When darkness had taken over the sky Calla didn’t start running to the nearest meal pack. She needed a plan. If her strength was only around the level of a human then she needed someone unsuspecting. Thoughts of using her body to to lure men came into her mind but she shook the thought of with a shudder of disgust. She had been a virgin for her twenty three years of human life, and she wasn’t about to donate it for the sake of blood.

The whispers told her it was good to remain untouched. Not to let any man nor woman grope and feel the smoothness of her skin, that was reserved. Reserved? For whom? Calla kept thinking.

She needed someone who would not be weary of her, a friend, a family member.

‘Family….the easiest to get would be mother. Physically smaller, more naive. Perfect prey.’

Calla’s eyes blinked a few times as she replayed that thought in her head. Were her family ties so weak? Or was it the fact that she had become a vampire? She didn’t know, but she had a plan now. She also knew how to enter the house without her mother knowing and would be able to get herself some clothing without issue. Maybe pick up her laptop and a few essentials.

She grinned to herself and dove into the water, swimming to the side. Still half nude, the whispers told her that she shouldn’t show her body, it wasn’t for others to see. She went to the clothing that remained of her Sire and picked up his jacket, covering her face with her hand at the smell.

‘A bit misogynistic.’ she thought with a frown on her face. ‘But the whispers must have a reason. They’ve helped me so much already.’

She put the jacket on and started home at a brisk pace. It’d take her ten to fifteen minutes to get there by the roadside, but she opted to travel a little off from the road, taking care not to be seen. She saw with so much clarity in the darkness, as if it were daytime with a blackened sky. Calla also noticed she did not feel tired in the least.

‘Maybe I don’t need sleep? So no coffin then.’ she chuckled to herself as she thought about how many cliché rumours about vampires were untrue.

About thirty minutes later she arrived home. No one had seen her during the walk and she’d avoided all possible cameras. She went to her back door and listened through and could hear the television along with her mother’s slurred laughter.

‘Drunk again.’ she growled in her mind. Her mother wasn’t a mean drunk or anything, it was how she coped. And as a result no bond had managed to form between mother and daughter. Her mother was often too far gone to have time for Calla.

Looking herself over she smoothed down her brown locks and knocked on the door.

“Bloody hell.” her mother murmured as she got up with a groan. She answered the door and saw her daughter, sporting a black leather jacket and make-up. “Calla.” she slurred. “Why do you look like that?”

“Ahh.” her voice came out very soft. “Me and my friends were getting our costumes ready for Halloween. You know, only a few weeks to go.” she smiled at her mother who gave her a half smile back.

“Well you look ridiculous.” she spluttered out as she turned away and went back to the couch. Calla balled her fists in anger. The short, stout, drunk had insulted the way she looked. The whispers soothed her as they told her to wait, killing was an art and needed to be done right they said. The only rule about killing – don’t get caught.

Swallowing down her rage, Calla’s face set in a gentle smile and she walked into the house, locking the door behind her. She went upstairs and did away with the jacket she had taken from the man. Then she got her father’s sports duffle bag and took it to her room. She pulled out the different articles of dark clothing she possessed, anything black or deep red, and stuffed them inside.

The whispers pushed her away from anything low cut or revealing and Calla got frustrated. It wasn’t like her breasts and bum drew a lot of attention so why were the whispers so finicky. But something deep in her mind told her to follow what they said.

She was going to change the clothes she was wearing, trading her black jeans for cotton joggers and grabbing herself a black t-shirt and hoodie. She wouldn’t get changed yet, that could wait until she had washed, so she temporarily put on a light yellow t-shirt.

Then she went to the bathroom and began to run a warm bath, humming to herself for a few minutes as she stroked the water’s surface.

Calla went to her families toiletries cupboard and looked at the shampoos and conditioners and shook her head in disgust. The ‘natural’ scents now smelled of anything but and she could sniff out the chemicals in there. Still, she needed to be clean and deposited all the unopened ones in her bag. She didn’t bother with any make-up and the idea of tooth paste was right out the window.

She heard her mother’s TV show finishing so she ran downstairs after grabbing a towel out the cupboard.

“Mother.” she said with a warming smile.

“Still got that make-up on?” her mother asked with an arched brow as she stumbled to her feet. “I’m going to bed.” she announced to her daughter and made to walk passed her only to be stopped.

