Creature of the Night

by Anne Stinnett

  “Perhaps I should root for one of the fairer sex. Lola reminds me of the prostitute my father procured for me on my sixteenth birthday. I wasn’t a virgin, but he didn’t know. The prostitute was a nice girl, though. So on second thought, she was nothing like Lola. You know, suddenly I cease to amuse myself. I’ll just say to anyone who’s been entertained by my misery, please fuck off.”

  Confessional: Brett

  “First fucking one across a goddamn tightrope. And I’ve never even seen a tightrope. Oh, and giving the audience guns? Fuck. Shit. Vampires are dark. I mean I know they eat people, but that was unbelievable. I still love ’em though. I can see myself drinking blood and hanging out, and maybe someday I’ll be a judge on the show. After I become a rock star. Rock star judge would be cool. I wonder if Vlad gets chicks. On the one hand, famous fucking vampire, which is cool; on the other hand, creepy as hell. I wonder what he looks like naked. Not that I want to see him naked. That would be weird. It’s more like scientific curiosity. I wonder what Delia looks like naked. That’s what I want to see.”

  Run, _ _ _ _ _ _ _, Run!

  s do we all,” Chaz said as the clip from Brett’s confessional ended. The audience cheered. Delia flashed some fang and struck a femme fatale pose. “I’m sure most of you had already seen Brett’s confessional, but now you’ve seen Delia see it. Glad to see you all back. A bit later tonight, the contestants will be going through their third challenge.”

  Cyri hoped she wasn’t going to have to watch her father participate in any other morally dubious activities.

  “But for now, we’ll have to content ourselves with hearing from some more friends and family,” Chaz said. “We’re going to hear from Stewart’s kids first. And in their defense, this was recorded long before Stewart delivered his heartfelt confessional. Take a look at what Audrey and Logan had to say to their dad.”

  On the monitors, Stewart’s much-loved children appeared.

  “Hey, Dad,” Audrey said. “Hey, Dad,” her brother Logan echoed.

  “Oh my God, Dad. You better win. Don’t puss out, or I’ll die of embarrassment. It’s bad enough you’re even on a reality show. They’re lame.”

  “I think it’s cool,” Logan said. “We hope you win. Can you make me a vampire too?”

  “No, me first,” Audrey said.

  “Neither of you is going to be a goddamn vampire,” a voice shouted from off-screen.

  “That was Mom,” Logan said. “Guess what, Dad? My soccer team made it to the semifinals.”

  “It’s supposed to be about Dad, dumbass.”

  “I thought these were pre-recorded,” Delia said. “Do they have no sentiment for their father?”

  “They were pre-recorded,” Chaz assured her.

  “I think the world might be a better place if we ate more children,” Delia said.

  “Agreed,” Edmund and Nodin answered in unison.

  “I have always been a lover of children,” Vlad said.

  “A lover of eating them, you mean?” Delia said.

  “Yes,” Vlad said after an uncomfortable moment.

  “Love you, Dad.” Stewart’s kids were still onscreen. “Sorry, we couldn’t come over before you left for the show. Coach called an extra practice, and there’s more homework this year than in second grade, so you know.”

  “Okay, Dad. Don’t embarrass me. See ya.” Stewart’s children disappeared from the screens and were replaced by Emily. The crowd erupted in murmurs of surprise. Edmund sneered.

  “How incredibly touching,” Chaz said. “And the young lady you see onscreen is not Emily, but her twin sister, Evelyn.”

  “If there are two, I can surely have one?” Vlad said.

  “Let’s listen,” Chaz said.

  “Emily. First, I need to say, in spite of what has passed between us recently, I pray you are well. And because I fear the sister I have known is lost to me in this world, I want to tell you I forgive you. You should also know God will forgive you even now. All you have to do is ask. But make no mistake. You must ask, or you will have an eternity to regret it. Not the eternity you so desire, the one that doesn’t exist, but an eternity of flame and anguish. It pains me to have to say these things to my sister as much as it shames me to know you are a willing participant in this abomination. Repent, my sister, else my sister in the flesh you will be only. Never my sister in spirit. Never my sister in Christ. Repent!”

