by Mel Teshco
I rubbed vaguely at the tense knot in my belly. I also had no idea how soon real hunger pains would cripple me. I’d never consumed so much vampire blood and didn’t know if that meant I’d go longer without needing another drink, or quite the reverse.
The man strode toward the car and opened its trunk. He placed the carton of beer with a dozen others already inside before he pulled open the cardboard box and dragged out a six-pack. “Yeah, I just bet he is. The backseat is free.”
As Maya told him the address, I settled into the seat beside her, trying not to wrinkle my nose at the smell of weed and filth that permeated the car. Trying not to think of what drug the driver might be on behind the wheel. But mostly trying not to think about what I’d wanted to do to that same man after the way he’d looked at Maya.
I snapped my seatbelt into place, my hands fisting even before the driver’s brother turned in his seat with glassy eyes and a goofy grin. “Now this is a party,” he slurred, before he guffawed and said, “I’ve never had a threesome before.”
I leaned forward, my blood—and the vampire blood—pumping hard through my veins. “And you’re not about to today.”
The driver handed his brother the beers then fired up the engine. “Chill out, little brother, there’s a hooker waiting for us both when we get home.”
The birthday boy hooted, “Hell yeah!” and ripped open the six-pack to free the beers. He gave one to the driver even as the tires screeched and the car pulled out onto the road. He then pulled free the rest of the beers and offered each of us one. I looked at Maya, who shrugged and accepted. With a nod of thanks, I took one too, relishing the yeasty, cold brew as it slid down my throat.
The fact that it wasn’t the blood that sustained me for once didn’t seem to matter. I frowned. Did I enjoy the beer because I was no longer in the nest? Normally I had to force myself to swallow anything other than blood.
“So you two live around here?” the driver asked, taking a long draft of his beer before glancing at us in his rearview mirror.
“I do,” Maya conceded.
Birthday boy slurped back his beer. “If you’ve got some free time, you should come party with us.” He sniggered. “I’m sure the hooker will be long gone by the time the real party starts.”
I was about to reject his offer when Maya leaned forward in her seat and asked, “Where’s the party?”
He gave us the address and I frowned at the uncomfortable feeling of anxiety pushing through me like barbs. I’d never been the possessive type, maybe because my wife had been the jealous one. Clara had assumed I screwed other women like a gigolo. She had no reason to believe I’d kept my dick in my pants and my conscience clean.
In many ways, I believe my wife had helped harden my heart toward the donors in the nest. Aside from physical release, I’d never once wanted to lay claim to any of them. Until Maya.
I turned away from the beautiful woman next to me and stared out of the window as shops, tall buildings, apartments and townhouses whizzed past. Everything was so incredibly different. The houses, cars, fashions, even hairstyles. And everyone appeared to be in a hurry, rushing from one place to the next as if they too were being chased by a deadly vampire, even as many of them had tiny, cordless phones pressed against their ears.
I exhaled softly, wishing I had nothing more to worry about than a career, a wife, family and that I’d met Maya under any other circumstances than we had. But mostly I wished vampires had stayed in folklore and not reality.
The car slowed. “This your place?” the driver asked with a raised eyebrow and a close-lipped smile.
Jesus, even this man felt bad for us. Little wonder. I stared out at the shabby house with a heavy heart. I didn’t hold out much hope that whoever lived there would be able to help us. It looked like someplace a junkie would reside.
Maya thanked them and the birthday boy reminded us to join them at the party, before they peeled away in a cloud of fumes and burned rubber. Maya coughed and adjusted her backpack before she looked up me with a serious expression. “Are you okay?”
I nodded and swiped a hand over my face. “Better than I’ve been in a very long time.”
We walked toward the front gate when she hissed sharply and bent over, clutching at her belly. “Fuck.”
I rubbed her back, about as powerless and useless as a two-legged dog. “It will pass soon.”
“So. You. Keep. Telling. Me.”
