The Blood God

Chapter 8

Josith had been abstaining; trying not to give into his hunger. He had been told of the feeding room; a room where vampires went to pick a human to drink from. Though the thought of their struggles, their cries for help, the adrenaline in their blood, sent waves of pleasure throughout his psyche, he fought down his urges. Now he paced the hallways, searching frantically for any source of blood he could find that didn’t come directly from a human. Violent desires gripped him. He wanted to rip their throats out, hear their hearts dying in their chests as he drained them, and so he shrank from any human that passed, deliberately avoiding eye-contact.

He had seen vampires drinking blood from a cup once. He’d paused when he’d seen them gathered together inside one of the rooms in the common areas, chatting as they raised goblets to their lips and swallowed the red liquid. Passing by many other vampires, he kept his composure, walking normally, but his eyes darted into the open doorways of every room until he found what he was looking for. His jaw unclenched the moment he spotted the banquet table, laid out with its pitcher of blood and goblets surrounding it. There were already vampires inside the room, preoccupied by conversation, and lounging in chairs and on sofas. He gave them a polite nod and smile as he made his way over to the table where the pitcher of blood sat, pouring himself a cup. It was difficult to keep his hands from trembling.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to take of blood that wasn’t offered to you?” asked a female vampire.

He turned. The female who'd spoken, stared at him with eyes like two black jewels. She had long, delicate limbs. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize....”

“If you haven’t been invited to the party, you don’t help yourself to the buffet,” said a male vampire.

“Hush, Ansley,” the female chided. She looked at Josith. “You must be new. Someone can show you to the feeding room if you haven’t found it yet.”

“It’s hard to miss with that awful smell coming from it,” another male vampire added.

“I know where it is.” Josith hesitated to take a drink from his goblet.

There were puzzled looks from them.

“If you know where it is, then what are you doing in here?” the female vampire asked.

“I prefer to drink from a cup.” He figured that was better than admitting he was fighting the desire to rip into another human’s neck.

All eyes focused intently upon him. Some went wide-eyed, others blinked rapidly or pressed their lips together. He worried he might have said the wrong thing.

“He’s resisting,” another female vampire said in surprised tones.

“What’s your name?” asked the first female.

“Josith.”

“How long have you been a vampire, Josith?”

“A few months, maybe three or four.” There were more stunned looks that followed, even gasps this time.

“A few months?” asked a male vampire.

“That’s unusual,” remarked the first female vampire. “Not many last that long.”

“What do you mean?” Josith asked her.

“Your human emotions still remain, but it won’t be that way forever. I give you six months at the most. By then, there will definitely be nothing human left in you.” She smiled coldly at him.

He shuddered mentally. Already it felt as if it were there sometimes, but other times not. The struggle to keep his humanness a part of himself had not gotten easier, and there were times he feared this was something beyond his control.