  “We tried for a less judgmental take,” Chaz said, “but she started trying to bless the cameraman, and he wanted to get out of there. As you can imagine, the contestants are a bit worn out. Since that’s their problem, we’ll have the third challenge coming up after this short break! Don’t miss it!”

  “Really? I want to see it.” Kip had answered his door to a tearful Gina. It had been hard to muster interest in yet another spat between Gina and her pretty (but insufferable) boyfriend. However, the idea of a bunch of psychos fighting it out to see who got to be a vampire was fascinating.

  “No, it’s awful,” Gina said. “And Brad was being a dick. The whole thing was pissing me off.”

  “I can’t believe I’ve never heard of it,” Kip said.

  “You’re not missing anything.” Gina had hoped to find stauncher support. What good was a gay best friend if he was just going to act like a regular guy?

  “Well, I’m not going to miss anything else. I’m putting it on right now.” Kip fiddled with the remote while Gina sulked. “You did not say the host was beautiful,” Kip added when he found the show.

  “Yeah, he’s cute,” Gina said. “But that’s not the point. The whole thing is barbaric and disgusting.”

  “There is nothing disgusting about him,” Kip said. Chaz was laughing at something Delia said. “The things I would do to that man.”

  “He’s not a man,” Gina said. Although she wouldn’t admit it, she would have jumped on the opportunity to do some of those same things to Chaz. “And he’d do much worse to you. What happened to the sound?” Gina asked.

  “You kicked the speaker cord. Move your foot. Okay, got it. So, who should I root for?”

  Edmund wondered what the consequence would be for eating Little P. The Voice’s dominant hand man was nattering on about the virtues of this latest adjustment.

  As Little P talked, he wondered if Edmund was thinking of eating him. “You’re great like I said. Everything is great. It’s so great we want to take it further, you understand?”

  “I am far too lofty and magnificent a creature to speak to humans,” Edmund said. “What do you imagine I will misconstrue?”

  Little P sighed and pressed on. “We know,” he said, “about your proclivities.”

  Edmund snarled, and Little P quavered. “We, that is He, doesn’t care. As long as you remain discreet. And as long as you continue to play your part with the enthusiasm we’ve come to expect.”

  “What else would I do?” Edmund said, clinging to the thought that Little P was doing his human best to be valuable in a big, scary world.

  “All right, people. The contestants have rested as much as we’re going to let them, and they are raring to go. Who’s ready to watch them meet their third challenge?”

  “We are! We are! WE ARE READY!”

  “Have you guys been rehearsing that?” Chaz said. The crowd cackled at his wit. Chaz thought they were morons. “As you may remember, two short challenges ago, our contestants kicked off the competition by downing chalices of blood.”

  “Why blood in a chalice?” Vlad said. “Blood should be warm from the flesh.”

  “Everyone, welcome back our special guest judge, Vlad the Impaler, and don’t forget about Delia, Nodin, and Edmund!”

  “Back to tonight’s challenge,” Chaz said when the applause had died down. “Although the contestants are long past their first sip of human blood, they have yet to enjoy it as it’s meant to be enjoyed. That is, straight from the tap. Tonight’s challenge is to drink from a human. Which means piercing a vein with nothing more than teeth, and
drinking for a full minute. The contestants will be drinking from volunteers; many of whom auditioned to be on Creature of the Night but didn’t make the final cut. No one will be drained to death for this challenge, not intentionally at any rate. So parents watching with small children, listen up: we are still suitable for the kiddies.”

  “Hear that, honey?” Cyri’s dad chuckled.

  Cyri wasn’t convinced it was suitable for her, but the thought of some dad out there watching with his three-year-old made her think a shade more kindly of her own father.

  “We paired each contestant with a volunteer, and the pairs are waiting to come out. Because we need to know how long each contestant has been drinking, they will stop to show us when they pierce the skin and draw their first mouthful of blood. It is then their minute will commence. If your donor passes out, we will consider your challenge completed.”

