Blood and Needles

by Billy Lyon

  “Thank you, Mr. Blanchard,” Teresa replied. Before he had time to say you’re welcome, Teresa raised her hand and used one of her fingernails to open the man’s throat. He only had time to cast an astonished look toward Teresa before she changed into a wolf and fell upon him, burying her muzzle deep into the gash she had created in his neck. She emptied Mr. Blanchard of his six quarts of blood slowly, relishing the process. When there was no more left she held his head against the floor with one paw and used her fangs to tear away the soft flesh that lined his neck. She kept chewing until she had separated his head from his spinal column. It rolled briefly across the floor before stopping a couple of feet from his corpse.

  For the next fifteen minutes Steven watched in amazement (and more than a small amount of hunger) as Teresa stripped every last bit of skin, muscle, and hair off the head until it was nothing more than a skull. She tried to get the brain out but was unsuccessful because her paws simply wouldn’t fit inside the skull. After a few more failed attempts she howled in frustration and changed back into her vampire body. Then she picked up the skull and slammed it over and over against the concrete wall until it cracked open like a walnut. She picked away the broken pieces of bone until at last she held the mostly intact brain in her hands and gulped it down in two quick bites.

  When Teresa finally turned back to Steven and Anna Marie she looked like the winning contestant in a no-hands-allowed spaghetti-eating contest. Her face from the nose down was red and brown from the blood and organic tissue she had just scarfed down. She made no move to wipe her mouth.

  “Poor Mr. Blanchard,” Teresa said with a wicked grin. “He actually believed that I was going to give him knowledge that would help humans become immortal. The only reason I associated with him in the first place was because he had something I needed. You probably think that you’re the only one in the clan with psychic powers, Anna Marie, but that would be incorrect. I’ve had visions of Steven’s arrival for quite some time now, so I formed this phony relationship with the humans at Theegun years ago just so I could secure a lab for this little ruse of mine. Okay, lovers,” Teresa said. “Time is running short, and it won’t be long until dawn. We’ve got a lot to do before then, so here’s what’s going to happen. Steven, you’re going to die while Anna Marie watches, and then she’ll follow suit. After that I’ll need someone to blame all of this on, so I guess I’ll go get Eric, and kill him too. That’s the Cliff Notes version anyway. I’ll have to try and make the Director’s Cut a little bit more interesting for you if I can.” She laughed hysterically as if this was the funniest joke she had ever heard.

  “Everyone will think I made such a valiant effort to save you both that I’ll be a shoe in to become the next Queen, but I guess I’ll need to give myself a few injuries just to make it look believable.” She punched herself hard over and over again in her left eye until massive contusions appeared and the eye swelled shut. “I guess you want to know how things are going to work. Well, the answer lies in here,” she said while removing a plastic bag from one of the storage boxes. “What I’m going to do,” she continued, “is insert a very large IV catheter into Steven’s arm and watch him bleed out. If I do it right, and my calculations are correct, it will take about an hour and a half.”

  She walked up to Steven and smiled. “One of the things we never got around to in our training session was the various ways in which vampires could be killed. There aren’t many, and you probably know most of them by now. Of course there’s death by wooden stake and death by sunlight, but there are two more that hardly anybody knows about, death by running water and death by losing all of one’s blood supply. Once you lose your last drop you’ll go to wherever it is dead vampires go. Hell, I guess. Does anyone have any questions?” she asked pleasantly.

  Moving quickly, she removed the IV tubing from the bag she carried and inserted an 18-gauge needle into Steven’s left arm. Then she attached a long plastic tube to the needle, which began to slowly fill with blood.

  Teresa pulled a stool from a corner of the room and sat in front of Steven and Anna Marie, looking as happy as a couch potato on Super Bowl Sunday. Steven locked eyes with Anna Marie, wanting to look into them until the very end. At first he felt nothing, but after ten minutes the first signs of his blood loss appeared in the form of a heavy drowsiness that felt like too much turkey on Thanksgiving Day. As more time passed it became harder and harder for him to hold his eyes open.

  “Hey, sexy,” Anna Marie said, her voice cracking with emotion. “You hangin’ in there?”

  “Yeah, just a little sleepy.” Steven looked down and saw that he had already lost a considerable amount of blood. A crimson puddle about three feet in diameter had formed underneath his chair. I wonder how large the puddle will be when I run out completely, he thought.

  Anna Marie’s interrupted his grim thought. “Hey! Don’t look at that. Look at me instead. Remember the night we met?”

  Steven closed his eyes just for a second, and felt so tired that it was almost impossible to open them again. It would feel so good to just stop fighting and drift off to sleep. It was the waking up in hell part that probably wouldn’t be so pleasant.

  “Hey!” Anna Marie said again, more forcefully this time. “Look at me, I said. Remember the night we met?”

  “Yeah,” Steven said groggily. “You almost choked me to death.”

  Her reply came in an equal mixture of laughter and tears. “Would you have come with me willingly if I hadn’t?”

  “Sure,” Steven managed to say. “You had some really righteous dope.”

