Evolve Two: Vampire Stories of the Future Undead by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

a vampire-free territory.”
    “I know. That is why I’m doubling it,” she says, scribbling a number on a pad of paper and holding it up for him to see.
    Domingo leans against the wall, arms crossed. “Wow.”
    Atl nods. “I need young blood. You’ll do.”
    “Wait, I mean … I’m not going to turn into a vampire, am I?” He asks because you can never be too sure.
    “No.” She sounds affronted. “We are born into our condition.”
    “Cool.”
    “It won’t hurt much. What do you think?”
    “I don’t know. I mean, do I still get to … you know … sleep with you?”
    She lets out a sigh and shakes her head. “No. Don’t try anything. Cualli will bite your leg off if you do.”
    The kettle whistles. Atl removes it from the burner and pours hot water into two mugs.
    “How do we do this?” Domingo asks.
    Atl places tea bags in the mugs and cranes her neck. Her hair has turned to feathers and her hands, when she raises them, are like talons. The effect is disturbing, as though she is wearing a curious costume.
    “Don’t worry. Won’t take long,” she says.
    Atl is a bird of prey.
    The first thing Domingo does with his new-found fortune is buy himself a good meal. Afterwards, he pays for a booth at the Internet cafe, squeezing himself in and clumsily thumbing the computer screen. The guy in the next cubicle is watching porn; the moans of a woman spill into Domingo’s narrow space.
    Domingo frowns. He pulls out the frayed headphones wrapped with insulating tape and pushes the play button on the music player.
    He does a search for the word tlahuelpuchi. Stories about gangs, murders and drugs fill the viewscreen. He scrolls through an article which talks about the history of the tlahuelpocmimi, explaining this is Mexico’s native vampire species, with roots that go back to the time of the Aztecs. The article has lots of information but it uses very big words he doesn’t know, such as hematophagy, anticoagulants and matrilineal stratified sept. Domingo gives up on it quickly, preferring to stare at the bold headlines and colorful pictures of the vampire gangsters. These resemble the comic books he keeps at his place; he is comfortable with this kind of stuff.
    When an attendant bangs on the door, Domingo doesn’t buy more tokens. He has more money than he’s ever had in his life and he doesn’t know what to do with it.
    It is nearly dusk when he finds his way to Atl’s apartment. She opens the door a crack and stares at him as though she’s never met him before.
    “What are you doing tonight?” he asks.
    “You’re not getting any more money, alright?” she says. “I don’t need food right now. There’s no sense in you coming here.”
    “You only eat kids, no?” he says, blurting it.
    “Yeah. Something in the hormone levels,” she waves her hand, irritated. “That doesn’t make me a Lucy Westenra, alright?”
    “Lucia what?”
    She raises an eyebrow at him.
    “I figure, you want a steady person. Steady food, no? And … yesterday, it was, ah … it was fun. Kind of.”
    “Fun,” she repeats.
    Yeah. It had been fun. Not the blood part. Well, that hadn’t been too awful. She made him a cheese sandwich and they drank tea afterwards. Atl didn’t have furniture, but she did have a music player and they sat cross-legged in the living room, chatting, until she said he was fine and he wouldn’t get woozy and told him to make sure he had a good breakfast.
    It wasn’t exactly a date, but Domingo has never exactly dated. There were hurried copulations in back alleys, the kind street kids manage. He hung out with Belen for a little bit, but then she went with an older guy and got pregnant, and Domingo hadn’t seen her anymore.
    Atl lets him in, closing the door, carefully turning the locks.
    The dog pads out of the kitchen and stares at him.
    “Look, you’ve to get some facts straight, alright? I’m not in Mexico City on vacation. You don’t want to hang out with me. You’ll end up as a