How to Train Your Vampire

The late October chill blew across the street as Scarlet and I walked back home. She pressed against me for warmth, which was cute but also unfortunate as her low body temperature slowly sucked my own heat away. I wondered why vampires were cold like this. It wasn’t the usual response from a virus (if that was what caused vampirism).

But there were more important questions on my mind right now.

“So, Scar,” I started. “What exactly did your brother give you in that cooler?” I tried to ignore the unpleasant shudder that accompanied the memory of that thing. It was horrifying to know that somewhere was a cooler stashed full of blood and raw meat.

“Do you really want to know?” she asked. She held my hand in my pocket, huddled almost too close for comfort, even if I did love her.

“Well… yes.”

She looked at the road ahead of us. It was dark and difficult to see, but a ways down were the warm lights of home.

“He… had to take care of the hunters, I think,” she explained. “They wouldn’t have given up simply from getting knocked unconscious.”

“Oh,” I said. It did make me feel sick, knowing a human being had been reduced to that.

“But we try not to waste human life when we can help it,” she explained. “Its why we also take the organs, too. A lot of them have a lot of blood in them and if we take those, even if they don’t exactly taste good and aren’t traditionally consumed by vampires, it’s better than having to kill another person entirely.”

“Oh,” I repeated. That did make some sense. But it was still a barbaric practice I’d witnessed and wished I hadn’t.

“So your brother uh… killed the hunters,” I connected. “And drained their blood and cut out their organs?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. He’s really good at it, too.” There was almost some pride in her voice at that. “It makes keeping our heads low easier when we just need to discard of bones. Much less for people to find, and they sink in water or get chewed up by animals, if you just scatter them in the wilderness.”

I understood, but couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

“Have you seen your brother?” I asked. “I know he only met me long enough to drop off that… cooler.” Human beings chopped up and packaged neatly into a box, my brain filled in forcefully.

She shook her head. “No,” she said. “He doesn’t usually have time to stick around for long. The last time I saw him was a few years ago, but the hunters were pursuing him then so it was like this last time. He dropped off some food and moved on within a few hours.”

“The hunters are pretty aggressive with him huh?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t think there are many vampires left anymore,” she said. “So when they catch wind of one they’re dedicated to the kill.”

“Hm,” I didn’t understand the implication, but I could understand what men who hunted exotic animals were like. It was probably a similar mindset. Except instead of hunting harmless beasts, they were killing monsters. There was more justification to it.

“Do you have a good relationship with your brother?” I asked.

She nodded. “I think so. I didn’t really want to separate from them but their lifestyle is too much for me. Everyday a new place, a new bed, if we even got one. Constantly stealing and dumping things. And… there was a lot more death back then. More hunters too, but they weren’t as skilled. Now they’re really dangerous.”

“Is that why you were in the asylum?” I asked. “Because you didn’t like traveling that much?”

She nodded. “And I liked this place.” She looked up at the sky and I followed her gaze. The stars were visible between clouds but since we were away from any significant light source, they were very clear and she pointed out a few constellations to me. At some point we stopped walking as she explained how to find different ones.

Being a night-owl myself I knew to appreciate the beauty of the night sky.

“I can’t be in the sun anymore so this is the closest I get to sunbathing,” she explained, looking at where the moonlight reflected off her hands.

I pet her head again as she did so. And she looked up, startled. Those pink eyes continued to reflect the moonlight.

“I want you to be happy,” I told her. “If you ever want me to go stargazing with you, just let me know.”

She smiled and ducked her head to hug me tightly.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you, too.”

I tried not to let all of the murder bother me. She was too cute to worry about something like that.