Manifestation of a Monster (Warm-Blooded Vampires) Book 2

The Prey at the Coffee Shop - Crazy Bean - 4/15/2018

Justin tapped his toe. His stomach twisted as he waited for her. He was too nervous to wait inside the cafe. He needed to know as soon as she got there. He patted his pocket where the small ring sat. Despite the air being chilly, he had to pull his hair up, taking his flannel off, exposing his ink-covered arms. She wasn't late; he was early. Everything would be okay. Or that was what he kept telling himself.

Taking his eyes off the sidewalk for a split second to check if the ring had still been in its box, he didn't notice the man who took the seat in front of him. He had an air of aristocracy that, in itself, was an overwhelming presence. When Justin looked up, he almost fell out of his seat. "That seat is taken." But the man didn't seem to care.His skin was the same dark shade as Justin's, with cherry red hair. At first, Justin had thought he didn't hear him, so he spoke once more."I heard you the first time. No need to repeat yourself." The man glanced around the place before leaning in. "Who are you waiting for?""My girlfriend," Justin answered without hesitation."Is she late?" The man didn't give him time to answer. "Doesn't matter? Do you have a family? Or do you live alone?"Justin answered these as well. "No, I live alone. My family is." Then he stopped. It was none of this man's business. Why had he been answering these stupid questions?"Job, where do you work? Do you do anything important?" The man still locked eyes with Justin, making it impossible for Justin to look away. And even harder not to answer his questions."Baker, down the street from my house." Justin got agitated, wanting to just tell the guy off. That was Amy's seat. He didn't have time for his 20 questions.The man tapped on the table. As if his questions were leading up to something. Something he was eager to finish. He continued to ask highly personal questions, and Justin kept answering them. Despite not wanting to.Doing everything he could to break eye contact with the man, he no longer understood the questions that were being asked him. He didn't notice the man speeding the questions up. Or even that he was answering every question he was asked. Without hesitation, with no thought.***That was the last thing Justin remembered when he shot up in bed. An awful pain that he never felt before shot through his body all at once. He realized he wasn't in his room. But he could hardly think about that with the pain he was in. Had the cafe been a dream, or was he really there?Flashes of disturbing dreams ran through his mind. He had done monstrous things. Killing people as he stood over their bodies. A light-haired man in danger. Fire and blood everywhere. No, you can't die. Then a woman. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen. No, but she wasn't. Justin had seen none of these people. One minute they would be clear as day, as if this had been his life, the next they were gone, as if they were never there. All the time in so much pain, he could no longer see anything around him when a door opened.He didn't need to see to know the man stood over him, watching him. The disconnect between reality, minutes, and his delusions of hours slowly shrank as the pain in his body lessened. The blankets he laid on were soaked in his own sweat as he slowly looked around the room. Where was he? Looking up, he saw the man that was at the cafe. At that moment, he remembered the man telling him to follow him. He didn't question it or fight. They walked into the hotel. He asked for a room and threw some money at the person. When they made it up, the man bit him. Everything was a haze, but he recalled the pain as clear as day. For the first time in his life, he knew exactly where each and every vein was in his body. The venom from his teeth worked its way through his system.Justin quickly reached for his neck. No blood, no enormous gaping hole. The dreams he couldn't remember, they weren't dreams. They were of this man's life. "What do you want from me?" The words stuck in Justin's throat. Too weak to even lift his head. "You're a monster. I, I know what you did."The man's face was just as untelling as the night before, aside from a small grin that formed."Are you going to kill me?" Justin whimpered in fear."If I intended for you to be dead, you wouldn't be here." His voice was icy and hollow. "The pain will pass, and you will fall into a deep sleep." Crouching down, he looked into Justin's eyes. "What did you see? You should know, that turning people isn't something I do often. I fear something has gone wrong." Something flashed in his eyes. Some emotions that Justin couldn't pinpoint. Then it was gone.As the man spoke, Justin felt his entire body relax as his eyelids became heavy. The last thought that went through his head was the man's name, Milo. How did he know that?***They both knew something was wrong, but neither of them knew exactly how wrong things had gone. Milo clenched his stomach as he pulled himself from the bed. When he fed on the human and turned him. He should get memories from him. But instead, he got nothing. Some unfamiliar words, some new feelings of how the world thought. He was sure his accent would have changed slightly, but he knew nothing else. Without that, all of this was pointless.He dragged himself to the on-suite bathroom. Now that Justin was asleep, he would have an hour before he woke. He could still taste the blood in his mouth. And just like when he had killed the woman in the morgue, he felt sick. Had whatever she pumped into him made him ill? Do humans have a way of killing their kind? Was his kind out in the open now?Perhaps he was too hasty in killing that woman. He hadn't suffered from morality for some time, not in thousands of years, in fact. But he wouldn't worry about that. He had to clean up not only his appearance but also the blood