Mending
It has been fifty years since I became a vampeil, and I have delighted in every second of it. The only fear I have come upon in the past years is not being able to find my creator and be mortal again. Though now I have tasted this side of life, I feel split about what I want to do. I have tried loving other vampires over the past 50 years, but they lack the power to love, what I yearn for so desperately. All I want now is the warmth of another beside me at night. Nothing perfect, just a loving being that will accept me.
One of my favorite things to do when I'm not looking for prey is to sit in clubs and bars, looking at all those pretty faces, wishing someone would come over. It was late one Saturday, and I was sitting at my favorite club, and out of the blue from behind me I hear, "Nice hair, man. You mind if I join you?"
After calming down from being startled out of my wits, I reluctantly said sure and gave him a quick look over. He was a bat, with charcoal-colored fur with some green and blue highlights in his head fur. His eyes were the most dazzling amber color I had ever seen. He had on a silk shirt with half the buttons undone, and a pair of really tight red leather pants with a nice-size bulge in the front. I chuckled softly at the highlights, and he blushed.
"Are they a little too much?" Not wanting to make my attraction known yet, I replied.
"Yeah, but you know? You need some red highlights too, though." He took a few seconds to think about it, and blushed slightly.
"That would look cool, too. Wouldn't it?"
After talking for a while, I learned he was about as strait as a rubber ball, and was looking for someone that he could have a relationship with, without it being all about the sex. I smiled, but said I needed to go home. We exchange some info, in case we wanted to meet up again, and I wandered off to find some prey. After I took care of a drunk in one of the alleys near my apartment, I headed in quickly. I wandered upstairs to check on my email and messages, but when I got to the phone I noticed I had a couple messages. I went ahead and went through them. The first was telling me I needed to meet with my investors first thing in the morning, and the other message was from Jesse, the cute bat from earlier. He asked if we could meet tomorrow for breakfast, and to call him in the morning if I wanted. I thought it over for a few seconds and shrugged. What the hell? It would be different from my usual morning ritual: wander around until I bump into something edible.
The next morning, I got dressed, grabbed my laptop and jacket, and headed off for my day, calling Jesse on my cell phone on my way out the door. I took a seat at the table of one of the many cafes downtown to wait for Jesse to arrive. After about ten minutes, he showed up with his hair sticking up at every angle. I tried not to laugh out loud, but ended up sputtering out "Bad hair day?" He blushed a violent shade of red, and made an attempt to straiten his hair. We flagged down a waiter and ordered our food. While we were waiting, we somehow got on the subjects of relationships. He asked me when my last relationship was, and I sighed. I had tried but never really had one. He stared at me for a few moments and asked me why. I tried to find a reply, and ended up mumbling a few things, like couldn't find the right person, and that kind of bullshit we all say. Smirking, he ran his fingers through his hair, and I felt someone's foot rubbing against my leg. Jesse winked at me and I couldn't do anything but wink back. It wasn't a hard drift to catch.
After a breakfast that was nothing but about two hours worth of flirting, we decided to go to a movie that night, which meant I would have to feed early. On my way home from work, I was taking the back way home through the alleys and I saw him. A tall hooded feline rose up from a now lifeless corpse. I slipped into the shadows to keep him from noticing me, and I watched. To my sheer luck, he lifted the hood. Standing in the afternoon sun was a cheetah, sitting there, looking at his victim with a grin on his face. The same grin that he gave me before taking my mortality, my normality. I stepped out of the shadows and startled him. Immediately, his grin vanished, his ears clamped to his head, and hissed.
"You should be dead. I drank you dry."
"Just because you drank from me doesn't mean a thing. I refused to die, and I've been looking for you for 50 years with no luck. I finally have you within killing distance. You're gonna be my last kill."
Jumping forward, he hissed and clawed at me in an attempt to cut my throat. I dodged easily, and laughing hysterically, I leaped onto his back and sank my fangs into his neck. I drained him till the point of death, enjoying the blood. I pushed him to the ground before me.
"Thank you, young one. You have served me well by bringing this pitiful excuse of a vampire to the coven's mercy."
I turned to my right, and faced the lioness I saw 50 years ago.
"Is there anything I can give you in return for his body?"
I thought carefully. What do I say? It took a few minutes to decide.
"I want to stay immortal, and when I find the one I love, I want to make them immortal with out having to kill the dirt of the earth just to stay alive."
"Is that all you wish young one?"
"Yes."
"Very well."
The lioness pulled out two vials from her pocket, and handed them to me.
"You must find this lover of yours by the blood moon in three weeks. Each of you must consume the contents of these bottles, and if done, you will simply be immortal. You will be living vampires that need not feed to live."
Smiling, she and the cheetah disappeared as if they were not even there.