Bat Country

“Syn,” M started, sitting on the bed next to the shape who was balled up in the corner. “Look at me dude.”
The man turned around. His eyes were dark with only a faint glow to his pale wood colored eyes. He was turning around faster than Alexis. Of course, he was also older. He no longer had that gray skin speckled with grime and he was clean. No pointed ears anymore either, he could have easily passed for human.
“Do you expect me to give you some bullshit about how I love this life now that you put shit into perspective for me? You didn’t. All you did was remind me why I hate who and what I am.” Syn’s eyes didn’t lift up to catch M’s.
“We saved her, if that makes you feel any better.” M shrugged and look down at his struggling friend.
“And she killed the maid.” Syn added. “Why would I wish that for anyone? What don’t you get? You made her a murderer because I almost murdered her. Oh yeah, perfect fucking sense.”
“Would you feel better if we had let you bleed her to death in the street? Because we could have. You don’t fucking get to complain. You starve yourself and you revert into an unperfected. Then you attack and kill someone, usually someones.” M put emphasis on the last word.
Syn rubbed his face as M continued.
“If you didn’t starve yourself, the people you feed from would live. But you sit here and you bitch about killing when you let yourself go insane with hunger.”
“STOP! I don’t fucking care! I’m hoping that I’ll just fucking die before I kill somebody. That’s why I do it. I’m hoping I’ll just starve to death. I choose areas where I don’t smell anything remotely fresh and stay there. I was doing so well this time, but I got too close. I couldn’t stop.”
“She smelled good, didn’t she?”
Syn pressed his hands to his eyes and brought his legs to his chest. “Fucking unbearable, and the blood was so sweet. I…I don’t really remember much about human food. Cinnamon and sugar, I would say was what it was close to.”
“But better, right?”
Syn’s mouth was watering even at the memory. “Much better.”
“You have got to stop running off and doing this to yourself. If you would only feed. She would be alive now. She would have a pulse, and you wouldn’t feel guilty for killing her.”
“Can I see her?” Syn asked meekly. “I want to see what I’m the cause of.”
M nodded. “I had to have Isabel bathe her, but Isabel is good and they should be done.”

The two men walked down the hallway. They didn’t need to run, and Syn’s strength still wasn’t up because he hadn’t slept to override his imperfections since he last fed.
They knocked on a door quietly and heard only the faintest response.
“Come in.” Isabel spoke flatly.
Entering the room, the men held their breath expecting some sort of disaster but instead Alexis sat on her knees in front of Isabel who sat on a chair, delicately combing the tangles out of Alexis’s white blonde hair.
Alexis was perfectly clean but remained pale with a luminescence about her. She was definitely still unperfected, but she was getting closer to what they were wanting and she was changed into a new robe, since there were no clothes anybody would fork over for her.
“There she is, bud.” M gestured to Alexis only slightly. Just enough to catch Alexis’s eye.
She looked up with her glowing eyes and smiled brightly before noticing the other man and after a moment her eyes widened and she looked down and sulked.
“She’s scared of me. She’s fucking scared of me.” A laugh escaped from Syn’s throat and he shook his head. “She remembers me. I was unperfected and she recognizes me now.”
“Let it go. I’m sure she’ll be fine soon enough.”
“Her neck…”
“Is perfectly fine. Healed completely within a day or so.”
Syn glanced over at M, before looking back at Isabel who kept combing through Alexis’ hair. “Whose blood--”
“Mine. It had to be. She was practically already dead when we got her back here.”
“Even…even unperfected she’s…”
“I know, I know.” M shared his sentiment, but now was not the time. “Let’s get you to ground.”
Syn nodded once more. “Sounds good.” As they left, M walked with Syn back to his room.
“Look. Don’t you ever fucking run off again. This is the first time I had to use my own blood and I won’t do it again.”
Syn looked away. “I’ll do my best. Thank you for saving her.”
M nodded, rubbing his face. “Do you remember anything else other than her blood?”
It took Syn a moment to file through his memories. He didn’t find anything from that night aside from tearing open her throat to get at her blood. “No…”
“You tried to rape her. Had we not showed up, you would have been fucking her corpse.” M let the sentence set in. The look on Syn’s face said a lot. “That’s not you at all. But this is what you are, and when you don’t eat, this is what happens and I know that disgusts you.”
“I…I…I’ll have to live with that.”
M shrugged his eyebrows and ran a head over his short brown hair. “She’s your reminder. I wouldn’t have saved her if I didn’t think you needed her around.”
“You’re keeping me in check by fucking keeping my mistake around?”
“Yep. Get to ground. You’ll feel better when you’re perfected again.”
As Syn looked away, M turned back down the hallway to fetch Alexis. When she was perfected, she’d need to be with her maker, so they’d go together and sleep for 3 nights and 2 days.
He opened the door to Isabel’s bedroom and in the sitting area, Alexis sat on an embroidered bench. She had bloodlust badly, as her eyes gleamed in contrast to the soft lighting of the room.
“She’s going to be great.” Isabel smiled. “Her bloodlust is surely driving her insane and she just sits quietly waiting for you.”
M smiled. “Lex, we’re going to sleep.”
Alexis looked over at him sharply with an intensity in her eyes.
“You’re going to eat, I didn’t lie so don’t look at me like that.”
Clearly in a better mood Alexis appeared next to M, but the intensity of her eyes didn’t dissipate.
“Good luck, Matt.” Isabel said as she uncurled her bedding and arranged her bed for sleep.
“Matt…” Alexis repeated.
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out. Okay let’s go sugar plum.” Matt took Alexis’s hand gently and escorted her out. “Sleep well, Isabel.” He said behind him.

