LIGHTNOVELONLINE 3: Please Don’t Drink Me…
The ship seemed to groan as she walked down the blue carpeting of its familiar hallways. The deeper she went into the ship the more packed things seemed to become. The halls themselves were fairly wide for a cruise ship, and there was a strong smell of spice coming from the air vents. Rose could overhear the conversations from several of the passengers from open doors to their compartments. Some were eager to party, others just wanted to get laid, but most seemed interested to getting out of their rooms and onto the deck outside.
Rose couldn't help but feel like she's was being watched every single second. Eyes seemed to scratch at the back of her skull with each and every footstep. She couldn't help but think she was about to die!
Eventually, although in hindsight she realized it was probably only a few minutes, the sailor brought her to a room at the end of B deck on the port side of the ship. Upon opening it Rose noticed it was already partly occupied, the room was just large enough for three beds and a single chair next to the smallest corner cabinet she ever saw. A tv was nailed on the far side of the wall. Currently it was on and showing the ships routine broadcast, it mainly consisted of advertisements including the water park, casino, and club den among other attractions. Just like all the other rooms it was completely devoid of the color red, but rich in blues and topaz hues.
Inside two other young women were already getting situated. One being a tall dark haired goth chick with a plaid skirt and a fishnet shirt over a dark bikini, she laid on her bed fiddling with a gaming console as if she was trying to stay away from the light. The other a much shorter blonde gal with long hair was bouncing on her bed on the opposite end.
"Really, right here...this is it?" Rose was stunned.
"Oooh a new roomie!" the blonde girl cried out in joy, then hopped off her bed and rushed toward her.
The other woman didn't seem to care. "Oh joy, yippee ki yay," she spoke with a nonchalant flat tone.
James, her guide, raised his arm as if ushering her inside the room. Rose took one step inside and instantly regretted it. The blonde girl quickly grabbed her hand and wouldn't stop shaking it, "It's so good to meet you!" she suddenly paused while holding Rose’s hand and then smelled her palm.
Rose panicked and tried to withdraw but found the girl was much stronger than she appeared, she started licking her fingers!
"So tasty, a human!" The blonde girl exclaimed! Rose's eyes began to twitch.
The other dark haired woman immediately stood up in surprise, "Wait what's a human doing here!"
James stepped in, "Theres been an unfortunate mixup, she'll only be here for a day so can I trust you two will behave until then?"
The goth girl lashed out and swore at them, "I was told this was a vampire only cruise, hashtag vampire only! this was not in the brochure! She's not welcome here and I do not want her here!"
The blonde girl couldn't stop licking Roses fingers, "Oh calm down Maggie,
Rose wanted to withdraw her hand from the vampires lips, but her own grasp was firm. Rose looked over at the goth girl, the one referred to as simply Maggie. Maggie was clearly irritated and wouldn't stop protesting, "You calm down Rebecca, before you start drooling on her!"
Rose cried out in alarm, "Please don't drink me!"
Rebecca, the blonde girl clutching her hand, blushed then laughed hysterically, "Oh come on do you really think we want to drink you? Well maybe we do," she rolled her eyes, "But it's not as bad as you think."
"What!" Rose had a hard time digesting her words. She clearly was playing with her...or so Rose hoped.
Rebecca continued, "Come on, do you salivate and devour a cow on first glance? If a pig were to stumble into this room would you snap its neck and grind its intestines into juicy sausages?"
The question was rather disgusting. Rose couldn't help but wonder who the hell thinks this way? "Well no I guess..."
"I bet your the type that would probably give the pig a name! Maybe even try to teach it a few tricks, and make it your personal pet. You would even let it follow you around wouldn't you?" Rebecca smiled, "Now imagine that same pig with a sentient mind and an actual name? Tell me are you excited to rip it apart for its savory bacon? Or would you think to yourself, wow thats cruel and despicable?"
"Definitely cruel and despicable, CRUEL and DESPICABLE!" Rose kept trying to pull her hand back, it was like it was in a trap!
James seemed completely annoyed at the doorway, "Rebecca and Maggie smith, please let the poor girl go! And stop frightening her! This is rather cruel if you ask me."
Rose felt the vampire finally let her go, the tension made her nearly fall backward but landed in James arms who barely stopped her in time. She instantly lunged forward back on her feet and screamed, "What did I do to deserve this!"
Maggie groaned in her corner of the room, "Why are humans always like this?"
