Another Night.

Marius woke the very moment the sun passed behind the horizon. As he melted from the earth - having had decided to once again sleep in nature - the horizon still burned with divine fire. His skin dried and started to tingle almost to the point of a sunburn as he stood, looking at the spectacle unflinchingly. His eyes started tearing with blood from the intensity of the light.
Then a cool breeze picked up as the heat of the day started to leave the land, stroking his still tingling face as if with silk hands. Only now did he take a deep breath, a hint of the distant sea mixed into the dust and fumes of the city, as darkness settled and the birds ceased their songs.

As was his ritual he started walking down into the slums of Sacramento. His victims would find him, as they often did; cutthroats, thieves and even the occasional murderer. Only the wicked, the humans too close to his own beast, would dare cross his path now, and he would feed from them, showing them true fear.

It didn't take long. After only an hour of wandering the streets did he feel the familiar feeling of someone following him. As if he had just felt his phone vibrate he took it from his pocket, answering the imaginary call.
"Hi... Yes, I'l be right there, I'm taking a short cut... Yeah, I'll be fine. See you in a bit... Ok, bye."
He put the phone back into his pocket and turned into an unlit alley, his eyes immediately adjusting to the darkness. He could hear the irregular footsteps of his pursuer entering the same alley, getting closer.
"Hoi, you have a light?" The man asked as he approached.
Marius slowly turned around, savoring the moment.
"No, I don't smoke." The man was wearing a cheap black sweater with slightly washed out blue jeans. He had an angular face, small beady eyes set deep into his skull betraying his intent. With a swift move of the hand he took out a small firearm and pointed it at Marius' gut.
"No wrong move now, pretty boy." The man licked his lip with anticipation, his hand holding the gun shaking slightly. "Turn around and face that wall." He beaconed with the gun. "Slowly."
Marius simply stood there, his blood pumping through his body, strengthening it beyond any mortal bounds.
"Are you deaf?! Turn around or I'll make you a few new holes!" Again the man licked his lips, this time out of nervousness. Marius could see how his eyes tried to focus on his face, but with only limited success in the darkness of the alley.
"Fine!" A smile spread across the mans face as he jerked his hand up to Marius' face and pulled the trigger.
The bang from the gun cut through the silence of the night, echoing for what seemed like eternity.
The mans chuckles got caught in his throat, when he heard the whisper in his ear, realizing too late that he had shot into thin air.
"Fool."
Just as the man spun around for another shot Marius' hand lashed out like a snake, gripping the mans throat, and lifting him effortlessly off the ground. With his other he caught the mans wrist and squeezed. A loud crack could be heard as the wrist broke and a muffled wail escaped the mans lips, the gun clattering harmlessly to the floor.
Without flinching Marius smashed the body of his assailant against the wall, pinning him there. Blood started flowing from a small laceration on the back of the mans head, and Marius' beast greeted the scent. With a silent act of will, he commanded it back into its cage, and then sunk his teeth deep into the mans neck.
The blood burst into his mouth, pure ecstasy flowing through his entire body. He could feel the mans heart beat in the rhythm of his ecstatic moment, but weakening with each pump. He drank the man to the brink of death, stopping only when but a silk thread held his life aloft.
The body slid from Marius' hands, the wound licked, and he savored the last few drops on his tongue and lips.

He was about to turn and leave, activating his supernatural hearing to see if the police was arriving already, when he froze. He could hear the sirens far off, but it was what he could not hear that had made him pause. He turned around to check for the mans pulse, but he knew before he even touched him; the man had died.
Marius cursed himself for being so careless, once again having overestimated the resilience of mortals. He immediately sent a quick text to his ghoul waiting to pick him up.
He picked up the corpse, and flung it over his shoulder, then made his way to the sewer lid at the end of the alley, making sure there was no blood trail giving away his intention. He had no doubt, that the authorities were going to find out where he had taken the body, but by that time he would be long gone.

Once down in the sewer lines, he started walking along the spillway, cursing his lust and the weak human again. He walked for almost two hours, before finding another alley to emerge from.
His driver arrived within ten minutes and helped him put the body in a body bag, then carried it into the hidden compartment in the floor of the limo, normally meant for Marius to sleep in during his travels. Marius left the rest up to his trusted ghoul, who would take the body and dispose of it somewhere in the desert, outside of Sacramento. It would take days if not weeks to find it - if they ever did - and by that time the body would be too mangled by the local wildlife to reveal any supernatural tampering.

As the limo drove off, Marius let out a sigh from the shadows of the alley and took off in the opposite direction.

Just another night... he thought, as he saw his penthouse apartment looming in the distance.