Chronically Vampire

A vampire's whole life is pain.

I think that's something they don't explain very well in all those cutesy little books and movies these days.

Every. Single. Moment.

Suffering.

Sure, the blood helps. Curbs the daily migraines and keeps my stomach from curdling all the time. Makes me at least a decent semi-functional member of society. Sort of.

But does it stop the ringing in my ears?

No.

Does it make me less sensitive to the light so I don't get massive headaches every time I sit in a room with just a little too much fluorescence?

Not really.

Does it stop my body from aching at the end of the day? The pounding in my skull and ears, the way I feel like my whole self is falling apart at the seams? The weakness in me that screams out of me clearly in my too-pale and sickly skin, the bags under my eyes because, no I can't really sleep because the blood calls to me all night...

So, no. The blood, supposedly the life force of vampires, does not fix jack squat.

But it does taste really good.

So, here I am once again in the college bathroom on a Thursday night luring an unsuspecting college freshman into the handicapped stall with me to drink her blood.

I do it this way because I think they're less frazzled when they're already so stressed and sleep-deprived from studying. Besides, I only stopped going to classes last semester anyway so I'm always close by or on campus. 

It's a good haunt. Nice ambiance. 

I was going to college as a vampire for a while but I finally couldn't handle it anymore. I wasn't passing anything and I could never focus in any of my classes with so much blood pumping in the lifers all around me...

I'm a new vampire and all the changes... well, I'm adjusting but I also didn't want anything about my life to change either, you know.

I finally just had to quit classes though. Homework is too hard when my body is filled with constant pain... I feel like my head is going to explode nearly constantly. I swear, I'm so glad whatever is in normal drugs still works on my vampire body because I don't think I could survive a day without painkillers. It's not like blood is doing enough.

Speaking of...

I pull my pocket knife from my back pocket and make a slice along one of the girl's fingers. The kind you get while cooking or opening a package carelessly but just a little bit deeper. It's not like I need to drink a gallon of blood. More like a snack from the water fountain.

The girl barely winces, not only is she tired probably from studying late every night this week, but one thing those shows did get right about vampires is the power of compulsion. A nice plus. As such, I'm very convincing and the girl seems to be in a haze. Welcome to my life. I swear, I can't think most of the time either...

The blood starts to pool from where my knife punctured her skin and I raise her hand to my lips greedily. The moment I taste the blood I start to feel a bit of relief. My mind feels sharper, my pain recedes slightly, and the world comes into focus. I hear better.

I hear footsteps approaching the bathroom just outside the door. Someone is coming.

"She's been gone so long, do you think she fell in?"

"Hanna's probably just avoiding studying for the med final."

"Or she's facetiming Chad again."

"In the bathroom?"

"Maybe she's sending nudes, Raya! You don't know!"

"Hanna? Do you think she would?"

They're in the bathroom now, standing at the mirror outside the stalls and I know I have to do something soon. I've already moved so I'm standing on the toilet seat so this apparent Hanna's feet are the only ones visible from underneath the stall door, but I still have her finger in my mouth because, well, I am a vampire and her blood is really fricken good and I am having a hard time making the very good decision to stop and deal with the situation (haha) at hand.

"Maybe, I mean did you see her at the party last week?"

"She wasn't that bad, was she?"

"I don't know."

I lean forward to the door of the stall and pull it open and shove Hanna out of it hoping things work okay. I always set up my glamours so those I drink from don't remember me once they lose sight of me, so this should be fine.

I already miss her finger in her mouth and the sweet, sweet taste of her blood...

My hand flies to my lips in horror. Oh hell, I hope I'm not developing a finger kink.

Well, there's no time to linger on it now. I make sure the stall door shuts behind her so I'm once again obscured from sight.

"Oh hey guys, what are you doing in the bathroom?" Hanna sounds completely out of it.

"Hanna! There you are!"

"We finished the rest of the analysis while you were in here and you know how long that means."

"Shit, I just had to pee--"

"Han! What happened to your hand, you're bleeding!"

"What? Oh - must've caught it on something..."

There's mumbling and some med-student banter about stitches. Actually, pretty cute stuff if you ask me, but my focus is going hazy at the fact that Hanna's perfectly good blood is dripping right out of her veins to somewhere that is not my mouth. Rude. And when I so kindly cut it open for myself.

"Well, if the analysis is finished, we should get midnight tacos at that one food truck because you know I'm hungry after today."

"I'll never say no to that."

"I'm in."

And then finally, blessedly, I'm alone again in the bathroom.

With only slight pain left in my body after drinking Hanna's blood. Good.

Hale-fricken-lujah.

I'd say that makes for a pretty successful Thursday night, all things considered.

Another day of pain and pain managed.

That's just the life of a vampire like me.

-Dalia