After Sunset

by Clayton Hanson

  She flew at me and pinned me against the wall with my wrists. I struggled and couldn’t even get them to flex. The most demeaning part was that her expression didn’t show any effort at all. She slowly dragged her fangs down the front of my chest, tearing my shirt into two ribbons and drawing thin lines of blood. She looked up at me and licked the blood off of her teeth.

  “Don’t start getting sassy with me Sweetie. I can end you right now if I want. I doubt I would even work up a sweat. Well, we don’t sweat, but I’m sure you understand the expression. I gave you the gift of immortal life and I expect you to be a little more appreciative.”

  “Did you ever think that maybe I don’t want to live forever?” I said. “Now what am I supposed to do?”

  “Survive for now. A lot of the men that I turn end up killing themselves or really screw themselves up trying. They can’t handle it. They act like they are so brilliant and in control at the bar and the next week they are begging me to kill them. It’s so sad.” She had the same tone of someone asking to pass the salt. Then she put the back of her hand to her forehead and imitated a man’s voice. “Oh the enormity of it all. What will I do if I can’t go to the job I hate any more and spend ten hours a day with people who come and go out of my life?”

  She started to walk slowly away from me. I was momentarily transfixed. She walked with the aggression and confidence of a mini-supermodel, almost stomping with each step. Then she jumped off of the roof and into the night.

  My days had shifted. I was waking up around 6:30 or 7:00 depending on the sunset. Two in the morning was lunchtime.

  I had worked up a bit of an appetite after playing with Diablo in the park. When I first turned I didn’t know how she was going to react to me or how she was going to adjust to my new schedule, but as long as I took her out regularly and let her run around she was fine. She didn’t want to be petted and she didn’t need as much attention as she did before, but that was okay by me. She got to go outside and play more than she did when I had a regular job even though we played in the dark.

  Once again I snuck into the hospice. There were a few people awake down the hall near the nurse’s station at the end of the hallway. The noise from the front was filtered room by room. Everyone beyond the first few rooms were long asleep. I wish I could say it was a human smorgasbord, but it was more like going to Arby’s late at night. It wasn’t appetizing but it would keep me alive until I was able to get something better in my stomach.

  There was an old black lady connected to a bunch of cords that caused her to look like a robot. I didn’t want to drain her because I was worried about getting shocked by one of her devices.

  An elderly white lady two doors down from the end of the hall was my next meal. Besides getting the blood I needed to live there was no thrill involved. I was ashamed to admit it then but I can admit it now: it was boring because there was no hunt. I might as well have drank a blood donor bag.

  My money situation was becoming dire. My savings had been minimal before I was turned, and now they had run out. After watching the TV series The Wire, I decided that I was going to rob some drug dealers. They weren’t hard to find in DC.

  I waited until a Saturday night and took a stroll into a neighborhood in the Northeast. Before I had been turned I didn’t dare go into that neighborhood. I saw a sign that said, “WARNING- Persons Coming Into This Area To Buy Drugs Are Subject to Arrest & Seizure of Their Vehicle” so I knew I was in the right place.

  The drug dealer’s setup was pretty easy. One guy took the money, one guy was the in-between who signaled how much drugs to give, and the last guy in the chain handed out the drugs.

  My big black hooded sweatshirt was over my head so people couldn’t see my face. I was a little concerned about limiting my sight but with my super hearing I figured that I would be fine. The shirt was my good luck charm. I had fed with it on and never had a problem.

  I walked a few blocks, deep into the neighborhood, and only saw people sitting on their porches. A few guys may have been holding but no one made any offers.

  There was a homeless man pushing a shopping cart into an alley. I thought about following him in there to drain him, but I had fed the day before so it wasn’t necessary. I took a few steps down the alley and then jumped onto one of the rooftops of the houses that lined the streets. From up there I could see most of the street in front of me while being able to hide using the pitch of the roof. I would be able to see more of the street if I was to walk on the top of the roof, but then people looking up would be able to see me as well. I went from rooftop to rooftop, not having to jump because all of the houses were connected.

  At the end of the block was an older-looking boy sitting on some concrete stairs that led out of the row house on the corner of a four-way stop. When certain cars would come to stop, he would run out to the car and put his hand into the passenger side window. Then he would point for the car to take a right turn, signal down the block and the car would then drive off. The whole transaction was done almost wordlessly. I couldn’t hear much due to the distance between us and because the cars had their stereos playing loudly on top of the other sounds of the city.

  I sat and watched for a while. The boy was very quick for a mortal and if a person was looking for him from the ground level, they may not have noticed him sitting in the shadows. There was also a male watching him from up the street but I couldn’t get a good look at him because he was partially hidden by the fences and the porch roofs between us.

  There was something unsettling about the whole situation. It felt like there were cold fingers walking up my spine and my fangs started to come out involuntarily. I didn’t think about it much at the time and chalked it up to anxiety.

