Desperate Vampires

She stood tall and proud. 

‘Finally, a quiet suburban home.’ She thought to herself, it had been a millennium since she was able to settle into such a lovely area. Surely this would be quiet, less dramatic than living in a city skyline. She had hoped so dearly that it would be. ‘Somehow I cannot remember what brought me into leaving such a quiet, tranquil, area once before…’ she chattered to her white long-haired cat by her ankles. With a single glance into his eyes, he galloped past her and began his investigations of the house. It was an old, late nineteenth-century family estate. Aurelia had never quite understood her family’s taste in estates but nevertheless, she was pleased to have a quiet home. 

‘Aurelia speaking. Who is it?’ She answered her eerily quiet phone. ‘You were expected here over an hour ago, Nicholas….yes…that is absolutely absurd…’ she held the phone snug between her chin and shoulder. She drew out the house key from her purse and made her way to the door. ‘It is not hard to encase antiques so to this occurrence does not occur… no, Nicholas, I said what I said. You have ten minutes before I send the wolves for your head.’ The white cat growled at the call of the wolves, for he greatly knew of the threat. ‘Quiet! Before I have them take yours.’ After subduing the cat and ordering the workmen in with her stuff she finally settled into her new to be suburban home. In a lovely and quiet neighbourhood. Or so she thought.

She had thought the only downside of suburban living was the lack thereof prey to hunt, but what she soon found was the true downfall of the suburban home was quite a bit more dramatic. And drastic. 

* * *

It had been close to three months since Aurelia moved into the quiet suburbia, she had witnessed many things during her sleepless existence. One, her most favourable, was the cheating couple. Her neighbours, directly opposite her, were cheating on each other. The husband, Owen, would sneak out at night when his wife, Lucy, worked the night shift. And Lucy, she’d sneak out when Owen worked the day shift. Both… to the same house. House 14, Candice Blake’s house. 

‘It’s ironic, neither of them can own up to their love affair even though they could easily endorse a throuple…’ She spoke to Ambrose as though he could understand. ‘I once entered into a throuple, it was late eighteenth-century France. Best few years of that century I must admire,’ Ambrose let out a hitched meow before trodding off into some sunlight to bask in a place he knew she wouldn’t dare follow. The cheating scandal was, however, the least worrying affair plaguing the suburban neighbourhood for Aurelia had noticed the drug ring being controlled from House 8, and the pie thefts of House 2 on House 6. House 9’s children were actually Mr Myres’ from House 1 and his children were definitely not his. House 11’s eldest and youngest daughters were pregnant and Aurelia’s righthand neighbour, House 13, held a deep dark secret. They weren’t human either.

Nicholas, the younger man stood quietly with his back against the wooden doorframe, he watched his sire twiddle her hair around her finger and clean her nails in the darkness of her room.  

‘Aurelia.’ She flew off her chair and onto the floor, an inch from the sunlight. Her stark white hair fell in curls from her head and washed around her like that of a wave.

‘N-Nicholas.’ 

‘Your brother is on the phone.’ He smiled with a cockiness Aurelia wish she had known before biting him. Before gifting the eternal bond.

‘Next time, I swear, I’ll have your head ripped off.’ His hazel eyes grew with an intensity that only deep-seated fear could conjure. 

‘Y-Yes, ma’am.’ 

She took the phone from his hand and ushered him away. 

‘Andrew…’ she paced the room, staring out at Ambrose who rolled across the carpet for all to see, ‘All is well, thank you…Andrew, how dare you. I have not left suburbia…However.’ she called for Nicholas, who entered a few moments later, ‘I know who may have. Thank you for enlightening me, dear brother. Ta.’ She hung up and threw the phone to Nicholas, smacking him in the jaw. ‘You fool, you insolent child. Murder in the skyline where we just left. Vladimir’s bite! You are on your last chance, boy.’ He stared at her wide-eyed, falling to his knees and grovelling at her feet. He begged and begged to be spared from the wolves. 

‘My love, please. I wish us no harm, it was my mistake. I will never do such again.’ Her white eyes stared down at him, examining every inch of his face. It was that face that made her bite, he was a handsome boy. Olive skin, black hair, hazel eyes, chiselled jaw and soft lips. ‘I’m at great fault, I will do whatever you wish. Please, spare me.’ She smiled her wicked smile, her fangs alight in the darkness and her eyes burned with a desire. She took him by the throat and pulled him to his feet. 

