Gluttony

"Me?" You thought.

Pft, more like me she means. You suck... and not very well either.

"Eat shit and die."

Isabella touched your face "What are you thinking about? I always wonder what you're thinking about when you pause like that and make that dumb little face."

"Just some self-assessment, I'll add Dumb face to the list"

"Don't change it, I always thought it was cute."

"Always?" You questioned lightly.

"...I wondered if what I felt--what I feel for you is real. My Mistress told me how the Allure doesn't take hold until puberty... and what makes me so ready for you now, is remembering that even before then, I felt the exact same way as I do now, turns out I just have a bad memory."

You snuggled up closer to her "Come closer, you smell divine."

She laughed then as you buried your lips in her neck and kissed tenderly, mocking that which disturbed you less than an hour before, the Witch's scent was absent, her blood flow absent, she was warm and still like a pool so unbelievably calm that it reflected everything around it.

Isabella shifted around to face you, where she looked up into your crimson eyes, running a thumb over the scar that cut through your left eye "In our classes, they mention that Vampires are recognizable by the hellish glow of red in their eyes, the windows to the soul. I never thought I'd get to see them so closely."

Your brow jumped up as you smirked "What is it like looking into the Eyes of Hell, then Ms. Granger?"

She thumped your arm and grimaced girlishly, flexing the pain out of her fingers "Ow. I was going to say that they are beautiful, Idiot. Like Rubies...." Isabella yawned heavily closing her eyes slightly "...in the sun."

You ran your fingers through her hair "You should get some rest, it's past midnight." You whispered as she huffed, tiredly, resting against your chest, already half asleep.

"Will you stay in here with me?" Her voice trailed off, her arms embracing you warmly.

You smiled... although Jane still lingered in the back of your mind "Yeah of course I will."

Her body slowly became more and more relaxed, you felt each of her muscles give into sleep her last words echoing in your mind, before she escaped into a dream "Liar."

You wanted to keep your promise, but as you let a minute pass, then thirty, then an hour... the comfort began to slip away, and hunger crawled up through your veins. y░O░u░C░a░N░n░O░t░I░g░N░o░R░e░M░e

You took in a deep breath, the lids of your eyes peeled open wide alongside your claws which hovered over Izzy's back.

Your fear of harming her was so strong that it erupted, your body evaporating, dissipating into a mist so black that it oozed like gaseous midnight. Slithering across the floor in seconds, Your body solidified and silent as the morning breeze you zipped towards Isabella, grasping a pillow and entwining it carefully in her arms so that her cheek would not miss your absence.

Izzy cooed quietly, clutching the pillow tighter as You looked at her stunning features, too good for this world, and yet not of it.

░With░every░second░that░you░wait░ I░grow░Stronger.░

Gripping your temples tightly, you're rushed out of the room on silent feet, collapsing on the landing.

"Get out of my head." You whispered, trying to focus, trying to use the threads "Nevermore-"

░you can frolic around░all you want░pretending to be the hero░

Squeezing your eyes with shaking hands, you smiled and shook your head, pulling up the banister slowly to your feet.

"You can't scare me, you're... you're nothing, you're just a desire. You're nothing."

░I am You░You are greed░and as long as we're one░You must Feed░

balancing on the Banister, You looked out over the foyer, down to your home, stiffening as You felt a presence next to you, tall and shallow, with crimson eyes, skin wrought with a vicious maroon that dripped and glistened in the light, dripping from her elbows, seeping through the split ends of her dark hair.

This thing wasn't real, you knew it just by looking at it, the way it smiled dementedly with blood-soaked red fanged teeth.

She sucked on her lips and fondled her bare breasts, pinching tightly at the nipple, it looked painful but she hummed anomalistically.

■ What a lovely night to sink our teeth into some throats, eh lover boy? ■

You rolled your eyes "More voices in my head, great."

