Class. Refinement. Culture. All of the things Ruben had labored to cultivate over the last few decades seemed to be going away, piece by piece. The master had decided he couldn’t abide by the African masks in the parlor, finding their midnight chanting to be far too disruptive. Never mind that they’d cost Ruben a decade of searching and a small fortune to assemble.
Then there were the Tiffany lamps that bled through the shades when they were left on for too long. It wasn’t easy to find such an elegant example of a modern curse, whether it was essentially non-functional or not.
The wardrobe of poisoned clothes, the silk curtains fringed with nightmare threads, the carnivorous porcelain dolls, all of them had been gathered together, and Ruben dreaded the auction he would be forced to sell them at. What little power he seemed to have gathered while his master slept was quickly disappearing.
He had left Donovan to dine with Lee at an impromptu supper, and now that his tasks seemed to be finished for the evening, Ruben would savor his limited personal time in the back garden to pout.
He was certainly not expecting to see the unwashed oaf skulking around the house, “sir, you sir, you need to leave, go on.”
The large, hairy excuse for a creature gave him, what Ruben would have thought was, a calculating look if the man was capable of intelligent thought, which he didn’t appear to be, before he reached for something in his camouflage vest pocket.
“Where’s Lee?” The man demanded, as if he had any room to do so.
Ruben scowled, “he is inside. Why? You're not one of his companions, I've never seen you before.”
“You’re damn right I’m not one of them, but why aren’t you in there with him?” The more he spoke, the angrier and louder the buffoon seemed to become.
“He is speaking with Donovan and it doesn't concern me, hence why I came outside for some much needed fresh air. Now, if you would leave I can enjoy what’s left of the afternoon.” Ruben was frustrated, he wanted to get one of his many prized possessions, maybe the sacrificial dagger, and stab him with it. The consequences of a trapped soul would be well worth the peace.
“Donovan? Who’s that?” The man straightened up, or seemed to. It was hard to tell, given how slovenly he looked. “I thought you lived alone.”
“He is a guest, a family friend.” It was difficult to describe what the vampire was and he wasn't about to admit to this, brute, that Donovan was his master.
“Seems like something he should’ve mentioned,” the man mumbled, more to himself than Ruben. Either that or his ability to speak was quickly devolving.
“Not that it's any of your business, what Lee does. He is a grown man after all or are you babysitting him?”
“Listen, you trumped up old bat, I’m just--” he seemed to catch himself, his scowl deepening as he watched Ruben, “--I’m just waiting for him to hurry the hell up with whatever pansy plans he had here tonight, so you go inside this damn minute and tell him it’s time to go. Think you can manage that, cryptkeeper?”
“You sir are extremely rude! I am sure he’ll be out shortly. Now go away before I call the authorities!” He should let Donovan eat him.
“Yeah? I’d like to see you try!” The man stood his ground, giving Ruben a good, long stink eye. “I ain’t moving.”
The heaven-sent sound of a creaking door behind them made both Ruben and the lummox turn to see Lee stepping outside onto the wraparound back porch.
“Todd? What are you doing back here? You were supposed to wait in the jeep.” Lee looked at Ruben apologetically.
Suddenly, it was as if the clouds above had parted, as the dim-witted lunatic’s face was struck with blind confusion in place of the unwarranted arrogance and anger he’d been displaying.
“What are you talking about?” The idiot asked, his posture returning to the typical slump from before. Todd. Such a typical name for a low-class bombastic maniac. “Didn’t you tell me on the phone to--” he caught himself, looking back at Ruben and then Lee again, “what’s going on?”
“Nothing, come on, Todd, let’s get going.” Lee said, heading toward the jeep, expecting him to follow.
Todd gave Ruben one last dirty look, before reluctantly following Lee, his irate mumbling loud enough to carry all the way around the side of the house and some unknown distance where they were likely parked.
“Disgusting,” the old man stated aloud, examining the spot in the backyard where that fat man had been standing. Hard to tell with the growing darkness, but it didn’t look like any of his azaleas had been trampled.
Those hunters were becoming far more trouble than they were worth, and now they were getting even stupider. He would be glad when all of this nonsense was over. The sooner his master lost interest in them, the better. This too would pass, he had taken that doctor to one of his constituents for training instead of doing it himself. If he turned Gabriel he would likely do the same. Donovan had spent centuries without companions, and Ruben knew that very well. After all, even the one time he had encountered his master’s sire in his youth, both of them had expressed the same sentiment. Eternity was best spent alone, connections outside of their bond as sire and childe were fraught with heartbreak.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
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Blood. Spots of blood. That was all he could see right now. Not the half-empty coffee mug, or the blinking cursor on his computer screen. Not Chuck, or Danny, or Louise, or Lee. Not even Todd, who was stomping back and forth haranguing Lee for a supposed phone call Lee didn’t remember making.
In his mind’s eye, Gabriel saw the spots of blood on his parents’ bedroom carpet, saw his mother crawling towards his father. The monster they'd invited inside standing over them. He didn’t know why. Didn’t remember why. All he remembered was what happened after that, and now here he was, re-living it all.
