Free Twice Bitten by Aiden James

we’ll be heading back to campus, shortly.”
    I hoped to take a shower first. However, Peter had just tiptoed up the staircase and soon announced to me that all of the rooms upstairs, including the main bathroom, were trashed. Showers and anything else hygiene related would have to wait until we returned to the dorm.
    “Get what cleaned up?” Tyreen’s anger faded quickly from her voice, as if she could somehow see the same damage I surveyed. “Are you saying you were attacked last night?”
    “Yes,” I said, after a moment’s hesitation. 
    “Are the police there?! If they’re not, you and Peter need to get the hell away from that house! Whoever’s doing this stuff may be hiding somewhere inside Peter’s place—”
    “No, they’re gone,” I sought to assure her, keeping my voice steady despite my abrupt interruption. But then I seriously considered her words. What if she was right?  Could our assailants be hiding somewhere upstairs, or beneath the main floor’s rubble?
    Armando’s allusion to Nosferatu suddenly appeared in my head, with the monster’s grotesque long talons casting eerie shadows on Peter’s bedroom wall upstairs, as the morning sun poured in through his window. Would the fiend’s body simply vanish in the bright sunlight, like in the famous original vampire movie? Or, would it be the more dramatic 21 st century cinematic version where a vamp slowly smokes before exploding into fiery cinders consuming every physical vestige?
    “‘They’re’ gone?” Tyreen’s tone was one of incredulity much more than scorn. “You’re telling me there’s more than one dude and that you saw him and his accomplices last night?? You had better have told the police all about this…you did, didn’t you?”
    I heard her release a low sigh in disgust when I didn’t respond right away. I didn’t know how much to tell her. After all, she knew nothing about any of my previous nocturnal visitors, starting with Garvan and Armando. That would be off-the-charts craziness already. But, suppose I could get her to consider the reality of two vampires paying me a personal visit to protect my ass. How could I also tell this extremely levelheaded woman that the recent campus murders were perpetrated by a group of other vampires, hideously deformed, and with no apparent disposition for mercy? 
    Not to mention what these bastards possess in terms of super-human strength. The advent of dawn may very well be the only reason Peter and I didn’t perish. And, as far as the police were concerned, once my boyfriend called them and advised of the damage delivered to his rented townhouse, a whole new can of worms would be kicked over.
    “Txema, you did call the police…please tell me that you did!”
    “I’m getting ready to do it now—“
    “PLEASE do it right now!!”
    “Okay, okay…. Just chill for a moment. I’ll get it done—I promise!” I assured her. “Are you at the dorm, or someplace else on campus?”
    “Johnny and I are getting ready to eat something, but then we’re coming back to Massey,” she said.
    “Peter and I’ll meet you there.”
    “When?” she persisted, her tone sounding panicked again.
    “Right after the police get here.” I made sure my tone sounded soothing, with a positive lift. It works on guys…I just prayed it worked on my highly intuitive roommate, too. “Once they’re done with a police report, or whatever, I’ll make sure Peter drives us back to campus.”
    “Okay…you promise, right?”
    “Yes, I promise!”
    It was hard not to admire her persistence, thinking it was so much like me. If the Chupacabra vamps held their sadistic fondness for a beautiful African American instead of a girl of Basque descent, I’m sure I’d be just as obsessive for her safety.
    After my conversation with Tyreen ended, Peter called to me from atop the stairs. There was no sign of anyone else, and he had already dialed the police. The dispatcher advised that a patrol car would be on