The day of our appointment with Antun was upon us. We’d finally get to hear his story. I wondered if he was somewhat recently turned or if he was one of those old vampires like in the books and movies. And if he was, why would he do something so public for a career?

  I yawned. These vampires were going to kill me with these early mornings. At least I’d be already dressed for my funeral.

  I was not made for early mornings. Not that that made me a night owl in particular, either. I was more like a chronically exhausted pigeon, never really feeling like I had a perfect time of day. Today though, the sun and I woke up more or less together as I had needed to get ready before Michael came.

  Ugh, I gotta go with him but I’m so tired…

  He hadn’t told me where our appointment was going to be; I was completely in the dark, no pun intended. He had apparently grabbed the cab before getting me and had told the cabbie the address already. All Michael would say was, “You’ll see,” with a sly smile when I asked where we were headed. Any remaining sleepiness vanished.

  I really didn’t care for surprises, especially where these two vampires were concerned. But for the sake of that irritatingly charming smile, I decided to play along for now. I had the reassurance of my keychain-sized pepper spray hanging on my keys in my bag should the worst happen.

  My fingers tapped together as I watched buildings blur by, catastrophizing about what could happen to me. I’d be the only human in a house with two vampires… Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, but it was a little late to back out now.

  We drove northward on I-5 for about forty minutes before turning off of the highway. We drove another ten minutes or so until the cab came around the corner, revealing a modern looking cement, wood plank, and glass structure three stories tall. The driveway looped around by the front door, standing black and stoic against the light grey and warm browns of the building.

  In front of the door, in a wide brimmed hat and horn-rimmed sunglasses, stood our host, Antun Morina. Antun opened the passenger door of the cab with a velvety smooth “Hello my new friends. Do hurry inside, I was lazy with my skincare today and forgot my SPF, I’ll burn to a crisp in about another ninety seconds.”

  Michael chuckled for a moment until he saw Antun’s smile drop.

  “O-oh!”

  He hurried out the other side of the car, leaving me to decide how I’d go.

  I glanced up at Antun, trying to gauge if I was in any danger. He offered his hand to me like some old-timey gentleman, and it was so charming that I couldn’t help but take it despite my discomfort.

  I followed Michael to the threshold as Antun paid the cab, following us inside shortly after.

  His home continued to follow the industrial theme on the inside with the colors and features, the AC feeling extra cool even with the chilly morning.

  For a lair, this place is very clean, too clean. Every house has an imperfection, but this one really looks perfect.

  The perfection itself made me uneasy. Too sterile, like he knew how to clean up after himself.

  “My guests,” Antun said as he placed the hat and glasses on a peg by the door. “Please, follow me.”

  Weird speech pattern.

  “If you don’t mind my mentioning, Antun, you’re speaking a little differently than you had last weekend,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound rude.

  “Oh! Don’t mind the fancy ‘my guests’ bit. It simply calls back to the tradition that, as a host, a vampire must guard all who are under their care. I kinda hoped one of you would’ve known that bit of lore but I suppose that’s all the more reason for you guys to come to me.”

  He indicated up the stairs before leading the way. I gazed around before following, appreciating the aged red brick wall, the large windows, the rebar-styled bars on the railing of the stairs. The polished cement floor echoed as I walked to the stairs.

  “Come now, I do have that sponsor meeting after this.” I walked a little faster.

  The brick wall extended to the second floor and continued, presumably, to the third floor. He used Edison bulb lighting, hanging from the ceiling and screwed into lamps. The effect was magical, making the couches with plump pillows and soft throws even cozier.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “There’s plenty of information out there, most of it total BS. I’ve been around for a while now so I think I’m a fairly reliable source on what’s fact vs what’s fiction.”

  He led us to a set of couches facing each other from across a leather-topped coffee table, studded with brass around the sides.

  “What other hospitality rules are there?”

  I really was curious, as I was a guest in this situation. Not to mention, I was the only one not a vampire here; I wanted to know how to keep myself safe.

  “If you offer hospitality to a vampire, they cannot hurt you. So whenever you have a vampire guest, I suggest you bind them with hospitality.”

  “How on earth do I do that?”

  Obviously, I needed to know this for my own safety.

  “Just as I did downstairs. I declared to the universe that you are my guests. Were I mortal, that would’ve just bound Michael here.”

  Michael looked a tad uncomfortable at the newfound knowledge.

  Am I actually safe? What if this guy is just a very smooth liar? How could I even verify if there were such a thing as magical protection?

