Easier to Kill, Harder to Heal

“Hey, idiot, wake up” 

I jolted up, only to find myself face to face with big brown eyes, and the smell of cotton candy. 

“Rachel, what the fuck? Get out of my room!” I demanded as I rolled over, hoping she would just leave. 

“No, I- we can’t believe you,” She began, “do you have no consideration for the people in this house? And all those people, oh god. You’re such a piece of shit, Kaine. I hope you know that.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I sat up, trying to recall the previous nights events. Then the headache occurred. Then I remembered Alex, and his four little “friends.” Shit. 

“Bullshit you don’t remember, everyone is pissed at you. We’re not fucking stupid. We know it was you. If only you’d convert like the rest of us, we could all live peacefully for once. We've had to move twice already because of you.” 

“They’re never going to know who did it. I don’t know why you guys are so worried. Calm the fuck down. I want to go back to sleep.” I pulled the covers over my head, just for them to be ripped back down. 

“Kaine, I’m being serious. We like it here. This is all over the news, they even have a witness. Sort of. And that couple two nights ago. That’s six people in two days. Investigators are going to be all over this. We’re screwed.” She was getting frantic, she always overreacted over stuff like this. We were going to be fine. 

“Rache, please calm down. We’ll be fine. You guys really need to stop worrying about every little thing I do. And what do you mean they have a witness?” 

She sighed, “I don’t know, you tell me. Some man was found half conscious with bite marks on his neck in a dark alleyway.” 

Fuck, he was so plastered I didn’t think he’d actually remember anything from that situation. I thought I was gentle and didn’t leave much of a mark, guess I was wrong.

I got up out of bed and brushed past Rachel. I dug through my dresser and quickly got dressed, pulling on the skin tight jeans and ignoring the fact that she was still in my room. I could feel her looking at me the whole time. 

“Could you stop staring at me?” I spat before I even turned around. 

Rachel and I had dated when we first moved in to the house. We were actually pretty serious for about a year, until I cheated on her. I had no problem admitting that, but she is extremely sensitive so things were pretty rough. 

“S-sorry,” she stuttered as she darted out of my room.

We had no problems now, but I could tell she never fully got over me. She still acts overprotective and concerned over things that are none of her business, as you just saw. And, I always catch her staring at me. She was turned when she was seventeen, so she still acts like a high school girl having a crush. I’d be flattered, but I’m used to girls being in love with me. 

I made my way to the front door, only to find Parker and Sierra sitting in our living room watching the news. As soon as they heard me grab the doorknob they turned around. 

“Good job, fuckwad.” Sierra looked at me, then pointed at the TV, “you really don’t give a shit about anyone, do you?” 

I glanced at the screen, ‘6 MYSTERIOUSLY FOUND DEAD IN SMALL NY TOWN’ was plastered at the bottom, with theories of it being a gruesome animal attack. Ha, they wish. Must have been the bite marks.

“Look, they don’t even think it was a murder yet, so everyone needs to calm the fuck down. We’re fine, everything’s fine.” 

I honestly didn’t understand how the investigators were so dense. It was clearly not an animal, but I’ll let them think what they want. The less they know, the less likely they are to figuring out what we are. I continued out the door, hoping no one else had something to say to me before I left. I needed some coffee or something and I wasn’t sticking around the house all night to get nagged into another death. 

I decided to go to the mall. It wasn’t too far, only about a ten minute walk I suppose. I tried to hide in shadows as much as I could on the way. Seeing a sketchy kid in all black, walking around at night didn’t seem shady or anything. As I walked I took in the weather around me. October was my favorite month of the year. Not only was I able to stay out later due to the longer nights but, I didn’t have to hide who I really was most of the time because vampires were glorified around Halloween. I also preferred the cool air and blowing leaves over the humid heat of the summer nights. 

The mall was packed, but that was normal for a Saturday night. Adolescents came to blow their parents money at the countless amounts of shops that filled the four stories. Middle aged women came to the several restaurants and bars for a girls-night out. And all the early twenty-something year olds liked to spend their time at the Dave & Busters on the top floor. I honestly didn’t hate the mall, even though it was filled with hundreds of humans. The atmosphere just made me calm enough not to go after the first person I felt pulsing next to me. 

I made my way to the Starbucks which was on the second floor of the mall. The harsh smell of coffee filled my nose as I opened the door. Ugh, It was so crowded. I walked through the cramped space until I found the end of the line. It always amazed me how many people are willing to spend their earnings on overpriced coffee. Then again I really shouldn’t be talking because I too, was doing just that. Whatever, it was good and I had 114 years worth of saved cash to blow. 

Finally, I reached the counter. I was met with a set of amber eyes that looked me up and down. I could tell he found me appealing as I smiled and used my tongue to play with one of my piercings, one of my many signature moves when I was trying to put my charm on. 