  “Are there extras?” Vlad said.

  “Is he not eating?” Nodin snapped. “Someone order a prostitute or a pizza boy.”

  “I think food is an excellent idea,” Chaz said. “We all know a hungry vampire is a massacre waiting to happen.”

  “He fed recently,” Delia said. “Meals on Heels sent a snack over during the last break.”

  “They might have ordered enough for everyone,” Edmund said.

  “If I am ever in such a state,” Nodin said, “you must slay me.”

  “You should have more respect,” Delia said.

  “I have respect,” Nodin said. “If I didn’t, I would have—”

  Vlad had flipped Nodin out of his throne and pinned him down on the altar before anyone else could move. Delia went to Nodin’s assistance, and Chaz hovered slightly behind. “It’s almost as if he can still sense a threat, even in his present state,” Delia said. “Perhaps an apology would appease him.”

  Nodin managed to utter an apology, and Vlad consented to releasing his throat. Nodin set his throne upright and slunk onto it.

  “Well, that threw our timing a bit,” Chaz said. “Contestants, come on out, and bring your dinners!”

  There were eight chairs onstage. Simple and armless, they nevertheless appeared sturdy. The donors took the chairs, and each contestant stood behind their donor.

  This is getting to be too much, Stewart thought. He shifted uncomfortably. His ass was sore, but there was something embarrassing about making a big deal out of a modest furrow when the others had been wounded more severely. Stewart looked down at his donor and grimaced at the flakes in his donor’s hair. He wasn’t looking forward to putting his lips to the matching neck.

  Don’t rush and you’ll be fine, Emily told herself. She had Googled the best place to bite and had spent the night mentally rehearsing. That hadn’t felt like enough, so this morning, she’d bitten into her own wrist until she’d drawn blood. As long as no one started raining acid on them, this should be a piece of cake compared to the last challenge. Bloody, human cake.

  I’m going to kill him, Portia thought. Her donor had asked her to dinner while they were lining up to walk onstage. In spite of her vehement rejection, he was now leaning back in his chair trying to brush her breasts with the back of his head.

  Ollie liked the look of his donor. The contestants weren’t supposed to chat with their assigned victims or even introduce themselves, but Ollie and his donor had exchanged a handshake and a friendly nod. There was no reason Ollie could see for not being on good terms with someone nice enough to donate some vital fluid so Ollie could advance in the competition. Ollie had been feeling a little down thanks to the cutthroat attitudes of some of his competitors; it was nice to see a little selflessness.

  Lola planned to take full advantage of the simplicity of this challenge to put on a memorable show. Good thing this guy isn’t completely revolting. To Lola, vampires were all about power and sex, and the competition thus far had been missing any element that could be deemed sexy. Not for long. Lola twisted her fingers in her donor’s hair and waited for the signal to begin.

  This guy needs to hold the fuck still, Donovan thought. His donor was a sweaty, hairy little guy who was letting his anxiety get the better of him. Guess you should have thought this through, pal. Not that Donovan was wasting sympathy on some loser and his second thoughts. It wasn’t like the donors weren’t going to walk away from this, and it wasn’t like Donovan was going to go easy on some little pussy in his mission to dominate this competition.

  Just like the first time, Celeste thought. No big deal. The gridlock in her intestines argued otherwise. She tried and failed to banish thoughts of what might happen when she sent blood flowing through her digestive tract. True, she had managed the first time but now, there was also the biting to consider. There’s nowhere to go but through.

  Mainly, she was disgusted by the fact that death would be hard to come by in this challenge. A quick death at any rate.

  Come on, man; let’s get started. Brett was bouncing on his toes, much to the alarm of his donor, who wished anyone else had drawn him. Emily or Portia would have been ideal. Unbeknownst to both Brett and his donor, they had a lot in common. All Brett knew was this was an undeniably vampiric undertaking, one that would truly put him one step closer to being one of the magnificent undead. He wished Chaz would wrap up the foreplay and start the challenge.

