Free Vampire Memories #5 - Ghosts of Memories by Barb Hendee

None of the homeless people sitting on corners asked him for spare change.
    He kept moving toward the bay, but as he approached the water, he stayed on the outskirts of the ferry terminal. He’d read that several arrivals and departures ran all the way through midnight, and he had no desire to find himself among a line of slowly moving cars. However, all such places were built organically over time, and the outskirts always contained old docks and piers and nooks and crannies and foolish people walking alone in the darkness.
    That had not changed in a hundred years.
    Once he’d reached a place that seemed isolated enough and yet was still close to a concrete overhang above the bay, he kept to the shadows but glanced to the right upon hearing voices.
    “No!” a girl was shouting angrily. “I’m not just going back to your place again. You said we were going to do something tonight.”
    Julian focused, and through the darkness, he could just make out two people facing each other in an argument. His sight sharpened. A young man in a jean jacket had hold of a girl’s arm. “Jesus, Brittney, are you going start that again? I told you I don’t have any money. What is it you want to do?”
    She jerked her arm away. “Nothing!” she shouted at him, walking away. “Just go home.”
    She was walking straight toward Julian.
    The young man started after her, and then he stopped. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
    She didn’t answer and kept walking, pounding the concrete with angry steps. There was no one else in sight, and the young man turned away, going in the other direction.
    Julian slipped between two shabby buildings to wait. His routine was nearly always the same. He varied it only slightly based on the situation, but he often hunted near water—a river or the sea. Waiting there in between the buildings, he almost allowed her to walk past, and then he turned on his gift.
    Fear.
    Waves of fear flowed outward, surrounding her, engulfing her.
    He could see her out there, and she stopped, her eyes widening.
    “In here,” he said.
    The girl turned her head toward him. She looked about sixteen, wearing boots and a short tank-style dress. She was slightly heavy, with dark, curly hair. She wore too much makeup, which he didn’t like. It tasted bad if he got any of it in his mouth, but at the moment, he was too hungry to care.
    “Come in here now,” he said, letting more fear seep out, until she was too terrified not to do as he ordered.
    Occasionally, strong-willed people fought him at this point, but she already seemed completely lost in his gift. With her round face twisted in fear, she walked straight to him.
    The second she was close enough, he grabbed her arm and jerked her farther into the darkness between the buildings. Then he slammed her up against a wall. Her mouth moved as if to scream, but she was too lost in fear to make a sound. Her expression pleased him.
    He didn’t hesitate and bit down hard just below her jaw, holding her tightly while she bucked and struggled. She smelled of cheap perfume and drugstore hair spray.
    But the blood tasted good in his mouth, and just as he began to swallow mouthfuls of it, he turned off his gift. He always did at this point, reveling in the feel of his victim’s natural terror as reality set in and she knew she was about to die.
    She gasped and struggled harder, trying wildly to push him away, but he was drinking hard and fast, and soon she grew weaker and he was forced to hold her up.
    It wasn’t difficult.
    He knew that other vampires saw the memories of their victims, pieces of the mortal’s entire life, while feeding. He did not. He had no telepathic ability at all.
    Her heart stopped beating, and he regretted the experience being over so quickly, but he felt sated and strong again.
    Still holding her up with one hand, he pulled back to look at her. Her throat was torn and her head lolled forward. Blood ran freely down onto her dress. The waves of the bay were