One More Bite, One More Lie

Chapter 2

Percy didn‘t quite know what he was feeling when he waited in front of his house, at the crack of dawn. Of course she was going to choose an early time to pick him up, his neighbors would have been suspicious. And yet, once a car parked in his driveway, Percy felt himself tense up. That was her, wasn‘t it? The driver‘s door opened and indeed, Nora Hanson stepped out of the vehicle. He was certainly surprised she was the one who was going to take him, but he wasn‘t complaining. At least she was a face he was already used to, and while he couldn‘t quite categorize her it was better than a ride with a stranger. His thoughts cut short when she approached him… visibly tired. Percy raised a confused eyebrow, it was daylight, why was she so tired? So a vampire? But her teeth didn‘t seem to end in fangs, so human but sleep deprived? But even then her movements were too sluggish to be simple sleep deprivation.

"I‘ve taken a larger car, that should fit all your stuff inside."

Percy nodded, taking the first of his three suitcases to swing it into the open trunk. "Sure. You don't have to wait outside the car." He heard her chuckle behind him as she handed him the second of his suitcases. "I like to greet people, thank you very much."

After handing him the last suitcase, Hanson vanished onto the driver‘s seat and let Percy be the one to close the trunk again, before he sat down next to her on the passenger seat. He had rarely been in such an expensive car, yet alone driven one himself, so he did feel a bit weird sitting in this thing.
"You're exhausted. Sure you can drive?"
"Absolutely. I'm just more of a night person and usually get up around early afternoon."

Hand resting on the keys to turn the engine, Hanson eyed Percy up once more, and said one responded her look nonchalantly. What was it now?
"...you‘re a human, aren‘t you?“

Percy paused, deadpanned for a second. What a stupid question. With a father who despised vampires from the bottom of his heart like this, who would assume he was a vampire? No. Gulp it down Percy. Not the right moment to be sassy.
"I was turned when I was little."
That wasn‘t exactly what not being sassy meant. But, who could blame him?
Hanson rolled her eyes a little and breathed out a soft sigh. Obviously she hadn‘t been as fond of his joke as he had been.
"Don't get sassy with me, if you get turned you're not ageing anymore. I was asking about other options. You could be a hybrid, for example. A daywalker. The possibilities are endless with modern technology to hide who you really are. But..."
She paused shortly, trying not to let her satisfaction about this show. Percy had to hold back from scowling at this, it was still more than obvious he was a human.
"You seem to be just a regular human. Good~ I don't like the thought of you jumping colleagues because you haven't figured out how things work at the base yet."
"Jumping colleagues. That's under my pride. But good thing you mention it... How do things work at the base? Where do your vampires get their... Food from?"

Percy watched her, carefully. Every word got weighed as he did not want to give her any stupid ideas. It would have been awful to become a walking blood donor for god knew how many vampires. Yet much to his surprise, the ravenette seemed unfazed, turning on the engine and taking quietly off. Eyes focused onto the road, she kept quiet for a second to try and formulate her work so far, then reopened her mouth.
"After a few... accidents... at the beginning... I've called a medical bay into life. Various workers of mine have signed up to donate blood every two weeks, as it takes that long to regenerate, while I've also organized a contract with a blood donation company to keep the sugar running for our vampires. Feeding happens every four days to keep the rations stable, where each vampire lines up and gets a pack of blood to take home. It's their decision if they drink it right away or save it for another time."
She paused for a second, flashing a glance at Percy to see wether he understood the procedure.
"Due to this procedure, vampires and humans have no problem living door to door with each other. There is a huge amount of trust involved but it worked for a while now, so I do not see any reason to change policy."