You flinch away from the sliver of sun shining through your window, soothing your hand of the red patch of skin. It won't kill you... but you're not open to being severely burned today. After all, it is feeding day and the more injured you are, the more brutal your frenzy will be.
You stretch, back arching and long limbs flaying out. Your apartment is on the sleazier side, with faulty surveillance cameras and no shortage of criminals using this place as a safe house. While this is good for being under the radar, so to speak, it also meant you can see the grime caked in the landlord's special on the walls. And the suspicious foundational cracks on the ceiling. Gross.
Getting up, you make a steaming mug of dark roast coffee. It doesn't do anything for you, not anymore, but the strong taste of the soul sucking drink appeals to your dead tastebuds. As you clink the empty cup down into the sink, you check the time. Ah, sunset. Perfect. Analog clocks- any clocks that could be brought inside and sustained only on electricity or the occasional batteries- were perhaps one of the more useful things time had brought you. The sun dials were useless to you, after all.
You get dressed, lounging on your bed as you wait for the sun to finish its pathway away from your general vicinity before going out.
When you finish locking up your door- not that it'll matter, considering even a really determined child could probably break the flimsy lock- you turn around and promptly come stomach to face with a short skeleton. A short, walking, talking skeleton. For a long embarrassing second, you think you missed Halloween before promptly remembering the news of monster reemergence.
"Ah, my bad, dear." You apologize, looking down at the short, oddly cute skeleton staring back at you with all of his guards up. Your nose picks up a pretty sweet scent, like ketchup and dry-cleaned sheets? How odd. They work together somehow...
"uh- no, no it's my bad," the skeleton blinks- how does that even work?- and steps back. You notice a couple of bags full of groceries hanging from his arms. Regardless of whoever this skeleton is, you've got places to be and limited hours to finish your task. You nod at him and offer him a smile.
"Right, have fun with dinner. See you later, neighbor!" You side step him and walk towards the elevator, feeling his gaze on your back before you step into the metal box.
You had the weirdest urge to feed on him, but you're pretty sure he's a skeleton. Like, bones and teeth tends not to go too well together. Hm... you won't try to bite monsters. They live long enough to remember, you think, and while other relatively long living species appearing thrills you, it does inconvenient the whole feeding process if you wanted to try a bite.
You think you might remember the monsters being sealed... but you were a peasant in the country side and young to boot. How the times have changed. You glance back at the dilapidated building you live in. Well, not that much. You're still comfortable living in non-ostentatious places even with all of your congregated wealth. The humans insist they've improved so much... but you have first hand accounts that the only thing they've learned was to hide their intentions better.
You glide down the street, using the cover of night and your own quick and quiet steps to stick into the shadows.
Ah. There.
Your eyes glint red and you slide into the alley, waiting for the man with the sweet smell wafting off of him to pass by before you snatch him into the alley and put him under compulsion. You used to hate how dirty it made you feel, to take their will like this... but time and necessity fades that part away for survival. His eyes go haze and his tenseness relax into a pliable body, you catching him as his knees buckle. You tilt his head up and, fangs sliding out with a quiet shlichk, bite down. He moans and you grimace. You'd rather drink out of blood bags to avoid the whole lust effect that comes with your bite, but you'd feel terrible stealing from a hospital or a blood bank. Nevertheless, you take mouthfuls of the delicious blood, humming in delight as strength returns to your body. You only take a little bit- well, enough that it'll make him dizzy when he wakes up later but not lethal- and then you let him go. You lick the vestiges of his blood off his neck and send a bit of your vampire magic to heal the puncture holes. You walk your prey- you walk your blood donor back to his apartment and tuck him in, shoving some iron supplements down his throat and hydrating him before you leave. It's the least you could do, especially since you're making him forget everything.
