Braith caught glimpses of other vampires in the crowd, Gideon's vampires, trying to control the chaos, but the creatures kept coming. Gideon stayed close by his side as they grappled to control the melee around them. Panic tore through him as he threw himself into the madness, fighting his way toward where Aria had disappeared. They ran down the streets in a savage frenzy, clawing over top of one another in their enthusiasm for blood. He didn't have time to process the fact that this was what they could all become as more were already emerging. He rose slowly, standing over the remains of the unfortunate creature. Disgust curled his upper lip as he ripped the heart from her chest. He didn't know that it had been a woman until he felt the clammy fleshiness of her breasts against his wrist.

Bracing himself, he knelt to drive his fist through the creature's chest for the final blow. He didn't know what it had done to merit banishment, knowing Gideon the punishment had been deserved, but this thing was pitiful. He found no pleasure in the mewl of pain it released in fact he was hesitant to kill the thing. It bounced off the roadway with a sickening crack of bone. Braith managed to catch its arm and pull it swiftly down. It launched itself at Braith with an eager screech its overgrown fingernails were hooked into lethal claws. These creatures seemed to no longer move about in the day, but remained hidden until nightfall when they searched out whatever kill they could find in these desolate lands. The other one was so pale that it was nearly transparent. Two charged at him, one broke away, squealing as it raced down an alley after some unknown quarry. Braith assumed it was a permanent condition, one caused by their desperate need for sustenance. Some of the creatures were trying to drag their victims behind them.

Some still scrambled to get out of the way, others had not been fortunate enough to escape. Most people had already fled to safety, taking shelter in the buildings. The streets echoed with screams, the scent of blood hung heavily in the air as the creatures stalked through the town, looking for more victims.

They were the sickliest looking vampires he'd ever seen, but their desperation made them far more volatile than many things he had encountered. He would have to get through them in order to reach her, and he had no problem doing just that. Braith's attention was brought back to the street and the creature's filtering down it. 'I'm going to kill her myself.' 'Well let's worry about getting to her, in order to kill her first,' Gideon muttered.

Braith was seething, his hands fisted as he watched Aria leap from one building to another. 'What the hell was that?' Gideon's amazed whisper was close by his ear.

Refugee by erica stevens