The Visitor at Night

Vampire? Human? - A Lampyre!

THE VISITOR AT NIGHT

The clock ticked two in the morning; Markus sat on the couch in the Kiersted living room smoking a long black pipe. David sat beside him explaining their decision, Markus listened carefully commenting occasionally. Sterla stood to the side listening.

At long last he nodded.

“So where is the boy?” he asked David. “I have to see him if I must judge him”

David called out to Jack who had been listening from his room; adjacent to the living room, he had not waited in the living room with the others where his father discussed their plans. Discussions like these were always a strain to attend, especially if the topic being discussed was himself. But now that his father called him as he knew he eventually would, he sighed and stepped out of his room and into the hall.

Markus looked at him and nodded approvingly.

“He seems strong enough” he told David who nodded tensely.

Jack came to a stop beside him, hands crossed on his chest. It was the first time he was getting a close look at Markus, a lampyre. He was a tall thin man with thinning brown hair and dull black eyes, who seemed to have a permanent frown on his face. But otherwise he looked normal to him, though he couldn’t see properly if he had fangs or not due to the dim light and his pipe.

“Is what this man says true? Are you willing to become a blood slave? Tell me honestly, because I don’t want any legal complications later” he asked in a business like tone.

“Yes that’s true” Jack replied in the same tone…”It’s my decision and no one else’s.”

“Good” he said curtly…”Sit down and give me your hand”

Jack sat across him and extended his right arm. Markus took it and rolled back the sleeve of his shirt.

“Madam, could you get me a knife and a cup? He asked Sterla. On seeing her eyes widen in fear he added reassuringly “It’s just a test Mam, nothing to fear.”

Jack watched as his mom nodded and hurried into the kitchen. She came back with a cup and a steel vegetable cutter knife.

Markus took the knife from his mother and ran it along the length of his arm. He tensed involuntarily. Markus sensed it and an amused grin played on his lips.

“C’mon boy, you can’t become a blood slave if you are afraid of cuts” he mocked.

Jack scowled; it got to his skin how smug Markus acted all self- assured. It was this b******s fault his dad had taken the “Elox” order seriously and they were in this mess. He wasn’t gonna let him make a fool of him too.

“You’re right, go on” he said curtly.

Markus traced a vein on his arm and pressing the knife to it started making a thin deep cut. Jack clenched his teeth as the knife cut into his skin. But he resisted from showing any other signs of pain. One he didn’t want to give Markus, who was taking his time with the cut and seemingly enjoying it, any pleasure of watching him in pain. The other he didn’t want his parents to feel any worse, for his mother had already averted her gaze from him and beads of sweat glistened on his father’s forehead.

At last Markus finished and pressed the cup to his wound and started collecting the blood, when he had a considerable amount he removed the cup and pressed a cotton pad firmly on the wound.

“Apply pressure on it boy. You got to preserve that precious blood of yours” he said with a leering grin.

Jack glared at him but nodded curtly, pressing the pad to the wound. He watched curiously as Markus brought the cup to his mouth and began drinking from it. So lampyres drink blood after all. That was news. He couldn’t wait to see Tom’s expression when he heard that. But thinking of Tom his heart sank. Tom didn’t know he wouldn’t be going to TUSAR yet. And he couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eye and tell that. But there would be time to think about that later, right now there were other things to pay attention to like the lampyre in his living room.

Markus drank deeply and slowly, his eyes closed, relishing every drop. At last he smacked his lips with a sigh of satisfaction.

“You’ve got some quality blood boy” he with genuine appreciation…”Some of the best I’ve tasted, the AB-ve group is no joke…No vampire would refuse to buy this though very few could afford it…” he finished with a small smile of approval.

A small smile appeared on David’s shivering lips, though wondered if he had the right to be happy about this, if a father should feel happy on hearing his son’s blood would be well liked by vampires. He looked at Sterla, she looked as though she might cry any moment but there was a small smile on her lips too.  He nodded.

“That’s right David” Markus said looking at his father…”With this you should be able to pay back the loan and there should even be some left to pull yourself together again if you are lucky…”

Jack watched as his father nodded; a tiny smile on his face. He too found himself smiling though it was a somewhat dark and sarcastic smile. But he supposed if his fate was already decided then it was better that he (or at least his family) was getting the most out of it.

“I would like to take some samples of it…three to be precise. I would like to give it to three of the richest families in Noctis…” he said briskly opening his bag.

Noctis was said to be one of the biggest and prosperous cities of the vampires, but no one in Town knew of its location, though each had their own idea. As having a blood slave was considered a status symbol among the vampires, he supposed only the guys living in Noctis could afford it.

He watched as Markus took out three weird conical looking things from his bag. They were roughly 3 to 4 inches long and were made out of some shiny metal, silver most likely and ended in a sharp point.

“Do you know what these are?” Markus asked holding up one of them.

“How am I supposed to know?” Jack asked

“Of course” Markus nodded smiling…”You’ve lived your entire life in town…”

“That’s right” Jack answered.

“Well they’re vampire fangs boy, not real one’s mind you, models. They’re used to hold blood samples, to be shown to prospective buyers of slaves or donors. I’m going to take three, one for each family. And if possible I’d like to use the same wound; some vampires believe blood taken from different parts tastes differently.”

Jack raised his eyebrows skeptically ‘different tastes?’ seeing which Markus added.

“Of course there is no scientific proof to this. It’s just belief, but if you don’t-“

“No its fine” Jack cut him off.

