A mostly safe for work comic by Jodi Wegner.
Cold. It was the kind of cold that chilled the soul. I hadn't counted on how cold it would be. I was alone on the cold, dark streets of New York City without a friend in the world. I watched a light snow settle on the ground, and thought of going somewhere to warm my body. I walked up to the door of a bar and reached for the knob.
"Meow."
I blinked and turned my head. The noise had startled me. It was unexpected. I looked down on the ground. I saw a cat down near my feet, his fur mostly orange, except for a stripe from his nose and mouth down his neck to his stomach and the tip of his front paws that almost blended into snow. I bent down and the cat rubbed against my leg, purring. I reached out to pet him.
"Where did you come from?" I asked, and as I did, I realized that there were no paw prints in the snow, so where did this cat come from?
"Meow."
The cat looked up to me as it meowed, and the sound seemed to reverberate in my mind. I blinked and stood up, staring blankly at the door in front of me, wondering briefly for a moment what had I just been thinking about. Then I remembered.
Cold. It was the kind of cold that chilled the soul. I hadn't counted on how cold it would be. I was alone on the cold, dark streets of New York City without a friend in the world. I paused. I looked down at my feet. The cat sat there staring up at me. I guess that's not true anymore, I thought. Now I have a friend in this cat. I reached for the doorknob and opened the door to the bar. I stepped inside, and the cat followed behind me.
This bar didn't seem any different than any other bar I'd ever been in. The bar itself lay on the far side of the room, a bartender behind it drying a glass. I spied several customers sitting at various tables around the room. A few of the patrons glanced my way as I stepped in, although far more seemed interested in the cat, who hopped up on a window sill and laid down to rest. The bartender set the glass on the bar and looked about to say something, but instead tilted his head to the side slightly and said nothing. Then he picked up the glass and returned to drying it. The rest of the people also returned to what they were doing before I entered the bar.
I removed my coat and hung it on a hanger next to the door. I shook snow off my boots and made my way over to the bar. The bartender set down the glass and walked over to me.
"Can I get you something?"
"Coffee, please," I said. "It is so cold out there."
He nodded and walked over to a coffee pot. He returned a few minutes later with a tray holding a cup of coffee, a container of sugar, and a variety of creamers. I reached into my wallet for my credit card and handed it to him.
"Do you want to start a tab?" he asked me.
"Go ahead and cash it out," I said. "I won't be staying long."
As he walked away to charge my card, I took a sip from my coffee. I sighed contentedly as the warmth filled my body. Then I heard the door open behind me.
I turned to look and saw a figure wrapped in several layers of clothing. A quick glance around the bar revealed that the other bar patrons watched the figure intently, although the cat on the windowsill seemed to ignore the newcomer entirely, still sleeping away. The figure began to shed the extra layers of clothing, hanging them next to my coat on the rack. The woman who turned out to be underneath them all looked pale and gaunt. She wore a tight fitting black dress. The only real color she had was the slightly curled strawberry blonde hair on her head. She stared back at the other patrons defiantly, as if daring them to speak. They quickly averted their eyes and began to speak to each other in hushed whispers. She took one step in my direction, and then paused. She turned slowly to glance at the cat and her head tilted. She held a quizzical look on her face and then shook her head.
She started walking towards the bar. She strode with confidence, every step deliberate. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I was not typically one to stare, but I had never in my life seen a woman as beautiful as this. She walked straight to the bar and sat a few seats from me. I turned back around and saw the bartender, staring at her with a wide eyed stare, his entire body tense. Behind me I could still hear the whispers of the other patrons, whom I noticed would glance at her occasionally. Who was this woman? I thought.
Without even realizing I was doing it, I slid over to a stool near her and said, more confidently then I felt, "Can I buy a drink for such a pretty woman?" My heart pounded. What was I doing? Never in my life had I ever been this bold and forward.
She turned to look at me, and I watched her eyes move up and down as she took me in. Her lips tilted slightly into a smirk and she licked her lips. I briefly noticed slightly longer than average canine teeth within her mouth before the lips closed up once more. "If you wish," her voice was deeper than I had anticipated with almost a hint of an accent I couldn't quite place. She turned to the bartender. "My usual, please, and warm it up this time. It's cold outside."
Trembling slightly, the bartender turned around to a small refrigerator tucked into a corner. He pulled out a container and brought it to a microwave. Placing the container in the microwave, he heated it for a minute. After it has finished, he untwisted the lid and poured the contents into a glass. A thick, scarlet fluid flowed into the glass. He handed the glass over to the woman with a tremble in his hand. She took the glass and drank from it greedily. She sighed and let out a bit of a moan as she set the glass back on the table, and her cheeks began to flush.
