Living Like A Vampire

by Jacky Dahlhaus

  “It’s Rhona over there. Remember her? Ben massaged her feet yesterday.” He tipped his head in the girl’s direction. I surveyed the crowd and recognized the girl. She was the one with the nasal voice. A petite thing with dainty features, I guessed of Italian heritage. Her hair was short and curly, brown with a hint of auburn. She had big, dark eyes, with long lashes, a pixie-like nose, and full lips, still covered in bright red lipstick. She was chewing gum with her mouth open which I thought never suited anybody. It made me think of cows.

  “Does she know about your, um, rare blood disease?” I asked worriedly.

  “Well, not how ‘serious’ it really is,” Harry said, and his smile disappeared. “I haven’t figured out how to deal with that yet, so I’ve been taking it real slow.”

  “Good thinking,” Charlie said dryly.

  I guessed Harry didn’t hear him as he didn’t react to Charlie’s words. I couldn’t help picking up the vibe that Charlie regretted not taking the advice himself.

  At the briefing, we were told we’d move on to the next town. This little village hadn’t given enough blood to feed all of us either, and so we needed to move on yet again.

  During the march, we didn’t have to worry about Ben as he got the message of Charlie and I being an item after he heard from Harry we’d shared a room at the hotel. When everyone else around us appeared to be in conversations of their own, Charlie beat me to it and quietly asked Harry if he could help us get to Caleb’s pack.

  “Why do you want to?” was Harry first reaction.

  Charlie glanced at me before answering. “We have our reasons, let’s keep it at that. Would you be able to help us?”

  You could almost see the cogs working in Harry’s head. “It’s going to be tricky for reasons you already know. I’ve got to find out where Caleb’s pack is first,” he said. “But leave that to me.” He smiled and increased his pace to join Rhona and her girlfriends.

  I observed him chatting up the girls. They were laughing at every remark he made, and Rhona was eyeing him all the time, full of adoration.

  Yes, I think you’ll be sleeping in a hotel room soon as well, Harry.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Charlie look at me. When I turned my head to him, he gave me a quick smile and faced forward again. It occurred to me I should thank him for actually helping me. He hadn’t just said the words earlier to keep me happy. He actually meant them. So I took his hand and squeezed it.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  Without looking at me, he squeezed my hand back and kept holding it. It should have felt uncomfortable, but I wasn’t. He only let go of me when Harry returned.

  “And?” I asked, doing a little skip.

  “Good news and bad news,” Harry said.

  “What is it?” I was hanging off Harry’s lips now.

  “The good news is that I know where Caleb’s pack is,” Harry said.

  “What’s the bad news,” Charlie asked.

  I held my breath.

  “That Caleb’s no longer with the pack.”

  What? Why?

  The skip in my step disappeared instantaneously. Fear and dread coursed through my veins, and I contemplated being sick or fainting. To keep myself going, I wrapped my arms tightly around me, hugging my stomach and squeezing my blood toward my brain. My breathing became a conscious effort.

  Could Caleb have died?

  “The word is that he instructed his pack to continue,” Harry said. “They’re traveling parallel to us. But Caleb and Sasha have left the pack.”

  “Why?” Charlie asked, giving me a meaningful look. I was feeling slightly better, knowing that Caleb wasn’t dead, although I still wasn’t happy. It meant I had no idea where to look for him.

  Harry shrugged his shoulders. “Nobody seems to know.”

  We walked on in silence for a while.

  Where could Caleb be? How am I ever going to find him now?

  “So what do you guys want to do?” Harry asked all of a sudden. “Get to the pack or to Caleb?”

  “I need to get to Caleb,” I replied instantly. I tried not to put too much emotion in my voice, but Harry had picked up the vibe.

  “Why? Are you…? You and Caleb…?” He looked at Charlie and then back at me. Neither of us said anything. “So you two are not…?” and he pointed his finger from Charlie to me and back to Charlie again. I could tell he had a million questions.

  Charlie remained silent.

