I know what you are

“I know what you are. I know what you are doing. I want in.”

Laughter. It echoed through the mostly hallow, oversized boardroom. Quickly, it stopped.

At the head of the huge table was a figure of average proportions, wearing a fine tailored, dark black suit with equally black shirt and tie. He looked down at the note and read aloud again: “I know what you are. I know what you are doing. I want in.” He looked over at his right-hand man and in a very deep voice, said “How is it that someone has been made aware of our plans?”

“It’s hard to say,” he said, with obvious discomfort “we’ve been doing this for quite some time, someone was bound to catch on. We all knew this would happen eventually.”

“What are we going to do about this?” Demanded another, seated at the end of the table. “Do you want me to have him killed, Damien?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, George.” Damien sat back in his plush leather chair, overlooking his people “We have all worked very hard to reach what we have accomplished over the last 27 years. We cannot afford to lose it all by frivolously killing anyone who stumbles onto our plans. We need to be more careful in the future, right now we need to come up with our spin on our operations, should anyone go public with this information. George.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Get me this “Dave”, have him meet me tomorrow at 8:45.”

“You aren’t suggesting we ‘hire’ this man, do you?”

Damien looked over at his right-hand man “William, I think the best for all of us would be to invite him over here and give him a taste of what we have to offer.”

Laughter again. Deep, malevolent, very satisfying.



A man walked into a large downtown office building. He looked at the directory. “43rd floor. Starving Friends, Inc. Clever.” He got on the elevator and rose to the 43rd floor. The doors opened, he looked around and made his way to his destination. He straightened his tie, ran his fingers through his hair, took a deep breath, then walked in.
“We’ve been expecting you, Dave.”

“I’m sure you have.”

“Please, be seated. Damien will be here momentarily.”

Dave took a seat. “Just as well.” he thought, looking for a window to look out. “Sunset was 20 minutes ago, anyway.”

A door opened up to a private office. “Come in” echoed a bone-chillingly deep voice. Dave did as he was told, entering a vast room with a gigantic table. “Sit down, anywhere is fine.” Dave took the seat closest to the now closed door. “My name is Damien, CEO of Starving Friends, Inc. Our primary function is to help those in need. We help to get people off the street through the sale of quality baked goods, as well as through donations given by charitable individuals. We recently received a letter from you stating that you are interested in a position.”

“That’s a nice little speech. It’s all lies, but it sounded nice. I know the truth. I know this company is made up entirely of vampires. You and your friends got together and came up with some scheme to lure people into your stores and feed on them. So far, you’ve tricked everyone into believing the pack of lies you just fed me, but unless you make me a ranking member of your order, I'll inform the police of your little charade.”

“And why would you want a part of that, if you are correct?”

“First of all, I am correct, and second, I have always wanted to be a vampire, to get revenge on the people who have done me wrong. Deep inside, I just have a need to kill.”

Damien thought for a moment, looked at Dave with piercing eyes “I will give you one chance to leave now, otherwise I will tell you the truth, and my associates and I will determine your fate. You have 30 seconds to decide.”

“Like I said in my letter, I want in”

“Okay, then.” Damien took a couple of deep breaths and spoke. “You were close, to some degree, but you do need to be corrected. Starving Friends is the world’s leader in baked goods. All over the world, we raise money to give to the homeless. Records, however, are sketchy at best when it comes to whom, exactly, is homeless, and when they are no longer. The homeless make a very convenient meal for us. Nobody notices when they go missing, or dead, for that matter. It is for this reason that we do not kill just anybody. I’m afraid your revenge cannot happen on our clock.” Damien glanced at his watch. “As an added bonus, we bring in millions of dollars every year; we spread it around to the homeless, then bring them in for dinner. We get the money back, and, as if that weren’t enough, the government has granted us tax exempt status for our over-achieving efforts. We are now in the process of expanding into the area of giving aide to poverty-stricken countries around the world.” Damien rose from his seat and walked to the entry of the office “I’ll give you a minute to think this over. I’ll be back shortly.”

Dave did not look at Damien as he left. He simply sat there. Numb. He was excited to think that he would be an integral part of this operation. It was more than he had conceived. A smile cracked. He could feel laughter beginning from the pit of his belly. Before it could come out, the door opened.

In walked the most beautiful woman Dave had ever seen. She had long fiery red hair, wonderfully white skin and sharp, sharp teeth. “Hello, David. I understand you want to be one of us.”

“Most definitely.”

His eyes filled with anticipation. The woman walked gracefully up to him. He started to stand, but she held him in his seat. She looked deep into him with her emerald green eyes. He stared back at her eagerly. She gently kissed his lips, then moved to his neck. She licked in softly, then pierced her teeth deep into his flesh.

It caused some discomfort, but he knew it would be worth it. He thought of the wonderful fragrance coming from the woman’s hair, it was enough to send him to heaven. Suddenly he felt something wrong. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was not right. He was starting to feel numb. He could not feel his legs. Panic flooded his body. His eyes widened with fear. The woman would not let go. Blood ran from his veins into her. He let out a gasp and fell limp.

Damien and William entered the room. “Tasty?” William inquired.

“Very.” The woman replied.

“Damien, I thought we weren’t to kill anyone who could easily be tracked?”

"True, we do have to be carefull, but in this case I don't think we'll have a problem. I doubt he spoke to anyone about us, they probably laughed in his face if he did. Besides, he didn't know quite what was going on, anyway." Both men turned and walked out of the room. "Throw his body into the middle of the ocean, my dear" he said, just before closing the door.

“Did you tell him all of our plans?” William asked.

“He didn’t know half of our intentions before he died, just enough to tease him.”