Celia had stalked the man who had spoke to the police. The man she’d decided needed to die. He’d made everything so much harder for her, the police would know for sure now that his attack had not been at random, but if Charlie has taught her anything in his years of mentoring her, it was that you leave no loose ends, no stones unturned. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2oUjyW7epK
He walked with a terrible limp from the bite she left him in his leg. The police had swabbed it for DNA but her DNA had died with her original self and would come up empty. They’d call it an anomaly and they would be right. Everything that she is was an anomaly. The bite would not turn him, the process was much more complex and incredibly painful. The bite would only make it easier for her attack as she watched her prey like the predator he was. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0h9UGjsaE
He’d beaten his youngest child, a boy, no older than nine, just an hour before. His sick mind finding pleasure in his son's pain, now she would find pleasure in his. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGgP5RNxC5R
“Hey, you there, want to come out and play?” Celia taunted from she shadows where she hid. He’d left his apartment in the night for a smoke break as he often did. His body whipped around so quickly at the child-like voice he heard. Celia had a talent for morphing her voice into the terrors that haunted nightmares when she prepared for a kill, when she let the demon inside of her come out to bring chaos. “Are you scared? Don’t be scared. I just want to play with you, sir.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8LWuplGpX
When he turned to make a move back to his apartment building, as quick as he could with his limp, Celia emerged from the shadows with an innocent smile on her face. The man knew that this was the girl who tried to kill him but part of him couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t have been older than 16, beautiful even in her youth, and so small it had to have been impossible for her to possess so much strength.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tlvalabFx
Still, he staggered away from her but made no move to run. “What do you want with me, why have you come back?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv84rIwjX6g
“I told you didn’t I, I want to play a game.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweMpTR4iw9
“The police will catch you now that I’ve seen your face.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFeClA2psq
Celia only smiled wider and shook her head shortly. Her body was clad in only a tank top and shorts, even though the October air was crisp. “I have no intentions of letting you live this time. You made things very difficult for me. Perhaps if you hadn’t spoken to the police I would have considered letting you live.” She wouldn’t have, but she enjoyed the confliction on the man's face as she teased him with his impending death. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWINxVwuIxZ
When he opened his mouth to scream that is when she revealed herself, shutting him up quickly. Her blue eyes turning a grotesque yellow, her teeth becoming sharp as razors, and her skin paling to an unnatural shade. She stalked towards him quietly, slowly, her smile no longer welcoming but wicked.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoE8N9HfmiU
“W-what are you?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTL6WCNnyH
She tilted her head. “Do you believe in God?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhw7q3nm78r
“I’m sorry?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7RxtibwR4
“Do you believe he’ll forgive you for your sins, are you a good man, a Godly man?” Celia offered no time for him to answer. Her question and transformation enough of a distraction that when she pounced on him, jumping a few feet to close the distance between them, he didn’t move an inch. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tore into the flesh of his neck as he screamed and begged for help. There was nobody to help him now. With one final bite, one final sip until there was no more blood inside of him, she snapped his neck and kissed his cheek, wishing him a goodnight. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rw59gV6gC
•••603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpXV7cFszi
The air felt just as good as it did from when she was a child. There was something about the Virginia air that made her feel young again. It could very well be the fact that she could once again bask in the sun, and she felt overwhelmed with power from having a fresh feed. She was now Amelia, visiting her sickly Grandmother in her last weeks of life. She’d just have to find an old lady, convince her to invite her into her home, and then keep her high on her blood enough to convince her she was, in fact, her granddaughter.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJprsSBTwt
It was the best thing she could come up with on such short notice, having to flee before the police zeroed in on her. She wondered what it was that made her think of returning to Virginia, a magnetic pull, a spell cast by witches (although she didn’t believe those were real). Or maybe she was simply homesick. She never did truly get over what happened here, maybe this was the time she needed.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMLxH35g9f
