As I was killing the fifth or sixth unit, I wondered if there was a way I could get a meal to go and keep it fresh. I realized that I should have brought a cooler. I dismissed the thought for now, but planned to hit all the hospitals in the area with a cooler once I had a place with a huge refrigerator. I couldn't remember if Mitch had a big fridge in his house, and considered calling my wife to ask her, but decided not to. All things in due time.
I chucked another empty into the trash and reached for the next when my ears perked. The door! I turned around in time to see it open, and standing there was the tall blonde woman. She had come around, and in her stupidity, still wanted to play.
"What did you do to me?" she asked. After what I had done to her, I was amazed when she stepped into the cooler with me and pulled the door shut. "Please tell me. What did you do?"
"You sure like to ask a lot of questions." I grabbed a bag and sucked on it while staring at her. She was silent. I finished and tossed it. "Aren't you afraid of me?" I asked, grabbing another bag. A few more and I would be back to full strength.
"Yes and no."
"Yes is the only correct answer. If it's no because of the pleasure, it's not worth the cost." She approached me, and I prepared to attack.
"Relax. It's no, because of what you did for me." She stopped about a foot away. "Are those fangs? Are you some kind of vampire? This can't be real!" She looked excited, and where she had appeared exhausted before, she was now glowing and radiant with energy. I smelled no fear on her whatsoever, only excitement.
"What I did for you?" I punctured the bag and drank while she watched in fascination. She waited until I finished before speaking.
"I can't prove it until I do a test, but I'm certain of it."
"What are you talking about?"
"I study HIV, hoping to find a cure. One time, I had…" She paused in emotional remembrance. "A strike-thru. A needle went through my glove and I was infected with the disease."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Her disease had to be the reason for the off-tasting blood. HIV and AIDS were non-existent the last time I fed on humans, so hers was the first for me.
I was happy to let her keep talking as long as she didn't interrupt my feeding.
"You drank my blood, and suddenly I feel like my old self again! I feel better! Your venom can cure things!" She looked at me with concern. "Wait, you won't catch it will you?"
"Venom? Did I mention venom? Funny, most humans don't realize when they've been injected." Her knowing such details seemed odd, but not worrisome because, after all, she was a doctor. "I won't catch your disease. Besides making you very happy, the venom is also toxic to destructive bacteria and viruses. Not that they can hurt me if they do get in, but it's an evolutionary thing, I guess so they don't get a chance to evolve in my body into something that can hurt me."
"Do you know what this means?" she asked.
"That I don't get sick?"
"What? No. If my suspicions are correct, you are the key to finding a cure for HIV, and probably a lot of other diseases, too!"
"Look, Missus?"
"Karen Weiss, and it's Miss."
"Okay, Miss Karen Weiss, I've been through this before and the human race doesn't want my kind to save them. Sure, some may, but the lunatics will hunt me day and night. No thanks."
"I'm not sure I believe that. So, what else can you do? Is it really like they show in the movies…flying, instant healing, seduction? Well, don't answer the seduction part. I got a taste of that already." She smiled.
"Some things the books and movies got from legends are correct, but most of it's bullshit. I could kill the strongest movie vampire with a flick of the finger." I eyed her, but she didn't flinch. "That was supposed to be a warning. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some business to take care of." I started to walk past her, but she once again grabbed my shoulder. I whipped around, grabbed her wrists, and pinned her to the glass cabinets. My glowing golden eyes were inches from hers, my fangs still dripping blood. She showed very little fear, considering the circumstances, and I swore that there was even the hint of a smile under her fiery black eyes.
"Something's wrong. I want to help you," she said in a quiet voice.
"Nothing's wrong!" I hissed.
"Someone with the power you claim wouldn't be sneaking into a backwoods blood facility if they had their shit together. Please, let me be a friend."
I thought for sure she just wanted the cure, and couldn't care less for me, but I studied her face. My heightened senses picked up true compassion in her tone, in the way she breathed, and her firm but steady heartbeat. Her scent, while distorted, held a hint of truth, but overpowering that were the pheromones. The woman seemed to be incredibly attracted to me, almost beyond reason. I looked into her eyes and my flattered ego got the best of me. My own eyes turned back to normal, my fangs retreated, and I released her.
"Thank you," she said, rubbing the redness on her wrists. "Quite a grip you have."
"Sorry. I've had somewhat of a bad day when it comes to humans. You're serious?"
"About curing diseases?"
"No, about wanting to help me."
"Absolutely. Want to swap phone numbers?"
"This isn't something I can text out. Forget it. I need more help than you can offer." I started to turn, disappointed.
"Wait!" she yelled, shocking me into facing her once again. "You saved my life. Just tell me what you need. I want to help you. I have to help. Please."
"Okay. Let's see how anxious you are to help. This morning I was kicked out of the house by a wife whom I discovered has been having an affair, and then my boss, who by the way tried to frame me for having an affair, fired me. I have an insatiable appetite for blood, needle-sharp fangs, no heartbeat, and have a growing list of people to kill. I also don't have a single friend left on this planet except my daughter, but I'll probably lose custody of her because I'm a cannibal sitting on top of the food chain. Is that something you think you can handle?"
