Naked Came the Vampire (Hypernaturals 1)

At Home

My home, with all its associated buildings and huge lot, used to be my parent's place. I bought it from them when they decided they wanted to go full time in an RV. I have full RV hookups for them out by the garage, complete with a shed style cover. Whenever the wind blew them this way there is power, sewer, water, and open arms waiting for them. They were off on the road someplace right now. Only the Gods know where. They may be hippies, but they are hippies equipped with a 40-foot long bus-front diesel pusher RV and a fuel credit card with a huge limit on it.

My housing complex, sitting on fifteen acres out in what is still mostly country is the perfect place for me. The hardest thing had been getting high-speed Internet. I had to have that for my job as a programmer.

Not everyone in Austin is in the computer industry. No more than half. This is a college town. And the state Capital, which means every other year our mecca is invaded by politicians. Texas set it up so that they only meet every other year, and that was smart. It came from an innate distrust of politicians, and that has turned out to be prescient as every other year a bunch of regressive idiots gathers to do stupid and evil shit to women and minorities.

The main house is a big, open, two-story adobe house with exposed wood beams in the interior that my parents built to their specification. They packed the earthen bricks themselves years and years ago. Hidden away inside its thick authentic skin are metal I-beams that give the place its structure so it could be so large.

I am the only child that liked the place. Mom and Dad offered all three of us the chance to buy or share the place, and I am the only one that raised my hand. I bought it from them at fair market value and now the big place is just for me. My brother, the lawyer and his wife (a doctor) and their kids live in one of those new Condos downtown. My sister, a doctor like our Mom, with her husband (a nurse and how they met) and their children, live up north in Dallas.

Though they have never said it to me, I think my siblings are a little embarrassed by our parents. Don and Liz are both a slight bit more conservative than either me or our parents. I am the only free spirit that my parents raised. It's funny how three kids that grew up in the same house can end up so different in some ways. For all that, no one would ever mistake us for anything but family during a holiday gathering, like Winter Solstice.

It is Monday, but there is no way I am going to get any programming done today. I had to go back to bed and get more sleep. I thought I was going to pass out a couple of times on the way home, once the adrenaline caused by the cop car faded. The mental images of Jessica helped keep me awake but did nothing for paying attention to the road.

I thought about putting the car in the garage. I decided that there is only enough strength left in my abused body to get to the house with the cooler if I park as close as possible to the front door. The extra 12 feet in the kitchen incurred by going the other way would be too much. I so rarely came this way, it seemed forever to get the locks undone. The big carved wooden front door seemed so heavy to open.

I wanted to set Jessica's cooler down as soon as I was inside, but I made myself walk to the kitchen, and set the cooler on the counter. I am not sure why I thought that is better, but it seemed the right thing to do with my gift from her rather than just casting it down as soon as I got into the house.

I would build a shrine for it later when I had more energy.

I went to the little bathroom below the stairs and stripped down to a Hollow state of undress again. Clothes hurt. It is funny what we hang a memory off of sometimes but bladder relief brought back happy memories. Can't say that ever happened before.

I looked at myself in a mirror. I am really, really, really glad I had not been pulled over. I looked like hell. I would have been hauled in for sure. My neck has bruises and bug bites. That pattern repeated on my chest, arms and all around my genitals. WTF?

When I woke up the convertible roof on the car had been open, and the windows rolled down a bit. I guess I became an early morning feast for the lake's mosquito fleet. Oddly the bites did not itch or hurt, so I focused more on the way my muscles felt. I ached from the reclined seat nap. The Fiat seats are great for driving, but not very supportive for sleeping.

I inhaled. Made a humming noise of satisfaction I have heard recently. Maybe from me? None of the damage mattered. I smelled like her. Her light spicy fragrance on me everywhere. Another deep breath brought in more of everything: how she smelled and all my memories of her were evoked. I wished I never had to shower again. I would have to because I also smelled like me. Unlike her, I stunk. I should have studied chemistry so I could separate out Jessica's scent from mine and preserved Eau de Jessica. Why had I studied computers? A clear lack of foresight on my part.

Back in the living room, I decided that the bedroom too far away, and slumped down on the couch. I was asleep moments later, her scents of cinnamon and sex filling my brain.

The dreams were awesome.