by M. D. Bowden
Sarah could smell delicious tantalizing scents drift in from the kitchen. Her mum emerged with the ceramic dish holding the homemade casserole. She placed it in the middle of the table, ‘No touching kiddies, it’s VERY hot,’ she emphasized, before going back into the kitchen for the cooked potatoes.
Trying to ignore Daniel, who was sitting silently to her right, Sarah leant over and began dishing up casserole for Megan and Bea. She gave them each a chicken drumstick and picked them out veggies from the stew. They would not eat a scoop of casserole if it was placed on their plates - Sarah had to divide it into individual segments if it was not to be rejected.
Sarah turned to Daniel and tried to sound confident, ‘Would you like some casserole?’
‘Yes please,’ he replied - he’s so polite, thought Sarah – and then he continued, ‘I’m very hungry, it’s been a busy day.’ He half smiled, the corner of his mouth curling up in a way Sarah couldn’t help imagine had hidden meaning, while he looked secretly amused.
Alice had returned with the potatoes and taken her seat. Everyone helped themselves and began buttering them. The children’s chatter helped to cover Sarah’s silence as she tried to remain calm. His arm was so close.
She took a steadying breath and tried to chew her food. Her father, Keith, picked up the bottle of red and refilled their glasses. Alice and Keith, being either side of Megan, fussed over her while she tucked into her food. Even Bea started to eat her casserole. Sarah was relieved she didn’t have to hassle them - her parents were an exciting enough influence to give her a break.
But Sarah could not relax, she was aware of Daniel’s every movement. Every time he took a bite. The sound of him eating. Every time he picked up his wineglass.
Her parents weren’t paying him any attention; they were fixated on their food and grandchildren.
Sarah decided to be brave; she looked over towards him, after swallowing the food already in her mouth. He was already looking her way, still with that half amused look on his face. As if he’s aware of how uncomfortable he’s making me. And how attractive I find him.
‘Where have you come from Daniel?’
‘Oh, I’ve lived lots of places,’ he confided with a smile, ‘but most recently I moved from not so far away, a little town in Alaska.’
‘Alaska? Wow that must have been incredible’, said Sarah, imagining walking in icy landscapes.
Where they lived in Canada had plenty of snow and ice in winter too, but the more extreme weather always appealed to Sarah.
‘Incredible? That’s not the response I usually get. Most people associate further north with cold and depression.’
‘No, I find cold and ice inspiring.’
Daniel looked amused, again, as though this was not the response he was expecting from her. He also looked freely intrigued; his eyes boring into hers, as though he was searching her.
Sarah looked down, embarrassed, and slowly chewed her food before returning to the conversation. God, he was intense, he really did take her breath away. But he made her feel funny. She was not entirely sure of him. What was it about him? Something she didn’t trust? Was it merely his unbelievable attractiveness, his secrecy, or his confidence in an unfamiliar household? Hey, maybe he’d been here before.
Sarah drank some more wine. It was a good job she could stay tonight as she was already on her third glass. The food her mom had made was good, and the combination of getting some food inside her - and the confidence the alcohol fueled, allowed her to ask the next question.
‘Did you move here with anyone?’
Oh god, he must know I find him attractive after asking that question. He must also know I’m married.
But not giving his thoughts away in the slightest, he smiled, his grin dazzling. ‘No, I moved here alone.’
Sarah felt relieved, but tried not to show it. God, what if her parents saw? Although would they really care anyway? It’s not like they’re so fond of Jo. And they know we’ve had, and still do have, our problems.
***
Jo drove furiously out of town and round the winding back lanes. He reached Quarry Bridge and parked his car. He got out and leant against his bonnet, looking across the Quarry Lake and cliffs in the darkness. It was a vast space and he breathed in the night air, smelling the scent of conifers on the breeze.
It was chilly but now he didn’t feel the cold. And he no longer felt scared. He was peacefully relaxed and at ease with himself. As the bat landed next to him on the bonnet and materialized into a dark haired man, Jo didn’t even blink. At once he knew that he had been right. He had not been having delusions. The man was a vampire – he didn’t know how he knew – he just did.