‘Dare you defy me!’ Aurelia sank her fangs into his throat, through his skin and into his artery. He froze under her grasp, knowing that she could see his last few answers with absolute clarity. Aurelia saw flashes and colours and bright lights, the hubbub of voices and brilliant music. Everything came and went with haze, she felt the intoxication of drugs and other desires. Nicholas faltered under the allure of intoxication, it was his greatest fault beyond his cockiness. She watched through the haze, he pulled the blonde to his side and pressed her against the wall. Her bright blue eyes recoiled at the sight of the true him, the true Nicholas. Dark black-burgundy veins popped out from under his eyes and down his face drawing unto his neck. The blonde fought against him, she tried with every human might to pull from his grasp…but…but…nothing. She was nothing against the predator, for she was his prey. 

Aurelia pulled away from the boy who quivered at her feet. 

‘You-’ Three knocks befell her door, it interrupted her train of thought and settled the outburst of she was undertaking. ‘Clean yourself up and put the kettle on, I foretell company.’ 

A woman of average stature and beauty stood furiously upon the light pine patio, the sun had been drawn behind a nest of grey clouds much to Aurelia’s delight and Ambrose’s dismay. Aurelia smirked at Ambrose who readied an attack beside her feet for the being who knocked indignantly. As Aurelia opened the door she smelt the hormones before she saw the anger. It was like that of a trap, it ensnared her almost as quickly as she had opened the door. Ambrose immediately retreated, he may have been a cat but a catfight was not up his street.

‘What have you been doing with my husband?’

‘E-E-Excuse me? You are quite mistaken.’ Lucy stood with her hands firmly upon her hips, she glared past Aurelia at her house - which was furnished with items from every decade - and to Nicholas who smiled softly at her, teapot in hand, she groaned and went back to Aurelia. 

‘Look. You keep your filthy, predator, hands to yourself.’

‘On what Earth do you surmise my being with your filthy husband?’ Aurelia was quite taken aback by the women’s audacity, it was hard for her to remember that they were children in comparison to her. ‘If you must know-’

‘I don’t want to hear it. I don’t need to image those vile hands all over him.’ Nicholas laughed from Aurelia’s side. Lucy immediately started upon him but was quickly caught by Aurelia who pulled her into the house before she created an unforgettable commotion.

‘Lucille, your husband has been sleeping with Candice Blake. As have you.’ Lucy stammered and pulled back from Aurelia. She made her way towards the door but Nicholas stood in her way. He shook his head and ushered her towards the kitchen which was directly through the hallway in front of her. He lifted the lid of the nineteenth-century teapot and dropped it slightly once he had examined its contents. 

‘I brewed a pot of Chamomile, thought it would help defuse the tension.’ They made their way through to the kitchen where Nicholas had prepared cups and saucers. 

‘Lucy, would you like a scone and jam? Cream?’ Aurelia stood by the counter where her previously baked scones were kept under a cake lid. Lucy seemed shocked, she was somewhat non-responsive, resulting in Aurelia deciding that afternoon tea and scones would be the perfect occasion to discuss Lucy’s simple dilemma. And thus, clear her name of any wrongdoing. Aurelia passed by Nicholas as she made her way to the dining table in the back where Lucy sat. ‘Would you be a dear and ask Candice and Owen over, make up some excuse.’ He nodded and left quickly after pouring the tea.

‘I-I-I…’

‘Lucille.’

‘Lucy.’

‘Lucille, the issue at hand is quite simple. Both you and your husband are sleeping with Candice Blake. Thus, the simplest solution would be entering into a throuple.’ Everything was silent for a while, Aurelia had counted to six hundred and eighty-two by the time Lucy had replied with a sip of her tea. ‘Fortunately, you are living in a decade that is quite accepting of these things.’ She thought back to her time in a throuple, it was definitely a sin back then. Aurelia laughed in reverie. 

‘This isn’t funny.’ 

‘Oh, I am not laughing at you.’ Lucy rushed to her feet and made her way out of the kitchen. 

‘I’m leaving.’

‘You have my teacup.’ She went to hand it to Aurelia but was shocked by Nicholas’ return and his companions that followed. The teacup fell from her hand and clattered against the ground. Spilling both the hot contents of the tea and a tear on Aurelia’s cheek. 

‘T-That was a gift from Ada L-Lovelace.’ Nicholas quickly came to her side and gently stroked her arm. He cleaned up the mess and seated the rest of the party. ‘Let us bring forth a throuple unto the world.’ She thought excitedly, forgetting the pain that she felt from her broken teacup.

