Here is Part III of our interactive story, in honour of “Blood Relations”.
Comment below with your answers! Please post your comments by Wednesday, August 14th, midnight (EDT)!
‘You really don’t want to do this, Mariana’?
What, like she was gonna takes orders from a cat? She was thirsty! The anger at the idea that someone would try to stop her from feeding, the indignation that the someone was a cat, only fueled her murderous instincts. She launched herself at the animal.
But as fast as she was now, this king of cats was even faster. When she reached the mouth of the alley, it was empty. She tried to tell herself that it was just as well. Even that big a cat was still just a cat, wouldn’t give her much to feed on.
But she was still thirsty. She began to look around, to listen, trying to find something, someone, to feed on. The street was empty. People were inside their houses; she could hear them moving around. If she focused, she could hear their heartbeat.
“Well, folks,” said a voice from a radio, somewhere on her left, “we made it halfway through the show, and it’s tomorrow! We’re celebrating, with twelve hits for the twelve strokes of midnight, no commercial breaks, starting right now!”
Midnight. About five hours until dawn. Dawn was bad. She had to hurry, feed quickly and find a safe place to hide before the sun came up. She was too far gone to question her new-found instincts; that would come later. For now, she went to look for someone out in the streets, someone to eat.
***
Well, that was close, thought Samuel. In hindsight, reaching out to a vampire less than a day into her change had not been the best idea. He was running short on time, though, and his options were limited.
He would have to appeal to the other girl next. Thankfully, she was safe and sound in her bed, and should therefore still be human in the morning.
***
Seven hours later, Mariana was hidden away in the basement of an abandoned industrial building, safe and satiated, sleeping the sleep of the dead.
***
Not too long before that, Katherine Wilson was being woken by her parents. Had she heard from her friend Mariana? ‘She never got home after you two went to the movies last night, and her parents are worried’. Katherine hadn’t heard from Mariana. She was more confused than worried, at that point, but she still did her duty and began texting, oblivious to the large grey cat watching her every move from across the street.
***
At about the same time, Sasha McLaren entered the morgue. She was in a rotten mood. It was supposed to be her day off. She was supposed to take her kids to the zoo. She almost went home after reading the file compiled by the officer in charge, Sargent Johnson. The name of the victim was Richard Leak, aka “Big Dick”, and he was found in the alley behind the club where he worked as a nude dancer when he wasn’t making pornos. There was a post-it attached to the file: “look at the neck”. It was the neck that made her stay; torn apart, just like the others. Looks like she was going to spend her not-off-after-all day opening up a Chippendale named Big Dick Leak. Jesus Christ.
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QUESTIONS:
– Now that Mariana is out of the action, waiting out the sun, who should we follow?
Sasha or Katherine? What should happen next?
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Presses Renaissance Press 