Blood gave me power back in my thieving days. And did I take a lot of it to see who had the best powers, who was the strongest and that was how I came to know about Nix. How powerful she was. Sure, there were others, but none quite as strong as she was when I was was running the streets, taking blood off vampires.
But for this, I didn't care whose blood I got. This was just the beginning of my many experiments. I didn't want to grab a strong one right away, because what if it failed? And if their powers were too good, they might escape and ruin my plans. I couldn't risk it. Not now. Not at first.
Where did young, not very strong vampires hang out? I thought about it as I walked the streets to the train station to head back to the Bullwood area. The QZ. That's where I did some of my early stuff, Pyper too. I'd even seen Zahara in there, and she was brand spanking new to the vampire scene. That was where I needed to go.
When I got off the train in the Bullwood district, I skimmed the streets to look for anyone I recognized. Or would would recognize me. No one. Hopefully I would luck out in the QZ and not see any Altaires there either. I didn't want them to know about my plans. Not until it was perfected and they would see the end result. I crossed the river, but not before cloaking myself in shadows as I walked to the river bank. Seeing some guy walk across a river sort of drew attention. I wasn't one for that.
I decided to check the old bar, but there wasn't much luck there. It was deserted. Completely. Then I ht the graveyard next to it. There were a few vampires in there, but I knew them back from my human days. That meant they were probably too strong for this point of the experiment. So I left them alone. We'd meet up again some night soon. So I headed to the old supermarket to check out who was in there.
I didn't see her at first. I only heard the gentle roll of a can as the wind blew through shattered windows. Then, I heard her. Struggling. I kept to the shadows for now, and moved to the northern part of the building, where I heard the grunts coming from. I watched her struggling with a zombie. Either her shitty gun let her down, or she just really was that bad. With each shot she fired, it would only graze the flesh of the zombie, or make a superficial wound in an arm or leg. Finally, after one lucky shot, the woman made her mark and shot it smack dab in the chest, causing the zombie to collapse and shatter some bones on its way down to the ground.
The woman bent down to cut an ear off the zombie, and that's when I acted. As I charged at her with an aggressive speed in my steps, the shadows that kept me covered, dropped. Mostly because my steps were loud as they hit the ground. She turned to see who was approaching her, but it was too late. I tackled her into the wall, hoping that would knock her out. It didn't, and she reacted. The woman pulled the trigger of her gun, not once, not twice, but three times, revealing that she had emptied it. I shake my head. I almost pity her. Her inexperience on weaponry and how to survive shows me how new and weak she is to our way of life. But then I remember she's perfect as my first slams into the side of her head, knocking her out.
----
"Whooo, wheeere?" I look up from the bone I was carving in at the woman I have tied to a chair in the living room. She couldn't stay here forever, Pyper, Simone and Thing Two had keys here, but I'd move her somewhere else. Eventually. When it was needed. Probably tomorrow. Simone and Thing Two didn't come around a lot, but I saw Pyper almost every day.
"My name doesn't matter. Where you are doesn't matter either. What does matter is that you are going to change someone's life. Mine and maybe others." I say as I stand up, wipe my hands on a towel on the bench and then toss it down casually. I move to the middle of the room, and closer to her. She looks at me and inches the chair away. I allow it. She won't get far. I made sure she was triple knotted with no room to inch. If she had circulation in her, it would have been cut off at her wrists and ankles.
I bend down and pull at a board in the floor. One I intentionally picked apart to store things I didn't want people finding. Even Altaire people. Some things were just better left unknown. I pull out a small wooden container, and open the lid. Inside are various things. Sedatives in various forms; liquid and pill form. Needles to put the liquid sedative in and a few other things I collected over the years that might come in use some night. Nothing from any victims, that would be stupid if anyone ever found the box.
I pull out a needle, close the box, put it back under the board and stand. She looks at me with wide eyes, not knowing why I would need a needle and why she was here. "I'm not going to kill you." I tell her, and she looks around, then at me, as if second guessing what I tell her. "You're more valuable alive." That was the truth. I could keep her alive for a long time, doing this. There were blood bags downstairs that I could bring back to her. One bag for some of hers. It was a good arrangement for now.
I move in on her, and put a foot behind a leg of the chair to keep her from scooting away any further. Then I jab the needle in her neck, right where that nice looking artery on the side and pull out a few cc's of her blood in it. She makes a noise of displeasure, even jerks her neck, but she can't jerk it too far. And I already had the needle in her neck before she knew what was going on. When I got what I needed, I move away from her. I hear the chair scrape on the wood floor, but I don't care. What I need is right here. I bring the needle to my opened mouth and give it a firm squeeze. It all comes out and lands on my tongue, some of my teeth and even my lips. I almost hurl at the taste of it. It's not fresh like human blood. Why did it taste so different from when I was a human and taking blood from unsuspecting vampires? After coughing a little, even gurgling I manage to swallow it down. "Disgusting." I say at first, then wait. I let a minute go by, then two and then I begin to move around, as if burning off some energy would make the vampire blood do its magic. I'm only disappointed.
"Must not have taken enough." I say, then toss the needle aside. It bounces as I grab the woman by the head, tilt her neck and sink my fangs in to it. I drink, not just a sip, but three, long sips. Some of the blood goes sputtering out on her neck, a reaction to my dislike for the liquid, but I know once I get this going, it will get better and the benefits would be well worth it. She screams, tells me to get off her, but I don't. Not until I'm ready and then, then I punch her in the face again. Silence was golden.