![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Donor House: Lacey: First Night at the Donor House
Note: this story was written with a very different Donor House in mind, but has been revised.
When Lacey had arrived at the donor house she hadn’t been sure what to expect. There was a huge difference between walking past the donor house, which had once been a hotel, and actually going inside. Once she was inside she found that it wasn’t any different to any of the other hotels she had been in. She didn’t have much chance to look around because she was taken straight up to her room so she could settle in. Her first night was spent unpacking in an attempt to make herself feel more comfortable. It didn’t work. At sunrise she closed the heavy curtains.
After spending most of the long day tossing and turning she got up when her alarm went off to tell her it was sunset. For the first time in her life she missed school. Any time she’d had away from lessons had always been her favourite times of year but now that she couldn’t go to school she found that she had taken it for granted. Her friends would all be in lessons, they would be studying for their final exams, and then they would go on to college or sixth form. Lacey was stuck in the donor house because of her father’s debts for at least six years so by the time she got out they would all have jobs.
She was grateful when someone knocked on the door. It forced her to stop thinking about everything. The vampire who’d brought her to the house had told her she wouldn’t be working that night as Wednesday night was one of her nights off. Everyone in the house got two nights off a week to recuperate. Her’s were Wednesday and Sunday. Part of her wished she could just get on with doing the job but she knew she wouldn’t survive six years there if she didn’t have some time off. Shaking off her never ending thoughts she went to answer the door.
“Hi,” she said as she opened it.
“Lacey right?” the girl outside asked. Lacey nodded. “Great. I’m Morgan. I’m here to be your guide tonight and introduce you to some of the people who work here. Today you need to make sure you’re wearing something white to show that it’s your night off.”
“I don’t know if I have anything white.”
“That’s why I brought this.” Morgan pulled a white ribbon out of her pocket. “Wrap it around your wrist and we’re good to go. I suggest you buy something else as soon as you can but for now the ribbon will be fine. If you forget to wear something white on your night off then a visiting vampire will assume that it’s fine to drink from you.” Lacey raised an eyebrow. “Normally a vampire will talk to you before they drink from you. They think it’s bad manners not to have a conversation with their donor. A few don’t care. Wearing white is your only safety mechanism against them.”
“Has that happened to you before?”
Morgan nodded. “It was my own fault. I thought I’d be fine because I was only popping into the dining room to pick up a bottle of orange juice. One of my regulars was there and he couldn’t do anything to stop it because I wasn’t wearing white.”
“You have regulars?”
“There are vampires who choose favourites. I have three regulars who all visit me at the same time on the same day every week.” She smiled. “They give good tips. If you want to get any money out of this then regulars are the best way to do that.”
“I feel like a prostitute,” Lacey muttered.
“Give it time, Lacey. Being here does get much easier as time passes.” Morgan took hold of her hand and began leading her down the corridor. “The vampires who come here regularly are really nice.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that we’re both walking blood banks. Is it safe to leave my room unlocked?”
“Your room will be fine. I’ve never heard of there being a thief here and I don’t think there ever would be. None of the donors want to lose their place here and it’s the same with the vampires. Alice is really strict about the vampires she lets in the door of this place. I hate to think what she’d do to one of them if they broke her rules.”
Together they got into the same lift that Lacey had travelled in the night before. No one else was in it which made her let out a breath she hadn’t even realised she was holding.
“Do you really think of yourself as a walking blood bank now?” Morgan asked.
“It’s what I am, Morgan. We all are. In the end we’re all expendable. There are hundreds of humans out there that they could feed from so we’re not exactly important in the grand scheme of things.”
“In a way you’re right but the donor houses are very important. This is the way they make themselves seem more humane. Without the donor houses they would just be animals and we would be their prey so they have to make sure that we’re as safe as possible.”
“People have died in donor houses.”
“I know they have.” Sorrow filled Morgan’s voice. “We lost someone here just two weeks ago. That doesn’t change what the donor houses were created to be.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”
“Lacey, we’ve all been where you are now. Right now you’re angry and bitter because you’ve been forced to make a choice that you’re not happy about. It will take time for you to deal with those feelings.” Morgan squeezed her hand. “I’m here because my family can’t afford to pay the mortgage.”
“My father is in debt because of his gambling.”
“We’re all the same. I don’t know one person who is here because they thought that becoming a donor was a good job prospect. There are a couple of people who have stayed on for longer because they make good money here and they’ve made friends with some of the vampires.”
“I can’t imagine ever doing that.”
“Neither can I, but I do see where they’re coming from. We make money without actually doing anything at all.”
“Being a donor is dangerous.”
“If you look after yourself it isn’t really that dangerous.”
“Unless you get chosen to feed a newborn or someone loses control.”
“That doesn’t happen very often at all. There are rules in place to make sure that no vampire loses control. A vampire must eat every other night. No vampire can feed from the same person three nights in a row because it can make them obsessed with the taste of the donor’s blood. A vampire cannot feed from a donor they are in a relationship with.”
“Vampires and donors date?” Lacey asked, not quite able to believe that something like that would happen.
“Occasionally.” Morgan looked at Lacey. “Vampires aren’t innately bad, Lacey. Some vampires may be evil but they’re not permitted into the donor house. If Alice, Nick or Issac know for sure that a vampire has killed a human before then they won’t be allowed into the house and any vampire that is suspected of killing a human with no proof that it actually happened will be watched very carefully every time they visit.”
Lacey shook her head. “I can’t imagine even being friends with a vampire.”
“I couldn’t imagine it either when I first got here. Then I got to know some of them and I have friends who are vampires now. They’re people, just the same as we are. Being a vampire isn’t who they are. Wait until you meet Alice.”
“Alice?”
“She’s the vampire who looks after all the donors. If you have a problem then she’s the one to talk to.” Morgan smiled. “Alice is a good person and I think she probably always was. She wants to take care of all the donors, kind of like a mother hen would her chicks.”
“Why didn’t she just stop the donor house from being created if she wanted to look after us?”
“The donor house doesn’t just exist to feed vampires, Lacey. It’s a way of mixing vampires and humans together so that we have relationships that are more than just about feeding.” Morgan was silent for a moment. “Alice is also using the house to help the humans who are addicted to being bitten. I think the first person you should meet is Caleb if you want to understand why the house is important.”
Together they walked out of the lift. “You have a choice now,” Morgan said. “We can either go straight to the dining room if you’re hungry or I can give you the guided tour.”
Lacey thought for a moment. “The dining room sounds good.”
Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.
Feedback