Chapter 2: Groceries Most Vile

Lavinia yawned, tying her black hair back as she shuffled through her kitchen. She took a sealed blood bag from her fridge. It wasn’t a medical blood bag, it was only a floppy plastic water skin that Matthew had found and bought in bulk for her.

Measuring out around a cup of blood, Lavinia poured it into a plastic cup that had little animals on it. She liked this cup. It had a lot of creatures she couldn’t imagine like possums and raccoons, squirrels, whitetail deer, and American birds like cardinals and bluejays.

They weren’t exotic to her anymore, not after centuries in the new world with its new animals, but she still liked them very much.

Coconut water joined the blood, turning it a murky light red. As she stirred, her phone buzzed on the table. Absently, she set the spoon aside and took a sip, checking her phone.

She wasn’t good at using her phone, but she had been practicing for the past two weeks. It was a notification from a dating app.

Casey: so is this going to be a fancy date? Or just a nice one? I gotta know cause I don’t wanna make a bad impression :/

Lavinia had been talking to this girl for close to a week. She was healthy, estranged from her family, and if she was to be believed, had a fairly small circle of friends. In essence, Casey was a prime candidate.

Before, when Lavinia was hunting, she would have to prowl around places people congregated. Now, she could sit in her old house in the heart of New York and let the prey come to her. She took a sip and pecked out a response with one finger.

Lavinia: Whatever you wear will be divine. Your being transcends what you wear. -Lavinia

Casey: 1. You’re pretty weird, Lav, you don’t gotta sign texts :)

2. That's so sweet! I'll wear something nice for you ;)

Lavinia felt a small pang of guilt, stalking this girl. Following that was shock. She hadn’t felt guilty since her first century of life. She must truly be out of practice when it came to hunting.

She took a sip before rising to put away the coconut water but she found the carton empty. She’d have to go shopping for the fifth time this week. She furrowed her brow. That meant she’d have to find another store to buy from to make it seem less suspicious.

She checked the clock on a shelf in her kitchen. It read six in the afternoon. The sun was setting but she wouldn’t be able to leave until well past seven.

She yawned and began preparing for her night. She had some work to do that she didn’t want to push back but this took precedence. If she ran out of blood too quickly she would starve.

***

Lavinia ended up having to drive into Jersey to find a store that might have what she needed that she hadn’t been to recently. It was a store for the wealthy and the health-conscious.

As she passed aisles and late-night shoppers, she thought about what to do about that girl. The obvious course of action, as she saw it, was to take this girl on a date, play her part well, and invite the girl to her house.

Then she’d be well and truly caught.

Finally, she found what she wanted, the shelf of various coconut waters.

Why is there more than one kind? How many types of coconuts could there be? She had lived a long time, but she hadn’t bothered finding out if there were different coconuts.

This is becoming needlessly complex. She reached a hand for one of the cartons and stopped. What if she chose wrong?

“Excuse me,” a voice from behind her said, “can I…Lavinia?” Lavinia’s eyes widened. She didn’t recognize the voice.

Lavinia turned. The girl was short, in the low range of five feet, with skin a shade of darker brown, with black hair that hung in ringlets. Her face was round and her frame was slight.

“Casey…” Lavinia was screaming internally, “what are you doing here?”

The girl giggled and pointed to her name tag. “I work here,” she looked past Lavinia, “do you need help with anything, by the way?”

It was now or never. Lavinia could wait, sure, but Casey was here, now. It would be a gamble, but if it paid off it meant that she wouldn’t need the coconut water at all. Well, she still wanted it, she liked it, but it would be great not to need it.

“Yes…I was looking for coconut water.” she gestured to the shelf. “There are more kinds than I expected.” She felt like she was making a strange face based on how Casey’s brow furrowed slightly while she smiled.

“Yeah, these health food companies have gone bonkers with products.” She stepped up beside Lavinia. “I mean how many different coconut products can you make?”

Lavinia felt herself relax slightly. “I had a similar thought.”

“Anyway, this one is fairly good.” She picked up a carton and leaned in slightly, whispering. “The thing that makes it good is that it’s cheap.” she handed the carton to Lavinia who looked at it, weighing it with a glance.

“It’s natural, though?” It wouldn’t do what she needed if it wasn’t.

“Oh yeah,” Casey put her hands on her hips. “It’s natural, only has a few chemicals in it, but what doesn’t?”

Lavinia nodded. “Oh…Thank you.” She put the water in her basket. There wasn’t anything else she needed but if she admitted that she wouldn’t be able to get Casey tonight.

“Is there anything else I can help you with, Lav?” Casey smiled. “Can I call you Lav?”

Lav? She hated the sound of it. Everyone who had shortened her name just called her Liv.

“Sure,” Lavinia paused before clarifying. “To both. You can call me that and you can walk with me if you want.”

Was she about to make up a shopping list until she could figure out what to do?

“I still have some things I need.”

Yes, she was.

The pair traversed the store, Lavinia making up the next stop as they went. Casey, for her part, seemed to enjoy walking and talking with Lavinia. They discussed Casey’s school, specifically a poetry class she was taking.

The entire time, Lavinia was contemplating how to get Casey to come with her. Eventually, an idea of brilliance struck her.

“So,” Lavinia attempted to sound casual, “when do you finish your shift?”

Casey’s face turned a darker shade as blood went to her cheeks.

Please, Lavinia pleaded to a forsaken lord. Please don’t let her be A negative.

Lavinia hated the taste of it, it was too incompatible with her palette.

“I don’t get off until around two.” Casey looked disappointed. “It super sucks.”

It really did. Lavinia had things to do tonight and, as much as she wanted Casey, she couldn’t put off her work forever.

“Yeah,” Lavinia said absently.

“At least we’ve got that date next week, though!” Casey beamed up at her. “To tell you the truth, I was super nervous about meeting you, but you seem alright.”

She gestured for Lavinia to follow her. “So I guess now we’ve got all the awkward stuff right out of the way. The date’s gotta go super good, right?”

She would be able to get her next week, and this had made it easier. “Yeah.” Lavinia genuinely smiled at the thought of having fresh blood again. “Yeah, I think it’ll be great.”

Casey checked her out and Lavinia took her coconut water and all the useless things she bought to her car. The entire way home she cursed herself for stumbling so hard and squandering this chance.

***

Around two in the morning, Casey waved goodbye to her boss after they locked up together and started across the derelict parking lot to her car.

She had met the weird woman from the dating app and she hadn’t been scary weird. Just antisocial weird. Casey was thankful for that. She genuinely thought the two of them had gotten along, though the woman was lost in thought for most of it.

She was probably just nervous and overthinking things, Casey thought. It happened sometimes when you met people from dating apps in “the wild”.

She hummed atonally as she reached her car. Absently, she heard footsteps approaching.

“Need somethin, John?” she turned, but before she could get a good look at the person, a bag was thrown over her head and she was grabbed. She screamed and was answered with something hitting her in the face.

She tasted blood and felt weird. The inside of the hood smelled funny. She kept struggling, but there was no screaming, only coughing when she accidentally inhaled the blood that must be coming from her nose.

She heard a car pull up and a sliding door open. She was roughly thrown in and hands grabbed her limbs, binding them.

Slowly, she began losing focus as the smell of the hood on her became stronger and burned her already throbbing nostrils.

Eventually, she passed into unconsciousness.