Those weeks spent in the dark, cowering in that basement with a dozen other kids, the night they’d all been forced to play musical chairs until Gabriel was the first odd one out, and the monster decided to feed from him first. Feed blood back to him. Then one-by-one, he got to see the other children die each night. Only a few others had been fed, but when Chuck saved them, they weren’t really saved. They’d never forget the hunger left unsated. Never forget the painful exhaustion brought on by daylight hours, or the desperate need to please their master.
Gabriel lit up yet another cigarette of many, rolling up one of his sleeves and smiling bitterly at his forearm. How had he not noticed the scars were disappearing? How had he been dumb enough not to recognize those familiar hunger pangs kicking up again? It sure as hell explained why he didn’t even bother cooking his steak anymore.
Didn’t matter. Nobody else needed to know. They’d fix this before it got worse. If he didn’t believe that, he’d go crazy.
Gabriel barely acknowledged Danny when he topped up Gabriel’s coffee and walked back to the center table to rejoin the others. Whispering about something. Him. He didn’t care right now. Todd was sitting down at this point, so that was probably good.
Why was this happening again? The monster was dead. He’d been cured. Gabriel spent years feeling perfectly fine, no lingering symptoms. Until a week ago he couldn’t even handle an undercooked burger patty. Then there was the fact that he didn’t have that need to be around anyone, no master he wanted to seek out. No sire. No one.
It couldn’t have been the vamp they tracked down on the chupacabra hunt. He’d already been feeling like shit that afternoon, and the cravings were just beginning then. Other than that, they hadn’t encountered one in ages. There simply wasn’t any possible way.
Except--that morning, when he had the mother of all hangovers. Right after they’d binged on wine and pizza.
“Danny!” Gabriel suddenly shouted, jerking up out of his chair, “Danny, the wine!”
Danny blinked at him before scowling, “what? What about the wine?”
“You remember that wine you wouldn’t drink?” Gabriel pressed on, “you remember, right?”
“Yeah, what about it? You seemed to really like it.” Danny sat down with his own cup of coffee.
“But it was the only weird thing I’ve had to drink at all since this started. It was warm, too. None of the other wines were.” He may have already been a little too drunk to care at that point, but now? Holy shit, why the hell did he think that was normal?
It was Chuck who spoke next, “why wouldn’t the old man have something funny to drink around? The man has African masks on the wall and attack lions.”
“Doesn’t he have a monkey paw display too?” Louise asked, “it’s been too long since I’ve visited the creep. I don’t remember.”
“Yes,” Lee agreed, “a few ceremonial daggers and weapons, too.”
“Oh, you remember that,” Todd interjected, “but not a fucking phone call you made ten minutes before I made an ass of myself trying to help you out.”
“Maybe you’re getting old and imagining things. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lee insisted, his voice taking on a strangely hostile tone. Strange, because normally he was surprisingly patient with Todd’s unpredictable temper.
“Enough!” Louise clapped her hands at both of them, scolding the pair like unruly children, “this isn’t about either of you right now. So stop it! We don’t have time for this right now. Gabe needs our help, and any second you’re both going to start looking more like a pair of--I don’t know, milkshakes or something, and not just grown men acting like babies.”
“Thanks, Louise,” Gabriel said, half-irritated at her for the stupid simile, as if he’d just suddenly lose all self-control and start chowing down on his friends. He was a little hurt.
“Gonna have to think about what to do, when the hunger gets worse. Gonna need to find the vamp too, unless Ruben has an answer to go with that bottle of ‘wine’ you drank.” Chuck was perfectly calm, it was like he was talking about the weather, not about locking Gabe up when he got the munchies.
“I can handle the hunger,” Gabriel said sharply, “but we have no way of knowing how old that bottle of blood was. The vamp he got it from could be halfway across the world.” It was difficult to be optimistic about this. The old man probably didn’t even remember that bottle, as dusty as it had been. Could’ve just been part of some weird lot he’d gotten on auction. The more he thought about it, to his disgust, the more he honestly wished there’d been another one. He was sure if there was, it would be easy to fight his growing hunger. Keep the edge off.
“Well, we gotta go visit the old man, sooner rather than later.” Chuck took a long drink of his whisky, “not tonight, Lee and Todd were over there, tomorrow.”
“I ca-” Gabriel was about to volunteer, before Todd interrupted.
“I can.” Todd said, glaring darkly at Lee, “show you how a real hunter gets things done. Just some damn book about vampires, right? If he’s got the blood, shouldn’t be too hard to find an owner’s manual.”
Louise gave Todd a warning look, but kept her mouth shut, instead choosing to focus her attention on Gabriel, “do you want to stay at the office tonight? One of us can keep you company, just in case.”
The unspoken fear, or really, accusation that he could snap tonight and kill someone hung in the air. Gabriel reminded himself that they were trying to help him, but it was hard not to get mad.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve got my phone. The second I decide to go on a rampage, I’ll be sure to text you,” he replied dryly. Then, he laughed bitterly. Because there wasn’t much else he could do.