You jolted as it Wrapped its arms around your neck tenderly, staining your clothes with the blood that oozed from its pores. The warmth of it was mind-bending, the whisper of this thing's voice into your ears.

■ Do I feel like a Voice to you? Hmm, you've got some timber on you. ■

This wasn't real. This was not real.

"Vlad, Vlad what the hell is this?"

■ Vlad is a Beast, silly boy. A Beast cannot survive without flesh and blood, I am a Calling, a roar, a whisper. You're stuck with me now, maestro. What's rich is that you actually knew this was coming, didn't you? were you not warned? ■

"...." You pushed off the Bannister the Whisper clutching tightly around your neck, riding you as you walked along "This isn't going to stop me. Nothing will stop me. I'm a Warrior."

■ I'M A WARRIOR, hehehehehe fucking hell listen to yourself. What a funny little broken thing you've become, everything was so easy before, but now little superego Chippy is behind the wheel you fold like a poorly made pancake. How disappointing. ■

Growling suddenly, you reached out to the Whisper and clutched at it's throat, crushing it's neck with the **** of all of your hatred, but it only seemed to bend and slip beneath your fingers, Your fingers doing nothing to the phantom creation of your subconscious but making its eyes roll back as it bit it's lips.

■ Mmmmm, harder big boy, I wanna really feel it. ■

Wrenching away, you stormed off down the landing, rubbing your temples and shaking your head as the Whisper squeaked out a laugh like a demented dolphin.

Moving down the Foyer, You focused on just getting to where you needed to go.

"Out into the Garden, if I just get to fresh air then everything will be fine. Think of Cleo, focus on getting to Cleo."

With the steadying focus carrying your fast-moving feet, You swept down each step at a speed verging on mania, twisting around to fast walk through the hallway to the Kitchen. The darkness of the space around you crept and crawled, dust rumbled in the air and a ringing screamed in your ears.

You lent over the Kitchen counter, the silky crosshatch patterns slithered under your fingers and You lurched towards the wide double sink, a painful surge of red-hot, tar spewing out from between your lips, twirling as you turned on the tap to **** it down the drain.

A roaring churn vibrated your stomach, and before long you began to raid every cupboard you could find, ripping the plastic wrap on a loaf of bread, its spongey body torn to shreds as you **** it past your lips; cans of beans bumped into one another as You crushed and wiped of the metal seal guzzling down the entire can.

More and more and more you ate, Coughing up paprika, **** on vegetable oil groaning and shaking as Your legs gave out, collapsing onto the cold floor as the world began to vibrate, closing in on you as it all grew deafeningly loud, overwhelmingly bright.

You covered your ears, sealing you eyes shut, trying to drown out the screaming voice

■ FEEEED US, FEEED US, BATHE IN BLOOD, BREAK THE BONES AND SUCK OUT THE MARROW, DEVOUR IT ALL, TASTE THE WORLD-- ■

"♫ Hush now, my baby ~ Be still love don't cry"

Slowly the ringing began to subside

"♫ Hush as you're rocked by the stream...."

Your muscles unwound, the crushing weight of the world mellowing gently as the pressure subsided.

"♫ Sleep and remember, my last lullaby. So I'll be with you when you Dream."

Your eyes opened lazily, a dizzy haze washing over your mind, smoothing out its creases, a wave of numbness overcoming you.

"This is all I can do to help you, My angel. Please, stop this madness, I know you cannot hear me, I know you cannot see me, but I am always watching you. You must quench your thirst before this gets any worse, I beg of you."

Reaching out with quivering hands you only just managed to push your weight up, a long exhausted groan escaped your lips as your back pressed against the face of one of the kitchen cupboards. Reaching into your pocket, you were thankful to find a creased box wedged inside.

You flicked the button of the box, a Malboro sliding up which you plucked out with your lips. Clearing your throat you took a deep breath and with your right index finger and thumb, you pinched the end of the Cigarette.

