Vampires

"Fool! Fool! Fool!" Gasping for breath, Svetka ran through the night city, smearing uncontrollable tears. Her mascara had long since run, but she absolutely didn't care. Her fashionable sandals had rubbed her feet raw, but she paid no attention to the pain.

What kind of fool do you have to be to fall in love! And not just a little flirtation to forget. To fall in love hard, unexpectedly, to the very bottom, to the last hair. To fall in love to the point of tears and snot, to screaming, to dizzying heights. And the most insulting thing — to fall in love hopelessly!

Well, not exactly hopelessly... More like, without prospects. However, Svetka didn't really care. She had been walking around like a zombie for the last few days anyway, not understanding anything. All her thoughts were focused on one thing — sex.

Sex with him — that was something! She understood it immediately, as soon as she saw the half-smirk, half-grin on his rough, unshaven face and the absolutely serious, cold gaze of his gray eyes.

"Gonna suck it?" Svetka was taken aback by such a brazen question and raised her thin eyebrows in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"Here!" He pulled a caramel candy in a colorful wrapper from his pocket with two fingers. "Suck it, for your health!"

It was a shock. Later, of course, Svetka got used to this crude manner of her new colleague, which smacked of either a soldier's barracks or a factory bathhouse. But at that moment, she wasn't in the mood for jokes. She looked angrily at the insolent guy — and was lost... Hooked, completely and utterly.

Days and weeks passed. And he, as if on purpose, completely ignored her. It was infuriating. Had she spent half the morning on her makeup for nothing, sorting through lacy panties and bras, carefully selecting clothes and perfume? Work wasn't going well, everything was falling out of her hands, the computer monitor became hateful. And, leaning back tiredly in her office chair, Svetka again and again met the gaze of those cold eyes and that mocking grin.

"What are you looking at?" she couldn't stand it. The answer baffled her again:

"I see a fool. Who's banging her head against a closed door. Look!" He suddenly rose easily, like a spring, from his seat and in one short jump landed softly by her computer. "It's simple. You just need to highlight the main thing. Here: first, second, and third. And add everything else to it. This — goes here, and that — there!"

And before her eyes, a miracle happened. The dull and tedious task suddenly became clear and understandable, acquired meaning, and most importantly — hope appeared to get it all done on time.

"Thanks for the help!" she smiled.

"You'll pay it back," he threw out. And then he ran his hand over her neck. On the side, where the common and external carotid arteries intertwined. Just with his fingertips.

What happened next, Svetka remembered vaguely. It was as if she had been struck by an electric shock. From her neck to her toes. Her back arched, and a second later went limp. Her consciousness blurred.

Svetka looked around in surprise. The same office, the same hateful computer, and the same insolent grin on her neighbor's face.

"Just like that? she thought. "One — and an orgasm? A weak one, but an orgasm. And this bastard sits there grinning. Shiiit..."

Essentially, all subsequent events were predetermined. A serious relationship became only a matter of time. And time, as we know, is relentless...

... He took her face in his palms and looked into her eyes with his penetrating gaze. He said shortly:

"Take it!"

He didn't have to ask twice. Gasping, Svetka slid down. There was no shame at all. Her consciousness completely switched off, only the thirst of lust remained, wild and unbridled. No tenderness, no mercy. She didn't even take it, she simply swallowed his cock, immediately, wholly and completely. Her lips, tongue, palate suddenly became a new sexual organ, capable of experiencing sensations no worse than the already familiar ones. And Svetka completely surrendered to these feelings. And he, realizing he could do anything with her, took her head and pressed her tightly to his body, so that Svetka almost choked. However, her patience soon got its reward. With a growling groan, he poured all his passion into her. And simultaneously, something exploded in her brain, ran through her entire body like a shockwave and returned. This orgasm stunned her so much that she instinctively grabbed his legs, pressed against him and didn't let go of her victim for a long time, afraid to scare it away or lose it. And he lifted her from her knees, pulled her to him and kissed her softly.

"Why did you do that?" she croaked.

"Why what?" he didn't understand and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Something wrong?"

"No," she forced a smile. "It's just, no one has ever kissed me after that. You men find it disgusting."

"Are you crazy!?" he stared at her in bewilderment.

"I'm not crazy! You all do that!"

"I'm not 'all'!" he cut her off. "I do what I like. So, for starters, I'll get my revenge on you!"

He smiled slyly, and with those words sat her opposite him, making her lean back on her hands. A second later, his face was between her spread legs, and his insolent tongue began doing God knows what with her mound and clitoris. However, that was the last thing Svetka managed to think about. The orgasm that washed over her again completely deprived her of the ability to think about anything at all...

