The Donor House: Nick: Nick’s Village

[k_a_webb]

Ever since Nick had left his creator he’d been looking for a place he could call home. The search had been longer than he’d ever expected it to be. It had been over four hundred years since the night he’d walked away. He didn’t believe in the theory that he would only ever feel like he was at home when he was with his creator as his creator was the reason he’d left in the first place. Four years had been more than long enough in the company of that vampire and his other ‘children’. Calling them ‘children’ disgusted him, but it was the only description he really knew for them.

Then he walked into a small village in the year 1973, it was little more than a hamlet really but the church he could see gave it village status, and knew that he’d found somewhere he could call home. He was about three steps past the sign that would have told him the name of the village had it been daylight when his intuition told him that it would be his village. Of course it was never going to be as simple as walking into a village and buying a house. Vampires were disliked by most humans, which was understandable considering some of the things that some vampires did.

Slowly Nick walked through the streets, looking at the houses as he passed. What he was really looking for was a ‘for sale’ sign but it didn’t seem like there was one. He knew it wouldn’t be long before one popped up. People were leaving villages to move to the towns because they believed the towns were safer. They weren’t. Auctioneers would take humans from anywhere they pleased as long as they’d found someone they thought would sell well. Sighing, he glanced around him, knowing that he was in for at least a few more weeks of drinking animal blood to survive.

A scream rang through the night as he took a step towards the nearest woods. He didn’t even stop to think why someone was screaming before he ran in the direction it had come from. When he came to a standstill right in front of a girl who looked about seventeen and an auctioneer he felt a wave of gratitude for his enhanced speed. If he hadn’t been there then the girl would have been swept away before anyone could stop it from happening.

“Let the girl go,” he said calmly, staring at the vampire holding her. As always it was one of his creator’s children, but not one he knew. “This village is under my protection.”

There was a long silence. All Nick could do was let the auctioneer make a decision as to whether it was worth a fight to get the girl. Normally they didn’t. Most weren’t actually trained to fight because humans weren’t exactly a worry and most vampires didn’t get involved, almost always for selfish reasons. They either couldn’t be bothered or they wanted to buy from the human auctions. Finally the auctioneer let the girl go and disappeared. Nick hadn’t even had a chance to open his mouth to talk to the girl when a group of humans, all men by the looks of things, turned up carrying some bits of wood. He couldn’t help raising an amused eyebrow.

“You’re not taking anyone from our village,” one of the said loudly, brandishing a large plank of something wooden.

“I wasn’t going to take anyone,” he replied, sighing. “I’m not an auctioneer.”

There was no doubt in his mind that none of the humans would believe him and he’d lost his chance of a home, but he felt accomplished for the first time in his very long life. Getting involved had meant he’d saved someone from a fate worse than death. Smiling to himself, he started backing away. Being hit with a bit of wood wouldn’t kill him but it probably would make him unconcious and then someone would stab him. That would kill him and as dying was very low on his list of things to do he wasn’t going to take his eyes off the humans.

“He saved me,” the girl said from behind him, startling him because he hadn’t expected her to stand up for him. “There was an auctioneer and he was going to take me, but then this vampire stopped him.” She stepped past him and their eyes met. “Are you really going to protect our village?”

“These gentlemen don’t seem to want me here.” He looked back at the wood-brandishing humans. “Maybe it would be best if I just left.”

“Not for us it wouldn’t be.” She turned to look at the men standing behind her. “We’ve lost people to the auctioneers and I think having a vampire here would be a good thing. He can keep us safe.”

“He’s still a vampire,” growled the man who had spoken before. “They still need blood.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “I need to feed three times a week and really I don’t need all that much. Vampires who kill humans do it for the thrill rather than because they need to.” He thought for a minute. “You have people like that too. They’re called murderers and we don’t like them any more than you do.”

“I don’t mind feeding him if it will keep us safe,” the girl said, keeping her attention on the men. “Maybe some of the other girls will join me.”

One of the men shook his head. “No, Alice. It’s not going to happen.”

“He saved my life,” she snapped. “If I had been taken then I’d either be dead or an addict and he stopped that from happening. There was no reason he had to step in. He could have just walked away but he didn’t.” She looked at Nick. “That makes him a good person in my eyes.”

The group of men all looked at each other before gathering together in a group. Nick could have listened in to what they were saying, but he didn’t really want to. Just hearing snippets of the conversation was bad enough. Alice looked between him and the group thoughtfully. When they had finally made a decision they all turned to look at him.

“It’s not a unanimous decision but we’ve decided that we’d like you to stay. In return for keeping our village safe from auctioneers you will be allowed to feed three times a week from volunteers.”

“No one gets fed from more than once a week,” Nick said, looking at Alice rather than the men because a lot of them were still glaring at him. “Feeding too often can bind a human to a vampire or create an addict and neither of those is a good thing.”

Alice nodded. “I’ll make a rota.” She turned to look at the men again. “He needs somewhere to live.”

They all muttered between themselves again before the man who seemed to have become spokesman said, “There’s a house that’s about to go up for sale. You can have that.”

“I’ll buy it if it’s suitable,” Nick replied. “I don’t want to be given anything.”

There was more muttering and it was possible for him to hear someone say, ‘Apart from our blood’. He shook his head, even though he understood their point of view. Everything had been much easier than he’d expected it to be thanks to the arrival of the auctioneer, which he was grateful for and worried about at the same time.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.