In the span of just twenty-four hours, Sevokh had managed to throw its entire life into disarray. It had made the mistake of picking the worst possible prey, a strong magic user who was fearless enough to resist its hypnosis fairly well. He offered friendship, but he might be dangerous. When he asked Sevokh if it wanted to catch a shark with him, a torrent of possible outcomes flooded its mind. He could be mistaken about the shark’s true nature; perhaps it was meant to kill vampires instead of other fish. Or, the wrong human could notice Sevokh and attack without hesitation.
However.
Its hunt hadn’t backfired completely. Larry apparently didn’t want to kill or eat it; in fact, he rather seemed to enjoy its company. Maybe, if Sevokh entertained him for long enough, it would have another opportunity to dine upon his blood. It very much liked that part about him.
He had brown skin and strong, supple flesh, with his shirt unbuttoned as if he wanted Sevokh to tear a hole into his chest. It struggled to keep its eyes off of him, and it was thankful that its dark goggles obscured where its gaze fell. Oh, and it already missed the taste of his blood, warmer than average and laced with a citrine tanginess. If only it had been able to finish drinking him the first time. Sevokh sent him a nervous pulse despite itself, so he’d understand why it was taking so long to answer.
Larry didn’t seem to have a problem with that. His smile was casual and crowded with crooked teeth. “Relax, dude. I work there, so if anyone gets on your case I’ll tell ‘em it’s official lifeguard business. Or you can just hypnotize ‘em ‘til they stop bothering you. Whaddaya say?”
Sevokh pursed its lips. Going with him was risky, but if it declined it might never see him again. It steeled itself for the worst and ran upstairs to fetch its parasol, then hurried back down. When he raised an eyebrow it explained, Protection and privacy. He held his hand up in an odd manner, then shrugged that thought off and motioned for it to follow him outside.
Sevokh hadn’t been sure what “ten minutes away by surfboard” meant. It knew that the trip would be short, and that some sort of vehicle would be involved. It did not expect to see Larry snap his fingers and materialize an elliptical, floating, blue-and-white striped plank. It was a few feet long, and the way it hovered just inches above the ground reminded Sevokh of a dragonfly. Larry stepped onto it and motioned for Sevokh to follow suit. “Flying on Justin is just like riding a skateboard. You’ll be fine.”
Skateboard? Sevokh tapped the surfboard with the tip of its parasol. It seemed to be stable enough. It gingerly boarded the vessel and immediately began to regret its decision. It didn’t like how narrow it was, or the way that it dipped slightly under their weight. Its naturally rigid stance, with its feet drawn together and its shoulders stiffened, didn’t seem conducive to maintaining its balance.
“You know what? You’d better sit down instead. Just dangle your legs over the edge.” The surfboard rose slightly so Sevokh could do so comfortably. It noticed movement in the corner of its eye and looked up to see that Larry was extending a hand towards it. “If you don’t hold on, you’re gonna fall off. We’ll be moving hella fast.”
Sevokh wrapped its fingers around Larry’s embarrassingly quickly and laid its parasol across its lap. His body temperature ran hot, perhaps because of his solar heritage. He mumbled something about its tight grip but didn’t complain otherwise, and the surfboard rose even higher and sped forward with bewildering speed. It flew over automobiles and pedestrians, even a few short buildings. Sevokh had watched the city change over the decades, but it had never seen anything from this high up before, and certainly not this quickly. Did being a lifeguard mean Larry could experience this view every day?
As Larry had promised, it didn't take long to arrive at the beach. The time was roughly 6:00 PM, but it was summer and there were a couple more hours before the sun would set. At this time of day, the beach was largely empty, but a few humans with beach towels and umbrellas were still scattered about. Even humans preferred going out late to avoid the sun. When Sevokh and Larry touched down, the former held its parasol close, looking down to hide its goggle-clad eyes even further. As the pair approached the ocean, its eyes darted from person to person. Some humans nervously glanced back, and when they did Sevokh radiated calming pulses towards them, that they might ignore the vampire’s presence. It was a little difficult to placate so many people, though, especially with so many distractions. Somehow sand had gotten into Sevokh’s heeled boots, and even with the parasol the sun’s rays made its dry skin itch. The humans themselves were a distraction, with their sweet-smelling blood that made Sevokh want to drain each and every one of them. All the more reason to hope that Larry’s intentions were true; drinking blood would moisturize its skin.
The pair came to a stop in front of the waves. The wind was gentle today, and the water gently lapped at the damp sand. Larry took off his shirt and stuck his surfboard upright in the sand. “Can you breathe underwater?”
