of your vampire traits that could help you?”
I had a think. “I can reach high ceilings because I can whizz up there?”
He exhaled out so loudly it hurt my vampire sensitive ears. “Your ineptitude has put me off my lunch. Just a moment.” I heard him mumble to someone to leave and then I heard a door slam. His live donator clearly wasn’t happy at being dismissed.
“Mya, you have vampire speed. You can whizz around that house and get it cleaned up in no time.”
“Sucking hell. I spent hours cleaning this morning.”
“Thank goodness vampire children don’t have birth certificates because I wouldn’t want my name on yours.”
“You came here yesterday. You were supposed to tell me all about being a vampire.”
“I’ve never had to clean, so why would I think of that?”
My annoyance soon ebbed away as I realised that in no time at all I could have a very, very clean ground floor.
“Got to go, Daddy. See you at my funeral.”
I hung up and then I whizzed around my apartment.
I woke up on the sofa. Huh? I thought I didn’t need much sleep? I wasn’t sure how long I’d been out, but it looked like another couple of hours. My fangs descended. Oh, I was hungry. The need for blood consumed my thoughts. All I could think about was a fresh neck. I knew there were blood bags in the fridge, but my mind told me that there was also vampire speed and all of the London boroughs. I imagined a soft warm neck and the feeling of blood rushing into my mouth as I bit down, a heartbeat slowing as I took my fill.
“No one will notice I’ve even gone. I can be there and back in the blink of an eye,” I smiled to myself.
Imagining the alleyway where I’d been drained myself, I whizzed back to Wine Office Court for a touch of red. My upper lip curled at the thought, and then all I could think about was feeding.
I stalked up and down the street. It was still light and there were too many people about. However, the thirst was getting worse. Soon I’d just take someone regardless and compel their companions to forget.
I stood back into the doorway of a building and then I felt a presence at my side.
Death was here.
Of course, if I was intent on taking a life, he’d be here to collect their soul.
I turned to face him, but all that I saw was his hood and the nothingness of the Grim Reaper. He wasn’t here to help me. He was here for my potential victim.
Death
I’d consulted the app to find the latest death notices.
Benjamin Bradford. Dead via being drained by Mya Malone. The words faded in and out on the app as she decided whether or not she was going to feed from a human. I couldn’t interfere. Mya had to make her own choice.
So I just stood there, the Reaper, ready to collect if needed.
She spoke to me, but I couldn’t answer her.
“The thirst is so tempting. I know I could have gone upstairs and got a blood bag, but it’s like to have it fresh from the source sings to me. My first proper vampire’s bite. I could just take a small sip… No, you’re here. I’m new. I wouldn’t be able to stop.”
I stood still as a statue, my scythe firmly in my hand.
“The tablet. It’s in my purse,” she yelled, scrambling in her bag. She pushed one pill of two from the plastic and put it in her mouth. I knew what it was, knew that it would disintegrate on her tongue and stop the hunger that had taken her by storm.
A minute later she dropped to her knees. “What did I almost do? Help me, please. Take me back home.”
“Stand up, Mya,” I ordered, and then I wrapped my cloak around her and took her back and straight to my bedroom.
I dropped her onto my bed. “Do not move. I’ll be back with blood and then you need to tell me how this happened.”
She nodded and then her head rested back in her hands and small sobs escaped her mouth.
I returned, ripped the top off the bag and handed the pouch to her. She drank it down greedily.
“I, I- almost killed someone.” Her voice shook with her words.
“Yes, you did.”
“Maybe I should have just chosen the nothingness, because I’m not sure I could have lived with the guilt.”
“I’m trying to work out why you were