"Thank you," she said in a sultry voice. "That his the spot." She rose and began to walk away.
"Wait," I said without intending to.
She turned to face me, her expression one of amusement mixed with annoyance. "Why?"
Why indeed? I wondered. I'm not sure why I asked her to wait, and wherever this newfound confidence was coming from, an answer was not forthcoming from it. I flushed.
"I'd...like to talk," I stammered, "if...you don't mind."
She smirked. "Don't you know who I am?"
"Should I?"
She tilted her head, her eyes filled with amusement. She stared into my eyes for a moment, and I found myself draw into them. Finally she broke the silence. "No, not really. I'd love to talk." She gestured to a nearby table and sat down. A couple sitting at the next table over watched wide eyed and quickly rose from their seats and scurried off to a table on the farthest corner of the bar, their eyes downcast the whole time. I handed the bartender my card again and said, "Err, I guess run me a tab afterall." The bartender took my card and then glanced at me. He opened his mouth as if to say something, glanced in the woman's direction, and then quickly scurried off with my card. I stepped up from the bar and walked over to sit next to her.
"So what would you like to talk about?" she asked.
I flushed. What did I want to talk about? No idea. I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing. I just found myself drawn to her. "I'm...not sure. I'm not very good at this. I don't usually..." I trailed off.
She smirked again. "Not many people would have the courage to talk to a bad girl like me." She smiled genuinely then and her face lit up.
"You have a beautiful smile," I blurted out.
The flush returned to her pale cheeks. "Thank you." She cast her eyes down for a moment, the confidence he had seen in her before melting away. I forced a smile, and felt the awkwardness in the situation. What even was happening here. She broke the silence. "So what brings you here this evening?"
"My feet," I replied, and I groaned inwardly. That bad joke was going to kill the moment.
But then she giggled. It felt out of character, but it sounded natural coming from her mouth. She put her hand to her mouth and looked surprised.
"No, sorry," I said. "In all seriousness, I just came to get out of the cold. I didn't expect New York to be so cold." A chill went through my body as I said it, and I shivered.
"So you are not from around here?"
"I'm from L.A. Originally."
Her eyes looked thoughtful and she smiled again. "I once lived there." She paused and then whispered, "A lifetime ago."
"Really?" I said. "What a small world. I just moved here a few days ago, and I'm getting used to the city. I haven't really had a chance to meet any..." I paused for a second and looked over at the cat. Sometime during all of this the cat had awoken and started staring intently at the two of us. "...friends..." I turned back to the woman and finished speaking, "....yet.” I blinked a few times, my mind a bit cloudy as if something was tickling the back of it, but I shook it off.
"Well you've met me," the woman said, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"So I have."
There was a moment of silence. My heart pounded. My mind felt...odd. I couldn't quite describe what was happened, but something felt...off.
The woman quickly stood up. "I think I should be going."
Just like that, the strangeness of my mind cleared, and I put my hand on hers. It was cold to the touch. "Please. Don't. Stay with me awhile longer. I could use a..." My brain felt momentarily dizzy. "....friend."
Her hand tensed under mine. "My friendship isn't what you need right now."
"You're afraid."
She nodded.
"Please, sit back down. Tell me about it."
I could feel the struggle in the way her hand continued to tense. After a few moments of contemplation, she relaxed slightly and sat back down. She shifted in her chair before she spoke in a soft whisper. "This is quite personal, but I've never had much luck connecting with people. Whether it be friendship or romance, something always goes wrong and everything ends in disaster." Her eyes glazed over and she looked as if she were somewhere far away. She shuddered. "It's my curse."
"Everyone struggles to connect to people," I said.
"Not like me," she whispered and lowered her head. I'm not sure what had come over me. This whole experience felt surreal to me. I had never done anything like this in my life. How had this woman bewitched me to act so out of character? But something stirred in me and my heart went out to this woman who had clearly dealt with some pain. I lifted her head to look into her dark blue eyes. I noticed a dark red tear streaming from her eye. Her eyes widened and she turned away, pulling her hand away.
"Don't look at me!" she said. "I need to...gather my composure."
"Of course."
