* * *
I wasn’t looking forward to explaining what the hell had gone on in the bar that night, but it turned out I could put it off for another day. Instead of whipping up a batch of pancakes, blueberry or otherwise, Bridget snored soundly on the end of the couch. Thanks to my new super strength, it was fairly easy to get her to the bedroom, and I tugged her boots off, covering her up for good measure.
I was definitely hungry, but nothing sounded good. After standing in front of the open fridge, enjoying the cool blast of air for several minutes, it occurred to me in a ‘duh’ moment - what I wanted wasn’t in the fridge at all. Only as far as I knew, no one delivered blood in thirty minutes or less. So how the hell was I supposed to actually go about eating?
The idea of hunting someone down would have been laughable if I hadn’t found myself standing at the window, watching the deserted streets below for signs of life. Thank God it was so late, I probably would have lunged at the first movement, be it citizen, cat, or collie. Lying down only made it worse. I could hear the other people in the house, their little snorts and snuffles in sleep reminding me that each one of them pulsed with the one thing that would satisfy my cravings. I actually made it all the way down the hall towards Bridget’s room before I realized what I was doing, and halted in my steps, nails gripping into the faded wallpaper while I wrestled with the desire for just one taste.
I knew it wouldn’t stop at one taste. The memory of Bishop pulling me off of her the other night was blurred and hazy, but the hunger was sharp enough, especially since I had a repeat performance in my belly now.
I needed help. So I turned to the only people I knew of that might have some ideas on the subject, my semi-geeky gamer buddies from high school. Flipping open my laptop, I tried Kyle on video chat first, figuring I’d have the best chances of reaching him, despite the late hour.
“Anja. Hey. I’m surprised to see you up so late. Are you pulling an all-niter for school or something?” From the distracted look on his face and the headset, I assumed he was also playing something else while he talked to me.
“Something like that,” I nodded. “Actually, I was taking a study break and decided to see who else might be up. How have you been doing?” For the next twenty minutes he talked my ear off about Call of Duty and his concerns about the Avengers movie’s impact on the books. I made polite listening sounds and we actually went on a completely random tangent on the subject of the Star Trek reboot and how that changed the reality of the established canon. Okay, so we were both more than a little geeky.
“I was wondering, you’re still into the whole vampire thing, right?” I skillfully brought us back to the reason for my call.
“Totally, we still LARP every Friday night. Why, are you interested?” He leaned forward in his chair, setting down the controller in his hands. Live Action Role Playing consisted of a bunch of gamers dressing up and running all over town in the middle of the night acting out predetermined scenarios. It was very popular with the theater crowd I hung out with in high school, but I was never brave enough to venture out in public dressed like a vampire, an elf or whatever the game du jour was.
“Oh, ah… no, that’s not really my thing. You know me, I feel self conscious going out on Halloween.”
“Nobody cares, Anja, this is San Francisco. You wouldn’t have to dress too outlandish, you know. Or you could change when you got to the hall.”
“I wasn’t really calling to ask about joining your game, I was more interested in some of the talks we used to have. Remember when we stayed up all night with Joey and Lei talking about real vampires in San Francisco? You thought this place was a perfect breeding ground for vampires, remember?”
“Oh yeah, I remember that. You got all freaked out that your mom would find out Lei was having us guys over, and you insisted we close all the blinds.” Trust that to be the only thing he remembered…
“Yep, that sounds about right. What else did you say… something about the fluid population making it easy hunting ground…?” I prompted.
“Right, because of the homeless and the temperate climate, there are always people out on the streets at night. It’d be easy pickings for a bloodsucker.”
Munching on the homeless didn’t sound especially appealing. What if vampires could catch diseases? That wasn’t something Bishop covered in his Q&A session. “What if they didn’t want to take the risk of getting caught though?”
“There’s always banked blood for the faint of heart. Get it… cause they wouldn’t have a heartbeat,” he snickered.
“Yeah, I get it. Are you serious though? What, just waltz into the hospital and ask for a pint of blood? Wouldn’t that raise a few eyebrows?”
“Sure they could, with their ability to mesmerize they’d be able to cover their tracks easy,” he insisted, but I found myself shaking my head. That was all well and good, but I had no idea how to do that.
“I don’t know, it seems kind of risky. What about security cameras?”
“They probably wouldn’t even show up on cameras, no reflection.” I already knew that was a bust, I had a reflection like anyone else. “There’s always the butcher route, like on Angel. You know, they’d have a standing order for pig’s blood. Dude why is it always pig’s blood? I wonder if it’s somehow superior to cow’s blood, or goat’s blood?”
