The sirens blared in the distance, the cool night's air danced across Blake Smith's face as he walked away from the bloody scene. He wiped his hands with a sterilized wipe and did away with it. The image of the young lady bleeding out had been imprinted in his mind. His photographic memory had been put to good use.
He smiled deviously when an ambulance with blaring sirens and bright emergency lights sped past him.
He could recall the exact blood vessel he had severed. It ran across her slender wrist like vines. Her screams of terror made his her flutter with satisfaction. His inner demons awakened at the sight of her pure blood. It was a gory scene, but one he derived pleasure from. One that kept him sane.
But although he was cold hearted, he had rules.
One- Never kill a victim.
Two- Never let them see your face.
Three- Toy with the person's mind.
Four- Make sure to leave the scene immediately.
These four rules guided all the late night crimes he committed and helped him to get away with them.
With a content sigh, he continued his walk back home. After all, he hadn't eaten dinner.
***********
"Blake, how are you?'
"I'm fine, mom. Are you alright?" Blake replied, twisting a studded ring around his finger.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I called to check up on you. You haven't called in a week. I was thinking you might have relapsed, slipped on a bottle and broken your neck," She said. and Blake could her a bit of shuffling on the other side of the phone. He wondered what she was doing.
"Oh, ha ha, so funny... Not," Blake said with a tiny hint of a smile as he drew a long drag from the cigarette stuck between his lips.
"So, I've got a surprise for you," She said gleefully," I'm coming over tomorrow!" She screeched and Blake rolled his eyes. She would have smacked him for that if she had been present.
"Please don't," He put very little effort in his plea.
"Too late, I've already paid for the flight. I'm leaving by 7:30 am tomorrow morning. I want to be there as soon as I can," Blake heard more shuffling and he figured that she was packing.
"Mom, don't. Cancel the flight. Anything. Just don't come here," He told her, hoping to convince her.
"No can do, Blake. I've made up my mind," And with that, she ended the call.
Blake sighed and rubbed his sore neck. He wasn't ready at all. Not when he was still in debt.
He got up and made his way into the kitchen. He picked up a sharp knife and held it against the skin of his wrist. With a sigh, he dragged it across and watched it flow down into the cup below.
"Ah, that hurts!" He muttered and heaved a pained groan.
When the cup was nearly full, he closed his eyes and concentrated on closing the gaping wound. Within seconds, the wound was fully healed with little to no side effects. The only one being the light dizziness that came with the loss of blood.
"Enjoy," He muttered as he sauntered off into the living room. He had no plans of staying up late tonight so he turned off the television and turned around to head upstairs but stopped in his tracks when he saw the dark figure lurking in the shadows.
"Emrys, I can see you, you know," Blake muttered and leaned against the rail of the staircase.
"Indeed, Blake. Quite nice of you to leave me a beverage. It's quite refreshing," Emrys mused as he raised the cup of blood as though he was toasting to something.
"Master Satan would be quite sad if you were to pay your debt. Don't you think you should tone it down a bit? The cops might catch you too," He faked a thinking face and walked out of the shadows, into the light of the room.
Disgust filled up in the pit of Blake's belly when the partially twisted and burnt face of Emrys was revealed by the light. Although demons could take human forms, there was always a mark, scar, tattoo, strange birthmark, odor, or something else that made them stand out in the human society. Emrys' was a ragged burn scar on the left side of his face. It made him look quite sinister, so he said. He could easily make it disappear with magic but instead of being completely erased, it would move somewhere else or change into a birthmark or tattoo.
"It really doesn't matter, does it? I shouldn't have fallen for such a cheap trick anyway." Blake said and turned away from Emrys, thinking he might puke if he kept on looking at Emrys' scar.
"A call will come in at 11:55pm tonight. Answer it. You will receive further instructions. Don't miss it or the master will be mad." Emrys told him, suddenly turning serious.
"Instructions?" Blake thought for a moment. "Don't you usually bring them? What's the difference?"
"Sadly, I can't give you any insight. I would have left you with a cliff-hanger if I could, but the master would most likely dismember me and I don't fancy missing a limb." He smiled slyly, "See ya." He waved and vanished in a whirl of black smoke.
'11:55, huh?' Thought Blake as put the television back on and walked back into the kitchen to prepare a cup of coffee for himself.
Two hours into the night, Blake was bored of watching kangaroos hopping around on National Geographic Channel. He glanced at the clock hanging over the television and groaned loudly. It was just fifteen minutes past nine and he was already so bored that even the coffee had lost its effects.
With a lazy groan, he switched off the television and walked upstairs to get a hoodie. It was getting chilly. When it was on, he reached to the top of his wardrobe and grabbed a small trinket. The trinket itself was old and had a very strange marking running along its sides. Instead of a keyhole, there was a tiny hole that only a syringe needle could barely fit through. Blake pressed his thumb up against the hole and an extremely tiny needle emerged and pricked his skin.
Scarlet red blood seeped from the tiny injury on Blake's thumb and was absorbed by the trinket. The box gave a low click and Blake opened it while sucking on his thumb. He wouldn't waste energy on healing such a tiny wound.
Inside the box sat a golden key. He picked it up and walked to his closed door and slotted the key in the keyhole. He locked and unlocked the door again before pulling it open. A golden swirling portal laid behind the door.