The Blood Vineyard

A Sad Comedy

I thought the house would be adorned by Dracula statues, and would emit a dark gloomy atmosphere. You know how vampires are right? Spooky and scary.

But when Archie turned the car over to the right, we entered an illuminated archway. The yellow lights seemed to give off a romantic aura, and the walls were lined with bushes of roses. Tee the driver rolled down the side windows, and I could smell fresh fruits in the air.

I looked to the side, see if there was some goblin statues sitting one one of the balcony posts, or a  statue of a maiden being trapped by a vampire. All I thought about vampires, was that they were always hungry for blood, especially that of young women. I think they also prefer virgins.

"That is the building where we stay." Tee was abrupt, like he did not want to discuss things with me any further. He pointed at the building which was kilometers away from the entrance where we just came from. Then Archie inched closer to me, to point the wide vineyard.

The bushes were in full bloom, the sweet scent in the air was like perfume.

"That is our vineyard. We produce wine sold to the commons."

"Commons?"

"The mortals. The lay people."

  I nodded, as if I understood. So that's what they call us. Commons. Common people. Nothing special really.

"I see. So you are like businessmen, aren't you?"

"Yes, if you put it that way. We appear in photographs as well, when we need to sell our products. Although vampires cannot be photographed, the company sends commons to the media to act as our proxy. You can say Fei, we do have a good working relationship with humans." Archie gave a laugh, he prided himself with such an achievement. "So you can be comfortable with us."

I laid back and looked straight ahead, the papers still on my lap with my signature on it. I have made a decision to give my blood to them, but why me? They could have chosen someone better, but why me? "You know, you could have chosen a prettier donor for your blood donation program."

Tee slowly sped, as the car went down a steeper slope. We wear nearing the mansion. "We don't necessarily require looks. Although we'd appreciate it if the donor shuts up and be less talkative."

I gritted my teeth. Seriously, he was starting another argument, wasn't he? And by the looks of it, we look just of the same age, or at least he's just older than me for a few years. "Opinionated, not talkative."

"Fei, we require seers." Archie diverted the attention. "Seers are those who can see us."

"But Sophia can see you, can't she?"

"She can. But we require someone who can see the real us. Someone who can also see monsters, and demons. We will be having future negotiations, and when we just select another common, whose blood isn't much of a price, our business won't be a success."

"So vampires have to work, huh?"

"Yes, in fact we do." Archie turned his head slightly as if he just encountered such question now. "We really have to work to survive. Not much different from the commons."

"I don't really understand it though. You are vampires, right? You can choose not to talk to humans. Vampires hate humans, at least I know that much. And does money matter to you?"

"It really isn't about money in our world, Fei. It's about our name on the line, our prestige, our power for hundreds of years. We honor our identity, and roots. That's the reason why we have a vineyard, a wine injected with a seer's blood serves as our food."

"But you have all the time in the world, you can even just eat humans as you wish can't you? And your food isn't really on sale, like with price tags on their heads. Humans are like free food in the jungle."

Telesforo suddenly stopped the car, pushing me forward and banging my head behind the front seat. "Ouch!"

"So you compare us to lions in the wild, Fei Hong."

"Tee." There was hesitation in Archie's voice.

"And to add insult to injury, you think we can JUST kill anyone we want to, huh?"

My heart was starting to thump louder. "I didn't mean it for you to take it diff--"

"Get out of the car."

"What?"

"I said, get out of the car." Tee unbuckled his seat belt and looked at me. When our eyes met, he quickly looked away, "We're here."

We got out of the car and the entrance way was much simpler than the arch. It had a cold feeling to it though as if the air in the atmosphere tightened. 

"Relax, Fei. No one's going to harm you."

My face flushed red. "How..." How could he read me so easily?

"It seems you can't breathe."

"Even YOU don't breathe."

Arch let out a loud laugh, it lasted for seconds which from Tee's reaction did not really seem to be favorable. Maybe he's angry again? "I didn't! I didn't mean to offend you or anything."

"You didn't." Archie was slowly recovering from laughing so hard, "It's nice to have someone like you in the company, Fei. Really."

"Uhm yeah, sure." I didn't know what to answer. Tee was there leaning on the car, his expression obviously one with agony written all over his face. 

"Why bring me here again? I already signed the contract, didn't I?" I tried to divert the attention. 

"You." Tee's shoulders moved up and down, as if he was grasping for air. "You should probably go inside."

"Telesforo, with her unescorted, Alphonse..."

"Archie. I am at my limits." 

"Master!" A cheery voice sounded behind us and when I turned around it was an old lady. Her pure white hair obviously pronounced that she was in her 70's. "You've come back."

"Isadora." Archie acknowledged, "Can I please request Fei be escorted inside?"

"Oh. You are the human." She smiled so warmly, I finally sighed. I didn't see her fangs though so I presume she's human.

Tee slightly bent his knees, as if he was halfway falling. "Archie, please escort them yourself. Please,"

"Are you sure?" Both Archie and I asked at the same time. 

Tee's knees wobbled, but he managed to stand up. "I am. I have to get some air." He pushed his hair back in frustration and began walking towards the vineyard.

 "Aroul will be with you in a second."  Archie shouted but Tee just waved his hand dismissively. He was slowly going up the hill, and his figure disappeared in the shadows.  

 Archie looked at me, but his smile faded when he saw how worried I was. "Is he going to be alright? He seemed really sick."

"He will be fine. Let's get you to the Sacrelis to properly perfect the contract."