Never Say Die

A Story by informaxim

Dark Vampire Fiction

Never Say Die

He stepped in as she opened the door and stood aside to let him in. The monsoons and the strenuous journey had drained away most of his spirit and he went straight to the sofa, stopping only briefly to take off his drenched shirt. She came and sat next to him and he studied her carefully for a moment before filling her up in his arms. It was after four years that he was seeing his sweetheart yet it had taken them both a minute or two for the feeling to sink in. Both had careers in the Army, he a captain and she a paramedic and it had taught them to see their loved ones in a different light. All these four years in West Africa if anything had been persistently above death in his mind, it was she and now that he was with her again, he wanted to relish and savour each moment that life allowed them together.

She came back with the coffee to find him reading an article she had found interesting and cut out from a newspaper. “You still read these? ” he inquired smiling wryly. She nodded motioning to the largest section of her library that housed books on her favourite subject, the occult. It was at a debate on the supernatural that he had first met her and at the end of it he had gone and told her-“the only thing supernatural I like is you”; and he smiled again recalling the days when life was a roller coaster. This article spoke of ‘Human Parasites’; people who could suck-away life from others almost like a leech that sucks blood from its prey. Mere touch or eye contact was enough for them to do the job.Such people could live on for decades, sucking and thriving on other peoples’ lives while the unsuspecting victim withered to death… Army life was different and more so in West Africa from where he had just returned. Having seen death at such close quarters, he had become almost numb to grief and pain. Infact he wondered if dismembered bodies and gory corpses gave him some sort of high. He shuddered at the thought and quickly turned his attention to her— She had started to look frail and tired, not quite the traffic-stopper that she had once been and Ralph noticed for the first time that Jinx was beginning to grey a bit at her temples. “Time Flies” it made him remember what his senior used to say.

“Lets go for a drive” she said.

“What? In this weather?”

“C’mon,the rain is just starting to stop and anyway you won’t get wet in the car”.

“Its so late” he replied, nevertheless getting up, perhaps a drive would ease him a bit as it did most men.

In the car she talked of all the things she had been wanting to share with him, the past, the present and their future together. It was a monologue, for he listened quietly, mesmerized, not wanting to interrupt her enchanting talk that made him fall in love with her over and over again.

The headlights caught a figure on the road ahead, doubled over, as if in pain and she put her hand on his shoulders to slow him down. He was in a very bad shape, drenched to the skin, badly shriveled and weather beaten and was coughing so hard it looked he’d pass out any second. They helped him into the backseat where he lay still. Ralph wondered if the creature would survive the journey..…. Jinx had urged to the point of stubbornness that they keep him at their apartment for the night. “We can’t leave him to die here and no hospital will admit him at this hour.” And so here he was, lying on the couch and being tended to.

“What a climax to a perfectly romantic evening” he thought yet couldn’t help marvel at her philanthropy. “At this rate of charity, I’ll either have to look for another job or another fiancée.”;he winked. Jinx smiled back darkly as she poured the haggard some milk. The man drained the milk and muttered something incoherent. “Look, the sonovabitch is getting better already.”he remarked. She gave him a look of disapproval while continuing to clean and bandage his wounds. Ralph fell asleep watching her, his dreams shunting between, African jungles, queer looking men and rain-flooded streets. An hour must have passed by when he woke up. She was taking the wretch’s temperature.

“Here, you need some coffee.” She offered him a mug.

“I need my shotgun and a minute alone with that wretch.” he mumbled and barely had he completed his sentence when it happened- the man coughed, a cough that emancipated from the naval and with it blood fountained from his mouth. Both hurried over but he was already dead, his eyes rolled back. They looked at the bloody mess in disbelief before Ralph was finally able to drag the limp body to the balcony and cover it with a sheet. She stood by silently watching him and when it was done embraced him, sobbing softly.

“You’ve had enough for a day” he caressed her moist cheeks.

“Yes, enough for quite some time ”, Jinx replied looking up from her blue eyes and for a second he was transfixed by her beauty. She looked ethereal, her skin was soft, young and fresh and the hair on her temples were as black as the night again, “for quite some time” she repeated. From the corner of his eye, he could see the table and on it a piece of newspaper fluttering in the chilly monsoon wind.