> Pinpricks
>
> by
>
> Jack L. Bryson
>
>
> I hate my fangs. I’m standing in front of the mirror, looking at them. I can stick the tip of my tongue between them. I once saw a kid’s drawing of a vampire; the little artificial triangles protruding from under the upper lip were amusing. Mine aren’t. They’re sharp ivory canines and are only useful for one thing: making two pinpricks in someone’s neck so that I can drain all their blood.
>
> I turn off the light in the bathroom and leave. I return to my sleeping compartment under the trap door in my office. I decide to lie down for a bit. I’m wearing black slacks and a long sleeve white shirt. I have a leather jacket hanging over the chair in my office. If I were wearing a tie, I’d look like I’d be coming off work. I try to blend in with urban garb and look a little stylish. It’s what I wear when I hunt.
>
> I smell animals nearby. They’re too close, and there are many of them. The scent of the people below my apartment arouses my hunger. I need to feed, but I hate it. Taking someone’s life is a really shitty experience. I just want to get up and get closer to the people below. I want to get close enough to feel the warmth their bodies emanate. I’m so hungry, and I haven’t fed in days. Fuck em’. I don’t want these thoughts. I just want to lay here under the floor of my office. I feel tense. Nighttime is approaching.
>
> The window in my office is open. I can hear a breeze disturbing the curtains. I’m half awake, as I have been most of the day. The trap door isn’t heavy, but I push it open with only minimal enthusiasm. I’m sitting up now, listening to the people below my window.
> They’re down in the street. I use to be one of them. Sometimes I miss being human. I miss feeling warm, and I miss the daylight. I miss looking at people as people rather than food. My attention turns again to the noises in the street. My instinct to explore is strong. I push myself out of the hole. I grab my leather jacket and leave my apartment.
> There are two black kids walking down the sidewalk. One of them holds a basketball. There’s a young woman emerging from a liquor store. She tucks a brown paper sack into her trench coat. I walk up the street and make my way into downtown.
>
> Downtown is loud. There are too many lights. A group of drunken frat boys call me “bra†as they exit a bar. I think they altered the word “bro†to sound cool. I enter the bar they just emerged from. There are a couple booths and some pool table. Many college students sit at the bar.
>
> This is an odd kind of bar. There’s a mix of different people who probably wouldn’t hang out together during the day. I see some more frat boys at a pool table. A couple Goths are standing in a corner, lighting cigarettes. I look over at the pool table and decide to play. There’s a kid with a blond buzz cut. He’s holding a cue stick. He nods in my direction.
> “You want to play Nine-Ball?â€Â
>
> “How much?†I ask.
>
> “Twenty a game.â€Â
>
> “How about fifty?†He gets a cocky smirk on his face. I have to admit, the kid was good. But he couldn’t win. I could sense he was infuriated when I kept making impossible shots. My vampire eyes don’t fail me. I hit the balls at the exact angles, sinking them smoothly in the pockets. I win two hundred bucks.
> As I leave the bar I check the time, and I’m surprised to see it’s only eight o’clock. I need to find food soon, but I take my time wandering. Without realizing it, I start to leave the downtown area, and I walk past petite over-priced houses. Taking up half a block on the other side of the street is a YMCA. I hear kids laughing and I move closer to investigate. There’s a window I peek into, and I see kids doing gymnastics. A thirteen-year-old Chinese girl runs across a mat, jumps and begins a series of flips. Her body twists and turns in the air. Her limbs never flail wildly. Her face is beautiful. At the end of the mat she stops and pants. Then she looks over at me. I duck away from the window.
> I hide in the parking lot. I decide to wait until her class is over. She walks out and stands in front of the YMCA. It looks as though she’s waiting for a ride. When no one is around I approach her. She’s wearing a brown jacket over her leotard. I can see faint perspiration on her brown skin. Her black hair is pulled back in a ponytail. She looks up at me.
