Chapter 1

2002

Once Bitten

CHAPTER ONE

The reflection of the streetlights jiggled in the puddles forming on the rain-drenched street. Tami pulled her collar tighter about her neck as she splashed hurriedly along the dark sidewalk; she should have called home before she left. A car flashed past, its churning wheels sending a spray of dirty water onto her navy blue coat, the inconsiderate driver unaware of his transgression. Tami jumped aside, muttering angrily and batted at the stained material. There goes tonight's earnings, she thought, dejectedly. It was nearly quarter to eleven, half an hour later than she had planned. The baby-sitting job was supposed to end at ten and her parents expected her home at half past. The family's apology was insincere, and when they did not even bother to offer her a ride home, she had decided right then- no more.

Tami paused to wipe the rain from her face, and catch her breath beneath a large maple tree overhanging the sidewalk; she was going to be soaked before she got home. Fluttering leaves above her caught and flipped away the drops from the slanting rain that sneaked through their screen. Shielding her eyes, she watched the yellow glare of headlights from another car shimmer toward her through the downpour, and prudently moved well back from the edge of the road. A wet glimmer of moon painted the pavement and the tree's dancing shadows created an eerie ballet on the pavement. The car appeared to grow larger as it drew closer, and then slowed as the probing headlights picked out her figure at the side of the road. A sudden flapping sound in the branches above distracted her, and she squinted through the pelting raindrops trying to see the cause just as the car's horn sounded. Glancing back she realized with great relief it was her dad, and ran forward waving her arm in recognition. As she hesitated for the car to stop beside her, there was another sound of flapping, louder, and something furry brushed the side of her cheek. Tami let out a short yelp and lunged for the car door, leaping inside and slamming it behind her.

"You're not usually so excited to see me anymore." Her father grinned, turning the car around and heading back down the street. "How come you're so late, we were getting worried."

Tami shivered and wiped the side of her face.

"Tami? Did you hear me?" He looked over and saw his daughter was staring at her hands, trembling. "What's wrong, what's the matter?"

"Just before I got in the car," she began, her voice small and frightened, "something hit me in the side of the face. Something furry feeling... it scratched me."

*****

Grey, bony fingers clawed at the heavy blanket draped over thin, trembling legs. The hunched figure in the wheelchair watched the procedure at the old desk anxiously.

"Well Vladia? Is this the one?" The voice pleaded with a sound like the crackle of brittle wrapping paper.

Seated at an old desk peering through a microscope, a tall woman manipulated a pair of slides beneath the lens. She nodded silently, a wide smile splitting the lower shadows of her face.

"Just a moment - it will be done and you'll have your answer." Finally, she sat back and let out a deep sigh; long scarlet fingernails combed back through her short, raven black hair. "There, it's done."

"And?"

"And it is the match we have been searching for." Vladia stood, and glided over to the huddled figure in the wheel chair by the fireplace. "You will soon have what you need to be revitalized maestro." She trailed her hand across his crown of thinning grey hair.

"How soon Vladia? How soon?" The moist, red, pin-like eyes stared up at her from dark encircled sockets. "I need something now!"

She detected a tremor in the slash of his pale mouth. "Soon maestro - very soon."

*****

The young delivery boy shifted the pizza box to his left hand and punched the doorbell several times, hard. This was not a night to stand waiting on somebody's front step, he thought, ducking his neck into the turned up collar of his jacket. As he pushed the buzzer again, the door opened and a woman waved him into the darkened hallway.

"Ah, thanks," he said, shaking some rain from his long hair. "Presto Pizza ma'am. Our oven to your table - hot. That's what we've got. That'll be twelve fifty."

"Bring it in here." The woman turned and stepped into the light of a doorway leading off the narrow hall.

"Right you are." he chirped, admiring greatly the lithe motion of the woman's long black gown as she led the way.

"Put it there." A scarlet nail on the end of a slender, pale finger indicated the small table near the fireplace.

"There you go," he said, setting it down and tearing the bill off the carton, "you could use a little more light in here I think." He turned to find the woman right behind him, two glittering green eyes boring into his. "Jesus - excuse me. You scared the . . ." As he spoke, the woman smiled and his eyes fixed on the pair of pointed canine teeth descending over her lower lip.

In a flash, she leaned forward with a moan and sank them into his neck. Eyes widening with astonishment and a pitiable yelp was all he could manage before gradually sagging to the floor. Vladia lingered, savouring the moment, until the impatient cries from the figure in the shadows disturbed her reverie, and wiping her lips, she carried the limp body of the boy across to the wheelchair, placed it on the maestro's lap and left the room.


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