She was contemplative for a moment before saying, "I have some issues, too. I look like shit in the morning, my ex is an ass, and my skin is so damn thin you can see veins through it." She laughed. "We all have problems. Considering where I work, I might be able to help with your blood fetish, and I'm happy to be a friend. The rest though, you'll have to see a shrink about. I'd be happy to help you, and while I can't offer you a coffin, I do have a spare bedroom."
"Really?"
"Really. You just have to promise to let me study your venom."
I considered for a moment, and concluded that there would be no harm in it. I didn't mind helping humans actually, just not those named Jack or Mitch or Sara. And perhaps she could do for me what a physician hundreds of years earlier had managed to do—create a potion that would make me think that I'm a human again. As a human, I never would have heard my wife on the phone, never would have caught that last frame in the video; ignorance is bliss, and I wanted it back.
"Fair enough," I said.
"Great! Just one more thing."
"Yeah?" I asked, worried about the next catch.
"You don't turn into a bat do you?"
Relieved, I laughed. "No."
"That's good. Bat's freak me out. You know my name, what's yours?"
It's Mike. Mike Spencer." I outstretched my hand. She took it with a grip that was somehow firm yet delicate.
"Nice to meet you, Mike." Her hand fell away. "I think this is a good day to take a half day, especially since the high you gave me is wearing off. It's like a hangover, isn't it?"
"Maybe. I've never had one."
"Lucky for you. Before we go, I just want to test myself if you don't mind. Do you need some more to drink? I can meet you back here in about a half-an-hour."
"Sure, and if you have a cooler and some ice, that would be wonderful." She thought about it, and then said, "Come on." Karen took my hand and I cringed, but then relaxed. It was nice. It had been years since someone other than my daughter had taken my ha
nd.
She led me to a deserted break room, pulled out a small cooler from the refrigerator, and emptied its contents in the trash. "My lunch," she said. After that, she proceeded to add some ice to the cooler from the ice machine. "That should hold three or four units. Enough for the night?"
"I'm good for the night. I'll try to fit five in, which will get me through tomorrow. Thank you."
"Okay. We can put them in the fridge once we get home." She took me back to cold storage and left me there to choose my flavors. Type O negative all the way, just like crystal clear Rocky Mountain water.
After filling the cooler, I killed one more bag for the road and then retrieved all the bags I had thrown in the trash. I wrote down their serial numbers on a piece of paper Karen had given me. She planned to list them as used for testing. I paced for several minutes, wondering if she decided to ditch me, but then the door opened. I smelled her excitement even before I could see her.
"It's negative!" she yelled.
"Glad I could help," I replied.
"Not only is it HIV negative, but I ran some other rapid tests, and I think I might have the cleanest blood ever in the facility's history! It's amazing!"
"Before you get too excited, remember that life is not all roses. With every beautiful flower comes a thorn. I'm the thorn." I handed her the list of serial numbers, a small trash bag full of empties, and picked up the cooler.
"Aren't you poetic? I'm also a thorn so we should get along great." She winked, and I was surprised to see that her eyes had lightened several shades to a medium gray. A quick sniff confirmed that there was no remaining distortion in her scent; it was now that of a normal, healthy woman. Either she had been cured, or she was a completely different person than the Karen I first met. Logically, I assumed the changes resulted from the cure. "Let's go." She smiled.
I followed her home in my car like a child that a stranger has given candy to, and now the child assumes friendship for life. My daughter surely would have warned me that sometimes strangers have less than wholesome motives.
Chapter 6
Karen's house resembled a movie star's mansion, not a scientist's secluded abode. It was more than grand. I stood in the large foyer and turned in circles taking in the cascading staircase, exquisite woodwork, the massive crystal chandelier that hung a few stories above my head, and glistening marble everywhere. I whistled.
"This must have cost a fortune, if you don't mind me saying."
"I don't." She took the cooler from me. "And it did, but my husband paid for most of it."
"But I thought you were single?"
"I am now. Hubby didn't like an HIV positive wife, which was his excuse for leaving, but I still wonder how he hooked up with one of his patients the day after the divorce was finalized. He's a plastic surgeon."
"Oh. He must have been good to afford all of this."
"He is. I'm sure you've seen his work in the movies. Follow me." She led me out of the foyer through a long hall that opened into a restaurant-sized kitchen. "His new lady toy was a Swedish patient. He gave her his favorite, double-Ds."
"That sucks. Want me to kill him?" I joked. She looked as if she were seriously considering it.
"No. Water under the bridge." She decided after a moment. "I've actually been happier without him, but thank you for the offer." She opened a huge refrigerator door neatly concealed by woodwork, and transferred the blood bags to it.
"Your fridge is empty," I stated.
"Yeah, this thing would be a bitch to keep clean if I used it. I just use the one in the kitchenette upstairs."
"You have a kitchen upstairs, too?"
