The Blind Vampire Hunter

by Tim Forder

  “That’s understandable. You sound in good spirits, under the circumstances. Just the same, if you feel like some time at mental health would help you right now or even later just let me know and I will set you up with a referral. If you should suddenly find yourself feeling suicidal over your loss of sight you can call Mental Health at anytime day or night and instantly get an appointment with no referral needed.”

  “Thanks doc, but I really am doing alright.” I was tempted to add except for the Vampire living under my roof. I didn’t. I grinned at the thought of her possible reaction if I had done so. Do they keep those special white coats with the extra-long sleeves handy around here?

  “Something funny, Mr. Poisner?”

  “Sorry, private joke.”

  “Mr. Poisner, you will be relieved to know the mole that was removed was benign. Please take off your shirt. I will have a look at your back. See how everything is looking.”

  So I removed my t-shirt and listened to her coming around behind me. She felt the area where the mole had been removed and proclaimed, “Looks good. Hardly can tell where the mole was removed. Just remember to have your wife occasionally check for any signs of the mole returning. From what I have seen, I doubt that will be a problem.”

  She walked back to her chair, most likely to make some notes, “As to your loss of eyesight. Remember you can call mental health day or night and get help immediately.”

  “Really, it’s no sweat doc. I’m not getting around outside the house on my own as I used to, but I believe in time even that will change as I regain my confidence in being totally blind as I did when I was legally blind. Would you mind helping me find my way out to the waiting area to my wife?”

  Going home, my wife was quite relieved at the confident report from my doctor, as some folks at church and at work had been feeding her horror stories of reoccurring melanoma.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The Celeste Problem

  Celeste’s attitude, when I was last with her, troubled me. Who’s to say an unhappy Celeste would not get mouthy about knowing a vampire? How do I know she wouldn’t give me up in the dejected state I left her in?

  I have too good a thing going here to lose it over a little malcontent from a waitress. Celeste is going to have to be taken care of. Tonight. The theatre has only a single movie scheduled, so I will have plenty of time after closing to see to Celeste’s needs. Celeste, tonight is your night.

  Sitting at my usual table at IHOP, Celeste approached looking as if I was the last person on Earth she wanted to see. I just kept a smile on my face as she continued to approach with an air of defiance. Yes, Celeste, tonight is going to be your night.

  Celeste was the first to speak. “You have your nerve showing up here. Don’t expect to get the usual. That feed fountain is closed.”

  Interrupting her tirade, I said, “Celeste, hon, I decided tonight is your night. Go tell your boss you are going out for a smoke break. Tell him to take this job and shove it, if you prefer. While you are doing this, I will be leaving and going down the street to the deserted, unused warehouse down the block. You know the one I mean?

  With a notable change in attitude of excitement, she replied, “Yes, yes I know the place.”

  Interrupting her youthful display of enthusiasm, I continued, “There your life is about to change forever. There you will get ‘turned’.”

  Looking like a little kid on Christmas morning, Celeste announced, “Really? Oh thank you, thank you....”

  Again, I interrupted her display of merriment, but I was happy to note the lack of interest by the few diners within sight or hearing, “Celeste, dear, calm down. You don’t want to raise anybody’s suspicions. Get yourself under control and do as I say, and before dawn you will be totally changed.”

  Celeste made a notable effort to replace her childlike display of merriment to her usual, careless “every night is just the same boring night as the night before” attitude.

  When Celeste left to follow my instructions, I got up and left.

  I hadn’t been standing within the shadow of the warehouse for long, when a youthful Celeste could be seen running toward my position. She reeked of innocent enthusiasm. She was hardly being covert with her out-of-control emotions. I listened closely around the area. I could hear no heart beats nearby that were human. Luckily no one was around to observe Celeste’s self-indulgent display.

  On her approach, she looked at me, then at the chained and pad-locked warehouse door and announced, “We’re not getting in that way.”

