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The vampire apocalypse was supposed to be my opportunity to move up in the world.
Well, it technically was, but when it turned out vampires were real the and at war with us, that wasn't the first thing on my mind. Whatever ambition I had shriveled away to fear and cowardice, and I spent those years hiding away, thinking about nothing but my own survival. Hell is real, and I knew full well it's where I'd be going if I died. Unlike me, the smart ones could see where things were headed and defected to the vampires' side early. What the humans called a 'war' may as well have been a victory lap for vampire society. It took them over 2000 years of fighting to break the church, and a scarce 5 to break modern human civilization.
What was once a secret society became the ruling species on Earth in a short time frame, and so the size of vampire society exploded. Early human defectors were rewarded greatly with membership in the aristocracy, and the various powerful positions that needed to be filled. To think I could have ruled instead of being stuck here, if only I had acted differently and made better decisions. Vampire society doesn't even discriminate against women, like I had expected given their old-fashioned and feudalistic ways. I genuinely could have had a real shot.
I'm very bitter.
Despite my complaining, the outcome for me wasn't the worst. I succeeded in avoiding death, after all, and in fact gained the gift of immortal life. Really can't understate how important the immortality part is. I'd rather keep my lot as an immortal peasant, than become empress of the world as a mortal human. I had always wanted to be immortal ever since I learned about the concept as a child, and then there's also that whole eternal punishment in hell thing to consider. I really got what I had wanted most as a human.
It's not enough. The problem is that since everyone gets immortal life, there's hardly any social mobility. New high class positions are usually filled by select human children groomed from birth to rule (who are turned upon reaching adulthood.) The practice does allow new blood and fresh ideas into leadership, but also keeps power firmly in the hands of the elite. Rarely, Positions can open up for us in unexpected events, like someone losing their title or being murdered. Speaking of murder, it's an even greater offense in vampire society, as one would never die under normal circumstances. The rules don't stop there either, the new order is just as moralistic as the old one, and even more authoritarian.
I won't make the same mistake twice, once we've figured out space travel and start to colonize other worlds, I'm getting off this rock and getting more for myself. I've already spent the last hundred odd years since the war ended working menial jobs, and I'm not about to spend the next thousand toiling away on this farm.
I'm a farmer, by the way, and I fucking hate farming. Becoming a farmer was the only way I was legally allowed to get my hands on some land, and they aren't making any more of it after all, so I decided to just deal with it. Thanks to me slaving away and taking various little opportunities, I was able to purchase this farm 2 years ago from someone who had been following their own little opportunities. They do add up in the long run.
Such a little opportunity has appeared before me today. A human escapee from a ranch which produces our blood, and for which I produce feed. He showed up banging on my door wild and frantic, begging for food. A dying man who looks like he's been on the run for years, or perhaps he escaped today already looking like that. He hasn't gotten very far, if he's from the local plant I produce for.
I'm still surprised, even as I have this human sitting at the table across from me. He's scarfing down the unprocessed wheat I've given him, as if it were the sweet blood of a diabetic. As I gawk at the spectacle, I wonder about how he escaped. It's not difficult to believe, I've toured the local facility and seen how poor the security is. The humans are simply fitted with tracking devices in the ear, which this one has visibly torn out. The site is caked in dry blood, and a chunk of lobe missing. If I were running the place, I'd severe their important leg tendons to make escape impossible.
Anyways, I'll cut to the point: I want make this human my slave. Human slaves are expensive and rare, because those damn blue-blooded blood suckers keep the supply low to preserve them as a status symbol. They probably also fear potential rebellion, but what would the humans really be able to do? It's causing problems for me because they can't get over the trauma of having been hunted by humans in the past, apparently. That and their greed, not that I'd act any different.
I look away from the human for a moment to admire the cheap portrait replica of Elizabeth Bathory I have hanging on the wall. That will be me someday, even if it does take a thousand years.
I'm very good at entertaining myself. There are some from my generation of former humans that apparently aren't suited for immortal life, disgusting people who would rather die than live with themselves. They don't commit suicide, though, because they know where they'd be going. They just rot and become idle, making some of those lovely job openings. Unlike them, I have the drive to truly live forever, and the ability to keep myself happy the whole way. I'll never tire of life, and I'll never quench my thirst for new experiences. Hell, I'll never even tire of repeating old fun experiences. I'm just that amazing.
