Urges

I kept up with Tyme more so than the others. We were a lot alike while at the same time we couldn’t be more different. In present company it was the only one I didn’t want to kill. At least not yet. I managed to stay at his side all the way to the Slums. It was where the Lords of the vampire community commanded their people. I had only been here once. I never wanted to go back but Tyme was pulling me back in for reasons unknown to me.

I only hoped that my message went through before I made it down this way. The service was terrible. I felt that there was a reason for that.

We entered an old Irish pub which name had been burnt off to keep pestering humans away. No one had really been in the place in a long time. It was probably one of the reasons why they decided to set up here.

The others dispersed from behind me immediately where as Tyme and I kept going towards the back away from several others who were either deep in card games or sunken into a blood vessel. This was the regular this way down.

The back area was lit with a blue light that only made it seem sleazier than the front already appeared to be. It also served to usher a change in atmosphere. It got colder the closer you got to the kitchen. That was where we were headed. They liked the chilliness. It helped to get their point across in the quickest fashion. What point were they going for with me?

Tyme pushed me ahead of him as we slipped through. There I found only one man. The only one who mattered in the grand scheme of this life I was living. For the sake of not wasting time I refer to him as Lord One. He has a name but no one dares to use it.

“I brought him, sir.” Tyme states coolly before falling back to stand by the door. He wants to block me off from my exit. It doesn’t bother me as much as the look of the old man who is drinking a pint of blood out of a beer mug. I can faintly smell the alcohol that is somewhere in the glass but otherwise it is taken over by the stench of the red substance that was once toppling over it. The glass it half full now.

“Victor. It’s been a long time.” His voice sounds decrypt for just one moment before he clears it. “I hear you’ve grown attached to a woman.”

Cecily. He’s talking about her.

“That’s not the word I would use.” I replied, stowing my hands in my pocket as I kept my eyes on him.

“Even so. You did kill two of your own to protect her. That’s not something to take lightly.”
It was about that more than the fact that I had been with her for a short amount of time in her home. I wasn’t stupid. They didn’t like the idea of the numbers dwindling. I kept my mouth shut about that.

He smiled, licking his teeth at my silence.

“Do you plan to kill any more of them?” He asked, his eyes opening further than they had been when I walked into the room. His eyes were almost like fire – an attribute that only he possessed – piercing into what little soul I had left.

This was his way of asking if he needed to look out for me. If he needed to restrain me somehow. There were a multitude of ways that he could do it. He had been known to be creative. Painfully so.
I drew in a deep breath biding my time. “As long as she isn’t harmed I won’t do anything to them.”
Lord One hummed thoughtfully, his eyes were once again closed. He didn’t say anything for a long time as he picked up his mug to drink. He needed the sustenance to survive. He was an old one.
When he finally spoke up he said very little. “You may leave now.”

I stayed where I was for about two and half minutes, unsure what that meant. Tyme came up to me soon enough and grabbed my arm. He didn’t say anything either. It wasn’t until I was outside the doors of the building that he said anything at all. “Your luck hasn’t run out yet, Victor. I don’t have to tell you what could happen…”

I knew what he was going to say. Tyme didn’t particularly care for anyone but he always seemed to respect me in some light. He hadn’t tried to kill me yet either.

“Yeah. I got it. Keep your filth away and I won’t have to rip out another heart any time soon.” I took off after that.

I pulled out my phone as soon as I got to the lighter portion of the city. I had three bars. I also had a message. I looked at the time before I opened it up. 4:15PM

The message was simple.

Safe. Owe me one.

I let out a sigh before deciding to check on Cecily. What he hadn’t put in the message was heavily implied. Cecily didn’t like what I had done. Tough. She didn’t like a lot of the things that were happening to her. They were about to have another difficult conversation.



My phone dinged when it was time to get off of work. I said goodbye to the ladies at the front desk before making my way outside. The walk home wasn’t too long at the end of a work day but even still it wore me out if nothing else.

I had nearly expected to feel a certain man close by, but I didn’t. Not completely bothered by it but concerned all the same I moved my head from one direction and to the next, looking up though I could never really tell if he was there. Someone was close by.

I held my walking stick a little tighter as I heard nothing in front of me. Another vampire.
What had Victor said before? Not all of them were like he was. I knew that but I liked to try to give everyone a chance.