  “So that’s why you fell in love with me,” Anna Marie said, her eyes now overflowing. “Just for the dope.”

  “No,” Steven gasped. The words were coming with extreme difficulty now. “I…have always…loved…you.”

  Teresa interrupted them with her crazy laugh. “Ahhhh…how sweet.” Anna Marie glared at her with unadulterated hatred and was about to speak when Steven began to shake uncontrollably.

  “Steven,” Anna Marie asked. “What’s wrong, honey?”

  “I’m…so…cold. Guess…this is…the…the…the end.”

  “Don’t say that,” Anna Marie said. It was more of a plea than a command.

  “It’s…okay…remember…we’re…soulmates…I’ll…see…you…again…another…lifetime.”

  “What can I do to help you?” Anna Marie asked, struggling hard to hold her composure.

  Steven gathered all his remaining strength. “Talk…to…me. I want…to…hear…your…voice. Tell me…tell me about…Norway…while…I…go to sleep.”

  “Norway is beautiful,” Anna Marie said in between sobs. “There are tall mountains everywhere, and they’re separated by these crooked little waterways that twist in between them like snakes. When this is all over, we’ll go there and spend a decade, just the two of us, I promise, and remember. The first thing you learned about me when you were reborn is that I keep my promises.”

  “Yeah, right,” Teresa said. “Keep telling yourself, that, Sweet-Cheeks.”

  By now Steven was drifting in and out of consciousness, and Anna Marie’s voice sounded farther away with every passing second. As he struggled to keep his eyes open, the tunnel of light he had passed through once before appeared in the center of the room. Time was running short.

  Teresa climbed down from her stool and walked over to where Steven sat dying. The evil in her face had disappeared and just for a brief moment he saw his good friend once more. “I really am sorry, Steven,” she said. “It sucks that you had to be the one she fell in love with. That’s the only reason I’m doing this. I really did care about you, and you really are handsome. I wish we could have met in better circumstances.”

  “Go…to…hell,” Steven said weakly, but with great satisfaction. Then he gathered his last remaining bit of physical strength and spit in her face.

  30

  When Steven heard the terrible commotion, it was almost too late. He saw Eric punch Teresa in the g
ut hard enough to send her flying up against the wall.

  “Eric,” Steven said weakly. “Help… Anna…Marie.”

  “Got it,” Eric replied, and removed the chains that bound Anna Marie to the gurney.

  The pull from the tunnel was coming even stronger now, and Steven became resigned to the fact that that help had arrived too little, too late. Instead of sadness or regret, he felt only a strong sense of relief that Anna Marie was finally safe.

  “Eric, help Steven!” Anna Marie shouted.

  “Yes, my queen,” Eric replied. He rushed and bent over Steven until his neck was less than an inch from Steven’s mouth and opened his carotid artery.

  “Drink,” Eric commanded.

  By then it was either drink or die, so Steven obeyed Eric without hesitation. Almost immediately, he felt his life force return. After a few seconds he tried to get back to his feet and join Anna Marie, but Eric pushed him back down.

  “Keep drinking,” he said. “You were running on fumes, and you won’t be able to help anyone until the tank is full again. Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty.”

  Steven drank until he felt normal again. Then he sat up, and looked gratefully at Eric. “How the hell did you get free?”

  “One of the security guards found me and undid the handcuffs, but enough about me. Let’s help Anna Marie take care of Teresa so we can get the hell out of here. I need a fix.”

  “You’re not the only one,” Steven said, and turned towards Anna Marie and Teresa, who were circling each other, preparing to fight. Steven and Eric stepped forward to help, but Anna Marie raised her hand.

  “No,” Anna Marie hissed. “She’s mine.”

  Teresa made the first move. She came after Anna Marie hard, charging forward with her head down. Anna Marie anticipated and rose into the air high above Teresa, quickly circling behind her. Then she landed on Teresa’s back and held on tightly as the smaller vampire thrashed about wildly. This went on for some seconds until Teresa went limp and slipped out of Anna Marie’s grip. She flew quickly into the air and grabbed Anna Marie’s leg as she rose, knocking the queen face down onto the floor.

  Anna Marie regained her footing almost instantly, and the two female vampires faced each other a second time. Teresa ran towards Anna Marie again, but once she got within striking distance Anna Marie simply vanished, and Teresa’s momentum carried her forward several feet before she was able to stop. Once she did, she looked wildly around the room in search of Anna Marie, who suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and grabbed Teresa by the neck, choking her viciously. Then she lifted Teresa into the air and slammed her into concrete floor so hard that a deep crack appeared in its otherwise smooth surface.

  “Get up, Teresa,” Anna Marie said. “This isn’t over.”

  Teresa lay lifelessly on the floor. Steven watched her carefully, quite sure that she was playing possum until he saw the blood pour out of her tiny body. The dark red liquid came in such a massive flow that Steven knew it would be impossible for her body to regenerate its supply quickly enough to save her life.

  Steven ran to Anna Marie and smothered her in his arms.

  “I thought I’d lost you forever,” Anna Marie sobbed.

