by Dani April
A full minute went by. “I hate to disappoint you, doctor, but I could hold my breath all night.”
“You don’t breathe?”
“I do breathe. I breathe all the time just like anyone else. I just don’t think I have to breathe in order to keep living.”
“That’s extraordinary.”
“What about my heart?”
“I couldn’t detect a heartbeat inside your chest.”
“Listen for it again.”
He moved back to her chest with his scope. It was cold against her skin and gave her goose bumps. This time, he shook his head and looked back up at her, satisfied.
“My heart doesn’t always beat. I think it beats when I want it to. Sometimes, if I get really excited, it beats out of control.”
“So you’re telling me that you don’t have to breathe, and your heart only beats occasionally?”
“That’s right. I’ve had fifty years to find all these things out so I am kind of an expert.”
“Very well. You may get dressed now.” He moved behind his desk and hurriedly scribbled some notes in illegible handwriting. “I think you were right to want to find the person who infected you with this virus. Whoever that person is might be the key for us to learn more.”
“I agree, doctor, and I’m going to find him if it’s the last thing I do.”
* * * *
After she left Dr. Bradon’s office, it was time to go home from work. She caught her bus as usual out in front of the hospital and leaned back in her seat to think. At that hour, few people were out and about yet, and so she had the rear of the bus to herself.
She had been dreading this moment all evening. She had to feed and only had a few hours left of dark in which to do it. There were two willing men waiting for her, but if she took either of them into her bed tonight, they were likely to die. They were both so drunk on the aphrodisiac that was her blood that they wouldn’t even care until it was too late. They were both weak from the prior nights of sex and bloodletting, yet she was stronger than ever. If she took either of them to bed tonight, she would drain them completely and become a murderer.
Could there be an alternative? She scanned the row of the buses in front of her, feeling like a predator looking for its next meal. Seated toward the front was a young man in a suit and tie. He was apparently commuting into his job early that morning.
As inconspicuously as she could, she got up and moved down the row. She waited for the bus to come to a stop at the next traffic light. Then she walked down the aisle and took a seat next to the young man.
She wondered if she was ready for this. Could she engage this man for the purpose of her feeding? A pattern had developed in which she realized she could only feed whenever she felt sexually aroused. Casting a sidelong glance at the man seated next to her, she contemplated whether he would do. He was young, with a good face, and under that suit, he appeared to be well developed.
She looked out the window. If she got off at the next stop she would be within walking distance to Derrick’s motel. It would be so easy to just get up now and pull the overhead cord for the bus to stop. Then she could go to Derrick’s rooms. She could enjoy his body to the fullest as she had a couple nights before. He would be incredibly horny from the body fluid she had already shared with him, and his cock would be stiff and strong. She could lie in the soft blankets of his bed and let him mount her, and he would present a part of his body for her to feast on.
As fast as the image came to her, she had to force it to go away. She knew how hungry she felt and how much desire the warm air of the night outside had created in her. If she got off the bus at this stop, it would mean Derrick would die.
In agony, she watched as the stop passed her by and the bus continued on its route. Now her options were dwindling. Barry was at home waiting for her, and he loved her. He would be so easy to take. Her hunger called to her, and a fire lit her from the inside. He had been so delicious last night, she was certain that tonight he would even be tastier.
She shook her head and looked down at the floor mat as it bounced up and down with the motion of the bus. A tear had started to fall from one of her eyes. What she had been contemplating was the murder of her dear, sweet Barry. She was becoming a monster just like the evil, female vampire she had met. How could she even harbor such horrible thoughts in her mind? She would rather die herself than be responsible for the death of a human being.
Then she cast another sideways glance at the young man in the suit and tie seated next to her. He was reading the morning newspaper and paying her no attention. He had nice coloring in his skin. If she went easy with him, he would more than likely survive a single bite. Could she entice him off the bus, find a place for sex and feeding, and then still get back home before sunrise? It was a risk, but the fire burning inside her body was forcing her to take that risk.
He caught her eye over his newspaper and smiled at her. This was a good start.
“Anything interesting in there?” she asked him.
“Politicians,” the man complained. “I think all of them are crocks.”
“You live around here?”
“No. I got on way out in the valley.”
“Oh my goodness, you have such a long ride.”
“Normally I don’t ride the bus, but my car’s in the shop this morning, and I’ve got an important meeting downtown.”
She gave him her sexiest smile, and he returned it eagerly. It was only then that she looked into his eyes, and his thoughts betrayed him to her.
“This nurse sure is pretty, and she seems so sweet, too. I’ve got to try and get her number. I wonder if she would like me if she knew I was a single dad. But I think my daughter would like her. She’s having her fifth birthday party on Saturday. I wonder if I invited this nurse over if she would come.”
“I’m sorry to have bothered you. I’ve got to get off the bus here.” Marty rose abruptly from her seat.
“What’s the matter, miss?” The man was clearly confused. “Did I say something wrong?”
