The Evil Within

Insane Thirst

Chapter five

As the sun rises, I make some coffee and see the vampires down below my 20 foot apartment scrambling to get out of the sunlight. With the years of practice that they've had, they still have a few stragglers shy of common sense. I chuckle and roll my eyes. With the amount of vampires roaming around and the rumor that witches know daylight ring spells, work is completely online. I work as a veterinary technician, I have an extra room in my apartment to use as a grooming station for pets.

As I'm lost in thought my roommate busts through the door, sighing with anger. She practically throws her purse onto the counter and drops to the couch. I'm sitting near the window and I chuckle.

"What happened now?" With the amount of dates she's been on, the majority of them are bad. Or in her case, terrible, I've known she's had terrible taste in guys since the moment we met. She likes the bad boys and I'm not trusting enough, so naturally we're best friends. It's true when they say opposites attract.

"Another catastrophe." She replies, grabbing the pillow next to her and screaming into it. I sigh and join her on the couch.

"Wanna tell me about it?" I ask and she sighs heavily.

"I met this super cute guy online," I give her my disapproving look and she scoffs. "And turns out he was nothing like what his profile said, just my luck I get cat fished again."

She scowls into the pillow again and I chuckle.

"You're too trusting, babe." I tell her, getting up off the couch to enjoy the rest of my coffee before actually starting the day.

"I know, why can't I be afraid of guys like you?" She says, allowing herself to breathe from the pillow.

"I'm not afraid of guys, just afraid they might be vampires. Witches like me have to be careful."

She nods understandingly.

"I'm sorry," She says and I wave my hand.

"It's nothing, anyone else you meet on that sketchy app of yours?"

She squeals with delight, just blame my witchy voodoo for knowing how to cheer her up. She takes out her phone from her pocket, getting up from the couch and showing me the next horrible night yet to happen.

"His name is Josh and before you say anything, he looks genuine and hot as hell."

I laugh, enjoying the times when I'm not constantly reminiscing on the past. I know Jessica loves me to death but even a wallowing-in-misery roommate can get annoying. She does her usual scrolling through tinder as I finish my coffee and spend half the day in zoom calls and filing paperwork. Sometimes I'll get the occasional pet sitting job or groom.

She kisses me bye and the rest of my day is spent alone, besides Oscar, our cat, my familiar, willing to spend his awake time with me. I've had Oscar since I was 6 and that's when my powers started to kick in. I would make things levitate without meaning to and one day, Oscar showed up to help me. In school, I would wear a bracelet that dampens my magic and that allowed me to blend in. That is until the government issued a law that forced the school to check for magical kids, I had to be homeschooled from then on.

My brother wasn't magical but vampires showed up more frequently, children would go missing and my parents would constantly worry whether their little boy would make it home that day. The worrying was too much so they took him out of school too. My mother quit her job and my dad dedicated his work time to protect the president, no one knew if the president was a witch or not, but since my dad wasn't magical himself, rumors never stop spreading about my family.

I knew the kids at school, even my friends, found out I was a witch. The timing was too much of a coincidence but after the years passed, I'm sure my friends forgot about me. I was forced to take college classes online, well, almost everyone was. The vampires took my childhood away and I will forever hate them for that.

…

As the sun starts to set, I can't seem to sleep. The excitement of finally being able to walk out in the sunlight is too much to bear. The late rays of the sun are still shining but I have nothing to fear with our home protecting us. I open the door to my bedroom, the dead silence letting me know that everyone is sleeping. I feel the thirst bothering me in the back of my throat, I know we still have blood bags but it tastes so awful. It does the trick but doesn't compare to the real thing. I tiptoe my way down the stairs to the basement, making sure no one hears me.

I make it down the stairs, seeing the woman snoozing soundly. I can't contain my laughter as the insane thirst starts to take hold, I have to feed on her or I might go crazy. The slashes from the knife seem to be healing but the smell of dried blood is almost too much to handle. I get a grip on myself, sneaking near the woman to snatch a taste. She'll definitely wake up and try to scream but at that moment, I didn't care.

I managed to get close enough to her neck without waking her, my fangs unhinge and I sink my teeth into her soft neck. The warm blood trickles down my chin but the taste is so good, she instantly wakes up and I slap my hand against her mouth. She screams through my hand and I feel a breeze behind me. Erica rips me from the woman's neck and I groan, wanting more of the sweet red liquid inside her. My hunting instincts take over and I'm consumed with the need to feed.

"Are you crazy?" My friend exclaims but I can't seem to hear her over the exhilaration of my craze. She slaps me hard and that's when I come back to. I touch my hand where she slapped me and feel the sting, my dad is furious and I shy away in fear. The woman is crying with terror and my dad leaves upstairs as Erica drags me up there. I'm dreading the punishment he'll have for me, if it's anything like what happened to our other siblings, then I should be as scared as the witch downstairs.