The train station had hardly changed since Celia last saw it, which was saying something considering how many years had passed. The rain was still green but peeling now and partially covered with rust, the only thing that had really changed was the small Limon’s Food Stand which had a bigger sign, now neon rather than painted on wood, and the prices of the food had gone up. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcGe4CIjce
Celia looked around, trying to take everything in. She knew how big the risk of coming back to Virginia was. If something was to go terribly wrong it would be there, where everything had gone wrong in the first place. She wasn’t about to let that stop her though, not even close. If the blood was even half as sweet as the air she had a feeling she’d be quite happy to be back.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCA41GxnYZm
“Can I help you with anything, Miss?” An elderly man, maybe seventy or so, asks Celia as he sees her struggling to carry her bag. She wasn’t struggling really, just distracted. The gesture was sweet but it had Celia’s thoughts drifting to far off places. People like him were always the most exciting, the better the human, the better the bite, but she yelled at herself internally. Only bad people Celia, we’ve been through this. Fact was, bad people simply weren’t as good. Weren’t nearly as fun. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSLRlrhFkF
“No thank you sir, I’m alright. I’m expecting a car any moment now.” Celia had ordered a taxi but there were no taxis in Attiga, Virginia, so she anticipated a decent sized wait. Not that she minded. They’d take her to a hotel for the time being, they were the easiest to deal with. A signed waiver was invitation enough to get into a hotel. Now, if she’d tried entering an individual room that wasn’t somehow attached to her name, that was when it became strictly invite-only.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZky6FWrRz
As she was looking towards the sky, basking in the sun against her pale complexion, she felt someone grab her bag from her hand. She was slightly annoyed seeing as she’d only just told the man she didn’t need help, but when her eyes met the man— it was not the man she expected to see.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5rphBfeFX
Not aged a single day. Dressed in a loose t-shirt and skinny jeans she’d never imagined him caught dead in, was Charlie. Charlie her creator, not dead, perfectly alive and well. It made sense ever so suddenly, what was drawing her back home. Her creator had been calling.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFv7alGuKm8
“Getting a little sloppy with our kills are we, my dear?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4S6t6E74Uc
Instantly Celia readied for a bloody battle. Teeth sharpening and eyes changing a shade or two. Charlie only clicked his tongue, knowing Celia wouldn’t be able to hurt him. It wasn’t in the nature of being able to hurt your creator. She was just an upset little vampire who’s feelings had gotten hurt.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEELuh8Hv9v
“Oh put away the fangs sister, we’re in public. Don’t be so dramatic.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbXMx1UQOP
“I thought that you were dead!”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GS8umfq8p
“No you didn’t. You would have felt it, just as I would have felt your death. Which is why I haven’t felt the need to reach out to you until now.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtXcqw4sNku
Celia did not miss his cocky demeanor, that was for sure. It was fun when she was riding off his energy, but it was completely different now. They were no longer brother and sister, they’d lost their creator bond long ago. “You left me alone. You ran off to fight a war for humans you think are so beneath you and I never heard from you again.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOoWc291SI
“You needed to learn to be on your own, which was clearly a mistake. I knew you were the reason for all the murders when I heard you nearly forced a man to pray,” Charlie spat out, something like disgust or disbelief lingering in his tone. Disgust would have been ironic though, truly. “You’ve always been taking by true torment. I do take it you left no evidence.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTUTaGj62k
“Of course, I killed him before I left.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVFPo4dephj
“Wasn’t what I asked you,” he then added with an eye roll, “in fact you probably shouldn’t have. Now the police will know for a fact that the crime was planned. The whole country will be looking for you.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOZjr6gkNh
“Let them.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJTy4P4aqE
Suddenly, his harsh grip was upon her. Sharp nails digging into her arm and drawing blood, which she only scoffed at. So like him to take things to the extreme. Charlie pulled her into a shady spot beneath a sitting spot. He sat her down on the bench before sitting next to her, pulling her hair to force her eyes to meet his cold ones. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQY1QVBlHGc
“Listen to me, Celia,” he growled. “You’re being sloppy and any mistakes you make come back to me. I am, after all, your creator. You were made to obey me, and you will. You will not be leaving for quite some time and you will be following my rules in regards to feeding.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq02k4EUdo9