I waited patiently for her cramps to fade. Not even ten seconds later they did exactly that as she straightened and pushed back her shoulders. Though her face was a little pale, she managed a smile and croaked out, “Let’s talk to this doctor and see what he knows.”
I adjusted the backpack on my shoulders and led the way along the lopsided pathway before I rapped on the door. I wasn’t about to allow thoughts of the growing afternoon to enter my head.
“I saw a curtain flick in the window to the right,” Maya whispered. She cleared her throat and yelled, “Doctor Newry, we know you’re home! If you want us to leave you alone, then I suggest you open the door so we can talk.”
Another minute ticked by. I frowned, and resisted glancing behind us at the sky. It was my turn to negotiate. “We think you might be able to help us, maybe even save us from the vampire we escaped.”
I didn’t much care who heard my words. It was imperative the doctor answered his damn door.
Footsteps scuffled our way, and the rattle of at least three locks slid free before the door opened. A grizzly faced man peered out at us, his light blue eyes glittering shrewdly behind wire-framed glasses. “Either you’re both freakin’ mad, or you’re trying to get us killed.”
Chapter Six
I stepped away from Maya and closer to the doctor. “You’ve hardly kept things quiet. If you wanted to be all secretive about vampires, you wouldn’t have gone public.”
“Yeah, well, now that everyone thinks I’m a crazy old man, I don’t vocalize my ramblings anymore.”
Maya moved close beside me. “We believe you,” she said quietly. “We’re hoping you’ll believe us too, and that you’ll help us.”
The doctor pushed back his glasses. “And just how do you think I’ll be able to help?”
Maya brushed a hand over her throat. “The vampire didn’t just take us to his nest and feed from us. His blood made us addicts too, and now we need something to neutralize the cravings.”
The doctor blinked. “He fed you his blood?” he murmured. Then he focused on us and said, “Why would you believe I know how to stop these cravings? I’ve learned little to nothing about vampires except in fairytales, and I know even less about their blood.”
“Yet you claim they exist!” Maya burst out.
The doctor’s face flushed. “Because I saw one of them take my daughter from her bedroom.” He swallowed convulsively. “I saw his fangs drip with my daughter’s blood after he’d pierced her throat and drank from her.” He pushed a hand over his face. “I just…stood there and watched as he jumped from the opened window with her in his arms.”
Maya’s eyes widened and I shrank a little inside. One of the vampire’s donors—my so-called playthings—had been this man’s daughter.
Sophie. It was more than possible. The doctor’s article had been released nine months ago, around the time Sophie had been brought up to the nest. The same woman who’d chosen death over being a vampire’s meal.
Rest in peace, Sophie.
Maya flashed me a questioning look and I shook my head. I wasn’t one hundred percent certain and wondered if it was better the doctor was spared from the truth. I had an unshakeable gut feeling the man lived only to find his daughter.
The doctor subsided into silence and, though he looked haggard, his eyes suddenly gleamed. “You said a vampire had taken you to his lair—”
“Nest,” I corrected automatically.
The doctor inhaled sharply. “You didn’t happen to see my daughter, Nancy, did you? Tall, long blonde hair, honey-brown eyes
and always smiling—”
Sophie had been Nancy. Knowing her real name and meeting her father made the woman I’d lived with for a short time more real to me, even though she’d never been deader. Made me want to quietly mourn for the woman she should have been. I shook off anguish for her and all the women who’d died in the nest, and said sharply, “No, sorry. I didn’t see her.”
The doctor pushed his glasses into place yet again and sighed resignation. “Then our conversation is over.”
I stuck a foot in the door as he went to push it shut. “Wait.” He glowered at me and I said quietly, “You’re a doctor. You must know of some way we can neutralize the addiction.”
“A blood transfusion is the only thing I’d suggest,” he said sharply. “Now get out of here before you get me killed too.”
My heart pounded with a surge of adrenaline and I moved my foot away before the door slammed shut. Maya turned to me. “Do you think he might be right?”