  “Never,” Steven replied and squeezed her even more tightly. They stood that way for several minutes before letting one another go.

  Eric approached and knelt at Anna Marie’s feet. Steven stepped aside.

  “Your majesty,” Eric said. “I’m so sorry for all the treacherous things I’ve done. When you fell in love with Steven I should’ve been happy, but instead I acted like a spoiled brat and put the clan in danger by running away. If either you or Steven had died it would have been my fault and mine alone. I know that I have no right to ask for permission to return to the clan, but if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I swear that I’ll never betray you again.”

  Anna Marie lovingly stroked the back of Eric’s head before she spoke. “Eric, you’ve shown great maturity in recognizing your past mistakes as well as incredible bravery in coming here to rescue me. Not only do I welcome you back, but I appoint you as the new head of our ruling council. Should anything ever happen to me, you will be king. Please rise.” Eric obeyed, and the two friends embraced.

  Steven looked around and took stock. The room was a bloody mess, and where there wasn’t blood there was gore. In one corner of the room sat the headless corpse of Mr. Blanchard, his partially eaten skull lying only a few feet away from its body. On the other side of the room 5.999 quarts of Steven’s blood lay coagulating below the chair where he had been held prisoner. To the right of the blood lay Teresa herself, her tiny corpse facing down into a puddle of her own blood. Beside her was a large yellow Tupperware bowl, also covered in blood.

  “Where the hell did that bowl come from?” Steven asked himself, and almost simultaneously realized the truth. Teresa had spilled the blood inside the bowl as she had fallen in order to make the rest of them believe that she had bled to death. She’s playing possum after all, he thought with growing horror.

  Teresa rose and lunged at Anna Marie with a wooden stake she had hidden under her clothes. Steven watched helplessly as the stake came to within six inches of Anna Marie’s chest, but before it could reach its target Eric stepped in front of Anna Marie, and the stake pierced his heart instead. Steven rushed forward, grabbed one of the silver chains off the floor, and fastened it around Teresa before she could do any more damage.

  Eric turned and faced Anna Marie. “I have always loved you,” he said, and quickly turned to dust.

  “No, Goddammit!” Teresa screamed at Anna Marie. “You are the one who is supposed to die!” Steven removed his shirt and tied it around her mouth, but she still continued to shout insane, muffled curses at the top of her lungs. Anna Marie bent and scooped up the dust that had once been Eric into her hands. She slowly sifted it back and forth between them, as if doing so would somehow bring him back. “Don’t leave us, Eric,” she sobbed. “Please don’t leave us.”

  Steven lifted Anna Marie to her feet and held her tightly until her anguished cries finally slowed enough for her to speak. “Why did we have to lose him, Steven?”

  “I don’t know,” Steven said. Sometimes, the less said, the better.

  31

  They buried Eric’s ashes on the mansion grounds, underneath an old oak tree he had loved. A small gravestone was erected at the site, its inscription coming from the human bible: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”

  Teresa’s punishment was as harsh as she deserved and as eternal as Anna Marie had promised it would be. Soon after they had returned to the mansion, she bought one thousand square miles of remote Arizona desert land (Steven figured it up once and it turned out to be one percent of the entire state’s land mass) and dug a tunnel a mile straight down into the ground somewhere near the middle of the plot. Then she placed a kicking and screaming Teresa inside a silver coffin and lowered it down to the bottom. Once this was complete she filled the tunnel all the way to the top with, you guessed it, more silver. When Steven asked her if she would ever forgive Teresa her reply had been “No, but I might take her out once every thousand years or so and torture her for a while before I put her back.”

  Steven gaped. “You can be a very scary vampire at times, Anna Marie, you do know this, right?”

  “I don’t see what’s so scary about it,” Anna Marie replied. I promised I would give her a terrible, unending punishment, and you know me. I – “

  “Always keep my promises,” Steven finished for her. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what about my trip to Norway?”

  “Another promise, which, as we have already established, I will keep, but there are other items of business that must be taken care of first.”

  “Like What?” Steven asked.

  “Well, like getting back at the Draconians for their participation in Teresa’s scheme. Then I want to work with you and the rest of the Council to establish some solid proce
dures and guidelines to help new vampires during their time of depression. That way the tragedy of Elaine’s suicide won’t ever happen again.”

  “And?”

  “And then, Mr. Jameson, after all that, I will take you to Norway, just like I promised.”

  “Great, but all those things are in the long term. What are we going to do right now?”

  “Well,” Anna Marie replied as she put her arms around his neck, “We do have the shipment from that new Cartel to try out. That might kill some time, what do you think?”

  “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Anna Marie. After all, we are The Junkie Vampires.

  The End

  AUTHOR BIO

  Billy Lyons learned to read at age 3 and fell in love with horror novels soon after. Billy is the author of three published short stories, and is a contributing writer of book and movie reviews at Muzzleland Press. Blood and Needles is his first novel. Billy graduated from The Citadel-The Military College of South Carolina in 1991 with a B.A. in Psychology. He holds additional degrees in Cognitive Psychology and Nursing. Billy lives in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia with his brother and their two cats.