Aurelia had hoped to enter the two households into a throuple and save the relationships between the three. Oh, she had hoped. However, things quickly took a dangerous turn. For the sun had set and each member had different antiques in hands.

‘T-T-That plate is from Hannah Glasse! Please, please. Just place it down.’ And so the stout man did, he threw it at his wife whom it hit and slashed her arm. ‘No!’ Aurelia cried out and Nicholas watched from behind the kitchen island with Ambrose cradled in his arms. He was not getting involved in the domestic. Not ever. ‘Please! Candice, that picture was painted by Plautilla Nelli! You must set it down slowly. Please.’ Her pleas made no effort at changing the current situation that plagued her kitchen-diner. Aurelia stood amidst the war where her antiques were being used as ammunition. Her heart shattered as precious belongings become no more.  ‘Your incident, Nicholas, is nothing compared to this!’ She sobbed.

‘Aurelia?’ A deep voice broke her from her heartbreak. It was their neighbour, House 13’s owner, Matthew Landor. 

‘M-Matthew.’ He watched the humans fight. 

‘Let’s stop this before someone ends up dead.’ He storms in, hands grasped each of the two women and amber eyes burned at the man. Matthew’s claws enlarged and fur grew from his sideburns and neck, upon his hands and ankles. Large, inhuman, fangs pointed out from his lips and amber eyes glowed between the anger in the room. Each human froze, fear radiated off them in waves both vampires could smell. Nicholas froze, not from the smell of the humans, but from the werewolf that stood only a mere few metres away. He spoke in a low tone, one that only a vampire could hear.  

‘H-He’s a w-w-werewolf?’ Aurelia simply nodded for she had little else to say. Ambrose squealed from inside of Nicholas’ grip for he squeezed a little too tight out of fear, fear for his life. For the wolf was his only true fear. 

‘Now.’ Matthew growled. ‘Stop this ridiculous ruckus. Even the neighbours can hear.’ Aurelia stood tall, her fangs burst past her lips and dark circles plagued her eyes. Veins drew lines on her face in purples, blacks and burgundy. She hissed in a low voice, enchanting them in a single tone. There was only one thing she knew to do, one thing she greatly hated to do for it takes a great deal from a vampire. 

‘I must alter their memories.’ She thought with great distaste. It was the worst ability a vampire had, not because of its effect upon humans. But, rather, its effect onto the caster. 

She grabbed Owen first, sunk her teeth into the back of his neck over the spinal cord and sifted through his mind. She pulled out the affair, the feelings of the day and inputted a new timeline. One where they told each other, they had continued to love each other and decided -collectively - that a throuple would be the perfect engagement for all members involved. She did this altering to each one of them, and each time its effect was drastic. Aurelia could feel as fear entered her like it did a child. She could feel as the pain echoed through every crevice. Nothing stopped the night terrors that night, her usual sleepless nights were no longer. For the price of altering was far greater than a vampire would want to give up. It was the loss of their most precious memories. And for Aurelia? It was the birth of her sweet daughter, Isadora, that she lost. 

* * *

Aurelia’s memory came back in force, the reason she had left the quiet suburban home once before wasn’t down to the lack of prey or mortals but rather the drama that fuelled humanity. ‘Suburban life is never quiet. It is chaotic, dramatic and quite frankly out of my league.’ Nicholas nodded his head and continued to pour his sire’s tea. He watched her from the corner of his eye, he noted that her hands were shaking and the colour of her skin - which was usually pale - paled against the darkness of the room. 

‘Your tea.’ 

‘T-Thank you,’ she sipped her tea. ‘As I was saying. It was not the vampirism that resulted in my departure of the previous suburban home in which I lived. Not my immortality or the fact that I preyed upon my neighbours' wives. It was the desperate housewives, the crimes, the love affairs, the fights, the sex. It was a childish drama. Living many millennia… is not enough time to prepare one for the attempt to live in suburbia.’ Nicholas smiled, he was reminded of a show his mother would often watch. 

‘It’s like Desperate Housewives.’ She stared at him confused, his cockiness laced his lips but softened at the sight of her true confusion and interest. He felt, somewhat, validated. ‘It’s a television show, Aurelia.’ He picked up the remote for the new television in their new city home, flicked over some channels and searched through some apps. A few seconds later he found the show he was looking for. Aurelia smiled softly at him, Nicholas smiled softly back at her. ‘Let’s keep suburbia on the big screen, shall we?’.