Blood Mother. A Vampire Tale

Ch. 11: Calina

Calina felt restless. Her head throbbed just a bit and she needed to get out. Exert some energy and eat. Her meal last night had been satisfying. Almost as good as the experience. But it could be topped.

What she wanted was revenge. And connection. One of these times it would be there. Charlie was as close as she had come to that in a very long time. When his little eyelids fluttered she believed she could almost feel a twinge. But the human dies so quickly. She shuddered to think it could have been over so fast when she had the luxury of quick fluttering death. If only it had.

Tonight she would hunt again. This time it would be for food only. There was a new hum in the nest. She could feel it. Her connection was muted, but not dead. Somehow there would always be a tie between her and her kind. Whatever it was, it felt off. A quick meal and back to her real home. No sleeping underground tonight.

As she walked the city boulevard she could sense them everywhere. The tiny humans with their constant worries. Money, love, sickness, fear of death, it was always something dramatic with them. Always a rush for time, a need for things and a desire for emotion. She had no  memories of being like that as human. In fact, each day she remembered less of her human time and hated them more. The only thing she remembered for certain now was that she had been a mother. And it had been a deep feeling. Something filling, like a good meal.

She felt a tendril of fear call out to her from the run down house to her left. The boy standing in front of the window quickly  closed the curtain as he saw her. Something shifted, just a bit, in the fall wind and she smelled his heightened fear. He was home alone, and locking up. Lights went on in rhythmic order in the small house and Catrina realized she had found a tasty meal. Fear was foreplay, and he was thumping with it. He was outside her normal order, a little on the older side. But tonight she was playing cautiously.

She had no interest in territory or turf. Just dwelling as an island of her own. Focused on eating and surviving. The needs of her new body and the hope of pleasure were her only requirements for her eternal damnation.

Calina went to the door and knocked softly. No answer was good news for her. She thought about the boy, a preteen. Mostly likely hormonal and already weary of being home alone. A sitting duck for a woman in despair.

"Hello, is someone there?  I need some help out here."

She waited for the door to open. She could sense the feeling in the little house. Panic increasing, uncertainty, the smell of sweat increasing with his temperature. It was a heightened smell, like a sensor drive. He was bait for the shark now. His fear made him a perfect target.

She almost reverted to noises of crying. That was so sickening to her. The way the humans ran to help those in need with their minuscule problems.

But soon the door clicked and an acne stricken boy answered the door. His hair was greasy and unkempt, his clothes disheveled and smelling of days on the floor in a room closed up.

"I locked myself out of my car. It's so dumb. I've done it twice this year already. Ernie, my husband is going to have a fit. But if I could just use your phone for a tiny second, he can bring the spare key set. It's so late to be walking the street alone."

She stood wrapping her sweater tight around her shoulders. Feigning her best look of need, which wasn't hard considering she had needs. They just included this boy and a late night meal.

"I guess it's ok to let you in, it is an emergency right?"

"Oh yes, it certainly is. I haven't eaten and I'm probably not even supposed to be out. I'm sure I'm going to get into a yelling match as it is. If I can call Ernie though, at least I can get home."

The boy moved back and opened the door. Just enough for her to turn herself sideways and glide in. She thought about playing with the toy for a bit longer, it was tempting. But the vibe from the hive was still buzzing under her skin.

She sniffed his blood coursing through his veins at that panicked phase, extending her fangs with desire, and grabbed him before he even had a chance to shut the door. His eyes widened in surprise but the second her fangs made impact with the blood he immediately became still. Her neurotoxin activated, he could not have moved if he had wanted.

When she was finished she felt euphoric.  Meals always did this to her. In her satisfied space she  didn't take the time to position him or close his wide eyes. She left him in a heap behind the door and with a wipe of her mouth on the back oh her hand, walked silently back into the night. Closing the door behind her.

She headed East, back to the room she rented from the blind Mrs. Parker. Back to her invisible home where she would wait for the slowing of the buzzing of the hive. If it took a few days, there was always a snack there who would never see it coming.