by Joe Fowler
“I’ve never killed anything. I don’t hunt. I’ve only been in a couple of fights and that was in high school. I’m not the nicest person but I never intentionally hurt anyone. Now I guess I will have to.” My head hung from this realization. I wasn’t a people person but I wanted only the best for other people.
“Not as much as you are thinking. You can feed from someone and they will never know. We can control their minds to a point. It’s called compulsion. When you look into a human’s eyes, you will be aware of a switch you can flip in your mind that will allow you to make them do things or make them forget that they were bitten. Your saliva will heal the bite marks on their skin. They will have no idea it happened at all.”
“Really? That makes it much better.” I felt relieved.
“The problem is that you will be overcome by the bloodlust for some time. Once you start feeding you won’t be able to stop easily. That takes years to get under control. Sorry.” She could see that I didn’t like the idea of killing someone. “We need to go find you someone to eat. Does this thing still run?”
“Yes. Let me go lock up the trailer and we can go.” I walked slowly toward the front door, not in any hurry to go and kill someone. When I was done I headed back to the truck where she was waiting.
“How far is it to a decent sized city? We need a place with a crowd. Not Mobile though, I am not going anywhere near that wolf again.”
“Biloxi has casinos. Will that do? We can be there in thirty minutes or so.” I got into the truck and unlocked her door. She got in and obviously didn’t like what she saw.
“This truck looks as old as I am. We will need to trade up eventually.” She sat back in the seat shaking her head. “Biloxi will be ok, but I’m not sure if we should go to the casinos right away. There are too many cameras there. I will look for a better place on the way. Sometimes gas stations can be good. Are we low on gas?”
“Half a tank. What day is it? I just realized I don’t know how long I was out.” I asked because that would decide how many people were out and about.
“Sunday. I expected you to wake sometime last night but you slept right through. Head to Biloxi and if I see a good place I will tell you to stop.”
I cranked the truck and she almost laughed as we pulled away from the trailer. Idling and slow speeds made the truck seem like it was a goner. Once you were up to speed on the road, it was better. We rode in silence for the first part of the trip. I was getting more and more nervous with each mile that passed. The horror of what I was about to do was almost more than I could handle. I could feel my body starting to shake from the anxiety. I was to the point of stopping when we saw the car on the side of the road with its hood up and emergency lights flashing.
“There! This might be perfect. Stop and we will see. Don’t do anything until I say you can.” She looked at me to make sure I understood. I nodded as I pulled off the road behind the car. She reached for the door handle and gave me one last look. “Let me do the talking.”
“Do you folks need any help?” We had approached the car and she spoke to the man who was standing by the hood. His heartbeat was a siren’s call to me. My mouth began to water and feeding was all I could think about. He looked to be in his late fifties. I looked inside the car and saw what I assumed to be his wife.
“We sure do. I used to fix my own cars but with the danged computers in ‘em nowadays I get more afraid I will tear something up worse. We don’t have a cell phone so I was afraid we’d be here all night. We haven’t seen another car for the last twenty minutes. It sure is nice of you to stop and help us like this.” He said this with relief in his voice.
“It’s no problem. Austin is really good with cars. Why don’t you show him the problem?” When the three of us got to the front of the car, Rosalyn got the man’s attention and held eye contact as she said, “Don’t cry out or try to run. Austin, stay beside him but don’t bite yet. I need to get the woman under control first.”
“Ok.” That was all I could manage to say. It was a struggle not to bite him right away. Each heartbeat of his sent a wave of hunger through me. She went to the passenger side and got the woman to get out of the car. I watched as she maintained the eye contact with the woman and walked her back to my truck. She was reassuring the woman the whole time. Once the old woman had gotten into the passenger side of my truck, Rosalyn quickly darted back to where I was with the old man.
“Now, Austin, if you can bite and just drink some from him, then they will live and we will help them on their way. If you take too much, then we will have to drain the woman as well. I am giving you the chance to avoid killing since you seem opposed. Just don’t be overly disappointed in yourself if you kill him. Every vampire has to learn to control themselves over a period of time. It doesn’t happen overnight. Now take his wrist and bite like you did with me.”
I took a deep breath praying for control before I bit him. The instant his blood filled my mouth I knew I was in trouble. As magnificent as Rosalyn’s blood had been, this man’s blood was so much more vital. This blood was full of life. Nothing I had ever seen, read about, or dreamed of could have prepared me for this. When I had dreamed of her life as I was turning, I had sensed her pleasure and enjoyment from feeding, but it was nothing like this. I didn’t stop until he fell to the ground, dead. I had failed him.
“Grab him and lay him in the bed of your truck. We will go back to your trailer and take care of this.” She didn’t sound disappointed. She seemed more like this is what she had expected to happen.
I lifted him and carried him to my truck as she instructed. After placing him in the bed of the truck, I got behind the wheel with Rosalyn in the middle and the old lady in the passenger seat. I drove us back to my trailer. Once we were parked I got out expecting Rosalyn to do the same but she began feeding on the woman. I stood there looking at the dead man in the back of my truck, knowing the man’s wife was dying as I stood there.
