Citizen Vamp

Chapter4

I was sitting in the same coffee shop that led to my promotion, this time I was off duty and chatting with someone I'd grown up with. Annie and I had gone to the same elementary school, high school and we'd even gone to the university for our undergraduate degrees.

"So, I said to them-why would you check the box? I mean, if we want funding, we can get funding. We don't have to hire one of those, creatures!" She sighed and took a sip from her latte. She sat back in the oversized sofa chair and crossed her legs. The natural light pouring in all the windows highlighted her red orange hair and showed off every flyaway. The effect highlighted her natural beauty. Not since she'd been sixteen had she tried to cover up her freckles or dye her hair.

"Creatures?" I asked, trying for naive. I took a sip of my iced vanilla latte, the straw slurping a little.

"Yah, you know." She leaned forward. "Werewolves and vampires and stuff." She leaned back into the chair pulling her mug in for another sip. "The board we apply to for funding research has said that due to their extreme learning curve and their sixth sense we'd get more funding if we had a-" She put her mug down and made the quotations symbol with her hands, "Supra." She let the hands drop and rolled her eyes. Shoulders slumping, she sighed and looked me in the eye. "Is that what it's coming to? I mean, I know Canada's really leftist- but, funding?" She flopped back into the chair a bit more violently. "Argh," she slammed a fist into the chair.

I sat quietly just watching her, listening.

"I told them we could get the funding without those things contaminating my lab, but I've talked with a few other labs. Even Bob over at the cosmetics lab hired a vampire. They got her to sign off on donating a sample of flesh every couple of months for testing and she's allowed them to take some of her hormonal samples. It's really disturbing." She shook her head and covered half her face with one hand. Taking a couple of breaths to steady herself, she continued more calmly. "What if I can't get the funding?" she said, sweeping the one hand through her hair and using the other to take another sip from her mug.

I was surprised at this new trend in the scientific community. "I honestly don't know what to say." I took a sip from my iced latte.

Annie's eyes sagged and her mouth was slack. "Tell me I'm doing the right thing Rachael." She brought her mug down in both hands and held it loosely in her lap.

"I don't know," I said. "Why do you think it'd be a bad thing to have them in the lab?" I asked her more sincerely, trying to hide the suggestion behind my latte, I took another sip. The ice jumbled loudly as I finished the last sip.

Annie's mouth opened and stayed open for a few moments. She closed it and squinted at me for a few more moments. "What-" she began. "Are you alright?"

I felt a little confused, "yeah. What do you mean?" I said, crossing my arms.

"I mean," she put her mug down on the table between us and leaned towards me. "How are you defending them all of a sudden? I mean, in high school you were the first to hate Christie Thompson. Nothing a Supra did made up for its existence in your mind, and now you're saying 'why would it be a bad thing?'" She shook her head, squinted at me and leaned back into her chair. Distrust was written all over her face, and did I detect a hint of disgust in my long time friend?

Christie Thompson was a young vampire in our high school who'd gotten attacked in grade eight. Before the attack she was a Goth who failed every class. By grade twelve she'd gotten eight scholarships to several different schools and from several different interest groups. She'd gotten the worst treatment possible. After the change she wasn't allowed to take gym class with us because she might hurt fellow students. She didn't really know how strong she was until they brought in a supra teacher to help her learn her "fullest potential." Although I did treat her as though she killed my folks, I knew her before her change. I'd gotten ice cream with her when we were little girls and it made me re-evaluate my feelings about supras. Although I was still terrified as a teen I became curious. She was one of the main reasons I specialized in my master's degree.