Her neighbors must have called the cops after hearing her scream through the night.
Elara should answer. She'd open the door for them and act like nothing had happened. She was watching a scary movie and the neighbors must have heard that. She'd promise to turn the volume down and try to get them out of there fast.
No, they'd look for her parents.
She could always lie and say they were out of town. But their neighbors never saw them leave and their car was parked out front.
"Open up, this is the police."
She knew what she had to do. She had to run and get the hell out of here.
Without thinking any further, she went through the back door and tried to sneak past the officers who were now lined at her door.
"That's the daughter!" she heard the neighbor scream.
All hell immediately broke loose.
Even in her bedroom slippers, Elara ran like crazy. She didn't care about the door slams she heard knowing that the police would just follow her with their car.
She kept on running hard, hoping for a miracle that would help her out. After all, nothing was normal about this night.
Every step echoed in her ears.
At first, Elara had maybe thought it was just adrenaline. But it wasn't just her feet that made a sharp sound. The skidding of tiles on concrete, the gushing of the wind, and even the humming of the street lights: every single sound was crystal clear.
Behind her, she heard the static coming from the police radio.
"Suspect is heading east."
There was more being said but she couldn't concentrate. Unlike all the sensations that was touching her skin and noises ringing in her ear, she couldn't help but notice how slow the police sounded.
Even the honking that occurred every now and then sounded delayed, like she was going too fast for the world to keep up.
Her lungs and legs also didn't burn the way she wanted them to. She'd been running for what felt so long and she thought she'd have given up by now but in fact, she barely felt anything at all.
She risked a glance over her shoulder.
The officers looked farther away than she expected. The red and blue lights were now only a blur.
After she turned a corner, she decided it's finally time to slow down.
It was only now that Elara decided to catch a breath, not that she needed to.
Unsure what to do, she started pacing back and forth. Her slippers softly scraped against the ground.
The police sirens sounded distant now, making them irrelevant.
She tried to focus on what just happened, wanting to make sense out of it. But something disrupted her stream of thoughts.
A smell.
At first, she brushed it off as garbage, but the foul and heavy smell, which would have normally made her gag, made her mouth water.
She turned to follow the scent, like she was being pulled to a magnet. As the smell got stronger, it led her down to a narrow alley between two old buildings.
Her footsteps slowed down.
It was unmistakable now. At the far end of the alley, concealed by the shadows, a man was slumped over. His clothes were full of dirt and despite there barely being any light, Elara could tell that his skin was pale.
The dark stain spread on his shirt was obvious, the source coming from what looked like a knife wound.
She didn't need to check to know he was dead.
From the smell, it was obvious to her that the blood was still fresh. It must have been less than an hour since he passed.
Something inside Elara urged her to take a step closer.
Her stomach grumbled at the stench that only got stronger.
She knew that she needed to leave, but the hunger turned into pain. She couldn't help it anymore. She needed to satiate herself.
As she crouched next to him, she convinced herself that no harm would be done. He was already dead.
Her hand trembled as she came nearer.
She no longer wanted to think about morals and consequences. She needed to have a taste, so Elara leaned down.
The first sip immediately relieved her. It was like drinking iced water on a summer day. Except that there was a metallic taste.
Yet, it was a taste she greatly enjoyed. Her hunger was finally being put at ease, so she kept going.
Elara tried to keep telling herself that it would be the last but she couldn't help it. She needed to keep going because with each sip, she regained her strength.
That was when she felt it.
No sound was made, but the presence was strong. Someone else was there.
She slowly lifted her head and at the entrance of the alley was a man.
It wasn't the police and even though he was staring at her drinking the blood of a dead man, he looked calm.
Even in the dim light, Elara could tell that he was sharply dressed. His height clearly towered over her and his face was framed with long, dark hair. His features were refined, similar to that of a prince.
But it was his eyes staring at her that made her blood pulse in her veins.
His eyes were almost like ice. A color that she has never seen on anyone before.
There wasn't a single expression of surprise on his face. Rather, he almost looked disappointed.
Elara quickly stood up, the blood stained on her fingers.
"You shouldn't have done that," he calmly whispered in her ear.
She didn't even notice him move, yet his body was only inches away from her.
Then the familiar searing pain at her side came back. So she tried to run, except she couldn't get very far.
His hand wrapped and closed around her waist as he pulled her back. He wasn't rough, just firm to keep her steady. But she could tell that he tried to be as gentle as possible.
She felt his other hand brush lightly against her back as he leaned in closer. His face near her hair and for a moment, he didn't say anything.
Then she felt his breath against her head as he inhaled slowly.
"You smell…" he began softly, "Dangerous."
His nose lingered. She didn't feel violated when she should have, but there was a feeling of rush that she got just from his touch.
"Delicious," he added quietly.
She wanted to ask him what he meant. Was he going to kill her there?
His hand tightened slightly at her waist.
"There's something in your blood," he murmured. "I've never felt it this strong before. And you have no idea what you are," he said, almost in awe. "Do you?"
Her stomach twisted from the intensity of the way he looked at her.
Then the world around her fractured and she was no longer in the alley.