"A small one. Honestly, this house really isn't my style, but the ex still owns the half granted in the divorce, and he refuses to sell for a loss in this market." She closed the door and then dumped the ice out in the sink. "Can I get you something to drink?"
"I'm good, but I really could use a place to lie down for awhile. It was an early morning, and a lot has already happened today. I need to think."
"Sure. Come on. I'll show you the bedrooms. You can pick the one you like."
"Better than a hotel."
"Just don't expect a grand breakfast. My cooking skills stop at toast, and even that's pushing it."
"Not a problem with my diet."
"I keep forgetting." She smiled and then I followed her up the staircase. As we walked, I didn't take the time to enjoy the paintings on the walls, simply because her figure seductively swaying back and forth was better art than any paintbrush could produce. I sensed that she knew just what she was doing, but I didn't care.
"Okay, I think there's something like five or six bedrooms. Check them out," she said. The row of doors overlooked the foyer below with a shimmering chandelier floating in the air across from them.
"I could bungee jump off here," I said, looking down.
"Yeah. At one point, I considered hanging myself there."
"I'm glad you didn't."
"Me too."
I opened the first door. Very light, lots of flower-covered cloth and white furniture. Not my style. The second door revealed a blue room, probably meant for a boy, and again not somewhere I thought conducive to thought and sleep. I didn't want to appear picky, so decided to take the next room no matter what the decor. I was thankful that it appeared perfect, with rustic simplicity and dark wooden blinds that kept the light out.
"I'll take it," I said.
"Great! Mike, can I ask you a favor before you crash?"
"Absolutely."
"Can I get a venom sample? I'm really anxious to get started. I have a room set up with equipment."
"Sure." She led me to a door at the far end of the walkway and opened it. Beyond was not just a bedroom, but a small apartment.
"This is where I actually live. Since he was gone so much, I talked him into making it for me before the divorce. The rest of the place I just consider the building my apartment is in."
"Nice." She led me through a cozy living room and past the kitchenette to one of the back rooms. Inside, there were several lab tables filled with microscopes, test tubes, charts, a centrifuge, and computers.
"You're quite the Dr. Frankenstein," I commented.
"That's Franken-steen." She performed a mad scientist laugh that would make Gene Wilder proud, and then she grew serious. "Actually, I was just obsessed with saving lives, especially my own." She turned around, and for a second we were face-to-face, quiet, and staring into each other's eyes. I found myself wanting to kiss her. Like an animal, I could smell her, and I knew we would be good together. I let the moment slip. She cleared her throat and looked away.
"You'll need a sample jar," I said quietly.
"Okay." She reached to a shelf, grabbed a small brown jar, and held it up. Her hand was shaking, and it was then that I knew that she had wanted to kiss me, too. Instead, we got down to business, but inside I held out hope for the future. Hope is what keeps us going after all.
"How do we do this?" she asked.
"Take the lid off, I'll turn and give you a sample."
"What, you don't want me to see how you do it?"
I was confused for a second and then realized what she meant. "No, I mean turn into my natural form."
"Oh! Sorry. You can change at will?"
"Actually, I'm not changing, just dropping the camouflage. My body is more energy than mass, so it's not hard for it to adjust how you perceive it. We developed it so we could fit in better."
"More likely so you could act the part of wolves in sheep clothing. Show me…please."
"You might be right, my little sheep. Don't freak out."
"I won't." She did.
Karen jumped back, hit a lab table, and knocked a storage rack of beakers over. They rolled around, dinging as they bounced off one another, and then in the silence that followed, she stared.
"Sorry. I'll get use to it eventually," she said. Recovered, she approached me. "If that is your natural state, feel free to stay that way ar
ound the house. I don't mind. Honestly, it's kind of neat."
"Thank you, but I don't want to make you uncomfortable." She took a close look at my eyes.
"Amazing. I always thought vampires would be pale and sickly looking, but you're not. It's like your muscles get more defined and your complexion deepens when you turn." She placed the palm of her hand on my cheek. "A little cool, but not the dead cool I've felt on cadavers. When you were human looking, you felt a perfect 98.6. Incredible." Disappointment washed through me when she removed her hand.
"It's all part of the illusion."
"Yes, sheep are warm and don't have very big muscles, do they?" Her eyes went down to my hands. "May I?" I lifted one up for her. "These are claws!"
"Yes. Very sharp and harder than anything on Earth as far as I know."
"Wow, I love the silver color. Thank God they're not black. I'd have to paint them if they were." She released my hand and smiled up at me.
"What would make you think they would be black?" I asked, remembering such a disfigurement on some from my distant past.
"I don't know. It's how they always are in the movies," she replied. "Would you like to give a sample here or in the bathroom?"
"Here is fine." I couldn't help but return her smile; more candy for the kid. She unscrewed the lid and handed me the cup. I held it under a fang and released several drops. "There you go." She took it.
"I wonder what would happen if I put a drop of this on my tongue?" She asked with a hint of devious humor in her voice.
"I wouldn't advise it. While it's not addictive, I've heard the feelings it causes are, but you've already experienced that."
"What's wrong with being addicted to those kind of feelings?"
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