Rebecca was easy to give an answer, "Well we did kinda prey on them for millennia? but thats ancient history."
"A century isn't that ancient..." Maggie got up from her mattress, her height made it difficult to navigate the tight quarters. If she stood completely upright she would hit her head on the ceiling.
"So you do eat people! I bet you're centuries old and you hypnotized me to be here!" Rose Suddenly felt light headed, her heart skipped a beat from fear alone! She passed out right there surrounded by three vampires!
When next Rose opened her eyes she felt the rocking of the ship by the sea. They say a cruises liner is too big, too sturdy, to feel the tension in the waves but laying on the warm mattress she could feel the ever so slight shifts in the ground underneath her. It took her brain a moment to reflect on her surroundings and remember where she was. She jumped up and screamed!
"Wow what the hell!" The dark haired girl Rose remembered was named Maggie jumped from her bed next to her in fright!
Rose took a glance at her then screamed again before rushing to the doorway and found it locked! She pulled and pulled desperate to get out. Her nails were getting chipped in her attempts. The door wouldn't open, but it rattled under duress. She felt a pinch in her fingertips and let go to realize three of her nails were bent or broken and panicked.
"Seriously you have to stop freaking out!" Maggie seemed to come out of nowhere, she grabbed Roses shoulder then pushed her back to the bed she was sleeping on.
Laying back on the mattress Rose instantly tried to take up a defensive posture, she expected a pari of sharpened teeth to lunge at her any second. Maggie just stood in front of the bed, her hair a complete mess, with her arms crossed over her chest. She was tapping her forearm counting the seconds, and there were wrinkles under her eyes.
Rose kept her stance, it was easy to tell she never took a self defense class in her entire life. Maggie rubbed one of her eyes then walked back to her own mattress, Rose watched her every footstep expecting the vampire to attack her the moment she let her guard down. It was dark, moonlight was glaring through the window. Rose wondered if vampires grew stronger in the moonlight?
Maggie sat down, rubbed her shoulders, then looked at her. Rose got the impression that Maggie didn't want her to be there anymore than herself. When Maggie spoke she sounded strained, "You know I came to escape all you humans, why is it you always scream when a vampire is near you?"
Rose shifted to the corner of her bed which was tucked against the corner of the room itself. She felt a sudden strange sense of ease but felt compelled to feel her neck for bit marks. She breathed out a sigh of relief.
Maggie looked at her again and grunted, "Relax we didn't take a bite. Rebecca is enjoying the casino by the way, you've been passed out for a couple hours."
Rose studied the room, her suitcase was leaned against the far side of the wall, "but you do drink blood?"
Maggie shrugged, "yeah so?"
"So! please don't drink me!"
"God your dense! We don't want to drink your blood! How many times do I have to say it!" Maggie couldn't hide her frustration and yelled loudly.
Despite Maggie's outcry Rose was still unconvinced. But then again she couldn't help but wonder, if she was the only human on the ship how would they going to get any blood in the first place? She swallowed before asking her the question.
"So I got to give you the whole pep talk huh," Maggie said. She leaned back against the wall before continuing to give Rose an answer, "we don't need a lot of blood to get by, just a teaspoons worth will do. We do eat normal food just like humans but for some reason we have to ingest human blood every couple of days for our bodies to digest anything properly. Scientists seem to think our bodies our prone to rejecting food almost like an allergic reaction unless we get a healthy dosage of human blood regularly. But we don't need a lot."
Rose thought about this for a moment. How much was not a lot? "How much is a normal dosage?"
"About a teaspoon to get by, but thats minimum. Personally I love a nice AB+ mixed in a wine glass with a good merlot. But thats only for special occasions," Maggie answered as if drinking human blood was a completely normal thing to do. She continued, "human blood is a delicacy, like a really nice vintage wine. It's not uncommon for a family of vampires to have only a pint to themselves to last a month, and only for special occasions. In the meantime the invention of plasma and blood donations changed everything a century ago."
Maggie handed a her a bottle of water in between her explanation. Rose accepted it carefully. Only once Rose had twisted the cap open did Maggie continue, "There was a time when we had to be careful, drink a little from a human and keep ourselves from drinking too much. There used to be a saying, a man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes the man, or something like that. Blood can be like a really good spirit to us, and we had to be careful not to get carried away lest we get caught and have the whole town hunt us down...you get the idea."
Rose nodded, some of her theories of Vampires were proven in that statement.