  I waited until there was a break in cars pulling up. The last car in the line was a buyer so the boy had come out of his hiding spot and turned his back to me to hide once again. I jumped off the roof and landed only a few feet behind him. He started to turn around but I grabbed him by the back of his neck and pinned him against the wall. I kicked his left leg so that he was in the typical “spread ‘em” position that cops use but instead of his hands supporting him against the wall, it was his head. I rifled through his pockets and found his stack of cash.

  The boy yelled “Hey” to his buddy up the street, but it came out muffled because half of his face was against the wall. Then he yelled loud enough so that his teenaged voice squeaked. The man up the street pulled his gun out of the small of his back and started jogging at us. As he pointed his gun at me, I leapt to a nearby roof and ran off before he had time to squeeze the trigger.

  When I got home I counted the cash, I had made about $1300. It was enough to cover rent but not much more.

  CHapter 7

  After three months I still hadn’t told anyone what I was. I went from constantly instant messaging and e-mailing my friends during the day to not having any contact with them. I told people that I was super busy but that begins to fall apart. People assumed that I was mad at them or that I didn’t want to be friends anymore but that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. I missed my friends more than they will ever know, but I didn’t know how to overcome the growing chasm between the day-timers and myself. Besides, what would we have talked about? They would’ve told me about their jobs and I didn’t have one. I couldn’t tell them how I killed people for dinner. The hardest part was that my physical appearance had changed. I was so pale that I looked like I had spent the past few months in a cave, and there was no hiding the fact that I had the eyes of a predator.

  Andrew came home from work one day and before he could go upstairs, I called him into my English basement, saying that we needed to talk. Andrew was still wearing his suit and tie. When he came in, he couldn’t help but look around because he owned it. I used to think that he was judging me but now I’m pretty sure that he was curious about how well his friend was taking care of his overpriced house. On the other hand, his wife Anne was definitely judging me.

 
“Oh Christ,” he said. “Are you moving out?”

  “What?” I said, “No. Not at all. It’s bigger than that.”

  “You are gay! I knew it.”

  “Don’t you wish, you little boom boom boy,” I said. “You have been looking to mount me for years. Your wife is going to be so sad.”

  “So what’s up?” His wife knew that he was downstairs and he works long hours so his time is short on weekdays.

  “I’m not really sure how to say this. You know how I’m all pale and I’ve changed jobs? Well…”

  Then I flashed the fangs at him. I tried to have a blank look on my face in an effort to not be intimidating, but he still jumped a little bit. He stood up a little straighter to hide that fact that I had scared the shit out of him. He wasn’t aware how scared of me he was, but I heard his heart rate increase. He leaned forward and squinted his eyes trying to get a better look at my fangs.

  “Those aren’t real,” he paused to look again, “are they?”

  He was caught in the hinterland between primal fear and fascination.

  “Look at me. I look like death warmed over. I am death warmed over. You can try to relax. I’m not dangerous, obviously.”

  “When did this happen?” he said. “Do you have to eat people? You look like shit. Anne thinks you are on drugs. ”

  “No. I don’t eat people. Gross. I’m not a zombie.”

  I put my arms out like a walking zombie and growled, “mmmrrrrrrmmmm” while walking towards him.

  “Christ, that’s disturbing. Let’s not do that.” Then he laughed nervously.

  “I don’t eat people. I drink blood.”

  Then without thinking about it I ran my tongue over my fangs. Then I realized that they were still out and I retracted them. For a moment, my vampire instincts made me want to take a little bit of the blood that he had running through his veins. It was hard to resist when I could hear his heart thump. Fortunately he happened to be avoiding eye contact with me and didn’t see me staring at his neck.

  “Oh, yeah. That’s better. Blood.” He shook his head smiling a little bit. “Have you been out there rampaging around and killing people?”

  “No, well, yes. But only super sick people,” I said. “And it doesn’t hurt them. It’s a relief for them.”

  “Like Dr. Kevorkian?”

  “Yeah. Sort of. But without the creepy van. He had a van right?” I wasn’t trying to get off topic, I was genuinely curious.

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” Andrew shook his head to get rid of the van question. “How did this happen?”

  “I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure it out. The last thing I can remember is being wasted at The Pour House. Then when I woke up I was like this.”

  “How do you know that you are a vampire then?”

  “I like to drink blood, I’m basically Superman and the sun is my Kryptonite. Ring any bells?”

  “Superman? You’re like Superman?”

  “Come outside and I’ll show you.”

  We went outside and down the steps to the sidewalk. The night was cold and clear. There were patches of dirty, compacted snow on the ground.

  “Have you ever seen anyone jump to the top of a house?” I said.

  Then I sprinted to the other side of the street and leapt to the top of a three-story house. I tried not to land too hard because I knew the people who lived underneath were home. I heard someone in the house say something about wine on my way up. When I landed it was quiet in the house. I assumed that they were looking up and wondering what the hell was happening on their roof. I waved at Andrew and did a Flatley-esque jig. Then I jumped down and landed a few feet away from him.

  “Holy shit.” He looked at me, then the roof, then back at me

  “Holy shit is right.”

  He stood there staring at the distance between the house and us. I turned and started to walk back towards the house when his wife came out.

