Page 50 of So Thirsty

I push my mug away, but Naomi downs hers.

“Careful. It is hot. You will burn your tongue,” he says.

“Very kind of you to show concern for our well-being,” I say.

“You are being sarcastic, yes?” he asks me.

“You brought us here to—to…to hurt us! To drink our blood!”

“No, no. That is not true. We did not intend for things to happen like that. It was supposed to be fun party; that is all. You come, we have good time, then you go or stay. You do what you like. But, sometimes, you know, things get crazy. The drama. Drink. Try the coffee.”

“I don’t want it,” I say. “I don’t want any of this.”

“I gave you the choice, and you said yes.” Henry is at the counter pouring himself a cup of coffee. I didn’t notice him come in. His presence makes all my muscles tense, and I realize that before this second, the painful, persistent knot in my neck wasn’t bothering me, for the first time in years. “Last night. You chose this.”

“Under duress. What was I supposed to do? Let my best friend die?”

“You don’t need to worry about death anymore. Not a natural death.”

“I was fine to die,” I say, out loud, by accident.

“Why would you say that?” Naomi asks, grabbing my arm. “Why would you say something like that?”

“Things are what they are, right? What difference does it make? Now we’re…we’re…”

“Are we vampires?” Naomi asks.

Henry squeezes a few drops of blood into his coffee and sits down at the table. “Yes.”

I burst out laughing, surprising everyone, including myself.

Ilie joins me. “Oh yeah! It is crazy.”

“You’re right, guy. It is crazy.”

“I’d think you were fucking with us if I didn’t feel so funky,” Naomi says. “My body doesn’t feel like my body. It’s like it’s lighter or something.”

“It feels good,” Ilie says. “Much better. Most people, they feel very bad in their body. Their bodies get old, get sick. Not us.”

“You feel good at the expense of others,” I say, standing. “You hurt people.”

“It’s complicated,” Henry says.

“It’s not,” I say. “Whatever mental gymnastics you do to justify violence, that’s what’s complicated. The truth is very simple.”

“You eat meat?” he asks, and takes a slow sip of his coffee. “That’s violence.”

“Is that your argument? A chicken or a cow isn’t the same as a human being.”

“You’re right. Humans are evil.”

“Wait. Can we just drink cow blood? Animal blood?” Naomi asks, licking her lips. “Is that a thing?”

“You could but it is not the same,” Ilie says. “Tastes like piss. Look. We are not bad guys.”

“I’m sure the owner of this house felt differently.”

“He was bad guy,” Ilie says. “Very, very bad. We know him many years. We come see him, and it was bad, so we put him in cellar.”