  “No, we are not,” I said with downcast eyes.

  “Wow,” Harry said, eyebrows raised. “You could have fooled me.”

  Charlie and I both tried to avoid eye contact with anyone at that point.

  “Okay,” Harry continued, “let me think about it and we’ll talk about this when we have a bit more privacy.”

  We walked in silence for the rest of the march. My mind went around in circles trying to find a reason why Caleb had left his pack, and where he could be right now. I couldn’t come up with anything solid.

  Disagreement

  That night, when we were sitting on another kitchen floor, eating a reheated batch of lasagna, Harry told us of the plan he thought up, and a hefty discussion broke out between Charlie and himself. Charlie didn’t like it that Harry wanted to involve Rhona.

  “But it’s only to save everybody’s neck,” Harry explained. “If she also testifies that she saw you two getting killed by humans, then we have a greater chance they will not get suspicious.”

  “But can you trust her?” Charlie retorted.

  Harry sighed. “I already told you, I don’t know until I ask her.”

  It was obvious Charlie had set his mind to dismissing the plan. We didn’t have another plan, so I had to convince him.

  “Charlie,” I said as calmly as I could, “we don’t have to tell her we’re normal. All she has to know is that we want to leave Duncan’s pack. Everybody knows Duncan doesn’t want us in his pack, so everyone will be happy when we’re gone and ask no questions.”

  Charlie looked at me, shadows making his face look ominous. “I don’t like putting more lives at risk.” He slid his finished plate onto the floor.

  His words made me feel so selfish. Involving Rhona would make her an accomplice and put her at risk of the wrath of Duncan, whatever that was, should things go wrong.

  “Okay, let’s think of another plan,” I said defeated.

  “No,” Harry said. He pointed his finger at Charlie. “This is the only way. Duncan will never let you leave, and he will certainly never let you go over to Caleb’s pack. We have to set it up as if you’ve died. It’s the only way for you two to be able to leave.”

  “I know,” Charlie said. His words sounded like they were coming from a corpse.

  Why is Charlie so negative? Harry’s got a good point.

  “I tell you what, Charlie,” I said, “let me talk to Rhona tomorrow night. If I can persuade her to help us out of her own free will, we’ll go ahead with it. If she shows any sign of objection, we won’t do it.”

  Harry and I had to persuade Charlie a bit more, but in the end he agreed with the plan, pending on Rhona’s reaction. It meant I would be another day away and possibly further from Caleb, but it was the only way.

  After the feeding that night, Harry invited Rhona to come hunting with us the next night. She was over the moon with the fact he was taking a step toward a relationship. She was obviously madly in love with Harry, and it provided me with the angle for my upcoming talk with her.

  We slept in a large bar at the edge of town this time. It was one of those truckers’ stops and even had a dance floor. After the gathering, Duncan called out the names of new suckers and of those who hadn’t survived the last few days’ hunts. The list was too long, but a small number compared to the humans who hadn’t survived the sucker attacks. Instead of everyone being down, the whole pack went into a state of ecstasy, apparently very happy to be alive. They threw a party to celebrate the new additions to the pack, the fact that everybody had fed enoug
h, and their survival. According to rumors, there was no enemy movement in the area, and the remaining citizens posed no threat. I heard Duncan had his bolos trained to scout the surrounding area and felt it safe enough to throw a party.

  The music was loud and the crowd was heaving with sweaty bodies. I wanted to dance as well. Knowing I could soon leave Duncan’s pack and finally make my way back to Caleb made me feel happier than I’d been in a long time. Unfortunately, Charlie told me to keep a low profile.

  “The fewer of them noticing us the better. That way there will be fewer of them to miss us and get suspicious,’ he said.

  I knew he was right, of course, but my soul ached to dance. So I watched the heaving mob from the sidelines and imagined myself dancing with Caleb.