  “This is some sick shit,” Tim said. “Move the fuck over, would you?”

  “I was here first,” his sister said, stretching out in an attempt to oust Tim from the sofa. “You move the fuck over.”

  “Knock it off, both of you.” Their mother couldn’t wait for the damn vampire show to conclude. “One more argument, and I’ll turn it off and you can go to your rooms and watch on your iPads.”

  “Mom,” Kristen protested. “Tim started it.”

  “I don’t care who started it.” Tim and Kristen’s mother was trying to put dinner together after a long day of teaching, and she was wondering what had possessed her to believe she wanted so many children in her life.

  “Fine,” Kristen said. She aimed a final kick at her brother’s leg. “They’re getting ready to start.”

  “I’m amazed people volunteer to have their necks sucked on,” their mother said. She hovered between the kitchen and living room shaping a wad of raw ground beef into a patty. “It seems gross.”

  “How is it gross?” Tim said. “You don’t think it’s gross when vampires do it.”

  “They’re vampires; drinking blood is normal for them.”

  “Yeah, but these guys are going to be vampires,” Tim said.

  “No. One of them is going to be,” Kristen said. “It’s called Creature of the Night. Singular. They don’t all get to be vampires. Idiot.”

  “Fuck you, Kristen.”

  “Tim?” Their mother stuck her head back into the living room to dispense a threatening look. “That’s your last warning.”

  “Oh my god,” Tim said. “Look at Lola.”

  “Yeah, she’s seriously trampy,” his sister said.

  “They’re making the big guy suck blood out of another guy.”

  “So? Lots of the guys have guy donors.”

  “Yeah, but, I bet this guy’s pissed.”

  In the eight chairs, the eight donors waited. The contestants hovered behind their human meals poised to sink their teeth in.

  “The contestants are ready,” Chaz said. “I do believe our audience is also ready, am I right?” He was right. “Remember to show your first blood. After which, your minute of drinking will commence. Audience, count it down for them.”

  “Three, two, one, drink!” The crowd screamed.

  And drink the contestants did.

  Or at least, attempt to drink. Donovan proceeded to confound Tim’s expectations by digging into his donor, not sparing a single thought for that donor’s possession of a penis. He beat Lola to the punch thanks to said contestant being rather consumed with the theatrics of it all.

  Shit, that hurts like a motherfucker, Donovan’s donor thought as Donovan gnaw
ed at his neck. I can’t fucking do this. But he was doing it. Or more precisely, it was being done to him, and he couldn’t see a way to stop it.

  Lola took a more sensual approach. At the crowd’s signal, she swung around the chair and plopped down on her donor, straddling him with her fingers in his hair, using it to pull his head aside and expose his neck.

  Awesome! Lola’s donor thought when she climbed aboard.

  Down the line, Emily was holding her donor’s head to the side examining the neck for the optimum chomping zone. Satisfied, she leaned down and caught the precise vein she wanted between her upper and lower canines. It took a bit of grinding and more pressure than she had anticipated, but she was rewarded a second later by a spurt of blood in her mouth.

  As rewards went, she’d had better.

  “First blood, Emily!” Chaz shouted when she raised her head to display her bloody lips. “Start your minute Emily.”

  Emily’s donor craned her head further to the side. She was a big believer in the sisterhood. She wanted her contestant to win.

  Lola realized she was wasting time vamping it up and gave her donor’s head another good yank until she had exposed a satisfactory stretch of neck. She sunk her teeth in somewhere between his ear and his shoulder, taking the biggest, most vicious bite she could manage. Human teeth are dull and almost useless compared to fangs, so Lola ended up with a mouthful of neck, which tasted sickeningly of Drakkar Noir and no blood.

  Being a determined girl, Lola pushed past the taste of the once popular cologne and continued chomping with all her might, but there was just too much flesh in her mouth. Her victim wasn’t being pierced or even ripped, only bruised. Beneath her, the enthusiasm of Lola’s donor began to wane.