The Donor House: Magda: Making a Decision

[k_a_webb]

On the night Magda made the decision that she was going to visit the donor house she’d been alive for over two millennia. The netbook sitting in front of her still showed the about page and she stared at it. Vampires were interesting creatures, always trying new ways to survive, but this was something she’d never seen before. For the first time she approved of what the creators of the donor house were trying to do, bringing immortal and mortal together in an attempt to get them each to understand the other. It reminded her of what the only man she had ever loved had tried to do.

After sipping her coffee Magda clicked on the link that would show her the vampires in charge of the donor house. She kept looking at them, trying to work out what it was about the four of them that had made them come up with such an interesting idea. Nicholas Reeves was someone she thought she recognised, but over the years she’d met so many vampires that occasionally they all blurred into one. Alice Ward was a vampire Magda knew she’d never met. In the picture Alice looked like someone who knew more than they let on and Magda had a feeling she was the most empathetic of the vampires. Issac looked like he might almost be as old as her, which was unusual. Vampires often didn’t like change and getting involved in such a new idea was strange, but then there might have been something more to his decision.

Lewis Mead was a vampire Magda did know of, but had never met. Some talked of him admiringly, because of the amount of money he’d amassed during his life, while others… they hated him. Thanks to the money he’d earned he had power that some would never have, no matter how hard they tried. Knowing that he was involved, no matter how small his role was, told her that they wanted the house to work. Without someone who understood figures they wouldn’t have survived a month.

None of the donors were mentioned, although there was a donor application form on the website, and that was another reason Magda wanted to go. There was no doubt in her mind that all of them, in the beginning, had applied because of the money that was on offer. Most vampires she’d known had seen humans as nothing more than food. In the house things would be different, they would have to learn to live with each other, and the idea of that fascinated her. She’d never been able to view humans as food, not after falling in love with one, so visiting somewhere she might be able to put the past where it belonged and move on… it was something she’d needed, but until the donor house it hadn’t existed.

Nodding to herself, Magda finished off her coffee, closed her netbook and packed it away, before standing. The donor house was a short walk along the promenade away, but it wasn’t yet sunset and she knew the donor house worked on a nocturnal schedule. It made sense. Younger vampires had to learn to cope with having more sensitive senses, which was harder for some than it was for others, while a lot of older vampires had been taught by their creator that the night was better for them than the day. She’d never known her creator, so learning to live as a vampire had been done by trial and error. A lot of the time there were more errors than she’d been happy about.

That was part of the reason Magda had fallen in love. He’d understood that she didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she didn’t know how to control the blood lust she felt when she feed. It was something she later learnt that her creator should have taught her. Waking up alone and somehow knowing she wasn’t human any more had made things a lot more difficult than they needed to be, until she managed to teach herself all the things she should have been taught. Entering a house full of humans back then would have been impossible. Some days she’d even had trouble being around her lover.

Magda looked at the clock, checked it against her watch, and then left the coffee shop. She had an hour before sunset, so she needed to find something to do with that time, instead of letting herself think about the past, again. Being alone almost all the time meant she had much more time to remember the past than she needed. He was still there, if she went back far enough, but the memory of a man wasn’t enough. Having someone there to talk to, whether that someone was human or vampire, when she needed them was.

One of the places Magda wanted to visit was the bookshop she’d walked past: Echoes of Alexandria. Books had been her escape from reality for a long time and she’d left them all behind once again. It had crossed her mind that she should purchase an e-reader, so she could keep her books with her when she moved from place to place, but there was something about the scent of a book that she loved and wasn’t ready to let go of. What she really wanted was a place to put down real roots, so she wouldn’t have to keep moving around, and she thought she might have found that place, finally.

With her bag over her shoulder Magda headed in the direction of the bookshop. If she passed any other shop she might pop in, because it had been a long time since she’d been in a town. Normally she got all her shopping online, partly due to the price, as she often found things were much cheaper, and partly due to the amount of choice she had. Finding almost anything was possible with a little searching. She also liked not having to deal with people who quite obviously didn’t want to be stuck behind a till, but had no other choice if they wanted to earn a living. Not all cashiers were like that, thankfully, although it did seem to be the majority. Or maybe it was her who had the problem.

As Magda walked down the arcade she noticed that most of the shops still closed at 5pm. The donor house was still in its infancy, so it wasn’t a surprise, but she hoped things would change. Vampires were people too, even though most humans seemed to view them as nothing more than evil blood drinkers. When she was younger she hadn’t even known that vampires existed until she was turned into one and she thought that knowing of their existence was better than being in the dark. There were a lot of evil vampires, although they had been evil humans before they became vampires. Being a vampire just made them more dangerous.

Some shops were up for sale. It seemed possible that the owners had decided to leave the town that was going to be full of vampires, but it was illogical. There were vampires everywhere and having somewhere they could feed meant the town was going to be one of the safest places for humans. Of course they didn’t understand, because they’d never taken the time to think about things. Instead they saw vampires and ran for the hills, unless they were planning to attack the vampires, which was always another option. Magda sighed, still hoping that the donor house was going to do some good for vampire-human relations.

Finally Magda arrived at Echoes of Alexandria. She stepped into the shop and the scent of bookshop enveloped her. Smiling, she headed for one of the bookcases, wondering who owned such a lovely place. It was the sort of shop she could have happily spent hours in, if she hadn’t already had plans, but if she stayed she was going to visit again.

“Good afternoon,” a female voice said from behind Magda. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Turning, Magda smiled at the woman, before realising her fangs would be showing. “No, thank you,” she replied, worried she might get thrown out. “I’m just looking at the moment.”

Unexpectedly the woman smiled back. “Are you planning on visiting the donor house?”

For a moment Magda wasn’t sure whether she should answer the question, but the woman seemed nice enough, so she nodded. “Yes, I am.”

“Tell Alice Cate said hi.” Cate’s smile grew. “I’m sure you’ll love it there, if you’re anything like the other vampires I’ve met who found their way here.”

Curiosity got the better of Magda. “How many vampires are you friends with?”

“A few. Vampires seem to enjoy reading, as do the donors, so I’m trying to open Echoes a couple of nights a week. Lewis did me a big favour recently by purchasing the flat above the shop for me and I’m really grateful.”

For the first time in a years Magda was speechless. She’d hoped that vampires and humans were going to begin working together, but she hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly. Although Cate did seem to be one of those unusual humans who actually wanted to give the vampires a chance, rather than simply looking at them and seeing evil.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.