Undying Love-Chp6

CHAPTER 6: THE HYBRID

Within moments, Melissa and Raziel reached Firefox Street. Melissa tossed a few money papers to the driver and said, “Keep the change. You, vampire, move out of the way! I wanna get off! Or do you want me to force you out?”

Raziel knew exactly what she meant. As exasperated as he was, he had to follow Melissa’s orders. He felt so incompetent and degraded being ordered around by a human whose race he had consumed for the past goodness-knows-how-many years. Melissa made a dash into the building they stopped in front of. Raziel looked up and noticed that it was another apartment but more exclusive-looking. It looked like a mini-condominium, to be exact. Raziel followed suite, running behind Melissa who was climbing the stairs 3 steps at a time.

She stopped in front of a door marked ‘R100’ and knocked on it furiously. Raziel heard tiny pitter-pattering of footsteps from behind the door and a frantic turn of the doorknob. A little boy revealed himself from behind the door looking very scared indeed. Melissa came in the room and was shocked at the mess created, as if a tornado just moved in. The whole place was practically a ramshackle: the sofas were overturned, the tables were smashed, the curtains were shredded terribly, the TV began to look like it really had seen better days and the worst of all was that the window was broken, as in including the missing window rims.

“Tiger, where’s your sister?” Melissa asked the cowering little boy who was no older than 6 years old.

“She went crazy,” Tiger said timidly. “She broke everything. She flew out of the window…”

“Shit,” Melissa cursed as she carried Tiger back to his bedroom. At least his room was safe from damage. She laid him on bed and said, “You stay here and go to sleep. Don’t let anyone come in until the next morning, OK? Promise me that.”

Tiger nodded and pulled the covers over his head. Melissa walked quickly out of the boy’s room and out of the apartment room. She did everything in silence and Raziel didn’t bother to ask. Finally, when they were out in the streets, Raziel’s curiosity got the better of him.

“What just happened? Why did the boy look so terrified? What happened to the place?”

“Shh! I’m trying to concentrate,” Melissa hushed him as she took out a pendulum. It was made out of shiny crystal the colour of the sunset sky. It sparkled under the streetlights, glittering like a very rare jewel plucked from the crown of Queen Elizabeth. She closed her eyes and held the pendant right in front of her forehead and seemed to concentrate greatly. Raziel could feel her aura building up. He retreated—he didn’t want himself to be sent flying to another hard-core wall by her force.

A few moments later, she opened her eyes abruptly and said, “I’ve found her.”

“Who have you found?” Raziel asked in surprise.

Melissa didn’t answer, but went on her way. Raziel followed suite. He was getting really irritated by Melissa’s attitude of keeping people in the dark. They went down a long way, turning right and left and straight ahead again throughout the journey. Finally, they reached an abandoned building site. It seemed as if it was really for a very, very long while, judging by the way the whole place was filled with rusted bars and molded wood planks. Rubbish was abundant and sawdust was more than you can imagine. The wrecked building itself was a halfway done job. It was really pathetic the way people just give up on a project that could win them millions in cold hard cash.

Melissa used her pendulum to search around the place, and wherever the pendulum shone and pointed, she followed that direction. Raziel tagged along. He could feel another aura in the abandoned site besides Melissa’s aura. It was strong—almost like of Melissa’s kind, yet it was more bestial than human. The pendulum took her to a run-down warehouse. It stank of mould and fungi, but Raziel and Melissa was too engrossed in their search to bother about the smell.

“Jude? Judith, are you in there? It’s me, Melissa,” Melissa called out. The roof was beginning to crumple, like the whole warehouse was going to fall in one false move.

“Who is this…?” Raziel was about to ask but Melissa hushed him.

“Not a word until she’s out. You don’t want to alert her, believe me,” Melissa whispered to him, then turned around and raised her voice, “Judith, come on out. It’s me, Melissa, your friend. Don’t be afraid.”