“Mother, I’ve run you a nice hot bath. It’d do you some good to relax and enjoy it.” she said acting the part of the concerned daughter. Her smile was award winning and appeared completely genuine to the stocky woman.

“Thank you.” she returned with slightly widened eyes. Her daughter had never done something like this for her before.

“You’re welcome. Here,” she handed her mother a folded up towel. “Go and relax, I’ll tidy up down here.” Her mother nodded with a face-splitting smile and made her way to the bathroom like she’d won the lottery, oblivious to the thoughts in her daughter’s mind.

As her mother hummed her way up the stairs and into the bathroom, Calla went to the door joining the garage and went through. She picked up a cannister of petrol that her dad kept at this house as an emergency. He had another home he spent most his time at; Calla wasn’t as ignorant to his other family as he would believe.

She set the cannister down in the lounge with a lighter beside it. Then she went to the kitchen and grabbed the roll of black bin bags from under the sink before returning upstairs. Calla set the bags down beside the bathroom door before knocking.

“Mother,” she asked and was answered with a hum of pleasure. “Can I come in a minute?”

“Yes dear.” her mother replied and Calla entered. She walked over to the side of the bath and crouched next to her mother, who looked at her.

“What is it dear?”

“Mother, have I ever told you how much I love you?” Calla asked her with a gentle smile.

“N-no, I don’t believe so.”

“In other cultures, mother and daughter would bathe together to show their love for one another. The daughter would wash her mother’s back. Would you mind if I did that? Just once.” Her mother wasn’t embarrassed about the idea of seeing her daughter nude but rather bathing with another person. It wasn’t normally done unless it was with a lover or a small child. But her daughter seemed affectionate today so she found it acceptable.

“Just this time then.” she replied.

“Yes,” Calla nodded, “This’ll be the last time.” Her mother had no idea how ominous those words were. Calla stripped off and her mother shuffled forward to allow her to sit in behind her. At that point her mother took in how attractive Calla really was. She always wore baggy clothing so her mother rarely saw her body. But now she could see the tone and strength in her muscles and was surprised but chose to say nothing.

Calla slid in behind her and her mother leant back a bit only to find her daughter was cold.

“Calla, you’re very cold.” she said with a murmur.

“Part of why I wanted a bath too.” Calla responded as she picked up a sponge and began to wash her mother’s back and neck. She focused on the neck a lot and to her mother if felt like a massage and she was delighted. But in Calla’s mind it was cleaning her food before she had her meal. A person wouldn’t eat off dirty plates, so why should a vampire eat off a dirty body?

“Mother, relax into me.” she said when she’d cleaned the woman before her. Her mother slid back and Calla pulled her hair to one side, completely exposing her neck.

‘I wonder if I’m a righty or a lefty?’ Calla thought as she debated which side of the neck would be best to bite into. She drew the shower curtain across the side of the bath, keeping the ends of it inside the tub so there would be no overspill. She then pushed her mother’s hair to the other side, before wrapping the woman’s arms in a tight embrace. Her mother sighed and then Calla made her decision. ‘Lefty.’ And bit down, piercing her mother’s flesh.

Her mother shrieked and screamed and struggled. But in her alcohol filled, unfit body, Calla maintained full control as she sucked the blood out at a rapid pace. Calla’s eyes rolled back and she felt immense pleasure bursting out of her body. It was like an orgasm in her mouth. A few minutes passed before the screaming stopped but Calla could still hear the heart beat and the pulsating blood.

She kept drinking and to her delight, she didn’t spill a drop. She was worried it would be messy, which is why she chose a bathtub and drew the shower curtain. Blood would reveal a lot about what happened, but not if it was washed away. Finally, the woman in her arms stilled and her heart stopped. Calla had completely drained her, and her mother’s body was now much lighter as she lifted it off of herself.

‘A good meal and a relaxing bath.’ she thought with satisfaction. The whispers told her she wasn’t done though, so she got up and drained the bath of water. She went to the bathroom door and got the black bags, curling her mother up in a ball and putting her inside one, which then went into another. She repeated this five times so there was no chance of dripping or breakage, heavy duty bags were sturdy.

