He could feel her pressing against his will. She didn’t believe she was where he said she was, and she didn’t believe that she was who he said she was, that was expected. What he hadn’t expected was how much work this fantasy was going to be to hold together. He was still sweating, he hadn’t known what it was to sweat since the day he had been turned and now he realized just how much he did not miss it.

He turned around and walked up the three concrete steps leading to what was supposed to be the interior of a house, however when he opened the door there was nothing but a black empty void. He stepped through the doorway into the darkness and left his fantasy world behind.

He stepped out into his sitting room and bar. He stumbled a little on the last step. He caught himself with effort and sat down heavily in his comfortable leather chair. He could still feel the Shape shifter in his mind. The world he created for her was perfect down to the smallest detail. There was no way that she could find any cracks in it, unless he exhausted himself of course. Then the trap would dissolve around her and she would find herself right back in her cell in his basement under his house. Kenneth had never been so close and he would not let that happen. But he had to maintain his strength and for that he needed blood.

He grabbed his phone and pressed a few buttons. After a moment he heard a reassuring voice, “Yes Michael,” he replied, “I’m just a little tired. I need you to get me food. Go to the farm and get me at least a month’s worth. Do you understand? A month’s worth, no less. If they question you, tell them your sponsor was injured in a battle and needs enough to recuperate.” He thumbed the phone off.

He placed his face in his hands. The woman was strong. He could feel her scan and prod the house she was in. She didn’t trust the food but it was edible, she had eaten a little toast and was now sipping the coffee. He felt her mind try to reconcile the flavor and aroma with the reality that she was certain of. There were whispers in the back of her mind amidst shouts of protest that this had to be real. Those whispers were his own. Her will was strong though and she easily brushed them aside. She knew she was still in a cell somewhere, held captive by Kenneth the vampire. But his whispers in the back of her mind echoed through her psyche.

The harder she resisted, the more drained he became. The hours ticked by and by the time Michael arrived with his food he was ashen in color. Michael quickly opened one of the cold boxes and started to drain it into a glass, Kenneth waved it away. “I need it now, Michael. I don’t care if it’s cold.” His voice was weak and raspy.

Michael quickly gave the thick plastic blood pouch over to his instructor and watched Kenneth drain the cold viscous liquid from the bag. Kenneth’s face turned upward into a sour expression but almost immediately color returned to his features and he seemed more awake. “Now, Michael,” his voice much stronger now. “Prepare me another one, this time at a proper ninety eight point six degrees.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Kenneth watched his student leave to follow his instructions. As Michael left, he leaned back into his chair and refocused on Ansuya. She was sampling all the food and had turned on every appliance in the house, at the same time. The blender had been on for about thirty minutes. With a thought he burned out the motor and the blender finally stopped. The clothes iron had been on for hours but that had turned itself off when the iron surface had reached a certain temperature. The television was on but she was not watching it. She was throwing towels into one of the bath tubs she had filled up. He had no idea what she was testing with that. It was just something else that he had to keep his attention on.

All of her destruction and experiments could only be for one thing. She was trying to stretch him beyond his limits, to overload his world in a sense. He smiled to himself. She could try all she wanted, but this was his world and there were no limits to what he could do there. His tired arms buckled and rolled off of the arm rests. He was reminded that there wasn’t a limit to his mind but his body most definitely did have limits.

Michael returned with his hot blood in a special thermos flask which kept the liquid warm and prevented coagulation. Michael stood obediently by as Kenneth slowly sipped and swallowed the warm strength restoring blood. Kenneth smiled as he felt Ansuya try to rip apart the clothes in their closet.

He glanced up in surprise at his student still standing there. “You can go.”

His student bowed low, “Yes Instructor, thank you.” The young man turned around and exited through the front door. Kenneth drained the blood from the thermos flask and stood up. His strength had been completely restored and his fantasy world was still as impregnable as when he first created it. He felt Ansuya start to pound on the walls of the staircase. He couldn’t help but smile. It’s all real Ansuya. The sooner you realize that the sooner your life will become so much easier. He set the thermos flask on his bar and headed toward his basement door.

He opened the door into a perfect dark void. He stepped through the veil of reality and reentered his world.

He pressed the white button on the wall and opened his car door. The garage door opened to reveal that the sun was just setting. He pressed the ignition button and backed out of the garage. He drove the short distance back home and parked his car in the drive way exactly the way it had been this morning.

He got out and inhaled the scents of the spring evening, someone was barbequing chicken and ribs nearby and he spotted the soft line of smoke from one of the neighbor’s houses. “How you doing Ken?” The next-door neighbor asked kindly.

“I’m doing great Joe. How are the kids doing?”

“Oh, you know them, can’t seem to keep themselves out of trouble,” Joe said laughing.

Kenneth smiled, “Why do you think I don’t have any yet?”

“Oh, you will, trust me, one day it’ll just hit you, ‘I want a family’ and then there’s no going back.”

Kenneth turned toward the house and yelled over his shoulder, “Let me know when that day gets here. Have a good evening, Joe.”