Prey

I was walking under the bridge when the nice man in the van pulled over. I was soaked to the bones with rainwater, it was getting late and I just wanted to get home.

'What’s a young girl like you doing out by herself in dark?' he asked with a huge grin.

I shrugged, put my eyes down and scraped my shoe into the floor.

'Hop in, I’ll take you home if you like?' he said eagerly

I looked around before slowly getting into the side of his van. He slid the door closed and hopped into the driver’s seat.

'Come sit up here' he patted the passenger seat. I did as I was told.

He asked where I lived and I gave him my address. I wrapped my arms around myself trying to get warm. He noticed and responded by turning up the heat and putting a blanket over my shoulders. He stroked my cheek as he did so. He asked how old I was. 'Ten' I lied. I was actually twelve and capable of looking after myself but most people assumed I was younger by my size so I just tell them that I am.

'Where’s your parents?' he questioned trying to not take his eyes of the road.

'At work. It’s just me and my little sister. She’s only 7. Mum doesn’t like leaving her on her own but she knows not to leave the house until I get there.'

He carried on making small talk and asking me questions until we got to the street I lived on. By this time he knew the neighbour was deaf, my parents were not going to be home until early hours of the morning, we had no pets and my favourite thing to eat was cheesecake. He had enough information from me to think I was an easy target.

He pulled up at the house with only one light on and carefully got out of the van whilst looking all around. He walked around to the passenger side holding my hand whilst helping me get out. I said thank you and started heading up the drive. He followed still watching the houses all around. I took my key out of my pocket and slid it into the door as I watched him rub his greasy hands down the front of his dirty jeans.

As I opened the door he pushed me inside and slammed it closed behind him. He grinned at me with his disgusting yellow teeth as he lent against it so I wouldn’t try to run. I had no intention of running. For a moment I felt a little sorry for him but that didn’t last long. Mother had asked me to bring home dinner and humans like this were easy to catch.

I decided to play his game and called out my sisters name as I ran into the living room. No one was in there so I headed through the adjoining door into the kitchen. The man chased after me. I ran out the other kitchen door, down the hall and back into the living room. By the time he had reached the living room door again I was ready to go back through into the kitchen.

'Why do you insist on playing with your food, child?' a voice from behind him said. It was that of my fathers and he hated when I had them running round the house. He always complained they would sweat and it made them taste salty. He didn’t like his food salty.

The colour drained from the man’s face and he turned around just in time to see my fathers hand come down over his head with a meat cleaver. It was all very quick. Despite the torture these child molesters deserved, their deaths were always quick.

My mother came down the stairs. 'Why do you have to do that in the living room?' she huffed. 'Its not easy getting it out of the carpet. At least do it in the kitchen'

'I would have, but I had to stop her playing with the food before she spoilt it' he argued.

This continued for several long minutes and involved plenty of eye rolls and instead of me being thanked for bringing dinner home, ended with me being told to go to my room. I didn’t mind this, I hated the preparation of dinner. The sound of metal going through bone was a noise that hurt my ears. I was happy receiving a slab of raw meat on my plate and a warm glass of blood.

As far as vampires go, we were pretty unconventional. Most of us don’t enjoy the taste of the flesh and the muscle. But you wouldn’t just slaughter a cow for a pint of milk would you? We insist on getting the most out of our meal and a few pints of blood doesn’t go far with a family of 4. We would be killing constantly to feel satisfied. This way is much better. It keeps us going for a few days and just think of it as a great service to you. There’s one more monster off the streets preying on little girls.

But oh yeah, you’re probably wondering about the van. Someone’s going to report him missing right? Wrong. You see vampires live for a long time and are very clever. They use their jobs as cover. I didn’t mention my parents jobs. This decade my dad crushes cars for a living and my mother is a police officer. Last decade my father worked in a morgue and my mother was a funeral director. Do you see where I’m going with this? You can’t honestly believe normal everyday people apply for those jobs. But they find jobs that could easily cover someone or something going missing. We will be moving to another town soon, people are getting suspicious of my parents not ageing. So they will be getting new jobs. They want to move more inland too, Apparently humans are meatier in the big cities.

But right now I’m satisfied, because this latest meal was delicious.