The stranger’s hands grabbed me and dragged me inside a dimly lit room.
“B-b-ba… my bag…,” I babbled as if drunk, with no idea why I was so concerned about the fate of my luggage.
The stranger threw my bag inside before lowering the gate. I was lying prone on the floor and wasn’t even making attempts to get on my feet. I was dying.
“Whoa, looks like you are almost done,” the stranger whistled.
She took me by my arms and, with unexpected ease, lifted up and put me on my feet. My legs refused to hold my body. Then, the stranger carried me like a kitten and gently seated me on something soft and shapeless like a bean bag. My almost breathless body started to slowly slip down to the floor. Meanwhile, the stranger retreated somewhere into the semi-darkness. A moment later she returned with a plastic bottle, which she tried to shove into my hand. She failed to do so because my fingers, as well as my hands, refused to show any physical activity.
Then, the stranger squeezed my cheeks with one hand so that my lips half-opened, forced the bottle into my mouth, and started pouring some liquid into me. Once the contents of the bottle touched my lips, I felt a pleasant tingling, and a slight burning sensation spread across my whole body. Undoubtedly, it was blood. I felt a considerable surge of energy. I managed to take the bottle into my hand and continued slaking my thirst without the kind stranger’s help. How devilishly pleasant it was!
The whole week, I had been living on pitiful drops of blood, sucked out of a piece of meat, and now the blood was flowing into my mouth like water. I drained the whole bottle in several seconds and, for the first time in my life as a vampire, managed to register a total absence of hunger that had become my permanent companion. At once, I felt a colossal inflow of vital energy. All my muscles filled to the brim with strength, my mind became clear, and my sight was sharp. Now, I could take a good look at my mystery savior. She was a little older than me, about my height, skinny, with dark brown eyes and pale skin. She smiled affably at me, baring a couple of thick upper fangs, and offered me her hand.
“I’m Jack, and you are, probably, Sam.”
“Yeah. Nice to meet you. I guess you’ve just saved my life.”
“How long have you been without blood?”
“I think it’s been about ten hours.”
“And how much blood do you drink every day?”
“I eat, rather than drink.”
Jack looked at me questioningly.
“It’s just that there aren’t many blood suppliers in our town, so I had to buy a raw steak every day and suck it dry.”
“Well, no wonder you were feeling bad. When did you say, the first signs appeared – a couple of weeks ago?”
I nodded.
“That’s right. At first, those measly blood drops from a steak were enough for you, but, over time, your appetite started to grow. I experienced the same thing. Now I drink about half a gallon every day. Otherwise, your hunger becomes more and more unbearable, and, then, your head starts spinning, muscles weaken, and other things like that happen. You could even black out. It was pure luck I noticed you on the camera. You hadn’t answered me on Skype. I didn’t know whether to expect you or not.”
“My laptop died, and I forgot the charger at home.”
“Yeah, that happens.”
An awkward pause hung in the air. It wasn’t that easy to make small talk in such unusual circumstances. Finally, Jack broke the silence. “Let me show you my crib.”
My new friend hit the switch. Jack’s crib turned out to be one big space. Since there had been a storehouse, nothing changed much – high ceilings, industrial luminaires, brick walls, and metal structures that stuck out in some places. A huge leather sofa in front of the TV, a fridge, a punching bag hanging by a thick chain, a PlayStation, a table with a laptop on it, and a basketball hoop – that was all that Jack brought here.
“Isn’t the hoop too high?” I asked pointing to the backboard hanging just several inches below the ceiling.
“It’s high for humans but just right for us.”
She smiled slyly and grabbed a basketball that was lying nearby. At least thirty feet separated us from the hoop, but Jack aimed and sent the ball through the net. Right after the throw, she darted forward, caught the ball that had rebounded off the floor, and jumped about ten feet high. On the fly, she pushed herself off the wall with her foot, hit the hoop again, and hung on the rim triumphantly in the best tradition of slam dunks.
I applauded. Jack gracefully jumped down and swept me a curtsey after landing.
“Something like that. I don’t know about you, but I like to be a vampire,” she said.
“I think I’m going to like it too now,” I replied.
With full access to blood and the absence of the risk of being caught off base, vampirism didn’t seem so bad to me anymore. Jack crossed the room, went to the fridge, and opened it. The shelves were full, crammed only with bottles – plastic ones with blood and glass ones with beer.
“Want some beer?” My new friend took two bottles and, without waiting for my reply, threw one of them to me across the entire room.
I caught it and this time, I wasn’t surprised at my dexterity.
“I doubt any human could do that!” Jack opened her bottle and took a couple of sips. “By the way, do you know that alcohol has no effect on us?”
I also took several sips and shook my head in surprise.
“Yep, no effect at all. You can drink a bottle of vodka in one gulp and stay as sober as a judge.”
“Why do you drink then?”
“Old habit. I’ve been drowning my sorrows in booze since nine. Tough childhood. All vampire stuff, including immunity to alcohol, didn’t appear until I turned sixteen, so I had time to get properly hooked on this. Now, I drink it just for its taste.”
“What did you mean by tough childhood?”
“Well, I’ve spent my whole life in foster care. Before I turned sixteen, I had already lived in seven different homes. Half of them only wanted me for the money that the state gives for keeping a foster child, the other half wanted the money and free labor,” Jack stopped to take another sip of beer. “Although there was one good family – Emma and Stan. They were already old, didn’t have their own children, but managed to raise five adopted kids. I was their sixth. They were great old folks, very kind. I was seven at that time.”
Jack’s face became thoughtful, and she went silent, trying to pretend that the reason for a pause was the necessity to take a dozen sips of beer at once. Finally, she went on.
“After a year of living with them, the old man had a stroke. He recovered but only partially – his legs didn’t work anymore, and he had some speech problems. It was difficult for Emma to take care of Stan and look after me at the same time. And she had to return me to foster care. Poor thing was crying when she gave me back. Crying and apologizing.”
Jack stopped again to take several sips, although it seemed to me that her bottle had already been emptied.
“I was sent to live with another shitty family, and six months later I read the obituary in a local newspaper. Stan and Emma died two days apart,” Jack smirked sadly. “And my last family didn't give a damn about me, so I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they didn’t even bother to call the police when I ran away.”
I drank my beer in silence not knowing what to say. Maybe I should have expressed my condolences over her hard fate, but I felt self-conscious for some reason. So, I didn’t say anything. Jack twiddled the beer bottle in her hands, taking a good, long look at its label. Then, she put it on top of the fridge and turned to me. “Wanna play Among Us?”
I smiled and nodded. The rest of the night, we played and shared our life stories. The time had passed quickly. At 7 in the morning, Jack pronounced, “It’s time to sleep. Humans head to work and vampires go to bed. You will sleep on the sofa today, and tomorrow we’ll get you a mattress. I don’t have spare pajamas, pillows, or blankets either – sorry, you are the first ever guest to stay here. We’ll buy all of it tomorrow. Are you ok with that?"
“Of course I am. This sofa is more comfortable than my bed anyway.”
“Great. See those two doors?” Jack pointed at the wall behind the TV. “On the right is my bedroom, and on the left is a bathroom. Please, don’t mix them up and pee on my head.”
I laughed. “I’ll try. But I can’t promise anything.”
Jack switched off the light and went to her bedroom while I got comfortable on the sofa. In less than ten minutes, I was sleeping peacefully. For the first time in the last days…
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