  “No, we are not. While I could easily break either the chain or the lock, someone might walk by and observe such evidence of intrusion into the warehouse. We don’t want to be interrupted on this very special night.” Forcing a smile to fit Celeste’s festive mood, I continued, “We will go around the corner and find a way in from the side of the building. A way in where any damage we create will not be seen by anyone but some alley rats.”

  “Rats. I hate rats,” she nervously announced, looking around for the little rodents.

  With authority I pronounced, “Fear not. You’re with me. No rats will be bothering us this night.”

  Without being told, Celeste followed her into the alley beside the warehouse. There Isabella, only with the aid of her predatory night sight, found two windows. She chose the window deepest into the alleyway. For one thing, she did not even have to break the window to unlock it. For effect, she forced the window open without bothering to unlock it, to display the amazing strength Celeste will be inheriting after her “turning.” This feat of strength was not lost on Celeste, who did not even try to hide her excitement about the possibilities that could soon be hers.

  Isabella stepped through the open window first, so she could assist Celeste, the woman of the hour, safely inside. This also put Isabella in position to help Celeste into the darkened structure, which she did find to be a problem.

  Celeste’s smock got caught on the broken window lock. It was easy for the vampire to free her special human being’s outfit and continue to assist the woman of the hour into the abandoned warehouse. With her safely inside, the vampire led her further into the decomposing room, which had given way to time and neglect.

  Once inside, the vampire couldn’t help smell her special friend’s growing excitement, and also nervousness. “I can’t see in here. I can see a little light in the alleyway, but here inside this building I can’t see my hand in front of my face.” Celeste was comically waving her hand before her face for emphasis, but for the vampire with her predatory night sight, seeing was not a problem.

  “Here, put out your hand, and I will be your guide.” She did as she was told, so the vampire took her hand and pulled her near. As she looked around the place, it looked like a prime candidate for the wrecking ball; rubble was all around. There was a stairway in the middle of the large room, a stairway that went nowhere. After a few steps upward, it just did not exist anymore. From the lack of human rubble, the vampire guessed that even the homeless had abandoned this building a long time ago.

  At first the vampire did not see the perfect spot for tonight’s festivities, so the two ladies were going to have to do some exploring. Before moving, Isabella instructed, “Celeste, the flooring is full of rubble, so follow my lead, but pick your feet up, as we will have to travel over some boards and fallen pieces of ceiling tiles. It’s going to be rough going, but remember I have your hand and will not let you fall.”

  “Alright,” she almost squeaked out, nervously.

  The two walked in the general direction of the stairway with the idea of checking out a darker area just a little behind the stairway to nowhere. They had only gone a couple of feet when Celeste tripped over some bit of ceiling rubble on the floor, but the vampire prevented her from falling without a problem. “Celeste, dear, please pick up your feet and watch your step.”

  “Yes Isabella.” With each step, Celeste seemed to be getting more nervous. Is she having second thoughts? Too late for that now.


  Eventually the two ladies, one young and the over very old but not showing it made it to the their destination, the darkened area in the middle of the building of rubble Celeste only tripping two more times while on their short journey. As Isabella suspected, the darkened area of interest was a large hole in the floor. Perhaps this hole had been an elevator or some large piece of equipment that was large enough to take up two or three floors, as even Isabella with her vampire night sight could not see the bottom of the large hole. While Isabella continued holding Celeste’s hand, she kicked a piece of wood into the hole and listened for it to hit bottom. It did, eventually. From the sound, it was at least two floors down, possibly three. With her vampire hearing she noted that the fallen wood had scared up a large number of squealing mice, rats and other little urban insectoid predators. This is the place.

  “So, Celeste, are you ready for the big change?”

  “Oh, yes...” She sounded like a little girl who had been asked by her parents if she was ready to go downstairs and see what Santa had brought her.

