"So remind me again, what exactly is our line's advantage? I have yet to see one. We can't do sunlight, must live off blood, silver is a no go, and garlic is basically pepper spray." Gabriela ticked off each weakness on her fingers.
"We can heal from most wounds, leaving only decapitation as a way to kill us. We get faster, and stronger with age. Some gain skills like telepathy, or invisibility." Bridget listed them back as the women sat on the rickety and fraying wicker lawn chairs.
Both of them cradled another mug of blood and were sipping at them. Bridget for the feeling of normality and Gabriela as a way to try and control the monster she could feel seething beneath her skin.
"All for the low, low price of eating people." Gabriela sighed as she slumped back into the chair. She glared down at the sanguine liquid in her cup, swirling it as if it were some sort of fine wine. She would cry if she was capable of it.
Tears much like urine, were offline as a vampire; or at least as a new one. It left her to wonder what other bodily functions no longer existed for her. Sex? Probably not since her body produced no moisture, including sweat.
Bridget snorted at her friend's sulky tone. Gabriela had proven clumsy with the basics of fighting, thievery, and well any skills they depended upon for life. Another reason that Eli had them searching through the citizens of the city's underbelly.
The lowest of the low that no one would miss. Homeless were used for food and the gangbangers, the drug addicts, and the dealers. They had the skills needed to survive the daily but Gabriela hadn't been turned by selection. Desperation to keep that warm and good light still in the world had driven Bridget to turn her.
"It isn't like we are preying off nuns or orphanages. You will see once you are ready to leave the house and be among people." Bridget sighed. The look on Gabriela's face was one of pure horror; the same way most city dwellers would have if asked to butcher the chicken.
Eating meat was fine from an abstract view when it came in neat little packages, but the moment the creature had a face- well bets were off. Drinking her meals from a mug was much easier than biting a living person.
"You can't live on the bagged stuff forever. It doesn't hold well and honestly it lacks something vital we need."
"No, there is no. Just no. I will eat the bagged stuff. Maybe raid a blood bank; be a version of vampire vegan." Gabriela started. Her fingers clenched around the mug until she sat it on the tempered glass table beside her.
The soothing sound of the crickets drowned out by the panicked beating of her heart. She was supposed to stalk and hunt through the night? She had barely passed her high school anatomy labs dissecting those poor innocent frogs.
Now she was supposed to purposefully bite someone who had a name, a family, people who would miss him?
"I can't Bridget. I just can't." Gabriela nearly keened out those last words. They weren't a plea, but instead a denial of her new existence, a cry against the new normal she found herself trapped within.
"There has to be a way back for me. Right? In the movies there is always a way back for those who never bit anyone." She rambled seeking a loophole in the rules of being a vampire.
"Aww poor princess... getting your own food bother you?" A mocking voice came from the sliding glass door behind them. The soft light in the kitchen was near blinding as they turned to look.
A large figure sulked in the shadows, one hip cocked as he leaned against the frame. Vincent, she would know that voice anywhere. Her teeth grit together, grinding as she fought anger at his tone towards her.
Princess? Please she had been anything but that. Nearly two weeks missing and she bet that her parents and their respective families hadn't noticed she was missing. Wrapped it up to just another statistic for the city; just another poor co-ed who should have known better than to wander into the night.
"Don't you have the wings of some flies to pull off?" Gabriela finally hissed, forgetting or the moment that there was a hierarchy. She was the lowest of the low until the newlings had finished their conversions.
Her teeth drew back from her fangs; ridiculously small compared to the near sabretooth tiger quality that Vincent flashed in response. Their snarls silenced the soft croon of the crickets and the constant thrum of the cicadas only added dimension. Vincent stalked closer and Gabriela stood in a fluid motion.
Tiny compared to him; she barely reached the five foot mark and never had she felt smaller. Her head tipped back to meet his glare with one of her own. She gave no indication of backing down.
Bullies, she had learned years ago, would continue to push if you ignored them or tried to be kind. Vincent was a bully of the worst kind and with preternatural strength she knew they would have to come to an accord sometime.
He stood close enough that his chest brushed her nose. She could feel the warmth radiating off him, he moved again, close enough they touched in an attempt to get her to back up, to fall into her chair and submit.
"Vincent, that is enough. Gabriela, apologize." The tense moment was broken with Bridget's commanding tone ringing over the small gathering space. Vincent withdrew a bare inch. Enough that Gabriela could stand without feeling like she was about to fall over from the need to lean back.
Bridget coughed and looked at the man pointedly until he took another couple steps backwards separating himself from Gabriela and the conflict between them. He smirked waiting for Gabriela's portion of the ceasefire. She could see the glint of smug satisfaction combined with something far more horrifying; interest.
"I apologize. I forgot my place." The words came as sugary sweet as she could make them. Her honey gold eyes wide and innocent. She knew how to play up her size, youth, and mostly adorable appearance.
"Ok, now I know you didn't come out here to enjoy the night air Vince, what did you need?" Bridget stepped between the two. Her body forcibly blocking Gabriela from her brother's view. Every muscle was tense in the woman as she tried to remain stern; leaned on her status as an elder vampire of the family.
"Eli is going to be here tomorrow. Might want to polish that one up and figure out what story you are going to feed our sire." With that the man turned and sauntered back inside. The sliding door closed with a decisive snap behind him.
Gabriela released a breath she hadn't been aware of holding. Boneless as the adrenaline faded, she sank back onto the compressed cushion of her previous seat. Another breath escaped her as she worked to control the pounding of her heart. At least that organ functioned properly; though she was certain it would leap from her chest and run around the yard on its own soon.
"Damn, double damn.." Bridget groaned as she shot Gabriela a half hearted glare. She couldn't blame the woman for pushing back against a perceived villain. The issue was that Vincent was both determined and disturbed; a murderer before having been turned by Eli a century or so ago.
"So this Eli coming, is this a good or bad thing?" Gabriela finally gathered enough breath to ask. The stricken and worried expression across Bridget's face was enough to set her own mind into high alert.
"Yes, now we need to get you prepared and at least presentable.." Bridget sighed as she grabbed Gabriela's arm to lead them back towards the practice shed. So much work to be done before the sunrise.