Smoke and heat boiled against your skin as the black flame that lingered forever within you lit up the now glowing cherry.

The Cigarette wasn't as satisfying as You'd like, but it helped to calm your quaking fingers and steady the storm in your mind.

"Come on asshole, get up." You whispered, closing your eyes "Don't give up. Never give up." More you pleaded, forcing your eyes back open and sitting forward "Drake's don't compromise, I won't compromise. get up you damn idiot --Ugh." Carefully you stood, leaning on the side for support as the world wobbled around You.

There was too much to do, too much to learn for you to fall now. You wanted to understand it all, to delve into the deeper nature of this dark world that existed beneath the normality of Mortals... You wanted to Love and Live and Battle for what you believed in, that is what it meant to be alive, that is how you would survive, not through becoming a bloodsucking monster who brutalized the innocent... but as Executioner of your proud warrior House, as The son the Black-Star wanted.

The time came to suck it up and move on, so you pushed off of the counter shambling as subtly as you could out of the kitchen and out into the back passage.

Sliding open the screendoors you stepped out of the wide conservatory that stretched all across the West exit of the Manor... or Mansion, it was strange, much of the building's extension was on the new second and third floor, of which there were rooms that you hadn't seen before... oh but who could pay attention to the state of your home in comparison to the feeling that swept through you as you stepped out into the night.

The long plot of Garden was poorly lit, save for the silver luminance of the moon which bathed the grass in light making it look like a field of gleaming silver. When you walked out into the late evening chill it pierced into your skin filling you with an unorthodox kind of vitality.

The world felt open and endless, You... understood it completely, every elder tree, every swish of the breeze, You felt as if you could name every star in the black sky which covered the world, spinning endlessly around the heart of all tyranny, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 365 days a year, a restless infinity. This feeling was paradoxically calming and overwhelming at the same time, you wanted to run and jump across it all like an excited puppy, every breath a perpetual euphoria.

"Holy shit." You whispered, astonished as you absorbed the night.

"What the hell is this? it's-It's... incredible... my god, is this how it feels to see--to truly see the world as a Vampire?"

Striding out further, your crimson eyes twinkled as you swallowed the feeling in more and more, wanting more and more, your body so tense with such hunger that you could strive to shove the world into your gullet and swallow every bloody chunk, belly overly full, mind lost to the world. A snake's scales burned across your forearms, the fangs sending a shattering pain as it bit deep into the skin of your wrist, sending a torrent of familial blood down your throat.

With a scratching belly, you looked down with bloodshot eyes as the foul mixture churned in your belly... and pulled your Wrist out of your mouth, the veins pulsing black with toxic venom.

Gluttony:
While we have been warriors, warlords, lovers, singers, preachers. But we have feasted on all of the above and evermore for eternity, as mortals need to slaughter the beasts below them, we must slaughter the beasts below us, as we all made our choice in the end. It is our hunger that empowers us, to taste the mind, soul, and bodies of others, to understand the threads of existence deeper than any other being on this earth ever possibly could, to fuel an eternity of darkness. The Blood is life, it is memory, it is the code that guides us, soothes us, sharpens us, with it we are are a King above all and without it we are the most dangerous of beasts. All fueled by our hideous glutton.

You licked your lips and rubbed your bloody wrist off on your shirt, peering over the gardens silently, a dark kind of smile overcame you. Things felt... odd, you still felt deathly ill but, clear, concise, you knew what you wanted, knew what you had to do and how to do it, the time for delirium had seemed to pass.

"T-This is awful, I feel like shit... but I can ride it, like a wave, I've never felt anything like this before?"

Peering over at the hard but neat structure over by the Greenhouse on the spine of the Black forest where your family's long field of a backyard came to an end. Your walk was brisk but lumbering, heavy and intentional with the weight of all the night streaming through your mind in a loop.