  “What are you guys doing?” Anne asked with a little suspicion.

  “Nothing.” I said. “I just wanted to show him something that is wrong with my car. Of course he has no idea how to fix it.”

  She looked back and forth between the two of us. She knew that I was lying but she didn’t want to get involved.

  “Oh well,” I said. “All right, I’ll talk to you guys later.”

  Then I went down the steps to my place and he went upstairs with his wife. He glanced back at me like he was going to say something but then thought better of it and went inside.

  I felt a little better now that my secret was off of my chest. I trusted Andrew not to tell anyone for a while. Unfortunately, secrets have a way about coming out in DC. Just ask Nixon or Clinton.

  “Hey stranger.”

  I didn’t want to turn around, because if I didn’t then she wouldn’t be there. I knew that no matter how much I hoped she wouldn’t be there, Charlie was back. She had made me into a vampire orphan and I hadn’t forgiven her. When I did turn around, much to my embarrassment, I wanted to cry. If she had only given me a little bit of her time, the last two months would have been much easier. I know it sounds dramatic and I’m not Oliver fucking Twist but come on.

  I didn’t know what to say so I stood there in silence.

  “Awwww. I’ve never seen something that is supposed to be a nightmare look so sad.” Then she mocked me by pouting.

  She came over and gave me a hug. I wish I could say that I pushed her away and told her what a bitch she was but it was my first physical contact since I had turned. She felt small with her head on my chest and I felt comforted.

  She pulled back from me so she could see my face. She reached up with her hand and wiped my face. “Honey, you can’t bleed tears in public, okay?”

  I nodded.

  We strolled through Chinatown, holding hands like a regular couple. I tried to absorb everything that was going on but it was impossible to look around when there were so many people on a small sidewalk. The second I quit paying attention to the people in front of me to look at all of the flashing neon signs, I would almost run into someone.

  “Are you going to talk or hold my hand in silence all night?” She asked.

  I waited a few steps.

  “Yeah, I guess.” I said.

  “You’re still alive. That is quite a feat.” Then she smiled.

  “Sometimes I forget that I’m a pawn in Charlie’s game of life,” I said.

  “Yes! A pawn. That’s more descriptive. I’ve been thinking of you as my little vamp cub but you are much larger than I am, so it didn’t really fit.”

  “Thanks for the fucking help.”

  “You’re relatively smart for a boy. Isn’t it better knowing that you can survive on your own?”

  “You mean isn’t it better to feel alone? To feel completely lost and not even know how to feed myself?”

  “Oh yeah. Leanne Washington,” she said a little too loudly.

  I looked around to see if anyone heard her.

  “Yep, that was me.”

  “Wow. My savage boy.”

  I relaxed a little. It was nice to be able to get the weight of the killing off of my shoulders to someone who understood my circumstances. I had recently told Andrew that I was a vamp but he couldn’t possibly understand what happened with Leanne Washington. Andrew couldn’t understand that my natural instincts took over. My mortal friends don’t even get hungry unless they skip lunch because of work. If I explained it to Andrew he would be okay at first, but then he would start wondering if he or his wife was next. From there his thoughts about his safety would spiral out of control. I knew that if I had been a little hungrier and one of them had been around it would have been curtains for someone.

  “Yeah,” I said, “it was pretty awful. If you would’ve taught me how to feed then it wouldn’t have been like that.”

  “But the first time is so exciting. I didn’t want to rob you of it. How did you do it?” When she asked her pupils dilated a little and she became excited.


  “I yanked her into an alley and drained her. I was about as subtle as a bear attack. Then I puked when it was over.”

  “That happens,” she said as she nodded. “I think it is psychological.”

  “It was pretty nasty.”

  Then we walked for a little while in silence until she pulled me into an upscale bar by the Spy Museum. We pushed our way through the crush of the crowd that was mingling near the bar but not actively getting drinks. Charlie got through the crowd first and ordered us two gin and tonics. It took me a minute to figure out that we stood out as it was and people slowly dissipated away from us. If you were to ask them why they moved away from us, they may not have noticed or they might have said that we were weird foreigners, but they had moved away from us like a herd of caribou from wolves. We held our drinks as camouflage and sat at a bar table for two.

  “This is like a first date for us,” she said.

  “I don’t really remember the night that we met.”

  “Oh. Was that you?” she said, acting like she was surprised. Then she rolled her eyes while making her best bimbo face and twirled her hair with her forefinger. I thought she was gorgeous and charming and I hated myself for it.

  “So tell me anything about yourself?” I said. “Is Charlie even your real name?”

  She wiggled, sat up straight and put her hands in her lap. She was mocking my serious tone but I blew it off.

  “Yes. Charlie is what I go by,” she said. “My name is Chantal-Genevieve Leglise.”

  “That’s quite a mouthful.”

  “I was born in 1893. Before you hurt your pretty little head doing the math I’m 117, which makes me a super cougar. Or a Great GILF if I had children and so forth.”

  “You’re really hot for being so old that Willard Scott could announce your birthday.”