Diary of a Blood Drinker

by Robert Arellano

  Every day at 5 p.m. sharp, all the people I had met within the organization would gather to get their assignments. After the meeting we would disperse and head to our assigned area to do our jobs. We would get paid in cash by one of Mr. C’s assistants before we left the weekly meeting.

  I was building a pretty good stockpile of cash, especially since my room was being provided for and I had no expenses. I didn’t spend any money for food or anything that I would have needed in my previous life. My concern now was how I was going to invest or save this money without revealing my true identity or raising red flags at the IRS or any other government agency. There had to be a way. All my life I had done everything according to the rules, I never hurt anyone and now I had to learn how to live in a world totally foreign to me. I figured I would take it day by day, learn as much as I could, stay under the radar, and hope that the number of people I was feeding on would not raise anyone’s curiosity enough for them to start hunting me.

  My job was to make sure that the people working the streets were able to do their jobs safely and without any interference. Most of the time, I would walk to an area where someone was conducting their business and just look around. I would sometimes walk up to them and casually let them know I was there. They would acknowledge me and continue with their work. Sometimes, if the person had too much cash on hand, they would hand it to me and I would deliver it to the office. I could not believe how lucrative this business was.

  I would occasionally act as an escort for some of the outcall girls. One particular evening, two girls were hired to entertain at a bachelor party in one of the hotel’s suites. Mitch and I drove to a strip club and picked up the two girls and delivered them to a hotel. As we were driving to our location, they introduced themselves as Lily and Scarlett. These two women looked very familiar. Then it dawned on me that I had seen them on the bus when I first came to town.

  Mitch dropped us off at the entrance and told me that he would be back in five hours to pick us up. “Don’t be late,” he said as he drove away.

  I had been in this casino hotel before and I knew that to get up to the rooms you needed to show a room key. I walked through the casino towards the elevators with the two scantily clad women wondering how we were going to get past the guards. As we approached the podium, the guard waved us through. I later found out that someone from the organization had called and the guards were told to give us access to the room. While in the elevator, I asked the girls if they wanted me in the room with them or should I wait outside? They both agreed that I should be in the room and if the men hosting the party had a problem with it, they would leave. I asked who would settle the money owed and they told me that it was settled at the time the arrangements were made. They asked if I could hold any tips they might earn.

  Lily knocked on the door to the room and we were asked to come in. Eight young men sat around talking, drinking, and listening to the music coming from a disc player on the dresser. When we entered the room one of the men came up to the girls and asked who I was and what was I doing there. No one told them that there would be anyone other than the two girls. While rubbing her body on him, Lily told the guy that I was their escort and to ignore me. With that, the girls danced to the middle of the room and started stripping out of what little clothes they had on. They pulled the other men off their seats and started dancing with them. They found out who the bachelor was and concentrated their attention on him while flirting with the other men.

  I found a seat in a corner of the room, sat down, and watched the party go on. The lights in the room were low. The music was as loud as the hotel would allow without bothering the other guests. Twice in an hour and a half, deliveries of more alcohol were made to the room. I could see that everyone except the girls was getting drunker by the minute. Once in a while one of the men would glance at me. A couple of times, one would ask me if I wanted a drink or if I wanted to join the party.

  About half an hour before we were to meet Mitch I told the girls that we would have to leave shortly. There were only two men that had not passed out from too much drink. The girls started gathering their belongings and told the men that time was up. As we were walking out the door, one of the men grabbed Scarlett by the arm and kept pleading for her to stay. I stepped in between them and told Scarlett to leave the room. I followed them out and closed the door behind me. The guy came stumbling out after us calling for Scarlett to come back. I intercepted him and told the girls to get on the elevator and wait at the bottom. I grabbed him. As I dragged him back to the room he passed out. The door was ajar. I took him in and noticed that everyone was dead to the world. I had not fed that evening so I took advantage of one of them. I made sure that he was alive when I left and then met the girls at the bottom of the elevator.

  As we walked out of the lobby into the pickup area, Mitch drove up. I opened the door for the girls and we all got into the limo. Mitch drove them to a motel off the strip. While we were riding there, the girls thanked me and asked if they could request that I accompany them at any future parties. Mitch interrupted and told them that the boss would decide who would be their escort.

  I was not privy to how much money the girls made and what the organization’s cut was, but I was sure that everyone involved made some very good money that night. Having fed earlier I asked Mitch to drive me to my room.

  My assignments every evening were pretty much the same. I played escort to several more parties and I never saw Lily or Scarlett again. Most of the girls we picked up came from strip clubs all around Vegas. Sometimes Mitch, with girls in the car, would pick me up while I was doing my patrol and take us to a party. He would tell me that the boss had changed my assignment. Every time that happened, I checked with the boss the next day. He told me that Mitch was his right-hand man and if he had a change for me, I was to do it.