He thinks he can tell me how to behave, that he can control me, after all this time? He’s sorely mistaken. “That won’t be happening Charles. Never in a million years.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjjMcVYKLD
Charlie’s eyes turned their deepest shade of yellow as he peered into Celia’s. His dominance was made clear, that she would be listening to him. He was her creator and she would never be able to escape that. She was to do as he said and there was absolutely nothing to be done about it. “Do not make me do something I wish not to do, Celia.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHtBBn72iw
“Are you going to force me to do something against my will? You’re so good at that, aren’t you, taking away my true death and making me this… this monster.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0tXyA7aiA
“I can make your true death come to you now if that’s so what you wish,” he threatened. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7kUjjMZL7
Celia pulled her face away from him, signing and tucking her hair behind her ears. Charlie’s hair was almost as blonde as here, just a shade darker. Handsome man he was, but far more handsome in the years before. His look was desired then, now the desired look had far changed. Celia always seemed to fit the mold of what was desirable, no matter what century or decade passed. “You wouldn’t kill me. Your connection to me is just as strong as mine to yours. You’d feel empty if I were to die, you wouldn’t do that to yourself. You’re too selfish.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdTFoTgKbsi
“And you’re every bit correct,” Charlie finally conceded. It was absolutely true what she said, but he was serious in her following his rules. She was still a stubborn 16 year old girl in her heart, no matter of years would change that, and he was only doing what he needed to protect her. Just as he was doing when he left her. “But I will not allow you to destroy me in the process of destroying yourself. There is an order to our kind, one you must follow in order to maintain, survive, and most importantly, thrive.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4HK81haoN3
“I hate you.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaLVltRDqm
“No,” Charlie murmured, must softer now. His hand gently traced the side of the face he’d missed for so many years. “You hate what I did to you.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJL844o1oaC
“Is there a difference?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjEwaG0eqs
“An immense one, lovely.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JN74Sifjk
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBMcgqr7eP
•••603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hHF5rB3GM
Leave it to Charlie to live in extravagance while Celia changed from dirty motels to dirty apartments with a new name each time. Charlie’s home was enormous, eight bedrooms, four baths, paintings along the walls that must have been worth thousands each. It looked as if he’d lived there for some time, years probably. Celia envied him and his ability to settle down and stay somewhere without detection. How did he do it so easily?603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrhKD9VNP8
“Our parents died,” Charlie broke through the silence as Celia’s envious eyes scanned his home. “They left me with a large settlement. My sister was living with my grandparents until she turned seventeen and chose to come stay with me. She’s attending the high school in August, she’ll be with me until she graduates. That is our story.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpeSrqCbPj
Celia listened in silence and wondered just how long he’d planned this. He’d thought it through well enough, but thought him mad for even considering the idea of sending her into a buffet of flesh that humans called High School. School was mundane and useless to her now. Did he expect her to run off to college and hope that nobody would notice their 25 year old job applicant looked not a day older than 17? 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9t4YbzfVVp
“You make me laugh. High School, please Charlie, I thought you’d be wiser than that.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzhHKhiQvI
Charlie motioned for Celia to follow him through his home. Every bit of it was gorgeous, even the kitchen which he led her to now. He pulled out a black bottle from his refrigerator and handed it to her, when she unscrew the lid she knew what it was immediately. Blood. The scent was female, unsurprising, but still good enough to enjoy as it trickled down her throat and danced with her insides. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRA6HF0lTo
“The people here are unlike the places you’ve traveled to. They demand answers and routine. Your arrival will be the talk of the town, you will be needed at the school to maintain appearances. Besides, after the stunt you pulled back in that shithole place you just left, you need to appear as normal as possible. They won’t suspect a young girl just trying to fit in in high school.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4cEvRmjHc
The blood was gone in mere seconds, Celia jonesing for more but knowing too much could send her into a frenzy. She silently thanked Charlie and wondered where he got the blood from, how much more he had, and how he’d done so well at staying undetected.
