by Nick James
Anastasia ran her long fingers through her hair. ‘We are going around in circles, Albert. They won’t stop. They are bored old vampires who do not wish change, and I believe that you scare them.’
I sat in the chair and dragged the palm of my hand down the front of my face in frustration. ‘Is that why they sent you here, to calm me down or spy on me?’ I asked.
‘Neither. I came here of my own accord. But what you have to understand about the old duffers at the coven is that they have all lived for a long time, and they have got used to people listening and doing exactly what they are told. And when someone slights them…’ she said.
‘An English someone,’ I pointed out helpfully.
A smile did ghost her lips briefly, but it was soon taken away. ‘Yes, that doesn’t help much. When I left they were in a meeting with Detective Hughes. All I know is that they were discussing you,’ Sia explained as she fiddled with her fingers.
I was calming down a little, appreciating that Sia was genuinely trying to help me. I realised that I had forgotten my manners. ‘Would you like a drink, some wine or tea?’
‘Wine would be nice, thank you,’ she answered.
I stood up and took a bottle of red from the wine rack. It was one of my last bottles from the 1800s. ‘So, what do you think they are going to do? Fine me or just go for a spanking?’ I pulled out the cork and let the wine breathe. It was the aroma of wine that pulled me back to memories of happier times, when we had shared family dinners. I repressed a laugh when I thought of my wife’s annoyance, especially when Emma, our daughter in all but blood, had got drunk and attempted to drink all the remaining gravy from its receptacle as our boy, Stanley, cheered her on while Anna and I were in the kitchen tidying up. It brought a warmth to me deep down.
Anastasia shook her perfect hair. ‘Nothing at the moment. I think they just want Hughes to keep an eye on you,’ she explained. ‘Including that girlfriend of yours across the way,’ she added.
At the mention of her, my eyes blackened and my incisors had an airing. ‘She has nothing to do with them; she knows nothing about us,’ I growled. I knew her caring words were a warning about the future and that there would be blood if I carried on the way I was going.
Sia raised her hands and smiled. ‘I’m on your side, Albert. I have championed your cause within the coven. Just watch yourself,’ she advised before taking the wine glass I had offered. I felt the wine was ready; breathing is highly overrated for people and wine.
This time I sat on the sofa with her but at the other end. ‘Why does life have to be so difficult? I thought moving to this city would make a nice change for me. And it did for a while, but it was short-lived.’ I sighed and closed my eyes in frustration, then I felt her hand slip into mine. My eyes opened and I saw her smiling at me.
‘I’m glad you are here; it’s been too long since I’ve met someone genuine. I’d like to be your friend, Albert. I want you to trust me,’ she said with a sad smile as tears began to fill her eyes, making them glisten like the Romanov diamonds that saved her life and paved her way to safety away from the revolution and the Bolsheviks.
‘Thank you, I’d like to be friends,’ I said with a smile, ‘but I don’t like to be controlled. So if this is some trick by the coven, you can leave now, with no hard feelings,’ I said firmly, to which she nodded.
‘It isn’t, this is just me, Sia, your friend,’ she said before leaning back into the sofa and looking out of the window. ‘You have a nice place here, so much better than the dark manor. They love the whole gothic genre; that’s why we were wearing all the old dresses. I had enough of that at the royal palace.’
I laughed and drank. ‘I was lucky. Just a working-class boy from London who went to the army to travel the world, which didn’t work out as we only got to Ireland,’ I said, making us both laugh. I checked my watch and realised my hunger was building. ‘Now, I need to feed, so it’s time to go for a wander around town.’
‘At the coven we have thralls who come to get bled. They enjoy the whole vampire genre – plus they get paid for their service,’ Sia explained. She must have thought about actually hunting like the predator she was, as she then asked, ‘May I come with you? It would be nice to hunt.’
I watched her for a second, then gave a curt nod. ‘I’ll go and get changed, then we’ll go out,’ I said and headed to my room. ‘Oh, you’d better send your limo away. It won’t really blend in where we are going.’