Sevokh couldn't breathe at all. It internally modified the question to, “Could it survive underwater,” and decisively shook its head no. On the one hand, its lack of lungs meant it couldn't drown in a human’s sense of the word, and if it kept its mouth closed then water wouldn’t be able to enter its body. Additionally, its superhuman strength would theoretically enable it to swim for longer than most humans. On the other hand, it suspected that it wouldn't be able to effectively eject water from its bowels using its tongue, which would result in drowning nonetheless. Suspected, because it had never swam before; vampires were ultimately creatures of the land.
“That's no problem. Here, hold these.” Larry shoved his shirt in Sevokh's face, as well as a small glass-and-metal slab, and it carefully took them. The shirt was short-sleeved and brightly colored, with silhouettes of tropical flowers and trees scattered across the thin fabric. The slab was small enough to fit in Sevokh's hand, and there was a glass plate on the front that displayed the time (6:16 PM) and a color photograph of Larry posing shirtless with his surfboard. Sevokh vaguely recognized the machine as a modern telephone. “And make sure nobody messes with Justin, or else there’s gonna be a huge problem. See you in ten minutes.”
With that, Larry strode into the water until his head disappeared below the waves. Sevokh stared at the last spot it’d seen him, then down at the shirt and phone in its hand. It had to spend ten minutes on a beach it had never been to, a good distance away from its nest, surrounded by delectable, yet dangerous humans. Was this a test? Was Larry hiding underneath the waves, waiting for Sevokh to snap and bury its fangs in someone’s neck so he'd have an excuse to kill them?
It rapidly blinked to erase that thought from its mind. Test or not, Sevokh wanted to go back home, and it wanted to taste a shark. It would stand guard over Larry’s surfboard, no matter what.
As it turned out, none of the humans showed any interest in the surfboard, not until Larry returned from his hunt. He sauntered towards Sevokh with as much confidence as when he'd left, dragging a large, gray shark behind him by the tail. It was still alive, and it thrashed about in an attempt to escape his grasp. Larry dropped it on the ground at Sevokh's feet and wiped some water from his brow, although it didn't make him any drier. If anything, water seemed to be dripping out of his pores, as if he was sweating intensely. Sevokh noticed that he had a bite mark on his right hand that was already in the process of healing.
“Caught an Atlantic black-tipped shark for you! You can have at it, dudette.” He put his hands on his hips and looked around, apparently unbothered by the people who were giving him judgmental looks.
Not yet. Not in public. Sevokh nudged the shark with its boot, then crouched down to get a closer look at it. It had vertical slits near its head — gills, Larry had said — and its eyes were pale with round pupils.
“Well, we can't leave yet. I'm about to throw up something fierce—” Larry sharply doubled over, clamped a hand over his mouth, and turned around. Sevokh watched him cough up an acrid-smelling mix of seawater and bile. He pointed at the vomit and it floated a couple of feet above the ground. He then dug a small hole into the sand and let the vomit fall into it, then covered it back up. Sevokh could only stare and transmit its emotions, a wild mix of bewilderment and concern.
Larry turned back around and leaned on his surfboard. He was no longer sweating seawater. “I can't breathe underwater either, but I also can't drown, so when I run outta breath all that water gets stuck in my system. My body expels it the only way it knows how, you know?”
No. Is this common for humans? Sevokh had never heard of anyone doing this before, but humans were generally better adapted to swimming. Maybe it was simply unfamiliar with this trait.
“Nah, it's just me. I mean, my papa can't drown either, but since I technically ain't ‘of this earth’ the ocean tries to stuff more water into me. It's a long story.” Larry waved his hand as if he didn't want to elaborate any further. “Let's just get back to your house already!”
Ten minutes later, the pair was back at the nest. Larry was about to lay the shark on the dining room table, but Sevokh motioned for him to follow it down the flight of creaky stairs that led to the basement. There were two rooms here: the feeding room in the front, where Sevokh consumed most of its prey, and one in the back that it liked to call the nursery. The feeding room’s air was permanently suffused with the strong scent of blood, and in the corner was a large plastic bin that it used to make compost.
A sudden flash of light made Sevokh startle. Larry had taken out his telephone and was making it shine with a small torch stuck onto the back. “Just wanted to see what everything looks like. It's pitch-dark in here.” He shone his light across the room, letting it linger on the locked door to the nursery and the compost bin. “Why's that black bin smell like rotting meat?”
It is my compost. Sevokh heard Larry ask it to elaborate, but it was hungry and tired of waiting. It knelt in front of the shark, taking in the creature’s appearance one last time before devouring it. The shark had died on the way back to the nest, but something about the way its eyes were still open made Sevokh think it looked frozen in time. Sevokh ran a hand along the shark’s skin and was astonished by how it felt smooth in one direction, yet rough in the other. It made a note to ask Larry why that was the case later, but for now, it would feed.
