A MAZE OF GREED

Lisa and her friend held their breaths. The branches kept moving, and the sound of footsteps made their heart thud loudly.

"Lisa..." Her friend stuttered.

"Who is there?" Lisa called loudly. But got no response.

The silence again prevailed. The only disturbance made was by their loudly beating heart.

"I think no one is there. You are scared for no reason." Lisa tried to sound confident, but she could not shrug that cold feeling bitting her skin.

Her friend was about to release a shaky breath when they again heard that sound of footsteps. And this time, they also sensed another presence near them.

Both girls stood up on the rock and stepped down from it. Lisa's friend trembled in fear. All those dark memories crowded back in her mind.

Their heart jumped in their throat when suddenly a bird flew from the nearby tree, flapping its wings loudly in the air.

That unexpected sound movement startled them, and they shrieked loudly.

"Do-do not worry. It was j-just a bird." Lisa said with a shaky voice.

"Let's go, Lisa. I am not having a good feeling about this." Her friend had tears in her eyes.

Lisa did not argue and nodded her head. They hurriedly took their vessels, resting on their hip and carried the other one in another hand.

"Let's go." Lisa said.

They turned to walk away from the place when suddenly a figure emerged out of the thick line of trees. Their steps halted, legs froze in place.

They watched with wide eyes as a young, handsome man appeared in front of them. Their heart skipped a beat looking at his handsome face and tall height. He was lean, but his tightly fitted white shirt and black pant gave away the idea of the ripped muscles underneath it.

His skin was pale as white as a blank paper. His dark curly hair danced on the rhythm of the wind. His light stubble enhanced the sharpness of his jawline.

He walked deliberately slow, taking his sweet time to enjoy the girls' fear and letting them stare at his handsome features.

His dark eyes glint mischievously, just like the small smirk on his red lips. He did not blink, nor the girls did. They could not. They were mesmerised with his unnatural beauty that was a sinful definition of perfection.

The cold aura around him was enough to realise who he was or what he was.

Transfixed on their spots, the girls did not realise when the man came to stop a couple of feet away from them.

His body was relaxed, his attitude was casual as he smirked widely at the two girls.

"Hello, ladies."

His sugary sweet voice had some magic to it that melted the girls' hearts in a moment. But that biting strange feeling brought back Lisa to her senses.

"Who... who are you?" She could not believe how terrified her voice sounded to her own ears.

The man raised his hand to run his fingers through his long curls.

"I should have figured that you do not know me by now. Hello, my name is Darius... Darius Garfield."

Both girls sucked a deep breath hearing that name. A Garfield? But how could that be possible?

They were the rulers of Kinsville, the leaders of the Vampire breed. They regarded everyone other as a piece of trash. They did not like to associate with anyone other than the families of the coven members. They did not even accept the royal invitations, for they could not see their comfort in worthless humans.

Unlike other coven members, they had never shown their faces to their human slaves. Then how could the man in front of them introduce himself as a Garfield?

"Garfield?" The word was left as a whisper from Lisa's mouth.

"Have you not heard of them before?" He cocked his pointed brow at her in amusement.

He took a step towards them, but before he could take another, Lisa thundered.

"Stop right there! Do not come near us." She straightened her body in a defensive posture with two vessels of water still in her hands.

Her friend cried silently, not daring to make any sound.

"Oh, no, darling. Do not cry, please! I am not a monster, see!" His caring words were only a facade that Lisa could see through.

He pointed at himself and twirled around on one leg. "See, I am just like you. NORMAL."

Seeing his actions, Lisa's friend frightened only more. She had been through this before. And she was not ready to face that again.

"What do you want?" Lisa asked while taking a step behind.

Duncan's face became blank at her question as if he had not thought about that before.

"What I want?" He repeated her question absentmindedly.

Lisa and her friend waited as he tapped his finger on his pointed chin.

"Let me think about that." He said.

