Redemption

In my world ghouls lived among humans, blending in with their society like camouflage. They ate, slept pooped; basically everything a human does. The only thing different about them was that they survived off human flesh. Most humans saw ghouls as parasites, most ghouls saw humans as walking live stock, the usual. It was hard for a human and ghoul to ever be friends and go beyond that. Maybe there was a few cases before, who knows? So far none have made their somewhat ludicrous relationship public. Reasons for this being that for one, a ghoul saw a human as walking livestock whenever they are overcome by their ravenous hunger for human flesh. Another reason, humans that usually come across ghouls tend to freak out and attack ghouls and run away because they know what's good for them. In a few rare case, the human falls for the ghoul. This is a story of how a stubborn and sweet natured human falls for a damaged, hot-headed and reserved ghoul and how their union made a difference. Our story begins in Southby, the fifth great city of the Orshore continent on a cold and windy afternoon. The wind whipped around fifteen year old Blaise Ronen's silver hair as he walked down the street beside his twin sister, Ayeka Ronen. He tightened his fist, his face twisted in a permanent scowl as he observed his surroundings. To the silver haired teen, this whole place was infested with humans. He hated them, with a burning passion that could rival the burning heat of a thousand suns. He loathed them. They took away his father, they ripped away the one person he loved immensely. And they did it without even an ounce of remorse. So yes, he hated them, and living among them, walking beside them disgusted him to an extent. He remembered the day the Anti-ghoul took away his parents. He never imagined his father, a stern man of mid-thirty who was as tough as cinderblock, could ever cry until that day when his father witnessed his wife shot dead point blank in the chest in front of him. He felt a hand curl around his tightened fist. His eye's widened slightly as he flicked his gaze over to the owner of the cold fingers His sister, Ayeka, smiled at him softly, her deep blue orbs reassuring. The smile that reminded him so much of his calm and loving mother. He scoffed and ripped his hand away from hers, increasing his pace so that he was now walking ahead of her. Ayeka sighed sadly as she stared at her twin brother ahead of her. She could feel the anger and anguish rolling off him in tidal waves. She wanted so badly for him to be happy, to try to live as normal as possible, but that would never be possible, because the older he got, the more his hunger consumed him. And it was festering his soul. Ayeka could feel him slipping away, day by day, hiding into his anger and pain and sorrow, bit by bit he was slipping away from her grasp. There was no use saving someone who didn't want to be saved. Blaise didn't want to be saved. He was a blazing fire, and his hunger for revenge was his steady feul. And there was nothing Ayeka could do to change that. As they turned down a dark alley, they heard a loud shrill cry, from the alley to their right. In a neighborhood like this, it was normal. Blaise stopped walking immediately. Ayeka stopped by his side, the sweet smell of blood almost making her ravenous for human flesh. She bit her tongue and controlled her hunger, keeping it in check. One slip up, that was all it took for her parents to be killed, she wasn't going to make to the same mistake. The way home was the alley to the left, so she went that way. Ignoring the helpless cries from the other alley. She stopped walking when she realized that Blaise wasn't by her side. She glanced back, puzzled, and saw him staring into the dark alley where the cries were coming from. "Blaise?" He walked into the dark alley without responding. Ayeka's blue eyes widened in panic as she quickly ran for him. "Blaise!" She scolded, grabbing his arm, "stop! You might be walking into someone else's dinner. You know how territorial some ghouls are." In Southby, the ghouls were especially territorial. Blaise glanced back at her with a blank, daring look, his beautiful blue eyes replaced by the bright electric blue and double iris of a ravenous ghoul. She gasped as he ripped his arm from her grip and continued walking down. Cussing under her breath, she called after him, yelling his name and scolding him. But he ignored her, focused on that cry from what he assumed was a pathetic human girl. Ayeka stopped by her tracks when she saw what was going on in front of her. There were three ghouls. Each one had one human in their arms. The two other ones were devouring the flesh of a familiar looking, young couple while the other was holding a girl