Marty turned her back on him and started to run. The bus had barely pulled to a safe stop when she went flying out the front door. She kept on running until she was several blocks away.
When she finally stopped, she thought she was going to hyperventilate and realized this was one of those occasions when she was willing herself to breathe. She didn’t know where she was or where she was running to. She had gotten off the bus ten miles from her house. From the regular schedule the bus kept, she knew there wouldn’t be another one along going in her direction until after sunrise.
She looked down at her watch. She had less than an hour to go. So this was going to be her decision after all. A part of her was happy and proud that she had reached it. Rather than allow herself to become a murderer, she was going to make the ultimate sacrifice.
She had no way of getting home before sunrise now. In less than an hour, she would be dead.
Chapter Fifteen
That familiar pink glow illuminated the eastern fringe of the sky. On the street, Marty was walking along, and rush hour traffic was just starting. Already beginning to give up, all Marty had left to do was wonder how much the sun would hurt when it finally did rise up over those buildings across the street. She could only hope and pray that it would be over with in a hurry.
A motorcycle came roaring down the street from the opposite direction. Derrick, Marty thought. No, the tall, lithe figure astride the bike wasn’t Derrick’s, but Aaron. He passed a few parked cars and then pulled up onto the sidewalk in front of her.
“Marty!” he called in an angry voice. “What the fuck are you doing out here, girl? The sun’s up in a few minutes.”
“How did you find me?”
“Derrick and I were going to pick you up at the bus stop. He had some dumb-ass idea about surprising you. When you weren’t on the bus, we went out looking for you.”
Marty wasn’t even listening to him. She was just staring over the roof of the bu
ildings to the east. This was already more light than she had seen in years, and her skin was starting to feel an uncomfortable tingling.
The tall figure of the African-American towered over her. He reached out and took her in his arms, shaking her violently. This brought her back to herself.
“Snap out of it, Marty!” he yelled at her. “Do you know what time it is? In a few minutes you’re going to be dead if you don’t move your ass now!”
She looked at his bike and then up at the street sign overhead, marking her progress back to her home. “It’s too late, Aaron. We’d never make it back to my house in time.”
“Come with me!” he commanded her with an angry resolve.
He caught her arm in a painful grip and dragged her down the street with him. They bypassed his bike. Apparently, he realized there was no longer any chance of using it to gain her safety.
“Stop it, Aaron!” she screamed at him. “I’m trapped out here. There’s no place to go.” She was becoming hysterical as the increasing light of day started burning her skin. She tried to pull away from him, feeling like an animal caught in a snare.
He gave her a strong slap across the face to silence her cries. “Shut up, Marty!” He was still pulling her down the street behind him. “I’m not going to let you give up. Follow me, and you’re going to live.”
They crossed the street in the middle of the city block, not having any time to wait for passing traffic. A couple of motorists honked at them, and one flicked an obscene gesture with his finger to Aaron. Aaron returned the gesture and kept up their pace. Marty now had no choice but to follow him.
The next street over, a car slammed on its breaks as they were running across its path. Aaron pushed Marty ahead of him just in time, but the fender of the little Toyota clipped Aaron in the side of his leg. He let out a grunt of pain but kept moving, following after her and pointing her in the direction he commanded.
“You okay, buddy?” the driver of the Toyota called out his window at him.
“Never better!” Aaron hollered back at him and kept running behind Marty. “Hold up, Marty! Get down this alley and hurry.”
She turned down a narrow alley between two old buildings. Aaron had caught up with her again and taken hold of her arm to pull her forward. She noticed that he was limping slightly from where the car had banged into him. They were running through an old industrial area of the city. Litter and garbage lay untended at the side of the street, and windows were broken in the buildings they were passing.
“Where are we going?” Marty asked.
“Someplace safe.”
“It’s no good. I need total blackness. Just being inside isn’t enough.”
He had stopped them in front of a door that looked like it led inside of an abandoned warehouse. The door was locked but set on rotten wooden hinges. He winched in pain from his injury. A few pummels of the frame with his shoulder and he had knocked the door aside. Beyond laid total blackness.
“We’re going to have to improvise here, but you’re going to be safe.”
He took her by the hand and led her inside. It was mostly dark, but as Marty had feared, it wasn’t good enough. High up above in the rafters were some tall windows. The glass was broken out of them and hanging in shards. They wouldn’t let in much light in the daytime, but for Marty, the small light that came through would be enough to kill her.
“This is no good either, Aaron. I’ll die in here just the same as I would out on the street. At least let me die out in the fresh air and not inside this rotten place.”
“Quit talking about dying. No one is going to die in here today. Do you understand me?”
She was quiet and followed him inside further. There was clutter on the floor, and they had to watch where they stepped. From one corner came a foul odor. Marty didn’t even want to guess at what it might be from.
After they were inside about a hundred feet, it was getting too dark for Aaron to see any further. He stumbled over a fallen piece of rusted equipment on the floor. Giving up the lead, he brought Marty around and put her in the front.