So that's why I'm so excited about all this. I'm trying to keep a poker face, but I just can't hold back a little of the cheerfulness from slipping out. The human doesn't seem to notice, looking ridiculous shoveling fistfuls of grain into his mouth. The act of eating anything would look silly to me after all these years, but this is just pathetic. I actually have some potatoes in storage as well, but I specifically gave the grain to see if he'd really eat it.
"Do you have a name?" I ask, breaking the silence. It's not actually silent, though, since his consumption is very noisy. I try to keep my voice neutral.
He doesn't answer at first. The human of the hour is young, perhaps in his late twenties. His skin is pink, compared to my paper white, but it's sickly and covered in grime. His hair is long and matted, the face brushed with patchy bits of it. The color seems to be dark brown naturally, but it's so caked with filth I can't tell for sure. Upon looking at him more carefully, I can see he's covered in bruises. Maybe they were treating him right at the ranch after all.
I try to wait patiently, but I'm full of anticipation. If I were to open my mouth, drool would come out from how much I'm salivating. My dead heart is silent, but a pleasant electricity fires up and down the nerves of my chest and abdomen. I try to to keep it together, as I can only make the first impression once.
Eventually, he finishes consuming all of the grain. He turns to look up at me with deeply shadowed brown eyes, narrowed in a tight frown. I smile softly in return, trying not to look predatory, and ask about his name again.
"Don't have one..." He mutters in a voice like gravel.
Maybe he really doesn't have one, but I think he just doesn't want to share. He's peering at me skittishly, his matted hair partially hiding his face. It makes sense for him to treat me like a predator, no matter what I look like; it's what I am to him in a literal sense. I have no idea how to seem nonthreatening to this human, who has lived his entire life our captive, his blood taken for our nourishment, and apparently his body used to sate dissatisfied ranch workers.
I shiver in anticipation.
"I haven't met with a human since I was turned at the end of the war, I was twenty-six at the time," I begin, choosing to appeal to the fact I used to live as a human, but I'm not exactly sure what else to say.
The unfinished thought hangs in the silence. The only audible noise is the outside ambiance of the night, and his raspy breathing. What do I have in common with this human? I try to press on.
"I understand why you're afraid of me, but I can help you," I say gently, trying to keep a straight face, "The world is so cold now, and it's been so many years since I've had the opportunity to show kindness to someone."
I'm met with silence once again. I can keep up a one-sided conversation quite well, but I want to have fun and dance with this human. As a vampire I can easily subdue him physically, but I want to make him choose me.
"I'm sorry for everything we've done to you..." I try again, making my voice sound apologetic, "I'm so sorry." I wait a few beats.
"...you're sorry?" the human starts, his low voice weak from dehydration.
"Yes!" I say, lighting up, "I'm so sorry for everything!"
He suddenly slams a fist on the table, startling me, his face a picture of anger. I seem to have said the wrong thing.
"How could you ever just say you're 'sorry,'" he demands, his voice raising, "you became one of them! You abandoned your humanity! I'm not stupid just because you treat us like animals, our parents teach us what it was like before, and what you did to us! How can you apologize with a straight face while our blood is still dripping from your mouth?"
I immediately reach to wipe my mouth, and see a smear of dried blood that must have been from an earlier meal. Whoops.
He's breathing hard from exertion, small tears glinting in the corner of his eyes. I take a moment to think on how to respond, as the original approach obviously isn't working work.
"Fine, I won't apologize," I say, now taking on an indignant tone, "I did what I had to to survive, and I'm not sorry for it."
"Survive? You are a monster!" he snaps back, "You died! You died the day you became a blood sucker, and you know it! Everything that makes a person: warmth, compassion, love? It all dies. You couldn't even pretend to care about what you've done to me, done to all of us. If you really were still human on the inside, you'd care! But your soul's already rotting in hell. What's left of you? Nothing but an undead husk!" He finishes his rant, keeping an aggressive posture. He is challenging me.
"I like to think I was reborn," I respond with a giggle, "not unlike Jesus Christ. I'm the exact same person with the same consciousness from before, it's only my body that changed, my senses, and some instincts. To be honest, I wasn't really overflowing with kindness and humanity even before I turned." I pause moment before continuing, "From what you said, your parents must have told you about the cruelties humans committed against each other in the past, the wars and such. Vampirism simply makes us stronger, and wiser with age. It enables us to do the things we might have done anyway if we could have. There's nothing that could convince me you wouldn't do the same were our positions reversed."