down and forcefully opening her eyes. She was screaming and kicking and crying as she was forced to watch as the ghouls ferociously devoured her parents, knowing she was next. Ayeka's eyes watered involuntarily. She knew them. That was Mathew and Leisa Nocella and the girl was their daughter, Sensing an audience, the three ghouls drenched in blood turned to the two younger ghouls, eyes crazed and wide from all the human flesh and blood. They all had glowing purple eyes, signifying that they were all Type B; they feed twice a week. Their iris were black which meant they were class B. One of them snarled. "Hey punks, get lost. Unless you wanna be next." Blaise tilted his head to the side, looking at Tara with an unreadable expression. He remembered seeing her almost everyday of the week at The Rez. She was always with her parents when they stopped by ever since she was a kid. She'd always smiled and seemed ridiculously pure and innocent, always either reading or writing in her notebook. She would always ask her parents to buy her a chocolate chip cookie and then on their way out she'd leave it on the table with a note on the napkin for Blaise. He was sure she was under the delusion that they were friends even though, countless times he'd swear at her or call her names, she'd still smile cheerfully at him and leave him a chocolate chip cookie everytime she came with her parents or friends, or even when she just came to sit in the corner and read a book. She'd been doing that for three consecutive years, regardless of how cold Blaise was towards her. He wasn't sure whether it was pathetic or admirable. Her smile, as annoying as it was, always made him feel better somehow. And now as she was crouched on the ground sobbing violently, her brown eye's wide and filled with terror, he felt something snap in him. He was confused at this pang in his stomach. He realized that seeing her in this state made him feel anger and pain. The feeling was so raw and abnormal to him that it left him breathless. He was a ghoul, she was a human, why did it pain him seeing her like this? "Hey punk! I said beat it or you'll be next!" The same ghoul snarled, standing up and c*****g his head to the side. His talons and razor sharp canines bared and dripping with blood. "Don't talk to him like that!" Ayeka snarled, her eyes already bright electric blue. Blaise snapped out of his trance and flickered his gaze to the ghoul who yelled at him. "Making a girl watch while you eat her parents is a bit too low. Don't you think?" He drawled in a low cold tone. Ayeka felt her skin crawl. That tone was so cold and monotonous that it made her freeze. It reminded her of how much her happy and care-free brother had changed. The three ghouls growled and one jumped in for an attack. The corner of his lips twitched into a smirk. He breezed past them digging his talons into their chest. Blood spurted on the walls as they fought. He was fast and in less than five seconds, they all collapsed in the pool of their own blood. He landed without a sound and stood up. He glanced at Tara to see her curled up in a ball, her eye's squeezed shut. Walking slowly towards her, he stopped in front of her and knelt down. "Hey. Annoying one." He said, tilting his head to the side as he stared down at her. She wasn't sobbing anymore, he noted dully. She sniffed as she slowly opened her eyes, revealing her twinkling brown orbs glistened with tears. She looked up at Blaise with wide eyes. Blaise's eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he stared down at her, his razor sharp teeth still exposed, with his claws and his eyes still ghoulish and red. She wasn't looking at him with fear, or anger, or terror like what he naturally assumed for any traumatized human. She was gazing at him with a look of astonishment and awe. He wasn't used to a human not looking at him without fear of what a monster he was. He wasn't used to anyone looking at him like this. It made his heart tug and thump in a way he wasn't used to, and it mystified him. Then suddenly she flung herself onto him, her small arms went around his neck, her face nuzzled against his neck and her small body pressed against his. His eyes widened in shock as she hugged him. He didn't know how to react, so he just sat there tensed and frozen in place. He didn't know why his heart was beating this fast or why his mind was racing. She was a human. A pathetic human. Just like the ones who killed his father and his mother. "Thank you." She whispered softly before slipping out of consciousness. Ayeka's cold eyes softened immensely as she watched Blaise pick Tara up bridal style. He was staring down at her with a look Ayeka couldn't quite pick out. But one thing was for sure; this girl would change everything.