Chapter 32-- Birthday Meeting (2)

Rhiannon drove across town to the Ross homeless shelter. The building was located downtown in the slums of Los Angeles. It was right next to the Honeywell alley and Angelo district.

The Honeywell alley was filled with prostitution and drug addicts, while the Anglo district was an abandoned factory with about 2-3 acres of land surrounding it. That place was filled with many different kinds of homeless people of different ages. The homeless had already segregated themselves into small bods, defending their little world from the rest of society.

Just like the San Francisco shelter, Rhiannon went to the two-story building opposite of the shelter.

"Happy Birthday sis!"

"Happy Birthday B!tch!"

Two distinctive voices shouted as soon as she walked across the threshold. Then without warning a small petite body pounced into her arms, smelling of honey dew and peppermint. A very strange and pungent aroma.

What kind of fragrance was that?

Victoria gave her a tight hug before pushing an expensive looking box into her hands. A gentle smile spread across Victoria's lips as she brushed her best friend's messy hair back into place with her long slender fingers. 

"I hope you like it!" Victoria's eyes were filled with anticipation and enthusiasm.

Giovanna on the other hand smiled slightly while rolling her eyes. Amusement was clear in those mesmerizing blue eyes that were the same shape and color as her older sister's. She couldn't imagine how her older sister could be so childish. She could only shake her head in complacency.

Since her elder sister had returned to the family, she had been cordial, slightly friendly, domineering and quiet most of the time. But Giovanna realized that since she met with her childhood sibling that her personality had changed slightly from being quiet to being loud and boisterous. 

Her sister seemed to be happy to be home and maybe she was truly happy. It's just, maybe the sense of a familiar bond was too shallow. Giovanna wondered how she could create or rather strengthen her bond with her elder sister. Should she start with her sister's best friend?

Giovanna linked her arm with Rhiannon then led her towards a metal table with five chairs surrounding it. She pushed her into a chair then pushed another exquisite box towards Rhiannon. Rhiannon put the box in her hand on the table before taking her time to open the packaging. 

She left the wrapping paper completely intact. The box was bright red in color, it opened up like a flower. Sitting inside was a statue of Tianlong. It sat majestically on a large and bountiful mountain as it stared down at all the small creatures below. Its scales were of a dark opal color with piercing emerald eyes. 

It had three horns on the top of its head and four limbs that were retractable. The Tianlong looked so realistic that Rhiannon was captivated to the point that everything around her was non-existent. It felt like this Tianlong was something that should have been in the current world or rather maybe it used to exist a long time ago.

"Ah, this is so beautiful it's perfect… Vicky." Rhiannon cooed. Her emerald eyes sparkled. A broad smile was plastered on her face.

"I never forgot. I've always wanted to customize something like this for you and now that I have the time and money to do so. Of course I had to." Victoria smiled while clapping her hands.

"Gabby, so this is what you have been working on!" Giovanna stared at the figurine. 

Her brows furrowed imperceptibly, and a hint of jealousy flashed past her eyes before she suppressed the uncomfortable feeling. She tried to put on a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. Rhiannon noticed all of this but she did not say a word. She figured she was going to have a chat with Victoria in the coming days.

She turned towards the second box which was larger in size. It was wrapped delicately. The box was golden with specs of sparkles covering all over the box.

The box opened, revealing an even more exquisite box. It was tall in height with a precious pink color. 

The handle of the door was made out of polish brass and a biometric keypad. It was already unlocked with a piece of slender Styrofoam preventing it from closing and locking properly. She saw that it had 11 drawers which were in high gloss Bubinga. The drawer pull was a metal cup pull. The Microsuede was royal blue.

"This…thank you so much. I have a lot of jewelry, but I haven't even thought of getting something to put them in." Rhiannon spoke with a gentle and sincere expression. She stood from her chair and hugged Giovanna tightly.

"It means a lot to mean that you have accepted me into your life." Rhiannon murmured into Giovanna's ears making the latter blush. Even her neck turned red as her expression turned shy.

"By the way how big is it?" Rhiannon stepped back, looking at the jewelry safe with satisfaction. 

"The measurements are 60"h x 30" w x 24" d." Giovanna's voice was as small as a mosquito. If they weren't part of the supernatural community, Rhiannon wouldn't have heard it.

"Not bad little sis, you did well." Victoria also had a satisfied expression on her face. She nodded her head and a slight smile appeared on her face.

"Alright, I will put this in my trunk and then we can go inside." Rhiannon pulled her presents back into their individual boxes and then carried them to her car. 

Once Rhiannon came back inside the Ross sisters led her into an elevator that went to the lower levels underground. Giovanna pressed the 17th table and then awaited the descent of the elevator.

"The formula for the blood cleanser has been tweeted just a little bit. Also, we have also negotiated a couple to be blood slaves, just recently." Victoria's voice was excited when she spoke about the latter portion of the sentence.

"Blood slaves?" Rhiannon sounded very interested. She was already paying a discounted membership for blood she received every month. If she could buy two humans to drink from then that would be more convenient. 

