been the most superstitious people you’d ever meet. But still, the young and naïve were sneaking from their homes in the cold of night. In fact, most of Scarlett’s prey had been seventeen or younger.

Children turned uneasily in their Error! Hyperlink reference not valid., almost as if they could hear the couple screaming from the distant cave.

Then there was that little boy, Connor, who was sitting wide-eyes and shaken on his bed, staring at the burgundy moon. He was still upset about his sister and he knew the culprit, but who was he to tell? She’d arrived days after the first killings making her the least suspicious in town. And there was also the fact that every man was captivated with her. They were the only ones strong enough to stop her and there was no way they would.

He knew he’d seen the fangs protruding from her mouth and he knew that smoke was really drifting off her back. But no one else could see it; they’d tell him he’d gone crazy and lock him up. Maybe even kill him.

That was what made him break a piece of his bedpost off and steal into the kitchen. Delicately he picked up the knife before creeping back to his room. He sharpened the bit of wood until he thought there could be no more impressive point. Then he closed his pale blue eyes, dreaming of split blood and resonating screams.

Scarlett sucked the last drop of blood from the boy’s neck, dropping his hollowed body next to his love’s. She’d played with tonight’s prey more than usual and was awaiting tomorrow’s catch. Hurrying, she departed into town to the hut she was supposedly staying in.

Throughout the next day people were cautious to converse with one another. Only quiet mumbling among families could be heard. No longer was anyone sure of who to trust.

The night dawned upon the town as people scurried to get into their ‘safe’ homes.

It was only once Connor was sure his parents were asleep that he crept out the front door. When he found her, she was picking her head up from her the dripping throat of an 11-year-old girl. Connor remembered her as the kindest person in the town. That combined with the slaughter of his sister made him burst into flames of hot red fury. He pulled out his wooden stake, his eyes gleaming with tears in the moonlight.

Grinning, Scarlett stepped closer to the boy. Then she struck like lightening.

Connor had never encountered a creature so fast. Even though he knew her abilities there was no way for him to have anticipated it. Moving hastily, he tried to nick her with his homemade stake.

“Silly boy,” she laughed, “wood doesn’t hurt me. I’m a demon, not a vampire. One of the main differences is that it’s not necessary for demons to drink blood, it’s just enjoyable.”

Even though she told him this, he continued to struggle against her. For a while she humored the daring boy, who’d tried to bring her down. Then she decided she was done playing around and promptly snapped his neck.

Tired of toying with these townspeople, she resolved to kill them all now, ending with the idiot mayor. Inside she felt a twinge of longing, but pushed it aside as longing for blood.

In no way would she ever gain sympathy for human.