Location: Vancouver, Northeastern District
Time: 3:27 AM, 11/13/2103
Ever since it sustained life threatening injuries my bike had become a lot harder to ride. Even if I was to ignore something on the caliber of faulty brakes, which it had, or flat tires, which it also had, it was difficult to overlook the fact that every bump on the pavement could spell certain death for my trusted bike.
I wasn’t sure how it was holding together in the first place.
But it worked! Despite the massive damage inflicted on it by Elodie and Lucy, it was still usable. As long as the wheels kept turning there was no need to replace it. Safety concerns? Ha. With a body like mine, I’d take a job as a crash test dummy if the price was right. Even if the price was wrong I’d still take it.
The only real concern I had was the tower of boxes strapped to the back. Most of them were worth more than my net value, and as I pedaled down the street I could feel them swaying back and forth.
Interestingly enough, the fact that my enhanced night vision made it easy to see every small pebble and crack in the road didn’t do much to alleviate my concerns. There’s a big difference between seeing them and avoiding them.
No matter what kind of powers I gained by becoming a vampire, there’s only so much I could do with a bike that was considered ‘worn’ before a vampire smashed a werewolf through it. It couldn’t handle the complex maneuvers or tight turns I’d need to make in order to avoid every potential hazard I had no choice but to notice.
I’d have been better off just peddling in the dark.
Well, it was the middle of the night, so I was peddling in the dark either way.
I’d actually have been better off if I just took fewer packages at once, but that wasn’t possible.
The problem was the number of packages I had to deliver. If I were to just strap a reasonable number to my loyal partner and come back to get more once they were all delivered I’d never finish in time. The only way I was finishing early enough to make my shift at Kathy’s Bakery was to divide the city into districts and take every delivery intended for that district at once.
Unfortunately for me, it seemed like the northeastern part of the city had a disproportionate number of aberrations expecting deliveries. I knew that the Empire was actively shipping their aberrations to the Northern Territories, but did the vampires really all need to live in the same neighborhood?
I was starting to think that old man was assuming I’d be using a car when he told me the deliveries would only take two hours. Even with my overall base stats receiving a massive upgrade after becoming an aberration myself, I’d be lucky to finish in under five hours.
Well, no point in complaining. Work is work.
Having reached the next address on my delivery form, I pulled over, not forgetting to lock my bike to a road sign. I wasn’t worried about it being stolen, but in its current condition it wouldn’t be surprising if it got taken away as trash.
How fancy. I rang the doorbell to a house I could only describe as a mansion. Typically you wouldn’t consider ringing a doorbell at three in the morning, but I didn’t hesitate in pressing it multiple times. Based on the contents of the order I was delivering, I’d assumed the recipient would be up.
It didn’t take long for a young girl to open the door. She was probably only eleven or twelve, and definitely not what I was expecting. She was human. Like, a perfectly normal human. Well, no. It didn’t seem to have actualized yet, but I would have bet she was an augmented. The important thing though was that she wasn’t an aberration, and definitely not a vampire.
I’d first noticed it when I was talking to Elodie after becoming a vampire, but figuring out that kind of stuff with a single smell was instinctual. Despite my eagerness to bite every neck I came across, I never once felt the slightest urge to give Elodie a nibble. The same was true of the other aberrations I ran across while out for deliveries.
In the end, whether or not she was human wasn’t overly relevant. I was there to make a delivery. I didn’t have the time to waste on pointless observations.
“Delivery from Let’s Be Positive Blood Warehouse.”
“Huh?” The girl tilted her head in confusion.
“I’m your new blood delivery boy. I’m trying out new store names.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The old man who ran the local blood supplier didn’t bother naming his establishment. He figured since it had to keep a low profile there was no reason to advertise.
How shortsighted. He couldn’t expect his business to flourish with that kind of attitude. Sure, vampires need blood, so he was fine for the time being. But how long until some Dracula-come-lately shows up and starts undercutting his market?
“Oh, um.” The girl paused to check the time.
“I’m probably a little later than you’re used to, sorry. I’m still learning the route. For the time being, I’ll probably be bringing your order around this time.”
“That should, be fine. Master Raslin doesn’t take his meal until 5:00.”
“Perfect. We at Bloodhub can guarantee you’ll get your deliveries before 5:00.”
“Bloodhub?”
“Another new name I’m testing, don’t worry about it. You’re expecting three liters of the extra virgin blood with added hemoglobin, right?”
“Ah, um, yes.”