Afterwards, they lay for a long time in each other's arms, satiated and lazy. Nighttime conversations — they are the most interesting, the most frank.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I was born in 1877," he gave a short laugh. "Don't believe me? You don't have to. I don't care. The one who was, so to speak, my mother, died in childbirth. Another raised and brought me up. Not like her."

"What do you mean, not like her?"

"Well, ordinary. Human."

"And you're not human?"

"No."

"Then what are you?"

"I don't know. Just, different."

"Hah!" Svetka choked on a laugh. "What a line! Have you been reading too much fantasy or something? About all those 'Others' and such. Oh, I remember! It's called 'Night Watch'!"

"Night, sorry, what? Never heard of it!"

"Never mind, forget it!" she smiled. "Okay, keep lying! I'm interested."

He thoughtfully ran his palm over his chin:

"The first time I realized I was different from others was in East Prussia, near a village with the loud name Tannenberg. Have you heard of it? No? Doesn't matter. I got a bullet there. Right here," he pointed to a small indentation in his skin, right under his heart. "The Bavarian Jaegers shot very accurately, just like the Boers in the savannas of the Transvaal..."

"What Jaegers, in what savannas? What are you talking about?"

"Shh!" He put a finger to his lips. "We'll leave the questions for later. Listen on! I don't know how long I lay on that blood-soaked field then, strewn with hundreds, if not thousands of dead people. I woke up from the barking of Dobermans, specially trained to finish off the wounded. The dogs would first sniff them, and then with a furious growl and a sickening crunch, bite into the throats of the unfortunate. Those who saw this convulsively tried to hide, to crawl under their dead comrades. Those who couldn't move — went mad, awaiting their fate..."

"And you?" she fidgeted impatiently in the chair.

"And I felt only a wild thirst. Everything inside me was burning: my throat, esophagus, stomach, intestines, face, hands, even my damn ears. And when a huge Doberman ran up to me, I was ready!"

"Ready for what?"

"I grabbed the dog with both hands and sank my teeth into it. The huge black male yelped in surprise and tried to break free, bracing its front paws against my chest. The disgusting dog hair filled my mouth, but I paid no attention to it. I needed blood, and I got it!"

"Blood? What for?"

"To live!"

"I had a choice: the dog or me. I chose myself."

"Well, that's understandable. But why the dog?"

He laughed, loudly, boisterously, and repeated:

"To live!"

A drawn-out silence hung in the room. Svetka tried to digest the information she'd received, he leaned back tiredly and even closed his eyes.

"And then what?" asked Svetka.

"That's all. The end."

"Why?"

"Because you're not supposed to know what comes next," he suddenly became serious, the corners of his mouth drooped, and his piercing eyes bored through the darkness.

"Fine, I don't need to know," Svetka pouted and turned away. "What a weirdo," she thought. "He talks, then suddenly clams up. The ravings of a madman!"

"Ravings..." he echoed.

She didn't even have time to be surprised that he had read her thoughts. Next to her ear, his teeth clicked briefly, managing to lightly scratch her skin. If Svetka hadn't flinched, his fangs would have sunk into her flesh.

"Are you crazy?" she shouted. "What are you doing?"

"Get out!" he looked at her gloomily. "Get out, or it's the end for you..."

Somehow pulling on her skirt, tucking in her blouse on the go, Svetka rushed out onto the street. Night, not a soul. It was scary and very hurtful. Why was everything like this? What nonsense was this? Home! Run home, away from this horror!

... Gasping for breath, Svetka ran through the night city, smearing uncontrollable tears. Her mascara had long since run, but she absolutely didn't care. Her fashionable sandals had rubbed her feet raw, but she paid no attention to the pain.

Suddenly, having run a couple more meters out of inertia, Svetka stopped dead in her tracks. He was standing ahead. Arms folded on his chest, head slightly tilted, drilling her with his unblinking gaze. He beckoned like a magnet. Her head was spinning, she felt incredibly sick. Not understanding what she was doing, Svetka trudged gloomily towards her fate. And he reached out his hand to her and ran it over her neck. On the side, where the common and external carotid arteries intertwined. Just with his fingertips...

Instead of an Epilogue

... Svetka leaned over the prostrate body of another lover and licked her lips predatorily.

"You suck great!" he stretched and relaxed, closing his eyes.

"You have no idea how great!" Svetka purred and sank her teeth into his tanned neck. Right where life beats. As the vampire had taught her.