  Chapter 7

  I was patrolling my area when I saw one of the men I was supposed to be guarding arguing with two strangers. One pulled out a knife and demanded the money and drugs that my associate had. I raced over to them and grabbed the man with the knife and tossed him across the street and then confronted the other man.

  I heard a series of loud bangs.

  The people around me were screaming and yelling. My dealer and the two attackers fell to the ground. I felt a burning sensation in my back and my leg. Blood was seeping out of my body. Tires screeched and a car sped away. I realized that someone had shot at us from the car.

  As I was trying to make sense of what happened, I heard the sound of sirens coming very close to where I was. I ran down the street, bleeding, and hoping that my wounds would heal quickly. I knew what would happen if I could not find someone to feed on soon. With all the commotion going on around me, my main concern was to get away. I ran through a neighborhood as fast as I could, getting weaker by the minute. I came around a corner and saw several houses that were dark and decided to hide in one. I staggered toward a window that was ajar, slowly opened it and crawled in.

  This brings me to the beginning of my story.

  The room was a nursery and there was a child sleeping in the crib. I was losing blood and my wounds were not healing fast enough. If I didn’t do something fast, I might not survive. I had never in my life thought that I could use a child in this manner. In my previous life I grew up loving and taking care of children. How could I possibly do such a thing to this child?

  My animal survival instincts seemed to be taking over and before I knew it I was leaning over the child, drinking as much blood as it could provide. As I fed, I smelled the strong odor of baby powder and baby shampoo. I could feel its heartbeat coming to a stop. Someone screamed. I looked up to see a woman running into the room. I attacked her and could feel my strength returning, my wounds healing and everything coming back to my now normal body.

  A man yelled and grabbed me from behind. I got one hand around his throat and quickly snapped his neck. My mind was alive with all kind of images coming from the woman. I was out of con
trol. I knew that I could not let this woman live so I fed until her heart stopped.

  I looked around at what I had done. I am a monster. There is no way that this can be reasonably explained to anyone.

  It was quiet all around me and I was full of mixed emotions. I had to do something to cover this up. I moved the woman into a bedroom and lay her on the bed. I took the man and set him on an easy chair in the living room. I left the child in the crib. I then walked into the kitchen. I pulled the stove away from the wall and broke the gas line enough to allow gas to escape. Quickly, I closed all windows and walked out the back door.

  At some point the gas reached a pilot light in the water heater or some other ignition source. A few blocks away, I heard the explosion. I hoped that nothing would be left in that house that would show the ugliness of what had happened. Now, how was I to explain to the organization that I survived the attack without a scratch while the man I was supposed to be guarding did not?

  The next day I searched the newspapers and watched the local news to see if there was any mention of the explosion and fire that I created. According to reports, what transpired was a horrible accident. Was that it? Was there some kind of investigation going on that I was not aware of? In the meantime, though, I was safe. As far as I knew, no one saw me approaching the house or leaving.

  I didn’t know if I was seen leaving the shooting scene. I was still faced with the problem of reporting back to the organization and having to explain what happened. No one had come to my place to check up on me.

  Yet.

  Just then, there was a knock on my door. I looked through the peep hole and saw Mitch. When I let him in, he looked around the room and then at me and asked, “What is going on?”

  I told him I was recovering from a slight injury that happened during the attack on our dealer and was planning to come in and report to the boss as soon as I was able. I asked him if he had heard about what had happened.

  “Our dealer escaped without a scratch,” said Mitch. “We’re glad you intervened.” He then asked how badly I had been hurt and if there was anything he could do. I told him it was nothing and I would be fine.

  When I asked if he knew who the people were and why this had happened, he told me that there was a gang from California that had moved into the area and was trying to move in on the drug and prostitution business. They were intimidating and robbing our dealers and the attacks were becoming more frequent. The boss was trying to work out a way to keep control of the territory. He also told me that the boss wanted to see me as soon as possible. I told him that I would be there for that evening’s meeting.

  My preoccupation with recent events kept me from feeding and I was getting very hungry. I was afraid I would lose control again, so I left my place a couple of hours before the meeting and headed out to find food. It was still daylight and finding a place that I could feed undetected was going to be kind of difficult.

  I walked in to an adult video store that advertised private video arcades. The man sitting behind the counter was reading a magazine. He glanced up at me then resumed his reading. I walked to a back room that was a maze of booths that showed X-rated movies. I could hear the sounds of movies being played and I smelled the stench of bleach and sex and other odors I was not sure of.

  As I walked through the maze, I checked to see if there were any cameras and could see none. It was dark but with my vision being as acute as it was I could see as clear as day. I heard someone inside one of the booths. I braced myself, grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. A man was sitting there with his pants down around his ankles, touching himself. Before he could cry out, I was on him with my fangs digging into his throat. As I drank, I felt the strongest feelings of loneliness and sexual arousal. That was something I had not felt since I had been afflicted by this curse. I drank until I felt his heart slow and he had passed out. I closed the door to the arcade and left him there. I found a back door to the building, left and headed to the organization meeting.

