Diary of a Blood Drinker

by Robert Arellano

  Many of the people were drinking from glasses that held some kind of red liquid. A table set up at one end of the room was laid out with a big bowl of the beverage. It looked like blood but when I smelled it, I realized that it was wine with a thickening gel that gave it the appearance of blood. There were trays of small sandwiches and other foods to snack on.

  I giggled to myself as I looked at the table and at the characters. This was a joke. If anyone in this room were like me and knew exactly what I was going through they would not be displaying themselves like this. The reality was that they wanted to be something that they were not.

  I wanted to ask if anyone had heard any stories about real vampires living among us. On the way out, I stopped and chatted with the woman at the door about my visit and asked her about the possibility of real vampires existing. Her response was, “We are all real vampires.” I left.

  I spent the night walking around and got to my office early. I sorted through my e-mails and everything in my incoming mailbox. An envelope with my name on it lay on the desk. There was no return address, no stamp, nothing to indicate that it would have come by post. It was too early for the mail person to have delivered it and there was no one else in the office.

  I opened it and started to read. It was from Jonas.

  I know that you are responsible for Frank’s death. I have all the research that Frank and I put together. I want you to pay me a large amount of money or I will send it all to the police. I’m sure they will find all the coincidences we discovered interesting enough to launch an investigation.

  How did this letter get here? It dawned on me that Jonas had a key that, as far as I knew, he had never returned. He must have been spying on me to find out what my schedule was. Maybe someone in the office told him and he waited until I was out to deliver the letter himself. I knew what was in the documents and if anybody believed them it could bring me a lot of problems. He was still in the area and I needed to find him.

  The rest of the day I was preoccupied by the problem that Jonas had thrown at me. The only thing I could do at this point was to wait for him to contact me again so I could get some idea of where he was. Two days later, I got a call. It sounded like a recording of a woman’s voice telling me to put together $100,000 in cash and wait for the next phone call. I kept thinking about what a foolish thing this man was doing. And it appeared as if he had now involved someone else. I considered ignoring this threat. I could call the police to report that I was being blackmailed by a former employee. There were too many variables in that scenario that could go wrong, though. I could be found out.

  A couple of hours after the previous phone call one of the employees came in and handed me a letter addressed to me. She said she found it on the windshield of my car when she walked through the parking lot earlier.

  The letter was from Jonas stating that he knew that I would not go to the police. He said that, if anything were to happen to him, someone would retrieve a copy of the files from his safety deposit box and take them to the police.

  He directed me to take the money to a kiosk at the mall on Main and Second at midnight in a bag and wait. I knew when and where I was going to find him now. There was no way that I was going let him get away with this. I had to end it once and for all. I knew for sure I could not let this man live and somehow I needed to get those files and destroy them.

  I waited until shortly before midnight and decided to walk, in case I needed to make a quick getaway. I was hoping for everything to go smoothly and I was confident that it would. I wondered whether he was bluffing about the files at the bank. If they did exist, I would deal with them later.

  As I got close to the mall, all my senses were at their peak. I could not believe Jonas would be stupid enough to meet me alone especially if he believed all the data that he and Frank had acquired. I arrived at the location a couple of minutes before midnight. I looked around and thought I saw some movement to my left. Just then, a man walked toward me and called my name. As he got closer, I realized that it was not Jonas.

  He approached me and identified himself as detective Morris from the Los Angeles Police Department, showing his badge while he spoke. He asked what I was doing there and I told him I was there to meet a friend. He asked me if I knew a man named Jonas. I told him Jonas was the one I was there to meet. He asked why and I told him that Jonas had sent me some very troubling messages and wanted this meeting.

  “Jonas made some serious allegations concerning you,” the detective said, “and he told me that you would be here tonight, possibly to harm him.”

  Two more detectives appeared out of the shadows. Morris told me that they had several things to talk to me about and asked if I would accompany them to the police station.

  “Am I under arrest,” I asked.

  “No, but you are a possible suspect in at least one homicide,” he said. “We could clear it up down at the station.” I was handcuffed and led to a police car.

  On the way to the precinct I was trying to figure out what had just happened. Was this all just a ruse to see if I was going to pay a blackmailer and confirm for the police that what Jonas was telling them was a believable story? Did Jonas and the police worked all this out together to see how far I would take this? Was Jonas even at the mall? There were so many questions going through my mind. All I could do was go with the detectives and play along.

  I was having a big problem with the odors in the car. I could smell that it had been cleaned, but the urine, vomit and other unpleasant odors were overwhelming. I asked the driver if he could open the windows a little for some fresh air.

  At the police station, I was escorted to an interview room. The handcuffs were removed and they asked me if I wanted anything to drink. I told them no, saying also that I would like to get this over with because I had to be at work in the morning. I was trying hard to act like an average person who was being questioned about an incident that I knew nothing about.

