A Vampire's Rotten Heart

The King of the Hive

I sighed and looked at the mirror in front of me. My hair had gotten long enough to reach my shoulders, and the king apparently liked his nobles to have hair no longer than ear length.

I had to look at my hair to distract myself from my face. I was a stranger. I didn't want to see it.

"Get on with it."

The supervisor's hands shook as he pressed the shears to the back of my neck.

"I'm using the king's shears in the palace's hair cutting room and cutting the hair of a prince. I'm going to mess it up."

He grabbed the end of the gauze on my head and started unwrapping the wound. Everything had completely healed, but my scalp was caked in old, dried blood.

The supervisor took a brush and tried to comb it out.

"I've been meaning to ask," I said, looking at the supervisor's exposed heart, "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Oh, it's agony. But I can function just fine, and that's all that matters." He took the shears back and started snipping at a painfully slow pace.

"Would you like to be put back together?"

"...Yes. But that would take so much time! I'm not worth the fuss."

"I could give it a shot."

"No! Never worry about me! Ever!"

I sighed and decided to stay silent as he worked.

But he was so slow!

Spud hopped into my lap and started pawing at my chest, meowing frantically. Poor thing!

"You know what, go and get something for Spud to eat. He's starving."

"Of course, my lord. I'll be back as soon as I can."

    The supervisor put down the shears and walked out the door.

    Finally. I had some room to breathe.

    I threw off the cloth he put over my shoulders and held Spud in my arms.

    "Don't worry little guy. We're getting you something to eat right this moment."

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    The supervisor came back with a hunk of meat and a bucket of water.

    "I hope I wasn't too long."

    He put the bucket down and shredded it into appropriately mouse-sized pieces. He placed them in front of Spud, who began gorging himself, taking bites that were way too big for his head.

    "He really is hungry, isn't he?" The supervisor laughed.

    The smell of the meat wafted up to my nose. God, it smelled just like McAllister's insides. I tried not to think about it too much, though.

The supervisor scooped some water out of the bucket and poured it on my head. He worked it with his fingers, breaking up the chunks of blood and properly cleaning it out.

"Have you ever thought about getting revenge on Marvin?"

"That would be personal. I'm not supposed to do anything personal."

"That's... sad."

"That's how it is. That's how it's always been."

"You've always been a vampire, haven't you?"

"Proud of it, too."

He finally snipped away at my hair. I closed my eyes, letting the sound of Spud chowing down calm me.

When the snipping stopped, I opened my eyes. It wasn't great, but it wasn't any worse than what mother ever did.

The supervisor gazed at the old grandfather clock in the corner.

"We ought to get you dressed!"