  I got to the meeting early, and the boss, who was sitting behind his desk, walked over to me and asked if I was okay. I lied and told him I was still hurting from the experience I had encountered. He thanked me for being there and showing the rival gang that we were not going to be easily intimidated. He was concerned that they were getting more aggressive and that we were going to have to practice more caution.

  I realized that I was very lucky. If I was not who I was now, I would be dead. In my pursuit of staying alive, I had become part of an organization that provide me with a place to live, money, and people that I worked with that didn’t ask questions, allowing me to live the way I needed to . But, this could not last forever. The risks that I was taking were way beyond what any normal person would take. I was afraid that sooner or later someone would find out what I was. How would I handle it? If I told them what I was, would they accept me or would they fear me? It was still too early in my current situation to confide in anyone. I was getting tired of living a solitary life with such dark secrets.

  The meeting finally started and Mr. C told everyone about the attack the previous night. He wanted us to be more vigilant, thanking me for what I had done. Everyone acknowledged me as he continued with the daily assignments. As people were leaving the room he asked if I could stay and talk to him. He told me that he wanted to change my job. Because of the more frequent attacks by the gang he wanted me to stay around the office and be his personal body guard. This time he offered me a gun and again I refused it. I asked him about the people I had been keeping an eye on and he told me that Mitch would take care of that. I thought about the new position for a moment and realized that if I was going to learn the inner workings of the organization, this would be the way. I agreed and then told him that I needed to roam around the building unsupervised from time to time. He agreed.

  I was sitting in the office with the boss, not talking much, watching him open the safe and take out some papers. He asked me if I could step out for a while - he needed to make some calls and needed privacy. I walked out to the hall and stood, listening through the door. I heard him call someone ‘boss’. So, there was someone higher up that ladder that Mr. C reported to. I needed to know who it was and if he was at the top of the organization or if it went higher. This was going to take some time. I had to get to the safe while he was not here.

  That night, I walked around the building and found the window that went into the bathroom. I forced it open and crawled in. I made my way through the building and found myself in the boss’s office. It was very dark and quiet. I could smell the after effects of everyone that had been in the room. I found the safe and started turning the dial. I slowly turned it to the right and heard the first click, turned it to the left until I heard the second click, back to the right to the final click, turned the handle and opened the safe. I made a mental note of how the papers were stacked and sat down to read all the information contained in the files.

  I found records of money collected on a daily basis from the deals on the street. There was a list of girls that would do parties and what clubs they could be found at. I found the names of the suppliers of drugs and other services that we turned around at a huge profit. I found stacks of money. I found profiles on everyone that worked for Mr. C including me. All that was in my file was the date that I started, a ranking of how much I could be trusted, and how much I was being paid. I found a list of phone numbers that included people at other casinos. There was a reference to a Mr. B but there was no phone number or address. I wondered if there was a Mr. A. I put everything back in the safe, closed it and made my way back out the building.

  I decided not to take any of the piles of cash in there. If I did everything right no one would ever know that I had been there. I needed to find out who Mr. B was. Since I was closer to the boss now, I could learn more about his schedule and follow him. Sooner or later he would lead me to the next person higher in the organization. I was to be at the office two hours before the meeting started and
stay with the boss until he left the office. Every day when he left, I started following him.

  The biggest problem I had was that Mr. C either drove or took a cab and I did not drive or have a car. Even though I felt pretty certain that I could keep up with him on foot especially since traffic was so heavy, that was not the best way of doing it. So every night, I would station myself at the last point that he disappeared and then followed him for a while longer, until I came to the realization that he was going to the same building that I lived in. I saw what floor he went to. I waited several hours outside and he did not come out, so I retired to my room. The only way that I could find out who the boss reported to was to follow him, but so far all he was doing was going to the office and back to the place where he lived.

  I was at home, scanning the newspapers, still checking to see if there were any stories about the house fire or any other incident I had been involved in, when I heard a knock on the door. The dealer I had saved was standing there. I invited him in and he introduced himself.

  “My name is Jaime,” he said, “and I had to come and thank you for what you did.”

  I told him I was doing my job and was glad he was okay.

  “I saw that you were hurt as you were leaving the scene,” he said. “Are you okay?”

  I told him it was only a scratch and I was healing just fine. I offered him a drink from the bar and we sat and talked for quite a while. I wanted to find out how much he knew about the organization. He told me that he had only been with the group for a year and a half. He made good money and, for the most part, felt pretty safe until recently. Mr. C was the only boss he knew about. I asked him how everyone in the group got along and he told me that it was a good group of people to work with and he pretty much liked everyone. I asked him how he handled his earnings since it was all in cash. He told me that almost everyone in the organization used a particular attorney to disperse and manage their money and offered to give me her name.