Having barely managed to stave off the frenzy of hunger, Dicky relishes the calm waves of ecstasy that come with each powerful pump of his unconscious meal's heart.
He takes more than he ought to, lips deep in the young man's wrist. He hates doing the neck on a guy. Three years hunting and it still makes him feel uncomfortable. Some human preconceptions can be hard to shake, even when you're a bloodthirsty monster. He is surprised though, in this decade the only thing you need to lure a man to a secluded area is to tell him you have an 'XBOX'.
And then his phone rings. I'm walkin on the ceeeeealin' whoooooa!
Strange, he doesn't recognize the number. "Hello?" Oh shit, the dude's still bleeding. Lick, lick, so wrong.
"Diiiiiiiiicky. Is thees yooou?" A voice, crackly over the line. Deep Austrian accent.
His eyes go wide, bloodshot. He drops the poor shit's arm along with his own jaw.
"Valerie? Is that you?"
"Diiiiiiicky! Oh, oh! Eeeet iz soooooooo good to hear yorrrrr voice!" She sounds of whatever mockery of excitement Vampires still possess after a hundred and forty years. "I have meeeesed you so much. So much! I am making a big motion with my hands now, eez big, Gerald can see, he will tell you so!"
"No, that's fine Valerie," Dicky would have flinched if his muscles still remember discomfort. "How did you get my number?"
"Oh, I ask it from yorrr friend, meester Craig. I hear from leetle bird that you call heeem."
"Valerie... you didn't kill Craig, did you?" A drop of blood drips from his lips and splatters against his shirt. Shit, this was like a hundred dollars. He clumsily wipes at his face with the back of his hand.
"Whaaaaat? Noooooo! Diiiicky, why would I do thees? Maybe I Heepnotize a leetle bit, but I woot not keel heem." She sighs in a sound akin to exasperation. Stage theater, nothing more. "I have not seen you een twelf yeers Deeky, how arrre hyu?"
"Listen, I'm in the middle of something, Valerie. Can I call you back please?"
"NooooooOO! Deeky, I call hyu because I must say sometheeng. I feel so bads I must say sorry to hyu."
"Sorry...? Sorry for what, Valerie?"
"Eet's hard for me to say, I am sooo embarrassed becausse I feel so Geeelty." Silence on Dicky's end of the line.
"I maaaaaaybe stake you a leetle bit Deeky."
"YOU FUCKING WHAT?" The beast rages, Dicky wants to destroy everything in the room, break everything, paint the walls sanguine. He shakes with barely restrained fury.
"See? You geet szoooo mad. Thees is why I do not call you earlier. I know," she pauses chirpily for emphasis, "you overreact."
"I was soooo mad when you say you be Carrrthian. I theenk, why such a goot boy is waste himself on leetle children games? Ouf courrse I geet in trouble if I keel you myself, so I send Monty to put stake in you."
"Monty?" Dicky suddenly sounds deeply wounded at the mention of his favorite of Valerie's thralls, "But I loved Monty."
"Ohhhh, ant he loffed you my Deeky. But Vinculum eez so funny thing hyu know? So anyway, he come back and say he hide yorrr body. Ant then I wonder what my friends theenk eef somebody find out, so I must keels Monty."
Dicky now only whimpers pathetically.
"And then, oh no! So funny. I mees you so much Diiiiicky! I feels sooooo bad. But now, I haff nobody who knows where you are poot! I cries so much Deeky... or I woot, hyu know. Eef I could." She adds in thoughtful reflection.
"But now you arrre back, and you ees okay! Ant now I haff say sorry, and now we are okay again. You are forgive me Deeky? You are visit me Deeky?"
Silence. Choked confusion. "Diiiiiiiky? You arrre there?"
Hazy Sodium lamplight paints spotlight circles along the walkway. Each and each spill out into the empty street, which for lack of a moon is thirsty for any luminance it can get. Cookie cutter homes frame either side of this residential alley, some clean cut and well kept, and those few which have been re-purposed for Student rental being noticeably unkempt.
Two figures move between pools of visibility as the suburban neighborhood maintains its restless slumber. Daily concerns and worry are deferred in the collective dreaming of middle class residents.
Her name is Cassie, and she leans heavily into her company. Tired, with a sense of complacent satisfaction, she nuzzles closer and pulls his arm tighter around her.
His name... well you ought to know that already.
"Hey babe," he whispers, having arrived at her door. "You're home."
"Already?" She murmurs, not letting go.
"Gotta let you go babe. You've got work in the morning, and I've got a shift coming up. Cooooome on, up you go. You're probably gonna want to drink some water," he pauses, "You might also probably consider keeping your diet high in Iron for the next few days."
"Huh, what?"
"Sorry, nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Call me later?"
"I promise."
He lingers, she lingers, and he quickly ducks in for one more kiss. "Go to bed," he grins before turning back towards the waiting cab.
Nice girl. Cute, earnest, volunteer intern at the mayor's office. The whole package. Yea, this will work out nicel-
-viiiiiideo killed the raaadio star, video kil-
Dicky clicks open his phone. Huh, unlisted number. "Hello?"
"DEEKY!"
"Fuck!" The phone nearly goes down, bouncing against his fingertips before he catches it again. "Hey Valerie, uh, what's the occasion?"
"Ohhh Deeky. Eet's funny, I call so many times. I leave message for you and want to know how hyu arrr... they I asks my lovely Gerald to change de phones number and you picks up right away."
"You is medd et me Deeky."
"No. No, I-" Come on, Dicky you gotta find a way out of this one.
"No ees OK!" Valerie says suddenly, and Dicky wonders for a moment who the hell he's talking to. "Eets okays, and hyu knows why?"
"Um... because you committed a heinous violence on my circulatory system and I have every right to be mad?"
"What? Noooooo, silly Deeky! Becauss I mekhs it up to hyu!" Her squealing glee is terrifying in its sociopathic undertones. "I heff my Sister in Europe, Mees Lorraine, you remember her?"
Oh god, Dicky remembers Auntie Lorraine.
"She sents me gift, yes? And gift ees pretty yong lady from the Yookranes. Yoo, Uk, Ucrane?"
"Ukraine?"
"Yes! And I sees her when she kommes, and she is so pretty and I think, wowie wow, the mens woot like so much to make the sexy to her, yes?"
Good Lord, is there a point to this story?
"And THEN I theenk, you know who still likes the sexies? My Deeky likes the sexies!"
If Dicky could blush anymore, he would. "What? Y- you don't know that.." He stammers.
"Ohhh, my Deeky. I watches you sommdetime when you brings home de gurls. Yorr Mommy knows you so goot!"
Kill me now. This is not worth eternal life.
"So you want?"
Wait. "Want what?"
"De gorl, silly Deeky! She is so pretty and she has de goot skin. Ooh! And best part! She is here illegal, no papers! If you make kill oopsie, eets no problem." There's a pause. "You waaaaaant?"
"Maybe... you know. That might be cool. Or whatever."
-squeeeeeeeeee!- "I knows it! I sents her right away."
... a heartbeat flits by
"So where you live, Deeky?"
Shit, didn't think of that. Diversionary tactics! "Moving around a lot Valerie, don't really stay in one place very long."
"Oopsies," She laughs cruelly, "you make de never mind. I haffs your address already. You talk to me again soon, yessssss?"
The phone clicks into a long and silent moment, she hung up. Dicky stands paralyzed.
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