> “Were you watching me from the window?â€Â
>
> “Yes.â€Â
>
> She doesn’t say anything more. She lets me tilt her head back, and I sink my fangs into her neck. She closes her eyes and I stop. I don’t kill her. I don’t even take a gulp of blood. I only take a sip, and I turn and walk away. I’m so tired now. I can’t make it back to my apartment. There are a couple hedges in front of someone’s house. I duck behind them. I lay on the grass of some yuppie’s front lawn. When the sun comes up, it’ll burn me up. The only thing that’ll be left is a pile of ash.
> Something went wrong. I’m not a pile of ash. I’m in my apartment, and there’s a naked girl I’m feeding from. It’s the Asian girl I fled from. Did I go back for her? Did I bring her here?
> “Take all you want.†She said. I’m holding her body, and it feels like I’m draining all her blood. I feel filled. I feel satisfied. After I’m done, she lies back on the couch and my eyes wander over her body. “Have you had enough vampire?â€Â
> “You’re not a little girl.†She giggles and winks at me. She stretches her legs and wraps them around me. “What are you?†I ask.
> “I’m a sprite.â€Â
>
> “A fairy?â€Â
>
> “Yes.â€Â
>
> “Why are you helping me?â€Â
>
> “I didn’t want you to die.†She pulls me back on the couch, and I feel good. This is a new kind of animal, but she’s not animal. She didn’t die when I drank so much of her blood. There were still many hours until the sun came up. She moved around me and off the couch. Then she grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet. She picked up her clothes off the floor. She pulled on her panties and then her leotard and coat.
> “Do you want to take me out somewhere?â€Â
>
> “Yeah.†We walked out of my apartment together. It had gotten chillier in the evening. A movie theater near my apartment is open. It shows old movies. It’s not a long walk. In front of the theater is a booth. A kid in the booth sells the tickets. We buy two for the Maltese Falcon. Inside the lobby, there’s concession stand. The sprite buys popcorn and a soda. We make our way into the theater and find some seats in the back.
> “The floor is sticky,†she observes. She puts her feet up on the back of a seat in.
>
> The lights are still on in the theater. The movie hasn’t started. She lays her head on my
>
> shoulder and eats her popcorn. “What’s your name?†I ask.
>
> “Tammy.â€Â
>
> “Do you have family?†I wasn’t sure what else to ask. It was a stupid question;
>
> maybe fairies didn’t even have families.
>
> “Yes, but I’m on my own here.†I rest my head on hers. The lights in the theater go dim. The movie starts. I like the story ok. I catch a glance at their costumes. Bogart’s suit looks good. He has a handkerchief in his pocket, and I like his Fedora. Tammy shifts in her chair. I look at her knees and then back at the screen. Soon, the movie ends. We get up and leave the theater. When we get back to my apartment, we stop. She looks up at me.
> “I’ll be back tomorrow night.†Then she kisses me and leaves. I walk back up the stairs to my apartment. I make my way through the living room and into my office. I take off my leather jacket and throw it on to the chair at my desk. Then, I open the trap door and crawl into the compartment underneath the floor. I don’t think about my fangs at all. I just sleep peacefully.
> The following evening I just lay under the floor. I’m still absorbing what happened the other night. It was good. It felt good to have that girl near me. She might not actually be human, but her young body felt good to hold. I want to kiss her again. I turn over and curl up for a moment. When I decide to get up, I push the trap door open and climb out of my sleeping space.
> I shuffle out of my office and into the living room. I sit down on the couch and turn on the TV. Larry King is on. There are two Beetles on his show. They’ talking about an upcoming musical. There’s a knock at my door. I slowly get off the couch and answer it. It’s Tammy. She’s standing there, and I look at her legs. I like the short black skirt she’s wearing. She had a motorcycle helmet with her.
> “Hey,†She says.