As I changed my clothes I could hear her talking on her phone telling the driver to go back to the mansion and that she would call him later if needed, which made me think she had more plans on her mind than just hunting – maybe I was the victim.
Within ten minutes we had passed the doorman, whom I didn’t know, and arm in arm we walked out into the cold dark streets heading for the Bronx.
Her heels seemed to echo down the street. Whenever I walked alone in the city, people always did their best to avoid me or have any kind of eye contact. Something in their hearts was telling them that I brought hurt with me and they should fear me. It’s like walking into a dark room and something in your heart tells you not to – unless you’re a blonde woman in a movie, then you walk in blindly and call out, ‘Hello, anyone there?’
‘So, what do you normally do, Albert?’ Sia asked, referring to the killing process.
‘Well, it’s quite easy really, head to the bad parts of the city, keep to the shadows and wait for a drug dealer, pimp or some other degenerate to turn up, then chow down,’ I explained. We continued walking, crossing street after street. ‘But don’t kill them,’ I warned. ‘Feed them a bit of your blood, just enough to start the change and then—’
That surprised her. She stopped walking and stood completely still, interrupting my instructions. ‘You change them? Are you mad, Albert? The coven will stake you straight away if you have been siring willy-nilly,’ she spat angrily, grabbing my arm and turning me to face her. ‘I knew you were reckless, but this is the worst thing possible!’
I grabbed her shoulder. ‘Calm down, I start the change so I can turn them to dust. You can’t just leave bodies around with no blood in them.’ With that, her breathing started to ease. ‘I would never sire anyone; you know this life is a curse.’
Sia gave me a sad smile. ‘It is what you make of it, Albert, that’s why we don’t mix with the humans unless we have to. Mixing with other vampires, you have company for life, albeit a bit boring at times,’ she said as we linked arms again and continued our journey.
‘But humans have a warmth about them which I desire and crave,’ I admitted. This seemed to kill the argument as we walked silently through the street hoping to see some prey. We passed a bar, so I decided to pull her in with me. ‘Let’s have a drink and go fishing,’ I announced, and once again a frown adorned her pretty face. As we walked into the establishment, I knew I had picked correctly; this was a true dive bar where the locals ruled the roost. Perfect, I thought as we took a booth in a dark corner.
A very ‘second-hand’ looking waitress walked over. I wasn’t sure if she had two belly buttons or if one was a bullet wound. But, fair play, she did try to provide the whole service with a smile, showing off her gleaming white teeth, all four of them. Her look screamed meth addict, but her badge said waitress, which was what we wanted at this time.
‘Two beers, please, import if you have them?’ I asked, and she walked away trying to sway her body seductively, although it looked more like she had bad hips.
A panic-stricken Anastasia looked pointedly at me. ‘What are we doing here? I thought we were going to feed!’
‘We are. We are fishing, and you are the bait,’ I answered happily.
She tutted. ‘And what makes you think I want to be the bait?’ she stated with a raised eyebrow.
I gave her a knowing look and scanned the scummy bar. The leather seats were faded and scuffed, and the pool table had beer stains amongst other fluids if my sense of smell was anything to go by, but as I suspe
cted quite a few of the dozen male occupants had libidinous looks in their eyes aimed at my guest.
‘Because if you went for a walk outside to take a phone call, I reckon you could eat your fill.’
The waitress, who now seemed to be shaking from withdrawal, gave us two Stella lagers with glasses which last seemed to have been cleaned when I was a baby.
‘Thanks, hon,’ I said and gave her a twenty-dollar note. ‘Keep the change.’ I smiled, showing all of my teeth, which more than tripled hers.
‘You’re not from around here, British?’ the waitress asked.
‘Yes, and this lovely lady is Russian. We are having our own cold war,’ I joked, making Sia chuckle as she drank from her bottle.
‘Whaaaaat!’ the waitress drawled, clearly not understanding the joke. She left even more confused than before.
The men at the bar were getting interested in us, but mainly Sia, of course, and some of their pulses were racing. ‘So, want to play, or shall we just move on?’