  Isabella gently pulled Celeste to herself. She lovingly embracing the girl in her arms, pinning her arms to her sides. She couldn’t help getting hungry at the thought of what was coming next. Celeste did not fight, but her adrenaline was starting to pulsate through her system in anticipation of what was about to come. After all, she was about to finally get what she had been requesting for some time. She was about to get hers.

  As she slowly sunk her fangs into Celeste’s soft creamy neck, the adrenaline-spiced blood was almost orgasmic. In Celeste’s eagerness to finally get what she had always wanted, she provided her vampire with the best meal she had ever provided. And Isabella drank on, and on...

  As she continued to engorge herself on Celeste, she could sense Celeste’s realization that her vampire was overfeeding, that Isabella was killing her. As Celeste tried to struggle free, fear of impending death let loose a fresh gush of adrenaline into Celeste’s blood stream. This was icing on the cake for the vampire who just kept on feeding...

  Celeste soon realized that her death was near. Her self-preservation system kicked in, despite knowing that this was part of “the turning,” despite the knowledge that this was just what she wanted, she tried mightily to get free. Even with her adrenaline rushing extra strongly throughout her system, she was no match for the vampire’s supernatural strength. Trying to wrestle free of Isabella was like trying to wrestle free of a grizzly bear, and just as futile. Eventually, from lack of blood getting to the brain, Celeste died.

  The meal was over. Isabella just tossed the ragdoll remains of Celeste into the hole. Again, this set off a startled squeal of mice and rats. Being in no hurry to leave, she presently stood listening for a while and was rewarded with the tiny munching sounds of lots of very hungry little teeth, all gnawing away at the dead remains of dear Celeste.

  “I am going to miss you, girl, especially after that last meal you just gave me.”

  When she left, Isabella made a point of pulling the window back down, just in case the local constables started searching the alleyway for a missing Celeste. Would there even be a search if she had told her boss what to do with the job. Tomorrow or the next night she would have to go back to IHOP just to make an appearance so that her lack of use of the restaurant couldn’t be tied to Celeste’s disappearance in any way.

  Most likely, if a search was performed for a missing Celeste, it would not be for days. Eventually, if the local constables think to investigate the warehouse, the mice and rats of DC will have consumed the evidence of Celeste’s death. I should have busted out her teeth, just in case Celeste’s skeleton was found ... oh, well.

  Isabella, you are giving the dumb arm of the law too much credit.

  Two nights later with only a single showing that night and plenty of time to kill before metro opened for morning service, I tossed some paperwork into an attache case and made an appearance at IHOP. I sat down and seemed to enjoy some coffee while playing catch-up with the paperwork.

  I made a point of sitting at my usual table and started digging out the paperwork while waiting to be served. While I was still getting the night’s work organized, a pretty youthful redhead interrupted me, “So what will it be tonight?” I noted her name plate read “Mary.”

  Looking up, I faked surprise at not seeing Celeste and asked, “Celeste has the night off?”

  “You could say that. She quit two nights ago. Told the manager she was tired of working this ‘cheap dive’ and walked out...”

  Good going, Celeste.

  “No one was really surprised. She’d been acting a bit unhappy here lately, almost like she was working something on the side. Some think she might have found a ‘sugar daddy.’ Although, if she found a ‘sugar daddy,’ it wasn’t someone she met here. We just don’t get customers like that around here. You know, very rich and all.”

  “‘Sugar daddy’, what is ‘sugar daddy’?” I did not have to act interested, as I really had not heard this term before.

  “A ‘sugar daddy’ is usually a rich guy who is rich enough to set up a woman on the side. He may set her up with her own apartment or house. He may give her loads of expensive gifts and/or money to keep her satisfied. I guess the reverse could be true. That would be a ‘sugar momma’ would it not?” The joke was dying faster than her last dinner.

  “Excuse me, Mary, just coffee, black.”

  “Yes, of course,” and she left.

