Altered Path

A week later, I felt like I might be getting the hang of my new vampire movement. I occasionally slammed into the couch or a wall, but controlling it was easier every day.

Gideon had been bringing me ‘food’ in the form of sad looking men and women he found in my old neighborhood. He would offer them a room in the servants' area of the house (we had no servants, so it was empty) in exchange for some ‘work he needed done’. If all went well, they left well paid with no memory of ever meeting him.

IF all went well….

The first one, a woman I recognized from the building I lived in with Erik, was a disaster. I was so hungry by that time, animal instinct took over and I pounced on her, tearing at her neck with my fangs.

She screamed so much as I drank, that Gideon came in to check on me, but I was fine.

She was not.

When I finally got control of my thirst, she was bloody, pale and crumpled on the floor beside me. The sight disturbed me. I would have to work hard to learn to control myself.

The blood made me feel amazing! Not only was there a buzz afterwards, but it made my body feel warm and tingly. It didn’t taste like I thought it would. It was sweeter, and so warm.

Gideon wasn’t upset that I had killed her. He said he’d figured the first one would be a mess.

“Next time,” he had said, “play with them a little.”

We cleaned up the room and burned the body in the big furnace in the basement.

I felt guilty as hell for killing her. She had a teenage son who lived with her and worked at the grocery store to help pay the rent. I knew I would have to do something for him to make sure he was taken care of.

The second one was not much better, but I didn’t kill him.

Ken was a homeless man and when I first entered the room, he begged me for some whiskey. I practiced compulsion on him for a few hours, until I felt that I was doing it right each time, then I called Gideon in.

“Watch me!” I said, excited to show off my blossoming talent.

He smiled and waved me on.

I went up to the man and looked into his eyes.

He looked back, still as a statue, probably confused.

“Ken,” I said, because he had told me his name earlier and I noticed compulsion worked so much better with his name, “Ken, you will not remember that you ever drank alcohol. You will not want alcohol again. You will find a job and live a good life.”

Ken looked dazed for a moment, then he responded, “You’re crazy, lady! Where the hell is my whiskey, damn it?’

Gideon chuckled.

“Ugh! I thought I had it!” I said, in frustration.

After that, I drank from Ken, then Gideon compelled him to forget us and also to forget alcohol. I felt like if we left them better off than they were, maybe it made up for kidnapping them and drinking their blood.

No?

Tonight, was the fourth try. Gideon brought home a face I thought I would not see again.

I entered the room and stopped in the doorway, surprised to see Courtney stripping off her clothes. She didn’t seem to hear me come in, so I closed the door loudly behind me.

She jumped and spun around, clearly afraid.

I wondered what Gideon had said or done to make her so scared.

“Melissa? What the hell are you doing here? Where have you been? You know Erik is missing? What did you do?” Courtney said, coming towards me in a threatening manner.

I stayed where I was and when she reached me, fist raised, I grabbed it tightly with my vampire strength and I tossed her onto the bed across the room.

She wasn’t hurt. She shouted for help. She jumped back off the bed and came at me again.

I didn’t want to hurt her, really, but if she kept coming at me, I knew my vamp anger would flare and I’d rip her apart. Vampire emotions were so much more raw than human ones were.

I stepped out of her way as she ran towards me, and she crash into the door behind me.

“Let me know when you’ve finished acting like a psycho,” I said to her, taking a seat by the bed.

Courtney screamed for help again.

“No one can hear you, Courtney. No one who cares, anyways,” I said.

She tried the door, but Gideon had locked it behind me. She ran to the window, but this was a third-floor bedroom. No way to jump from here. Finally, she started crying pitifully.

“Oh, are we done now?” I said, in the snottiest tone I could muster.

She nodded, then asked, “What do you want from me? I didn’t steal Erik. The asshole forced me to go with him.”

I knew she was telling the truth. I’d heard the same story from other girls in the neighborhood. I just never believed them until now.

“I know that. You’re not here because of Erik,” I said.

Courtney was half naked, smeared makeup covered her face, and her nose was dripping.

“You’re here because I am hungry,” I said, plainly.

Courtney nodded a little, then seemed to process what I had said. Her eyes grew wide, and she covered her mouth with her hand.

“You ate Erik and now you’re going to eat me!” she wailed, pointing at me.

I laughed, because even if I had been a vampire when Erik was around, I would never have drunk his filthy blood. Drugs, diseases and gods knew what else was floating around in his veins.

“No, no. I didn’t eat Erik,” I said, standing and walking over to her, “My vampire sire and our werewolf friends killed him because he beat me. Make sure you pass that story on,” I said the last part as I looked in her eyes, hoping the compulsion worked.

I wouldn’t know if it had, since as soon as I finished speaking, Courtney let out a blood curdling shriek and passed out cold.

“I definitely feel your shock, girl.” I said, as I crouched down and took her wrist to feed.

Her blood was definitely not clean. I could taste the difference now between alcohol and drugs. Alcohol was bittersweet. Drugs tasted like eating an aspirin.

