NaNoWriMo Writings

1,900 words.

 

PRINCE OF PROVIDENCEChapter One

 

Ragest anticipated that once they crossed Connecticut, they would be in familiar territory. He rolled down the window to smell the crisp February wind, the forests that lined the highway filled with maples and never-dying snow. As they came up a hill, the semi truck’s headlights illuminated a large blue sign, “Discover Rhode Island”. Then another blue sign a little further, “Weigh Station 1 mile” and below that, “Rest area 3 miles”.

Exits for familiar towns followed those few. Westerly. Richmond. Soon to be Coventry and South Kingston, and then, eventually, Providence.

They sped by the weigh station, which was closed, as the GPS said it would be.

“Stop at the rest area,” Ragest said to his ghoul.

The truck driver nodded, slowing down around a mile out, and switching lanes to the one on the extreme right. She also put on the heat. Ragest couldn’t sense the difference between hot and cold anyway, so he kept the window open.

They drove, not speaking, the satellite radio a low hum in the background. Neither of them listened to No Shoes Radio as they played the same songs in a three-hour or so loop. They knew the songs by heart by now. So while the radio was a low hum, in Ragest’s head he could hear the words clearly. They were only country ballads, about their girls or horses or money or lack thereof. That’s how Ragest kept up with the times. That, and his iPhone.

They pulled into the truck section of the rest area. Ceci shut off the truck and leaned back against the seat.

“Here’s where we part ways,” Ragest said.

“What?” She turned her head sharply to the long-haired, scruffy man. Although they never had sex together, they had something better. Blood.

“I don’t need you anymore.”

The words pained Ceci, as she had come to depend on him for her sustenance and her ability to stay up all night and day. It was how she was able to keep up the routes she was given in time. Now she’d be back to cocaine and Mountain Dew to see her through the nights. Days would be spent in a stupor, coming down from the highs of the night. She’d never be top employee of the month for the company again.

“I’m sorry,” he said, though she knew he didn’t mean it. He opened the door and got out of the truck before she even shut it off.

“Wait!”

He paused at the door, a look of disgust crossing his face. These humans, he thought. If he knew how to drive a semi-truck these long years, he would have done it himself and abandoned the load here. But he took this woman under his wing—and with his blood. She looked so pitiful, begging almost. He sighed, climbing back into the truck.

“One last time,” he said. He pushed up the sleeve of his denim jacket and sweatshirt, exposing the green vein at his wrist. As usual, her eyes went wide and her lips licked at the anticipation.

He watched her as he held his wrist to his own mouth. With a quick sweep of his teeth, he split open the skin and blood welled up on his wrist. He offered it to her.

Like a lover, she took his arm with both hands and bent her head to drink. He felt the blood get sucked out of him, like a straw. However he had to keep some of the blood himself, especially if he was going to go on to Providence alone. His feeding had been light this evening, knowing they would be in the old stomping grounds soon enough.

He pulled away when he thought she was sated enough. She almost gripped his hand but let go at the last minute. “That should take care of you for a month.”

She bowed her head. Was she going to cry? If she was going to cry, he would slam the door open and make damn sure he’d never see her again.

“Thank you,” she said, her head still bowed.

He forced a huff out of his dead lungs and opened the door again. She raised her head finally to watch him go. Her heart was heavy. She loved him, his shaggy demeanor and light Spanish accent. But he was gone.

Hopefully not forever. {{Obf, Stealth, Dex 2, 8, 2, 2, 3, 10, 3}} However, now she could fumigate the truck.

He shut the door quietly after he dropped down to the ground. Other trucks with sleeping drivers littered the area. The rest area was closed, as he expected at one in the morning. He had, he calculated, six hours or so to get to Providence. On his own, he didn’t know if he’d get there in time. But he wanted to get rid of the human as soon as possible, not knowing if there were other rest areas on the way.

He followed the highway, running along the edge like a deer, keeping himself out of the light. Unless you were looking for him, {{Obf, Stealth 9,5,9,7,2}} you wouldn’t be able to see him. Headlights passed over him, a shadow in the dark.

He passed North Kingston, stopping at the McDonald’s there. He needed sustenance. He must have given too much to the girl so need to replenish his blood. Maybe he could also get a ride to Providence, one without any strings attached.

