Parallel World

Chapter 7

"Everything I do I do for myself - that is the vampire modus operandi," I said. "This new life comes with a mind-blowing sense of freedom. As humans we had to follow so many rules, laws, traditions, customs... As a vampire you obey nothing and no-one, and you have an eternity ahead. This can be such a shock to the system that some of us need a good hundred years to deal with it."

"How about yourself?"

"Me, I only needed a couple of years to adapt. I can't say I felt restricted as a human... And afterwards... Chemistry was still the main thing in my life, my biggest passion. I got a new lab and carried on."

Today I was visiting Chase, my only human friend. The way we met was rather extraordinary - I had saved his life.

It happened about seven months ago. I was having a late night walk around New York when I witnessed an attack and decided to intervene. As it turned out, it was a vampire attack. My inclination to preserve human life kicked in and I hit the vampiress on the back of the head. She let go of her victim - a young man - and he fell onto the ground. I ran at her, she lost balance and we both ended up rolling down the road. She was as strong as me and that meant this could go on for a while. The vampiress tried to scratch my face with her sharp nails, but I managed to grab her arms just in time. We had stopped rolling around and she was on top of me. I freed my right arm for a moment and hit her in the chest, throwing her off me. She landed a few feet away and immediately got up. I, too, stood up. Less than five seconds later we had resumed our fight and were rolling on the pavement again. The place was poorly lit so I had no idea who she was until we landed under a street light. Now I could finally see her face. I had seen her at Glory & Shame a couple of times. Suddenly I realised she wasn't fighting anymore - instead, she was looking very scared. A moment later she had vanished. Superman couldn't have moved any faster. I got up, brushed the dust off my clothes and felt kinda proud about myself. I had no idea I could cause such a reaction. The mere look of my angry face was enough to make a vampire panic. Then I remembered I wasn't here alone. The young man was lying on the ground unconscious. Not being able to think of anything better, I threw him over my shoulder and ran to my flat.

I couldn't leave him on the street but neither could I call 911. Jack was out of town so I took the stranger home. I knew - had Jack been there he probably wouldn't have let us over the threshold. No third parties in the flat, that was part of our agreement.

I was unsure what to do. After all, I was a chemist, not a medic. I put him on my bed and examined the wound.

Meanwhile the young man had regained consciousness. He had no idea what had happened to him and where he was. He was exhausted and passed out again, only this time it was because he had fallen asleep.

By the time I stumbled across him the vampiress had already drank his blood. It was difficult to judge the blood loss. The wound looked messy, just as they always do. He didn't look too pale. I was hoping he hadn't lost more than half a litre - 450 ml was the normal amount for blood donations so it would be harmless. But what if he had lost more blood? I couldn't give him mine as that would turn him into a vampire and Slood wasn't designed for blood transfusions. If he wouldn't get any better soon I would need to source some blood by breaking into a hospital or a blood bank.

I cleaned the wound and sat in my chair next to bed, hoping for the best.

He woke up a few hours later. That's when we finally introduced ourselves. I found out that the stranger's name is Chase, he was 27 years old and serial uni drop-out because no study programme could keep his interest long enough. Therefore, with no degree, he was doing various temp jobs.

I had to leave him for a bit to buy some groceries - the only thing I ever had in my fridge was Slood. Chase stayed at my place for a week although he insisted he felt fine already after four days. I insisted he stayed a few extra days, just in case. I wanted to be totally sure that he really was OK.