It bit the shark on its side, near the gills. Cooling blood rushed into its mouth, a few drops dribbling down its throat and into its retracted tongue. Sevokh tore out a sizeable piece of flesh and spat it out, dug its tongue into the bleeding animal, and began to feed. The blood’s flavor was reminiscent of the sea breeze, sharp and a bit salty, but was otherwise quite similar to that of a human’s. Sevokh liked the flavor, and as it kept drinking they could feel their stomach swell. At one point it glanced up and noticed that Larry had chosen to watch it feed instead of turning away. His expression was surprisingly relaxed, and he flashed Sevokh a smile when their eyes met.
When Sevokh finally finished feeding, it retracted its tongue and rolled over onto its back, too full to move properly. Between the shark and Larry’s blood, it had eaten the equivalent of one regular meal. It would take at least an hour for the shark’s blood to disperse throughout its body, reddening its skin and strengthening its muscles.
Out of the corner of its eye, Sevokh watched Larry sit down next to it, bringing one knee up to his chest. “How’d it taste? And why’s your stomach get so huge?”
Sevokh didn’t have the mental space to answer those questions in full. It was in a state of bliss right now, relishing the gratifying feeling of its body gradually digesting its meal. It sent Larry just a few words: Delicious. Different digestive system.
“Huh.” Larry shrugged and continued, “Well, glad you liked it. Lemme know if you want me to catch anything else, and I’ll do it. These guns can take down any animal, no matter what!” He flexed his arms and slapped his biceps with each of his hands.
Sevokh wasn’t ready to respond to that immediately. With this much blood in its system it was having trouble staying awake. It felt strange, falling asleep in front of a human, but for the first time Sevokh truly felt like it could trust Larry. He had fed them some of his own blood, offered to be friends, and went out of his way to hunt for it — and now he was offering to go hunting on its behalf again. He hardly flinched at its greedy slurping, and he didn’t seem bothered by how much its strong bite must have hurt. Such rare qualities for a human to have; why would Sevokh pass him up? ‘The idea of draining him completely is silly,’ Sevokh thought as it drifted off to sleep, ‘Now that I would like to be his friend too.’
An hour must have passed by the time Sevokh woke up, because its stomach was flat again. Larry was still sitting next to it, fiddling with his telephone. When he saw it stir his face lit up. “Welcome back to the world of the living, dude! You was out like a light.”
Sevokh sat up and, feeling rather impressed, sent Larry a wave of amazement.You stayed?
“Course I stayed.” Larry laughed, revealing those crooked teeth again. Sevokh found it intriguing how different his mouth looked: smaller, with blunter teeth that were better for grinding plants than tearing through meat. “I didn’t wanna ditch you, and we still got stuff to talk about.”
You would hunt for me, Sevokh recalled. You think I should only eat wild animals? It did not find that prospect attractive. It could drink animals’ blood occasionally, but it was designed to feed on humans first and foremost.
“I don’t care who or what you eat, long as it’s not my family and friends,” Larry shrugged. “I just don’t wanna go around killing people — it’s not how surfers are supposed to act. That’s your job, you know?”
Oh. Yes. That was a relief.
“But, I was also thinking that it don’t gotta stop at catching food.”
Sevokh cocked their head, letting pulses of curiosity drift towards Larry.
“I mean, I noticed how dirty your house is, and how outta the loop you are. I was thinking it don’t always gotta be that way.”
Sevokh assumed that when Larry said “dirty,” he was referring to the compost bin. The smell is natural. It contains waste from feeding. It wasn’t sure how to address the fact that it was “outta the loop” yet.
“What?” Larry turned around to look at the compost bin, then back to Sevokh. “Oh, that would explain a lot. I was talking about all the dust upstairs, though. There’s a lot in here, too. Not to mention some of the furniture looks a little worse for wear — but the point is, I wanna clean the place up for you. It’s your house, right? I think you deserve to live somewhere more comfortable.”
My nest, Sevokh corrected. Truth be told, it had hardly even noticed how dirty the nest had gotten over the decades. With its nostrils permanently covered and its mouth sealed shut by default, it rarely breathed the stale air in, and it didn’t interact with the furniture often. The only room that it cleaned with any regularity was the gallery, where it spent its time painting. Sevokh remembered how its life had been over a century ago, when its parent was still alive. The nest had been cleaner then, had it not? At some point, it had fallen into a cycle of feed, paint, garden, repeat, and neglected the well-being of its own home.
Larry continued, “I know you don’t get out much, but I wanna show you more of the city, not just the beach. Maybe even further, if you want.”
Sevokh rapidly shook its head no. The idea wasn’t bad, per se, but it was frightening, and it telepathically let Larry know. What if today’s excursion was an exception to the rule, and future interactions with humans didn’t go as smoothly?