"Yes, we have about 200 hundred adult humans who personally sold themselves to our organization. Most of them are vampire enthusiasts and want to one day become one of us. The others are depressed souls who wished to take the easy way out. I guess they expect to be killed on the spot for their blood. It's clear that this group of people did not read the fine print in the contract." Giovanna answered for her elder sister.

"That sounds less cost effective." Rhiannon nodded to herself. "I think I should go take a look. I would like to purchase a couple. How can a vampire make a fledgling?" Rhiannon asked. 

Ding!

The women stepped out of the elevator and into a brightly lit room. The walls were pure white with bright lights hanging overhead. Several human blood banks were in chrome tubes in fetal positions. They had breathing masked on their face and oxygen tanks hooked onto the chrome banks.

 Different tubes were stuck in each one, pumping their blood into a huge tank that was filled halfway. It had a max of 2500 gallons. At the bottom of the tank were several spigots Victoria grabbed three glass beakers and placed them under the spigots for easy access. The crimson color filled the beakers, and the rust odor filled the room, making the three of them intoxicating. 

After the beakers were filled, they sat at a metal table that was placed in the corner of the room. They spent their time leisurely drinking and chatting. Rhiannon told them about the past couple of days that they had separated. She had spent her time in the pack house in the small town of Strawberry. She spent most of her time helping the beta female Inessa with her newborn daughter. 

Little Zinaida had her father's dark complexion and her mother's piercing blue eyes. She was a perfect combination to bother her parents. Her elder siblings mostly resemble either one of her parents. They seemed carved from their mold or should be cloned so to speak. 

The little one was only a couple of months old; her curly brown hair grew longer covering her eyes most of the time. Rhiannon describe Zinaida's small antics with a bright smile on her face. Giovanna briefly spoke about her elder brother with a tight expression on her face.

 Her eyes were filled with worry as she continued to change the subject to her elder sister. By the time they were caught up an two hours had gone by. They had walked several floors until they came to the 27th floor; this floor had several apartments sectioned off with the enslaved humans living there.

"This floor is for the females and the floor below is for the males." Victoria smiled. 

There were several doors on the weather side of the corridor. Each door was big and metal with a palm scanner to the right of each door. They entered one of the rooms on the left. "All the rooms have the same layout."

Metal bunk beds lined the middle of the room; there were about 20-25 bed bunks in a room housing 50 rooms. The walls were painted a dull white with no windows or skylights. There was a desk and wardrobes lining the walls. 

The entire room screams sanitorium. There were pictures of deformed humans and animals. They looked scary and grotesque, and it was unclear how the women in the room could get a proper sleep with desolate eyes staring back at them. 

The women in the room themselves held odd expressions on their faces. Some held blank stares, they were expressionless and cold; like a paper mache doll. The majority held anticipated expressions as if waiting for the day that they would be blessed and picked by the supreme vampires.

These particular women hurriedly stood in a straight line with their chest stuck out. They fixed their hair in order to make the best impression on the female vampires in front of them. There was one particular human woman who had long brown wavy hair and blue eyes. 

She was decked out in the latest fashion, a red Chanel dress and black kitten heels. She looked sexy and chic in a domineering way. She stood at the forefront of the line with a bright and excited smile on her face.

"This is Milan… she is from the Thompson family of Idaho." Giovanni said,' She has been with us since the inception of the program."

They waited for half a second more for the depressed humans to slowly get off their beds and slowly walked to stand in line. They didn't look enthusiastic at all. Their dead eyes stared vacantly into space, awaiting their news for their suspected demise.

A faint stale scent wafted into Rhiannon's nose, making her gag in reflex. Her beautiful emerald eyes scanned the new group of women. Her eyes set on the tallest woman in the line. She had dirty blonde hair that was stuck up like a haystack. 

Her once piercing gray eyes were dim and unfocused. Her long limbs hung by her side, she gave off a deathly aura that any vampire could tell. The smell on the one could only be noticed by Rhiannon. Her blood was tainted and only Rhiannon could tell. 

AIDS!

This disease not only harmed humans but also was a deadly poison to vampires. The disease was very hard to detect; only after going through several tests. The disease had been around for centuries killing numerous people; it was only in this new age of technology that the actual disease was found and given a name.

 Even so, there was no cure, not even a way to delay the disease. It was even worse for a vampire, who would fester and decay from the inside out. Their minds would rot, and they would become mindless flesh-eating beasts. Over the centuries there had been bursts of these creatures that were soon destroyed, barely causing a global catastrophe.

With this thought in mind, Rhiannon looked steadily at the young woman before her. The faint smell became more potent as she stared absentmindedly into space.

"This one can't stay." Rhiannon spoke in a low and calming tone. Then she swiftly grabbed the young woman's neck, crushing it in her hand. "Burn the body…. don't allow anyone to drink this."

"Why?"

"What's wrong?"

"She is a carrier of the zombie virus." Rhiannon's voice echoed in the room.

Both Victoria and Giovanni hissed and jumped 2 feet away, backing far away from the corpse on the ground.