It was difficult to concentrate on driving with Goldie holding me tightly as we made our way down the interstate. I tried not to read too much into it and just focus on getting us to our destination. After all, there wasn’t a large pillion space back there, so she had to hang on tight and stay close if she didn’t want to fall off, right?

I offered her one of my hoodies when we took a break at a rest stop so I could use the facilities, but apparently, Vampires don’t get cold. They don’t need to go to the bathroom or eat or drink anything either, except blood. Blood was all she needed and drinking it would regenerate any injuries that she managed to get and keep her healthy. Well, as healthy as someone who is undead can get. During our brief stop, she tried to explain the whole undead thing to me too, at least as much as she had managed to figure out on her own.

While the sun wouldn’t cause her to burst into flames or turn her to ash, she was very sensitive to sunlight and would get terrible sunburns if she was left uncovered or unprotected in the sunlight. She could cross running water just fine and didn’t need to rest in a coffin or anything, and churches and religious symbols only annoyed her because she had hated organized religion long before being turned. The only thing that garlic did was make blood a little less tasty if someone she was feeding on had eaten too much. Most of the information I had about Vampires was fiction, like the sources it came from.

There were a few things that did seem accurate though. Silver did burn her, and fire hurt, but she had found that those injuries could be healed by drinking blood. She was pretty sure that a wooden stake to the heart and cutting off her head would both probably kill her, but only because something like that would kill anybody.

Goldie couldn’t turn into a bat or mist or anything like that. She couldn’t seem to mesmerize people either, or she just hadn’t figured out how yet, since she would have used it against the Bayers and previous meals, had she been able to. She was extremely strong and fast though and possessed very acute senses, especially her night vision. And her acute sense of smell said that I didn’t smell like normal people.

She hadn’t really encountered any werewolves before, so she couldn’t be absolutely sure that I had been turned, but after I had mentioned being attacked by a werewolf, she thought that I should be realistic about the possibility. No, I needed to concentrate on the road. If I started thinking about that in-depth, about turning into a monster and attacking people as Granny did, then I would never be able to function properly.

I knew that we were going to have to talk about this at some point, and it would probably be a good idea to take some precautions before the next full moon, but I didn’t want to face that possibility yet. As luck would have it, we had plenty of other things to worry about, like finding a place to sleep before daylight. There were other things too, like finding a radio or something to check the news. I didn’t want to be caught unawares if people were searching for me.

I continued along the I-75, passing through Pontiac and several other small cities and towns that were part of the Detroit metropolitan area. Between the events at the Bayer home and rest breaks, it took longer than I would have liked to get to the Detroit outskirts. It was just after seven in the morning and getting far too close to dawn. We needed to stop somewhere; I didn’t want to risk Goldie being out once the sun rose and I could barely keep my eyes open.

After stopping to top up the gas outside of Detroit, checking to make sure that my disguise was still looking okay, and discovering the time to be 7:15, I managed to find a seedy-looking motel to stay in until we could find something more permanent. The motel had seen better days, but there were no cameras that I could see and the manager took cash, didn’t ask questions, and didn’t ask to see any ID. The place was also cheap, but we got what I paid for with only a twin bed and none of the little extras that a more reputable establishment would have had.

At least the bed sheets and stuff were clean, and the TV might be old with only local channels, but it did work. Another bonus was that since our check-in time was so late, we couldn’t have to check out until eleven o’clock the next morning, and I planned to use that time once we had gotten a bit of sleep. I figured that Goldie and I could get some sleep and then I could go buy some necessities and start doing some research for places where we might be able to hide out for a while. Thankfully, sharing a bed with Goldie wasn’t awkward since we were both so tired that we fell asleep as soon as we were under the covers and our heads hit the pillows.

I was in the woods outside Granny’s cabin. A thick low-lying mist rolled in from the lake, tendrils of moisture seemed to cling to my legs and conspired with the full moon above, and the sound of wolves howling in the distance, causing a shiver to crawl its way down my spine like frozen hands. My eyes darted around, and my heart raced as I made my way as quickly as I could to the porch, my hands fumbling as I hurriedly attempted to get the key in hand and unlock the front door. Only once I was safely inside, did I breathe a sigh of relief, locking the door behind me as I called out, “Granny?! It’s me, Red! I came to check up on you and brought you some soup!”