  I knew that, if necessary, I could leave anytime I wanted. During all my time as this creature, I had never revealed what I was capable of. I could have removed the handcuffs at any time but chose not to. I could have overpowered these men and left but I knew it would have been very stupid of me to do something like that. Now that they had my name, the entire law enforcement community would be looking for me. To everyone that I met and knew I was just an ordinary man with normal human abilities.

  I sat in the room for what seemed like hours before Detective Morris walked in. A second officer walked in and stood at the door. Morris asked if I was okay and if I wanted anything to drink. Again, I declined and asked what this was all about. He opened his note pad and confirmed my name then started writing down notes. I had expected to see a copy of the files I had deleted from the computers not so long ago, but he had nothing with him.

  He asked all the questions one would ask to get to know a person and then he asked where I was on the date that Frank was killed. I pretended to think and asked him what day of the week it was, even though I already knew. He told me it was a Thursday. I told him that I was probably at work all day and working late at my office. He asked if anyone had seen me and I told him that there were several people in the office that could verify that. He mentioned the name of the bar where Frank had died and asked if I had ever been there. I told him that I did not drink and had no reason to be there. I commented that, according to the detective I had talked to the day after, they figured that Frank’s death was a murder robbery. He told me that new things had come to light and they were looking at the case again. After a couple more questions I finally said, “What is going on here? Either you tell me why I am here or I am walking out the door and hiring an attorney and filing charges against you and the department.”

  I did not realize I was saying that until I said it. Both officers looked at me. Detective Morris apologized and told me that Jonas had come into the station with a wild story about people that were being attacked in areas that I was in during those days. He sa
id that he and Frank had proof, that it disappeared and then, a day later Frank was killed.

  I told him that I wanted to help in any way that I could, but I did not understand what the big ruse was with the blackmail and the meeting at the mall and the recorded phone call and letters.

  “Jonas was so sure that you were involved,” said Detective Morris, “that, if he threatened you, you would reveal yourself by trying to do him harm. Why didn’t you go to the police when the first blackmail threat happened?”

  I told him that I had seen how hard Frank’s death had affected Jonas, so much so that he left his job suddenly without telling anyone. I told him that I really did not know what would possess him to say such things about me and I was sorry that it happened. I told him that I was even sorrier that the police had believed him and put me through this.

  I told the detectives that I was late for work and if they wanted to talk to me again I would be happy to in a more pleasant environment. As I was leaving the room, Detective Morris asked me if I needed a ride to my office and I told him no. I hoped that a cab would be much cleaner than a police car.

  There were some things that I knew and some that were still a mystery about this drama. The police were only doing their jobs. They had a homicide that they thought they might be able to solve if Jonas was really onto something. Jonas must have been very convincing to get the police to go along with such an elaborate scheme.

  I was pretty sure that the woman who had done the recording and brought the last letter to me was one and the same. Jonas must have convinced her that there was something to the information he and Frank were gathering and convinced her to help. I honestly did not believe that another copy of the file existed – Jonas was bluffing about that – he just wanted some kind of protection if anything went wrong.

  It was risky for me to make anything happen to this woman or Jonas at this time. I had to talk to both of them and try to convince them to drop this craziness. I really needed to find out what they believed and convince them that I was just an ordinary man trying to make a day-to-day living.

  The next day I drove to Mary’s office to talk to her. As we were walking toward an empty office, she kept on glancing at the other employees. I could smell her sweating and I could sense her nervousness. Mary and I went in. I set up two chairs facing each other and I started by asking her how she was. She told me she was doing well and wanted to know what this was all about. I told her that I knew that she and Jonas had been working with the police to set up a blackmail scheme in order to get me to do something stupid. I asked her to help me understand what was going on and why she and Jonas were trying to get me into trouble.

  “Jonas and Frank had been asking lots of questions about what areas I worked in,” she said. “They told me about strange things that have been happening to people that they know – about how files had disappeared – and about how Frank was killed. Jonas said he knew you did all that stuff.”

  I was having a hard time following her conversation because she was nervous and speaking fast and starting to sob. All of a sudden she stopped, looked at me, and started to cry. We sat there for a while until she composed herself. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said she was so sorry. I asked her if she believed all this stuff. She told me that she did not believe any of it but Jonas threatened her. If she did not help him, he would tell the boss that she had been referring customers to a friend of hers.

  I told her not to worry and asked if she knew where Jonas was. She told me that she had not seen him since he handed her the last letter to deliver to me. I recounted my conversation with the police, and their hunch that Frank’s death was a robbery that went bad.