Anastasia took another draught from her cold lager. ‘I’ll play, but if any more than two follow me, you’d better come out and help,’ she said sternly, which matched her black eyes. The Russian woman then stood up, took her phone from her bag and said something to me in her national language before heading outside. It was only later she told me that she had called me a floppy horse’s cock.
After a couple of minutes, two guys who were chatting in a booth against the other wall both stood up and ambled out with lust in their eyes and a purpose on their minds. They had flicked their eyes to the barman, who very quickly gave a brief nod and then looked over at me. Then another two men walked to the back of the bar seemingly following the signs to go to the toilet, but with my hearing I heard the fire exit open and then close.
It had gone wrong already, and she wouldn’t let me forget it either. I went to stand up when I found myself very popular with three large beer guts hovering over my table and stopping the majority of light whilst adding to the bad smell.
‘Can I help you, gentlemen? I was just about to find my friend,’ I said with a smile, smelling the aggression exuding from them, along with body odour.
‘Hiya, buddy. Now, why would you like to leave? We can all have a beer together. I’m sure your pretty friend will be back in a bit,’ said a man with one gold front tooth and wearing a John Deere hat. Strange really, as we were in the city.
Another man gave a guttural laugh. ‘Yeah, but she may not be so pretty.’ That comment made the other men give dirty laughs.
‘Well, I don’t think so, my friend. Now, move away, or you will have to explain to the next five-dollar hooker you go to why you only have one nut.’ I spat out the last word and flexed my fist. Suddenly, I could hear a fight going on outside. I knew I had to go.
The third man, who didn’t seem to have a neck, prodded me in the chest with his podgy, hairy digit. ‘You are staying here, little man. If you do, you might get out of this place in one piece,’ he growled.
That was it for me. I grabbed his finger and with a quick flick of my wrist it was pointing to the heavens, making the man stagger back screaming as his bone felt fresh air for the first time. Then I quickly solidified my promise to John Deere by punching him in his junk, which appeared to rupture his left goose egg, sending him to the ground out cold. The second man threw a punch at me. With a dip of my head I let it connect just above my forehead, which shattered two knuckles. With my right fist I then collapsed his nose, but not into his brain.
I stood up quickly and dodged the haymaker from a random man who had joined the scuffle. I kicked out with my foot, scoring a hit against the side of his knee, tearing tendons and cartilage as I did so, and flooding the night with shouts and curses. I made my way out of pub and followed the noises of another scuffle. I soon saw the epicentre of all the trouble. One man was down on the ground and another was on all fours vomiting with one hand cradling his testicles. They may have needed to be renamed after this action.
A thug with tattoos running down his neck was holding Sia’s body down while a ginger-haired man held down her legs, but they were stuck what to do next. To use her as they wished, one of them had to let go to get her clothes off.
I picked up a plank of wood which had been cast aside and swung it at the ginger’s head, sending him to lullaby land. This panicked the other man to see his three friends either knocked out or crying for their mummy.
I locked eyes with the cold green eyes of the attempted rapist. In a split second he jumped up and ran. He was just about to reach the corner when half a brick caught up with him and possibly sent him back to second grade.
‘You okay, Sia?’ I said, rushing over to her.
She slapped my hands away. ‘I’m fine, they hit me with a plank,’ she snapped, jumping to her feet and giving the man crying about his nuts a kick in the face. ‘I thought you were going to help me if there were more than two of them.’ She started to rearrange her clothes and brush off the dirt.
‘Well, yes, I did say that, but the three lumps of meat inside hindered me a little. I’m sorry,’ I exclaimed and watched her now with hands on hips.
Her incisors grew. ‘Fine, which one is mine?’
The men were still out for the count as I went through their wallets and plucked out the driving licences for a little visit later on. I can’t abide men like these. If it hadn’t been Anastasia, it could’ve been someone else who wanted a drink or just to sit in the warm. This world was now perilous for the weak and innocent.
