I stuck close to Elvira as she led me back to the entrance to her basement. There weren't all that many people out and about, we saw maybe ten the whole walk, but every one of them came up to us and greeted Elvira. Most just came up, said hi, then went along with their day. A few lingered. But for the most part everyone seemed to love her in a way that seemed almost cultish. But, I supposed, that wasn't overly surprising. She saved everyone of the people here. That in itself was incredible.

The ladder up to Elvira's room seemed to be the center of the town and it wasn't until I looked up at it that I realized what a pain in the ass it was going to be to climb. Going down wasn't a problem, but going up was going to be exhausting. And if I fell... I shook off the thought. It wouldn't help anything.

Elvira grabbed onto the first rung of the ladder and starting making her way up. Looking up, I realized she was wearing a skirt and blushed furiously, though my embarrassment wasn't enough to stop me from peeking a few glances as I made my way up the ladder behind me. I was just barely able to catch a few peeks at her silky red underwear before I tried to turn look at anything except what was under Elvira's skirt. I didn't want to be caught perving on her and I felt a spike of shame at the fact that I was ogling without permission. It wasn't that I even really liked Elvira like that. She was just an attractive person, and it had been way too long since I'd been laid.

Once I'd reached the top of the ladder, my arms were sore and I decided I never wanted to climb anything ever again.

"Ugh, why did you have to make the damn city so tall?" I moaned, rubbing my sore biceps.

"I don't think so much that the place is tall. You're just short." Elvira winked at me and laughed, before ruffling my hair.

I showed her my middle finger and scowled.

She simply laughed again. "Come on, shorty. Wanna leave now or later?"

"Now," I said after a moment of thought. "I'd rather not have to climb that ladder more than I have to."

"Oh, it's not that bad."

"Is too!"

"You're being dramatic. Here, follow me, I'll see if I have something that fits you for now."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing now?" I asked, looking down at my simple red shirt and jeans.

"Oh they're just a bit... casual."

"It's shopping, not Paris."

"You'll just stand out a bit is all. Plus, I wanna dress you up like a dolly, now come on." Elvira grabbed my wrist and skipped off towards her bedroom like a child that had been given too much candy. And I was her plaything. I tried to be put out at the idea, but couldn't keep the grin off of my face.

Soon I was standing in Elvira's bedroom. It was heavily decorated in red and black, which I couldn't help but laugh at. "A bit cliche," I commented grinning.

"Huh?" Elvira asked, already going through her closet.

"Red and black and the big canopy bad and drapes and shit? All seems cliche for a vampire."

She turned to me and stuck her tongue out. "I just happen to like red and black and frills."

"Doesn't make it less of a cliche," I laughed, taking a seat on Elvira's bed and, holy shit, was it comfortable. Next to the bed there was a table with a book and picture frame on it. I picked up the frame, looking at the picture. It was a photo of Elvira and Ophelia together on a patio somewhere. It was nighttime and Ophelia had her arm around Ophelia while Elvira's head rested on the other girl's shoulder. They both smiled bright at the camera, their red eyes glowing with happiness.

"So, uh," I asked, clearing my throat and setting the picture down, trying to ignore the strange tightness in my belly at the image of the two girls together. "What's up with Ophelia?"

"She's an old friend."

"Is there anything between y'all...?" I asked carefully. Elvira simply laughed.

"No, no. She's just a friend. That's not to say I haven't been tempted to, uh, have something with her. But, well, everyone gets that way with 'Lia." Elvira threw a gold, silky looking shirt at me. "Try that on."

"Everyone?" I asked, examining the shirt. It was probably more expensive than anything I'd ever owned. "She's very pretty but surely not everyone wants to be with her-"

"She's a succubus, so yeah everyone."

"A... what?"

"Put that on, too,'' Elvira said while throwing a black skirt my way.

"A succubus?"

"Yeah. You know, a female sex demon."

I rolled my eyes. "Succubi aren't real."

Elvira poked her head out of the closet and gave me a look. "You're talking to a vampire for Christ's sake, Sammy. Succubi are just a type of vampire that happen to need sex and are really good at getting it. Now, get dressed."

"Do you have a bathroom I could use?"

"Oh, just change here."

"H-here?"

"Yeah, I don't care. I've seen boobs and legs. Unless you're too shy or something."

Blushing, I pulled off my red shirt and turned around so my back was to Elvira, before quickly grabbing the shirt.

"Oh my god, you're thin." I pulled the shirt on and looked at Elvira.

"Thanks?"

"Like, unhealthily thin."

"Well, yeah. I don't exactly have a surplus of food around." I pulled the skirt on over my jeans, then removed the pants from under it. The waistline was elastic and stayed on my body pretty well but the shirt was hanging off of me in the least flattering way.

"Hmm," Elvira hummed as she looked me up and down, before disappearing into her closet once more and coming out with an oversized black belt. She fastened it just under the bust of my shirt, pulling it tight so it looked more fitted. "There!"