She got up swiftly and headed for the restroom. The second the woman entered, several bar patron quickly left their seats and rushed out the door. A few women came out of the restroom, glancing back fearfully at the restroom and scurried off to the exit. The bar was nearly empty now. A waitress timidly walked up to me at my table and asked in a shaky voice if I wanted another drink. I ordered a drink for myself and another for the lady. The waitress quickly returned with the drinks glancing nervously at the door to the restroom. She placed my drink in front of me, and another drink of the type the woman had drunk earlier next to the empty chair. I sipped on my drink as I stared at the other drink, my mind foggy as I contemplated it, refusing me the awareness of what the contents of that glass contained and the horror of what it meant and the great danger I was clearly in.
"Meow."
I glanced over at the cat again, who still laid on the windowsill, but had once again gone to sleep, yet I clearly had heard its meow deep in my mind. A purr followed the meow. A gentle purring filling my mind, soothing and calming it. I watched the cat as its breathing synced with the purring in my mind, and I soon forgot what I had been thinking about earlier and continued to sip my drink as I waited for the woman to return.
I had almost finished my drink when she finally did. She appeared to be even more pale than she had before. Her eyes caught sight of the drink I had purchased for her, and she swiftly grabbed the glass and drank the red fluid greedily. Some of it had spilled on her lips, and she licked her lips clean. Her canine teeth looked even longer now and sharper, from the quick view I was given of them.
"Thank you for the drink," she said. "This is more than I would normally drink, but the night has taken a lot out of me." She sat down.
"Are you feeling better?"
Her cheeks began to flush again as color returned to them. Her lips curled into a smile. "Yes, much better."
"That's good."
Again there was silence. The silence was even more eerie without the background noise of other patrons. The bartender stood at the bar, completely still, sweat pouring down his forehead. Of the waitress there was no sign.
Her voice was barely a whisper but it sounded thunderous in his mind when she broke the silence. "I live nearby. Would you like to come to my place?"
"I'd love to."
She stood up quickly and made for the door. I strode over to the bar to cash out my tab. The bartender brought me my card and a receipt to sign, his eyes pleading with me, but he said nothing. I acknowledged his glance with a look of my own, but I was powerless to stop myself. I wasn't completely in control of my mind or my body, but any time my mind began to contemplate the horror of what was happening....
"Meow."
Her apartment was nothing like I expected. The whole place was cluttered with computers and machinery. I couldn't even begin to describe to you the marvels I saw there. It was technology far more advanced than my mind could comprehend.
"I'm an inventor," she mumbled, almost sheepishly. She grabbed my hand and led me through the apartment. She talked the whole way, but I barely retained any awareness of what was happening. All I could do is contemplate the absurdity of all of this, all while feeling like a hostage in my own mind.
She eventually led us to her bedroom, which turned out to be the most unkempt room of the home. Clothes were scattered all over the room, the windows were boarded shut, and the bed seemed covered in a thin layer of dirt.
I managed to gain control of my mouth and I started to say, "What..."
"Shut up," she said as she stared into my eyes, and I closed my mouth, mesmerized by her eyes. She kissed me then, roughly, nibbling on my lips with her sharp teeth. She began planting kisses on my neck, nipping at it as she went along. A chill went through my spine, and I felt a deep cold in my soul, colder than anything I'd ever felt before. Then she bit me.
I felt her fangs pierce my flesh and I jumped a bit, but the sharp pain soon faded into an intense pleasure that flowed from my neck to envelop my entire body. My brain flooded with chemicals and nothing existed by the pleasure. I could feel a suction and the warmth of my body began to fade, but the pleasure held me in place, unable to do anything but let out a soft moan.
Soon it was over, and as her fangs left my flesh, the pleasure faded. I whimpered because I didn't want it to end, but she looked me in the eyes. I felt fear then, real fear, as I saw the hunger in those eyes. Those were not the eyes of a human as they had before. What I saw were the eyes of an animal, a predator. I started to feel light headed and woozy. She pushed me to the bed.
"Do not attempt to find me in the morning," she said with a snarl. "Wait for me, and I will come for you tomorrow night."
I nodded my head before I blacked out.
I awoke the next day around noon, with no knowledge of how I got there. My memory of the night before was fuzzy, and I felt strangely lethargic. I knew I should go to work, but all I wanted to do was stay at home and wait. I walked to the living room and sat down, watching out the window and waiting. My mind was a blank, but a tapping on my window broke into my awareness. Sitting outside my window, many stories from the street below, was the orange cat staring at me. I opened the window and he hopped inside, he rubbed against my leg and purred as I sat back down and waited. I made no attempt to pet the cat, but merely waited. The cat shrugged and padded his way into my kitchen. I could hear the sounds of things being batted and knocked over, but I ignored it. It was unimportant. Only the waiting was important.
