Vampire

This was actually Story #2 from my NaNo adventure and in the process of editing I cut about a thousand words from it. I may redo this story at a later time and add back in some more relevant details, but the words I cut were pretty superfluous.

Prompt: Go over to your bookshelf, close your eyes, and pick up the first book you touch. Open the book to a random page, read the first full sentence on that page, and use it as the inspiration for a story or scene. Please include the original line at the beginning or end of your response. The book I touched was an anthology by Somerset Maugham, and the sentence comes from the story, The Death of Ivan Ilych.

While she was kissing him he hated her from the bottom of his soul and with difficulty refrained from pushing her away. But he had a job to do, and pretending he cared for her was part of it. He poured himself into the kiss when what he really wanted to do was sanitize his whole body, from the inside out.

“There now, darling. That should hold me until I get back.” She ran a hand suggestively down his body and he hoped she took his shiver for excitement, not revulsion.

With a swirl of her cloying perfume, she was gone, leaving him alone in the opulent sitting room. Sighing with relief, he went over to stare into the fire that he’d laid in the fireplace not two hours earlier. It was still burning well, but he stabbed at it with the poker anyway, imagining he was stabbing her.

Knowing he was being watched, he sighed again and strove to look sad that she’d left him alone. Going over to the drink cart, he poured himself a shot of twenty-year-old Scotch whiskey – one of the few perks of the job. Tossing it back, he enjoyed the burn on its way down and then poured another.

Taking his time with the second drink, he wandered over to the French doors and looked out at the estate gardens. A flash of something in the tree line caught his eye. He frowned as the flash repeated. Sipping his drink, he opened the French doors and stepped nonchalantly through.

He worked his way casually in the general direction of the flash. A bend in the path and he was out of sight of the house, but not of the watchers. He knew there were cameras in the woods too. Whoever was out here was playing a dangerous game, for both of them.

“Has she tasted you yet?” a voice whispered from the underbrush.

He paused, as though taking a rest, and answered quietly, with the minimal amount of movement of his lips. “Yes, just a taste though. She seems distracted.”

“No, she’s just taking her time. Pretend to tie your shoe,” the voice ordered. “Set your drink down beside this tree so you can use both hands.”

He did as he was instructed, taking his time as he fumbled with his shoe. It didn’t surprise him in the least when the liquid in his drink jostled, then stilled again.

“The serum’s perfected?” he asked under his breath.

“Yes. Bon appetite.”

He rose, bringing his drink with him, and casually circled back towards the house. Pausing in the rose garden, he tossed back the rest of his drink, managing to keep his face expressionless despite the bitter taste the serum imparted. A hint of a smile hovered over his lips as he felt it coursing through his system. It was only a matter of time now.

He could feel it changing his blood to something deadly, and it made him happy. His family had been killed by the queen’s vampires, although she had no idea. Not that she would have cared even if she did, other than the fact she wouldn’t have trusted him enough to get close to her.

He thought about indulging in another scotch while he waiting for her to return, to bolster his courage for what lay ahead, but he wanted to face her with a clear head. He knew she was getting tired of him, and exactly how their special night was to end tonight. He knew he should be scared, but what he was he was feeling was a profound sense of relief.

There was a noise in the hall and he braced himself. She was back.

“Hello, darling,” the queen said, sweeping into the room. “Did you miss me?”

“Always,” he said, smiling at her.

“Would you like something to eat? I know you humans gain your energy from food.”

“All I need is you,” he said, rising to his feet and going to her. “I burn for you.”

“Well,” she said, pleased. “Then you shall have me.”

Without further ado she led the way out of the room and up the stairs to her opulent bed chamber. “I’ll just call the maid, shall I?”

“Let me be your maid,” he said earnestly. “This is a special night, after all.”

“You almost make me want to keep you,” she said, smiling indulgently. “Shall I make you one of us?”

“As milady wishes,” he said, undoing the buttons on the back of her gown slowly, to prolong things. She preferred to wear old-fashioned dresses with many buttons and flounces. As he worked his way through the many layers, he murmured endearments and compliments, touching and stroking as he went.

“Yes,” she said on a gasp. “Perhaps I shall make you one of us.”

“Whatever pleases milady.”

“What pleases me right now is to take you,” she said. She pushed him down onto the bed, ripping away his clothing, and then mounted him.

“Yes!” she hissed, fangs showing. She rode him fast and furiously.

“Take me, take me now!” he demanded, just as he was about to climax. He turned his head to bare his throat to her.

She hissed, jaws open wide to show her fangs, then sank her teeth into his neck. He felt the sharp pain of her bite, then a pulling sensation as she began to drain his blood. When he felt her start and begin to falter, he held her head in place, as if he could force her to keep drinking his tainted blood.

“What have you done to me,” she demanded, pulling back.

“You don’t look so good, darling,” he mocked. She was no longer young, and her beauty was fading.

“What have you done to me?” she repeated. She pulled completely away from him, trying to rise from the bed but having trouble doing so.

“Only what you deserve,” he said, sitting up, oblivious to the blood trickling down his throat.

She fell off the bed, writhing on the floor as his tainted blood coursed through her. “I am the queen!” she said, voice cracking. “I am supposed to live forever.”

“Nothing lives forever,” he said dispassionately, looking down on her as she began to age rapidly. “Not vampires, and not humans.”

As she turned to dust he lay back with a sigh and closed his eyes.