Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Looking over my shoulder, making sure Sara and Eddie are still sleeping, I lift the manhole just enough to peek through it.
It’s very convenient for us, our so-called home being at the back of a residential building that is facing a monstrosity of a bank.
The first few floors of that bank are gray concrete, with no windows or anything else.
No one wanders around here apart from the few people still living in the apartments.
With the vampires taking over, the days became nights and the other way around.
Everyone slept while the sun was high in the sky, minus patrols passing by made from humans.
A random person might pop up here and there, no doubt running chores for their masters, but apart from that, it was quiet.
Scanning the area as far as my eyes can see through the slits, I don’t even breathe as I strain my ears to hear any sound. Silence meets me.
“This is good.” Blowing out a slow breath, I push the heavy manhole lid harder, moving it to the side. “Very good.”
I know I told Sara we need to lay low for a few days, but we need food.
Eddie will be taking medication, one that we are guessing will help him, and he will need to eat.
Since none of us are doctors, we are diagnosing him out of our butts, aiming for less severe sounding things, like a cold or the flu.
I might not understand medicine, but I know food, and all three of us need it.
The restaurants don’t throw away a lot anymore.
I’m starting to think the employees are taking the leftovers with them when they finish work.
What that means is beyond me, but when it’s harder to find the food you need, you’ll start paying closer attention to what’s causing it.
It looks like the humans that think the vampires are their friends are beginning to pay the price for that friendship.
Pulling back the metal cover, I bring it in place before slinking back to the alley.
My heart almost stops when a woman squeaks before laughing throatily.
A dark male chuckle follows it, and my whole body shivers in fear that they’ll see me standing here.
Luckily, they are too busy exploring each other in the middle of the day to pay me any attention.
With shaky legs, I plaster myself to the wall, all focus intently on the area where the sounds are coming from.
The dumpster is the only thing separating us.
They keep grunting, moaning, skin slapping skin, while I stare unfocused at nothing.
I stand there with my heart in my throat for what feels like hours but judging by the disappointment in the woman’s voice when she speaks, it is probably only minutes.
“This is why we chose the vampires, you miserable bastard. You could’ve let me finish first.” A loud slap follows her words, and my eyebrows hit my hairline. I want to laugh, but instead, I press my lips tighter, biting the inside with my teeth so I don’t make a sound.
“You stupid whore. How dare you hit me?” The guy’s angry words are punctuated by the rustling of clothing and a dull thump on the other side of the dumpster.
“You better pray there is not a scratch left on me you dumb fuck. I was picked to visit the Italians tonight so they can feed. I would hate to see what will happen to you if I tell them why I can’t go. You know, since I’m not feeling well because of you.”
“You wouldn’t dare…” The fear that came out of the guy could never be faked. I know because I’ve felt it.
There it is. The Italians again. My brain reminds me of the two vampires from last night.
They were freaking out about the Italian vampires as well.
The two people on the other side of me keep bickering among each other but I don’t pay attention to their words.
My mind keeps running in a loop. Monsters are monsters.
All of them are the same, or so I think.
But the last twenty-four hours are telling me that some things are s
o terrifying that even those we fear are afraid of them.
While I’m lost in my head, imagining one scenario after another, the voices fade, and the closing of a door brings me back to the present.
Sagging in relief, I unfurl myself off the wall, and after making sure no one is around, I lift the lid of my food store, aka dumpster.
The smell is horrible, that first blast of hot air that hits your face, no matter how many times I’ve done this.
In the beginning, I used to gag or empty my stomach.
Now I just take a shallow breath and take a moment to get used to it.
A quick glance around confirms I’m still alone, so I lift myself up, and pressing my hips on the edge, dive my upper body inside.
Rummaging through the trash bags as fast as I can, throwing them from one side to the other, I hold my breath.
There must be something here that doesn’t have mold or maggots in it.
You just have to be thorough. My blood is rushing to my head since I’m hanging with my head down and holding my breath.
When I can’t keep it in anymore, I start lifting myself up before I try again.
The sound of the door opening makes me panic, and I throw myself inside the trash.
Not daring to move, I stare wide-eyed at the open lid of the dumpster.
“That stupid bitch left the dumpster open just to get me in more trouble.”
The same male voice from earlier spits the words angrily a second before a muscular tattooed arm reaches across the open dumpster for the lid.
A big, shaved head, with caramel skin and a square jaw and a flat round nose appears above me.
I’m so terrified that I’m pretty sure that my heart stops beating.
Numbness blankets my entire body. When the lid starts coming down, tears slide from the corners of my terrified gaze.
He will not see me. As soon as that bitch Hope pokes her ugly head out, I know I’m finished.
The guy glances down, does a double take, then his eyes widen comically, his arm freezing halfway and not closing the lid.
“And what do we have here?” He pushes the top back up.
I can’t speak. I don’t think I can even breathe at this point.
My lungs are screaming for oxygen, my brain is yelling to get the hell out of here, yet I just stare at him dumbly, unblinking.
Dark spots start dancing at the corners of my eyes, my vision tunneling.
At the end of that tunnel, two grim black eyes are watching me with a glint I don’t understand.
Will he kill me himself, or is he going to give me to the Council?
Which way do I prefer to die? My body is sagging deeper into the plastic trash bags, feeling more cumbersome by the second.
Everything around me blurs, and it takes a second to understand that big, fat tears are rolling down my dirty cheeks.
“Today is my lucky day.” The excitement in the guy’s voice tells me everything I need to know. The Council it is. “I just found my ticket to immortality. Let’s see what that whore thinks after I have fangs.”
A large hand reaches for me, thick fingers curling around my arm.
My body is lifted out of the dumpster, as if I weigh nothing, leaving me dangling in his hand like one of the icicle Christmas ornaments we used to have when I was a child.
A gasp, more a short, sharp intake of breath, is all I manage.
I’m a prisoner in my own body, screaming and raging on the inside while paralyzed by fear on the outside.
At least the Council will kill me on the spot.
There is comfort in that. I just feel great sadness because I’ll never see Sara and Eddie again. Will they be okay? God, I hope so.
“The Italians will be happy to get their hands on the elusive runners, methinks. I’ll let that bitch watch when they turn me into one of them.” A gleeful chuckle echoes in my ears.
It figures.
I will not die quickly. Oh, no. First, I will meet the bogeyman that scares the monsters. I guess Luck conspired with her sister Hope, both deciding to screw me as good as they can to even the odds.
I think it’s called balance.