Diary of a Blood Drinker

by Robert Arellano

  Under no circumstances will I allow anything to keep me from feeding whenever I need to. There is no reason to not feed. I can move in and out of anywhere so easily and undetected that there is minimal danger to me, if I am in control.

  I was learning how to move around the Los Angeles area with ease. It was not uncommon for me to visit twenty offices in one week. My bosses were requiring me to carry a mobile phone so that they could reach me at any time to direct me to an office that was having problems. I was not too happy about this development, for I knew that my movements could now be traced. I already had a computer assigned to me at the head offices and was supposed to submit weekly a log of all my visits to other offices. I was nervous enough logging my travels, but now, with this phone, I was really getting paranoid. I felt that I was slowly losing control of my movements and my fears were soon confirmed.

  Chapter 10

  In my business we dealt with numbers. In our investments we dealt with speculation – well researched – so that our customers could gain the most from their investments. We watched for patterns in the stock market and we researched companies to see which ones had the potential to do well. If these companies profited we could invest in them and make money for our clients. It was all about patterns.

  I heard some gossip in one of the offices I managed. Someone knew someone that knew someone that was unexplainably absent from work for a couple of days. Someone had experienced some unexplainable illness during the night. Some people were sure that someone had attacked them or molested them while on their way home from a club or bar. They started talking to co-workers in other offices throughout the city to see if they had heard anything in their part of town. The speculation spread like wildfire.

  Before I knew it, two guys – Frank and Jonas – had put together graphs with patterns that corresponded with the communities where we had offices. A woman in one of the offices asked me if I had heard of anything suspicious during my travels. I quickly realized that there was a problem, especially when I heard that some had mentioned pin marks on their necks.

  I decided to find out more about the inquiries when I visited that office next. When I got there, I discretely approached Frank and Jonas. Was it my imagination or were they avoiding me? Normally, both men were very talkative but this time they seemed to avoid spending any time with me. Was I being paranoid? I finished my visit and went out to my car. I knew that they were onto something and sooner or later they could bring trouble my way. What did they know? How believable was it? Would I need to do something about it?

  That night after feeding on a patient in a nursing home, I paid a visit to the office. I didn’t have to break in because I had a master key to all the offices in my district. There were no alarms since no money was kept in the office and all the computers were leased and could be easily replaced. I headed to Frank’s cubicle and looked through his desk but could not find anything relating to his inquiries. I turned on his computer but could not access it because it was password-protected. I tried Jonas’s cubicle with the same results. I was disappointed and angry, so I closed the office and headed home.

  If these people were onto something that would expose me, I was in deep trouble. I could not leave the company because my departure would be one more thing they could add to their findings.

  I had spent too much time setting up the perfect way for me to get everything I needed. I knew there would be collateral damage, but not to the extent that someone would notice. I really did not want to start all over again and I realized I would have to take care of this at the source.

  Suddenly, I had a flash that was so obvious that I felt stupid for not seeing it earlier. All the computers that the company uses are linked to a master server. As a manager, I can access the server from my computer. This is done so that if individual computers are stolen or fail, the information will not be lost. I jumped in my car and headed to my office. My only hope was that the information that Frank and Jonas had put together would also be on the master server.

  I got to the office before anyone else and logged in. Files are kept in folders for each office. I found the folder I needed and started looking through the data. It took me a while to find it because of the way it was saved, but there it was. The file contained names, times, dates and locations of all the rumors or reports that Frank and Jonas had acquired. Everything corresponded to the times I had been in the area of that particular office but I did not see my name mentioned anywhere.

  Their findings were very detailed and it looked like they had been acquiring this information for quite some time. I was concerned that others may have seen this file. What would they do with the information? I could delete it if I wanted to, but I did not want them to suspect that I was onto what they were doing. I also did not know if they had copies on their personal computers. If they did how could I get at it?

  All that was needed was a name linked to all this information and sent to the proper authorities. If taken even a bit seriously, I was screwed. I left everything as it was and settled back in my chair to try and figure out a way to solve this problem.

  There were too many people involved with this information. It was a problem that would need creative solving. My computer skills were good enough to get by, but I needed someone that could hack into all the computers involved, find the existing file and delete it. How would I find someone with the skills to do that? And more important, could I trust that person?

  The solution fell right into my lap. One night I went to the main office and found some employment applications that had been submitted to the company by people with strong computer skills. I read through them and found one from a woman that was not hired because of a criminal record she had for breaking into college records and changing grades. I got her personal information and gave her a call. I identified myself and told her I wanted to see her. I made arrangement to meet her at her apartment to talk about the possibility of employment.

