Someone's At The Door

Chapter 1

      Chapter 1

 I thought about calling in to work and telling them I couldn’t make it in, but I had promised Luce I’d be there. So I finished putting on my uniform with a deep sigh. My uniform, not that it earns the title of uniform, consist of a T-shirt that had Stallings Grill on the back, complete with a picture of the place, and black pants or shorts. The shirt comes in multiple colors and the day determined the color, today’s Thursday so it was dark purple. 

            Working at Stallings isn’t a money pot. Being a waitress brought in good tip money though, or at least the two weeks I’ve been there it has. But I don’t work for the money, I’m not lacking financially by any means. I work purely for the socialization aspect of it, to keep from being isolated and alone. I finished getting ready, threw my long dark brown hair back and grabbed my keys. I stepped out my door and was greeted by a sickly grey cat licking her paws and eyeing me eerily. Being the animal lover I’ve always been, I couldn’t leave without first going back in and getting the poor thing a hot dog. I returned to find that my good deed had been a wasted effort, she had done abandoned me. “Darn cat’s gonna make me late.” I muttered to myself as I went to my car.

'As I opened my door I caught the scent of blood. I couldn’t tell if it was human or animal which could only mean one thing.

‘LUCY!” I shrieked.

“What?!” She replied with faux surprise in her voice.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on me?! I could have broken your neck in an instant!”

“Ah! It wouldn’t kill me.”

“No, but it wouldn’t feel very good would it?”

“Not exactly, no.” She barely got out between giggles. “Seriously though, what’s up with you? That’s the second time this month. You know how many times I’ve got you since we met? Two, the two from this month.” She finished with concern.

“Nothing! I’m fine.” I half snapped. The blood was strong now that the door was closed again and I could feel the veins around my eyes throbbing and my fangs trying to poke through.

“Luce, did you hurt yourself? I smell blood.”

“Yeah, a nail poked me on your porch, just dry blood. Why, are you hungry?” 

“Ha. You’re so funny.”

“Sorry Miss Leave Me Alone Before I Break Your Neck!!”

            I felt bad for being short with Luce, but I’ve felt anxious for weeks now and her joking about me drinking her blood didn’t amuse me at the moment. Shifter blood doesn’t kill vampires, but it makes us very sick for a week or more. On a normal day I’d have come back with a joke about turning her, but she would have just laughed.

“I’m sorry Luce.”

“What? I don’t get an explanation as to why you’re making death threats?” It’s just like Luce to never take anything serious. If I had to choose something to change about her, that’d be it, when to know how to take stuff serious and when it’s ok to joke. But Luce is not the serious type, so the whole truth wouldn’t help right now, so I settled on a half truth.

“Nothing, besides I’m hungry and the scent is strong.”

“How long has it been since you ate? You know you don’t drink blood directly from humans so you don’t harm them, but isn’t it dangerous if your around them extremely hungry?’

“Just trying to see how far I can push before I have to, and yes it is.” Was all I said. Pushing myself not to eat is a benefit to the blood banks around here, they’re where I get my blood supply from. I refuse to sub come to the urges of drinking directly from humans. Being a vampire is something I hate more than anything. The blood urge is always there, waiting to consume you. That’s what fuels my hatred for this life. I shook my head trying to destroy Pity City. We were on the way to work and I had rolled the windows down to defuse the last scents of blood. I took a deep breath and began to try to be myself, not worry about whatever was coming.