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"I a Scout’s uniform," Mr Crepsley snorted as he turned our victim over

"Were you ever in the Scouts?" I asked

"They did not have thes and grunted "Plenty of blood in this one, "he said

I watched as Mr Crepsley searched the leg for a vein, then cut it open---a sernails As soon as blood oozed out, he clamped his mouth around the cut and sucked He didn’t believe in wasting any of the "precious red mercury," as he sometimes called it I stood uncertainly by his side as he drank This was the third time I’d taken part in attack, but I still wasn’t used to the sight of the va It had been alh tie It was hard to believe my old way of life was finished, that I was a half-vao back I knew I had to eventually leave my human side behind But it was easier said than done Mr Crepsley lifted his head and licked his lips

"A good vintage," he joked, shuffling back from the body"Your turn," he said I took a step forward, then stopped and shook rowled " You have shied aice already It is time you drank"

"I can’t" I cried

"You have drunk animal blood," he said

"That’s different This a human"

"So what?" Mr Crepsley snapped "We are not You have to start treating humans the same as animals, Darren Vampires cannot live on ani huroeak If you continue to avoid it, you will die"

"I know," I said miserably"You’ve explained it to me And I knoe don’t hurt those we drink froed unhappily He sighed"Very well It is hard, especially when you are only a half-vareat I will let you abstain this time But you must feed soon For your own sake"

He returned to the cut and cleaned away the blood-which had been leaking out while ere talking-fro Then he worked up a mouthful of spit and slowly let it dribble over the cut He rubbed it in with a finger, then sat back and watched The wound closed and healed Within aleft besides a small scar that the man probably wouldn’t notice when he awoke

That’s how vampires protect themselves Unlike in the movies, they don’t kill people when they drink, not unless they are starving or get carried away and go too far They drink in small doses, a little here, a little there Sometimes they attack people out in the open, as we had just done Other tiht or into hospital wards or police cells

The people they drink from hardly ever know they’ve been fed on by a va red shape He wouldn’t be able to explain why’d passed out or what had happened to him while he was unconscious If he found the scar, he’d be more likely to think it was the mark of aliens than a vampire

HahAliens ! Not many people know that vampires started the UFO stories It was the perfect cover People all over the world aking up to find strange scars on their bodies and were blainary aliens Mr Crepsley had knocked the scoutmaster out with his breath Vaas, which makes people faint When Mr Crepsley wanted to put someone to sleep, he breathed into a cupped fist, then held his hand over the person’s nose and mouth Seconds later they were down for the count, and wouldn’t wake for at least twenty or thirty minutes

Mr Crepsley examined the scar and ood care of his victiuy, from what I’d seen of him- a part fro "The night is young We will go find a rabbit or a fox for for you"

"You don’tfrom him" I asked

Mr Crepsley shook his head "You will drink eventually," he said"When you are hungry enough"

"No," I said silently behind him, as he turned to walk away"I won’t Not from a human I’ll never drink from a humanN ever!"