Elvira crossed her arms and looked me up and down. A grin across her face, revealing her pointed canines. "I don't have any shoes that will fit, so we'll just have to make do with what you have on already."

I felt my stomach twist at the mention of my shoes. Something as stupid as shoes shouldn't make me so emotional, but remembering the trip I was supposed to take with mom just a few days earlier to get shoes was enough to bring me to the brink of tears.

"Oh, shit!" I said, as I suddenly remembered I'd forgotten to tell my mom and Rachele I was okay. I dove down and grabbed my phone from the back pocket of my discarded jeans and flipped it open to see I had twenty new messages and ten missed calls. All from either Rachele or mom. Pulling up Rachele's number I quickly texted "Sorry I haven't been in touch. Staying with some family. Will get mom asap. Might be a few days."

"Everything okay?" Elvira asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, just the friend my mom is staying with is worried about me is all."

Elvira nodded in understanding, before taking a deep breath and smiling once again. "Ready to head out?"

"Sure." I was feeling far less enthusiastic than I had been about the trip before, but wasn't about to back out now.

On our way out the door, Elvira stopped in the kitchen for a second. "I'm a bit hungry, sorry. Haven't eaten today, let me just grab something for the road." I watched as she pulled a container of a deep red liquid from the fridge and recognized it as blood. She put it in the microwave for awhile and grabbed a glass from the cabinet.

"Sorry if this makes you uncomfortable," Elvira said, looking apologetic. "A lot of humans hate get weird about the whole blood thing. I guess it's understandable, but I need it."

"I wait tables for vampires," I said, "so, I'm pretty used to it by now." We were silent for a few moments as she retrieved the blood from the microwave and poured it into a glass.

"Why do you heat it up before you drink it?"

"Tastes more natural that way." Elvira answered. "Come on, the sun will be up soon so we should get a move on."

"More natural?"

"Yeah. Like, in nature it's warm, so we crave it warm. Synthetic blood is pretty bland tasting as it is. Pretty unbearable if it's not at least 98 degrees."

"In nature... as in directly from humans?"

Elvira nodded as we crossed the grounds of her mansion out to her car. "Yeah. That's how it's best. Supposedly. And it used to be the only way to get blood. I'm sure you've heard about how when human rights first became a thing and hunting humans became illegal, humans had to donate blood every month to the vamps?"

I shuddered at the thought. "Yeah, my mom said my grandmother used to have to when she was a girl."

"It tasted way better," Elvira said, her tongue darting out to lick her lips hungrily as we reached her car, getting settled down into the seats. "But, it wasn't right. It wasn't until the fifties that synthetic blood was developed and that's what we use now. Which is way better than when there were blood slaves and humans just being hunted down. Wasn't right. We were once human."

"What?" I flipped my head around fast, giving Elvira a look of shock as we pulled out on the road towards Davis. "What does that mean?"

"Oh, well, it's just theory really..." Elvira said, biting her lip. "See, nowadays vampires are just born, ya know? Your mom's a vamp, your dad's a vamp, so you're a vamp."

I rolled my eyes. "I understand that. I'm not stupid."

"Yeah, well, some of us believe that's not how it always was. That the first generations of vampires weren't born, but created."

"How?"

"A bite. An exchange of blood."

"Nonsense. A vampire's bite is fatal, not transformative. You know that, Elvira."

"There's evidence to suggest if a vampire bites a human and takes their blood, and the human drinks some of the vampire's blood, the human will transform."

I shook my head. "That's ridiculous."

Elvira nodded. "That's how most people feel about it."

The rest of the drive was spent in silence. I stared out the window and after a half hour we were in front of a small strip mall in Davis.

"Let's just a grab a few things real quickly," Elvira said, smiling at me. "We can come back later, but you use look exhausted."

The shops weren't nice, but they were nicer than what I was used to. We just stopped by one large store and Elvira threw a few stack of jeans at me.

"Try those on, see what size you are."

"That's a lot of jeans..."

"Yup! And I wanna see how each pair looks."

*****

My definition of a short shopping trip and Elvira's was apparently very different. I spent at least two hours trying on jeans, skirts, dresses, shoes, and even underwear before Elvira declared I was done and went to check out.

I stood by the register uncomfortably as Elvira paid for everything. I was careful to not check look at the price as I knew if I saw how much was being spent on me I'd call the whole thing off.

"Thanks, uh, for everything," I said softly as we got back into the car. "Really, I mean it. I don't usually like vamps much.. or, well, at all really. But, this is just, I don't know. Amazing of you."

"I have an obscene amount of money," Elvira said. "Really, I do. My father, you've probably heard of him, has literally billions of dollars. He owns Zanick Industries." My eyes nearly popped out of my skull at that. Zanick Industries was one of the largest supplies of synthetic blood in the world. "Anyhow, a few years ago he left the business to me. I have no need for all the money I have. I figure the least I can do is use it to help out people that need help and human rights just always seemed important to me."

"Well, thank you. So much."646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpw6wbjs0W