Vampires Never Get Old - Zoraida Cordova Page 0,52
have a name for it: sorrow.
“I can’t,” I answer, knowing the eyes of my peers are upon me and this is a precarious moment. “Theo, I’m sorry. There are rules.”
“Remember that question you asked me? Forever ago,” Theo says, voice growing weak. “The answer is: you.”
How is it possible that a girl I’ve never met before in my life feels as close to me as my own sister? I cannot let her die. I cannot let this be her end.
I raise my eyes to the ring of vampires surrounding us and I growl, furious and feral and more certain than I’ve been about anything in my long life.
Then I lower my mouth to Theo’s neck, and I bite.
* * *
THEO: if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? don’t think just answer.
BRITTANY: the future.
THEO: that’s not a real answer.
BRITTANY: isn’t it?
* * *
THEOLINDA
I take the elevator from my floor to Brittany’s penthouse. After the accident, after I asked her to turn me, I discovered a lot of things. First of all, Imogen is a jerk, but that’s obvious to anyone with or without a pulse. It’s been four months, and I’m still dying. Turns out it’s a slow, pretty painful process. My body is shutting down and it’s a whole mess. But—I have an undead tutor. Even if she’s going to have to face a trial for turning me despite the baby vamp ban of 1987 and the whole undead civil war thing that’s apparently also my fault.
There are still things I need to figure out. How to convince my parents that night college classes are the thing for me. How to be around them without wanting to murder them. Kidding. Not really. It’s hard.
I didn’t think it would be easy. Some things will take years to figure out. For instance, how will I manage not casting a reflection? I guess I did want that vampire filter, but it’s a mixed blessing. I practice taking my photo in the mirrored reflection of this elevator. Maybe in two hundred years I’ll have to deal with aliens and they’ll have a cure for vampirism or a phone that puts Apple out of business.
I won’t hold my breath. Though I could if I wanted to.
The elevator lets me into Brittany’s penthouse. She has a movie theater in her apartment. She has everything she needs to never even leave the house.
But I remember the word she used to say to me. Lonely.
No more.
She hands me one of the glittery matching tumblers that I bought for us. I can’t really look at blood yet, even though I’ll have to get over it to survive.
“You know these movies won’t teach you anything,” she tells me, and hops onto the couch.
“I know, but literally the only vampire movies I’ve ever seen are the Tw—”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Shut up, it is perfect, okay. Per. Fect.” I plop beside her and take a sip. I’m starting to be able to taste minerals, diets. This person really liked sodium.
I miss popcorn. I miss butter. I miss sunlight. I miss so many things and I’ve only just started. My life ended. My new life has begun.
At least I won’t have to go about it alone. I have my Best Friend Forever, and that’s a promise made in blood.
THRALL Or “These Aren’t the Vampires You’re Looking For…”
Zoraida Córdova & Natalie C. Parker
There seem to be two kinds of vamps out there: those who lure their prey and those who chase them down. There is something downright terrifying about … well, all of them, but the idea that someone can convince you to willingly offer your neck for a quick bite is quite unsettling. Vampires are at the top of the food chain, and, like all predators, they have to learn how to hunt without depleting their food supply, which is … um … us? lol. Psychic powers seem to be how they manage this, and a gentle kind of mind control often shows up in vampire folklore, from Dracula to Sesame Street’s Count von Count (though, to be fair, he can only hypnotize you). But what it comes down to is some kind of influence. In this story, Zoraida and Natalie (oop, that’s us, your benevolent editrixes, hi!) use this vampire myth to let Theo and Brittany think about what kind of influence they have on the human and vampire worlds.
What kind of influence do you want to have on the world?