The Bat Fights

Chapter Four

I almost trip on the sidewalk as I rush away from the house. I slip on my sunglasses, avoiding looking directly at the street lamps and car headlights. A vampire's eyes can bleed from bright lights, so the sunglasses help. I hear Ray curse as he hurries out the door while shoving his foot into a boot. I turn a corner and bump into some idiot. He looks down at me, his stubble glistening with drunk sweat. Bingo.

Before anyone can stop me I sink my fangs into his neck.

Now I'm going to stop for a moment. I know what you're thinking. "Oh my God, Lacey, no! How could you tie yourself to human blood forever?" But just listen for a moment. I never get to do anything. I'm always bored, and animal blood sucks ass. Also, I did this in a moment of anger towards Ray for all his shit.

"Theresa!" Ray screeches.

Now that surprises me. My birth name is Theresa Lacey Stuart, but I much, much prefer Lacey. Like, a lot.

I ignore him and suck in just a bit. The guy doesn't even struggle, but barely a drop touches my tongue when I collapse. I'm trying to think of the best words to explain my head. I feel groggy but energetic at the same time, but then I start gagging and throw up something that feels like acid. I look at the asphalt as some black, sticky stuff come out of my mouth and drips down the sidewalk. I feel hands on my shoulders, but I don't turn to look. My gums hurt and my stomach feels like it's twisting. I can't stop shaking, and I can't see because everything is blurry and it's like being on mushrooms. Then it all goes away at once.

I gasp for air and looked at the guy beside me laying on the ground with a vicious wound on his neck. Ray is taking deep breaths beside me, obviously affected by the smell of blood. Suddenly his eyes dart to mine and I cower. "Lacey.." He says in a deep and cringed voice. "We have to move him."

Blood is pooling down the road and I nod nervously. He's clearly waiting to kill me until we get back. Ray takes hold off one of the guy's arms and gestures for me to grab the other. He suddenly laughs very loudly like he's tipsy.

"Oh, Maria..Threesomes aren't bad! Just depends on who it's with!"

It takes me a moment to realize he's pretending that our bleeding friend is drunk and we are too. And of course he decides to be embarrassing. Right back at you, asshole.

"Well, having any sex with you is worse than any bad threesome!" I drunkenly yell back. He glares at me. "Well luckily you won't ever get to know for sure, will you?"

"I didn't want to know!"

"Neither did I!"

"Good!"

"Will you shut up?!"

We both look up from our bickering to see a man sticking his head out the window.

"I'm trying to fucking sleep!" He yells before slamming his window close. Ray and I look back at each other and don't speak for a moment.

"Go home." Ray growls. "I'll deal with him."

I don't argue because in all honesty I feel terrible. I drop the arm I was holding and shove my trembling hands in my pockets.

As I walk back there's a van that was sitting beside the pub that drives away, nearly splashing me with muddy water. I jump out of the way, my sunglasses falling off in the process. I scoop them up off the ground and clean them on my David Bowie shirt.

I approach the house, but suddenly a terrible feeling comes over me again and I rush through the door and into the bathroom. I puke in the toilet, there's the black tar stuff everywhere.

I must be in the bathroom throwing up for an hour. I don't know what the tar is or where I have so much of it in my body, but I can't stop throwing up. I hear the door open and I turn to see a very tired looking Ray standing behind me.

"Lacey."

I go to respond but shove my head back in the toilet. Ray scoops up my long hair and holds it for me while I empty my mouth of the foul substance. There's a mixture of blood now too, and I think it's from my throat being raw.

"Ray...." I manage out. God, my throat hurts so much. "What's happening?"

He shakes his head.

"I told you to never do this, Lacey. You brought it upon yourself." Opening a drawer he takes out a scrunchy and ties my hair in a bun. "You will be sick for awhile. And now you'll have to join me everyday for human blood. And your fangs will be sore. Along with your throat." His fingers run along my throat. "It's already swollen."

He grazes over my scar. That brings back terrible memories.

After Ray bit me, he passed out but quickly brought me back to his old house (we've moved a few times) after he woke up. When I finally woke too he had a difficult time explaining the large, pus filled wound on my neck. The soreness in my gums was terrible, and the throwing up was awful too. It was kind of like a shed, but a hundred times worse. But that was in 1983, thirty two years ago.

I look at Ray's scar, it's smaller than mine, and more faded. I envy him. I usually try to cover mine up with a scarf if I'm going out, which is never.

"What were you thinking?" Ray asks, guilt in his tone.

I shrug and lean away from the cold toilet. "I'm sorry. I was mad....if I had known that this-" I gestured to the black water in the bowl. "Is what it was like, I never would have bitten that guy.."

Ray just nods and stands up. He leaves me on the cool tiles to continue heaving my guts out.

I don't know how long I'm in here for, but Ray walks in with a large board, tape, and cardboard. He steps into the bathtub and starts to tape the window with the cardboard. Then he draws the customs closed and offers me a hand. "The sun will be up soon and you will need to sleep in here. You'll be sick first thing when you wake up."

I accept his hand and he pulls me into the bathtub while he steps back out. I lie down, ignoring the dripping tap at my feet. He holds up the large wooden board. "It's not heavy," he explains. "But it will keep out the sun. Good day." He puts the wood over the tall bathtub and it's pitch black in here. I hear the lights switch off and the door close. I listen to every detail as the stairs creak under Ray and he walks across the hallway. Then I hear his door open and close, and I shut my eyes to try and sleep.