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When I woke up the room was lit from the morning outside. I was looking into a mass of blond hair as Jenny slept, me around her like spoons. I lifted up and looked around at her face. The day was clear and the sun was shining into the trees across the street but not into the windows—the house faced the west.

“Honey,” I brushed some hair off of her face, “its morning.”

Her eyes opened and she looked around at me. An expression of terror came over her face. She whimpered as she pulled the covers up over her head.

“Ohhh, its morning…” she cried.

“It’s alright, you can stay here.”

“You don’t understand,” she said. “This isn’t my place.”

“We’ll just keep the room dark, then in the afternoon you can move to the other bedroom.”

“Noo…” she almost whined. “It’s not safe.”

She was breathing hard, obviously very frightened. “Can I go down into your basement?”

I was surprised. “Well, of course, but it’s not very comfortable—just boxes and stuff.”

“I need to get under ground.”

“OK. Wrap yourself in the blanket, I’ll take you down.

As soon as we got to the stairway she turned around and fled back into my bedroom—the sun was blazing in the kitchen windows into the hallway.

“I’ll go block it,” I said, then went down.

There were no drapes in the kitchen but I was able to block the doorway to the kitchen with a blanket. The stairs to the basement were through a doorway in the hall. I held her arm as we went down into the dark basement.

“Here,” I said, looking around for a way to make her more comfortable. “I’ll set up a camp cot for you.”

She stood in silence as I tried to make a comfortable place for her. “Thank you,” she said.

“Are you going to sleep more?” I asked.

“Maybe some,” she said.

“Do you want anything, some breakfast?”

“Can I have some toast and water?”

“Sure.”

“Is there a bathroom down here?” she asked.

“No.”

“Do you mind, can you get a bucket? I need to pee.”

I almost laughed. “Sure.”

I brought her one from the garage, then put bread in the toaster. I called Charlie.

“Hi, it’s Tom.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Jenny’s over here.”

There was a long silence. “So now you know one of the main advantages of taking care of her.”

“Ah, yeah,” I let it drop. “She’s in the basement; I don’t think she’ll come out today.”

“She gets real scared if she’s someplace strange in the day—without her trunk. She’ll be OK, just keep her out of the light and I’ll see you this evening.”

We talked some while I buttered the toast, then I hung up. When I went down stairs she wasn’t on the cot. I found her sitting under the stairs, her arms around her knees.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll empty the bucket later.”

It was in a corner, covered with a board.

“Tom,” she looked up at me. “Please don’t leave the house.”

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll be working upstairs, OK?”

“Yeah. Do you have anything to read?”

I spent the day working with a scared vampire in my basement—she read six books that day. Arbutus wasn’t pleased that he didn’t get a walk, only got let out into the back yard.

The Sun set at 6:15 and we went across the street. Jenny had been very concerned about Charlie spending the day alone but he didn’t seem to mind. We ordered in pizza and Jenny actually ate two pieces while we sat in the living room. Then she went down to the basement.

Charlie and I were about finished going over what I had done that day when Jenny reappeared.

She came up behind Charlie where he was sitting in a chair and put her hand on his shoulder. “Charlie, I’m going out.”

He turned his head and kissed her hand. “Be careful, dear.”

“I always am.”

She came over and kissed me, then went out the door, locking it behind her.

“Where’s she going?” I asked.

“Hunting,” he said. “She usually goes out three or four nights looking for her next…meal. Then, when she’s cased someone, I go with her.”

“How do you get them here?” I asked.

“Probably half come willingly—some even know they’re going to die. Others have just given up and don’t care, like the guy night before last.”

“But…not all?” I asked.

“No. Those are the ones that need to die, not those that want to. They usually put up a fight.”

“What, do you kidnap them at gunpoint?”

“Often that’s how I get them in the van, Jenny takes over from there. We get them here and put them in the cage for a while. Then Jenny goes in and, well, in the end they go up the chimney. Those are the ones that really give her strength—the ones she has to fight. Sometimes it’s a hell of a show.”

“I’d think it’d be tough to get them here,” I said.

“Go into the kitchen, the tall cabinet next to the fridge,” he directed.

I went and opened the cabinet. It was a pantry, mostly filled with cans and a few boxes.

“On the top shelf you’ll find a gun case. Bring it here.”

I lifted down the grey metal pistol case and brought it to him. He held it in his lap.

“My keys are on the ring next to the front door.”

He opened the case and took out what looked like a gold metal cigar tube. He handed it to me.

“Don’t push the black button on the end,” he warned.

One end was a black plastic button, like you’d find on a pen-light. The other end (which was rounded) had a small hole at the tip.

“It’s an auto-injector, like they use for chemical warfare antidotes. But this one’s filled with sodium pentothal. Hit someone in the arm or thigh with that and in about five seconds they’re really relaxed and compliant.”

“Hum,” I said, inspecting it.

“Have to wait a few hours for it to wear off. Any drug in their system affects Jenny too—but not as strong. Sometimes we’ve waited days for some junky to get heroin out of their systems. By then they’re in full withdrawal and ready to die. They know its coming.”

I didn’t sleep well that night. In a way it seemed so simple, helping people who wanted to die or taking people who deserved to. But, it was like the ‘Star Chamber’ but with only two judges—one of whom may be hungry.

