Thankfully I settled back into the first-class seat. I had a feeling of euphoria; soon very soon the ‘Hunger’ would disappear, and I’d be able to enjoy some food for the first time in eighteen months. Well, at least the ‘Hunger’ would not return until the flight landed in Buenos Aires in sixteen hours or so.
I don’t suppose you’ve given it any thought, but the Covid 19 pandemic has been particularly bad for us in the Vampire Community. What with the restrictions on movement, especially at night, and until the advent of the immunization programme, you couldn’t just bite anybody. I mean we’re all mostly immune to blood borne diseases, but not to the Covid virus, which seemed to have had a particularly bad effect on our community.
We all know, that as supposedly creatures of the night, we lack vitamin D which made us all increasingly susceptible to the effects of the virus – go on, read all the newspaper reports on vitamin D deficiency and susceptibility to the Covid virus.
Then when ‘Lockdown’ came, we couldn’t just go and knock on doors and be invited over the occupier’s threshold. And just to let you know, we don’t use violence or a gun to force entry, just good old animal magnetism – it gets us in every time. It all went downhill from there; I mean you can’t get a “click and collect” or a “home delivery” for a pint of fresh blood.
So there we were, isolated, stuck at home, and worse off all, unable to go out and feed. We’re not immortal or unkillable just long-lived – well for a few centuries or so, but we do need a regular supply of fresh blood to satisfy our ‘Hunger’. Sure, you can get by on stored blood, but its long-term use is not recommended, it clearly states that in ‘The Handbook of Vampyr Well Being’.
On top of that, the streets were empty; there was nobody around – remember? The only people you were likely to encounter were others from our own community, and that really, really doesn’t work for us at all.
The only members of the Vampire Community, who were less troubled, were those who lived-in high-rise flats, but they needed to be above ten floors or higher. For some reason the higher you go off the ground the less ‘The Hunger’ troubles you. I mean there’s no logical reason for it. It just is - and living up a mountain doesn’t help; you must be physically off the ground.
I really don’t know why in all the old Vampire films, we’re portrayed as living underground, even in coffins! That’s so wrong. I hate cellars and coffins and the fact that living a high- rise life diminishes ‘The Hunger’ is a somewhat recently observed phenomenon – well, ever since our American cousins started building their so-called skyscrapers.
Then in the 1940s one of our brethren had a light bulb moment – that’s OK – light bulbs are fine, but as in all the folklore, it’s the sunlight that causes the problem, not artificial lighting. I mean who doesn’t like going out in the evening for a drink, a meal or even clubbing? I may be old but I haven’t aged for a couple of hundred years and can still mix it with those modern Millennials.
Sorry I digress; it’s the euphoria of freedom, the flight and the temporary easing of ‘The Hunger’.
Anyway, in the 1940s one of our community, flying home from a reunion in the ‘Old Country’ noticed that his hunger disappeared whilst airborne, but returned a few hours after he landed. He then tried it out flying round the world, well anyway within the limits of flights that were then available, and eating airline food, without ill effect – he didn’t age, loose his hair, nails or teeth.
So up until ‘Lockdown’ that’s what a lot of us did. Have you ever wondered why first class and business seats are so often booked out – it’s not because of ‘important businessmen/women’ travelling to meetings, rather it’s filled with members of the Vampire Community regularly travelling by plane to control their hunger. It’s our way of fitting into modern life.
Airline food is great when you normally exist on a weekly pint of blood, and the ‘Sanguis Travel Monthly’ regularly lists Emirates, Cathay Pacific, and Air India as the best airlines for Vampires – provided you travel First or Business; I mean, where else can you get perfectly prepared steak tartare at 30,000 feet? Added to that. the high ambient circulating CO2 on an airliner seems to provide us all with a crackle of energy and a feeling of wellbeing. I’m sure there’s a scientific explanation. OK, OK, go read up on the ‘Bohr Effect’, but it certainly works for us!
Mind you a Vampire must be careful when booking flights so that you leave early before sunrise and arrive at night! Flying to South America at least fits that bill.
So here I am, flying out on one of the first flights out of post-lockdown London, travelling to a Southern Hemisphere destination – it’ll be winter when I arrive – for a temporary stay in a land of beef, tango, football, and good wine – long nights and a relatively Covid-free environment.
The Elders always complain that I’m too flippant about being a Vampire, but when you’ve been around for a long time, you have to seek out the fun sides of this lifestyle, otherwise you’ll end up as one of those dark twisted entities that they make movies about.
Sure there are downsides, what with the problems of a predominantly night time existence and all that blood and stuff, but sometimes you just have to make the best of it and enjoy yourself.
You know, I quite like this modern world; it’s so much better than the Medieval and Victorian times, and don’t get me started on about the last century, what with the wars, food shortages and rationing.
Today at least the world runs on a twenty-four hour clock, and with all this artificial lighting at night, everywhere is so brightly lit you can easily live a night-time life. On top of that you can now easily obtain your Vitamin D supplements, and get as much raw steak as you want, at all the supermarkets.
Well I’m certainly going to embrace this New Millennium.
I suppose you could now say I was a Millennial Vampire?
About the author
Henry is a retired surgeon and member of the Canvey Writers Group. He has published a number of stories on the CafeLit site.
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