I nodded, deliberately toning it down. “Maybe.” All that mattered to me was that a blood transfusion might also see the vampire blood cells die off quicker, making it all but impossible for our host to find us.
But as we walked back down the path, I couldn’t help but notice that the shadows were growing longer and the sun was falling all too quickly toward the horizon. Maya followed my stare skyward, her face pinched and lips tight. Danger would be closing in soon.
The vampire wouldn’t allow us simply to walk away. We were…his.
I blew out a slow breath. “We need to figure out a place to stay. Somewhere we can hide for the night.”
“We already have one.” Maya turned to me. “The eighteenth birthday party. It will probably be crowded with people. I can’t think of a safer place.”
I wasn’t about to stand around and argue. We weren’t exactly flush with options. “How far?” I asked.
The Sydney suburbs weren’t familiar to me anymore and I had no way to gauge distances.
She bit her bottom lip and glanced skyward, adjusting her backpack as she said, “If we speed-walk we’ll get there before nightfall.”
I clasped her hand in mine, taking a small moment to savor the perfect fit, the zing of connection. I squeezed her fingers before I released hold. “Then we’d better run for it.”
The party was already in full swing when we arrived, out of breath and uncomfortably hot. But at least we’d made it a good fifteen or twenty minutes before nightfall…at least we’d made it at all.
I turned Maya toward me and cupped her chin so that she looked up at me. “We can do this,” I murmured, and pressed my lips to her silky soft mouth, kissing her with a tenderness I wouldn’t have thought I was capable of just a few days ago.
She sighed, and I flicked my tongue between her opened lips, tasting her vanilla sweetness. My dick jerked involuntarily even as she pulled back, her eyes glinting. “We can. We’re survivors.”
My lust dimmed a little as I wondered about her past. I knew so little about her. But I had no time to dwell on it. I only hoped that sometime soon, I could find out everything there was to know. Instead I nodded, and took her hand in mine before we walked through a crooked wire gate and along a path toward the opened front door.
I guided her around a couple making out, the man’s buttocks white in the growing shadows, the woman’s blouse unbuttoned and her breasts exposed. Maya looked up at me with wide eyes and I sensed her unease, along with a shiver of desire.
I swallowed a groan. Our first time together would be in private, her gasps for my ears only, her nakedness for my eyes alone.
We entered a crowded living room, my stare meeting the older brother’s. He grinned on seeing us and lifted a hand before he turned toward his younger brother and shouted, “Hey, Daryl, look who just showed up!”
Daryl pulled himself away from a knot of semi-adults drinking beers and passing around a bong. A goofy grin lit up his face at seeing us. “Well, fuck me, this is unexpected.”
He approached us in a swaggering and unsteady gait, then leaned down and kissed Maya on the lips. Before I could react, he turned and planted a kiss on my mouth too. I swiped at my lips and he barked out a laugh and said, “Don’t worry, mate, I might be partial to both.” He grabbed his groin and gave it a gleeful rub. “But my birthday gift left me completely drained.”
He twisted around and said, “You’ve met my brother, Rory, and these here are my mates—bozos the lot of ‘em, but I wouldn’t be without them.”
I followed him and stayed polite as he introduced us to one friend after another, one of whom nodded even as he blew a thick plume of smoke our way. I clamped my lips at the bong smoke. How high will we be by the end of the night?
At least it might hold off our blood cravings for a little longer.
“So grab yourselves some beers and enjoy the party,” Daryl ended, somehow speaking clearly while sucking down the last of his own beer and looking as if a breeze would blow him off balance.
When he disappeared through a haze of smoke and music which was louder than tolerable, we grabbed a beer each and walked freely through the house. We needed to check out its layout and try to formulate some kind of plan.
But it was a ground-level house, with nothing to shield us from a vampire who could brainwash possibly everyone in the room—particularly when they were high on weed and numbed by alcohol.
I turned to Maya. “This won’t work—”
My words froze as I watched one of the partygoers lift a hatch that was concealed in the hallway floor, before the man disappeared underground to what I assumed was a cellar.