The Garage was made of a dark brick rising up into the air with a pointed roof of sharp slate that gleamed in the shadows, diamond-shaped tea lights cast a calming sunny light across the maximum security garage doors, requiring a Four digit code to get inside. Roman Drake wasn't ever much of a stickler for anything in particular, but he loved nothing more than to tinker with his gadgets and work on his litany of luxury personalized vehicles.

This, Rudy, must have taken over his workshop then.

Striding over to the garage doors, your eyes glowing like red lanterns in the darkness, you moved over to the keypad and typed in the code "1969" The Year your father and mother met.

Clanging the garage doors slid open and you stepped inside, the wide-open space steeped in darkness. the lights buzzed to life, not the typical long tubes with blinding white light... but a hundred hanging bottles with soft orange lights which bounced off of the many gleaming bonnets of Your father's Vehicles.

Your footsteps echoed on the pristine dark marble floor, your fingers brushing the silver handle of the azure Rolls Royce, looking into the pale leather seats of the E-Type Jaguar that he'd take you and Diana for a spin in every weekend of the summer, Roman was a master behind that wheel, so much so that you were nearly hanging out of the window as he raced through the woodland roads, trees rapidly passing overhead, the sun piercing the branches to warm your forehead covered by your rapidly splaying mahogany hair.

"Careful back there, Kid." He called coldly, as Diana snatched you back into the backseat giggling.

"You're gonna fly out if you keep doing that you know, idiot haha." She chuckled as You saw the reflection of your father's smiling eyes in the rear-view.

You blinked the memory away but couldn't stop yourself from thinking as You unlocked the massive key box, finding exactly what you were looking for without even having to sift through the legion of keys and fobs that hung carefully categorized and listed.

Twisting that key in the lock of the door, you curled inside of the car; ever so gently closing the door next to you. You rested your hands on the Wheel, felt the smallest of ridges brush on the palms of your hands. Old as it was the Camaro roared to like as you turned the ignition, the lights beaming with vitality even after all this time. You just sat there for a while, taking in the smell, listening to the engine rumble like thunder as You pictured a starry night under the High-school which you walked away from angrily, Your fathers' tall form lent against the shining hood, in a white buttoned Armani and black waistcoat, a cigarette burning between his lips, weaving into his smoke-black and neatly trimmed beard.

He said nothing as you stormed around to the passenger door, slamming it behind you. The burning red of the cherry streaked in the air as he flicked it away, getting into the car and looking at your poor show of hiding your face. "Look at me." He said dryly.

You shook your head but he lent over quick but gentle as the wind, his fingers capturing your chin and pivoting your head, to peer at the dark painful bruise on your cheek. Roman's lips creased and he let you go "Don't slam the door."

"Gee, thanks, Dad."

"Pardon?" He shot back.

You scowled "Yes sir."

"Hmph." He drove out the high school pick-up area, never asking about how scouts went, never asking about the bruise that Bradley that sadistic little piggy head scout made... it hurt more than the punch you'd gotten, you felt like he didn't care like he'd never care but--the next day when your father drove you into school, he got out of the Chevrolet with you.

"Dad, what are you-?"

He grabbed you by the arm, pulling you out of the way as a car came whizzing by beeping its horn "Pay attention, don't fall behind." He directed coldly as he always did, and so you followed him all the way to the principles office where he sat in a chair, practically glaring at Principal Harrison until Bradley was expelled.

You resented it a little at the time, Roman always insisted on fighting your battles for you... but now, leaning your head on the wheel of this beautiful car, You knew that cold as he was, Roman Drake would have sold off every car in this Garage for you; to keep you safe.

Turning the key again, the car became dark and you stepped out locking it behind you. You didn't even really know how he died but... then there was that weird feeling again like you already knew.

Everything in this Garage had been a part of your life since childhood, the casual industrial style of your Dads workshop in the west corner, the hanging bottle lights, the classic cars he'd fix up in his spare time... but the double red doors nestled awkwardly in the corner among the shimmering bottles, were none too familiar.