Thinking that he was distracted to notice, Lisa slowly bent down and placed one vessel on the ground. Before straightening up to her full height, she picked a heavy stone in he hand to use in need.

Her friend was too shocked to do anything.

Lisa hid the stone behind her back. Her fingers wrapped tightly around it.

"Yes!" He suddenly exclaimed loudly, as if he had just solved the riddle of the universe's creation.

"I know what I want!" His face radiated with joy like a five-year-old's do after getting his favourite candy.

"Wh-what is it?" Lisa stuttered as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. For a moment, she thought of him following that rolling sweat with his dark eyes.

Then his eyes shifted to look straight into her eyes.

"Blood!"

He was instantly right beside her, and before she could understand anything, Duncan had his hand around her friend's neck. His fangs out in their full glory, his eyes turned pitch black.

Lisa screamed in horror, and the vessel in her hand fell on the ground, water spilling in the soil.

Her friend struggled to scream, to move, but she had turned into a statue in white shock. Duncan barred his teeth at Lisa. His eyes proved the cruelty of the creature.

"Leave my friend!" Lisa yelled while stepping away from them at a safe distance.

"Or what, darling?" He taunted.

Lisa breathed heavily, and clenching her jaw, she swirled the stone in her hand, aiming for his eye. But he was too fast than her imagination. He had already noticed her picking up that stone when she thought he was unattentive towards her action.

Lisa's mouth opened, her jaw hitting the ground. Her eyes were wide and filled with panic.

"Lisa... Lisa help me. I do not want to die, Lisa. Lisa!"

Lisa's eyes watered hearing her friend's cries of help. She frantically searched around her for something... anything that she could use against the vampire.

"Say goodbye to your friend, Lisa!" With that said, Duncan sank his fangs in her friend's neck.

Lisa fell down on the ground in shock.

"NOooo!" She screamed in agony, but it was too late for that now.

She saw her friend's wide eyes fogged with terror. Her lips moved in only one word.

"Run!"

Lisa tried to get back on her feet, but her knees buckled under her, and she fell again. Tears kept streaming at the speed as the bloodsucking vampire drank her friend's blood.

His dark eyes were trained on Lisa, unwavering. Lisa saw life seeping out of her friend, and all she could do was cry in pain and heartbreak.

Her friend's eyes screamed at Lisa to run away, run away from this cruel monster.

Lisa struggled for some more and finally found the strength to stand on her feet. Only one word roamed in her mind.

'Run!'

With a last apologetic look at her friend, Lisa turned around and dashed towards the forest. She ran as fast as her feet took her. She did not care how heavy her chest felt. She did not care that she had to tear her dress at places when it got stuck in the protruding branches and shrubs.

She only knew one thing. She had to run as fast as she could if she wanted to see the next sunrise. She did not stop to wipe her tears. She did not wait to bid her final goodbye to her friend. She did not wait to watch her lip body- lack of blood- slipping on the ground.

She could not!

She finally stopped what felt like after ages when her legs burned with all the running, and her insides burned with hurt. She put her palm on the trunk of a nearby tree and leaned forward. The acidic, bitter lump in her throat erupted like a fountain at last, and she emptied her guts on the ground.

She cried, her throat burned, her mouth tasted weird due to the aftertaste of the puke.

Lisa took a couple of breaths, inhaling a large amount of cool air to calm her burning insides.

When she thought she had gained control of her ragging breaths, the hair on the back of her neck stood up in alert. She immediately straightened up and scanned around her.

All she could see were tall green trees and the fading sunlight leaving the splashed colours of red, orange and purple on the canvas of the sky.

It was not safe for her to stay in the forest for long. She had to reach her home fast. She did not know how she would inform everyone about her friend, but for that, she first needed to escape this place safely.

Filling her heart with determination, She turned around only to bump into a solid chest. Dreadfully her eyes slowly rose up to see a set of dark eyes and blood-stained mouth of Duncan Garfield.

"Got you, sweetheart!"