Ragest heard the unmistakable thumping of a speaker’s bass at high volume through a car’s closed windows. He peered into the back window of the car seeing that two people were inside, bouncing  to the seat of the rap song. He approached, and tried the passenger’s door.{{Stealth, Str 10, 4, 10, 9, 9, 1}}. He tore it open, even though it was locked from the inside.

The music flooded over him as he pulled out the passenger, so fast that the driver didn’t notice at first. He closed the door, but its lock didn’t catch anymore. Ragest put his hand over the man’s mouth and raised his head, exposing the luscious artery.

He bent and tore it open, drinking deeply. He heard over the heartbeat, the other man questioning  where his buddy went. But Ragest only needed a good five minutes of uninterrupted feeding. Luckily, the other man was high, and his attention was drawn back to the music {{Stealth, Dex 4,9,10,9}} so that he didn’t question any more.

The vessel relaxed in Ragest’s arms, letting out a soft sigh as the Kiss washed over him in pleasure. When the heartbeat slowed enough to Ragest’s notice, he licked the wound closed and placed him back into the car, none the wiser. Both would probably think it was because they were stoned and dreaming that one thought some guy kissed him, and the other thought that the guy had disappeared for a few minutes.

Full of fresh blood, he pushed on. As he got closer to Warwick, there were more lights, more traffic, and construction. No more forests where he could hide. He came upon the prison, which had gotten bigger since he had left, full of high fencing and razor wire. Nearby, he knew, was the prison cemetery, where he could rest the day.

Instead, there was a strip mall. He stood at the entrance to the parking lot, confused and disappointed. Where would he go to rest now?

Across the four-lane road was a copse of woods. They were bisected by the entrance onto Route 37. Beyond road were more woods, thicker, but still a small area of trees. He couldn’t sleep there.

There were motels near the airport. He thought fleetingly of renting a room by persuading the hotel clerk at one of the smaller ones, but he didn’t have the energy. He had an hour to find a cemetery or a blocked-out haven.

Although his mind was like a sieve, he still remembered far back into the past. In the 1800’s, he knew there was a cemetery off the main road called Jefferson Boulevard. He dashed along Route 37. Off to the side, he could see a huge cemetery. He was getting tired; sunrise was coming. He skittered down the dirt hill separating the highway from the cemetery. He noted tombs in some areas.  He only hoped no one else had laid claim to the area since he was gone.

Ragest ran, looking up at the sky. Stars winked out as the sun approached. He came to a tomb, Williams, and pushed open the stone that was across the doorway. It hadn’t been sealed, so it was at least two hundred years old.

He turned and pushed the stone door back outward, leaving a few inches for him to grab on the inside to let himself out. The room smelled like a graveyard: dusty, moldy, old. Not even the smell of fresh grass penetrated this tomb, which was to his liking.

In the pitch dark, he could see with his animal eyes the four caskets laying atop each other. He climbed to the top one and lay down on top. Luckily, it held his weight and the wooden casket didn’t collapse into the rotted corpse beneath.

The sun closed his eyes, and he slept the sleep of the dead.

*

As he expected, Ragest awoke the very second the last rays of sunlight sank below the horizon in the west. He rolled off the top coffin to the concrete floor, landing in a crouch. He made a point to listen through the solid concrete walls, because you never knew if someone was going to try and rob a grave that you stept in. It hadn’t happened in the past fifty or so years. Old habits die hard.

He heard nothing but the night sounds of squirrels on the hunt, and cars passing by on the highway. Even though he was a good five hundred yards away, his vampiric ears picked up everything in at least within that diameter if he concentrated like he did now.

Ragest also expected the low pit of hunger or the rising of The Beast looking for some way to get through. Four hundred years, and he was already on good terms with his Beast. As long as he could frenzy when the anger got too strong, at least once a year, then the Beast lay mostly dormant. With the exception of the very early night, when Ragest was at his most vulnerable.

He tamped down the feeling, the Beast or the Hunger. He got up from the crouch, and moved to the tomb. Opening it just enough for him to squeeze out, he pulled it closed behind him. He made a note of the place, in case he ever needed to come back this way to get away from…He shrugged. He had no idea what or who.

He picked his way through the darkening twilight. He was of a younger generation than most of the other vampires he had met in the last two hundred years, so he was able to wake up a little earlier than most. He could still see the dark blue of the night sky, not the blackness with stars. There was Mars, the red spot he could easily see in the south western blue sky; Jupiter should be further to the east.

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