Suzie and the Monsters (18 page)

‘You really don’t, Cleo.’

‘Oh, God,’ she groans. ‘Oh, fuck.’ She leans over the side of the bed and vomits blood into the bucket.

I fill the glass with water. Cleo looks at me like I’m trying to poison her, so I drink some to show her it’s safe. ‘You’ll probably throw up again,’ I explain. ‘But you’ll do that whatever you drink.’

Cleo laughs weakly. ‘What kind of a vampire am I, throwing up blood and drinking water...’

‘It’s almost complete now. You’re lucky, in a way. I was feverish for days. Maybe because I drank so much of your blood before you drank mine. Or maybe it’s just that you’re a lot healthier than I was. This is all a bit of a mystery to me.’

Cleo drinks the water, and almost immediately throws up into the bucket again. ‘Just for a moment there,’ she says, ‘that felt really good.’

‘Keep trying, I think. Your body is trying to clean itself. There are all these bits of humanity washing around inside you still.’

‘In a minute,’ she says, then laughs. ‘My mum’s going to kill me.’ She thinks about that for a minute. ‘I can’t go back, can I?’

‘Not really. Maybe you can visit briefly, but she’s not going to understand or accept what you’ve become.’

‘I need to phone her, tell her... something.’

‘When you’re fully changed we’ll arrange a meeting.’

‘Okay,’ she says. ‘I miss her.’

‘I know.’ I give Cleo a hug, which she returns. Then she lifts my T-shirt, exposing my breasts, but runs her fingers over my heart, finding not even the faintest scar where she plunged the knife into me only a day ago. She pulls my shirt down again. ‘I’m sorry, Suzie,’ she says, unable to meet my eyes.

‘All is forgiven,’ I reply, kissing her forehead. ‘All you did was give me an excuse to do what I wanted to do.’

She looks up at me with profound relief, then throws her arms around me and starts sobbing. I hold her and try to soothe her.

‘I was so scared you would leave me,’ she whispers.

‘Well, forever is a very long time. I hope that you will forgive me too.’

She looks at me with a frown. ‘For what?’

‘For not leaving you when I could.’

She starts to argue, but I silence her with a kiss, and it’s wonderful to think that for the very first time I am in a real relationship, two young women facing the future together.

Then she starts crying again. ‘I’m so hungry!’ she yells at me, eyes impossibly bright with need. It’s quite terrifying to behold. Almost as if it’s not Cleo sitting there any more.

‘Okay! Okay!’ I tear myself away from her, dizzy, a lightning pain splitting my skull. ‘Okay. I’ll bring you food, but you have to let me tie your hands again.’

She doesn’t respond immediately, but even in the state she’s in she’s able to understand that I’m trying to help her.

‘Okay,’ she says at last, and lies back with her hands above her. She watches me with her fierce eyes while I fasten the cuffs to her wrists.

Adam and Danny are still in bed, but awake now and very nervous. ‘Who was that shouting?’ Danny asks.

‘I’ve got a girl locked up in the other bedroom. She’s a bit hysterical. Maybe you two can calm her down.’ First taking the precaution of tying Adam’s free wrist to one of the wall rings, I unlock Danny’s ankle cuff and pass it over the heavy chain, fastening it to Danny’s ankle again. The heavy chain doesn’t stretch to Cleo’s room. ‘Come on,’ I tell them after releasing Adam’s wrist from the wall, and direct them across the house. ‘In you go,’ I encourage as they hesitate outside her room, and they open it cautiously.

As soon as they see her eyes, they are trapped. Even Adam who resisted my more subtle attempt to captivate. In her current state, her eyes are undeniable. ‘Come here!’ she orders them, in no doubt of her power. They lurch forwards into the room as if she has pulled on a chain connecting them to her. I follow them in and guide Danny’s cuffed wrist to her mouth. Cleo launches herself at it, fangs slicing into the blood vessels, lips fastening tightly to the flesh. I watch her throat muscles swallowing the rich flow, and when I judge that she’s had about a litre I pull Danny’s arm out of her reach. I don’t want him going into hypovolaemic shock.

Cleo screams with frantic rage, but I quickly give her Adam’s wrist. I sense that he’s trying to fight, but Cleo is too strong for him. There are tears on his cheeks as her fangs plunge into his arm. I quickly tie a bandage around Danny’s abused wrist. Then I pull Adam’s wrist away from Cleo; she’s only had a mouthful or two, but she doesn’t complain this time. After taking care of Adam’s wrist, I drag the poor men back to their bedroom, attach them to the heavy chain again. Danny is barely conscious, and they’re both looking pale and weak now. I cover them with sheets and towels to keep them warm and leave them to sleep.

