Bite Shift

36

It is amazing how often I have been left speechless since being turned into the walking dead. I just stared at him. I had nothing to say that seemed right. I had heard enough deathbed confessions to know, you just shut up and let them spill.

But, do I want to hear this?

"It was 100 years ago. I was still in Scotland."

That far-away look was in his eyes. He staring off, watching an imaginary movie screen behind me. The color in those eyes had changed. The brilliant green was back. I realized, when he spoke, his accent was thick. He sounded like green hills and a time long ago.

"I was young when I was turned. Back then, we fed on animals or took just enough from a drunkard that they felt tired the next day but had no idea what had happened. I was cautioned to be careful and live in the shadows. But when do young people ever listen?"

"I reveled in my vampire nature. I had a different woman every night, I ran the streets with no thought of who may have seen my speed. I mesmerized shop owners and convinced them to hand over every dollar they had. I didn't do it alone, either. Collin was my best friend. He had been turned by the same sire and he was the brother I never had. He was also attracted to the darkness, the part of us that makes us dangerous. He was the one who convinced me to kill the first woman. She had drunk too much and was sitting in an alley, trying to sober up. It was too easy. I mesmerized her and bit into her neck. The moment I did it, I knew there was no turning back. This time, I did not stop. I drank my fill that night and loved it. After that, killing humans was all I thought about. It was better than sex, better than anything you've ever known."

I was trying so hard to remain neutral and not judge him. He has been a vampire for a long time. I have no idea what he has been through.

But, I thought, he is talking about slaughtering women!

"Collin and I loved the hunt. The more they ran, the more exciting it was when I caught and killed them. We didn't care about getting caught. No, that isn't true. We believed we would never be caught."

He stopped, lost in memories. I waited for 5 minutes before I spoke. "What happened?"

"Collin was caught. I was not with him on the hunt that night. I was with my favorite lady of the evening, in her room. I guess he didn't want to wait for me. When I returned to our room, he was not there. He had stayed out before. He always found a crypt or basement to sleep in, so I did not worry. It wasn't until the next night that I heard. He was caught attacking a human and he had paid the price. They believed he had killed them all. They believed me when I told them I did not know."

"Was he the one buried in the church?"

"We was," Rhys whispered. A single red tear rolled down his cheek. He let it fall and did not wipe at his face. "Consecrated ground. We cannot go on it. No vampire can visit his resting place. That is part of the punishment. A holy man who knew of us and kept our secret took the body. I never said good bye. I never told him I was sorry."

"How many people did you kill?"

"I could not give you an honest answer. They meant so little to me that I did not keep track."

"Oh," I said. "But, you're not evil or crazy or a junkie. How did you stop?"

"I just stopped." He said it like I should have known. "I was terrified and filled with guilt and grieving. It was enough to get be through the hardest part of the withdrawal."

"You do sound like an addict."

"Make no mistake, Kate. Once you start, once you taste the fear on the blood of your prey and feel them die, you are an addict. I think about it more than I care to admit. But I swear to you. I never killed again. I came to this country and stayed to myself. I never want to be tempted again."

"We drink human blood every night. That doesn't make me want to kill and you certainly don't look out of control."

"What we do is very different from hunting and killing. Think of it like putting dog food in a bowl for a wolf. He will survive but something in him will wish it was a deer he chased down and sank his teeth into."

"I am not like that," I insisted.

"You have learned nothing yet, child. You are days old and I have not been able to teach you. We have been distracted. I promise, you will learn. And, one day, something will happen to show you the dark truth; we are primal animals. Just because we are house broken, doesn't mean we cannot turn savage."

Fuck. Was he right? Was I a predator? Would I kill some day? Would I ever turn on Ellie and Olivia? Had I chosen something that I didn't even understand?

I wanted to change the subject. Avoidance was my specialty.

"So, were back to this: it could be a werewolf, a serial killer or a crazy vampire. We don't know when it will strike next or how it is picking its victims. It is getting bolder and less afraid of being caught. We have no leads and no ideas."

It worked. He didn't push the issue. He followed my lead and allowed the subject to change. His eyes started to return to the green I had been used to seeing and the accent slipped away to just a hint. "That is wrong."

"What is wrong," I asked.

"We do have a lead. The hospital. Stewart saw many of them. That means other staff members may have seen the women. I hate to say it, Kate, but one of them may be involved. It would not be hard for a serial killer to hide in plain sight."

I let that thought dance through my head. Monica? Stewart? Camilla? The people I worked with. None of them could be killers, could they? I would know.

But, would I? You knew Rhys for years and never once sensed what he was. He hid so well. Could someone else be hiding? Could someone I had passed in the halls or said hi to at the cafeteria, be a psycho killer?

After the last three days, I didn't think anything was impossible anymore.