5 Black Market

Jessy found Nana Aida in the kitchen, busy preparing foods for their dinner. "Am going to help you, Nana," she volunteered.

"No need Jess. I'm already halfway preparing all the ingredients for your favorite Honey Garlic Glazed Chicken, that's what we have for dinner," said Nana Aida.

Jessy's eyes gleamed. "You're awesome, Nana! I can't wait for dinner!"

She went to the refrigerator, opened it and pulls out out a can of soda. While sipping the cold drink, she noticed the mini-refrigerator located near the door, leading to the back of the house. It came to her attention before, but she paid no attention to it. Out of curiosity, she walked towards the fridge and then opened it, she saw several small bags that contained red thick liquid, looks like ketchup-but not really. As she perused them closer, her eyes widened. "N-Nana, what are these red little bags over here?"

"That's Bag Blood...human blood. Adam's food. Don't touch it!" she shouted at Jessy.

Startled! Jessy closed the refrigerator's door right away. So, it's Adam's blood supply icebox! Her body shivered and she feels like vomiting. Whose blood are those? She felt a chill running down her spine.

"Nana...does Adam go out every night to hunt for fresh human blood? Where did he get those blood?" she pressed for more information.

Aida stared at Jessy for a while, then she turns her attention to her cooking preparation.

"...Nana, why are you not answering me?" she persisted.

"No dear. Adam has not been able to set his foot outside this mansion ever since he started living here with us, at least that's what I know," the older woman finally replied.

"So, w-where does the blood come from-?" she asked again in a nervous manner. It would be impossible for Adam to go out every night and hunt for human prey because of the anti-vampire vaccine scare, too dangerous to expose himself that way, she told herself.

"I bought...hmmm... shall we say...I ordered those bags of blood from the Black Market," Nanny Aida said casually.

"H-huh?" Jessy was confused now. Is there such a thing as a Black Market that existed in this world? she asked herself. "What do you mean by Black Market...Nana? Tell me more!" Her curiosity was growing by leaps and bounds as seconds pass by.

Nanny Aida halted what she's doing, she sighed. She can no longer ignore Jessy's annoying questions. She motioned Jessy to sit down on the chair in front of her. "Listen carefully, child. I will explain everything to you, everything I know about the Black Market. This will be the first and the last time we will talk about it, okay? It's top-secret. Promise me, don't reveal it to anyone! Got it?"

Jessy agreed, eager to hear what her Nana is going to reveal.

Then Nanny Aida started talking:

"Black Market already existed a long time ago, way back before the deadly anti-vampire vaccine was created. It's been a well-known fact that we can sell our body organs or even blood for whatever purposes it may serve us..." Aida paused a bit, then she continues again. "Many poor people sell their blood in exchange for monetary purposes. I have a contact in the Black Market, who can facilitate blood business transactions between buyers and sellers. You can get big discounts by buying a large volume of blood but the quality of the blood is not so good. Or you can contact healthy individuals that are willing to supply high-quality blood but the price is a bit higher than those ordinary ones."

"R-really?" Jessy was amazed by what she just heard. "Please continue-Nana..."

"You can hire those healthy individuals on per year basis. You will pay them money every month and they will be exclusively supplying you fresh blood three to four times a year, depending on what you both agreed upon."

Jessy's eyes widened the more.

"So- you mean to say that those individuals who were selling their blood have not been vaccinated with anti-vampire vaccine...yet? How they were able to skip the government's watchful eyes since it's mandatory to be vaccinated?" she was bewildered.

Aida laughed a bit. "My child, do you know- that if you have lots of money you can bribe any government official to do your bidding? Some government officials are open to bribery, like producing fake documents of individuals who already undergo anti-vampire vaccinations but in reality, they were not. Many people do that, that is why the Black Market business still thrives until today. When money talks, everyone listened and keeps their mouth shut. In a nutshell, it's a very lucrative business. But only few people and vampires have the privilege to know about it," Aida added.

"Ah I see, what an interesting piece of information you have just revealed to me, Nana," she commented.

The older woman inhaled deeply. "I shouldn't have told you all these things, my child. Too early for you to know." Hesitation and something more like worry were showing in her face and her voice was kind of weary.

"Rest assured that I will never reveal this important information to anyone. I promised you that, Nana."

"You should remember your promise dear, because if this information will accidentally be revealed to the government sides...those blood sellers and all the vampires who were benefiting from the Black Market will be executed," Nana Aida added.

Jessy nodded. She understood very well the danger awaiting by both parties and she doesn't want anything bad happens between those individuals involved. They have the freedom to do anything they wish with their blood as long they don't kill or harm anybody.

"D-does my father got his blood fix through this market, Nana?

"Yes dear," Aida nodded. "You will also get your blood fix on the same market when you will become a full pledge vampire, it will be soon enough since time flies too fast."

She grimaced, just thinking about it. "I don't think that will happen one da, Nana. The moment I will turn twenty years old, I will be powerful enough to control my thirst for blood, besides, the prophecy stated that my blood can turn vampires into humans. I will remain human but I will have vampire powers and skill. My fangs will be none existent by then," she said confidently.

"Just one more question, Nana. So, there are two types of vampires? Those types who drink blood from their prey and killing their victims on the process. And the others- who just buy blood but don't kill humans? Am I right?"

"Yes dear." The older woman nodded.

"How about Adam's royal family? Where they belong?"

"As far as I know. They're not used to killing humans, instead, they rely much on the Black Market to obtain continuous blood supply. You may ask Adam about it, I'm sure he knows a lot. Now you go ahead, Jess. I still have to continue cooking our dinner," Nanny Aida rumpled the girl's hair affectionately and finally dismissed her.

"Thank you very much for all the info, Nana. I learned a lot today," she exited the kitchen in total awe and amazement due to all the valuable information her Nana had just shared with her.