"You are a god damn monster," he repeats, "too cowardly to die like a real person. I would never be like you, I would die before that." He locks his eyes with mine, daring me to contradict him. He thinks he's getting to me. That's more irritating than anything he's said so far. I already know what I am; I've had over a hundred years to self-reflect.
"A monster is who took you in and fed you, when doing so would put her at risk," I say after a moment, a self-satisfied smile growing on my lips, "you came to me begging for help. You owe me your life, and I can still take you back to the hole you came from!"
He must know how low and pathetic he is to have to call on a 'bloodsucker' for help. He's powerless to do anything to help himself, anything to hurt me, or anything to defend himself from what I may do. He can't do anything at all besides try to hurt me with words, and that must be torture for him!
I'm practically grinning at him, our eyes still locked, basking in the moment. We stay like this for a few more moments, before he finally looks down in defeat. This human could never best me in a dance of wits, however skilled at debate he may be under the filth, not when I have a metaphorical gun to his head. Not when I've owned him from the moment he appeared at my door.
Even if I'm dirt on the floor of vampire society, I am so much more than the creature before me. I am a goddess among humans. My body is still but my nerves are leaping with joy! I love being alive!
"We can help each other," I continue in my self-indulgent farce of diplomacy, "work for me and I will feed you and keep you safe. You won't have to give any blood, I imagine you must taste disgusting, after all."
I wait for him to make up his mind. If only I had a mirror to see what my smile must look like to him. I feel like humming a random tune, but hold back.
"You'll get in trouble if I report you." He finally says slowly. He's playing the only card he has.
"You will be dead if I decided to kill you right now, silly." I respond in mock sweetness, " I will simply kill you if I decide you're a threat to me. You should really feel lucky you're such a weak worthless human that you aren't one. And that's nothing to say about what they would do to you if you turned yourself in just to spite me." I cross my leg triumphantly. He can't refuse.
"...fine." He says at least, crumpling down in defeat the way I wanted to see, his head laid flat against the table. All his hope for his freedom destroyed.
"Did you really think you could have a chance at life when you escaped?" I ask, feeling like rubbing it in, "Did you feel hope for the first time in your life, only to find out it's more complicated than that? There is no hope for you but me, and what I decided to give you."
I pause to let silence twist the dagger.
"I'm already growing fond of you! Tell you what, if you serve me well, perhaps I'll turn you and grant you immortal life-"
"Never!" he suddenly snaps up, interrupting me, "I'll die before then, never!"
Well alright then. It was already a lie more hollow than my unbeating heart, but he doesn't need to know that.
"That suits me just fine," I reply sharply, "you will do well, then, to keep me happy, or I will curse you to what's apparently a fate worse than death for you." I pause to think a bit before adding, "I'll enjoy watching your body slowly rot away. I'd kill myself if I had to feel my body slowly decaying and growing weaker like that. Thankfully, I have a strong body to match my brain!"
I end up sounding unintentionally defensive, and a little bit ridiculous. Now it's my turn to slump back down, before I say anything that might embarrass me. I mean, I'm right and stand by everything I said, but still. I uncross and recross my legs the other way.
It seems I resent him for hating me and everything I am, even though it makes sense, and even though being hated by such a pathetic thing is validating. Even with what I'm going to do to him, and how good I know it will feel, and even with the fact I hate him more than he hates me. It's such a strange mix of emotions inside me I have to unpack later, still soaked with the feeling of my own happiness.
I truly am grateful for this new experience.
He responds no more, and my little blunder has no effect on the reality of the situation. I finally do burst out humming some meaningless tune, drunk on the taste of victory. Now to think about my plans for him. If only I could put him to work outside in the fields, it'd save me so much effort, but it's obviously out of the question. Watching him break his back taking on the workload of a vampire would be good fun, it's really too bad. I could also try to put him to work inside, but it's a bad idea considering he's already escaped confinement once, after all.
I already know what I actually want, though, and all I have to do is just give it to myself. I turn my gaze to the portrait of the old Blood Countess again. Yes, he will serve me very well in my basement, sating my own dissatisfaction and then some. He'll be longing for his old life as livestock, like I've been longing for this since well before I became a vampire. I never thought I'd have the chance but, given infinite time anything's possible.
I continue to hum as my mind turns to figuring out how to research which tendons to cut.