mortal error

One terrible act has mortal consequences, a fact that Josephine learned decades prior to the mugging that took place a few minutes ago.

She bends down, her long coat trailing in the dank puddles and the freshly spilled blood.

In front of her, a young woman’s chest rises and falls with more effort than is usually necessary.

Josephine’s eyes trail from the victim’s sweaty face, down the frantically beating pulse in her neck, to the dried bits of blood that have formed crescents under her fingernails, and finally to the unfortunate stab wound in her gut.

She’s impressed by the bravery this young woman has evidently shown against her long gone assailants, but has to suppress the urge to admonish the act of courage.

“Well,” she asks softly. “What did they take from you?”

The woman’s eyes roll in her head. It takes her dark eyes an alarming amount time more than it should to focus in on Josephine, but when they do there is less clarity there than she would’ve preferred.

Death, that dreary entity, is, as always, nearby.

With all the patience an immortal can muster, Josephine waits for the dying woman to answer with a bleak, “T-twenty dollars.”

“Twenty dollars,” she parrots back. “Is hardly worth a life.” The woman beneath her stares, though whether it’s due to incredulity or blood loss remains unknown. “What’s your name, then?”

“Katie,” The name comes out like a sigh. “I have to call my dad.”

Josephine hums. She can’t recall the last time she thought of her own guardian.

Her sire had imparted as much wisdom as he could, though as Josephine grew from a fledgling vampire to a more independent creature, she realized there were things Caleb had neglected to mention. She’d written it all down, all the lessons she’d had to learn the difficult way, and swore to share it with another when the time came.

Beneath her, Katie grips Josephine’s ankle. “There were two of them. One h-had a ski mask on. There was a r-rip right above the eyebrow. And he had green eyes.”

Josephine finds herself smiling. “What else?”

Katie frowns in consternation, pulling at fresh fragments of the crime left in her memory. “High pitched voice. Sounded like an insecure asshole.”

“Good,” she runs her fingers through Katie’s thick, black hair. Josephine’s hands come away grimy, but in her line of work it’s not uncommon for her digits to be dirtied by something or other. Not to mention being a hemovore obligate. “Good, you’ve done well, Katie.”

“Those fuckers stole from me and I-I--” Her eyes well up with tears. “Can you call my dad?”

Josephine nods, though she has yet to decide whether or not she’ll follow through. There’s a choice to be made here, and though she’s running out of time, she grants herself the grace to take whatever is left on the clock.

After all, bringing a new a vampire into the world is not something someone does lightly, even when walking through the streets at night have become more lonely than practical.

True, Katie has a fire in her that Josephine has rarely seen. It reminds her of her own death. How she felt her heart slow in her chest, and willed it to beat again, to fight for another breath, another second on this earth.

Then, the shadow of Caleb blanketing her, offering her refuge in the night.

Josephine didn’t know what she was agreeing to at the time.

She’s not sure she can adequately convey the life of a vampire before Katie slips into unconsciousness.

With less than two centuries under her belt, she’s inexperienced compared to other sires, though her youth has granted her a sense of adaptability her predecessors struggle with. The old coots are still getting used to using rotary telephones and speak as though the turn of the millennium has yet to happen.

Caleb had at times been unforgiving with Josephine’s fumbles, her rash behavior as a fledgling. The disappointment in his hawk-like eyes was a stabbing pain worse than the preternatural thirst had been. He wouldn’t talk to her, would make her go without blood until she felt mad with hunger. Worse still, he’d shamed her.

The promises Josephine had made to herself in the early morning hours, right before the deadsleep had taken her felt sacred at the time. Would those vows hold the same weight, she wonders, if she did this? Or would looking back be more like reliving her delinquent teenaged mortal years?

“Why won’t you call my dad?”

Josephine chides herself for losing herself, dreaming of all the what ifs while the chance to actually live them actively slipped away.

“Would you like to live?” She asks, carding through Katie’s hair once more. She hadn’t meant to stop. Her wandering mind is detrimental enough in her studio, she can’t afford to lose her train of thought while training the next generation of vampire. “You wouldn’t be the same as you are now. Nothing would be the same.”

A tear trails down Katie’s face. Her bottom lip quivers. Her gaze, though distant, hardens. “Why won’t you call anyone?”

“You will die here unless you decide to live like I do.” Already, she’s making mistakes. Josephine has taken after Caleb more than she wants to admit, with her vague explanations and her presentation of a choice with only one clear positive outcome. She hopes he’s not lurking in the same city tonight, able to see her own shortcomings once more. “To live as a vampire.”

She parts her lips in an almost smile to show off her teeth. Her fangs push through her gums, extending slowly. Josephine has to mind the saliva gathering in her mouth-- the scent of blood still lingers heavily in the air, and she wants, but her first act as a sire to Katie will not be one lacking in decorum if she can help it.

Katie’s heart gives a spirited thud, as if it has just enough energy left to respond to the fear. Her calloused fingers curl until she forms a loose fit.

Josephine’s smile relaxes into something genuine.

“I can help you live to fight another day,” she promises. It feels perhaps the most tangible, the most real thing she can give now. This, she thinks, may be the best description she can give now. “You will not live the same life, but you can avenge yourself against those who have wronged you tonight. Would you like that?”

“I want…” Katie’s words are closer to an exhale than an answer. Her eyes slip closed. “I want…” She repeats.

But Josephine doesn’t have to hear the half-finished wish. She pulls Katie’s body into her lap, turns her face away, and exposes her neck. Then, Josephine blesses Katie with a chance to do exactly what she wants.