that remained in the sink and on the floor.With how much blood he regurgitated, there couldn't have been much that remained in his system. It was just lucky HE wasn't there. He could imagine HIS reaction at the sight of the amount of blood in the room. Despite what they were; the red stuff always seemed to put his friend on edge. It would have been a lot to take care of himself and the other.His mood fluctuated between relief and urgency. Where could he be? He didn't even know his own location. Milo would have to get the answer from Justin after he woke.His hand was more stable, and the tremors and pain were fading. He could make it through the rest of the day. The pain was only thereafter he fed. He could inform Justin of what he needed to know. Then what? He would use him to find his family and figure out what was wrong with him. In the meantime, he would need to get dressed. He reached for the clothes he gained the night before. They were not custom-made. But they would have to do. A silver suit that included a white blouse, silver vest, slacks, tie, and jacket. He could also snag a matching top hat before he left the shop.***The events of the night before were long gone when Justin woke up. In fact, he had felt better than he had in as long as he could remember. It wasn't until he reached for his phone that he remembered things were not right. Instead of his hand hitting his side table, it just hit more bed. He was on the wrong side of the bed. He had the wrong pillow; he had the wrong blankets. It was only then did he remember being bitten. Being in pain, and Milo.He leaped from the bed to a white room he had never seen before. He wanted the night before to be a dream. He did not know where he was. He grasped at his neck again, and yet again, there was no enormous gaping hole. But now that he was more aware, he could feel some bumps on his neck. A scar from where Milo bit him. The last and only scar he would ever have.He reasoned with himself. There had to be an explanation. Yes, Milo was a vampire. No, that was too far. When he paused. The sun seeped in at the edges of the blinds. If he was turned into a vampire, the sun would burn him. This was common knowledge about vampires, right?His heart thumped, half expecting to be harmed by the rays of the sun. But there was only slight discomfort from being in a dark room. He squinted his eyes as he approached the window. He knew the street; he knew where he was. Across the street was the coffee shop he was abducted from, Crazy Bean. And a few blocks down was Amy's dorm. That would make this the Hotel Dam Sanctum.Before he moved to the city, his family wanted to stay here once. The prices were expensive, but they will pay it for the location, only to be told that the waiting period for a room was over 4 years. Now he was here, four years after their death. For a moment, he almost forgot how he got there when the spigot from the bathroom ran.It was Milo. Justin couldn't explain how he knew, but he just did. The door leading out of the room was right next to the one that led to the bathroom. He could run, getaway. But he did not know the layout. Even if Milo wasn't familiar with it himself, he at least had the luxury of passing through once. But if he could get out, he could tell the police what had happened. He just had to make it to the lobby. He could tell the workers."And what would you tell them?" Milo asked as he stepped out of the bathroom, drying his hands on a towel. His eyes glanced from Justin to the door. "I will not stop you. But I want to know who you will seek and what you will say?"Justin hesitated. "I'll tell them..." It was obvious, wasn't it? He was abducted, possibly drugged. Why did the words not want to leave his mouth?"What do you know? What will you tell them when they ask what I look like? Or my name. I doubt they have a record of me. And if they do, they are people who are unlikely to help you." His words were dark and dangerous. Justin knew he was being honest. He would let him leave. But there was a threat behind his words that didn't sit well with him."Can you tell me what I look like? If you're going to report me, they will want to know what I look like." Even looking the man directly in the face, Justin found the words stuck in his mouth. Longnose, high cheekbones, gold eyes, brown skin, and long cherry-red hair. "A man. Um, no. ah." The words stumbled through his mouth. It was no good. He couldn't do it, he wouldn't be able to give any useful information about him. "What do you want?" Justin asked, unable to keep his voice level."I assume that you already have an idea." Milo stood next to him, pointing to the store that was directly in front of them. "What does that piece of paper say? The one that's posted on the door."Justin read it with no problem. The days and times that the store was open. It was only then he realized he shouldn't have been able to read that from over ten stories up. He turned to Milo. He still didn't believe he was anything other than human. But standing next to him. He got a sense of danger, something he never experienced before. He found it hard to look at him, so he looked back at the road. He could see every person, their expression as they sat in their car or passed on the sidewalk."I will not follow you. If you leave now, you will never see me again. But you will also be completely in the dark about what I turned you into. The choice is yours.""How do I know I can trust you?" Justin asked."You can't." Milo's voice was flat as ever. Not even bothering to put on a fake facade of kindness."I don't feel like I have a choice," Justin answered reluctantly"You don't. Not really." Milo said, as he turned to walk away.Between not trusting that Milo would just let him go and being conflicted about what he may or may not be now, he reluctantly agreed to his terms. He still wasn't sure what the other would get out of this. But he would play along for now.