Slowly, the person she was calling came into view. She was quite tall, with wild ebony-black hair. She was very dark, like she had been sun-kissed by the sun for too long. Her eyes were the purplest colour you have ever seen. She was barely clothed—her clothes were torn beyond recognition. She had a pair of giant bat-like wings almost like Raziel’s but much larger and much stronger than his spindly ones. Raziel recognized her quite immediately.

“You…”

“You know her?” Melissa asked as she draped her jacket over her.

“She’s the girl I saw one of your fox elves went through. I recognize her purple eyes.”

“Let’s talk outside. I don’t want to be caught dead crushed by pounds upon pounds of rubble.”

As they went outside, Melissa sat the girl whose name was Judith on one of the wooden planks. Judith looked really savage indeed, like one move and she’ll tear you into shreds. But her eyes were kind, scared and timid, like she was a little mouse trapped in a lion’s body. Raziel tentatively took her chin and scrutinized her. Judith cowered at the sight of him. His haunting yellow eyes were enough to tell who he was.

“Melissa, what’s this vampire doing here?”

“He’s…sort of an unofficial friend of mine,” Melissa replied, remembering the first time they met and the incident before at the beach.

“She’s a hybrid like you, isn’t she?” Raziel asked, letting Judith’s chin go. “She’s a half-succubus.”

“Yes, unfortunately. It’s not a very good reality for her,” Melissa replied. “She wasn’t born from a marriage at all. Her father, an incubus, flew into her mother’s room one night and raped her. She’s the seed of which became both her gift and her burden.”

“What about her brother?” Raziel asked.

“Tiger is human all the way,” Judith replied hurriedly. “I didn’t mean to scare him, but I just can’t control myself. I haven’t quite got the hang of my anger management. My mother died after he was born and I had to look after him.”

“Where is the man of the house? If Tiger is human, then his father should be around.”

“When my mother was pregnant with Tiger, my father found out about my identity. He must’ve heard it from a certain someone who couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He divorced my mother immediately and left us with nothing. I have taken care of that tattletale once and for all.”

Raziel knew exactly what this half-succubus meant by ‘taking care of’ meant. He folded his arms across his chest and asked, “Then what’s with the destruction of your house? You have something against your brother?”

“No, not that! I love Tiger very much! It’s just that…” Judith was hesitant to say. Her dark cheeks became quite pink.

“She’s trying to control herself from creating havoc like she did in the past,” Melissa helped her to speak. “She doesn’t want to go killing again like before if she were to actually live like a real human.”

“Havoc?” Raziel asked, curious.

“I’ve killed a lot of people,” Judith replied timidly. “I cannot deny or ignore my ancestral instincts. Succubus and incubus have to…”

“Travel around at night to suck energy from their victims during their sleep, I’ve heard about that. Almost like vampires,” Raziel finished off her words. “So I assume that you have been around the street a lot and have sucked enough energy from people to cover up the whole city.”

Judith nodded. “I’ve killed too much. Tiger and I have been moving a lot. There are certain people who are hot on our heels and we have to get them off our backs.”

“What certain people?”

“Vampire-hunters, cult-killers, witch-hunters, you name it,” Melissa replied. “Those people would stop at nothing to destroy us. She’s not the only one being hunted down. I’m also a fugitive of these people. Now that you’ve killed my Harley driver, soon they’ll be hot on your heels too.”

“Why don’t you just kill them off? Isn’t it just easy to just finish them off and rid them of their existence?” Raziel asked.

“I can’t do that,” Judith replied sadly. “They’re like white hair; you pluck out one and 5 will grow in its place. Even if I destroy those who are after me, I will have to face a lot more in the future.”

“A bunch of blood-sucking fleas they are!” Melissa said with a huff. “The more you kill them, the more they multiply.”

Their situation reminded them about his days as Sarafan and the first time he became a vampire.

“I want to control myself. I don’t want to kill anymore. I’m doing this for a…a guy I like,” Judith said sheepishly.

“Jude! You don’t have to tell this vampire everything!” Melissa scowled, annoyed at how straightforward her friend can be at times.