The two walked down the hallway and down a set of stairs into a large communal space. It was lavish, tall ceilings and crystal chandeliers. The furniture was for sure antique pieces, and there was lots of gold and white and everything was hospital clean. That must be the theme here, was the only remotely human thought Alexis had. She wasn’t hungrier than before but she felt like if she didn’t eat she was going to have a Chernobyl style meltdown. On the other side of the large room there was another set of stairs, but they weren’t lighted. It was dark here, but they could both see perfectly well. The stairs went on forever, and M took Alexis’s hand as he led her down the stairs. She was starting to get angry and bored.
“Calm down.” He told her.
Alexis’s shoulders relaxed and her anger was gone, but she was still hungry. Finally the stairs ended and there was another hallway. This one was less done up than the rest of the structure, but it was still way too much to the average person. There were 2 doors on each side of the hallway and one at the back. Alexis followed Matt to the very back one and he opened the door. Inside looked like an entire studio apartment. When you first stepped in, there was a sitting area, with furniture that was probably not even used. He turned to the right and Alexis followed into another door. The entire room was black or gray with metallic accents sparsely placed. The room the went into was the bedroom. There was a large bed in the middle, and two nightstands made out of what looked like ram skulls. The horns held up small round glass table tops.
“You’re going to be sleeping here with me for a little bit, so make yourself comfortable, Alexis.” Matt was taking his shirt off with his back turned to her. He took off his belt, and unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, slipping out of them. He sat on the bed, taking off his socks. Alexis just watched in the dark, slightly grabbing at her own robe and wondering if she should take it off. Matt stood up and pulled down his underwear before pulling one leg up as he slid them off. Alexis just watched. Matt finally turned around and stared at Alexis as she lightly pulled at her robe.
“Take it off if you want.”
Alexis just looked him over once, and all of a sudden a new desire arose. She wanted to mate. Slowly untying the belt of the robe, it opened slightly and she looked down and shrugged it off. Matt returned the once over now, only staring for a moment. Now was not the time.
He climbed into the bed and Alexis mimed him, getting in it too. He laid on his side and waited for Alexis to lie down. Finally she settled herself in and Matt pulled the sheets over her. Grabbing her by the waist, he pulled her closer with her face away from him so they were spooning. He put his arm under her head and held his wrist to her mouth.
“Now you can eat. Just try not to make a mess.”
Alexis smelled the flesh in front of her and on instinct her fangs came out and she grazed them across Matt’s wrist. Finally she latched onto it and held on with both hands as the blood oozed out into her mouth. It wasn’t as good as the woman’s, but it was good. Her eyes burned with pleasure and she closed them, savoring the taste of Matt’s blood. It was already racing through her. His blood was like her own was, and again she got lost in the pleasure of it before everything went black again.