The grocery store was mostly empty at this time of night. Only students and the rare frantic parent walked its fluorescent lit aisles. There were maybe five people total in the store, including the stock boy, cashier and me.
I wheeled past the produce aisle and headed for the meat section.
Not all myths about vampires were true. Thank God.
I could still eat, which considering my life-long love affair with food was a blessing. Never to taste chocolate or the black raspberry ice cream from Graeters? Might as well kill me where I stood.
Food didn’t carry the same nutrients as it had before. Mostly, it passed through my system doing nothing to help. Too much of it would make me sick, but in moderation I could still eat some of my favorites as long as I was careful.
The one exception was red meat. I could eat as much of that as my stomach could hold. I think it had to do with the blood and iron content, but I’d never had anyone to ask. All I knew was it hit the spot in a way even black raspberry ice cream couldn’t.
And the rarer the better.
Two years ago, I’d been returning with my unit from Afghanistan. I was a 25V, a combat camera for those in the civilian world. I, like so many of my fellow soldiers, was eager to hit the town after 362 days locked on a FOB where the closest I got to alcohol was what was in my mouthwash, and the height of entertainment was watching dust storms blow in.
That night was where my life took a serious detour from the path I’d planned for it. My evening began like so many other young twenty somethings. I met a stranger. He was cute. I was horny, as fraternization is strictly forbidden while in country, and up to that point, I’d never been one to break the rules. I always had an irrational fear of jail, and it didn’t really matter if breaking the rules would actually lead to a jail cell. At least back then. Now, most nights I break three laws before midnight.
That’s the only excuse I had for lowering my guard for some strange man when I’m normally extremely cautious. So cautious that friends have accused me of being unreasonably paranoid when it comes to men.
Not that night, though. That night I had to be wild and carefree and in love with being home. The world was my oyster and nothing could touch me. I’d survived a year in a warzone getting shot at, after all. The states were a cake walk after that, right?
Not so much.
It was quick when it happened. I didn’t even see it coming. He’d isolated me from my friends without me even realizing it. Before I knew it, I was held tightly against him, and his teeth were in my neck. Then, I was discarded like so much trash. Woke up the next night lying on a gurney being wheeled to the morgue. I scared the daylights out of the attendee when I sat up in my body bag.
There were a lot of screams exchanged between the two of us before it was assumed the doctors had made a mistake in pronouncing me dead on arrival.
The authorities were called. My statement was taken, and then they called my military chain of command.
Lucky for me, the captain on duty owed me big. Even luckier, he was part of this new world I suddenly found myself in. He’s the one who got me put on profile, allowing me to stay in my room during the day and ultimately processed out of the military. That last one I’m still not too happy about, but it couldn’t be helped. What good is a soldier who’s useless from the time the sun rises to the time it sets?
He called in a favor and got me the job with Hermes. Not that that’s saying much, but it keeps me from having to move back in with my parents.
I pulled a tub of cottage cheese out of the display case and eyed it with uncertainty. I used to love cottage cheese, but ever since my change it tasted funny.
Shrugging, I put it in my cart. Just because I bought it didn’t mean I had to eat it. People from my old life still stopped by now and then. They’d expect me to have some health food in the fridge. It’s what the old me would have done. I was careful to show them what they wanted. It was safer for everyone that way.
The bottom of my cart barely littered with items, I headed to check out. Being in the grocery store was depressing me tonight. It reminded me of all the things I’d lost. I hated getting maudlin. What’s done was done. Truthfully, most nights being a vampire wasn’t so bad.
My sneakers squeaked against the linoleum as I wheeled my cart over to the cashier, bypassing the self-pay kiosks. The ones at this store tended to go a bit buggy after midnight. Even if they worked perfectly, I would have chosen the cashier. I needed human interaction.
I placed my groceries on the belt and wheeled my cart to the other end. The cashier’s face was bored as he slid each item over the scanner. He was a college kid, his face all sharp angles and so incredibly young.
“That’ll be $21.06.”
I handed him a twenty and a five-dollar bill. He took it, hitting the cash button on the register. It beeped but didn’t open.
“What?” The cashier looked slightly more alert now. He hit the button twice more. “Come on. Not again.”
He felt along the register, the boredom now completely gone from his eyes and his motions becoming slightly more frantic when he didn’t immediately find what he was looking for.
“Oh no. No. No. No. My manager will kill me if I’ve lost the key again.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pair of translucent wings disappear behind one of my plastic bags. Pixies. Great. I’d have to avoid this place for the next few weeks until the little bastards moved on.
Pixies were the magpies of the supernatural world. They tended to appropriate things that interested them only to discard them soon after. A lot of times when humans misplaced things, it was pixies at work. They love mischief and helping someone ‘lose’ an item is right up their alley.
On one of my first jobs, a few managed to stow away in my carrier bag. I was new and still trying to figure this whole world out and didn’t know to guard against the pests. Hell, I hadn’t even known what they were. They’d made life impossible in my home for nearly two months before they got bored and moved on. More than a year and half later, I was still finding things they’d hidden in the most random places.