It was three days later, during my semi-regular meeting with Charlie in the afternoon that he looked up at me. “Jenny needs to take someone tonight. I know it’s a bit early, but this one’s ready tonight. I’m really feeling weak, I’m not sure I’m up to it.”

I broke out in a cold sweat.

“There won’t be a fight this time, this lady’s ready, she’ll come willingly,” he continued.

“I see.”

“If you go, you’re committed…committed for life.”

I was really already committed; I’d been hooked from the time Jenny revealed her vampire nature to me. Plus, I was really coming to be fond of her.

The van was a very regular looking Chevy Astro, green with dark tinted windows. However, the windows in the back were covered on the inside with fabric. Also, rather than the usual two-three seating in back, there was one bench seat only, making the van a five seater rather than the usual seven. But, this was one of the optional seating arrangements. There were also curtains that could be pulled across that would separate the driver from the back. They were a heavy dark fabric and closed with Velcro.

“If I need to go somewhere during the day, we can block the sun from getting back there,” she said after I had backed out of the garage. Jenny was in the right seat, and had put on her seat belt.

“Where too?” I asked.

“Queens, somewhere around 164th and Jewel. I’ll know better when we get close.”

It took an hour to get there, through the Lincoln Tunnel and across Manhattan. Then we drove around for about thirty-five minutes with Jenny telling me when to turn. She seemed to be searching but also seemed to know exactly where to go.

“Stop here,” she said.

I pulled into a loading zone across from a small market.

“She’s in there,” she said, pointing across the street. “We’ll just wait.”

We sat with the engine running to give us some heat. It looked like it could start to rain any time. An old woman with a cane came out of the market pulling a cart with a bag in it.

“That’s her,” Jenny said. “She’ll go two blocks, then cross and turn left.

I watched in the mirror and, as Jenny had said, it took her a while to get the two blocks, then she waited at the light, then crossed.

“Should I go?”

“Yes,” Jenny said.

She glanced at me, her eyes were glowing.

I turned around in the middle of the block but got caught by the light. I went left and then saw her on the other side, still making her slow way down the street. Jenny reached up and turned on the reading lights. As we approached the woman stopped, then she turned and looked directly at us as we drove by.

“Turn around,” Jenny said as she moved into the back. She had turned off the lights.

At the end of the block I made another U-turn, then pulled up to the woman and stopped. Jenny opened the sliding door.

“Leticia,” she said, “I’m here.”

The woman stared into the van, as sad expression on her face. “That’s really you, child?”

“Yes,” Jenny replied. “I’ve come, it’s time.”

She took a step toward the curb but stopped, looking down into the gutter.

Jenny climbed out of the van, moving remarkably quickly. She stood next to the old woman, her eyes were glowing a bright red. She took the woman’s arm and helped her into the van, then sat down next to her and closed the door.

“You with this girl?” she asked. “You one too?”

“I help her, but I’m not like her,” I answered, looking in the (useless) rear view mirror.

“Then you doin the Devil’s work,” she said.

“There is no devil,” Jenny said.

“That what you think,” Leticia responded.

“You take my pappy, now you come for me,” she said to Jenny.

“You always knew I would,” Jenny said. “I saved you, you know that I’d be back.”

I got on the Long Island Expressway and headed back toward Manhattan. As soon as we crossed the East River I was back in traffic, making my way across the island.

“Were you taken me?” she asked.

“We’ve got a place over in Jersey,” Jenny said.

I came to a stop at a light near the entrance to the tunnel.

“Do I have to wait? I’m ready child.” She held out her arms.

There was a strange growl and then it felt like something hit the side of the van. I looked in the mirror. Jenny was pressing Leticia against the wall, her face to the woman’s neck.

Leticia pulled in a ragged breath as she hugged Jenny to her. Then she coughed weakly and a trickle of blood came out the side of her mouth. Her eyes slowly lost focus.

I looked around. We were surrounded by people in their cars, all of them oblivious that a woman was dying in the van next to them. I moved to the next light. When I stopped, Jenny let the woman go and looked up. Her lips and chin were smeared with blood, some ran down her throat and darkened her sweat shirt. Her eyes shown bright.

As we drove through the tunnel Jenny moved around in back. I had to watch the road and I was surprised when she landed in the seat next to me. She reached behind and closed the drapes. She had changed her shirt but there were a few darks splatters on her jeans. She had cleaned her face and neck off.

“You knew her?”

“Yeah. Just after the war we were in Jamaica. Her father was a witch doctor who discovered us. He was going to bring some people and trap us in the day, so we took him and his wife the night before. I found her hiding in a closet. One of the guys was going to feed on her but I told him not to. I spared her life so, by our ways, she was mine.”

“How did you know were she was?”

“I always knew about, but she wasn’t ready. Not until now. She’s sick, cancer in her liver. She called to me…somehow. I really don’t understand how I know, but I can tell when someone’s ready to die.”

We got to the house and I carried the body into the basement. Jenny and I undressed her. One of her breasts had been removed—there was a long scar that started where her right nipple should have been and curved up into her arm pit. We put her body in the crematory and Jenny turned it on. Then her clothes went into a plastic bag. I waited while Jenny wiped some blood up in the van, then she came back in.

“I need to put my clothes in the wash,” she said.

I sat and listened to the hissing of the oven. A couple of minutes later Jenny came back into the room—naked.

Chapter 6

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