So You Used to Be Human - Book 3 (Original Version)

Chapter 10: Glammerings, Coffins and Diners

Have you ever watched one of those movies where some character has to prove they're supernatural or can heal fast or something, so they hold up their hand and slice it open with a handy knife?  Sometimes they may even stab the hand or even burn it, but the effect is still the same, a loud cry of "look at what I'm doing! It's freaky isn't it?"  It's usually done so you can watch the wound heal right before your eyes. 

Yeah, no: it doesn't work like that and it's not as pretty.

Jaime was still deep in thought as we walked down the corridor away from the room.  I had suggested that maybe we should just go and get something to eat, at which point Jaime had realized that she was hungry and then a look had come over her as she asked the dreaded question.

"I don't have to drink blood, do I?"

"No, not if you don't want to."

"Isn't that kind of the point of being a vampire?"

"If you're done being mad at me for now, can we grab some food and talk about it?"

"You're seriously going to ask me to hold on to any questions while we go grab something to eat?"

"Kinda, sorta, yeah."  I aw her immediately getting ready to jump to the defence and decided to be partially honest with her.  I pointed at the closed bathroom door and she turned to look.  "See that bathroom? In about five or ten minutes you're going to realize you need to pee really badly and you're going to want to use the bathroom very urgently.  That smell you've been kind of ignoring for the past five minutes?  Kinda smells of pure evil, held back only by wholly inadequate bathroom door?  You do not want to come face to face with what's causing it."

Just talking about it made it more real now and I could smell it again, invading my nostrils and saying howdy to my puke response.  Jaime was apparently smelling it too and my guess is that she liked it even less than I did.  Fuck it: I held my breath and put my hand to my nose to block it as best I could, so I could breathe through my mouth.  Why did it suddenly smell so much worse?

I fled the room, Jaime close behind, and once outside, was completely relieved to be away from that evil smell.  Damn vampire senses make everything feel ten times more intense, but still, that was just so wrong.

"Hey! Hold up man," someone yelled at me, almost recognizing the voice, but it didn't sound like anyone I knew. And even looking at Dude walking towards me from down the corridor, it still took me a minute to recognize it was the dude I had glimmered only a few minutes before.

He was holding a knife in his hand, blade firmly in his hand, the bone and wood handle offered for me to take.

"Here's that knife you wanted," he grinned and I tentatively took the knife, still wondering what exactly the fuck was going on.  Jaime was just looking from me to Dude, and back again.  This was continuing to blow her mind and to be truthful, I felt just a teeny bit smug about it.

"What did you do? Rob someone?"  I was only half joking, but the look from Dude told me everything I needed to know. "Aww no dude, seriously?"

"Hey, you ask a guy like me to get you a knife and you're going to get a fucking knife."

"Are you really willing to do anything he tells you to do?" Jaime was incredulous, but she'd finally found her voice and her brain was turning.

"Sure, why not?" Dude shrugged at Jaime and turned his eyes back to me, eagerly waiting for something.

"Good job... I guess?" I said and he smiled, almost a beautiful smile that lit up his well-corroded soul.

"You need anything else, you just gimme a call, okay?" He pressed a piece of paper into my hand.  A quick glanced at it showed his name, Wayne, and a telephone number.  "Anything you want sir."