At one point or another in a person’s life, a mistake is made. Normally you would feel bad for this mistake and try to make up for it. My mistake just killed a man and caused his wife to die as well. There is no making up for this. I wanted to die. I would not be able to live knowing what I had done. I would ask Rosalyn to kill me.
“I tried to prepare you. The blood is too overpowering at first.” She said this too soothe my mind, I think.
“Will you kill me and bury me with them?” I asked and had my answer by the look on her face.
“You will not die tonight. Look, I am very relieved that you care for people. It means you won’t be one of those that kill every human they can get their hands on. Almost all vampires lose their humanity when they are turned. They are little more than killing machines. Use tonight as a learning experience, nothing more. These two were older. They had lived their lives. Now go get a shovel.” She gave me a gentle shove to get me moving.
I did as she said. When I returned with the shovel, we carried the bodies far into the woods behind my trailer and buried them deeply. We each took a shower and sat in the living room drinking beer afterwards. We had barely spoken. She was letting me try to come to terms with what I had become.
“I never thought I would be a killer.” I finally said.
“Don’t think of it like that. You are a predator now. This is no different from a lion taking down a zebra or a bear catching a fish. Every animal has the right to hunt as needed to survive. Why should we be any different?” She made good points but I wasn’t forgiving myself as easily as she wanted.
“Vampires aren’t part of the natural order, though. By all rights our lives should be over when our hearts stop beating. That we exists afterward isn’t normal.” This felt true as I said it.
“How do you think the first vampire was created?” She smiled when she asked, knowing I had no clue.
“I don’t know.”
“Neither do I. None of us know, just like no one knows how werewolves were created. We are seen as evil and unnatural to humans, b
ut that doesn’t mean that it’s true. For all we know, we are just another of God’s creations. Maybe He wanted us to be this way.” She sat forward in her chair grabbing my full attention. “I would like it if we didn’t kill any more humans, but it will probably happen. I have preferred to feed a little and leave them alive since I was first turned. I wasn’t always able to control my hunger though.”
“I need to make sure I don’t kill again. I understand what you are saying, but I will never be ok with ending someone’s life.” I finished my beer and looked at the clock. Four thirty. “What time does the sun come up?”
“Around six thirty I think. When it gets close to sunrise, you feel it. You have to always have a plan for where you will sleep. If you get caught without a safe place, then find a house and compel your way into an interior closet or something. We are very weak when the sun is up, even if we are away from its light. As you saw, I made your bedroom sun proof.”
“I need some time to think. I am going to lay down, if you don’t mind.” I looked at her not thinking I needed permission but not wanting to be rude either.
“I understand. I will be there before the sun rises.” She smiled as I stood and headed to my bedroom.
I had done so well until then. I ran fast and was strong. I had handled the conversion to vampire without freaking out too badly. Why couldn’t I have stopped feeding? Two people were dead because of me. I buried my face in a pillow and tried to rationalize like Rosalyn had said. I was a hunter now and humans are my prey. I repeated it over and over in my mind but it never sounded right. I would have to find the strength to stop next time.
Rosalyn was right, I felt the sun rising. It created a fear in me. I knew that if I were not indoors and safe, that I would be panicking right now. She came in and cuddled up next to me soon after. It wasn’t long before the weakness from the sun won out and put me to sleep.
Chapter 2
I rose from a nightmare filled with the old couple’s faces. Everywhere I looked, they were there asking me ‘why?’. When my eyes finally opened, I once again looked into the face of pure beauty. She had her chin resting on the back of her hand that was resting on my chest. Her face was just a few inches from mine. It was a good thing I no longer needed to breathe.
“Good evening.” Rosalyn smiled, which unbelievably, made her even more beautiful.
“Good evening.” I tried to smile back, but it was marred by the guilt of killing the old couple last night.
I didn’t have long to be conflicted as she first sent her hand down to grab me, and slid her mouth down soon after. She was amazing. She knew all the sensitive spots and exactly how to make the most of them. I tried to pull away before I exploded, but she held firm swallowing. When she lay back beside me, I eagerly took my turn exploring her body. I kissed and licked every inch of her body that my lips could touch and as deep as my tongue could reach. She came twice from my mouth and fingers. When I finally entered her, she flipped me over onto my back before I could stop her. She rode me hard until we were both spent. She collapsed on top of me and stayed there.
“Wow. Is there anything about you that isn’t perfect?” I marveled at her even as she lay motionless on top of me. The softness of her breast and the smell of honeysuckle was keeping me in a happy place. “Is the honeysuckle smell you have permanent?”
“We each have our own individual smell that stays with us. You smell like vanilla.” She lifted her face and rested her chin on my chest. “I’m glad you think I am perfect, but you will find that I am as flawed as anyone.”
“Are we staying home tonight or do you want to go somewhere?” I asked her, hoping we would be staying at home so I couldn’t hurt anyone.
“We need some money for traveling. I was thinking we would go to one of the casinos and fill our pockets. It is easy to compel someone to give away some of their winnings. I try to be nice and only take from people that are winning.”
“That sounds ok.” I thought it might be fun.
“We need to stop by Walmart on the way. I need some new clothes. Do you have some money for that?”
