Usually I’m not one to obsess. A body is a body is a body, amounting to little more than a collection of juice boxes. Suck and toss. Disposable just like everything else at this point in history. They’re a bunch of consumers, vampires in their own way. Strange how they miss the parallel.
But on occasion, someone comes along and distinguishes themselves as more than a consumable good. Such is what happened on that night, when I saw her. The amount of life coursing through her veins, strong and fearless, so in your face, as they say, demanded more study. When you live as long as we do, any spark along the centuries gets your attention. It’s the only life we have left.
I quickly found myself hunting in the neighborhood, just a convenient excuse to be nearby, hoping to get another glimpse of her. After a week and half of feeding on the homeless, crack junkies and whores (some of whom qualified as all three), I saw her again.
Luckily, the years had been kind, and I had mastered shape changing. A second chance would require a new form, and I quickly adopted one and walked across the street towards her. She was carrying two large boxes and the muscles in her arms bulged sweetly, one large vein in her right arm particularly obvious and throbbing – calling.
Waiting for the right moment, I stepped in just as she slightly slipped on a wet patch of brick.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, thanks,” she replied with partial suspicion as she quickly re-composed and pulled back into her personal space.
“Would you like any help?”
“No, I’m fine.”
She quickened her step and walked confidently towards the Cock’s Crow, an English pub and restaurant on the strip. I met her at the door and held it open.
“My destination as well,” I politely explained, looking rather suspect in her eyes I could tell.
“Well, thanks again,” she replied as she made her way past me and met with the owner who was waiting at the bar for her.
I ordered a draft and sat at a table, trying not to look too conspicuous while I held what would become a warm beer. That’s the only way I can even begin to stomach it. I remember in the other life how refreshing an ice cold beer used to be, sweating with ice and dripping cold droplets down its glass body to the floor. I was especially fond of one after sex, a memory that always takes me back to one steamy summer night in Houston. The last night I was human.
My Maker found me in a state of deep despair. I had lost my parents and my two sisters in a train accident. Derailment. I was waiting to pick them all up at the train station when I got the news.
Paralyzed, I sat on a bench until they finally closed and threw me out. I didn’t know where to go, my heart crushed and numb simultaneously. I stared up at the quarter moon and got lost in my confused thoughts. I wanted to die. And like the answer to a prayer, He showed up literally out of thin air.
As soon as I looked into His eyes, I knew, and I wasn’t afraid. I just wanted to feel something, anything, other than what I was feeling at that moment. I wanted to forget.
He held out His hand and smiled. I accepted His offer and together we walked to a dark corner where He proceeded to press me in between the two walls. No escape, in case I had a second thought. I closed my eyes and let Him manipulate my body into position.
Upon penetration, I gasped and wrapped my arms around Him, holding on as the pain ripped into the vein, warmth flowing freely into His anxious mouth sucking me into Him.
As I slowly began to feel weaker and weaker, I told him to take me with Him. He paused and looked at me.
“Do you know what you’re asking?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll not be responsible for you, so don’t think you’re going to get a new daddy or anything.”
“Fine. Just take me.”
“You promise. You won’t hold me responsible?”
“Yes, I swear it.”
And with that, He opened His wrist and forced it against my mouth. I thought I would vomit at first but in a matter of seconds, I was drinking down His blood with enthusiasm. So much so, that He had to force me away from Him.
“There, it’s done. Now, you just die and when you wake up, you’ll be vampire.”
“Here?”
“Yes, here. It won’t take long since you want it so badly. Now, I bid you adieu.”
As my human eyes lost their sight, I watched a shadow disappear into the darkness, taking my humanity with Him.