‘Beautiful evening, is it not?’ the man said, his stare intense, hypnotizing.
Jo just nodded. He didn’t even flinch as the vampire leant across and, with one fast movement, snapped Jo’s neck.
***
The vampire wasn’t yet sure what he planned to do with Jo, yet he had decided Jo would be useful to him. It hadn’t been a hard decision turning him into a vampire. He had done it quite a few times over the centuries and realized how useful it could be to have an ally in a new town – especially with Daniel loitering around. He could never tell what Daniel might be planning, so it would be good to have extra muscle around, just in case.
He hadn’t yet decided whether he would let Jo go back to his old life and live with his wife and children. It would be a risk, he may become exposed. He probably wouldn’t be able to control himself. And he wouldn’t always be there to help him.
Maybe he would just keep Jo hidden, teach him to hunt at night. There were plenty of bars in town, dark and dingy, where they’d hardly be noticed leaving with different people each night. Jo would have a ferocious appetite as a newly turned vampire.
In fact the vampire, Sebastian, couldn’t wait to find out what Jo would be like. The transition into a vampire was a funny thing. Sometimes people kept their human personalities and resisted the change in lifestyle. Other times they embraced it, hunted wildly and forgot their human connections. Sometimes they tormented the connections they still remembered from their humanity, they haunted them or killed them.
He wondered how Jo’s family would fare. Hmm, if Jo killed his family it probably would get noticed. Sebastian decided he would keep Jo to himself for now, he would train him and turn him into the sort of vampire he wanted, away from outside influences. Sort of like a pet project. It could be fun to see him struggle and possibly go a little crazy.
Sebastian lifted the now dead Jo off the floor and opened the trunk. He pushed him into the back, where nobody would notice, and slid into the front seat himself. He reversed out of the quarry parking lot and headed further into the woods.
Chapter 2
Sarah thought back to two years previously, not long after she’d had Bea. She had felt awful, and not at her most attractive. Looking after Megan and Bea together was hard work and she still hadn’t fully recovered from the birth. She was sore and had a post baby flabby tummy. Her breasts were large and uncomfortable. She had often pulled away from Jo’s touch as she was seldom in the mood.
All her attention had been on her kids, she was surrounded by love and need and physical affection from her children. She needed space. But it was an awful time for Jo to do what he did. He should have waited for her to recover. All men must get frustrated with their wives after having children, when their children are very young and monopolize their mother’s attention. And labor is hard. God, the hardest thing she’s ever had to endure. It takes time to recover. And instead of looking after her, instead of staying home more and looking after the children, to give her a break, what did he do? He started going out more. He was completely selfish.
I should have left him then, Sarah thought. But she couldn’t, she felt trapped - how would she cope without Jo? She loved him regardless, and didn’t want to move back in with her parents. However much she loved them she couldn’t live with them, they would driv
e her crazy. Anyway, Jo had met someone else. He’d slept with her for god’s sake. And Sarah had stayed with him anyway. She still loved him, and yet she hated him. It was so confusing. She hated the situation he’d put them in. The ridiculousness of the situation! She pretended everything was OK, but it wasn’t.
Coming out of her reverie she looked into Daniel’s eyes - he was regarding her closely. Almost as though he was watching her thoughts. Sarah shook her head, there was no point dwelling on that now, but she looked down and put some more chicken in her mouth, as tears came to her eyes. She blinked them back - she would not cry about this again.
At that point Daniel leant his leg against hers. Oh my god, oh my god.
As heat rose up her neck she concentrated on swallowing and looked over at Bea who was now climbing off her chair as Alice tried to clean her with a napkin. She didn’t move though, she couldn’t move her leg away. Her leg was tingling delightfully and she had to concentrate to stop herself shaking. She picked up her glass and took another sip as she looked back to Daniel over it. He looked perfectly composed, but just for a moment she had thought she caught a predatory look in his eye.