“Yes. I have a few hundred in the bank.” I told her. We got up and took turns in the shower before hitting the road.
It was raining on the drive to Biloxi. Rosalyn got a laugh from the windshield wipers on my old truck. The driver side wiper worked fine. The passenger wiper would alternate randomly between not working at all, working normally, and super speed. My anxiety had taken the humor out of me.
I heard the heartbeats and could all but taste the blood of the people around us in Walmart. It wasn’t as hard to resist as I had thought it would be, though. I felt sure they could see how different Rosalyn and I were, but everyone acted like they always had around me. Of course, everyone was staring and drooling at Rosalyn, men and women alike. We bought her a few outfits and headed out the door.
“I thought it would be harder to be around people without trying to bite them.” I said as we walked back to the car.
“Controlling yourself when you aren’t hunting is easy. If you had been a week without blood, you would have attacked the first human you came into contact with. That is why you always have to keep yourself fed. A little here or there to keep you from getting overly hungry is the best way. Since you drained the old guy, you will be good for 3-5 days without any more blood. Just remember that if you start to get hungry you need to feed sooner rather than later.” Rosalyn was unfailingly patient with answering my questions.
“You said 3-5 days. Why would it vary so much?” I was curious.
“The main thing it depends on is how active you are. The more you use your speed and power, the more you need to feed. There can be some problems with some of the people you drink from that affects how long the blood will keep you sated as well. If they are anemic then their blood won’t last. Over time you learn how to smell these things as you pick your victim.”
I unlocked her side of the truck first so she could get in. As I walked around to my side of the truck, I caught the scent of something that caused me alarm. It was a woodsy, musky type smell. I had no clue about what could make me feel so threatened. I saw two men and a woman staring at me with hatred. They were across the lane a few cars down. I stood there rooted to the ground staring back at them. Rosalyn got out of the truck to see what the holdup was and caught the scent immediately.
“Werewolves.” She came to my side and grabbed my arm to make me look at her. “They can’t attack in public. Since they can’t turn they are no danger to us. Let’s go.”
“Well, at least I know what they smell like now.” I said as we drove off.
“I usually try to ignore werewolves when I see them in public. If they make me fight, then I kill them. The thing is, most werewolves are good people. They see themselves as doing the world a favor when they kill our kind.” Rosalyn took a deep breath. “We do have the right to live, though, even as evil as we seem to be.”
She shook her head to clear her mind. She started undressing and pulling a new outfit out of the bags. She was a major distraction for me. It is hard to drive when the most beautiful woman in the world is changing clothes in the passenger seat. I managed to get us to the Beau Rivage without wrecking.
We parked in the parking garage and made the walk passed the shops to the casino itself. People were looking at Rosalyn but it was because of how beautiful she was. I felt so different from normal humans now that I expected them to start yelling vampire and running away from me. We walked past some slot machines, just looking around at first. I saw the waitress approaching and put money into a machine so I could order a drink.
“Drinks?” The waitress asked when she got to us.
“Two Sam Adams, please.” I ordered and played the slot sparingly while we waited. Rosalyn sat in the seat next to me since nobody was playing that machine. I spun the wheels again and was about to ask Rosalyn more details of how we were going to do this. I was interrupted by my machine making all kinds of racket.
“Wow, you just won ten thousand dollars. No way!” Rosalyn was smiling her beautiful smile and staring at my slot machine.
“I never win! This is amazing!” I was in more shock from winning than I had been from being turned into a vampire. I was about to say as much when Rosalyn grabbed my face and kissed me. She looked so happy.
“Now we don’t have to compel anyone. This is great!” She whispered the first part and nearly shouted the second.
The attendants came by and got my driver’s license and social security card. They would have to go get the money and write up the tax forms. While we waited on them the waitress brought us our beer. Since we were winning, I put some money into the machine Rosalyn was sitting at so she could play. Her machine was keeping her playing but not hitting anything big. It was fun for me to watch her playing. Her eyes would light up when the slot would tease her. Everyone who has played much slots knows what I mean. Wild, wild, blank. Seven, wild, blank. She was adorable.
With a pocketful of money, we walked around looking to play some other machines. We found two machines we liked where there wasn’t as many other people. We kept ordering drinks and laughing. This was so much fun that I should have known something would come along and ruin it. I smelled him before I turned. It was a Viggo Mortensen look-a-like. Rosalyn turned around the same time I did.
“I had hoped you would have left the area. You were lucky to get away from me Friday night. You must be at least two thousand years old to have fought as well as you did.” He sat at a machine across from us.
“Twenty-four hundred. You are the biggest damn wolf I ever saw. Definitely pureblood, maybe five hundred years old yourself.” Rosalyn answered calmly. People walked by without realizing the supernatural conference we were having.
“Four hundred thirty-five. Third generation pureblood. Are you planning on staying or are you moving on?” He spoke as calmly as she had, but the threat was plain.
“That explains it some. We’re moving on. I like to have a companion or two with me. I seemed to lose the ones I had.” She dared a nasty look at him as she said that. “I needed to make a new friend. We will be leaving town, soon.”