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIsyESliVx
“Do you really think I’d be able to control myself around sweet scented boys and hundreds of girls walking around with bloody visits from Mother Nature?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7w8RmPd3R3
Charlie opened his own bottle of blood and sipped it lightly and slowly, so much more controlled than his counterpart that he’d created. “I think you know exactly how to control yourself. I think you simply choose not to.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkNuOWhOUl
He was right. Celia had much more self control than she chose to let on. She liked being reckless, living fast and dangerous with her kills. On the rare occasion she even enjoyed the chase. Let them live barely, but just enough to run after them. She’d throw her head back in laughter as she chased them through the trees, watching them stumble over the littlest thing. Humans were so clumsy. Amazing that she ever was one. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxaDDX8evf
“Lock me up in your pretty little prison, dictate how I kill and how I feed, but I will not be going to a high school surrounded by the very thing I enjoy as my meal. That is beneath me and I refuse.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9SDfCbWvr7
Charlie screwed the lid back on his bottle and placed it in the refrigerator again. “You don’t truly believe it’s beneath you. You are envious and afraid of having to face what you will never have. You’ve never felt humans were beneath you, that has always been me, Celia.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVYIFFY9T7
“You’re infuriating,” she growled and she stormed off to an unknown part of his house. Ignoring his demands for her to come back, knowing they weren’t serious, otherwise she would have had to listen. The hallways of his home were red, making her feel that deep pit of hunger despite just having something to quench it. “I’m not going to go from parading around the world to disguising myself as something that I’m not!”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFsaoh5FUX
Charlie was before her in a flash, so quick she hadn’t seen him until he was standing before her and a white door, a shit eating grin on his face. “It seems you’ve found your bedroom. First floor, only the best for you.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwF2u5q6EUU
“Screw off.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotEXq1wGBp
“Such language,” he tsk’d. “The Celia I left was so proper, never to speak a word so beneath her.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEiVFy0Us7r
“Yes and that Celia died when you left and never returned from war, we’ve been through this before. We can only continue the same conversation before I lose interest. And now I’ve lost interest, shame. Seems as if you no longer hold my allure.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWVOyb5dgL
Charlie ignored her and shoved the bedroom door open with a force. Celia almost had a heart attack— if it were possible to do so, at the sight of the bedroom before her. She recognized the tiny, baby pink chest sitting on the oak dresser. A memory from her childhood, the one that was stolen from her in Attiga, Virginia. The bed was queen sized with a white comforter. Antique brushes and mirrors lined the top of the dresser along with the chest, identical to the ones she remembered from her youth.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyouwpirb92
“They look the same, how did you find such stunning replicas?” It wasn’t like Charlie to be lazy in detail but Celia refused to believe they were truly her own. There was nothing remaining from her life in Virginia, but she walked towards the pink chest despite her reserves. She released a gasp as she opened it. The jewelry that had been there from her youth still remaining as she’d remembered leaving it, but it wasn’t the jewelry that sent the indescribable feeling through her body. She felt it in her bones as her fingers gently lifted the photograph. Aged by time, but nearly in the same condition. Celia, her parents, and her brother— Abel. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4xBB3QVpez
“I took your things before we left together. I kept them in a safe place knowing that someday, when you were ready, they would be of service to you again. That time is now. Your return home should bring you kind memories, not the feeling of anguish you so feel now.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTqn4uSIyE
Celia would have none of it. Charlie’s technique was sick and twisted. Remind her of the family that was now dead, of the life she no longer lived in some attempt at keeping her bound to the place she loathed. She turned the photograph in her hand before tearing it in two, something she’d regret soon after. Then, she threw the chest across the room and watched it shatter completely, followed by the mirrors and hair brushes that were already so fragile.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVzqgd9R0S
Charlie was taken aback by her actions. He was seeing for the first time just how damaged his little creation had become, or had always been. He was too consumed by his power and the life of luxury he lived to be able to see it before. Yet there she was, destroying all remains of the you she used to be. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7rovKvQtl
“I don’t need your pity and I certainly don’t need your reminders. It is not the memories of my family that I needed to make me feel better, those memories are the memories that destroy me, Charlie. I’m sorry but your gestures mean nothing to me now, just as they would have meant nothing those nearly 80 years ago.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoxPC8nRUY
She just needs time, Charlie thought to himself, she will come around. Charlie needed her to, Celia had always been his better half. He’d never faced a harder task than leaving her after the war had ended. He knew his intentions the day he left her and he intended to never see her again. He always worried of her safety, the need he felt to protect her never diminished as years gone by, but knowing she was surviving kept him away. Charlie was no good for her then but vowed to be what she needed this time around. He could make up for what he did and would be a true leader to her now. No more running around causing bloody massacres, no more drinking Champagne with gypsies, no more roaring 20s spent in France. This time would be different. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrerl0zm6S9
“I’m sorry for what I did to you, someday I hope you will understand.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa036mJ98QF
“Whatever. You’re just a dick.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUraYMF0NQg
Charlie smiled, he so missed her immaturity. It was a breath of fresh air to be close to her again. The pit inside of him he could never quite fill now whole again. 603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuv3sHts2R
“Tomorrow,” Charlie spoke, “there is a town meeting that we both will be attending. The town has been asking questions of your arrival, they’re very particular with the people who settle here. You’ll need to dress to impress.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfJWqahca9
He left Celia in her room to clean her mess and when she was certain he’d gone, she looked at the torn photo of her family and cried in their memory.
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