Predatory for her.
She felt shocked. Why would he feel that way about her? I am a mother. I’m married. I live in a small town, and I don’t do anything – don’t even work. Well, I try to write, but so far I am unpublished. I haven’t achieved anything. I am nothing special.
Trying not to keep thinking about herself, trying to keep things normal, she thought she would take a stab at regular conversation.
‘So, where else have you lived in your tour of lots of places?’
He laughed; a small, but free and heart-warming sound.
‘I actually grew up in the South, near New Orleans, but my father was in the army and we moved a lot. We lived in a couple of places in America, along with some time in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. I went to university in England, and since then I’ve spent some time studying at Harvard. But I wanted a change. I wanted some peace. I wanted to try a job I wouldn’t find so taxing so I could focus my time on writing.’
‘Oh really, what kind of thing are you writing?’ Sarah was pleased she’d finally gotten him to open up, but was he telling her the whole truth? Something in his manner caused her to suspect otherwise.
‘I’m writing a fantasy story, about vampires and werewolves.’ He looked at her closely, like he was very intrigued to find out how she would take this information.
‘How compelling,’ she smiled at him. ‘I love fantasy, it sounds exciting, I love plunging into a book and exploring different worlds.’
‘I plan on setting this book here though, in our world. I want to imagine how it would impact a community like this if it was besieged by the supernatural.’
‘Yes, that would be interesting to imagine,’ she said, yet she shivered, wondering where he was going with this. ‘You know, I’m also writing a book.’ She looked across, into his eyes, interested in how he would respond. She was starting to feel more relaxed now they were actually talking, but his knee was still touching hers and she was very conscious of it.
‘Really, what’s your subject matter?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows.
‘Ghost stories, hauntings and the like.’
Sarah looked at Daniel, he had just started to open his mouth to reply when they were interrupted.
‘Sarah, Megan wants you to go up and read her a story.’
Sarah jerked her leg away from Daniel, embarrassed as her Dad was looking at them, pushed her chair back and started to rise.
‘I think this is my cue to leave. Goodnight Sarah,’ he said, extending his hand.
Sarah took it and this time felt a warmth spreading through her body. She didn’t want to let go, but made herself release his hand and step back. His attention shifted to the rest of her family as they exchanged farewells and he left the house as Sarah called, ‘Goodbye’.
She felt an odd sense of loss. There had been no word of seeing him again. But however much Sarah longed after him - he was so beautiful - she resolved it would be best for her, and Jo, if she stayed away from him. He was just too tempting.
After Megan and Bea were tucked up in bed Sarah tried to call Jo, but received no answer.
That night Sarah tossed and turned and dreamt of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, Daniel and Jo. All flitting through her sleeping and waking hours. Haunting images, fearful running, fighting. Jo dead. Daniel’s face.
She woke that morning with the image of Daniel still in her mind, at the forefront of her thoughts. Yet she felt uncomfortable, like something was wrong. She couldn’t point her finger at what it was. She reached for her phone and saw Jo hadn’t called her back. That was strange, he would usually call. Sarah shrugged it off though and started getting herself together for the day.
***
Sebastian parked Jo’s car deep in the woods where nobody would dream of looking for him. He unloaded Jo from the trunk and slung him over his shoulder. Being a vampire had its bonuses, thought Sebastian - Jo was a large man, yet he was easy enough to carry.
Sebastian felt full of strength after pretty much draining Jo of life, earlier that evening. His blood had tasted warm and sweet as he’d fed off him outside Jo’s front door.
That had been fun, Jo hadn’t even seen him coming before he’d had the pleasure of sinking his fangs into his neck. It was not quite as much fun as drinking from a beautiful woman, he mused, images of previous victims surfacing in his mind, but warm blood straight from a living body was always delicious.