  Involving Rhona

  We were told we’d begin the next night in the same town before moving on. Duncan didn’t want to leave anyone behind unturned and alive. Come hunting time, we set out with Rhona in our group. She was as giddy as a teenager in love, which she was of course if I guessed her age right. I could relate to her. I just hoped I could get her to relate to me as well.

  She was walking next to Harry, chatting away with him, when I linked my arm with hers and asked if I could have a private word with her.

  “Oh, okay,” she said, disappointment on her face as she looked at Harry.

  “It’s okay,” Harry said, “I won’t go away.”

  I held Rhona back but continued walking with her a few paces behind Harry and Charlie.

  “You love him?”

  “Hell yeah, I do.” Her whole face lit up as she said it. “He’s so cute!”

  “How long have you known him?” I was curious.

  “Only a few days,” she said, “but he’s such a cutie. The other girls think he’s cute too, but they aren’t interested in him as he’s got this blood disease and isn’t strong at all. I don’t care about that. I’m not as shallow as the other girls. They only think he’s a nice piece of ass. I saw how he took you and Charlie under his wing when you arrived, and how he cared and all for you two, and I knew he was a keeper.” She went on about why Harry was so adorable, and while she talked, I watched the bubblegum going through her mouth. I had to suppress the teacher in me who wanted to make her spit out the gum. She drifted off track, so I had to steer our conversation along. I had to stop her chatting.

  “So you love him very much?” I cut in while she was taking a breath before continuing her now gossiping on the other girls of the pack.

  “Yeah, yeah, I do. I just told you,” she said.

  “There’s someone I love very much too,” I said. I put in a smile for good measure.

  “Yeah, I know. Charlie seems to be a really nice guy,” she said without blinking an eye.

  “It’s not Charlie, Rhona.”

  She stopped and looked at me. I thought her lower jaw was going to hit her knees, and her gum would fall out.

  “It’s not Charlie?”

  “No, it’s not,” and I pulled her along to keep her walking. I continued talking before she could ask who it was.

  “Charlie is very dear to me, but I love someone else. Charlie is helping me to get to him.” Rhona listened full of curiosity. “In order to find the person I love, we need to leave Duncan’s pack, and we are wondering if you would be willing to help us with that.” This time it was me who stopped walking, and I looked her straight in the eye.

  “Oh, okay, um, I’m not sure what I can do,” she said. As she moved her weight from one leg to the other, I realized that she was uncomfortable with the situation.

  This isn’t going as well as I had hoped.

  Fortunately, Harry came to the rescue.

  “You don’t have to do much, Sweet Pea,” he said as he and Charlie had turned around and were walking back toward us. They obviously had been following our conversation. Harry put his arm around Rhona’s shoulders.

  “All you have to do is agree with what I tell Duncan when we get back to the pack.”

  Rhona didn’t need a long time to think.

  “Oh, is that it?” she asked. Harry nodded, and with a big smile on her face, Rhona said, “I can do that.”

  “Great,” Harry said and returned her smile.

  “Yeah, you’re a real life saver, Rhona.” I put my hand on her arm to emphasize my words.

  With that, the matter was settled. A heavy weight lifted itself from my shoulders. Charlie didn’t say anything, but I could read his face like an open book.

  Although… I can see you’re not happy, but are you moping about the setup or is it because of what I said to Rhona about you and me?

  The Escape

  We had decided the night before that if Rhona agreed to help us out, Charlie and I would steal a get-away-car and try to escape immediately. Suckers would go over the whole town to make sure they didn’t skip anyone, so going into hiding would still be dangerous, I argued. My main reasoning was that I didn’t want to waste precious time, but I didn’t tell them that.

  Soon after Rhona agreed to help us, Charlie and I said our goodbyes to her and Harry. I gave Harry a big hug, thanked him for all his help, and wished him good luck as I winked in Rhona’s direction. I hugged Rhona as well and told her to take good care of Harry. She giggled and wished me luck finding my man. Charlie and Harry shook hands but didn’t say anything. Charlie only nodded to Rhona. She gave him a hug anyway. As we walked away, I wondered if we would ever see them again. It was beginning to be a normal question nowadays.