“Okay then” Markus nodded crisply…”Give me your hand”

Jack removed the cotton pad and extended his arm once more. The bleeding had stopped, which meant it had to be opened again. If only the moron had told him sooner that he was gonna take samples!

Markus took one of the “fangs” and opened the cut with its sharp end. Jack winced and clenched his fist as the cut opened and started to bleed again. Markus unscrewed a tiny lid from the “fang” and collected the blood dripping from the wound. He did so for the next two fangs and pressed another cotton pad to the wound.

He then placed the three silver fangs gingerly into a glass case and put it in his bag.

“I would need a health certificate to prove the blood’s pure” he said looking at Jack.

“What about TUSAR health certificate. My son just cleared the entrance” David offered.

Markus eyes widened.

“TUSAR? This boy just cleared TUSAR?” He asked incredulously pointing.

David nodded.

Markus laughed, an amused and unpleasant laughter, which somehow made his face seem flatter, giving Jack the impression of a squashed lizard’s head, but which also gave him a clear view of his teeth. Though yellowed they seemed otherwise normal.

“And you are selling him to be a blood slave? Fates cruel isn’t it? David maybe it’s better for you to be drained after all”

“And will you feed my family Markus?” David asked icily.

Markus smiled and shook his head.

“Well I suppose it’s none of my business”

“Better keep it that way” David said shortly.

“Of course and yes the certificate would do”

David gave a short nod and Sterla hurried off to bring said certificate.

Pressing the cotton firmly against his throbbing hand Jack looked at his father. He turned his face away, probably too guilty to meet his eyes.

A small smile crossed Jack’s lips. Maybe his open admittance to Markus was a sign of his father’s acceptance of this fate. It hurt just like when his mother had asked him to be a blood slave. But it wasn’t exactly his fate that pained him, it was his parents acceptance of it, no matter how reasonable the logic was. It only reminded him that he was just a scapegoat and not a pivotal part of their life.

He closed his eyes, vaguely aware of Markus saying something. Deep inside a small selfish part of him insisted he didn’t deserve this, begged him to refuse. Why should he pay for his parents mistakes? Would his parents do the same for him if he were to ask them? His mom had been too afraid to become a Donor, she had not wanted Sara and Paul to pay Blood Tax, but she’s OK with him becoming a blood slave? Wasn’t he her son too? But no matter how much he tried to blame them, he also understood them, and it was all the more painful because of that, for that understanding, that feeling of empathy prevented him from hating them altogether, from feeling sorry for himself. After all what other choice did they have? Given a choice between cutting off your arm and head, what would you choose? His father had done exactly that.  He was after all the “head” of the family wasn’t he?

Maybe he didn’t have the right to feel sorry, but he was only 16; no matter how brave he tried to act.

He looked around him, Markus was gone. He hadn’t noticed him leave in his musings. His father came back to the living room, probably after seeing Markus to the door.

“Has Markus left?” he asked his father.

“Yes…”his father said still avoiding his eyes.

“Did he say anything?”

“No…only that he’ll contact as soon as he gets a buyer” he replied almost too fast.

Jack sighed, this tension was suffocating him. At least things would be more bearable if his father acted normal. Maybe his father felt sorry for him, but being pitied only made things all the more awkward.

He got up and walked towards his room, looking at the clock as he passed, “2:30 AM”. He sighed; there was a dull ache in his temple and he was hungry, having been too worked up to have eaten his dinner tonight. His mom had made meat loaf; it was all gone now though.

He switched on the lights in his room and walked towards the bed not even bothering to change and heavily lay down on it, his hand across his forehead. Something caught his attention on the table out of the corner of his eyes, a bowl.

He went to inspect it, a dull gray liquid rested on the bowl, soup or stew of somekind, and mushroom by its color, already cold and scaling. Someone had kept it in his room, his mother? No if it was her she would have informed him. His father?  It must have been, but that small act of concern was too much for him to take right now, his throat closed painfully and he swallowed.

He carried the bowl out to the kitchen to reheat, after all how long would he be receiving this care?

David sat on the couch his head resting on his hand; he looked up on hearing Jack.

Jack raised the bowl at him.

“Thanks dad” he said with a small smile trying to keep his voice casual.

A smile broke out on David’s lips, a smile he knew only too well, a smile of pure relief, of perfect understanding.

Jack nodded and as he watching his father’s awkward smile, this man who had taught him to play hockey, to drive a bike, had spent hours meticulously repairing his prized train control box, had worked overtime on Sundays to buy him a birthday present…Jack couldn’t help but smile. Maybe for this man, this father it was worth after all.

He smiled back and with that suddenly the ice was broken, suddenly everything seemed normal and Jack suddenly knew how much he loved his family, how he could never ever abandon them… even if it meant paying every single drop of his blood as the price of his love for them!

Author's Note

So that’s the third chapter. Just wanted to give an insight into the mindset of Jack and his parents on making such a difficult choice, not much character or plot development in this chapter but the next chapter would probably have more. Thanks for all your support  Read and review and tell me if I’m going too slowly.

Reviews

[Jhansi Ki Rani]

It's nice, and I think you're workign at a nice pace. However, you should attempt to "show not tell" Try to show Jack's feelings rather than play them out too oftne, of course, this is only my opinion. I still liked the chapter very much and I can't wait for more!

[FictionQueen]

Thanks for the advice...Point taken :)