The Duke's Passion

"I will… kill you!" 

Blood splattered on me, and the side of my lips curled into a brief smirk. However, that was not enough to kill him as he slowly drew away, touching his bleeding ears. 

He seemed surprised, gazing at his palm after touching his wounded ear. I crawled away from him, pushing myself back with my feet. 

I winced when he suddenly stuck his tongue out and licked his palm ever so slowly. This disgusting monster… he had really lost his mind because of his hunger.

My shoulder stiffened as soon as his gaze landed on me. "Come close, or I will kill you," I warned, clutching at the branch tightly. 

His response was a diabolical smirk, sending waves of fear in me. Although the fear in me was great, my will to survive was far greater. I knew taking a person's life was a sin, but that didn't matter to me at this moment. This was a matter of who would die between us, and that was definitely not me.

The vampire slowly stood up on his feet until he towered over me. I forced myself to stand, but my knees felt weak and all I could do was look up to meet his gaze. His steps towards me were slow, making the crisp sound of withered leaves under his foot louder. 

"Don't…" My voice shook, couldn't conceal my terror.  "… come close." 

"Kill…"' he hissed and pounced on me, flinging his hand and broke the branch in my hand. My heart instantly dropped to my stomach as he grinned maniacally. 

"Kill."

His mouth parted, baring his fangs, but I instinctively grabbed him by the hair, tugging his head back. 

"No!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my voice echoing across the hill. He hissed, but I gripped at his hair, knowing that letting him go was akin to letting go of my lifeline. 

The struggle lasted for a long time and I didn't know where I got all the strength to stop him. My hand slowly crept over his face, and I placed my thumb on his eye, while he suddenly wrapped his fingers around my neck, choking me to death.

My breath hitched, slowly getting suffocated, but that didn't stop me. I ground my teeth and yelled as I decisively pressed my thumb inside his eye. 

'It bled…' I froze for a second, but his grip around my neck loosened as he shouted, so I continued. My thumb sunk deeper, feeling the soft flesh of his eyes around my thumb.

"Ahh!" he screamed in pain while covering his eye. I pushed his chest away, and I crawled away.

The vampire screamed, howled, hunching in pain with his hand on his wounded eye while on the ground. I watched him in horror and shock before my eyes snapped when I noticed his back trembling.

'End him!' my mind yelled in panic. 'He will kill you once he recovered!'

'That's right,' I thought, and I mindlessly looked around, crawling on the ground as I mustered my strength to run.

'No, he will catch you soon! Kill him!'' my subconscious mind whispered, making me pause as soon as I took a step. 

"If I don't kill him…" My eyes fell towards the huge rock which I thought I could carry. "… he will kill me for sure." 

"Ahhhh!" I glanced back at him, gulping down the little saliva left in me, and decided. 

I ran towards the rock and picked it up with all my might. While he was writhing in pain, I dragged my feet while carrying the rock towards him. My eyes were cold as I gazed down at him. 

'I have to do it.' I convinced myself, clenching my teeth as I lifted the rock, and I shouted when I  unhesitatingly pounded it against the back of his head. 

I crushed his head over and over and over until parts of his brain spurted around and blood splattered on me. I only stopped squashing his head when I couldn't lift the rock anymore.

"Hah…" I exhaled through my mouth as I gazed at his crushed head and the blood and flesh around. "…hah." My breath hitched as my entire body shook.

"I did it…" I muttered, having mixed emotions of relief and dread. 

Everything that just happened and what I had done didn't register in my head immediately. Only when I raised my hand and stared at my palm covered with blood, I realized I took someone's life.

"Hah…" The beating of my heart drummed even faster as I hyperventilated. Tears formed on the corner of my eyes and they unhesitatingly rolled down my cheeks.

"Ahh… ahh!" I grabbed my hair, screaming, crying, standing on the fine line between sanity and insanity. It was too much for me to handle. I felt like something in my mind broke.

"Ahhh… hah… hahaha!" my screaming gradually grew into hysterical waves of laughter until my throat rasped, losing my voice temporarily and my mind went into a blank state. 

In the end, I stayed there for a very long time, staring listlessly at the lifeless body these hands had taken. I didn't know what got into me, but I dragged his corpse somewhere and dug a pit all night with my bare hands, where I buried his body.

**

At the crack of dawn, I dragged my feet back to my shack. My body felt heavy, but I managed. When my shack came to my sight, I turned my head to the side.

"I should've listened to Old Olly," I mumbled, staring at the sun peeking over the horizon. "Why did I even want to go back here?" 

The answer was obvious. It was because I felt like someone was waiting for me to come home.

"It was just your delusion that someone is waiting for you, Lilou," I told myself, letting out a low chuckle full of bitterness. I shook my head and dragged my feet towards my home, but instead of heading inside, I went directly to my father's burial mound.

On the way, I halted as my jaw tightened. That warm air and aura from the burial mound were blowing past me as if the wind were whispering words of worry in my ears.

"I… I'm sorry," I whispered and took a step forward. "I was busy." And I headed towards my destination with my eyes on the ground.

When I reached the back lot of my shack, I paused in my steps as I slowly raised my head. My eyes landed on a towering figure of a man wearing a cloak with his back facing me. 

"Who… are you?" I murmured and watched him slowly turned around. The feeling of dread immediately crept into my heart but subsided when another gust of wind blew past me.

"It's you?" My feet stepped forth towards him as he gave me the same feeling as that wind that had comforted me. He looked a little puzzled, but stayed on his standpoint until I was a step away from him.

I slowly gazed up at him, recognizing his breathtaking beauty. "You came?" my hand clutched on his cloak tightly, afraid he'd leave if I let him go.

"It's you again?" he asked in a low, menacing tone while his eyes narrowed. "How did you…" the man trailed off as he noticed the blood on me.

  The corner of my lips curled into a subtle smile as I hung my head low, resting my forehead against his chest. 

"I'm sorry I'm late. Something happened on the way, but I'm home now," I muttered under my breath, ignoring the different aura he exuded. "Don't leave me now, hmm?" 

Drowned with self-delusion and blinded with desperation, I mistook someone just because he saved me once... and I have to pay a heavy price for it.