“Ugh, no thanks,” slipped out with a grimace. I wasn’t sure why, but instead of finding the conversation helpful, I started to feel a little sick to my stomach. The idea of drinking pig’s blood from a butcher was enough to make me want to hurl.
“Actually, Joey and I were talking about this the other day. I’ll bet the vamps would be on a synthetic these days, like on TV.”
“So it’d be like drinking diet coke instead of regular coke.” That didn’t sound too horrible. Too bad I had no idea how to find out if such a thing existed without looking like a total nerd to the vampire community.
“Why all the interest in vampires, Anja? Should I be worried you’ve joined the legions of the undead?” Kyle waggled his eyebrows playfully.
“I’d say so, you’ve already invited me into your home once,” I teased back. Come to think of it, I wasn’t sure if that would work either. Would I have to be invited again, now that I was a vampire, or would an old standing invitation count? “Um, it’s for a paper I’m working on. Updating the traditional vampire legend, that sort of thing. I wonder if vamps could advertise for willing blood donors on Craig’s List?”
“Why not, they list for everything else,” he chuckled. “Seriously though, you should swing by on Friday night sometime, the guys would be glad to see you again.”
“I know, it’s just my schedule, I usually have rehearsals on Friday nights, you know how it is.”
“Yeah, I remember,” he sighed, and I felt bad for not having talked to him in a while. Some friend I was for only calling him when I needed something from him. “Far be it from me to get in the way of your big career though. Did you get into the Olympics of singing yet?” We chatted lightly about how school was going, and this and that, before I realized he was only half listening to me while he played whatever game he was in the middle of when I’d called. Suddenly I didn’t feel so guilty for ignoring him so much lately; our interests just didn’t synch up as well anymore. Besides, it wasn’t like him or any of the old gang had called me up either, it was a two way street.
“Well, I should let you go. It was nice to catch up with you, Kyle. We should all get together sometime, play some GURPS or something old school.”
“I would definitely be down with that. Let me talk to Joey, I’ll send out an e-vite.”
“Okay, later.” I’d managed to fill another hour of the long, lonely night, but I was no closer to solving my problem of how to feed. I closed my eyes, a throbbing headache started to pound behind my temples and down along the sides of my jaw. Thump, thump, thump… it was maddenin
g. That solved the question on whether or not vampires got migraines. It didn’t seem fair, shouldn’t I be immune to that sort of thing now? So far it was pretty miserable, I felt more like I was coming down with the flu than an all powerful being.
Thump, thump, thump…
With a start I realized I was in the hallway again, standing outside Bridget’s bedroom. Head throbbing, I staggered forward, not sure what I was doing. She was in no shape to help me. Bridget lay sprawled across the mattress, exactly as I’d left her, the soft snore coming from her all but obscured by the deafening pound of my head. The sound amplified as soon as I crossed the threshold into her room, the thump of my headache in synch with the throb of her pulse, beckoning to me.
There was no Anja, only a burning need, a thirst that consumed me, blocking out all other worries or cares. There was no Bridget, only sweet release lying there, tempting me beyond all reason. Of their own volition, my fangs descended, elongating and sharpening in anticipation of a meal. They pierced my tongue and the bright coppery tang of my own blood burst across my senses. It was enough to make me stop in my tracks as the heady nectar rocked me to my very core. Just as quickly the tiny wounds healed, and I moaned over the loss, eyes fixating on the siren’s call of the blood thrumming through her veins.
I had to drink to survive; it wasn’t personal, it was my nature. Bridget was my friend. She’d want me to be happy, she wouldn’t want me to starve… While my mind spun comforting platitudes, I crept forward, half disgusted with and half in awe of the inexorable pull. Almost as if she could sense my approach, she rolled onto her back exposing her neck, dark hair fanned against the bed in a silken cloud.
The throb of her pulse beckoned to me from the smooth column of her throat, teasing me, luring me closer. Swallowing against the wave of thirst, I leaned closer and she rolled towards me, welcoming me… Or not… With a wet heave, Bridget vomited noisily over the side of the bed, mostly hitting the garbage can, but splashy enough to send me hopping backwards. The sour smell of alcohol and ickiness permeated the room, driving me back out into the hallway in revulsion. All at once the spell that had been woven over me was gone, and I wasn’t sure who I was disgusted with more, her or me.
Without waiting to see if she was alright, I got out of there, desperate to put some space between us before the thirst returned and I did something I’d never forgive myself for. The night air cleared my head even more, and the exercise gave my confused body something to do. Before too long, I realized where I was headed. My attempt to gain intel from the ranks of geekdom hadn’t done me any good. I had to go straight to the source.