After some time had passed, and the sun began to set, the cat strolled out of the kitchen and hopped onto my lap, purring. He laid his head down on my lap and fell asleep, purring the whole time. I ignored the cat on my lap and continued to wait. As the clock struck seven, my doorbell rang. I immediately stood up, much to the cat's annoyance as it jumped to the floor. It leapt onto a shelf and watched the door intently.
I walked to the door and answered it, and there she stood, more beautiful they she was the night before.
"May I come in?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. It was strange to hear my voice.
She stepped into my apartment and grabbed me. Hungrily she bit into my neck. Again, the sharp pain faded almost immediately, replaced with an even more intense pleasure than the night before. The intensity of the pleasure was impossible to describe. In that moment, that was all there was and all that ever would be. I could feel all my awareness fading away to nothing, but before I was about to black out and fade away forever, she stopped. I fell limp in her arms whimpering.
She laid me gently back into my chair. “I'll...” she started to speak and paused. She turned to look at the cat. The two of them stared at one another for several minutes before she took a step toward it. The cat arched his back and hissed at her. She stopped and took a step back, her eyes wide in surprise. She stared at the cat a few moments longer before she turned back to me and said, as if she hadn't even paused at all “...be back again tomorrow night.”
She walked out of my apartment without another word, although she took one long glance at the cat before she left.
On the third night, she came to my apartment again. She asked permission to enter, and I granted it. Once she came in, she took my hand gently and walked me into the living room.
"I am a monster," she whispered. "I was never given a choice in my transformation, and I should give you the choice now." She paused. "You're not my first. I've turned two others before, and they ended...badly. I did not give them a choice in the matter. One of them hated me for it, and the other...." Her eyes glazed over. "The other was never right. The man turned into a wild beast, a ravenous hunter who could only kill and feed. I've been afraid to try this again, but I acted hastily, as if...." She paused and look at the cat. "...my actions are not my own." She turned back to me. "But we are creatures of free will and I will not let my will be swayed by another. This choice is yours. We could turn back now. I could go and you would never see me again." A tear of blood fell from her eye. "But if you agree, we could be together forever. My curse could be broken. I would love you if you let me." She looked into his eyes. "Answer me truthfully, do you want me to continue?"
There it was. My out. Suddenly my mind was clear. I was in control of my destiny. I could walk away. But then again, look at what she was offering me: love, immortality, eternal companionship. Sure, it had its risks, but what didn't?
"We'll be together forever?"
Another tear of blood fell. "Yes, forever."
I lifted my head and tilted it to the side, exposing my neck. Her eyes widened for a moment before she latched onto my neck for the last time. The pleasure this time was so intense that there was nothing at all in the universe. My awareness faded to nothing, and I was gone.
Cold and darkness enveloped him. He clawed his way upward. He reached out of his grave and pulled himself up. Hunger gnawed at him, and he was so cold. Why was he so cold? He looked around. Sitting atop his tombstone was a cat. He could feel the blood from the cat's warm body calling him, and he stepped toward the cat, but a giant shadow took its place, towering over him, causing him to flinch and turn away. Then he saw a woman standing near him. Her gaze was sad and pitiful. Blood streamed from her eyes, but it was not enough to satiate his hunger, and he sensed no heartbeat from her, no blood pumping through her veins. She wasn't food. She was unimportant. He turned away.
Thump thump! Thump thump!
He salivated at the sound. Food! He swiftly followed the sound. He saw two people, a man and a woman, locked in an embrace. He could hear their heartbeats, could smell their blood, could feel their warmth.
Thump thump! Thump thump! Thump thump!
The man's heartbeat intensified the more intense the couples embrace became. He leapt at the couple and grabbed the woman. Her heartbeat intensified in that moment, but the man's drew him in more. He tossed the woman to the side as she started screaming. The man's eyes widened as he grabbed the man's throat and ripped the flesh from it. The scent of the man's warm blood filled his nostrils as it spurted furiously from the man's throat.
The screaming of the woman had stopped. He saw the woman with no heartbeat holding her. The heart had stopped in that other body and her blood drained.
"Drink," the woman with no heartbeat said sadly.
He bit down into the man's throat and began drinking the blood spurting from the wound. Only then did the cold leave him and warmth filled his body.
The cat watched from his perch, and then he leapt down and began to walk away. It took three steps and faded away to nothingess.