Around 2005, I started pulling together all the vampire short stories I’d ever written (which I now realize could nearly be classified as Anne Rice fan fiction – more about this in the comments) and writing new ones as well in hopes of having enough to create a full-length collection. In my typical fashion for the time, I never followed through with bringing it all together in a format appropriate for editing/publishing, but it’s fun and instructive now to look back on them.
“Marcus” is one of these short stories and much longer than the excerpt here, but the only complete versions I have of this story are printed and tucked away in a plastic tote in my garage. Like so many other works, I hope to revisit them some day and give them the time and energy needed to make them worthy of publishing as the collection I imagined. Enjoy!
My maker, Alexandra (or Alex as I enjoy calling her, because she hates that nick name) says she created me, because she needed more annoyance in her death. And, apparently, annoyance was what brought me to her attention in the first place. It wasn’t even her I was annoying, but she picked up on it. I was putting my moves on a sexy chick when Alex happened to walk into the club. She picked up on the girl’s aggravation with me and came right over to where we were at the bar, yanking me out of the chair with more strength than I’d ever felt coming from a woman.
“Leave my sister alone,” she growled. Her hands were icy, and she gave me this look that seemed to push me away. I had no intention of giving up so easily, but my feet just kept walking toward the dance floor as I watched her sit down and start a conversation with the girl who was now laughing and smiling at her. Of course Alex wasn’t really the girl’s sister. I’ve come to find out since then that Alex calls every woman, mortal or vampire, sister unless she’s angry at them.
I gave up on trying to get back to the bar, and as soon as I did, my pace slowed, and I regained control of myself. I’d never felt anything like that, and already, I’d begun to convince myself that I hadn’t really felt it just now. I must have imagined the whole sensation for whatever reason. No one, especially no petite little chick like Alex, could possibly have taken control of my body. I must not have really been interested in that girl in the first place, I decided. I looked away from the two ladies now engrossed in their conversation and began scanning the dance floor for my next target.
I left that bar not too much later and headed to another of my favorite hangouts, hoping for greener pastures. I ended up particularly unlucky that evening. It was rare for me to get all the way to last call without finding someone to hang on my arm, but that’s exactly what happened.
As I started to walk home around 2:00 a.m., I was suddenly jerked from the sidewalk into an alley. I thought I was being mugged until I saw Alex’s strikingly beautiful face for the second time. That was almost more terrifying, because the strength she’d used to pull me off the sidewalk flashed into my mind and made me realize fully that this was no ordinary woman.
“You think all women are weak, you slime?” She smacked me across the face the way I remembered my stepmother doing when I was 12 or 13. “You think women want a little worm like you?” It seemed a pretty bold question coming from someone several inches shorter than me. She had a strong-looking, curvy shape, but was far from what I would have called intimidating. Realizing this, I tried pulling away from her, but her grip tightened unnaturally. The fear I’d felt earlier rushed through me again, but I just couldn’t make myself believe that she was really stronger than me. What in the world are you afraid of? I thought. Can’t you see she’s just a woman?
Just like that, just like she could read my mind (and of course she could) her other hand flew up and closed around my neck. She pushed me back against the cinder blocks behind me. It seemed like she’d become a torpedo. She wasn’t walking, but flying and sending me stumbling backward as she flew. She didn’t let go of me either, but kept me pinned against that wall with both of her hands around my neck. I panicked.
It was the break she wanted. Just as she’d let go of me with her mind in the bar as soon as I’d given up on confronting her, she now released me and took one step back. I had fallen to my knees, never taking my eyes off her. Run, I yelled to myself inside my head. Run! But I couldn’t move, and I realized she was holding me now just with those eyes of hers. A crazy thought flashed into my brain of a TV show I’d seen about alien mind control.
Alex just threw her head back and laughed. It was as loud as a scream. “I’m no alien, little worm, but I’m not human either, and you’re about to learn all about it.” I thought she would rush at me again, but instead she shot up into the sky just like the people on wires in theaters. She disappeared so fast I didn’t even know which way she’d gone.
She tormented me for several weeks and finally turned me. That was an evening I can never forget either, but I’ve already spent too much time talking about her. She gave me this amazing death which I appreciate, but I’m not going to spend it all talking about her. No I have someone more interesting to tell you about now.
You know it irks Alex even more that I’ve barely changed my ways at all since my mortal days. I still go to the same bars, picking up women, though I’m choosing dinner now. I’ve had to add to my list of favorite hangouts too, just to keep my tracks covered. Can’t go leaving teeth marks on too many regulars from any one place, and I won’t drink blood from a man. The taste of females is all that interests me. It’s all that has ever interested me.
I’ve even started going to libraries lately, which is where I found my newest gem. Libraries might seem like a strange hunting ground, but believe it or not, they’re not too much different from a bar. They’re even just as noisy if you can believe it, though it’s all white noise in libraries. People approach each other just like they do in bars as well, especially at university libraries like the one where I met my quirky brainy beauty, Mena.