David

I arrived at David’s house around six, local time, which was a bit earlier than I intended, but apparently not too early for the Gonzales family, as I saw lights on in two rooms, though it was past dawn. So, I knocked on the door and was greeted by a girl of thirteen or fourteen.

“Hi, is David Gonzales here?”

Without so much as asking who I was, she went to the stairs and called out, “Dad! Someone’s at the door for you!” before she disappeared into the kitchen, leaving me standing at the open front door.

Just to reassure myself that I wasn’t really a storybook villain, I stepped over the threshold and gently closed the door behind me.

Another woman, this one maybe a year younger than my twenty-seven came down the stairs in a pantsuit and glanced at me, before turning back up the stairs and calling out, “Mi amor, hay una dama aquí esperándote.” She hugged the girl in the kitchen, grabbed something from the fridge and headed out to the garage, where I heard her drive away a minute later.

David came down, at last, and seemed to do a double take when he saw me.

“Ah, Agent Douglas, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Yeah, I know and I’m sorry for distracting you on a busy morning.”

“Yeah, why are you here? We’re supposed to be leaving from the FBI building at eight.”

“I… I wanted to talk to you about something before we go.”

“Okay, sure. I’m pretty well packed and June can get herself ready for school,” he said, directing the last part into the kitchen where the girl, presumably June, was munching noisily on some form of cereal.

Then, the two of us sat down in the living room and I tried to think of how to best broach the subject.

“So, uh, you work in the DEA. You must deal with a lot of addicts.”

“Yes, some, but my job is more concerned with the dealers and smugglers than the users, not that those are necessarily mutually exclusive.”

“Oh, so you don’t know much about addiction….”

“Firstly, Alexandra, I didn’t say that. And, secondly, what is this really about? If you’re struggling with something, you’d be better off reporting it to one of the doctors that work with the FBI, not me.”

“Okay, I don’t know any way to say this that won’t sound insane, so I’m just going to get it over with. David, I’m a vampire.”

“What?”

“A vampire.”

“I heard what you said, but I don’t understand what you mean.”

With a sigh, I pulled my cheeks back with my fingers to give him a good look at my fangs and I mumbled, “I am a hamhire.”

“Cool! Can I touch your fangs?” came the response from the doorway into the kitchen and I let my cheeks go, feeling extremely foolish.

“June, go get ready for school.”

“But, I’m already ready for school. And, I want to talk to the vampire.”

I sighed, realizing that this probably could have been avoided if I had just waited to speak to David in the Office parking lot.

“Jovencita, eso no es algo que le hacemos a los invitados.”

“Pero, papá, ¿cuándo más voy a conocer a un vampiro?”

“David, it’s fine, I don’t care.”

“See, the vampire says it’s okay if I touch her fangs.”

“¿Me estás desobedeciendo?”

“No, papá. I want to meet the vampire.”

“Cristo, concédeme paciencia. Fine. June, meet Alexandra. Alexandra, meet my impertinent little brat, June.”

“Hi, June, call me Alex,” I said, extending my hand.

June bounced over with the energy of youth and grabbed my hand, “You aren’t cold. I thought vampires were cold. Hey, can I touch your fangs?”

Taken aback, I said, “It’s a nice morning and I don’t see why I would be colder than anyone else. And, um, sure, I guess you can touch my fangs, though nobody has ever asked that before.”

I parted my lips in an awkward smile and the girl poked at my teeth in what had to be the strangest interaction I’d had with a teenager since I was one.

As she did, I couldn’t help but notice her soft flesh waving about in striking range and I was horrified that the thought even passed through my mind.

“Okay, June, that’s enough, now go brush your teeth and let us talk in peace,” David said.

Once she had left the room, he continued, “So, where does that leave us?”

“You mean ‘us two’ or ‘us’ as in ‘the task ****’?”

“Both.”

“Well, I don’t think it will affect the task ****, at least I hope not. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell them,” I said, causing him to hang his head and sigh. “As to us two, well, I came to ask for your help with something… the, uh, blood addiction, I guess you’d call it.”

“The vampire who says that she wants me to cure her ‘blood addiction’, that’s rich. Listen, Agent Douglas, I cannot cure someone of an 'addiction' to eating food, so how do you expect me to cure you of your addiction to drinking blood?”

“Um, going cold turkey?” I asked, feeling rather dumb for not considering his point before this whole scene.

With yet another sigh, he shook his head and then looked back up at me. “Even if it were possible to cure a vampire of their blood addiction, cold turkey is rarely the best way. I’ll tell you what, I’ll try to figure out a plan to wean you off blood. In the meantime, can you at least eat other food?”

“Sure, I can eat whatever I want, though chocolate goes straight to my hips,” I shared, unnecessarily.

“Okay, then here’s the first rule: no drinking blood from the vein… or artery or whatever. Second rule: when you do drink blood, you only drink it from a glass. Third rule: you only drink the amount I give you. I don’t want you sneaking a snack during the night.”

It sounded simple enough, though I wasn’t sure about my ability to control myself, given the way I’d found prey each night. “Okay, David, I’ll do it.”

“Madre de Dios, please help me make this work with the insane vampire,” David prayed, or maybe blasphemed, depending on his religious beliefs.

After that, came the next request I had to make of him, “So, um, David, can I get a ride?”