Crimson

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I walked on the rooftops again just an hour later, looking down at the streets of London, searching for a prey. There were always vampires out. I just had to find them.

It was long past midnight and people that had been out drinking would soon start making their way home. That was a prime time for vampires to hunt. A lot of people out on the streets, no one really paying any attention to anything, and if someone would see something they would simply shake it off as the alcohol playing a trick.

I heard a muffled scream and soft pleadings. Normal hearing would not have picked it up, but mine did. The sounds came from two streets to my right. I backed to the far-right edge of the roof I was on and then ran towards the other edge. I jumped, landed, and didn't stop as I jumped over to the next roof. I peered down the alley and instantly saw what I had heard.

From the long hair, I assumed it was a woman. But the tall figure standing over her made it impossible for me to be certain. The tall figure, however, my instincts knew was a vampire.

The vampire had the woman pressed against the wall and had its head bent, making me sure that the vampire had already started to eat.

I didn't think before I jumped off the roof and landed smoothly behind it. The vampire heard my landing and turned around. A hiss left its bloody mouth, but I couldn't see more of its face. A hood covered it. The smell that came off it though... I wasn't able to identify what it smelled like, but it was an awful scent that made my nose scrunch up.

I made a move towards the vampire, but it smoothly dodged the attack. I prepared myself for a counterattack, but to my surprise the vampire didn't go to attack as would be normal. Instead, it turned and ran away.

I looked between the fleeing figure and the girl, before bending down to the girl. She couldn't be old. Maybe sixteen. She had long brown hair, wore clothes that were both dirty and slightly torn. Her face was also dirty, but it was possible to make out her soft features underneath. Next to her slumped body was a backpack.

I quickly checked for a pulse. Once I had found it, I rubbed an ointment Saida had made on the wound on the girl's neck. The wound immediately healed.

All of that took me about five seconds. I got up and started running in the same direction as the vampire had. But when I got out to the street, I had no way of knowing where he had taken off to. There was lots of light from cabs and neon signs belonging to stores and clubs. People moved about, chattered and laughed, stumbled into each other.

I sighed and hurried back to the girl. I knew that it wouldn't be safe to take her to a hospital, wrong questions could be asked. I would have to take her to mine and Saida's apartment. Just had to figure out a lie as to why I hadn't taken her to the hospital for when she finally woke up.

I froze when I got to the spot where I had left the girl. There was blood on the wall and ground of where she had been, but she herself was gone.

"Fuck," I mumbled to myself. Did the vampire come back? Or did the girl regain consciousness and run away?

I looked around for clues. I sniffed to see if I could smell her blood in any direction. But nothing. I couldn't give up though. Not yet. She had to have lost so much blood. Enough so that she maybe lost consciousness again, and she had been pretty. Vampires weren't the only predators that could attack a young girl after all. I had to find her and make sure that she was okay.

The sun had been up for a long time when my phone rang. I had searched throughout the night and well into the morning, but no signs of the girl.

"Hello," I answered the call and stifled a yawn.

"Where the hell are you? Why aren't you home yet? Are you okay?" Saida's stressed voice replied.

"I'm sorry," I sighed and leaned my head to my hand. "I should have sent a text. I'm fine."

"What are you doing?"

"I came across a vampire feeding on a girl. She was still alive, but I left her for a minute or so. When I came back, she was gone. I need to make sure she's okay," I explained as I moved down another random alley in the hopes of coming across the girl.

"That must have been ages ago!" Saida exclaimed. "The sun has been up for several hours already. You won't find her. She's likely back home already and sleeping off the night."

"I have to make sure she's okay," I insisted.

"No. You have to come home and sleep."

"Just another hour. Okay?"

"Fine," Saida relented with a heavy sigh. "If you're not home in an hour, I'm coming to get you."

It was one and a half hour later when Saida came into my vision. She had an expression on her face that I had seen a thousand times. A stern scowl that didn't completely hid the worry underneath.

"I hope she's alright," I mumbled as Saida led me back home.

"I'm sure she is," Saida answered.

I didn't know why and couldn't understand it. There had been plenty of victims of previous vampires that I had encountered that I had not been able to ensure had gotten home safely. But I just felt a need to know the girl was fine. I decided that it had to have been because of her age. She had looked so young. Barely at the beginning of her life.

Just like the vampire I had killed in our prison.