  Celeste quit. How sweet that is. It might be days before anyone notices her disappearance. Having no family, is it possible that Celeste may never become a police matter? Meanwhile, just two blocks away the mice and the rats of D.C. eat away at the evidence. How nice is that?

  I wonder if I should play Mary and see if she might be a candidate to replace Celeste for quick, small meals. I should give Celeste’s disappearance some time before even trying something like that.

  Well, Celeste, if no one else misses you, I will miss you ... as a quick snack that is. I should get some paperwork done, so later I will have some time to find someone to dine on tonight.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Bad Night at the Theatre

  Busy yet again with the endless theatre paperwork, just wishing for some distraction...

  Ted, one of the ushers stormed in. When Isabella saw his expression, she thought, Girl, be careful what you wish for. Ted announced with youthful excitement, “Sorry, boss. We got trouble in the theatre.”

  “What trouble?” she deliberately asked in a composed tone in hopes of calming down all that youthful exuberance.

  “FIGHT.”

  “Calm down. Are you telling me that you and Jeff can’t handle it...”

  “Boss, it’s a mob scene, and a little girl has been knocked out cold.”

  I rose from my seat, and asked, “Has any one called 911 for constables and ambulance?”

  “Constables?” the usher asked.

  “Police. Have the police and ambulance been called for?”

  “Yes, Ben is using the phone in the ticket room as we speak.”

  As he answered, I was already rushing out from behind my desk preparing to get into the action. What is a little girl doing in that theatre watching what is basically an “X-rated” movie?

  Ted led the way out into the theatre lobby, but I passed him and left him and the snack counter behind me. The theatre door was open, so I could see that there was a true mob scene in the theatre. The projectionist had already stopped the movie and turned on the ceiling lights. Good going, Mark.

  When I rushed in, it appeared that five men were facing off against the rest of the audience; the fists were already flying. The two ushers, totally outnumbered, were staying out of it. Both looked guilty upon Isabella’s entrance. I’ll have to commend those two on their wisdom in not getting involved in this one.

  On the other side of this mayhem of anger-crazed men, was a crying woman, hugging and rocking a child who looked dead. With effort, Isabella was able to sor
t out the noise and hear the little heart beat of the child. Apparently the little rag doll was just knocked out cold. She wished she could inform the grieving mother of the facts. The grieving mother looked like she really believed her daughter to be dead. Right now though, she had a bigger problem to solve.

  Facing the crowd, Isabella threw out her best enthrall voice and announced, “Cease and desist!” On the ceasing of hostile blows, Isabella ordered, “Separate!” The five moved to the left, and the rest of the mob moved to the right. The whole mob looked confused, possibly wondering why they were obeying this strange woman with such controlling authority. Isabella was about to ask about the child when the local police stormed in. One of the men in blue demanded, “What’s going on here?”

  His question set off a mayhem of angry cries trying to talk over each other, and no one was successful.

  “Quiet!” Isabella ordered and the room died in silence. As Isabella started to talk to Jeff, the main usher, sirens could be heard getting close. The ambulance, I hope. “Jeff what happened here?”

  “These gentlemen and that woman sitting over there...” He pointed to the five fighters that had formed a group and a woman sitting nearby. Apparently they succeeded in sneaking in a large purse full of pony bottles. As they got drunk on the pony bottles, they began tossing the bottles at the movie screen. “These gentlemen and that mother and child” pointing to the larger group and the bereaved mother, “had that little girl with them. Before we could stop the bottle throwing, one of the bottles bounced off the screen and hit that little girl. Then all hell broke out.”

  The leader of the mob facing off against the five announced, “They hurt my little girl. Look, she’s out cold. I want those men arrested, RIGHT NOW.”

  That triggered another shouting match which Isabella ended with a sharp, commanding, “Quiet!”

  One of the policemen looked at Isabella as if he wished he had her talent to handle mobs. Just then the EMS rushed in with stretcher between them. They saw the woman holding the limp child and rushed over to work on her.