Bloodmagic

Sorcha walked for miles in the mid afternoon sun. She was exhausted and dirty and wanted nothing more than to rest and feel clean. And safe. Would she ever feel safe again? Ever be able to live without the constant need to look over her shoulder, the compulsion to flinch at innocent shouts and raised voices of strangers passing her by?

She walked until she found a shaded area of grass underneath a canopy of trees where she decided to rest for a while, just long enough to feel a little stronger to go on. A sparkling light caught her attention to the right and looking across, she noticed a small stream running alongside the grass bank. Grinning, she ran over and splashed into it, the cool water feeling like heaven to her sore, bare feet. Glancing down she saw her reflection looking back at her. Her skin was irridescant and her ears turned up into a point. When she saw her waist length scarlet hair she cringed. What a mess. It was matted and dusty and she did her best to untangle some of the knots with her fingers, but it was a wasted effort. Cleaning her face she noticed her eyes were beginning to change. Not their usual amber colour but now turning pink. Oh this isn`t good she thought. She subconciously ran her tongue over her little canine teeth and wondered for perhaps the millionth time since that night why she had to be born this way.

She wanted to feed. She knew she needed to feed. It had been 3 days since she last pursuaded a young girl that by letting Sorcha take a little bit of her blood, she would heal the cut on her knee. And so the cut did heal. This was the way it had to be for Sorcha, the only way she`d ever known.

The first 4 years of her life, she merely copied what her mother did and never asked any questions, believing everybody lived the same way. Then one bleak and wintry evening, tucked warm into her furs, her mother had explained their way of life to her. Sorcha listened to her lovely voice and took in as much as she could at such a young age. She was a Fuilith, living in a tiny community hidden deep within the woods. They lived on human blood but it had to be freely given and fresh, preferably straight from the vein. In desperation when they could find nobody willing, they could and would resort to taking it without the donor`s consent but her mother had told her about the dangers of finding yourself at this point. When they were very hungry and hadn`t fed in a few days, they became aggresive, needing that aggression to physically take the blood. Thankfully this seldom happened because the person they chose to feed from usually consented. Fuilith`s were gifted in two ways. Their blood carried healing qualities so what they took from a donor, they would give back if that person were injured or ill in any way, usually needing only one mouthful to regain perfect health. Their other gift was a powerful mind to pursuade and combined with their natural beauty, they didn`t often meet refusal. Her mother told her if she never abused her power and position she could live happily among anyone she chose to. That was almost 14 years ago. And now? Now she`d lost everything. Her mother, her home in the little community, everything had been wiped out 6 months ago during one night of violence, ignorance and murder. Edmond had been spotted in a neighbouring village by a few of the locals who found his ears and skin more than a little unusual and on deciding to follow him, eventually witnessed him feeding. Though it was a willing donor, that was all it took for the locals to declare war. They followed him to the community and found Edmond wasn`t alone, he was part of a gang of bloodthirsty monsters. Sorcha still found it difficult to believe how quickly her home and friends had been destroyed. One night. She had managed to escape but her mother hadn`t been so lucky.

Sitting up against the old Oak tree, she closed her eyes as she felt the tears begin to slide down her cheeks. She was soon facing that night again, in another of her relentless and brutal dreams.