Heart and Soul

Always the same place. The only thing I liked about the portal from the Underlands was its ability to transport me to the same place every time while everything around me swirled and screamed all at once. Traveling through the levels seemed to put me on edge every time, but I looked forward to the end. The magic shop.

I never bothered to learn the name of the place, but I could smell the herbs, spices, wild flowers, and the scented candles. Sage, lavender, rosemary, jasmine. Even the eye of newt smell eased the discomfort of chaos from me. Five minutes and seven second drained the chaos from my blood; I stood still in the warm darkness that felt so much like home for the duration.

Sunlight washed over the sidewalks as I stepped out of the alley behind the shop, huddling in the shadows of the sheer brightness. Nothing particular struck my senses in the vicinity. Not until a swift breeze that had not floated in the air before caught my nose and drew my eyes to her. How is she walking?

Her skin seemed only slightly gray, her hair was a dull flame and she walked with a sluggish ease. Three questions presented themselves. The first, how could she be up and walking after I drained her soul; the second, what’s she doing here; and the third, why did she have my blood in between the dusty pages of a book? The smell filled my mouth with an awful metallic taste. What are you doing?

I watch her determined features. Her relentless walk. She couldn’t be stupid enough to try to track that blood, could she? My mind swarmed with more questions. Chaos flooded my senses. The growl escaped before I knew it. Her eyes darted toward the corner I’d watched her from while my feet hauled me half a block away in the time she had to blink.



Bouts of nausea and dizziness slowed me down. I could feel my skin crawling across my decaying bones. Noise thudded from inside a one story building. The scent of alcohol sent my stomach into convulsions, but I knew I’d get what I needed inside even though I made it a point not to feed this close to the portal.

The human portrayal of my kind is sickening. Stereotypes are not always true, and the rumors of vampires are the worst. I do not drink blood; it has an offensive taste that makes me sick and an odor that was twice as worse. The shadows of sinful energy keeps the doctors away and that is what I sense gravitating inside the glass door of this bar. Rev’s.

A bell on the door jingled when I entered. No one, at first, gave me a second glance. I sat at the bar and ordered a blue labeled scotch. This drew some attention. Maybe I should’ve ordered a cheaper drink? Certainly avoiding scotch. Luckily, my choice earned me a few curious stares rather than a lynch mob.

I took a few deep breaths while the crowd on the dance floor grew from small to rather large in the span of ten minutes. My glass of scotch emptied twice before the dizziness and nausea stopped. A girl in a red dress that left very little to the imagination begged me to dance with her. While her body moved against mine, the energy in the room rejuvenated my bones, my skin, and my strength.

Across the room, toward the back, a heavy door opened. The woman stepping over its threshold commanded attention though no one on the floor gave it to her except me. Her haunting blue eyes pierced me as she shook her head.

“Your presence is requested.” The woman in the little red dress smiled coyly.

“I wonder what for?” My words were low, and nearly as coy as her smile while my lips mirrored her grin as best they could while she untangled her body from mine.

I walked toward the railing below the attention grabbing woman. Her long legs gripped the floor with such force, I knew if a hurricane blew through at the moment she would be the only thing left standing. Those haunting eyes watched me with that same force. I simply grinned. Her face changed from ferocious to frightened and back again.

“You need to leave,” she hissed.

I nodded. “You’re right,” I agreed. “It’s time I get back home.” I turned away from her, took three steps, and then she yelled.

The entire room stopped. No music. No dancing. No drinking. Nothing. “Yes?” I asked.

She glared. Her lioness appeal suddenly got stronger. Those long legs carried her down the three steps away from her black door. She poked me with her icicle fingernail before she spat, “don’t you ever come here again.”

“Should I promise?” The smirk that filled my face felt natural, and, even though I’d never seen it first hand, I imagined that I looked terrifying with my rows of razor teeth and dead eyes. Her face tightened, hatred scrawled across every sharp feature. I leaned forward, our noses almost touched. “I promise,” I whispered, “not to return anytime soon.” Before walking closer to the exit of the bar.

She yelled again. This time she followed me to the entrance to the bar. Poking my chest again, she hissed, “She will find you. She will take back her belongings.”

I turned away from her for the third time. A shiver crept down my spine as he words sank in. No one yelled again. The crowd of dancers parted. Music thudded through the floor boards as I opened the door and gave a curt nod to the woman with features almost as sharp as mine, legs like an Amazonian, and eyes that I would love to dive into. I knew then, the owner of the silvery green soul would come for me.

And she might win.