[cchwc] Day 1

The grass felt sweet and wet against Peter’s back. The earth under it had the fragrance of home. Something that anyone could relate to. It’s where food comes from. Where LIFE comes from. Peter opened his eyes. It was dark but he could make out the trees above. The bats flying between them gathering insects. A face appeared before him. It was a kind face. A blond, youngish face. He looked like Ed Begley jr. Behind him was a woman that was considerably older. She was brunette, 40's. She looked like she was anyones wife, mother.

Peter reached up and touched the mans face. There was no malice there, he seemed genuinely interested in Peter. He didn’t flinch from the hand. What did these people want, Peter thought. His mind clearing he retraced his last recallections. How did I get here? WTF had happened? He couldn’t remember.

“What’s your name son?” Peter’s mind hadn’t completely cleared. Was this man calling HIM “son”? He had at least 15 years on this man. “Wha..a..t?” Peter stammered. “Be calm, my name is Steven, what is your name?” The breeze came out of the east bringing with it the scent of the Atlantic. THAT was familiar. His head began to clear further. “Peter.”

He tried to get up off of the ground but was unable to muster the strength to do so. Odd thing for a 260lb man. Still he wasn’t feeling any fear. These 2 were not going to do him harm. He couldn’t have stopped them if had wanted to though. A strange feeling of weakness this was for Peter. Unlike anything he had ever felt before.

As his mind cleared Peter was aware of several things. He smelled the earth, the rabbit to his left, in a bush. He heard the coyotes in the distant hills. Then something that he thought was damn near impossible. IT WAS DARK. “How can I see you two?” He reached out again and touche Steven’s face. With his other hand he stroked the womans hair. WHY CAN I SEE YOU?

“Be calm Peter. This is Janice and we mean you no harm. The harm has already come to you.” Thoughts collided in Peter’s head. What the hell does that mean? “We’re here to help you Peter. You were caught in a mess of not your doing.” “Your senses have been heightened because you are no longer human. You are........vampire.” Peter spewed spittle from his mouth as he laughed.

“You doubt this”, Steven said. “Smell around you. Look around you. Listen around you. FEEL around you. Can you deny that what you’re experiencing is different than what you have in the past?”

“No”, Peter said. “WHY???”

“We’ll get to that. Right now you have to realize that you have to feed. If you don’t you won’t have the strength to do anything and dawn is a short while away.”

“Feed on what” Peter asked. Janice and Steven looked at each other, a communication that they both understood well but it’s not easily heard by a new vampire. “You must feed on humans from now on. Your life and sanity will depend on it.”

“To Hell with that” Peter said, “I’d rather die.”

Steven caressed Peters hair and said slowly, “You are already dead Peter. You must feed or you will go mad. This is what’s happened to you. A vampire didn’t feed and he went out of his mind. He kills everyone in his sight. Normally we feed as little as possible and kill the meal when done to keep our numbers down. It’s best for us so that we can continue. He didn’t do that with you and, well, here we are.”

“You MUST feed. Would you inflict on another what has happened to you? I know this is a lot to consider so soon. It has to be done though. We are tracking this monster as are the humans. We have a common enemy, not as if they understand that though. We are few, we will need help. We wish to survive though.”

Peter felt the heartbeats. Three of them. “I can feel us” Peter said.

“What do you mean” said Janice?

“Three of us, three heartbeats.”

“You aren’t feeling us Peter”, Steven said. “Our hearts no longer beat. You are feeling the humans that are on our heels. They mean well but they don’t know what is actually going on. Nor do they have the capacity to deal with what we have to.”

“You’ve got to help us here Peter. Is there a refuge around?”

“Yes, my house is only a few kilometers away. We should be safe there. I’m telling you though, I want more answers.”

“You will have them. We’ll talk as we walk. Can you rise?”

Peter stumbled to his feet, leaned left and right and grabbed a willow to keep him from falling. “No, not with any speed, if that’s what is needed.”

Steven looked up and smelled at the same time. “NO, we don’t have that type of time.” Steven scooped Peter up and asked for the direction. Peter gave it to him and the three made their way to Peters house.

“Why am I as week as a baby” Peter said.

“You’ve been drained. You have little left aside from what you are now. You need to gain your strength as I’ve already told you. You want to help us or do you want to be at the mercy of what’s behind us?”