  At her apartment I rang the bell and, after a minute she answered. She introduced herself as Janis and invited me in. She was in her late teens, pleasant and knowledgeable, and was very interested in what I had to offer. We walked into her home office that was set up as an elaborate computer lab. We chatted about her impressive equipment and then began to talk about what I needed for her to do.

  I told her that I had suspicions that some of my employees were embezzling company funds and I needed to get into their home computers and look though their files. I asked if she could do that and she told me that it was illegal and we could get into serious trouble if we got caught. I told her in this case there was no expectation of privacy. She was still a little hesitant until I offered to pay her a large sum of money in cash.

  She asked for their names and addresses and told me it would take a while. I told her I needed to be with her when she found the files so that I could identify them and see what was in them. It took several hours of her pecking at her computer with no success.

  I was getting hungry; staring at the back of her neck did not make it any easier for me to control myself. Suddenly, she jumped up and said, “I am in.” Frank had just turned on his computer and Janis was able to look at every file that he had. I told her the name of the file. She found it and opened it up. I then asked her to step away because I did not want her to see any company secrets.

  I saw that it was an exact copy of the one I found on the company server. I closed it so that she could not read it and asked her to delete it. She told me she could put in on a portable drive if I wanted it as proof and I told her no. She started to protest until I told her to please do as I told her. After accessing Jonas’s computer and finding out that the file did not exist there I thanked her and got up to leave.

  My hunger was getting strong and I knew that I could not leave a witness to what I had just done so before she know what was happening I was drinking her blood. As I was drinking, I thought how wonderful it would be if I could acquire the knowledge the person had, just like the emotions
I experienced while I was feeding on them.

  I felt for her heartbeat and I did not release her until it stopped beating. I laid her on the floor, looked around to see if I had left anything and slipped out the back door. With that file taken care of, I drove back to my office, logged on to my computer and erased the file that was in the server. All the work that was done by these two men was gone, as far as I knew.

  If they were persistent enough, I was sure that they could put all the information together again, so now my next problem was how to deal with Frank and Jonas. I did not have to kill someone while feeding unless I was not in control. In this case, I could not see any way of avoiding it. I knew that I would have to eliminate both of them.

  I started stalking Frank and Jonas every night as they left their office. I knew where they lived because I had access to their files, but finding two people dead in their homes, from the same office would generate a whole new set of questions that I could not afford. I did not know their reaction to the disappearance of the files, but I was sure that they knew that they were being watched. My hope was that this would make them nervous and maybe carless.

  I was pretty sure that Janis would not be linked to these two if I were to dispose of them, so my immediate task was to retrieve her job application and destroy it so that there would not be a link between her and the company.

  I discovered that Frank would stop and have a couple of drinks and socialize with friends almost every evening on his way home after work. One evening I followed him to the bar and waited outside for him. After a while he came out of the bar and walked to his car. As he was searching for his keys, I attacked him. This time I did not feed on his blood, I simply beat him to death. While on the ground, I stripped him of his jewelry and wallet and anything valuable that he had on him and left the parking lot. I was hoping that to everyone this would seem like a robbery and killing.

  I got a call early the next morning from my boss informing me of what had happened. He wanted me to report to Frank’s office and help with anything that they may need. As I drove into the parking lot, there were a couple of police cars there.

  I walked in and encountered a few crying women. The police were questioning several employees. I introduced myself to the officer in charge and asked if they had any information and whether there was anything I could do. He told me that as far as they could tell, Frank had been robbed and killed. The officer wanted to know about the last time I saw him and if I knew of any problems he was having. I explained to him that I only came into this office once a month and I did not know him very well.

  Across the office I saw Jonas sitting at his desk acting very somber. I asked him how he was doing and he looked up at me and said that he was fine, but could not understand how this could happen. The police finished their business and left. I walked through the office, saying that if there was anything I could do to just let me know. If they needed help I could stay. I told them that I would take over Frank’s client files until we could find someone to replace him. I was really expecting Jonas to volunteer, but to my surprise he did not. Because of his reaction at the mention of the files, I wondered if this mess was over.

  The files were gone, Frank was gone, and because of the trauma of Frank’s death, I felt sure that most, if not all of the reports and rumors that generated this mess would be forgotten. I was not sure what their theory was. Were they imagining that a man or some creature was the cause of the incidents? The possibility for a creature like me to exist was too farfetched to believe.

  Because of my loneliness, once in a while I would wonder if someone like me did exist. If they didn’t, could I create someone? In the vampire stories I read, a new vampire could be created if I were to drink their blood until they were almost dead and then have them drink mine. There could be many problems, though, if I were to try it. I am a product of who I was – my beliefs, my morals and a strong conscience.

