“The thirst is so tempting. I know I could have gone upstairs and got a blood bag, but it’s like to have it fresh from the source sings to me. My first proper vampire’s bite. I could just take a small sip… No, you’re here. I’m new. I wouldn’t be able to stop.”
I stood still as a statue, my scythe firmly in my hand.
“The tablet. It’s in my purse,” she yelled, scrambling in her bag. She pushed one pill of two from the plastic and put it in her mouth. I knew what it was, knew that it would disintegrate on her tongue and stop the hunger that had taken her by storm.
A minute later she dropped to her knees. “What did I almost do? Help me, please. Take me back home.”
“Stand up, Mya,” I ordered, and then I wrapped my cloak around her and took her back and straight to my bedroom.
I dropped her onto my bed. “Do not move. I’ll be back with blood and then you need to tell me how this happened.”
She nodded and then her head rested back in her hands and small sobs escaped her mouth.
I returned, ripped the top off the bag and handed the pouch to her. She drank it down greedily.
“I, I- almost killed someone.” Her voice shook with her words.
“Yes, you did.”
“Maybe I should have just chosen the nothingness, because I’m not sure I could have lived with the guilt.”
“I’m trying to work out why you were so thirsty? You had your breakfast bag, didn’t you?”
“Yes, then I visited the fell and looked around the neighbourhood, ordered some shopping, and then I cleaned the apartment. Lawrie reminded me I could whizz and so I cleaned the whole place down. I woke up on the sofa and that’s when the thirst hit.”
“You did far too much. You ran yourself dry, Mya. If you’re going to do so many activities you need to feed more, have more bags.”
“I realise that now, but I woke, and I just craved blood so bad. I didn’t want a bag, I wanted it live.”
“Of course you did, Mya, you’re a vampire. Vampires don’t want to consume their blood from bags, they do it so they don’t murder the local population. However, Lawrie will know places where you can go and find donors who will let you drink from them. Places where safety mechanisms will be in place so that you don’t take too much. It’s probably best you find out this information so that if a deep thirst strikes again you can transport yourself there, if you can’t fight the urge for a live feed.”
“I can’t get it out of my mind that I could have killed someone.”
“It’s your nature, Mya. You’re thinking like a human still, but you’re a vampire.” I sat next to her and moved her hands from her head, tipping her chin up so she had to look at me. “You didn’t go through with it. You fought the urge, took the tablet and came back. So stop beating yourself up about it.”
“How am I supposed to think about anything else? I’ve not even done any work today yet. I’m a useless Queen.”
I gave her a pointed look. “It’s your second day of immortality. I think you can cut yourself some slack. How about you show me what you did with your place? I’m guessing it looks a lot better if you exhausted your iron stores.”
That made her perk up a little. “It does look a lot better and I’m not finished yet.”
I offered a hand to her and she took it. Her cool palm was dwarfed by my own hand. Pulling her to her feet, I moved her in front of me.
“After you.”
We walked out into the hall to find Spence outside. “Hmmm, Mya coming out of Death’s bedroom looking very flushed. One might assume things had been going down… or people.”
“Mya has just fed. She’s adjusting to her new role, Spence.”
“Well, that’s disappointing,” he sighed, carrying on walking.
“Spence, can I order you a new leg? I mean there’s just no need for dragging that along with you now, when you can get all manner of prosthetics,” Mya told him.
“I like my leg. It adds character. You can change the furnishings in Wayward Souls, but not this fixture.” He walked off.
“That’s me told,” Mya said.
As Mya showed me her now spotless rooms, her mood lifted. They were mainly still the same old-fashioned look from before, but now everything was clean.
“I thought you were going to modernise the place?”
“Me too, but I decided to just try and work with what I’ve got. The carpets were just dirty; they’re actually in great shape and once I removed the frilly pelmets the curtains were fine. I gave the nets away to the twins to either re-sell or pass onto Merrin. I got some different cushion covers from the twins and a rug. I’ve ordered all new appliances, washing machine, cooker etc, even though there is a laundering service and food delivery. I want the option of doing things myself. And I’ve booked Stan and his son to come to fit new plumbing and heating, a new bathroom, and then to modernise the kitchen.”
“There’s no wonder you ended up with a severe thirst,” I scolded good naturedly.
“Yeah, I guess I got a bit carried away. Once my refrigerator arrives, I’ll be able to keep a decent supply of blood nearer too. Tomorrow I will, gently of course, rearrange one of the rooms upstairs into our office.”
“I’ll make sure I’m around to help. I feel partly responsible for what happened. If I’d been around, I’d have known you were overdoing things.”
“How? You can’t see into my rooms.”
I suddenly found the new curtains more interesting.
“Can you see into my rooms, Death?”
“It’s possible that there is access on my computer.”
“So you can perve on me? Did you watch me sleep?”
“No, I did not!” Tempting though it was, I didn’t add.
“Unbelievable. I want it turning off.”
“We need to keep it running, Mya. I don’t look at it. I would only do so if the alarms were triggered which they’re set to if someone or something tried to get in.”
“Some thing?” Mya’s voice went squeaky.
“Like an evil entity. Not everything has a body.”
“It’s a good job I don’t need much sleep, because now I’m not going to get any at all,” she shrieked.
“Mya, those alarms haven’t been triggered in decades.”
“That does not mean they won’t. What if the evil people hear there’s a new queen and think she might be so new it would be a good time to invade?”
“You’re being silly.”
“Oh excuse me for panicking about intruders or getting upset that I can be watched on video. I’m not an episode of EastEnders.”
“No, they’re less dramatic on there and that’s saying something,” I snarled.
“Suck you.”
“Nice. Thanks for the respect towards someone who’s trying to help you.”
“Suck off. Go on. Get the suck out.”
I started moving towards the living room door. “Do you know, I think I will, because I’ve better things to do than be disrespected by a lower lifeform.”
“What. Did. You. Just. Call. Me?”