Chapter 23: The Spider

Chapter 23: The Spider
Over time, I got used to life in the Vampire Mansion.

I spent the day sleeping. When the sun went down, my instincts would wake me up.

Vanilla ice cream with blood was a given.

After my early evening meal, Blake would take me to train on his motorcycle.

First, I started balancing on it, and then I was able to ride it at a certain speed, but not before, of course, I fell about five times.

The funny thing is that now, being a vampire, I don't feel pain. That's why Blake usually doesn't wear a helmet.

“I only wear one when I go out on the street, both to protect myself from ultraviolet light, but also because of the law. The police fine anyone who doesn't wear one.”

Vampires! Immortal and supernatural, but I still try to respect the law and get a ticket like everyone else.

When it was five in the morning, the vampires would get ready for bed.

I would go to bed and collapse. One day, however, I couldn't sleep. I don't know if it was the noise from Blake's colleagues or my lack of laziness. I decided to walk around the mansion.

During the day, the lighting in the huge house was done entirely by candles.

I looked at the hallway, where the owner of the place slept. It was full of armed security guards. There were two at the door to my room.

I went down the stairs and went to the TV room. From there, laughter and conversations came. Some guys were playing video games on a giant screen.

I discovered over time that not everyone who frequented that place was a vampire. Many were in line waiting for their immortal bite, others were what they called “outsiders” that is, people invited by them. As I went down the last step, I saw two young goth girls, one of them said to the other: “She’s a vampire!” They spoke quietly, but I heard. The first one who said this turned her face away, while the second one looked at me strangely. A look of terror and admiration at the same time, she wanted to be bitten…

Walking among humans became difficult for me, I now saw them as Big Macs, walking snacks! Yes, I felt the desire to drink their blood directly... those thoughts left me feeling terrible about my possible attitude. Would I have the courage to bite a person? I hope not...

When I got to the kitchen, I came across a smiling black man, a tall, mature man. He spoke very loudly and made people around him laugh, not only with his jokes, but also with magic tricks. I saw him pull a red flower out of nowhere!

I looked around, Blake was not there. The black man saw me and said, in his peculiar way, that he was surprised by my presence.

“Well, well, well! I’ve never seen you here before.”

“Hello!” I said kindly to him. People around me saw me. A goth girl mentioned that I was the new vampire.

“Wow! Blake mentioned you. You were the woman attacked by Biker 33!”

I looked at this strange guy and said to him: “Yes, you were. Where is Blake?”

“Oh! He went outside to get some sun!”

The man laughed and I found it strange. I looked at my housemates, and Marjorie, a young goth, smiled and showed me a huge screen in the kitchen, where I could see the external surveillance cameras.

“Blake is weird! He likes to grow vegetables and keep bees! Look!”

I looked into the camera and saw him in beekeeping clothes, under the sun, using a watering can and throwing water on the plants…

“He uses his clothes as protection. He adapted the clothes around his face, putting on a black protective screen to completely protect himself from the sun.”

I told Marjorie all this. Suddenly I felt someone sniffing my shoulder, it was the black man.

“I like your smell!” He said, smiling. His smile scared me, he looked like that actor from the movie ‘The Shining’ played by Scatman Crothers, who played the scary cook. 

“And who are you?” I asked him, not feeling offended by the sniff he gave me.

“Spider! At your service!”

He gave me his hand, heavy and full of veins.

“Spider?!” I asked.

“Yes! Spider!” He pointed with his eyes to my left shoulder. And what did I see? A huge, hairy Tarantula. I screamed and used my hand to quickly remove it from me. I have Insectophobia!

“Get this shit off me! Oh, how horrible! I hate these animals!”

The black man laughed, however. And he picked up the hideous creature as if it were his daughter.

“Calm down! It’s not poisonous!” He picked it up and put it in his coat pocket.

“Why do you walk around with spiders in your pocket?! Are you crazy?”

“No! I’m smart enough to carry a spider in my pocket.” And he laughed, in a terrifying way. The kitchen door opened, it was a double door, as it should be, to keep out the light. The man in the beekeeping outfit came in. Blake looked more like a nuclear plant worker in that outfit.

“What do you hear?! I heard screams!”

I ran towards him. “There’s a crazy guy here, he has a bunch of spiders in his pocket!”

Blake looked at the man and laughed. The other one laughed too. Everyone was laughing. At me or at the situation? I don’t know!

Then he introduced me to the strange man:

“Erika, this is an acquaintance of mine, Spider-Man! If you need anything at night, or even during the day, count on him! He’s a vampire jack-of-all-trades, a blood dealer!”

He nodded again.

“At your service!”

I was intrigued, and less scared of him: “They call you Spider, but what’s your name?”

“Just call me Spider, I am nothing more than a Spider, going from one place to another weaving my webs. The less known about me, the better for both of us. If I am ever caught by the police, I may have a different name, if I am released I may have another, but I will always be known as the Spider!”

I was scared of that man, despite the cheerful air he conveyed, I felt he was hiding something. Blake asked him:

“Did you bring what I asked for?”

“Of course, Mr. Blake!”

The Spider crouched down and lifted a box with a red cross from the ground.

“First-class blood!”

I looked at Blake without understanding, he explained to me: “I usually buy blood for myself and my transformed friends, Spider-Man gets it for us and now for you.”

Despite Spider-Man’s scary smile, I approached and opened the box, it was donated blood.

“Is this donated blood?!”

“Yes!” Spider-Man replied, smiling, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

“It’s wrong to use that! People donated it to help other people who were hurt and in need.”

Blake looked at Spider-Man, who explained:

“But we’re helping them. Imagine if every night you hear about people being found dead with bites on their necks? Their blood feeds the vampires, who take their lives, saving them without them realizing it.”

I looked at Blake who smiled, I was already used to the diversion of donated blood, now I understood why blood banks were always in need of stock. But now I was in the world of Vampires, where human values ​​were just whispers of morality. The important thing was to survive. Everything was allowed now.