Courtney’s blood had lots of both, so I only drank what I needed, then called Gideon in to 'assess my progress'.

“Well, she looks untouched, dear. Bravo!” he said, clapping loudly, “Why is she half dressed?”

“Beats me. I thought you told her to do that,” I said, and we both laughed, “Honestly though, I think it’s time for me to hunt for myself. Courtney here has more drugs in her system than a hospital pharmacy.”

Gideon chuckled and said, “The low and forgotten are always the easiest victims, but I do understand. How is your compulsion coming?”

I sighed and nudged Courtney with my foot, trying to wake her.

She awoke with a start, then crawled backwards across the room like an upside-down crab.

“Please, no! I won’t tell anyone, I swear! Just let me go, Melissa, please!” she begged through her frightened sobs.

I leaned close to her and looked in her bloodshot eyes.

“Courtney, where is Erik?” I asked her.

Immediately she rattled off the story I had given her.

“Your vampire sire and your werewolf friends killed him because he beat you,” she said, “I’ll pass that story on.”

Gideon cleared his throat, as if he had something to say.

I thought I already knew what his thoughts were, so I held up my hand to him.

He said nothing, just watched.

Still, holding Courtney’s gaze, I said, “Not a story. That is the truth. You will pass on the truth of Erik’s death.”

She nodded slowly and said, “I will pass on the truth, the truth of Erik’s death is that your vampire sire and your werewolf friends killed him because he beat you. I will pass on that truth.”

Gideon clapped again, startling poor Courtney into crying out.

“Very well done! I didn’t think you would catch that,” he said, grinning broadly at me.

“Can I g-g-go, Melissa?” Courtney said.

“Well, I’ve already fed on you,” I said to her, knowing this would set her mind spinning again, “and you were so nice about it.”

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t move.

“Dear, if you’re going to let her go, don’t tease the poor girl,” Gideon said with a chuckle.

I sighed and said, “Okay then, here we go.”

I held Courtney’s gaze and told her, “Courtney, you will not remember meeting us. You will not remember anything about tonight except that you found out what happened to Erik. You will go home, go back to work at the club and choose better men.”

She seemed dazed for a few seconds, then, “Yes, I found out what happened to Erik.”

I looked at Gideon and raised an eyebrow.

“Try again with the rest,” he said.

“Courtney, you will not remember seeing me or meeting us. This night will be a blank except for the truth of Erik’s death.” I said, again holding her gaze.

“I will not remember you,” she responded.

Gideon nodded and said, “Some humans process things slower. She repeated the important bit.”

Courtney was silently sitting on the floor, watching us.

“Well, we better be off. Have to get back by sunrise,” Gideon said, winking at her.

I laughed at her terrified expression.

We drove her back to my old neighborhood and dropped her off in front of the strip club. Gideon gave her a thousand dollars for her ‘help’, which I thought was much too generous. Where did he get his money anyways?

On the way home, I asked him, “Gideon? Where do you get your money?”

“Why do you ask?” he said.

“It’s just that you always have more. I’ve never seen anyone spend so much money.” I explained.

He smiled, and I knew I was about to learn something else about vampires that I would find exciting.

“Melissa, when you master compulsion, you will be able to walk into a bank, compel yourself into the vault and take what you wish,” he started, then raised an eyebrow, “But you should not rely on that. I have many investments that have proven lucrative, and I’ve always managed to find myself purchasing stocks immediately before they pay off,” he winked.

“How do you manage that?” I asked him, raising my own eyebrow.

He smiled and said, “Compulsion, dear. You can get any information you want out of most humans. Even their deepest, darkest secrets they seem to offer up with no hesitancy.”

I thought about that on the drive back to the huge house I had so quickly come to think of as home. The idea that with just a question, I could get any information I wanted. Of course, my first thought was of my parents.

“Are you alright, dear?” Gideon asked, as we entered the house.

I looked at him and saw that he seemed concerned. The last time I had become this quiet, I had tried to kill myself.

“I’m fine. I’m just…. thinking,” I said, but even I thought my words sounded forced.

Gideon didn’t push me for more, but he lingered in my rooms that night, as if he felt he needed to watch over me.

I knew I needed to tell him what was on my mind if I didn’t want him to worry about me doing something crazy again.

“I’m just thinking, if I can learn to compel better, maybe I can find out what happened to my parents,” I finally blurted out.

Gideon had been examining one of the pillows. Now he looked up and smiled brightly.

“That is a wonderful idea, Melissa, but what would you do if you found them?” he wondered.

I sighed and said, “I don’t know. Maybe compel them to tell me why they abandoned me. Maybe compel them to want to be my parents.”

I knew the second option was not a good one, but if things went badly, I wanted Gideon to know what path my thoughts were taking.

“That’s not going to make you happy, and I think you know that” he said, gently, then, “but I will help you find them, if you wish.”

I fell asleep with visions of tearful family reunions and brunches with mom and dad, but my subconscious told me a different story….