  Charlie and I went to the part of town closest to the highway exit leading to Bullsbrook. We picked out a huge all-wheel drive SUV standing in a driveway. It looked like it was fast and sturdy enough to withstand some damage should we encounter any resistance. We were lucky to find it as there weren’t many vehicles left in the streets.

  The moon cast shadows, and we used them to hide our movement. When we thought there was nobody around, we casually walked to the side of the car, and I lifted the handle. It was locked. I looked at Charlie, but he shrugged his shoulders.

  “I would lock it too,” he whispered.

  I scanned the ground around us, but couldn’t find a rock or anything to throw through the window.

  Why is there never one when I need one?

  I tried breaking a side-window with my elbow as you saw them do in the movies, and as I had done with the thrift shop door-window, but all it resulted in was me silently doing a bent-over rain dance while holding my elbow. Charlie clapped his hand over his mouth and tried very hard not to laugh out loud.

  Thanks for the compassion, Smudge.

  I stopped dancing and gave him my evil stare.

  “Sorry, it just looked too funny,” he whispered. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’ll live.”

  “Come on then,” and he pulled me by my jacket to the back of the house to which the driveway belonged. When we got to the back door, Charlie broke one of the windows without a problem, and we went into the house. It was a mess, with upturned furniture throughout. There would be no humans here anymore.

  “Let’s look for the car keys,” Charlie said.

  “Great idea.”

  We looked in the usual places; kitchen drawers, pockets of jackets, and key rack. After a few minutes, we found them in a dish on the hallway cupboard. The logo on the keyring matched the one on the car. We sneaked around the back again. As we walked, crouching along the side of the house to the front, I tapped Charlie, who was walking in front of me, on the shoulder.

  “What?” he asked but didn’t stop moving.

  “We’re stupid.”

  He stopped now.

  “Why? I thought we were very clever finding the car keys,” he said as he turned his head to me.

  “Yes that was clever, but we probably could have left through the front door.”

  Charlie chuckled, and I had to suppress a giggle myself.

  “Never mind, we’re almost here now,” he said and walked on.

  We crept into t
he shade of the left side of the car and Charlie pressed the button on the key fob. ‘Bleep,’ the car said, and the four blinkers flashed simultaneously. We waited, but nobody turned up to have a look. Charlie opened the door and motioned for me to get in first. Once inside, I moved over to make space for him and he closed the door as quietly as he could behind him. We sat in the car with our heads low, waiting for somebody to jump out at us from the shadows. Nothing happened.

  “Drive,” I said to Charlie, anxiously keeping a lookout for anything suspicious.

  “I can’t drive this car,” he said with a tone suggesting I was an idiot. I looked at his face and then at the movement of his legs.

  How can I be so stupid?

  “We’ve got to change seats,” Charlie whispered.

  “Okay, you shove this way and I’ll climb over you,” I said.

  We both began moving, and as I lifted my body, Charlie grabbed me by my hips and helped me lift myself over his without touching him. I thought it was thoughtful of him to do so as there wasn’t a lot of space for the maneuver, and it could have put us in an awkward situation. When we had swapped seats, he giggled.

  “What?” I said as I adjusted the seat and the rearview mirror.

  “Don’t worry, just drive,” he said waving his hand, still grinning.

  “No, tell me,” I insisted.

  “You really don’t want to know,” he replied again. Apparently, it was extremely funny as he couldn’t get the smile off his face.

  “Yes I do, and I won’t drive until you tell me,” I whispered, taking my hands off the steering wheel and demonstratively laying them on my thighs.

  “You asked for it,” and he suppressed giggle. “I just couldn’t help noticing that this was the second time this week you were on top of me.” He was looking straight ahead, trying to suppress his laughter.

  The cheeky bugger.

  I couldn’t believe my ears. Here we were, fearing for our lives, trying to get me to the love of my life, and Charlie was thinking dirty thoughts about me. Again.