Scribbles and Drabbles

Notebook Drabbles 61

"You're twenty-two! How have you avoided this for so long?" Tade demanded, eyes struck to David's scarless neck. "We have to double-check everyone's age because some teens will try to sneak into the clubs to get their first bite."

"Luck, bad and good", David offered, pulling his jumper on and shifting away from Tade's intense glaze. I'm a halloween baby."

"Ah, Tade nodded. The clubs were shut on Halloween every year. It was the supernatural version of Christmas where everyone chilled out and ignored the humans that outnumbered them. "But the next day, they would have been open."

"My 18th was the year we had that massive blowout, remember?" It wasn't like he'd avoided getting the bite, but everything seemed to stop it from happening. Snowstorms, blackouts, an outbreak of a virus, every time David went to get his first bite, something happened and the clubs shut. "Then I went to university in a Pack-led city. Most places don't have vampires as their ruling caste."

"And wolves would get annoyed by having someone around with a vampire bite," Tade said.

"They'd certainly not like me much. Not that I spend much time with any wolves," David relaxed back on his sofa and traced the paintwork on the ceiling. "I came home for the winter holidays but worked through summer, so it's never been an issue." 

No one got funny looks for covering their necks in winter. The unwritten rules accepted that when dealing with thick snow, humans needed to cover up to stay warm. Any other time of the year, and there was this thing where people found it deeply suspicious that if someone didn't want to show off their bite scars.

"We'll have to get that sorted if you're staying. It might be worth calling for a private service to do it quietly. The older you get, the more you react to it."

David grimaced. "If I stay."

"You do want to get bitten, don't you? Tade said, not missing their friend's reluctance. "It's amazing, why wouldn't you?"

"Supernaturals get weird around people owned by vampires. Plus, it means I need to get bitten regularly, so if I do leave, I need to come home more." Once a clan started feeding off someone, they demanded regular visits to the clan's house to ensure their claim remained strong. Otherwise, someone became vulnerable to outside threats. Not that David had ever heard of a clan protecting a stray member from said outside force. "It's a waste of time."

"They do?"

"Vampires don't have the best reputation when it comes to their treatment of humans. The food source thing worries a lot of the other supernaturals," David said, fiddling with his phone as his friend from university sent him a photo of her at a temple in an Asian country. He couldn't remember which one anymore, but she looked happy and brown. If he tried going travelling, the local supernaturals would string him up. As frustrating as it was, being involved in the supernatural world couldn't be escaped.

"Demons feed off humans."

"They do," David agreed. "Weirdly enough, though, I did avoid interacting too much with supernaturals, so I can't have a fully-fledged debate about this with you."

"Have you met a demon?" Tade asked, eyes lighting up again. They were fascinated with the supernatural. Most in town avoided talking about it. They had to deal with vampires, which was more than enough for most people. Not Tade; they wanted to learn as much as possible.

"A few," "David said, sending a heart emoji to his friend. "Mostly nightclubs. One of the people in the flat opposite during my second year was a half-imp. He was cool. He had a tail." The man struggled to hide it, but the others in the know helped distract others when needed. "He's gone back to his city to work in a hellhouse. His parents wanted him to see a bit of the world before serving for the rest of his existence."

"I should have applied to university, Tade sighed with a dreamy look on their face. They wanted to stay and apply to work at a vampire menagerie. The best joint they got was a suck house
as a blood supply. Tade was many things, but their blood was too "common" to get far in vampire circles.