  “If a host breaks the rules of hospitality, the vampire is no longer bound. As your host, if I, as a vampire, break the rules of hospitality, I will lose mana, requiring me to find blood.”

  “Mana?” Michael asked, his brow lifted in question. “Like in video games?”

  “Eh,” Antun’s hand made a side-to-side motion. “Sort of. Let me ask you this: why do vampires need to drink blood?”

  We sat there for a moment. I grabbed a throw pillow, hugging it loosely on my lap. I personally didn’t know if the question was rhetorical or not because I certainly had no idea why vampires needed blood. But it seemed that Michael was also at a loss.

  “I’ll just tell you. Normally, I’d love to play around and see if I can tease an answer out but I do have other appointments today. I want to make the most of our time together.”

  He cocked his head to the side and pouted his lip as if saying too bad, then he held out his hands like some professor in front of a class.

  “Why do vampires need blood? Blood carries mana, the real-life kind. Think of mana as the battery of the soul. In humans, mana acts similarly to blood cells in that they have cycles. Mana stays good in the bloodstream for about a month before it breaks down and is recycled as energy in the body.”

  Antun took a sip of water from a glass with a straw before continuing.

  Mana is a thing too? What’s next, werewolves? Now I had all kinds of nonsense floating in my head. Witches? Demons? I mean, come on. I let my mind wander with those thoughts for a moment while Professor Antun continued.

  “Vampires cannot produce mana. We’re technically “dead” in that way. Mana powers the soul, vampires can’t produce mana, so we need to find it elsewhere, from living, or mana-producing, sources. Our souls degenerate at an accelerated rate since we are not constantly producing mana like when we were alive. We risk forever losing our souls if we don’t continue to feed on blood.”

  My head shot to Antun’s face. Souls… can degenerate? My own heart sounded loud in my ears, my insides quaking at the thought. Then what even happens when we die?

  Michael’s face paled to a sickly greenish hue. He’d had no idea that his soul was on the line.

  “Hey,” I nudged him, “at least you’ve been keeping up on drinking blood. You’ve been drinking about once a month. If mana stays “good” in the blood for about that long, that definitely tracks for how you had described your thirst.”

  He nodded, only slightly reassured.

  “Mana that is outside of living blood, like the blood you’ve been getting from the slaughterhouse, let’s call it “dead blood”: it has mana but since it is no longer in a mana-producing body, the mana is breaking down in real time. You’ve probably noticed that you need more than a pint to get by?” Antun inclined his head to Michael.

  He nodded, then asked, “Why?”

  “That’s because it’s already started breaking down as opposed to blood that is actively flowing in a mana-producing, living body. If the blood is more than a couple hours old, you may as well be drinking electrolyte water because there is little to no usable mana left.”

  Michael’s face was still pale, his brows creased with worry.

  “So, you’re saying that while I may be conscious, I’m really no longer… living?”

  “Technically, all vampires are part of the community of “the undead,” if you need a word for it. You’re part of the family now, Michael. May as well embrace it, am I right?”

  Antun gave an energetic smile and swiped his hand over the table, knocking against Michael’s knee.

  Michael just looked at his knee, then to Antun, his face blank as if not seeing the joke. His shock was nearly palpable.

  “I’m sorry.” Michael swallowed. “I think most of me knew it already, just the rest of me didn’t want to acknowledge it yet.”

  Antun’s eyes were full of sympathy and understanding.

  I felt awful for Michael. Over the past week or so of me training him, he had kept to the workload I had given him without complaint and had been nothing but respectful of me and my boundaries.

  In a lot of ways, I had grown to respect Michael too. He wasn’t a “bro” around me; he was just his goofy, nerdy self. Still, I didn’t want to admit that, maybe, I had been wrong about him all along. Just because I respect him doesn’t mean that I don’t have to be wary. But I couldn’t forget that he was a vampire, and I, a potential source of mana.

  “I understand the feeling, Michael, trust me. I remember the feeling of the pit that sits in your heart, the pit that is your heart now: it’s unnerving and uncomfortable. Coming to terms with having a still heart takes as long as it takes. Grieve for yourself for as long as you need, but it’s important to keep on going, even if your heart isn’t. There’s so much more to see and experience out there, my friend! And I’ve made it my life’s mission to try out as many different things as I can.”

  Fitting for an influencer. But he was just talking about soul death, and after this he’s talking to a sponsor? I was reminded again of my question about his career choice, but if we were pressed for time…

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