One Winter Night

The boy watched the snow falling. The sky was dark and shrouded by clouds so that no stars could be seen. Even the moon had disappeared behind the thick snow clouds, and the only light on the empty, snowy road was the artificially bright street light. Under the lamp were standing two figures, a man and a woman, embracing each other - or so it might have seemed, if you looked from afar.

But if you were close to them like the boy was, you could see the man was almost limp against the woman’s embrace, and that her head was tilted so that she could sink her teeth into the man’s dark skinned neck. The man was not around here, the young boy though. He was probably a merchant, as he looked entirely different from the people of the village.

The man looked dazed. His eyes were almost entirely closed, and his mouth hung slightly open as the woman continued sucking his blood away. He didn’t resist at all, and for the simplest reason: the poison of the sharp, blood-sucking fangs had made his senses dull and his body feel too heavy to move. The snow was gently piling on the man’s shoulders as he remained there, unmoving, entirely on the mercy of the woman. The cold air was tingling on the young boy’s face and his feet felt cold, but he couldn’t take his eyes out of the sight - not even to move to keep himself warm.

Then, the woman turned her attention to the boy, still drinking the red liquid pouring from the man’s veins. She finally, slowly, let her sharp fangs out of the man’s skin and smiled at the young boy, revealing her teeth and the mixture of blood and lipstick on her lips.

“See, Daniel. This is how it’s done,” she spoke to the red-haired young boy in a sweet, motherly tone. “Did you watch carefully?”

The boy, Daniel, nodded.

“Here, come drink,” the woman then said and carefully let the man’s limp body on the ground. She put him in a sitting position, but as the man was too paralyzed to move, she had to hold him to prevent him falling on the cold, snowy ground.

“It’s still a long time until you can hunt on your own, but I think you’re old enough to at least have a small taste…” she told the boy as he walked closer.

“Thank you, mother,” he replied, and although he tried to seem calm and collected, his entire body was shaking a little out of excitement. As he smelled the irony scent of blood coming from the man’s wounds, he felt the excitement finally taking him over. His gums tingled as his small fangs started coming out, but it would still take years until they were long and sharp enough to pierce human skin properly and be used for drinking. All Daniel could do was to lick the remaining blood from the man’s open wound.

The boy placed his mouth gently against the man’s wound and started licking. His small teeth nibbled the stranger’s skin a little out of instinct, but without doing any damage. His mother had already drank the best portions, but for Daniel, who had gotten used to only small amounts of bottled blood, the taste was heavenly.  It was a whole new experience to him, and he hoped he would be old enough already to get the taste of fresh blood, right from the beginning until the last drop he was permitted to drink.

After a few licks, the woman, Daniel’s mother, gently pulled her son away from the man.

“This is enough. You’re not old enough to drink more fresh blood just yet. You’ll get sick, like a human,” she told him. Although Daniel would have wanted to drink more, he was able to understand his mother only wanted the best of him.

“Now, be a good boy and help mother to carry this man closer to the village. We can’t let him freeze to his death.”

Daniel nodded, and although he was not very powerful, he was able to take a hold of the man’s left leg and hold it up. His mother, in turn, held the man from under his arms, and together the mother and son started moving the merchant to a place where he could, hopefully, be found soon.

“It’s important we don’t kill those whose blood we drink,” the boy’s mother instructed.

“I know, Daniel replied knowingly. “It’s because we want to avoid trouble.”

“That’s right,” the woman smiled. “It’s not always possible, but as territory lords, we should be as kind as we possibly can. Humans are the source of our food, but that’s no reason to treat them badly. I want you to remember this, Daniel, especially when you’re older.”

“Yes, mother,” he nodded and then sniffed. The cold had started to numb his face and make him freeze.

“Are you cold?”

The boy nodded a little.

“Alright, let’s leave the man here. Someone is bound to come here sooner or later,” she finally concluded after she could see the village centre’s lights and some buildings very near. “Do you want mother to carry you back?”

Daniel shook his head. “I can walk on my own,” he said and sniffed again. Daniel was sad the amount of blood he had drank was not enough to make him feel warm unlike his mother.

“Let’s go home. I’m sure a warm fire is waiting for us when we come back,” his mother spoke and took a hold of his son’s hand. Together the two of them started walking away from the direction of the village, towards the large forest opening in the horizon.

And as the snow kept falling, the traces of the vampire mother and her still small son completely disappeared into the snowy ground.