“Alright miss, here you go.” Most of that blood shop’s customers built up a tab, so I didn’t need to bother getting a payment. “Now don’t drink it all in one place. I’ll see you again tomorrow.”
I didn’t wait for her to shut the door before I turned around and started walking back toward my bike.
I feel like I played it off well, but I didn’t like it. It wasn’t any of my business, but I didn’t like it. That girl definitely wasn’t related to whoever’s house it was, and she was too young to be working as hired help. The girl herself seemed content with her position, albeit emotionally drained.
I’d seen plenty of people like her before, back when I still lived in the capital. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to see them in the Northern Territories as well. At the end of the day, this was still part of the Empire.
Even though the owner of that fancy house was almost certainly forced to live in the Northern Territories because he was an aberration, he still chose to force an innocent person to serve under him. No, that’s probably exactly why chose her. A fellow aberration would have almost certainly served his needs better, and it’s not like he’d have a hard time finding one in this city. He wanted a human. I’m sure keeping a girl like that around made him feel like he regained some of the power he lost when the government forced him to live here. A piece of pointless revenge against the humans he thinks have wronged him.
Or maybe I was completely off. I don’t know, and at the end of the day, or even at the start of it, it didn’t really matter. I still had a substantial number of blood deliveries left, and I needed to be at the bakery by 5:00.
The kind of mass produced artificial blood I’ve got to look forward to has a long shelf life, but the same can’t be said for the high quality stuff, most notably, the real deal. Even with added anticoagulants, you couldn’t expect real blood to last very long. At least not in a state that someone would want to drink it in. That meant that anyone who wanted genuine human juice had to buy their blood daily. And the kind of people who could afford those luxuries were the kind that definitely wouldn’t bother taking a daily trip to that nameless blood store.
That’s where I come in. Anyone dropping the credits required to buy fresh blood would be more than willing to pay a delivery fee. That old man who ran the shop had been making the deliveries himself, but through my own wit and quick thinking, I managed to snag myself a stable gig.
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“Come on, I’m sure a reasonable man such as yourself could cut me a better deal than that. Us neck-nibblers have to stick together after all.”
After an uneventful day at school, I quickly made my way to the unimposing back alley blood shop Elodie mentioned the night before. I didn’t have long until I needed to be at the Flying Pig, so I couldn’t waste any time. I also briefly mention here that while going outside while the sun was out was unpleasant, it wasn’t like I instantly turned to ash or anything.
The man behind the counter was old. I’d have pegged him to be in his late seventies, but considering he’s probably an aberration I couldn’t say for sure.
Actually, I’d never asked Elodie how long I should expect to live for.
I’m not sure what answer I’d want.
“Discount Donor is 50 credits a packet.” The old man recited a scripted line.
And Elodie was really showcasing her status as a rich girl. She thought 75 credits was the cheapest you could go? Ha, don’t make me laugh. She didn’t even know about the real cheap stuff.
“Yeah, you said that already. But don’t you have a frequent buying plan? A bulk option? Maybe a loyalty program?”
“Fourteen packets, 700 credits.”
“That’s the same price!”
Hmm? Was it? When did I get so good at mental math? I mean, it was only multiplication, but in the past I wouldn’t have been able to do something like that so quickly. Ever since I became a vampire I can’t help but think that the rest of the world was moving at a reduced speed, giving me the time to have pointless thoughts.
“Listen, help me out here. I’m new to this whole vampire thing. It’s a classic getting turned into a vampire because my bike was damaged and I was seeking compensation story. Fifty credits is just way too much. Not a chance I could afford that kind of food budget.”
At first I thought I could pay those exorbitant prices by getting a night job during my now sleepless nights, but that turned out to be impossible. Apparently not many businesses are in the market of hiring high school students to work through the night. Why did everyone have to take labor laws so seriously?
I also considered just ignoring those blood packets altogether and just drinking straight from the neck, but Elodie talked me out of that one. Even if both parties consented it was very illegal for an aberration to feed on a human. Try something like that once and you’d find yourself on the wrong end of a monster subjugation quest.
“Discount Donor, the cheapest I got here, 50 credits a packet.”
“Yeah, I was expecting that.”
I could hear the disgruntled comments coming from the line forming behind me. Ah, I see. I was being a troublesome customer. I turned around to apologize, but at that moment I had a realization. Excluding that obstinate old man, I didn’t see any other staff.
“Hey, do you run this shop by yourself?”
The old man raised one of his bushy eyebrows in response to my question.
“How do you feel about a new hire? You can keep the sweat and tears, but I’ll work for blood.”