  “I think that Jonas is having a mental breakdown because of it and needs someone to blame,” I told her. She apologized again and I said not to worry, I would take care of it. I winked at her and said, “No, I will not bring any harm to him.” She smiled and went back to her desk.

  I would not have to harm Mary. One of my fears was that I would have to resort to feeding on someone that I knew, unless they were trying to do me harm. In Frank’s case, even though I knew him the only way I could get rid of his threat to me was to kill him. In my opinion, he was not a pleasant person and I am sure that he had some other motive for going after me. Mary was dragged into something that she did not want to be a part of. Jonas was going to be a problem that I would have to deal with in some way. Given his police involvement, I would have to think very carefully of how I would deal with him.

  I was changing my hunting and feeding patterns. I no longer had to wait for unsuspecting people to come out of bars or clubs. I did not have to roam the streets looking for vulnerable people anymore. I slipped into houses, hotels, and any place where people would be sleeping during the night. My favorite places were motels along major freeways. The majority of people that would stay there were either on vacation or driving through and staying the night. They were usually tired from a long day of driving, or from visiting one of the many amusement parks in the Los Angeles area.

  Motels had windows that faced the outside of the building and were easy to get into. I found out that many people would leave their windows open enough to get fresh air and that would be the perfect invitation for me. I knew that this way of feeding was a little more dangerous for me because there was more of a chance of being discovered. My skill at moving around was at its peak. I felt like a shadow moving around a room. Once, while in a room I glanced at a mirror and saw myself, as a mist, moving around in the room. I could feed on a resident and nobody would stir.

  My body was changing. At night while I was hunting, I felt like a ghost moving in a world full of people. It was like time was standing still and I could move through it without disturbing anyone or anything. During the day I felt like a normal person living a normal life. If any harm was going to come to me, it would be during the day. I had never heard of any creature that had the ability to move through this world without being detected. There are animals that move with such stealth that you do not know they are there until you meet them face to face.

  As I look back at that time in the desert, I recall seeing bats flying around the cactus feeding on the nectar of the cactus flowers. I also remember seeing them flying around the light of my campfire, catching insects. They flew so fast and with such stealth that it was almost impossible to see them. All they left was a silhouette of where they once were. I was experiencing that same effect, only more pronounced. I had suspected that I had been bitten by a bat, but now I was pretty sure that was what had happened. The virus passing through my body must have been transferred to me when one of those bats was feeding on my blood.

  During my normal nocturnal feedings, I had conscience thoughts of what I was doing. Only when I did not feed for a while did the urge take over. I vowed not to let that happen. The biggest problem I still had was experiencing my victims’ emotions but I was getting used to that. Most of them felt sadness and loneliness. Many had feelings of despair and worry. Once in a while I would come across someone that was truly happy and at peace with their life. Those were the ones that made me feel glad that I was alive and were a big reason that I had to change the kind of victims I was selecting. I know that the kind of creature that I am is not supposed to have these kinds of feelings. I know that I am not the typical vampire one reads about in books or sees in movies. Maybe I am not a vampire. Maybe I am something else that does not fit the description that was created for a vampire. Maybe someone reading this diary will have an answer that I can accept.

  Because I was living two lives, I had to take care of the problems presented to me during my daytime life. Because I did not use any money except for buying clothing and maintaining my car I was building a very large bank account. The bank I used was not calling and asking if I wanted to invest or buy into bonds or anything like that. But I was afraid that the I.R.S. would see my account and start asking questions.

  I decided that I had to go see a financial advisor
. I knew that I could not use the attorney that I used in Las Vegas because it was only a matter of time before she would be discovered for her own crimes. I could not lose everything I had worked for. I had met several people during my previous life that were good choices.

  There was a man I knew that lived in Nevada. I gave him a call, using my current identity. I didn’t want him to know that we once knew each other, even though he probably wouldn’t recognize me. We set up an appointment.

  I flew up to Carson City the following weekend and met Randy. I gave him all the details having to do with my finances. I told him I needed to invest a lot of the funds but also wanted to keep some available for my daily expenses. While we were visiting, I turned over all responsibility for my taxes to him so that I would not have to deal with them. I was sure he would do the right thing to keep any tax organizations off my back. Maybe I was being a little paranoid.

  While there, I visited a couple of casinos and fed off a drunken gambler who had passed out in his room. I had planned on staying there for two nights and had no trouble finding victims to feed on. I found that the emotions of these people were a lot more negative that the ones I had experienced while feeding in motels. It was like I was in Las Vegas again.

  Chapter 12

  Just when I thought that the issue with Jonas was over, an opportunity came up where I could end this once and for all. I was visiting his former office when Mary came up to me and told me that he had called her, wanting any information she had about what had happened and what I was doing.