Vivi the Vampire

Come to Me, My Darling

Old Mrs. Potters fearfully peered out from behind her white, lace curtain. Someone was screaming in the house across the street. She squinted, her old eyes trying hard to see what was going on. She could see some large, dark form in the upstairs bedroom. What was it? 

"Henwy! I hing thomoneth being mowdod!" she hissed, having a hard time speaking without her dentures.

"What? Elizabeth, I can't understand a word you're saying." a frustrated man's voice grumbled from the darkness behind her. She snapped on the bedside light and with shaking hands quickly shoved her fake teeth into her mouth. 

"Didn't you hear that scream?" she gasped "It sounds like someone's being murdered!"
Her eyes were shining with both excitement and fear. Nothing exciting ever happened around here, the neighborhood was way too posh and peaceful.

"Who cares." he growled, squinting and scowling at the bedside lamp. He pulled the blanket up to this chin, trying to hide his own fear. He was in his 70s, and the thought of a burglar next door made his heart race. Damn her for turning on the bedside lamp! Now the burglar might notice their home too!

"Turn that off" he snapped.

"Shouldn't we call the police?" she asked urgently. "We should do something!"

"No, I don't want to get involved in their family problems." he replied, fearing revenge if the criminal attacking the family next door knew they'd caused his arrest.

"But Henry, what if someone's being stabbed or-"
"Who cares!" he barked, "I didn't like them from the moment they moved in. They're foreigners, they have weird accents, and they always wear black. They're probably criminals themselves! Now turn that light off and come back to bed! Do it, now!" his voice was harsh and commanding.
His wife cowered, succumbing to him as she always did.
"As you wish Henry" she mumbled, obediently turning off the light and closing the curtain.

In the next house down the road, a couple was startled awake by the scream. They both rushed to the window and peered out but saw nothing unusual.
"Should we call the police?" the husband asked his wife.
"The neighbors probably already did." She replied.
"Right, that's right." he muttered and they both returned to bed, feeling calm and relieved.

Apart from them, no one else heard Vivi's scream. It was Sunday and the other neighbors were either drunk and deep asleep, watching TV, or playing video games.

Vivi's huge, black wings beat hard and fast. Up into the cold, dark sky she rocketed, the houses growing smaller and smaller beneath her. Now the roofs were the size of Lego bricks!

"Stop! Help!" she screamed, frantically kicking her legs. 
Where were her wings taking her? And why couldn't she control them? "Stop it! Take me home!" she yelled at them but they no longer felt like they were hers.

Wind whistled around her. The loud THWAT THWAT of her wings beating in her ears. 

Her wings were strong and they were fast.  Like really fast. Over the sleeping suburbs she rocketed. Her hair whipping around her face and the cold wind licking her bare skin, sending cold chills through her body.

Houses, streets, and neighborhoods streaked by beneath her. Beneath her, here and there, little lights twinkled. She eyed them longingly. The lights meant home. Safety. 

If only she could detach herself from the wings somehow or make them stop... but instantly that thought terrified her. No, bad idea! If her wings suddenly stopped beating... she'd fall like a rock to her death!

She'd never been so high before. Looking down she felt a sudden wave of nausea and dizzying fear grip her. What if her wings got tired and closed?