Cleo is writhing on her bed, and I don’t understand at first. But then it hits me. I slide onto the bed next to her, and use my fingers to bring her to orgasm, not just once but again and again until she collapses into a deep sleep.

They’re all asleep except for me. I make myself a coffee and lie on the sofa watching BBC Breakfast.

*

Cleo wakes up around midday and I hear her calling my name. She looks a thousand times better, still a little pale, though, and her hair is a tangled mess.

‘How do you feel?’

‘Still hungry, but in a normal way, not a for-fuck’s-sake-feed-me way.’

‘Okay,’ I say, laughing. I unlock her wrists and ankles. ‘You need a shower.’

‘I know.’

Her legs are shaky when she stands, and I let her lean on me as I walk her through the house. She’s fascinated by the chain, wants to see where it leads, insists on following it to its end. The men are half-awake when we enter, but scramble out of bed in fright at the sight of Cleo.

‘Relax, boys,’ I say.

Cleo looks embarrassed. ‘Who are they?’

‘The tall one is Adam. The other one is Danny. He has a beautiful cock and knows how to use it.’

Cleo frowns at me in confusion. I give her a look of exaggerated innocence, and after a moment she bursts out laughing. ‘I should be angry,’ she says, ‘but what I want is to find out for myself what you mean.’

I wink at Danny and drag Cleo out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

‘It’s strange,’ Cleo says from the shower. ‘I keep thinking it’s such a mean thing you’ve done, imprisoning these men like this, drinking their blood, fucking them. And then I remember it’s all for me, and instead of being horrified I’m really quite touched. Thank you for taking such good care of me, Suzie.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘And these men. I feel sorry for them, but I don’t want to let them go.’

‘Do you feel like they belong to you?’

There’s a pause, then, ‘Yes.’

‘Do you feel superior to them?’

‘Yes.’ An immediate answer.

‘Are you superior to them?’

There’s no answer this time.

It’s one of those human things really. They think animals are terribly cute, or loyal companions, or wildly beautiful, and indeed they are all of these things, but they’re also food. Adam and Danny are food. They’re tuna. Alia may be equally edible, but she’s a dolphin, revered and protected, even loved. ‘We’re not evil just because we’re vampires,’ I tell Cleo. ‘We’re capable of love, compassion, loyalty. But ultimately we need to feed, and for us there is no vegetarian option.’

I strip off and climb into the shower with Cleo, where we kiss, and explore and massage each other with soapy hands.

‘But we don’t need to kill to feed,’ Cleo says as she gets out of the shower and starts drying herself.

‘No, but if you’re not careful you’ll have people hunting you, whether it’s police, scientists, or teenagers looking for the ultimate thrill.’

Then I realise she’s dressing herself in my jeans and T-shirt. ‘Hey!’

Cleo laughs. ‘Get your own, bitch,’ she says with a grin and walks out, leaving me to wander round the house wrapped in a wet towel. I desperately need to go clothes shopping. I had been planning to go on a spree in Paris, but that will have to wait. Cleo has now nicked the only pair of trousers I have — well, okay, I did steal the jeans back from her — and the only dress I have is the velvet one I wear at the strip club. There’s also the Dolce and Gabbana skirt, but I have no intention of wearing that. For now, that stays in the suitcase with the black corset and Dior sandals.

Sighing, I dress up in my stripper gear, black rubber and red velvet. The men have dared to leave the dubious safety of their room and are on the sofa wrapped in sheets and cradling cups of tea, watching TV without enthusiasm. Cleo is on the sofa with them, playing with Danny, but he’s too scared of her to react as she wants. Adam looks just as unhappy. I ask them what they want for lunch and snacks and make a shopping list. It will add a bit of spice to be dressed like this as I push the trolley around.

On the way out I whisper in Cleo’s ear. ‘Be careful! No feeding!’

*

I return to a scene from a horror film. Cleo, naked, streaked with red, bouncing up and down Danny’s erect length, no condom. Danny’s clearly in a trance, and has blood stains on his face and neck and chest, but no obvious bite marks. Beside them is the pale corpse of Adam, a gaping wound in his neck, more blood stains on his chest and the sofa around him.

Oh, fuck. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid.