I wandered back to Sia and linked her arm with mine. ‘We can’t, too many people now. I’m guessing the police will be on their way and they will claim we attacked them. We will be held until the sun comes up,’ I said as we disappeared into the shadows.
‘Damn it, I’m really hungry now,’ the Russian duchess admitted with her teeth still on show for the world to see. ‘I need to feed.’ Clearly, the fight had drained her reserves because her Russian accent had slipped in.
I held onto her tighter. ‘It won’t be long, I promise. The gangs will be out and about in a bit, but maybe we can find one to share,’ I stated.
As I said that I saw a long beaten-up car with six gang members cruising down the road. They stopped by an intersection even though the lights were green. A tall Hispanic man wearing a parka jacket walked from the shadows, leaned into the car and then turned retreating back into darkness. The streetlights enabled such clandestine things.
‘Here we go,’ I commented.
As we walked closer, I could see the man in the dark leaning against the wall. His face was illuminated by his phone. Then another man walked up and they palmed something to each other, payment then drugs, and they parted.
‘Is he dinner, Albert?’ Sia whispered.
I smiled at her. ‘He’s the starter.’ I handed her a rolled-up pile of dollar bills and crossed the road away from his eyeline. ‘Mess up your hair, hunch down a bit and make sure he can see the money. We want him away from the wall, okay?’ I advised.
With a wink and a scarily toothy grin, she limped away while messing up her hair. The limp was a nice touch. I followed against the wall so close that I could hear the fibres of my jacket catching on the imperfections of the stonework.
Sia stopped in front of the man. ‘You holding?’ she asked with a Russian twang she had allowed in.
I saw the feral grin appear on the well-rounded man’s face as he pulled his hood back to show off some facial gang tattoos and a blue bandana. ‘Hey, Mama. I haven’t seen you before,’ he said as he pawed at his groin. ‘We can trade a blow for some blow,’ he suggested, and then laughed at his own wit.
Sia took a step back, making him sneer. ‘I just want some ice, that’s all. You got it?’ she asked, taking another step into the street illumination.
Finally, he stepped forward angrily. ‘Yes, bitch, I got it. If you got da green, it’s all yours, but I want a show first. Show me those blouse bunnies you got hiding there,’ he demanded.
He didn’t see me walk up behind him and wrench his head back.
Sia stepped forward with fangs bared, leapt onto him and sank her fangs into his pulsing jugular.
I dug in from the other side, but the helpings were meagre. After a mouthful, I slit my wrist and drenched his mouth with my blood. ‘Sia, off,’ I growled.
She lifted her face showing a blood-smeared mask, eyes like coals and fangs dripping.
‘He’s going to start to change,’ I warned.
Her eyes returned to normal as she understood my meaning. He started to convulse and when he stilled, I took a silver-bladed flick knife I had made especially for this job from my inside pocket and plunged it into the man’s chest. With a flash he was gone.
The ex-duchess leapt into my arms, wrapped her legs around me and kissed me furiously, smearing blood all over the place as we shared the kiss. She leaned back. ‘That was amazing and tasted so much better than those cattle that plod through our doors,’ she exclaimed and kissed me again. I couldn’t help it with the beast awake. We were drawn to each other, with the blood of the kill pumping.
‘C’mon, I still need to feed properly,’ I said, letting her back down. Then from my other pocket I handed her a wet wipe and we both cleaned each other up. I could still see her smiling in the darkness. I just hoped I hadn’t created a monster. We heard a car engine far off, so throwing the wipes into a nearby trash can along with the drugs that didn’t burn up we walked off arm in arm keeping to the shadows.
We made it to the Bronx, which wasn’t that bad a place, but when you walked into the bad spots you knew about it. The two of us walking arm in arm together brought a lot of looks our way.
‘Albert, what was that tang in his blood? I haven’t tasted it before,’ said the Russian girl while picking some flesh from her teeth.
‘Drugs, probably meth. Don’t worry, though, our bodies don’t react to it,’ I reassured her as we walked into what the locals called the Badlands.