Mom solemnly tells me.
“I always am,” is my confident reply.
Mom leaves my room to join the rest of the family.
Now I’m feeling guilty as I sit here on my bed. I am being selfish. We aren’t the only vampires out there looking for our Solstice sustenance. It’s hot and heavy out there at this time of year. Sometimes there are clashes with other vampires going for the same prey. Tempers can flare. It seems to be happening more often due to the technology.
There are more humans now than ever, but the opportunities to take them safely are growing ever smaller. I’m not sure when our worlds (vampires & humans) will collide, but as everyone fears-- one day they will have to.
I worry about Skyla. She’s nine years of age and she’s being weaned. That means instead of Christian, Mom or Dad taking down the victim and putting them under and then letting her feed; she’s now expected to take on her own.
It’s a scary time for a little vampire. Well-- scary and exhilarating at the same time. I remember.
I bit my first solo victim in the butt. Now that sounds plenty funny-- but the ‘ol butt-cheek has no major blood vessels within striking distance of our fangs. Even worse was my victim was a heavy woman (women have more fat in their buttocks to begin with), so my fangs never reached the microscopic blood vessels in her butt- cheek. (the reason why you humans get shots in the butt-muscle… these microscopic blood vessels absorb the injected content into the bloodstream) Translation: no venom in the fat lady’s system.
Hey, all I saw was a nice big fleshy target.
The woman smacked the crap out of me with her purse until Christian came and put her under. I wasn’t hurt or anything. It just freaked me out.
We laugh about it now, but what if the woman had a gun or a taser in her purse? There could have been a different outcome.
I forgot to tell you that because of our accelerated heart-rate, a jolt from a taser can send our heart into overdrive and literally explode it in our chests. We’re definitely not invincible.
The other reason I’m worried about Skyla is because Christian, Mom and Dad have to feed as well. When you’re locked on and take that victim and you’ve struck that vein and the blood is flowing, for a minute or so everything else is blocked out.
I should be there watching out for Skyla. Anything can happen in a minute.
Guilt and sisterly worry has gotten the better of me so I’d better go catch up to them. I’ll just listen to The Cons a little bit longer and then I’ll follow their scent trail and catch-up quickly.
It’s cold at night now so finding an open window is harder. Besides the worry of intruders, everyone and every place has central heating and air, so people open windows less and less. More and more of the structures being built are “eco-homes and buildings” and these homes and buildings are sealed and locked up tighter than a drum.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the eco-green activities going on to save our planet from the overuse of fossil fuels and the planet’s other natural resources. Have you ever seen a clear-cut forest? I have. You’d cry if you did. We actually live in one of these green homes for the utilities savings. (lots of air conditioning use) They are however making life more difficult in some ways for us vampires. As Dad says “these are the trade-offs in life.” We need to always adapt.
The family might get lucky and find an unlocked window without the alarm on. We always look for second-story or above windows because those are left unlocked a lot more. People think they are safe from intruders that high up, so lots of times they don’t have them armed on the alarm system because they like to open these windows for fresh air or to take advantage of the cool night air we have here in the Pacific Northwest. Then as the weather gets colder they simply forget to lock or arm them. We look for the sensor on the window and if there is one then we’ll just crack the window and if the alarm goes off-- we run!
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF BLOOD
Winter Solstice is a chore. It definitely is not my favorite time of year as far as the needs of the body are concerned. It’s like you as a human, you need to eat, right? And maybe you love ice cream. Strawberry ice cream, let’s say. But for close to two months you have to eat ten gallons of strawberry ice cream, per day. You would probably lose your enthusiasm for strawberry ice cream for a bit.
We, vampires, need to take in about six pints of blood per day during the winter solstice. The average human between age thirteen and adulthood has between seven and ten pints of blood depending upon size and weight. We can take only about one pint from an adolescent and about two pints from an adult human. Otherwise, we can send the victim into shock, which can cause some serious damage or possibly cause death. We want you to live - you’re our ice cream factories.
That is, unless you’re a victim of vampires like the “Bees.” With the “Bees” you’ll be drained of every drop, and not in a nice way.
What is distinct about the “Bees” is they all have had their venom glands surgically altered at birth. This is a part of being in their clan. They are as weird and spooky as you can get.
We have saliva glands and then we have venom glands that with the right brain impulses, release venom into the saliva when our fangs descend. They all work together to send you into La La Land and do all the other things required to take your blood and cover our tracks so-to-speak.
The Bees’ and their clan’s venom doesn’t enter the victim’s bloodstream. There is no anesthetic or hypnotic reaction like with the rest of us. In other words - a human will feel the bite, the sucking of their blood, and the pull on their heart, which apparently is excruciatingly painful towards the end. The wounds will be visible on the victim as well because the venom also makes the wound heal over – the covering our tracks part. We are evolution at its finest.
The calling sign of the Killer Bees is what they do to their victims. This is a warning to all other vampires about who they are, what they are - and why you shouldn’t mess with them. Their calling sign is left on the poor victim for all of the world to see.
They are called the Killer Bees because of the dozens and dozens of bites they inflict. They relish causing pain. They delight in killing. They and their clan are cruel and vicious vampires.
Although it is forbidden to kill victims, the Bees and their clan do it, and the vampire hierarchy looks the other way. The hierarchy requested the clan to take only humans that won’t be missed by human society and to dispose of the bodies so they won’t be found - as if somehow, this makes it okay to brutalize and kill their human victims. The clan and the Bees now follow these rules somewhat due to governmental pressure - but every once in a while the Bees or members of their clan leave bodies where they can be seen by other vampires out hunting. This is nothing more than the equivalent of in the Middle Ages of leaving a foe’s head on a spike. It is meant to project their power within the ranks of vampire society.
If a body left by the Bees is found by humans there is so much overkill, it appears to be a vicious animal attack. The forests here abound with wolves, cougars, and bears - and people are attacked and killed by them. It really doesn’t raise any suspicions in the humans - it’s just a tragedy of living near the forests.
This clan of the Bees is spooky and weird as all get out. They are very secretive as well. Rumors abound about other sick happenings in this clan.
The clan is headed
