Free Young Forever by Lola Pridemore Page B

wasn’t and over the next few months, Janelle, who repeatedly reminded us that she had been a business major in college, showed us the ropes of getting blood from hospitals and blood banks. There were many ways to get what we require—and what we needed most—and quite simple, too, and somewhat hassle free. Why we didn’t think of this decades ago was anyone’s guess. It was probably because we were too stuck in our ways, too hung up on the hunt. I was getting excited about having an endless supply of blood and I even began to toy with the idea that we could open our own blood bank. How cool would that be? However, Janelle quickly squashed that plan.
    “No, no, no,” Janelle said quickly. “Running a blood bank is out of the question, you know? There’s too much room for error and, really, it would be a hassle. Too much paperwork and all that. There are other ways to get blood without doing that.”
    She talked so fast my head spun a little. “Why couldn’t we run a blood bank? It just makes sense,” I said, getting very disappointed.
    “No, you can get blood from there, but no, you don’t want to,” Janelle said, shaking her head.
    “Then how do we get the blood?” Aloiki asked.
    “There’s all kinds of ways,” she said.
    ‘Well, tell us,” Gerta said excitedly.
    “First of all, you know, there’s the nurse angle.”
    “What the heck is that?” Aloiki asked.
    If you dress up like a nurse,” she said. “You can enter a hospital, mesmerizing your way through then just pick a patient, enter with your kit—don’t forget the syringe, that’s the most important thing—then draw some blood, then leave. That’s one way to get blood.”
    “Wow,” Aloiki said.
    “Also, you can dress up like hospital personnel and visit blood banks,” she said. “It’s easy. Just show them a sheet of paper with the number of units you need and most times, they release it to you. But you have to do this sparingly. You can’t be selfish. If you do, then it’s over.”
    Gerta and I nodded at her.
    “It’s a great way to survive,” she said. “That’s what we were doing, me and Butch.”
    “Butch?” I asked.
    “The big one you hit with the baseball bat,” she said.
    I nodded, feeling uncomfortable. I wondered if she held a grudge over it, but then let it go. If she did, she did. There was nothing I could do about it. And I was beginning to, sort of, like her a little. It was nice having someone new around, though she was annoying and there was just this little something I didn’t quite trust about her. But I let that go, too. It does not pay a vampire to be overly paranoid.
    “Yeah, it was just us for a while then we, you know, decided to bring in some more guys, you know, turning them here and there, so we could have some time off. They’d bring us enough blood back. We still liked to hunt occasionally, too, you know? You know, before, you know, you guys killed him.”
    She said “you know” way too much. I groaned inwardly and asked, “You were in love with this Butch?”
    She nodded. “He was my first real boyfriend.”
    I sighed and felt a stab of jealousy. I really wanted a boyfriend. Well, another one. A good one this time. Someone I really, really liked.
    “How long have you been a vampire?” Aloiki asked.
    “About five years,” she said, nodding proudly and smiling widely.
    He laughed. “Five years? Why not say five minutes? You have so much to learn it is not funny.”
    The smile disappeared from her lips.
    “Yes, she is young but valuable. She is more at home in today’s world,” Gerta said. “What else can you teach us?”
    “Well, there’s not much to teach, you know. It’s pretty cut and dry,” she said. “It’s all in the execution. Act like you belong there, you know, in the hospitals and blood banks, and they, you know, don’t care. Everyone’s always so busy.”
    “Impressive,” Gerta said. “Impressive how you have devised this plan.”
    “You’re right, it is,