Maggie cleared her throat then continued, "but with the invention of plasma about a hundred years ago changed everything. Turns out we can drink it and get all the nutrients we need as blood, and thanks to blood donations being so common around the world that also helps big time!"
"Really?"
Maggie nodded, "Have you ever wondered how much blood is actually needed for transfusions around the world? When you compare it to the actual amount of blood being donated you will find a huge discrepancy. We also happen to own several hospitals and charities where a portion of the blood collected is used to satisfy us. With the invention of blood transferance and plasma all the vampire clans agreed to what we called 'the hominid convention' one hundred years ago. Under those decrees humans are only to be drank from in the most extreme of circumstances, and even then we are only permitted to take just enough to survive. Drinking a human dry would be tantamount to murder, which is just as appealing to us as it is to you...I hope?"
Rose had a hard time comprehending all of this, "So blood tastes super delicious for you, but you somehow stay away from it? How does that work?" She instantly regretted asking the question.
Maggie chuckled, "Simple, if you never drink fresh blood then you don't know what you're missing. I'm sure its good but really don't care. We can drink pigs blood, but thats gross, like drinking horse piss. And plasma with some orange peels or other ingredients works just fine. A simple serving of donated blood on rare occasions is satisfying enough, it beats being forced to live in the shadows."
For the first time since she realized she had boarded a vampire cruise, Rose felt somewhat at ease. She didn't know if she trusted Maggie, or Rebecca for that matter, but she no longer felt like she was moments away from being guzzled dry. "So if you...hypothetically," Rose paused in exaggeration, "bit me would I become a vampire?"
Maggie laughed before she could answer, "Absolutely not, if that were the case then the world would have been overrun centuries ago. No you can only be born a vampire. If a human and a vampire had a child then that child would either be a vampire or what we would call a half breed. half breeds don't need blood to survive and are for the most part human, but they carry the vampire gene. if that person had a child with a human then one of their descendants might become a vampire unless the blood gets too diluted, which can carry its own problems."
This was the first time Rose ever heard of this. She was fascinated with the knowledge that Vampires were born and not made. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of problems she was referring to, "What kind of problems?"
Maggie continued, "If a human has a small amount of vampire dna in them, even ever so small that their vampire ancestor might be centuries ago, then it sometimes leads them to feeling a deep emptiness in their souls. Like their's a void that eats up all their emotions including empathy. Every sociopath likely has a vampire ancestor somewhere far in the past. But if a half breed had kids with another vampire the bloodline will get more pure and be more likely to have a vampire child."
Rose was leaning forward, "So what happens if you do drink from a human?" She bit her lip, why was she asking these kinds of questions! She wondered if she was just begging to be bit!
Maggie noticed her apprehension and wasn't amused, "Our teeth secrete a very special kind of venom. It overloads the dopamine in her brain chemistry so that you instantly meet an incredible high. You will then pass out in euphoric bliss, possibly waking up with no memory of what happened. Thats the best case scenario."
"And the worst?" Rose felt a slight shift in the room, it felt like the ship was turning.
"Sometimes humans would get an allergic reaction to it. Theres a few sad stories of them going into seizure and frothing at the mouth, and the priests thinking their possessed or infected and promptly killing them..."
"Oh great."
"It's also possible that you could get addicted to the vampire venom, making it so you would go into a violent withdrawal if you don't return to said vampire as often as they need feeding. There are some old tales about that too. But since we don't bite living humans unless necessary we haven't had to worry about that in a while," Maggie gave her a thumbs up. It seemed kind of funny to Rose that a goth chick was actually giving her such a vote of confidence.
"Sorry...I guess I just didn't know what to expect," Rose released the tension in her arms, letting them drop on the bed sheets. They were remarkably soft.
Maggie rolled over onto her twin bed and pulled the covers over herself. "Now that were settled, and you know I'm not going to suck your blood," She said that last part like an old Dracula vid, " can you please turn off the light and let me go to sleep!
Rose watched as Maggie shuffled under her sheets until she was comfortable. Cautiously Rose exhaled, relieving a lifetimes worth of tension, and scooted into a more comfortable position before reaching to switch off the lights. As darkness washed over the room, Rose buried herself underneath the sheets and listened to Maggie's shallow breathing as if expecting this whole thing to be a ruse, and for the monster to creep over her once she closed her eyes. She waited diligently as the ship rocked her to sleep.