I grab Cleo around the neck, yank her backwards off Danny, and haul her, off-balance, back to her room. She screams and struggles, but I’m stronger and faster and eventually I manage to lock her into her restraints again. She starts whining and crying, and rubs herself against the sheets in a desperate need for release. I leave her there, unsatisfied and miserable.

Danny is still in a trance, still erect. ‘You can relax now,’ I tell him. ‘I want you to forget everything. I want you to forget everything that has happened today. When I wake you, the chains and cuffs and the blood stains you see will seem quite ordinary and natural. There’s no need to worry about them.’

I remove the cuffs from Adam, attaching them to Danny instead so that he’s still constrained to the heavy chain, and drag Adam out into the back garden. When I wake Danny, he looks round in confusion. ‘Where am I?’ he asks, and a hundred other questions start bubbling to the surface. There’s also a rippling agitation to his movements that makes me suspect that between Cleo and myself we’ve damaged his mind to the point of breaking.

‘Shh,’ I tell him, radiating peace and happiness, giving him my sweetest smile, and he calms a little. ‘Go have a nice long shower, and I’ll explain everything later.’

After a moment, he nods, and shuffles off along the clinking chain and into the bathroom.

I finish unpacking the car, because amongst other things I’ve bought a cheap set of tracksuit and trainers. I strip out of my stripper wear and into my ugly but practical new attire. The velvet dress, damaged and stained during my struggle with Cleo, goes straight into the bin. I strip the covers off the sofa and put these, with a handful of salt, in the washing machine on a cold cycle.

Outside in the back garden, I drag Adam across the grass and behind the shed, and spend a couple of hours digging a grave. After some thought, I make it long enough for two bodies. I really hate digging graves, but at least on this occasion there are spades, forks and even a pickaxe to help. It’s a well-stocked shed. Finally I judge the hole deep enough to conceal a body for a good length of time, and manoeuvre Adam into one end of the trench — with some difficulty since rigor mortis is beginning to set in. Before covering him with earth, I take the pickaxe and attack the fresh wound in his neck, and also the scar on his neck from my bite, and the other on his wrist where Cleo fed earlier, obliterating evidence of vampiric assault.

I clean the tools and tidy them away, but before returning to the house I stand by the graves for a minute, one concealing its occupant, the other yawning hungrily in anticipation. Suddenly I’m fighting back tears — but what right do I have to feel sorry for myself? I chose to turn Cleo, knew that I was unleashing a new monster like myself on the world. I kidnapped Adam and Danny and brought them here, knowing from the start that I was bringing them to a cruel death. For perhaps the very first time in my life, I can’t lay the ultimate blame on someone else. ‘I’m sorry, Adam,’ I whisper.

Back in the bungalow I head straight for the shower, but Danny is still in there, sitting under the warm torrent with a vacant expression. ‘Hey,’ I tell him gently. ‘Come out. Dry yourself. Go make yourself some lunch and watch television.’ He nods, and obeys slowly. Definitely broken, I think.

I step in the shower and turn the temperature to the maximum. It’s a good shower that maintains pressure even when the water is hot, and the scalding rain gradually cleanses me of dirt, disturbing memories and self-pity.

*

Cleo is curled up on her side, as much as the restraints allow, and it’s plain she’s been crying. I free her hands and wrap myself around her.

‘I told you no feeding.’

‘I know, but I was so hungry, I thought a mouthful wouldn’t hurt. But it tastes so good. I couldn’t stop. I was even angry that he died. Oh, God.’ She is overcome with convulsive sobbing. I hold her tightly.

‘I’m sorry,’ I say when she starts to calm down.

She laughs through her tears. ‘What do you have to be sorry about? I just killed one man and went crazed superslut on another.’

‘Did you enjoy it?’

‘Yes,’ she whispers, triggering a fresh round of sobbing, and this lasts for a long time. I almost think she’s asleep when she says, ‘But I don’t want to. Not like that. I thought being a vampire, well, that I’d drink blood instead of eat food, but everything else would be the same.’

‘Idiot.’

She laughs. ‘I know. But you look so normal. Well, not normal, but human anyway.’

‘Don’t give up on the parts of you that are still human. You can’t escape what you are, but you can control it. That’s why I’m sorry — I thought you would be able to.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Shh. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve killed and ended up fucking everything and anything in a desperate need for sexual satisfaction, and woken up later screaming with self-loathing. Please don’t kill yourself over this.’