Once again, she lunged, leaping over the kitchen island as I frantically scrambled backward. She slammed into me, her weight and speed knocking me to the floor as her jaws latched onto the wrist that I had raised in a futile attempt to defend myself. Agony shot through my arm as her jaws clamped down. We both screamed in pain, but hers was laced with a primal fury as I felt hot blood running down my punctured arm and dripping upon me from where the knife I had been clutching in my free hand was now buried to the hilt in the werewolf’s chest.

Black Sheep Motel
Detroit, Michigan
Wednesday, October 12th, 2022 - 1:37 p.m.

The nightmare sent me screaming back to consciousness and I sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for air and shaking as tears ran down my cheeks. A pair of arms wrapped around me, and I was jolted back to my senses as Goldie held me close, quietly whispering that I was safe and that everything would be okay. Eventually, I managed to shake off the nightmare and calm down enough that she probably could have released me.

I appreciated her attempt to comfort me, but the sensation of her holding me was a strange combination of comforting, erotic, and disturbing. It was comforting that someone who was essentially a stranger still, would attempt to calm and comfort me as she had, and because I found myself liking her. That feeling, my attraction to her, and the fact that we were both naked, except for our panties, was quickly turning me on now that I had shaken the nightmare though, especially with her generous breasts and hard nipples pressing into my back as she held me against her.

Her body was ice cold though and the absence of any rise and fall of her chest from her lack of breathing made me shiver, and not just from her body temperature. Still, I found that my breathing was still quickening, and my nipples were hardening from her touch. I swallowed the urge to turn around and kiss her, possibly more.

Not that I could have escaped from her embrace until she allowed it, because she was supernaturally strong. The fact that she was restraining herself just enough to keep me secure in her arms while I calmed down, while not hurting me in the process, said a lot about the Vampire’s character. The fact that she cared that much about somebody she had just met made me even more interested and attracted, and my body was beginning to respond.

I had known about my attraction to girls since I was fourteen, but I had never had the opportunity to pursue anything. There were a couple of girls that I was physically attracted to, but we would have never meshed well on a personal level. The only girl I had known closely enough to consider us compatible had been Carrie, but she was my best friend, my roommate, and straight as an arrow. Therefore, I kept things platonic with her since I didn’t want to mess up our friendship.

I squirmed in Goldie’s arms a bit, my breathing ragged, my panties damp, and my nightmare all but forgotten. “I… I’m okay now, you can let go,” I managed to squeak out.

“Do I have to? This is nice,” the Vampire whispered into my ear teasingly. It was the only sound in the room aside from my staggered breathing. The darkness from the thick curtains being firmly closed only seemed to add to the eroticism of the moment. Heat rushed through me as her tongue playfully flicked my ear. “You’re enjoying this too, I can tell. I almost thought that you were still freaking out from the dream with your rapid heartbeat, but all of my senses are heightened, especially my sense of smell.”

I took in a deep, shuddering breath. “I… we shouldn’t. I have to…get ready and go out… to get some things… before the stores close,” I panted as her arms released me and her hands teased their way up my body.

To my surprise, she removed her hands and leaned in to give me a chaste kiss on the cheek. “I’ll take a raincheck then, for once you’re ready, Red. I may tease, but I’m not going to push you into something that you’re obviously not ready for yet while you’re feeling vulnerable. I want to get to know you better, and if something does happen between us then I want it to be something that we both want and are going to enjoy.”

I was torn. On one hand, she had my fire stoked and she was very attractive. On the other hand, I had been telling the truth. I was going to have to get some things that I hadn’t gotten at All-Mart but probably should have, and it was going to take time to shower, clean and brush the wig, and then reapply my disguise. I also wanted to research some possible locations where we could hide out so we could find a place before dawn the next morning.

So much to do, and so little time. My breath caught in my throat as I nodded, and it was a moment before I could speak. “Right. Raincheck. I… thanks, Goldie.” Then I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom on still-trembling legs to get ready for the day.