First Meal

When Lor awoke she first realized that she was not in her room. Her posters were missing, there were thick velvet curtains drawn over what she assumed were windows, and weak gas lamps dotted the walls around the room. Her body sunk into her bed, which she realized was a collection of random quilts, sheets, and pillows. At first, her eyes were as blurry as they had been when she first opened them at her birth last night. She had to blink several times to focus, but when the cloudiness went away she found she could focus with almost infinite detail. She could see the grains in the fine wood that went into making the walls of her room. There was a hairline crack in the ceramic washbowl on a stand near the door. A slight draft from under the door made the fibers of the rug sway. A sweet smell crossed her nose as she became more aware of her surroundings. The smell drifted down her nose and to her stomach where it wrapped her in an overpowering hunger.

Her fangs achingly extended as she turned to see three glasses of something dark waiting invitingly on a table. Without even thinking she scrambled frantically to the table and downed each glass in rapid succession. A bit of red traveled down the side over mouth.

“You have to learn how to not be such a sloppy eater.” The voice startled Lor who bit down on the fine glass, cutting her lips. Wincing she spat out the blood and glass and whirled around to face the speaker.

Rikki sat on the floor just behind Lor’s makeshift bed, legs curled under her dress. The amused smile still lit her face and Rikki sat looking much like the cat who got the cream.

Was she watching me sleep? Lor thought.

“Good morning,” Rikki greeted quietly. “I trust you slept well.”

Lor was silent a moment. “Actually I had nightmares.”

“So it was good.” Rikki adjusted her dress a bit more and looked up almost expectantly.

“Any reason you’re sitting in my room?” Lor asked irritably.

“I believe it is my room,” Rikki replied flowing up from her position on the floor. “Since it’s mine I can sit where ever I want to.” Lor swallowed once, bound to not let Rikki intimidate her.

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Well, I’d hope I would be. This is my room, and my Enclave, and you do belong to me. If I were wrong, what kind of odd precedent would that set?” Rikki laughed. “Especially since your whole reason for coming to me was that you were bored.” Lor stiffened. “That’s a very odd reason Lor. Don’t you think? Or is it that you just couldn’t think of a good reason for coming?”

“I…,”Lor began but was cut off as her mouth closed without her telling it to.

“Shhhh,” Rikki admonished in an almost child-like fashion. “I’m talking now. You need to learn not to talk until your elder’s give permission. I always knew you would be a tough little one.” Rikki’s thumb nail stroked Lor’s chin.

“What…”Lor’s mouth closed again.

“Don’t make me hurt you to enforce the lesson,” Rikki threatened evenly. “You want to know what I’m talking about don’t you?” Lor nodded. “Well,” Rikki cupped Lor’s throat as if fascinated by the fragile give of her skin. “You’ll just have to figure it out on your own.” Rikki laughed suddenly and let her go. “You think I’m just going to tell you all the answers? That’s too easy.” She laughed again.

Lor opened her mouth again and was met by a sudden burst of pain throughout her throat. “I told you not to push me. Anyway, you will sleep here,” Rikki said and pointed to the pile of pillows and sheets. Lor made a point not to look at Rikki’s bed which loomed in the far corner of the room. Lor’s stomach suddenly protested loudly.

“Be sure you go get a decent meal when the sun goes down,” Rikki said, her tone showing her amusement. “Perhaps pay your mother a visit.” Lor simply nodded. “It’s day out and you need more rest,” Rikki said going to the gas lamps and turning them down even more. She stood over Lor as the girl crawled back into her nest-like bed, with an almost motherly air. “When night comes you can get your first meal.”

Lor’s eyes closed almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. As she dozed thoughts ran through her mind. Rikki’s odd amusement with everything she said and did, her new past, her old past; her mother. That night she awoke once again. Rikki was gone but, her previous hunger returned and as she dressed and combed out the knots in her hair she contemplated what she would do for food. A grin split her face as she made her final decision.

She didn’t meet anyone as she left the Enclave and went down into the first level where the club was beginning to set up for the night.

“Going for food?” Mikiel the doorman asked as she strode past.

“Yes.” Not like it was any of his business.

“Watch your back out there.” The warning sounded more like a threat.

