To Wu
Beautiful Stranger.
King would have never imagined he was to live this far. He’d seen a century end already and it was a new time and a new country to be in, though he was getting tired of it. America was waiting for him, Europe was the old continent. Thank goodness for him, he could afford changes.
The ship hadn’t taken as long as people had claimed she would; King also noticed how everyone was very careful when talking about ships at the harbour. He’d laughed and shrugged he remembered. The Titanic catastrophe would never happen twice. Though, he had to admit, it’d been fun back then, when he could simply feed off the hundreds of immigrants on board and nobody had noticed; too bad it’d all ended up wrongly.
Boston was a different place, he mused. It hadn’t been so long since he’d arrived there and he’d already found the house in the outskirts of the place and by the sea. A cold sea that reminded him of the home he’d grown in and of his mortality. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy who he was either, it was just that on days like that one in the Fall, when the weather was dull and he needed some warmth, he couldn’t stop thinking about his life and why he’d fled his homeland.
The vampire took his coat and put it on, then his scarf and wrapped it around his neck, the gloves he kept them in his coat pockets. It wasn’t as if cold were actually harmful, though the lack of blood in his stream made him crave for some of that warmth. He walked alongside the sea on the beach and then into the town. It was the forties now, 28 years after he’d arrived in America; people were inside the pubs and bars, drinking from cocoa the young ladies to scotch the grown men. They were listening to the blues in one of them. In the one that caught his attention.
The place felt warm as he crossed the threshold. His nose immediately caught the scent of cigar and tobacco and that of beer spilled on some of the tables. King looked for the table in the farthest corner of the bar. He wanted one from where he could have a wider look of what was happening, and of the people entering there; even the ones coming out seemed interesting. It was one man the one that he couldn’t stop staring at. There wasn’t anything really impressive about him, except perhaps for the smell of his blood, for it was the sweetest thing King had smell in a long time. It was also the fact that the guy was calling for death in a desperate manner. It made the vampire smile. If only the poor bastard knew what it was like to be dead.
King could follow the tic-tac from the clock and count each minute even when the clock was on the wall on the opposite side of the room right above the head of the man who’d noticed him a while ago. During all that time, King had shown his best, more charming fake smile. He wanted to allure the man to the private table he’d got.
Sooner that he thought, the man was standing next to him.
“May I sit with you?” The young one asked. Younger than he’d thought, King mused and with his hand, offered the seat next to his. The smell of the place had already impregnated the man’s clothes, making him somewhat more attractive. “You’re not from around here, are you?” The man kept talking as he lighted another cigarette.
King nodded and shook his head to each question he was asked. He heard the man laugh and his blood boil, calling him. It was blunt for the time when he felt the man’s hands in his thigh, “What’s your name, again?” The man asked in his ear, making King shiver.
“K…” The vampire answered, allowing him to believe he was on control.
“I’m Daniel.”
“Hello there, D.” King responded when Daniel moved his hand a little up and grabbed his crotch. King purred in the man’s ear, approaching his lips to the human’s neck, while his tongue slithered in the same spot.
“Your place?”
“No, yours.”
Minutes later they were walking outside the place, enjoying the chilling wind against their faces. Daniel told King everything about his dull life. About the wife and child that had abandoned him for a richer man. About how disappointed he’d been with that said life and how much he’d wanted and meant to die; all that before he’d seen King in the bar that evening.
Pitiful, the vampire said to himself. A few blocks from the bar, the man led King to their left and into a two storey house. It was bigger than it should, yet given the man’s story, it wasn’t that surprising. As King entered and Daniel closed the door when they were inside, he took King from behind. However, to Daniel’s surprise, it wasn’t all going to be what he’d expected.
King’s eyes shone in shreds of red because of his excitement. It’d been so long since he’d found someone so willing to die by his hand; but that night, he was already bored and didn’t want to play with his prey anymore. He hated whining men. He hated Daniel. The vampire turned and took him by the neck, grabbing him and almost chocking him. King saw Daniel’s eyes about to pop up their orbs and his blood pulse accelerated. He loved that, because it was then that he could feel the other’s suffering.
King sunk his fangs on Daniel’s neck, sucking from his jugular, as the man’s body seemed to pump the blood into his mouth. King loved the feeling of warm sweet blood in his mouth and down his throat; and that of the man’s fear as his life left him. King stopped his drinking, feeling drunk by the feeling of possessing someone; of being needed by another one. It wasn’t the time for that, though. He wasn’t seeking for a companion, nor did he want to care about the man’s fate.
“From now on, your fate belongs to you.” King said, while he cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand; “never look for death again, it might come to you, and believe me, it won’t look as good as I do, D.”
King kissed bleeding Daniel and left the house. He was in a good spirit that evening, perhaps someone else would be willing to help him fill his stomach.
Ariadne, September 17, 2007