  What this ‘condition’ has given me is strength, immortality and new skills that I am discovering every day. I have learned how to live with this. I am not wreaking havoc in this world, as far as I can tell. If I were to create another being like me, I would not know if it would have the same control that I have. I had no idea if I could control such a person. I am afraid of the chaos it might bring. Even though it has crossed my mind several times, I can’t afford to take the chance. I don’t know if it would even work. I will have to be content with what I know and live my life taking what I need without doing too much damage.

  I kept in close contact with the office where Frank and Jonas worked. One day I came in and was told that Jonas had quit. Apparently, he decided to move away and start a new life and career someplace else. Frank’s death seemed to have affected him deeply. Every time I would come into that office or any other, I would try to find out if anyone was still interested in what Frank and Jonas were inquiring about. I did not hear a single thing. I never heard any updates from the police concerning Frank’s death, so that chapter of my life came to a close.

  When I was living as an ordinary person, I had problems. I think everyone has problems of one kind or another. Living the life of a blood sucking creature is not as glamorous as it is made out to be, though.

  I continued working for the same company doing the same thing and living a worry-free life for quite some time. Well, kind of. I always worried that something would go wrong while I was feeding on a victim, that one of my victims would have a clear recollection of what I had done. Worst of all, I worried that someone would get a good look at me and describe me to the authorities.

  I had my hunting and feeding down to a science. The problem with using office locations as a place to hunt taught me a big lesson. To keep from repeating my mistake, I started visiting other locations that I would normally not visit. I started taking weekend trips to other big-sized cities. I found myself back in Phoenix and Las Vegas a couple of times. While in downtown Vegas, I recognized a couple of people that I knew from working in the organization. For a split second I thought about making contact with Mr. C, but decided not to. That part of my life was over. Besides, I did not want to have to explain to him why I never came back.

  Day after day, it was the same thing. I would work during the day, and hunt during the night. I knew that I could afford to go or do anything I wanted to. I knew I could take the time from work that I wanted, but my main concern was not being able to feed at night.

  I was still living in Hollywood even though I did not spend too much time there. Because I spent most of the night looking for victims and most of the day driving from office to office, my house served only as a safe place where I could rest and have some solitude. I would stop by from time to time to pick up clothes that the cleaners would drop off at my neighbor’s place. So, I made a change and let the house go and moved the few things that I needed to my office. I don’t know what made me think that I could live an ordinary life.

  During one of my return trips from Las Vegas, I got off the plane and walked toward the exit. A couple of security guards with a dog were patrolling the area. When the dog saw me, it started to charge. The guards were able to control it. They immediately approached me and escorted me to a small office in the airport terminal. When we were in the office, they asked for identification and asked if they could search me and my bag. One of them sat at a computer terminal while the other one looked through my bag and asked me to empty my pockets. After the search was completed and my identity confirmed, they asked where I was coming from and if I had been around any drugs or chemicals that could be used to make a bomb. I assured them that I had not and I could not understand why the dog reacted so violently towards me. They apologized to me and told me that I could continue on my way. I politely thanked them and left the room. The dog was nowhere to be seen.

  As I thought about it, I had not been around any animals since the night that I was bitten. I had never thought about what kind of reaction I would get from a dog. I did notice that at night while walking through s
ome neighborhoods, dogs would bark, but I never thought that it could be because of my presence. I thought it strange that this had never happened to me before. I drove to my office and, after checking for mail I walked into the washroom and looked into the mirror. Nothing looked different. My sense of smell told me that there were no foreign odors coming from me. Was there something in me that was changing that I could not see or feel?

  Chapter 11

  I made it a habit to scan as many newspapers as I could, to see if there were any stories about unusual or unexplainable events that might concern me. While reading through the pages, I found an announcement about the monthly meeting of the Southern California Vampires group. As I read on, I found out that they were meeting Friday at a location near where I used to live in Hollywood.

  That day I made sure that I fed early. I walked to the meeting and was greeted at the door by a young woman dressed in a costume like those you would see in a vampire movie. She told me that the meeting was for members only and everyone was supposed to attend in some kind of historical vampire garb. I explained to her that I was new in town and was looking to transfer from another group I belonged to in another state. She consulted with a man wearing a Victorian-era costume and then agreed to let me attend.

  There must have been 30 or more people, all dressed in elaborate costumes that represented every character that I had seen in vampire movies. I walked around, introducing myself and as I was talking to them, they would speak in foreign accents and refer to themselves as Count or Countess from Transylvania or other places I had never heard of. Most were wearing fake fangs that protruded from their mouth. Some looked like they had had some major dental work done. They wore a lot of makeup and very elaborate wigs.