Jo had nearly died then, which would have ruined his plans, but he had managed to give him some of his own blood just in time. Once he was healed Sebastian had influenced him to have a nap on his living room floor and he had watched through a gap in the curtains as Jo had awoken all confused. It had been quite amusing!
And then Jo had the stupidity to step out his front door again. What an idiot. His mind obviously hadn’t grasped what had happened - couldn’t absorb the reality of the situation. But then few people could.
If Jo had just been sensible and stayed in his house for a few days, Sebastian wouldn’t have been able to do what he just had - killed him good and proper. Jo would soon wake up though, but he would be no longer living, not in the proper sense. Half human, half demon. Or so they said, whoever they were. Not that Sebastian believed in demons. He was what he was, in fact, there was probably a perfectly rational scientific explanation for vampirism. Probably.
He lay Jo down at the foot of a tree in the place Sebastian presently called home. He liked living in the forest. It was dense, packed with closely growing conifers and spruces. The smell of pine was strong and refreshing. And the tree canopy provided protection from sunlight, even in the day.
Sebastian liked to sleep high in a tree, in the form of a bat. He could handle the sunlight. It was a myth that vampires couldn’t go out in the day - yet most preferred the night. Bright sunshine hurt his eyes and made his skin itch, like there were things crawling under it.
Turning into a bat in the day, when he slept, made it highly unlikely anyone who ventured into the woods would discover him. That’s one thing he would have to teach Jo right away – animal transformations were very useful for keeping under radar.
Jo would need to feed on human blood first though, otherwise he would die. And be truly dead this time.
***
Sarah bundled her kids into the car and made sure they were tightly strapped in. She still hadn’t got through to Jo, the vague memory of him dead in her dream rose to the surface, making her feel a little nauseated. Again she shook the memories of her dream away, preferring to grasp reality.
‘Bye Mom. Bye Dad,’ she shouted and waved. Megan and Bea waved furiously from the back as their grandparents waved from their door.
‘What do you want to do today kiddies, another woodland adventure?’
‘No Mommy, please can we stay in and play little house? How about it Bea, would you lik
e to play little house?’ Megan said, in that sweet way she did when she decided to be nice to Bea.
When they played together it was fantastic and gave Sarah some space to read and get on with jobs. It didn’t happen often though, that was why it was taking her so long to finish her book. Mainly she just wrote in the evenings, or while her parents played with the kids.
Megan had started school last year and she would be returning there on Monday. But for now they had the weekend ahead of them and it would be good to find Jo so they could all do something together. Sarah pushed the thought of Daniel away, trying not to let him creep into this day too, with his good looks and sweet charm. She felt a delightful ache in her heart at his memory. It was going to be hard not to relive the evening in her mind over and over. Please let Jo be home, please be in a good mood Jo, please distract me.
Jo wasn’t home and Sarah couldn’t get through to him when she tried his phone again. Urghhh. Why hasn’t he called to say where the hell he is? This is ridiculous, thought Sarah, I actually miss him and he’s not even here for me to tell him. He better not be with another woman. How ironic would that be after last night? Sarah slumped down on the sofa, in frustration.
Sarah could hear Megan and Bea running around upstairs. They liked to play ‘little house’- they each pretended their bedroom was their own house. They knocked on each other’s bedroom doors to visit and looked at books together tucked under blankets. It was quite adorable.
Sarah did yesterday’s washing up then went upstairs to check on the kids. They were still playing happily so she didn’t dare go in and disturb them. She wandered into her and Jo’s room and sat down on their king-size bed. Sarah looked around.
That’s funny, she thought, it doesn’t look like anything’s changed since yesterday. There was no dirty washing on the floor, as was usual when Jo discarded his clothing at night. The bed was still made, it didn’t look like it had been slept in. Where was Jo?
She wandered back downstairs and snuggled up on the sofa under a blanket, feeling chilly and slightly hung-over. She picked up her book, an adventure story set in the Himalayas, and started to read. Yet she was distracted. Distracted by images of Daniel, which still persisted. Distracted by Jo’s absence.