“I will,” Lor replied with an overly sweet smile. “Thanks for your concern.” She gave him the finger as she spun on her heel and walked out of the alley and down the street a few blocks to the bus stop. She only had a few minutes to wait before the great beast of a Metro bus lumbered around the corner and stopped in front of her. She flashed her bus pass in the driver’s face and sat down on the left side window seat. Humans occupied the bus as well and although they aroused her hunger all the more she ignored the desire to tear them all apart and drink.

The bus took her all the way across the city and to the wooded residential area. Here, the housing complexes were nestled in with fenced in city trees and ‘natural’ bike trails. The street sweeper had already been by and the pavement looked smooth and new. She signaled for the stop and exited the bus unto the empty but well-lit street corner. A minute’s walk put her in front of her former house.

It was white and rose out of the ground as a monument to her mother’s hard work and sacrifice. A decorative flag of a cat hung over the door next to the American flag and Lor could tell the maid had swept the porch and cleaned the windows that day. She went up to the door and removed the spare key from its spot in the potted peonies beside the plastic lawn chair on the porch. Quietly she turned the key and let herself in. Her mother would be asleep by now. Once inside she paused to let her eyes adjust to the increased darkness, though with her new and better eyes, she saw everything as though it were noon. Strangely, she noticed vampiric glyphs covering the walls over her house. They glowed through the paint in her vision and curved around the new knowledge in her mind. They were symbols for guarding, safekeeping, and watching. Each one was signed, or ended with a glyph of someone’s name, but she was unable to make it out as she walked through her old home.

An odd feeling of nostalgia came over her as she stood in the foyer, and as she passed the door to the basement, her room, her arm reached out and turned the door knob. She wasn’t sure why she went down stairs, when her meal was upstairs, her mouth watered. She bit her lip as she moved silently down the carpeted stairs. Her lamp had been left on and Lor squinted for a moment as her pupils contracted to slits. Her bed was exactly as she left it, a complete and total mess of sheets, bondage straps, and t-shirts. Most of this cascaded to the floor which wasn’t that long of a drop because her bed was simply a mattress on the floor. The floor itself was littered with idle pieces of paper, spineless books, more articles of black clothing, and bite size Kit-Kat bars. Her TV sat unused, a colony of dust bunnies having long since taken it over. Posters of demons, satyrs, and indie rock stars lined her walls. She noticed the paint on the wall was chipping in one corner, revealing her old kiddie wall paper. The basement had been her room since she had been a child, she had said her first word, taken her first step, and lost her virginity in this room.

Yes, it was a place of first times and beginnings. The cracking paint caught her attention again, and behind a peel something glowed in her vision. Frowning, she went over to the wall and peeled the paint back. Another glyph stared her in the face from the pink striped wall paper. She stepped back, surprised. It was another glyph for watching. Lor swallowed and carefully peeled more of the drying paint away. More glyphs jumped to her sight, protection, hiding,oath-keeping and sealing. All of them ended with a name glyph that still eluded her understanding. Her frown deepened as she struggled to decipher the glyph, until understanding hit her. She stepped back once again, tripping over her bed, and landing hard.

It was Rikki’s name.

What would Rikki’s name be doing painted in glyphs in her house? Is this why she had suggested Lor go back home? Lor’s head fell into her palm as she suddenly felt very tired. Go eat first. She thought. Then you can go back and question Rikki all you want…

Lor climbed the stairs and put the glyphs out of her mind, sure to remember to skip the creaky stair fourth from the top. Her mother’s room was down a hallway to the left of the stairs and as she crept past the partially closed door, her hunger and the push her mother’s beating heart made in the air was almost unbearable. Lor bent over her mother’s ear and whispered softly into her dreams.

“Mother, I’m home.”

“Oh sweetie, where have you been?” said her mother’s sleep-leaden voice.

“Out, I found what I wanted you know. I’m sorry I had to leave without telling you.”

“That’s fine sweetie. Go wake up Julia and have her make you something to eat. You must be hungry.”

“Yeah, I am.” Lor brushed some of her mother’s dye-blonde hair out of the way. “I thought you could make it for me.”

“You know I’m not good at that sweetie…go get…Julia.”

“I think you’ll do fine mother,” Lor said her fangs extending to find their first real meal.