"This time of morning, it's pretty easy to find a group of druggies all passed out together," Giovani was explaining as he drove his Corvette into one of the worst neighborhoods in town. "Before we go, we make it look like they all overdosed. No one asks questions. Hardly ever even makes the news."
Jack was sitting in the backseat, a tight squeeze, but he had given Rob the passenger seat, thinking there's no way he could climb into the back with those long legs. "Okay," he said, hesitantly. He hadn't had any problem sucking the blood out of the corpse in the morgue, but this would be different. Actually biting into the flesh of a living human being, one capable of kicking and screaming, the idea terrified him, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to do it.
Even though he was driving and couldn't look directly at Jack, Giovani seemed to sense his lack of confidence. "Don't worry, brother," he reassured him. "Your instincts will kick in once you get in there, and you'll be just fine. You're a natural."
Jack wanted to believe him, but he wasn't sure. Still, he knew he had to do something to stop this burning sensation in his throat, and if that meant draining the life out of a crackhead, then that's what he would do.
Rob had a tip on where some drug users were partying earlier in the evening. He was giving Giovani directions as Jack looked out the window at the slum-like buildings they were speeding past. Even in the dim light, it was evident this was not where the rich and elite of Omaha resided, and he felt like he would have never come to a neighborhood like this one in his former existence, particularly before the sun came up.
"It's right up here," Rob was saying, directing Giovani to a rundown home in the middle of a block of similar homes. There were a few older model, beat-up cars parked on the street, and Giovani would have hesitated to park his precious vehicle in such an area if he wasn't confident in his ability to get in, get what he needed, and get out within a few minutes.
One light was on in the back of the house, but other than that, there didn't appear to be any signs of life. "Hope they're all out," Giovani commented, putting his keys in his pocket and pushing his car door open. The others followed, Rob widening to the right, indicating that he planned to go in the back door. Jack wasn't sure what to do, so he followed Giovani, who walked straight to the front of the house.
The door was unlocked, so Giovani pushed it open, catching Jack's eye in an expression of caution. Slowly, he stuck his head in the narrow opening, surveying the area. On the floor, he could clearly see four bodies, three men and a woman, all sleeping or otherwise unconscious. He heard a small creak from the back of the house and knew that Rob had also made entry.
Giovani stepped into the living room, motioning for Jack to follow him. He locked the door behind his brother and signaled for him to slide to his right. The woman, dressed in a flannel shirt and a stocking cap, was slumped against the wall, drool or vomit sliding from the corner of her mouth. The men were all sprawled on the floor, one with a blanket, the other two huddled up against the cold. Clearly, there was no heat in the dump of a house. No furniture except for one beat-up chair. It looked as if the place had been squatted for some time, and the smell of trash would have been bothersome if Jack wasn't so extremely thirsty.
A ruckus from the kitchen was an indication that Rob had found at least one victim there. It wasn't a scream but a yelp of surprise, followed by the shuffling of paper and the screech of glass against linoleum. Knowing that the slightest noise could be problematic, Giovani indicated that it was time for Jack to get to work. He motioned toward the girl, and Jack turned to examine her. She looked so peaceful; he was hesitant to make her his first victim. If he had started with one of the men, perhaps it would be easier. However, Giovani clearly wanted him to take the girl, so Jack moved in her direction.
As he approached, her odor filled his lungs, and he began to feel a change in his teeth. Though she smelled more like body odor and urine than anything else, Jack could also distinctly smell the iron-like scent of her blood. As he came within a few feet of her, the urge to drink her blood became overwhelming, and he could no longer control himself. He lunged at her, sinking his teeth into her exposed neck before she could even open her eyes. She didn't struggle, not much anyway. Her muscles went rigid for just a second before they began to relax and then to twitch rhythmically, like the reflexive motion of an animal's heart, long after it's been removed from the body.
This blood tasted so much different than the coagulated substance he had sucked from the body in the morgue the day before. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced, and even though he couldn't describe it as delicious or tantalizing, it was certainly refreshing. Almost instantly, the burning in his throat ceased, and he began to feel invigorated and reenergized.
It was a good thing, as it turned out. Just as he was sucking the last drops from the now cold, hardening body, one of the other men in the room began to stir. Giovani had drained his first victim and moved to a second. However, Rob was still in the kitchen, and there was no one available to pounce on the newly awakened crack addict. When his eyes first opened, the focus was missing, and he couldn't quite make out what was happening around him. However, as he began to become more clear headed, he realized what he was looking at and began to shriek.
"Jack, make him shut up!" Giovani's voice said inside of his head.
Unsure of exactly what he should do, Jack got to his feet and started to move toward the man. He was still screaming and began to slide backward on the floor, sitting on his pockets. Glancing toward the kitchen, Jack could see that Rob was engaged with another victim in the hall. He would have to do this on his own.
As Jack stepped forward, the man began to plead for his life. "No, please, leave me alone," he begged. "Don't hurt me, please!" But Jack knew they couldn't afford to leave him alive. Despite the man's desperation to live, he was clearly in no state to defend himself. Jack threw his knee against the man's chest where he sat on the floor, knocking him backward onto the carpet. "Oh, God!" the victim wailed. "Please, oh sweet Jesus!" Jack opened his mouth as widely as he possibly could, and using his left hand, pushed the man's forehead down, toward the floor. With his right hand, he held his shoulder out of the way, leaned forward, and sunk his fangs straight into the man's jugular. The addict began to convulse, his body in full spasm almost the entire time it took for Jack to drain him. As the flow began to weaken, the body started to calm before he finally became very, very still.
When it was over, Jack stood, wiping the last few droplets from his mouth onto the back of his hand and then licked them off. He turned to see Giovani and Rob watching him, smiles of admiration on their faces.
"See, I told you you could do it," Giovani said, patting his brother on the back. "You were born to be a Vampire. You're a natural."
Giovani and Rob took care of a few staging matters, hiding any surface-level evidence that Vampires had been there, and then fled the scene. As they hastened back to the waiting Corvette, Jack didn't know whether or not to be proud of himself or disgusted. Either way, he knew he would have to get used to this type of existence. This is what he would be doing from now on, until the end of his days.