I didn't give him a chance to talk, "Hmm could I get a venti pumpkin spice latte, with lots and lots of whipped cream?" I hummed, innocently. 

He starred at me for a couple of seconds and gave me a crooked smile, "only if I can get your name" he taunted. 

"Fine, you wore me down" I joked, "it's Kaine."

He gave me a wide smile before he took the sharpie cap off with his teeth. He took his time writing my name on the cup. How cute.

I made my way to the other end of the counter to wait for my latte, balancing my gaze between watching the barista make my drink, and parents trying to control their caffeinated children. A hand tapped me on the shoulder and a familiar flash of amber caught my gaze.

"Here's your coffee!" He said cheerfully as he handed me the cup of hot liquid. 

I studied it for a moment and noticed a phone number with a heart next to it under my name, spelled as “Cane” but, whatever. 

He scratched the back of his head "call me sometime, yeah?"

I took my finger and dipped it in the mountain of whipped cream, "you'd like that wouldn't you?" I licked the cream off my finger and watched as his face got stiff and his eyes grew wide. 

"Bye now" I said as I turned to walk away.
I think I may have broken him, because when I turned to look back at him he was still wide eyed, stuck in the same position. 

I walked around for a bit, sipping my coffee. The encounter with the coffee guy was pretty funny, I mean the guy had a nice face but, I wasn’t actually going to call him. So, I headed for the third floor. I know it sounds childish, but I made my way to Hot Topic, keeping my eye out for scene kids. I loved messing with them so much. Their poser-ass BOTDF shirts weren’t shit against 2006 Kiki Kannibal. 

Everything was different than it was like eight years ago. The countless band shirts had been replaced with t-shirts plastered with horrible memes and My Little Pony took up a majority of the merchandise. When ‘emo’ was a huge thing around 2005, I lived in this store. It was the hang out spot for me and my roommates. How pathetic. 

I spotted my target. He was turned around, looking at a few of the stray hoodies hanging on a wall. His pants were practically leggings, and he wore a hoodie with the words ‘Bring me the Horizon” barely legible on the back. He had a studded belt pointlessly hanging around his waist, and black converse high tops on his feet. I could see the ends of his choppy hair hanging out of the bottom of his beanie. As I got closer I could hear that he was humming along to Escape the Fate’s ‘Not Good Enough For Truth in Cliché’ that was blaring through the speakers. 

“Nice pants, you are aware that they make skinny jeans for men, no need to borrow your sisters.”

He quickly turned to face me, “wha-” his eyes enlarged, “shit, its you, right? From last night?!”

I was soon face to face with Alex, the kid I encountered the evening before. What the fuck. What do I say? Oh god he was so captivating with subtle hints of dark eyeliner complementing his green eyes. The feelings from last night flooded back into my head, except this time, I was completely sober and they hit me like a high speed train. I needed to chill like, right now. 

“Uh, yea, I guess it is.” I said, kind of awkwardly, trying not to make a lot of eye contact. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I got this flustered over someone.

I regained some of my cool “I can't believe you work here. That's so cliché.” 

He watched me for a second and chuckled, “I guess it is.” He looked down at his shoes, “I didn't think I'd ever see you again.” There was more seriousness in his voice now. 

I cleared my throat, “Well I couldn’t stay away. You’re too cute.” The words just slipped right out. Could someone please tell me what the hell was going on. I needed to get out of there.

He blushed and started fumbling around, dropping the hangers he has taken off the wall. We both bent down to pick them up as I laughed, “Uh, sorry, are you alright?” I questioned. We locked eyes as we stood up.

“Y-yeah, sorry, I’m so fucking clumsy.” he paused “I shouldn’t be thanking you for what you did last night, but you saved me. So, you know, thanks?” 

“Um, you’re welcome, I guess. I’ve never really been thanked for viciously murdering a bunch of people before.” I whispered the last part, who knew who was listening, “you're not afraid of me? It makes no sense. I’m a piece of shit.”

“Well, I don’t know you well enough to confirm or deny that. But, they threw me directly at you and you refused to kill me. That was a first. Everyone’s usually like, ‘let’s bully the emo kid, he’ll end up killing himself anyway’.”

For some reason, that last part hit me. What the fuck was going on. I actually felt bad for this kid, where were these feelings coming from? I didn't even know him. 

“Hey, how about this,” I said, digging in my pocket for my phone, “give me your number, we’ll meet up after your shift. I don’t want to keep you from doing your job, and I’d like to talk to you more about those kids and what happened last night.”

Without hesitation, he took the phone out of my hand and shakily entered his number.

“What time do you get off?”

“Nine-thirty, but wait, you never told me your name,” he giggled shyly, in the most adorable way.

Okay, I REALLY needed to calm the fuck down. I was starting to sound thirsty, and not the good kind. 

“I’m Kaine, see you at nine-thirty, Alex.”