He spots his
prey as soon he enters the bar. He stands beside her and
she smiles at him. She will soon be another victim of his
superior power. After all these years, he is still eager,
and he’s not sure if his anticipation is due to his hunger
or how he’s looking forward to the thrill of seeing her
trembling before him when she discovers he is a terrifying
monster.
It isn’t long
before she says she wants to leave, and she takes his offered
arm. They walk to her house. He knows it is close. He knows
she lives alone. He is a skilled stalker, a bright wolf among
these inferior sheep.
She pauses at
her door. “I don’t usually do this,” she says.
Of course, she
must invite him. He loves that tiny tease, the highly remote
possibility that he might fail, when he must once again rely
on his finely honed skills.
“I don’t usually
do this either. What kind of man do you think I am?”
She laughs. His
charm has won another one. Still smiling, she says, “Come
in.”
In a flash, she’s
lying beneath him on her bed, and he’s looking at the white
expanse of flesh revealed by her low-cut blouse, especially
her neck.
“Eager, aren’t
you? Well, so am I,” she says.
As he leans forward
he reveals his fangs.
“You’re a vampire!
No! Help!” she screams.
He rises as though
he’d seen that ancient enemy, Van Helsing. “You call that
frightened? Actress? I can see why you’re driven to prostitution.”
“Wait!” she says, “Let
me try again.”
“Don’t worry.
I’m not going to stiff you.” He throws the bills on her bed
with disdain and starts toward the door.
“Hey! Times change.
Just give me a quick bite. I’ll give the money back. Your
kind is so in now.”
“In?” He shakes
his head. He never thought he’d live to see a world so twisted
that ancient evil was attractive. “In?” he says, continuing
out.
“How about I scream?
I can scream good. Listen. Help! Help!”
He leaves, her
horribly false, so not bone-chilling scream sounding like
the grating of fingernails on a blackboard to his acutely
sensitive ears.
