I smelled terrible. I know because the men cringed when they came to get me. I shrieked, “Attica! Attica!”

“Stop talking shit,” Average Joe said, jabbing me with a baton.

“Attiga? What’s that mean?” said the other guard.

“It means that you know nothing about social history or Al Pacino’s best films!” I said while trying to protect myself from the blow that I knew would follow.

“Don’t engage,” Average Joe told his associate as he delivered a whack.

They took blood and skin samples, but the only unusual thing was my elevated white blood cell count. Even the vampire researchers didn’t know why my blood didn’t indicate any mutation.

In addition to the usual questions, my interrogators sometimes asked, “Who made you?”

“Mother, father, the usual. I believe they’re supposed to teach this in fourth grade, but the school system is tragically underfunded, and some states aren’t even teaching proper science anymore.”

“Vampire mother and father? Or is ‘mother’ what you call the person who changed you? What were you before?”

“I was and am a normal human girl. I have the same needs and wants as any girl. A home. A family. Friends. The occasional night out. A worthwhile career. Lively conversation. Guys who aren’t Satan’s minions.”

I don’t know how long I could have gone on this way, but I remember exactly the moment I broke.

nine

Dance with the She-Devil

We’re gonna have us a little fun tonight,” said Average Joe as he yanked me up from the floor of my cell. “First you got to get the stink off you.”

I looked for his partner, but the guard was alone for once.

“What are you doing?”

“Shut the fuck up.” He pushed me out of the room, my leg shackles clanging on the cement floor, and out into the hall. I could smell the booze on him and he swayed a little as he walked. “Not that it matters since no one will hear you, but I hear you and I’m sick of all the shit you talk.”

I looked up and down the hall. It was empty except for a cat licking his privates. “Where are you taking me? Do you have your supervisor’s approval?”

Average Joe bashed a giant flashlight into my ribs. “You’re gonna see what happens to whores who don’t shut the fuck up,” he said, pushing me to the elevator.

He put his eye in front of a biometric scanner, a small light flashed green, and he pressed the call button. When the elevator came, Average Joe shoved me inside, then got in and punched the B button. The doors closed with a ping and we descended.

With another ping, the doors opened. Another hall led to another door that Average Joe opened with an eye scan.