Bite Shift

8

"When do you need to be back to work?"

I had actually forgotten about work for a little while. All of the thoughts in my head were fighting to be the loudest and I couldn't focus on any one. It felt like a party where the music is too loud and everyone is yelling to be heard and no one is having the same conversation. Words like blood, eternity and death weaved in and out of the images of my children, my friends, the sun and my reflection. Anything else, anything rational, was lost in the jumble. Funny how the word "vampire" can make you forget you have a water bill to pay.

"Tonight. Then, I have three days off."

We were back in the kitchen. I resumed my seat at the quaint nook. He retrieved a spiral notebook from a drawer next to the kitchen sink and joined me at the table. Inside the silver spiral, holding the pages together, was a black pen. He slipped it out and open to a blank page. He started to scratch the pen across the page and looked back up.

"What about your children," he asked. "Can someone care for them for a few days?"

"Yes. Their Dad. Why?"

He didn't answer right away but scribbled something else below the original writing. His gaze darted around the page and he looked panicked, like a man balancing his checkbook to realize that he had spent too much.

"We have so much to do. So much to handle. It was easier in my time. You just disappeared. But now..." He trailed off and paused for a moment.

"Do you live in a house or apartment? Any animals? Do you have any commitments in the daytime that you cannot get out of?"

I was starting to feel interrogated, like I needed a lawyer. "House. No pets. No, I usually sleep and clean my house. Now, you answer my questions!" I slammed my hand onto the page he was fixed on and he jumped at the interruption. "What is going on? Why do you need all this? When am I getting this 'teaching' you promised? What happens at sunrise and what is the turning??"

Rhys laid down his pen and sat back in the chair. The panic in his face left and a calm slid over his expression like putting on a glove.

"I apologize, Kate. This is a great deal to manage all at once. I want to ensure you have all that you need to start your new way of life. I am here to help you get everything in place. There will be time for that. For now, I will address the most important issues."

"Should I make popcorn?" I quipped, trying to lighten the mood and, perhaps, go a few more seconds without learning what I was about to learn.

"That is the first thing," he sighed. "You will no longer need food. Human food can be eaten by us if you need to decrease suspicion or fit in with a group. However, it will taste like nothing, like air, and likely cause you some gastric distress. You need only blood to survive."

"So, the blood thing, that's real?"

"Yes." Then he froze and waited for my reaction.

"Human?"

"Preferably" he answered. "Animal blood will nourish us. However, it is like using chewing gum to fix a break in a dam. It will work but not for long and the problem still remains. You will hunger until you cannot bear it. When ravenous, a vampire cannot control the need. Stay satiated and you will survive."

"I have to eat humans??" I felt queasy. Was this really my option? Murder in the future or death tonight?

"Remain calm, Kate. You do not need to murder anyone. I drink from the blood bank. It is clean and tested for disease. It was given by volunteers to keep others alive. It is an excellent option. We will do the same for you." He stood and left the room, returning seconds later with the cooler from his car. Setting it down next to the table, I already knew what would be inside. The lid slid off to reveal four IV bags, red and full. Blood bags.

"Did you steal those?" I was shocked. Then, I felt foolish. With everything that happened tonight, a little theft seemed insignificant.

"I did not. I pay for extra bags to be delivered and they are. The delivery service asks no questions. I suspect he's happy for the extra cash. I can double the order from now on."

"Well," I struggled for what to say. "I guess I will save on groceries. How much is a blood bag? How many do I need?"

Rhys smiled. "One a week is fine. These four will be our supply for two weeks and then I will double the order. Please do not worry about money. You are my progeny. I will always care for you."

"Progeny?"

Rhys wrinkled his brow, searching for words. "Think of it like a child. I brought you into this life. As a parent protects and feeds and guides their child, so will I do for you."

Again, I was lost for words. What do you say to that? "Thank you... but I won't call you Dad."

This brought a laugh from deep inside Rhys. He bent over, his shoulders shaking, and he laughed harder than I had seen anyone laugh in a long time. It was infectious. I felt the laughter well up inside of me too. I laid over the table top and started to giggle. If felt like a steam valve being opened and the pressure finally releasing itself into freedom.

After a few minutes of hilarity, we started to settle. The humor was replaced with a wash of sorrow. My life will never be the same.

"You do not need to call me Father or thank me. This was brought on you. By me. I will do everything in my power to protect you. We will need time to truly tell you all that you need to know. You have me to teach you and time is, now, something you have a great deal of."

Forever. It was the first time I had let that thought really hit me. Will I have hundreds of years? Thousands? Before I could ask him about it, he answered my thoughts.

"You can live long enough to see the Earth itself change shape, Kate, if you listen to everything I have to teach you, keep your true identity hidden and do not draw attention to yourself. There are many people out there that would love to live forever and would be happy to experiment on you to find out how."

I gasped. "Did you just read my mind? Can I do that?"

"No," he laughed. "I assumed, from your face, and what I had just said about time, that you were wondering how much time I meant. I cannot read minds. Nor can I turn into a bat, seduce models, control wolves or anything else you have seen in movies."

"Darn it," my face fell and the excitement of the last few seconds disintegrated. "I was hoping I could finally know what all those bitches at work think about me. Are there any cool powers that I get? I mean I am grateful for the whole 'living forever and being beautiful and young' thing. I am just curious."

"Once you have turned," he answered, like a parent telling a child to be patient for Santa's arrival, "I will teach you what I can and see what abilities develop in you."

"But, haven't I already turned? I can see everything without my contacts. I would get carded buying wine. I feel like I could run a mile."

That sadness was back in his eyes and a weight landed on his shoulders. I knew he was about to say something I wouldn't like. "That is not the turning. This is your human body responding to my blood. It is like slowly taking off a dusty old coat to reveal a pristine ballgown underneath. The turning will be your death as a human and resurrection as a vampire. It will begin just after sunrise this morning. It will be the last time that you suffer without me, Kate, I promise you."

I felt a bowling ball drop from my throat into my stomach and tried to swallow my fear.

"I'm scared, Rhys. What are you saying exactly?"

He looked down to the floor and the weight on his shoulders looked like it was pulling him down. When he looked up at me again, I saw a cut on his cheek. It seemed impossible that he could be cut when I was watching him and saw nothing happen. Did he do that to himself? Then, it hit me. It was not a cut. It was a drop of blood, leaving a bright red streak from the corner of his right eye to his chin. It was a tear. Jesus. He is crying. He is crying blood.

The strength I had once felt, left my body, and my heart joined the bowling ball in my stomach.

Rhys took a large breath and began. "If you truly want to remain in this life for your daughters. If you are motivated by the desire to save them from the horrible grief of burying you, that is the thought you must hold onto to survive the turning."