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“I want to drink your blood, though.”
“But not kill me?”
“Why do you keep bringing up death? You don’t have to kill a human to drink from them. You do know this, don’t you?”
Sort-of.
There were a lot of things I didn’t know about vampires, though. I didn’t know where they liked to hide, and I didn’t know what they did for fun. Most of what I knew I’d learned at the hospital, and most of it was unpleasant. In my experience, vampires were either really intense or really broody. Very rarely were they nice to be around.
“Okay,” I said. “So please elaborate on what it is that you’d like. I suppose I can squeeze in time for extra donations over the next week.”
It would take my lunch breaks, sure. I’d do it, though, if it would keep this guy happy.
“No,” he said.
“Dude, when are you going to come to an agreement? You can’t just keep saying ‘no’ every time I offer a solution.”
“I don’t want bottled blood,” he said. “I want your blood, and I want it fresh from the source. You’ll come to see me before and after work each day. Actually, forget that. You’ll stay with me. You can leave my home to go to work, but then you’ll return to me. When you aren’t at the hospital, you’ll be my own personal blood doll.”
“Or what?”
“Or I will kill you,” he said.
This time, I thought that he meant it.
2
Colin
I GAVE THE HUMAN UNTIL the next day. She needed time to return to her apartment, pack a bag, and collect her belongings. She’d be busy at work, as well. The hospital was undoubtedly swamped. Between the shortage of blood and the growing unrest surrounding relationships between humans and vamps, she had her work cut out for her, as did I. In the meantime, I returned to my mansion to prepare the house for her. We’d need human food if we were going to be keeping her around, so I sent Alice to the store for food, and I sent Rex to tidy up the kitchen.
“When does he arrive?” Ida, one of the vamps I lived with, asked. Ida was in charge of running the household. She was the one who collected the orders of blood. She was the one who made sure the house stayed clean and tidy and she handled any repairs that became necessary to take care of.
“Tomorrow,” I told her. I didn’t need to ask who she was talking about. We were only expecting one guest, and none of us were looking forward to seeing my brother. He rarely visited. In fact, I hadn’t seen him since my wife passed away. We’d held a funeral. He’d come.
“He’s not going to like it.”
“What?”
“Having a human around.”
“That’s not any concern of his,” I told Ida. She was right, though. Ida had been working for me for over a century. She knew just as well as I did that Norman was a total dick when he wanted to be. Humans weren’t something he handled well. Norman was the kind of vampire who liked to play with his food, and he didn’t like that in my city, we handled everything very carefully and discreetly.
There were vampire cities and communities all over the world. Each one functioned a little differently. In my city, humans were treated as equal citizens, but they were required to donate blood to keep the rest of us alive. As a courtesy, we provided them with protection from the outside world.
Outside of our city gates, there weren’t just roads to other cities. There was a giant wilderness full of creatures just roaring to eat humans. For most people, a little bit of blood in exchange for safety was a fair trade. For others, the opposite was true. Some humans didn’t want to live among the vampires at all, and they’d chosen to live in the forests and the wilderness alone, risking everything for a taste of freedom.
“Perhaps not,” Ida said. “But be careful, Colin.” Ida rarely looked worried, but she looked nervous now. We were standing in my office, and she was leaning against the doorway. Ida’s delicate face was wrinkled with anxiety. What was she so worked up about? It was only Norman. It was only my brother. Yeah, he could be quite an asshole, but anyone could.
“I think I know how to handle my brother.”
“Do you?” She asked.
“I hope so,” I muttered.
“It’s not that I doubt you,” Ida told me. She shrugged and looked away for a moment. Then she turned back, and her face seemed even more pained. “It’s just that Norman can be vicious. The people of Darkhaven don’t need vicious. They need you.”
“Thank you,” I told her. “I appreciate that.”