“Hey, it doesn’t have to be that scary. We can start simple and work our way up. You like walks, right? I’m down to take walks around the block and back.”
Sevokh stared at the bloodstained ground. It couldn’t remember the last time it had taken a walk purely for leisure’s sake.
“Actually, look at it this way.” Larry adjusted his legs so they were crossed at the ankles. “Remember when I barfed up all that water?”
Yes? Sevokh looked up again, curious to hear what Larry would say next.
“Like I said, Papa can’t drown. He’s a full-blooded human, so the earth don’t really see him as a problem. He’s just a human that can use magic. No matter where he swims, when he gets out of the water he feels fine. But me? My mama’s the sun, and the sun and the earth got a little beef with each other—”
They own cattle?
“I mean they don’t like each other. So when I go swimming in any natural body of water, the earth takes it out on me. It’s like she’s saying, ‘You don’t belong here. I can’t kill you, but I wish I could.’ I can feel the ocean forcing water into me, trying to drag me all the way to the bottom.”
Could it ever succeed?
“Nah, it’s just being salty.” Larry suddenly burst into laughter for reasons unclear to Sevokh. When he noticed it didn’t understand, he explained that to be salty meant to be irrationally upset. Sevokh didn’t smile, but it did send a pulse of happiness to show that it found the pun funny. Larry grinned back, then sobered up as he resumed telling his story.
“I think that…” Larry paused for a moment, carefully choosing his words. “I think that most people would find that experience pretty freaky. I was hella surprised the first time the ocean tried to drown me. But I wasn’t gonna let that ruin my love for the beach. I kept swimming, no matter what. Now I’m a surfer and a lifeguard. You get what I’m tryna say?”
That I should try new things, even if they frighten me?
“Yeah, exactly!” Larry raised his palm to Sevokh.
It looked at his hand and asked, Why is it raised?
“Damn, you don’t know about high-fives either? Okay, here’s a new thing for you try right now. Raise your palm and slap it against mine.”
Sevokh did as instructed, forcefully thrusting its palm forward and resting it against his. It supposed that the purpose of the gesture was to get a feel for the other person’s flesh, but Larry lowered his palm and shook his head. “Nah, you’re supposed to lower your palm too. Also, that was really stiff.”
I’m always stiff.
Larry rubbed his chin in thought. “Good point. Aight, new plan! High-five me like that again, but don’t forget to lower your palm.”
Sevokh tried again, and this time Larry high-fived just as slowly as it did. He pumped his fist and exclaimed, “That was way better! A little slow, but as long as we’re moving at the same pace I think it’s fine.”
Another pulse of happiness. The high-five was a simple yet fun gesture, and Sevokh was glad that Larry had taught it. I do think I shall find going outside more enjoyable if it involves high-fives.
“Awesome! We’re gonna have so much fun, dudette!”
Indeed. Also, I have a request. The handshake reminded Sevokh of something that had been on its mind earlier.
Larry raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Shoot.”
I want to feed on you periodically, it stated. It saw no point in beating around the bush. Your blood tastes delectable, and I enjoy the look of your flesh.
Larry ran a hand through his curly, shoulder-length hair. “Whew, guess I shoulda seen that coming, huh? Y’know, I totally see where you’re coming from. A lot of people enjoy my looks.” He waggled his eyebrows and flexed his arms again — to what end, Sevokh was not sure, but it didn’t have any complaints. “Honestly, I’m fine with that. I found the feeding a little gross at first, but it don’t bother me no more. How’s once per week sound? Maybe a little more if I’m feeling up to it.”
Yes, yes, yes. Sevokh hadn’t been this excited in decades, perhaps even in its entire life. It had never imagined that it would be possible to feed on the same human more than once, let alone that said human would agree to such an idea so quickly. It liked knowing that if a particularly unfortunate week occurred in which it was unable to hunt new prey, Larry would be there to offer it warm, fresh blood. This was a level of security that balanced out the possible dangers that could come with exploring the world more.
“Dope! Let’s seal with the deal with some dap, then.” Larry stood up and motioned for Sevokh to follow suit. He held his hand the same way he had just before the two had gone to the beach, similar to a high-five but with his palm sideways and his fingers angled upwards. “Remember the first time you tried giving me a high-five and you just held your palm there? It’s kinda like that.”
Sevokh mimed Larry’s position and they slapped their hands together. Then Larry leaned in a bit and curled his fingers. When Sevokh followed suit, it looked as if they were making half-fists. After a second, they pulled away.
“Get it? There’s a lotta variations, but that’s the most basic one.”
It is a sweet gesture. Thank you. Sevokh sent Larry the strongest wave of happiness it had yet, and he winked back. It was losing track of how many positive pulses it had sent to him today. If things continued in this way, there would be many more to come.