Monstrophy, Vol. 1

Boundaries

You could hear the laughter all the way down the street. It wasn't the happy, carefree laughter of children,or the soft laughter of lovers, no. It was the hard, cruel laughter of someone inflicting pain on another. The laughter of people enjoying the torment of another. Your heart dropped to your stomach as you rounded the corner.

It was a group of teenagers standing in a circle, around what you couldn't see. They were taunting whoever or whatever they had trapped, singing jeering songs and poking it with sticks.

"HEY!" you shout. "Stop that! Getaway!"

The kids turn to look at you, apathetic and vaguely menacing.

"Fuck off!" one of them shouts.

You pull out your cellphone. "Fine, then I'm calling the cops, asshole."

The teenagers grudgingly begin to disperse. You keep your phone ready and glare at them until they're gone. Turning back to where they had cornered...whatever it was, you gasp. The figure is standing stick-straight, their pale green skin almost luminous in the dawning light. Their arms were outstretched in front of them in a mockery of the "Frankenstein" pose, a strip of paper with Japanese writing hanging from their forehead.

"Those little jackasses!" you mutter to yourself. You approach what you now recognize as a vampire cautiously. "Hey, you look like you could use some help..."

The vampire hops on one leg, stiffly turning their body to face you, their face stuck in a rictus smile. You gingerly reach out and snatch the paper from the vampire's forehead. Immediately, they collapse to the ground.

"Thank you," they say softly, "they'd been tormenting me for hours."

Your heart breaks at that. You crumple the paper charm in your hand. It was kind of a fad, to trap a vampire with a jiangshi charm, forcing them to adopt the stiff corpse pose, stuck until the charm was removed. People made mean-spirited memes and posted pictures and videos to their Instagram. It was sickening.

"Are you okay?" you ask.

"I'll be fine, I'm just a little weak." the vampire half smiles at you, her sharp teeth shining. "I think they meant to keep me trapped until sunrise..."

"Shit, the sun's almost up, how far is your place?"

"Too far."

"Come with me, my home's just around the corner." you slip one arm around her waist, mindful of her long skirt, and help her to her feet. She leans heavily on you as you walk back to your apartment.

At the door, you try to pull her through, but she resists. "You have to invite me in, you have to say it out loud."

"Oh, right, sorry. Please come in!"

She smiles again and lets you help her to your couch. "Thank you for doing this, you're very kind."

"What? No, I'm doing what anyone would do..."

"No," she levels a look at you, "you're not. Most people would have turned the other way."

"Well, most people are assholes then." you smirk. She laughs softly, the laugh turning into a cough. "Shit, you need to feed, don't you?"

"I'll be fine until this evening when I can get back home. I have a friend there who will let me feed from him."

She doesn't look fine. She looks weak, trembling like an autumn leaf in the wind.

"Hey, um, if you need to, it's okay..." you start to offer.

"No, I wouldn't ask that of you. You don't even know me. You've done enough." she waves you off.

"I don't mind, really, I donate blood all the time."

She gives you a skeptical look. "You've never been fed on by a vampire, have you?"

It's a statement, not a question. You swallow, suddenly self-conscious.

"Well, no, but..."

"It's not like donating blood. There's a connection that forms. I'd be able to see into your mind, I won't invade your privacy like that. It's not a casual thing." she states.

You sit down next to her. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Evelyn." she says.

"It's nice to meet you, Evelyn."you smile, and introduce yourself. "There, now we're not strangers. Look, I can tell you're really weak, I volunteer at the free clinic and I've worked with a lot of vampires who come through when they're in a bad way, and you're in a bad way. Will you let me help you?"

She regards you thoughtfully for a long moment, her pale eyes piercing. With a resigned exhale, she nods. "Alright, yes. I will accept your offer. Thank you, I appreciate the...vulnerable spot this puts you in, I won't abuse it."

"I believe you." you reply. You roll up your sleeve and offer your arm to her. "My veins are best on this arm."

She smiles at you and takes your arm,feeling along the crook of your elbow. You don't mind having blood taken, but you don't have the stomach to watch either. You close your eyes and feel a sharp sting before your senses are flooded with something else entirely. There's a scent of lilac and ozone, and then flashes of...is that a garden? Sunlight, a laughing girl, skin, soft downy hair, oh yes...

Suddenly it's gone. You look up at Evelyn, who is shaking with heavy breaths, one hand clamped down over your arm where she'd bitten you, her eyes wild and wary.

"What did you do?" she demands.

"I...I didn't..." you try to answer.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"See me? How did you see into my mind?" she asks, almost angrily. "You're not supposed to be able to do that."

"I wasn't trying to, I'm sorry..." you say. "Who was that girl?"

Evelyn lets go of your arm, her expression turning somber and regretful. "That was Charlotte. We were best friends, we were...back when I was human, I was..."

"You were in love with her." you finish.

Evelyn sighs. "Yes. We were in love. But I lost her, when I was turned."

You want to ask more, but the sadness in Evelyn's voice stops you. That's a wound you don't want to poke at. "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, it was a very long time ago. Even if I hadn't been turned she'd be dead by now. We both would."

"So that's unusual then, for the mind...thing, to go both ways?" you ask.

"Yes, I've never actually heard of that happening before. It's very disconcerting."she replies.

"Oh." you say.You sit in silence for a while, both lost in your own heads. "I liked it."

Evelyn looks up at you. "What?"

"The mindsharing. I liked it. It felt nice. What did you see in my mind?"

"A state fair. Cotton candy and the lights on the Ferris wheel and the music from the carousel." she says. "You were small."

"I used to go every year when I was a kid. I loved it." you smile, fondly.

"Yes," Evelyn whispers, "It was an uncommonly pleasant memory. Usually the memories triggered by feeding aren't so...nice."

"Do you need to feed again? You stopped kind of abruptly..."

"No, I got enough. Thank you. I feel much better now." she smiles at you.

"Well, you can stay here until the sun goes down." you say. "I was just going to watch Blue Planet and do laundry."

"That sounds nice." Evelyn says, gracing you with a genuine broad smile.

Later that afternoon, you fall asleep next to her on the couch, your clean laundry folded in the basket waiting to be put away. Evelyn covers you with a throw blanket. She watches your sleeping form, the rise and fall of your shoulders as you breathe, and feels an entirely-imagined lurch of her long-dead heart.