“Well, he’s your friend and he’s somewhat of our kind, so what’s the big deal?” Judith turned to her best friend with a surprised look on her face. Melissa rolled her eyes and waved her hands sarcastically.

“This boy…Does he so happens to call you…Lavender?”

“How did you know?” Judith was surprised. “That’s my human name when I’m around my friends! You didn’t tell him, did you, Melissa?”

“No, I did not! He so happens to follow me around all day and all night like some stalker, so how would I know that he maybe eavesdropping over certain things?!”

“Actually, half of it is because I guess that the name matched her purple eyes,” Raziel pointed at Judith’s eyes.

“Oh,” Melissa replied.

Judith twiddled her thumbs sheepishly. “Yes, that’s him. His name is Kent Kristian. I am so attracted to him, that I have made a decision to quit energy-sucking altogether. I’ve decided to live like a normal human being, but unfortunately, I couldn’t control my appetite. Every night was an agony for me. I had to fight the demons inside me. It worked painfully a few times and Melissa has been helping me out, but recently it got worse. There are times when I had to ask Tiger to tie me up. And now…you get the picture.”

“Do any of your friends know about this condition of yours?” Raziel asked, scrutinizing her wings and was quite amazed at its well-built structure.

“If they knew, they wouldn’t be her friends anymore!” Melissa groaned.

“There is not much of a cure for this, unfortunately,” Raziel replied. “Don’t fight your instincts; embrace it. It’ll do you a lot good that way.”

“Haven’t you been listening? She is willing to give that up for her boyfriend!” Melissa yelled at him exasperatedly. “She’s not going to go around sucking people’s energy anymore! She wants to live normally just like anyone else, just like a human! Unlike you, she’s nowhere cold-blooded and heartless as you are, sucking souls whenever you feel like it!”

“That is only half of what she is now,” Raziel replied coldly. “If she actually gets the man she deserved, what are the chances of her able to resist the boy’s energy? You have seen how rambunctious she turned out to be when she gets all starved up. How can you guarantee that she would not be able to control her instincts and suck the boy’s soul?”

Melissa and Judith were at lost of words. They hate to admit it, but the vampire was right. What are the chances of this half-succubus of resisting temptation and denying her ancestral instincts? From the condition of the apartment, Judith was in a state where she cannot be able to control her hunger anymore. Another day like this and sooner or later, she would end up killing her own brother.

“So what are you suggesting, Mr. Know-It-All Vampire? What do you think she should do?” Melissa had her hands on her waist.

“You humans always claim that you are the brightest among all species. Enlighten me then,” Raziel replied coolly, looking away as if none of their problems are of his concern.

“I guess there’s only one thing to do,” Judith said with a heavy sigh.

“What is it?” Melissa asked.

“I’ll just have to tell all my friends the truth about myself and follow what the vampire says: embrace my ancestral instincts and satisfy my hunger.”

“No! You can’t do that!! It’s already hard for you to survive the human world and have great friends! You can’t just throw it all away by some stupid vampire’s comment!” Melissa exclaimed in horror, glaring accusingly at Raziel.

“I did not suggest anything,” Raziel said nonchalantly.

“Jude! You can’t just give up everything up just like that! You have a choice to live the life you want!” Melissa practically pleaded Judith who was beginning to take flight. “Are you really going to let Kent go?”

“If I can’t even control my killing instincts, then I don’t deserve Kent,” Judith replied as she flew away into the night sky towards the direction of her home at Firefox Street. Melissa didn’t have time to stop her. She turned abruptly towards Raziel and scowled.

“It’s all your fault, you miserable vampire! You’ve ruined her life!”

“I didn’t suggest anything. She decided that herself,” Raziel said.

“You instilled all that stupid ideas about embracing her instincts and all! You are the worst, most terrible vampire in the whole world, you…you…”

“Raziel. I believe I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Raziel.”

“I don’t care about what the heck your name is!” Melissa slapped Raziel’s shoulder hastily, then she turned around and looked up at the moon lit sky and whispered, “I hope she’s OK.”