Calla then stuffed the shower curtains in a bag before going back to the bath and lathering herself up. She needed to be clean before she touched anything else. She washed herself down with the shower head, taking great care with her hair, where there was still some dried blood. Once she’d finished she let herself drip dry as she went to the kitchen once more and picked up the rubber gloves along with a cloth and bleach.

Calla went back to the bathroom and went over the door handles. Fingerprints the whispers told her, were dangerous. Calla did wonder how the whispers knew, but didn’t dwell on it too much. She went over the door handles and anything else she touched until they were sparkly clean. Then she shoved the gloves, cloth and bleach bottle into another black bag.

In her room, she got dressed in her black clothing with a pair of brown boots before picking up the duffle and returning to the bathroom. Looking at what she had to carry, her duffle and her mother’s body, she frowned. It would be too much and the shape of the bags her mother was in would draw attention if seen.

Dropping her duffle she ran to the garage and grabbed her mother’s car keys. She had wanted to avoid being seen at all cost, but she planned to be long gone by the time anyone noticed. The plan would work, the whispers cried. Heading back upstairs, she grabbed the four bags and stuffed them in the boot of the car, her duffle in the back seat.

The garage door opened and she reversed out. Leaving the engine running, she popped back into the house and grabbed the petrol and lighter. She opened the cannister and began to spread it over the floor, a trail leading to the garage door. At the garage door, she lit the lighter with great care, fire was something she feared greatly.

The trail was set ablaze and she hurried into the car with the remainder of the cannister and lighter and began to drive off. Initially she’d wanted to just leave her mother’s body there, but the whispers told her that bones don’t burn. Evidence would be left, and anything like that could lead to her. Forensics were getting more advanced these days, it was a wonder vampires weren’t common knowledge.

‘Although maybe people just don’t believe? That or we are really rare.’ she thought with a snort. Once she’d driven far enough from town she knew she had to get moving. It was midnight now, she noticed as she looked at her phone, only to realise the battery was low.

‘Fuck. Didn’t get my charger.’ She supposed she needed to ditch the phone to stop being tracked anyway. But she needed something to keep track of things. Remembering her laptop she cursed again, knowing she hadn’t put it in her duffle.

Soon, she pulled into a curb side near the forest and got out the car. She whipped out the gloves and bleach again, frantically going over the interior. Under the door handles, across the dash board. Wherever she may have touched was wiped clean before she abandoned the car and took her duffle and the three black bags.

With her enhanced eyesight she easily made her way through the woods. It was a dry night and that was why she’d come here without more preparation. She quickly found some dried out logs and began to kick and snap them in half, before collecting them together and dousing them with petrol. Again she made a small trail so she’d be away from the heart of the blaze.

She dumped the three black bags on the wood and pulled out the lighter once more, setting the petrol alight from her distant point. The flames snaked along the floor before setting the wood in flames and burning the contents of the bag.

Satisfaction overcame her thoughts at her successful kill and getting rid of the body. She watched the flames spit and burn. The body itself didn’t take long, all the fluid had been drained and it was nothing more than a dried husk.

After the flames stopped and only embers remained, Calla checked her phone once again and saw it was already two. She had three or four hours to find shelter, more than enough time, but first she had to dispose of the body.

Grabbing a long stick she began to flick the major parts of the body out of the ashes and let them cool off. She poked around the fire for an hour or so, ensuring she’d gotten all the bones and began to bury them beneath the earth.

She shattered the skull with a few stomps, ripping the jaw from its attachment. Scooping soil with her hand, she didn’t bury them very deep. They’d be found, eventually, but there’d be no evidence it was her.

Once she and the whispers were wholly convinced the skeleton had been scattered and buried she grabbed her duffle and set off into the forest. She knew they ran for tens of miles and in the worst case she could hide behind a broad tree during the day time.

As a backup she could wear enough clothing that sun couldn’t penetrate to her body, and wrap her head in t-shirts or joggers if need be. She hiked for a couple of hours and snapped her phone in half, taking the sim card out and snapping that as well. She scattered it as she jogged in no particular direction before the sun began to shine through the trees.

She found a hollowed out one that she could fit in and decided it was best to stay there. So she did, feeling contented at her first kill and the silence of the whispers. Calla smiled to herself and began to hum sounds of happiness, realising that today was the most joyful she’d had in years.

Having to wait for the daylight to pass, she replayed it all in her mind. The planning, the bath, the burning, the release and the pleasure.