They came to Peter’s house. It was a colonial, OLD house. Steven put Peter down. Peter opened the door. Steven looked at the sky. It was beginning to lighten. “Not good”, Steven thought.

“How far behind us are they Steven”, said Janice.

“No too far, maybe 20 minutes.” Steven looked younger but he was much older than she.

“What do we have to use here Peter?”

“There is a basement that has a dirt floor. Does that work?”

“Where?”

Peter lead them to the bedroom and removed the rug from the floor. There was a trap door. Peter opened it and the vampires lifted their noses and smiled. This was going to work. They entered the basement but Peter had another idea. He kicked the door closed, covered it over with the rug and backed into the closet to the right.

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning.” Peter remembered this. It WAS a red sky this morning. Does that mean that sunlight will be at a minimum? How much sunlight does it take to incapacitate a vampire. Can I actually kill a human so that I can continue? These thoughts passed through Peters mind.

He rested.

There was scratchings around the house. Peter heard them. His thoughts still jumbled. Sitting in the closet he could hear them two rooms away.

“We have them. Let’s kill the bastards.”

“Straight up boss.”

There were two women and a male. They made their way into the living room and he said, “You girls check out the attic. Tricky bastards they are.” The movement moved away. The man was taking his time in the house. Kitchen, bathroom, Peter had no idea why he would do this and then into the bedroom. The man scanned the room, looked under everything then pulled back the rug.

The human smiled. He dug at the door with no effect. He put down his weapons and went at it with both hands. Peter didn’t hear or sense the women on this floor. He fell out of the closet onto the mans back. He outweighed him by 40lbs. Unable to move the human screamed.

Peter, his skin searing drove his new fangs into the mans neck. It was survival. As he drained the human strength came back to him. He raised this mortal and TOTALLY drained him. Everything became clear, then broke his neck. Peter reached down and jarred the trap open and jumped down. He threw the body under the stairs.

Peter could smell the comforting earth, he got out of the blistering sun and sat next to the wall. He saw Steven and Janice huddled in the far corner. They weren’t really asleep. They were cognizant but afraid.

“Joey” “JOEY!” came the call from the women. They had come into the bedroom and saw the open trap. Lights leveled from shotguns the stepped down the stairs. They saw the vampires in the far corner. “We’ve got them Jenny” said one. Janice and Steven stood up. They would take it.

“Waste them Jean” said Jenny. They raised their guns.

“Why?” Steven said.

“You are a bane on society, a cancer on our people” Jenny said. “FIRE!”

Steven and Janice closed their eyes and accepted what was coming.

Nothing came. They opened their eyes to see a strange thing. Two arms and fists were growing out of the two girls. Just under their breasts. Blood dripped down and the guns fell from their hands. Their eyes vacant. Peter removed his arms from the assassins and they fell to the ground. He was new. The scent of fresh blood nearly sent him into a frenzy.

“I wish to survive”, Peter said, “but I don’t want to forget what it’s like to be human.”

“Help me.



This one is open for more chapters.


[edit on 19-10-2009 by intrepid]

[edit on 23-10-2009 by intrepid]

I don't get much time to write these days. When the contest is over I will move this to Collaborative Fiction if the members would like to take this story and run with it.

A different take on an old theme, I was pleasantly surprised at the way you told the story. The emotional factor was a good touch as it is usually presumed that there is no conscience behind a feeding.


Answer me this however, what was up with the creepy arms sprouting out under the womens boobs?

You really should do some celebrity posts on the underworld thread /collaborative with the guys.

Originally posted by antar
Answer me this however, what was up with the creepy arms sprouting out under the womens boobs?

Peter didn't feed on them but killed them by driving his fists through their chests. I had to rush towards the end. I was running out of "me time".

Like I said, if you guys want to pick this up after the contest, you can. Go with Day 2, someone else day 3. I can repost it in Coll Fic. I have very little time.

Me likes the vamp theme buddy...

What a day! Poor guy. Interesting how it all started coming together for him in the end, when he started out so unsure. Those vamp genes started pumping!

Good story!

reply to post by intrepid


Very nice and descriptive story intrepid. Good luck to you in the contest. I look forward to reading more of this story.

BE AS ONE, Magantice