“Cecily.” The man’s voice was low and had a lilt to it. I turned to the right where he was standing somewhere off to the side.

“Who are you?” I asked, reaching out with my stick to find where he was. I felt the tug of his hand as he caught it. I walked the few steps towards him.

“A friend.”

“Of who?” He was no friend of mine. His voice did sound familiar for some reason.

“Vic. He wanted me to make sure you got home safely.” I let out a sigh. I was perfectly capable of doing this on my own. Vic was being absolutely ridiculous.

“Is there no way I can sway you? I can walk on my own.”

The man let out a sigh. “Not in any way that won’t make Vic mad. You’re of a different brand. I wouldn’t want to impose on you in any way.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked as I pulled my stick back and turned so we could start walking. It was less painful to just get this over with. I’d have words with Vic next time he was in my presence. “What’s your name?”

He chuckled. “You can call me Grey.”

“Is that your real name?”

“No. Just call me Grey for the time being.” He paused, I could tell that he was looking at me but I couldn’t be sure what to make of him yet. “To answer your other question, you’re not my type. It’s why he asked me to do this.”

“Your type? Don’t you just feed off of someone?” I had never really asked any vampire about this before. My sister’s boyfriend was one but I didn’t particularly care about him. So I stayed away.
He laughed once more. “It’s not like that at all. True, there are some who go for that kind of thing. We call them Drink and Divers. I know this from what I’ve heard through the past night, those are guys who tried to take a bite out of you. For me, I have an eclectic taste. Men mostly.”

I could feel the color rush to my face. I should have known that but it was hard to grasp at a person’s sexuality when you couldn’t see them. It was one of the disadvantage.

“I’m sorry. I must have come off as an idiot.”

I felt his shoulder brush against my head. He was taller than I was. “No. Don’t worry about it. Vic didn’t know when he met me. We used to be in the same class as you.”

I stopped, we were on my street already. Turning to look at him. “What’s your name?” I asked again. I was trying to understand how two people that I went to school with could possibly have been turned without me knowing about it. Granted I didn’t really keep in touch with barely anyone because my friend count was low in those days.

He gently ushered me along. “I’ll tell you next time.”

How did he know there would be a next time? What did he know?

When I got to my door I looked down the steps wanting to say something to him only to feel the burst of wind as he disappeared. I had so many questions. I moved inside all the same.

I pulled my phone out and spoke the command to call River. I needed to talk to her. It went to voicemail. I went ahead and left her a short message. “Hey. Do you remember anyone from school that went by the name Grey? Or if you do were they friends with Victor? Let me know because I’m drawing a blank. Talk to you later. Bye.”

Next it was a shower.

When I came out I was greeted by the distinct smell of someone cooking. I made my way to the kitchen and stopped right over the threshold. “What are you doing?” He had a very particular scent that I couldn’t tell right away over the cooking but I could smell it now.

“Thought you’d want to eat.” Vic mumbled, I could practically hear his shrug as he mixed whatever he was cooking.

“You’re cleaning up later, then.”

He didn’t say anything to this but I could tell that he was staring again. The click of the fire being cut down was audible before I felt him step in front of me. I wasn’t as upset as I was before. The shower helped. He also didn’t smell like blood so that gave him a good advantage too.
“Sorry about Grey. I had to deal with something.”

From what I knew of this turned version of Victor he wasn’t in the habit of apologizing for anything. And yet, he had just done so.

“What happened?” I was asking him a lot of things at once. Who changed him? What happened today? What wasn’t he telling me?

“Life I suppose. It catches up with all of us at some point.”

“River was right, you are a smartass. That’s not what I meant.” I huffed and reached out to poke him. He grabbed my hand before it got anywhere close to him. His grip wasn’t tight this time. Was he adjusting? Maybe.

“I know what you meant. I’m still trying to figure it out. Give me a couple minutes.”
“You had time to come in – break in – start making a meal but you didn’t have time to think through this?” I had a hard time believing that.

“I came through the window. It was unlocked.” He defended himself.

I took a step back. Something was wrong.

“What?” He grunted. He had noticed already that something was the matter with me.

“I didn’t leave that open.”

Whatever he was going to tell me was lost for the moment. He had turned into that steel person that had ripped out someone’s heart and eaten it in front of me, and it was worrying me much more than the fact that someone had gotten in here. It added to it.