>
> “Hello.â€Â
>
> “Can I come in?â€Â
>
> “Yes.†She walks past me and sits down on my couch. I shut the door and offer her something to drink. She tells me that a beer will be fine. I walk to the kitchen and look for a beer in the fridge. There’s a Heineken. I take the Heineken out of the fridge and walk back into the living room. She’s sitting on the couch with her arm over it. Her legs are crossed. The motorcycle helmet is on the floor in front of her. I hand her the Heineken and sit down beside her. She kisses me. Then, she tilts her head back and I bite down.
> I drink her blood until I’m full. It doesn’t seem to have any affect on her. It’s magic blood. I sit back on the couch. I feel satisfied. She wipes some of the blood from the corner of my mouth.
> “Can I ask you something?â€Â
>
> “What is it?†She says.
>
> “Can you show me your wings?†She looks at me as she gets off the couch. She stands in front of me and then takes off her shirt. Her breasts are small and perfect. Her wings come out of her back. They’re what I expected a fairy’s wings to look like. They look delicate, and they’re translucent. She turns around, so I can get a better look at them. I stare at them for Then, she puts her top back on and sits down again.
> “I brought my motorcycle tonight,†She says. She pops open her Heineken. She takes a sip and then sets it down.
> “What kind of motorcycle do you have?â€Â
>
> “It’s a red Kawasaki Ninja.â€Â
>
> “Oh.â€Â
>
> “I have another helmet. Come take a ride a with me?†I nodded. We both stood up from the couch. She picked her helmet off the floor and we made our way out of the living room. We made our way down the stairs to where her bike was parked. I looked up. There were only a few dark clouds in the sky. It was pretty clear.
> “Have you ridden a motorcycle before?†She asked.
>
> “Once, when I was human.†Her motorcycle has a helmet secured to the back with netting. She unfastens the netting and tosses me the helmet. I look it over. It’s a blue helmet with red stripes on it. It looks kind of second hand. It doesn’t look as flashy as her helmet. She wears a bright green one. It has kind of a sparkly finish to it. She hops on the bike and I get on behind her. She starts the motorcycle and pulls away from the curb, and we start down the street.
> Her motorcycle is fast. Its engine hums, and I feel my clothes blow in the powerful wind. She steers the Ninja in and out of traffic. Then she takes a side street that leads us to a road through wheat fields. We keep driving until we come to a hill off to the right of us. She slows the bike down until we come to a complete stop.
> We walk up the hill. Once wer’re at the top, we sit down on the grass. We start
>
> making out. Then she takes off her clothes and unzips my pants. We have sex. When
>
> we’re done we lay on the grass spooning. “That was quite satisfying,†I said.
>
> “We’ll have to this again sometime.†I brush her hair away her away from her neck and kiss it. I feel warm and content like a cat that has gotten into cream and has curled up by a fire. She gets dressed. I stare at the empty sky. There are a few stars, but it’s mostly dark blues and black. There’s only a few clouds. It ‘s beautiful.
>
> “Thank you for this,†She says. She’s sitting up looking away from me. When she wants to go, she reaches over and touches my shoulder. I get up and then pull my pants up. I stretch. She picks up my leather jacket, and we make our way down the hill. We get on her bike and she starts the engine. She pulls away and we take off down the road.
>
> We reach my apartment. I get off the bike. She gets off and then follows me upstairs. We’re nearly at the top and I slip. My face hits the railing. One of my fangs pops out. She helps me up and then we look down at my fang. I reach down and pick it up.
> “I didn’t know that could happen,†She says.
>
> “Me neither.â€Â
>
> “I thought vampire were invulnerable.â€Â
>
> “So did I.†I put the fang in my pocket and open my front door. She follows me in. I kiss her good night and she leaves. I walk into my office and take off my leather jacket. I take my fang out of my pocket. I place the fang on my desk next to my computer. I open my trap door and crawl inside. It’s cozy inside and I turn over and sleep. The next evening I wake up and open the trap door. The fang I put on the desk is no longer there. Instead there’s a quarter.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
|
|
