The line moved slowly. Boredly, Sasha watched the momentum of the humans around him, engaging in inane chatter and public displays of affection. Toward the front of the line, a middle aged mother wrestled with her three children, screaming at them to behave in public and ironically making a spectacle of herself in doing so.
The vampire blinked slowly.
So small, all of them. Their lives largely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Occasionally, one would stand out from the horde and help lead their race toward a brighter dawn. Or, nearly just as often, a darker one.
For the most part, however, each human was a product of entirely predictable patterns of minutae. Mispent youth, aimless sexual energy, and obligatory marriage, a Facebook page of inspirational quotes and links to political articles they barely read, a litter of dirty, needy children, until eventually they edged passed middle aged and began the descent of hospital visits that would gradually lead them toward their undoing. Cancer or heart disease or what have you.
It wasn't difficult to see how the vampires of old slaughtered them in droves like mindless cattle. To the casual observer, that's all they were.
Alasdair would've argued that Sasha's point of view was lazy and deliberately bereft of understanding. Well what do you know, Father, you're dead.
But not for long.
Sasha purchased an order of food for Alice with perfunctory courtesy. Time spent with his human coworkers, to complete his illusion of a completely ordinary life, had taught him how to mingle with humans of the modern age without much difficulty. Many of his kind shut themselves away for ages, until they emerged as complete strangers to the world. But the longest surviving vampires lived as humans did. Either in the name of peace with humankind, or to stalk them in plain sight.
Returning out into the light rain, Sasha shielded the cardboard boat with the broad side of his body as he headed back toward his car. His... empty... car...
He stopped short. The food was dropped at his feet on the wet pavement.
"Alice," he muttered. There was no one to answer him. Just the dim glow of his phone as it received an alert, abandoned on the center console of an empty car. Sasha stared at where his reflection might have been on the car door pelted by rain droplets. "How clever of you."
This would be an old fashioned hunt, then. He had to find her before she found help. Even if she left out the vampire bits, she had been legitimately kidnapped. And if she didn't leave them out... well there were a few here and there who knew better than to dismiss such stories as absurdity. Then Sasha would really be in trouble.
Sasha scented the air, which was heavily polluted by salty food and the rain, but he'd been in close quarters with Alice long enough. The trail was faint, but it was there. With a flick of his wrist, Sasha unbuttoned his collar to let in a bit more air. After drawing in a long breath, he began to walk down her trail.
"Alice," he called her name, drawing out the syllables, though she was likely too far to hear. "Running is not a good idea."
Not far from the diner, a young man on a scooter had pulled into an alleyway to wait out the rain before he returned to Sum Ting, a popular Chinese eatery. The last customer he'd delivered to had been short on cash and couldn't pay for their food, so he didn't see any harm in stopping for a break to eat their lunch, courtesy of Sum Ting. Fried rice with lobster sauce. Not bad at all.
Noticing a silhouette in the alley with him, he nearly dropped what he was carrying. A string of curses flurried through his thoughts until he realized that it was just a girl, not some creature of the night or street thugs about to give him hell for his scooter. But what was she doing down in an alley? And without an umbrella or anything... what had happened to her?
"You scared the lights out of me, girl." He tried to laugh nervously to ease tension, but it just made him feel more awkward. "Are uh, are you alright?
The vampire blinked slowly.
So small, all of them. Their lives largely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Occasionally, one would stand out from the horde and help lead their race toward a brighter dawn. Or, nearly just as often, a darker one.
For the most part, however, each human was a product of entirely predictable patterns of minutae. Mispent youth, aimless sexual energy, and obligatory marriage, a Facebook page of inspirational quotes and links to political articles they barely read, a litter of dirty, needy children, until eventually they edged passed middle aged and began the descent of hospital visits that would gradually lead them toward their undoing. Cancer or heart disease or what have you.
It wasn't difficult to see how the vampires of old slaughtered them in droves like mindless cattle. To the casual observer, that's all they were.
Alasdair would've argued that Sasha's point of view was lazy and deliberately bereft of understanding. Well what do you know, Father, you're dead.
But not for long.
Sasha purchased an order of food for Alice with perfunctory courtesy. Time spent with his human coworkers, to complete his illusion of a completely ordinary life, had taught him how to mingle with humans of the modern age without much difficulty. Many of his kind shut themselves away for ages, until they emerged as complete strangers to the world. But the longest surviving vampires lived as humans did. Either in the name of peace with humankind, or to stalk them in plain sight.
Returning out into the light rain, Sasha shielded the cardboard boat with the broad side of his body as he headed back toward his car. His... empty... car...
He stopped short. The food was dropped at his feet on the wet pavement.
"Alice," he muttered. There was no one to answer him. Just the dim glow of his phone as it received an alert, abandoned on the center console of an empty car. Sasha stared at where his reflection might have been on the car door pelted by rain droplets. "How clever of you."
This would be an old fashioned hunt, then. He had to find her before she found help. Even if she left out the vampire bits, she had been legitimately kidnapped. And if she didn't leave them out... well there were a few here and there who knew better than to dismiss such stories as absurdity. Then Sasha would really be in trouble.
Sasha scented the air, which was heavily polluted by salty food and the rain, but he'd been in close quarters with Alice long enough. The trail was faint, but it was there. With a flick of his wrist, Sasha unbuttoned his collar to let in a bit more air. After drawing in a long breath, he began to walk down her trail.
"Alice," he called her name, drawing out the syllables, though she was likely too far to hear. "Running is not a good idea."
Not far from the diner, a young man on a scooter had pulled into an alleyway to wait out the rain before he returned to Sum Ting, a popular Chinese eatery. The last customer he'd delivered to had been short on cash and couldn't pay for their food, so he didn't see any harm in stopping for a break to eat their lunch, courtesy of Sum Ting. Fried rice with lobster sauce. Not bad at all.
Noticing a silhouette in the alley with him, he nearly dropped what he was carrying. A string of curses flurried through his thoughts until he realized that it was just a girl, not some creature of the night or street thugs about to give him hell for his scooter. But what was she doing down in an alley? And without an umbrella or anything... what had happened to her?
"You scared the lights out of me, girl." He tried to laugh nervously to ease tension, but it just made him feel more awkward. "Are uh, are you alright?