DEAD SKIN

The girl gasped for breath, as Miranda’s vice like grip forced the air from her lungs. Miranda lessened her hold; she kept forgetting how strong she was compared to the feeble humans. She looked down into the young girl’s face for a moment then smiled. “The street isn’t the place for a pretty young thing like you,” she said looking into her eyes. “There are a lot of people who really don’t care whether you live or die—there are also things here that are far more dangerous than he is,” she said nodding towards the man. “I don’t care what made you leave home, Charlotte, but you really should go back—nothing about being there could be as bad as being here,” she said and smiled. Then she looked deep into the girl’s eyes. “Now when I release you, you will turn around and walk away from this alley, you won’t remember me, you won’t remember him; you won’t remember anything about this.” Charlotte looked into Miranda’s eyes and nodded. Miranda released the girl slowly and reached into her pocket and pulled out a note. She handed it to Charlotte and smiled, “a nice hot meal and a drink—oh and Charlotte, be a little more careful in future,” she said stepping back slightly. Charlotte took the money and smiled, then walked quickly from the alley. Miranda turned back to the man, his face had turned a purplish blue as she’d been talking and she suddenly realised that she was strangling him, she lessened her grip and chuckled. “So what am I going to do with you?” she pondered as he gasped for air. “Let go of me you bitch,” he said trying to pull away from her. “Now, now, there is absolutely no need for language like that—I probably saved you from a long stretch in prison,” she said as the man tried to claw at her arm. She moved closer to him, and smiled. He tried desperately to get away when she removed her hand from around his neck, but she held him easily between her body and the wall. “Get away from me you bitch!” he shouted still struggling against her. Miranda slapped her hand over his mouth quickly. His eyes started to water and Miranda watched slightly mesmerised, as blood trickled from his nose and down the back of her hand. “I’m sorry, I realise that I’ve probably just broken your nose, but I already said there’s no need for language like that.” “GUT TA FK F MI U FK BIT,” he yelled against her palm. Miranda chuckled at his attempt to speak then frowned, “well I’m definitely not letting you go with language like that—you’re a regular little potty mouth aren’t you.” “LE MO GU—U HTIN MI,” he said renewing his efforts to escape. “Oh I’m nowhere near to hurting you yet—you really haven’t got a clue about how much I can hurt you, have you? when I told pretty little Charlotte that there are more dangerous things here than you, I meant myself—you really think you’re a dangerous little man, but you’re nothing compared to me—and now I’m going to show you just how dangerous I can be,” she said grabbing his arm, she jerked it back at an unnatural angle and grinned as the bone snapped loudly in the quietness of the alley. The man howled in pain against her hand, tears streamed from his eyes, and he choked slightly on his own vomit. “Ples li mi go,” he begged against her hand, “LI MI GO!” he begged as his eyes started to close and his head lobbed to the side. Miranda frowned and then shook him vigorously. “Don’t you dare pass out on me—I haven’t finished with you yet—I was under the impression you liked it rough,” she said a wicked smile curving her lips, “it is a little unfortunate for you that I’m in a bad mood—I would have made this quick and as painless as possible, but you disgust me—you are a disgusting excuse for a human being, you make me sick—you and your kind—preying on the weak, but compared to me you’re the weak one,” she said smiling as the fangs distended into her mouth. “NOOOOO!!” he shrieked against her hand as she dropped her head to his neck. “And just so you know I never had any intention of letting you go—now hold still and take it like a man,” she whispered as she sank her teeth into his flesh. His struggling only lasted for a few seconds more as the blood flowed freely into her mouth, his heartbeat pounded in her head as she sucked every last drop of the warm coppery fluid from his body. It crept slowly through her veins causing her flesh to tingle; a slight thrill ran down her spine as her heart sprung to life, it faltered for a split second as it altered its rhythm to that of the dying man’s until his last heartbeat exploded in her head and the heat filled her completely. She lifted her head slightly to look at his face as his head lobbed to the side. She stood there for a few seconds more then moved away and watched with amusement as he slid down the wall. His head hit the floor with a dull thud. Morana drew level with her and frowned down at the body for a moment, “well maybe not the best of starts—but I must say finely executed nonetheless,” she said stooping down quickly and picking up the body. Miranda turned slightly to look at the woman as she threw the corpse over her shoulder, she hated this city—she hated the reeking stench of the humans that lived in it—Nathanael was right, she felt absolutely no guilt at taking the mans life—a vampires conscious was after all a small and insignificant thing.