“You can see in the dark, can’t you?”
“Yes, I can see just fine in the dark. It would help if you told me what we were looking for.”
“Just keep going. There should be a sign that’ll point it out.” Now he had his arms wrapped around her from behind, and she became his eyes in the dark.
“What am I looking for, Aaron?” She was becoming frustrated with him, although she knew he was only trying to help her.
“You’re looking for the way down to the basement.”
“What if there are windows down there?”
“There shouldn’t be any in an old building like this.”
“How do you know? Did you used to play here as a kid or something?”
Aaron laughed at her. “Hell no! Because of my dad, I’ve been rich all my life. I renovate buildings in the inner city. This place here was probably a factory or warehouse back in the day. It’s probably seventy years old. Back then they put the basements underground in big concrete slabs. We’ll be safe down there if we can find it.”
Marty could just make out the words on a faded sign that hung lopsided on the wall ahead that said Boiler Room. “Would the boiler room be in the basement?” she asked him over her shoulder.
He nodded. He was still favoring his bad leg as they moved forward. “We’re good if we can get down there,” he said.
Once more, a locked door barred their path. Marty couldn’t get it to budge. She was weak from the lack of feeding and the damage the approaching sun was doing. Aaron shoved her behind him again and began putting the considerable weight of his muscles into the effort. As before, the rotten old door gave way, falling off its hinges, and afforded them access. He helped her over the fallen wood, and then he picked it back up and secured it back to the frame.
Before them was a long flight of stairs. Marty had to take the lead again because now they were in total blackness. Behind her, Aaron was blind. However, Marty was starting to feel the relief of being out of danger. For the first time since she had run from the bus an hour before, she thought she might survive to see the night.
The stairs led them on a steep descent. When they got to the bottom, they were inside an enormous room that was covered with cobwebs, bugs, and rodents. Bats hung from the floor supports overhead. Marty hated what she saw. The enormity of the terror in front of her dimmed her gratitude at having just been saved.
“So this is where I’m going to have to spend the day?” She felt sick to her stomach just thinking about it.
“Yeah, this is home,” Aaron told her.
She kicked some empty tin containers out of her way, and they clattered across the concrete floor. Overhead, the bats scattered crossways around the floor supports. Marty shivered.
“This is the first day I’ve spent away from my house in almost fifty years.”
“It’ll do you good to get out and see new sights,” Aaron joked.
“Not these sights down here.” Noticing that he was still limping, she became concerned. “How’s your leg?”
“It hurts like a son of a bitch.” He took a pocket lighter out of his trousers and lit a flame to some old newspapers. “Mind if we get some light in here?”
“Do you really think that’ll make it any better?”
“Since I’m not the one who can see in the dark, it’ll make it a hell of a lot better for me.”
He had found one of the old furnaces. He opened the iron door to it and tossed in the burning wad of paper. A dim orange glow permeated the darkness in the area about them.
“You saved my life,” she told him, though she did not have the appropriate amount of gratitude in her voice because she was so scared at the new trouble they had found down here in the intestines of the earth.
“Why would you do something so goddamned stupid? You have people who care about you now. Derrick and that kid Barry are going to go out of their minds with worry today. You c
an’t keep playing the selfish, little vampire bitch.”
Marty shoved aside some long-abandoned tools on top a work table and sat down on its surface. She knew her nurses’ whites were going to get terribly dirty down here. She felt scared, angry, and hungry all at the same time and didn’t know which emotion took precedence.
“You think I’m selfish?” she asked him.
“I think you’re bad news.” He was gathering more trash to burn inside the furnace. The orange light was growing in intensity. He suddenly didn’t seem very friendly. It was probably because he was still in pain.
“I think you’re right.” She agreed with him without a fight. Nothing he could say to her could make her feel any worse. “I told Derrick not to come back. He wouldn’t listen, and I’m not strong enough to resist him.”
“Why didn’t you come back home last night? Why did you get off your bus?”
“Because I was hungry.”
“That doesn’t tell me a whole hell of a lot.”
“There was a man on the bus I was trying to seduce.”
Aaron laughed, but it wasn’t kind. “You’re really into picking up guys in public places, huh?”
“The man was a stranger. I didn’t know him or care about him. All I wanted from him was his blood. If I had gotten him alone I would have killed him.”
“You see, that’s what I mean about you being bad news.”
“Then why did you save me? Why didn’t you just let me die out there?”
He had finished stoking the fire, and now he came to sit with her on the work table. He put an arm around her and was surprisingly gentle. She realized tears were streaming her face and tried to quickly wipe them away.
“I saved you because I want you, too, Marty,” he told her honestly. “I want a piece of what Derrick got the other night. You know, you wouldn’t be the first woman he and I have shared.” She let him hold her for a few minutes, and his strength seemed to calm the terrors around her.
“If we have sex, you realize I’ll bite you?”