"Sometimes human places can create inhuman monsters."
-Stephen King, "The Shining"
Ezra
I look up from my meal of a five-year-old boy, hearing movement in the house in which I am in. His heart still beat barely heard even with my ears. Thump...thump...thump. The door to his bedroom is shut tight, but from the crack between it and the floor, I see light and shadows. My nose wrinkled at the sound of his parents, checking on their son and interrupting my pleasant midnight snack. Parents were overprotective of their young, especially human parents. I hated the way they lost control over their offspring going missing or the way a little blood was stolen from their bodies.
I glance at the boy and sighed. I guess it wasn't a little blood...was it? His pale face was staring up at me with blank blue eyes, his dark hair was curly about his ears and forehead, but his skin was cold. His blood was sweet and innocent tasting, and I couldn't waste a drop of it...not when I'd been feasting on plant sustenance for the past few months. I don't mind plant food – especially apple trees – but it wasn't as delicious as the warm blood of an innocent child who knew nothing about the world.
The doorknob jiggled slightly and I sighed, unable to stay any longer. Letting the boy fall to the ground carelessly, I sprang to my feet and leaped out of the open window, closing it quickly behind me. I hid to the side, watching the parents walk into the room from the corner of my eye, seeing their confusion turn into downright horror as they noticed the child and cried over the carcass.. Rolling my eyes in annoyance, I jumped off the ledge and down to the ground three stories below, landing in the bushes. Casually, I walked out onto the street and into the forest a few blocks away.
"Ezra, is that you?" I look about me for the high pitch voice. There was a soft giggle and then the girl came out from behind a tree.
"Misrey, if only..." I trailed off, licking my lips of the delicious remnants of the boy's blood.
"Ezra, every time you see me, you always do that!"
"Can you blame me?" I ask with a shrug. "You look so good! If you weren't already a spirit—"
"Shut up!" she hissed and glared at me with her small arms crossed over her chest. She wore animal hide of different kinds: elk, deer, bison, bear, lion...the list goes on.
I smirk at her. "What is it, Misrey?"
"You were supposed to be guarding the Gate, remember?"
"I can't help it if I smell a child from three miles away."
She gives me a very stern look for a child of only seven. "The only time in two centuries you're supposed to do it, and you waste the privilege on food?"
"I'm hungry, a very needy creature who must eat as much as I can." I grin smugly to myself, satisfied with the trait. "It's like going through a growth spurt at your age."
"You do know it's nothing like a growth spurt. Growth spurts are a phase, you're condition is..." she twirled a finger in her black hair, searching for the right word. "Forever lasting."
"Besides, my little spirit girl, the gate is also guarded by other creatures. You know how humans are, always traveling where they are not permitted. They'll die of fear before they see anything else!"
"That doesn't mean you get to leave your post, Ezra. Just because you don't eat adult humans doesn't mean you can't get plants from nearby."
"I've been eating plants for a while now. I needed something delicious to satisfy my hunger."
Misrey groaned and disappeared as we reached the Gate. I sighed in annoyance again, this time for having the boring job of guard duty. It wasn't enough to scare humans but scare them to death...literally. It was fun...the few times it happened, but for a few centuries now, there's been only one or two a year. We get lucky to have a group sometimes, but no more than five. I shouldn't complain since I'm only here once every two centuries, but I hear stories from others and feel bored.
A decade ago, an Ichchadhari Naagin named Tracy explained that a human male came by and saw her sleeping in a pile of dead leaves. He saw her gem and thought to take it. Tracy however, knew he was there and struck with lightning speed, killing him with a blow to the throat. It was none too pretty according to Misrey, but not even I would steal the Naag Mani from her kind. It would be suicide in itself, not to mention painful.
I shuddered to think about Tracy's love for the gem. I have never nor would ever protect something so stupid as a stone, but I can't judge her. Humans do disgusting things when in greed. The gem is a very beautiful sight, worth more than their finest diamond, but it is just a stone. Nothing more. No amount of human money would ever make me want to buy it, no amount of seeing it on jewelry or clothing would make me want to kill Tracy's kind to acquire one. Sure, I like pretty things, but I'm not greedy for such simple things. I would help Tracy get it back though if someone ever did steal it. But I wouldn't keep one for myself. It's a crime and some people just will never understand that.
I lean against the Gate and crossed my arms, looking out over the moonlit forest. It was quiet and peaceful, beautiful under the light of the moon. It gave everything a pale glow and it all looked more ghostly. Although Misrey was what some call an Atooikozo, she looked solid and almost like a vampiric being. She wasn't even a spirit to fear...yet some truly feared her. Humans don't know a dangerous spirit from a lonely one. They prefer to destroy any form of spirit they see and carry on as if they didn't just kill someone...again.
"Humans! Ugh!" I hissed. From the right, a Qiqirn snored noisily in its slumber. It was a leathery white with tufts of hair spotting its body. If it were a human dog, I'd have thought it lost a fight with a shredder, but these things were always this ugly, though don't tell them that. I wasn't sure how it was here guarding our home when it can't even fight back. It just runs away from every man and dog it sees. It was more or less a wolf cub taking its first step out into the world and being very stupid by not paying attention to where it was going. The difference was the Qiqirn was a dead adult dog...
Sighing, I sit down and stare out at the night, hoping for some sign of life to terrorize or put to death by drinking the succulent blood from. None came. Animals drifted past, but no humans. No sign of anyone at all.
~~~
Obayifo (Ezra)
Definition: Vampiric type creature who only drinks the blood of children from West Africa mythology
Atooikozo (Misrey)
Definition: A child spirit who is lost. Not always a bad spirit.