Maya noticed too, her face relaxing just a little as she twisted back to face me. “Maybe it will work?” she suggested.
I looked around. No one was taking much notice of anyone else. If we could slip inside the cellar and stay there the night, without anyone seeing us, even a vampire’s brainwashing wouldn’t matter. He might sense we were around, but the cloying scents of smoke and sweat might put him off our trail.
I turned to Maya. “See if you can grab some blankets, anything clean. I’ll get the party distracted somehow.”
When she went to do as I asked, I caught her arm and murmured, “Stay where there are people.”
“I will,” she said, before disappearing through the crowd.
I watched her go, reassuring myself she’d be okay, even as the hatch lifted and the guest climbed out, a bottle of rum in one hand and a bag of something else in the other.
I blew out a slow breath and stepped toward the brothers. It was time to make a distraction.
Daryl was now fighting to stand, but I gave him full marks for lasting the distance with so many toxins in his body. I turned to his older brother, Rory. “Hey, great party.”
He nodded. “Fucking oath it is.”
I grinned. “Only one thing’s missing…”
Rory swayed. He looked as though he was catching up to his younger brother in the drinking stakes. His bleary stare focused on me. “Yeah?”
“You had a hooker.”
Rory’s face split into a wide grin. “Yeah, I shared some pussy with my brother.”
“So, where’re the strippers?” I leaned close. “Or is one of these gorgeous women going to put on a show?”
He nodded, a light in his eyes. “You’re fucking right!” He looked around the room, his voice booming over the music. “I need a beautiful volunteer.” Everyone turned to him. “Which sexy woman wants to perform a striptease?” He held up a bag of weed and shouted, “With this as the prize!”
At the cheers and hoots of encouragement, I faded back into the crowd. When the music changed into something hot and seductive, I smiled. No one would notice us disappear into the cellar.
* * * *
I slinked out of what I presumed was a guest bedroom with a pillow and two blankets folded under an arm. Everyone who’d lingered in the hallway was now part of the knot of people in the living room avidly watching the show.
I smirked a
t seeing the buxom blonde woman on the dining table in her underwear, swaying seductively to the music. When she unclipped her bra and tossed it into the crowd, her big breasts bobbing to the movement, everyone roared with approval. The roar amplified when she used one hand to pull at her pink nipples and slid her other hand inside her panties.
Alexander stepped toward me, glancing around before he lifted the hatch. “After you,” he murmured.
I nodded thanks and said, “Great distraction.”
He waited until I’d climbed down the stairs before he climbed in after me, then closed the hatch to complete darkness.
But the sudden panic I swallowed back wasn’t just from the impenetrable blackness. It was as much from the all-too-familiar vile scent of something between cat urine and ammonia. I dumped the blankets and pillow on the floor before peeling off my backpack and riffling through it in search of my pen flashlight.
Alexander stepped onto the concrete floor beside me as I flicked on the beam that sliced through the darkness. My heart rate steadied only a little as I moved the light over the row upon row of shelving in front of us that was filled with dusty bottles of booze. I moved the light farther along, to where the shelves ended, leaving a small gap between them and the concrete wall.
I led the way, squeezing through the gap, my stare going wide and my belly sinking at what I’d suspected.
“What is it?” Alexander asked from behind me.
I swallowed past my dry throat, a little nauseous and dizzy from the smells…and the memories. “It’s a meth lab.” I turned to him. “They’re making drugs. If they find us down here, we’re as good as dead.”
“Fuck.” He stared past me at the table filled with common household items. Aluminum foil, pressure cookers, a camp stove, two blenders, dozens of empty milk bottles, latex gloves, funnels, chemistry glassware, paper towels, pH test kits, coffee filters, cotton balls, duct tape, jugs, thermometers and plastic tubing. That wasn’t to mention the bleach, gas cans, pool chemicals and propane tanks lined against the wall.
