American Blood: A Vampire's Story by Gregory Holden Page B

controlled the apparatus, made a mistake, and reentered. Ryan gestured to the chair on the other side of the plexiglas. “Please sit.”
    Calida put the brush down, stood up, and walked over to the chair next to the feeding tube, her flip flops smacked as she walked. “So, am I going to be disappointed?”
    “Please, sit down,” Ryan again instructed, ignoring her.
    Calida sat down and expectantly waited with her lips just inches from the feeding tube.
    “Before we start,” Ryan said. “Place the end in your mouth and gently bite down. You’ll need to apply just the right amount of force.”
    “Siri has explained it to me.”
    Ryan looked at her. Her eyes were a vivid deep violet color. “I just want this to go as smoothly as possible,” Ryan said. “And I’ll only be able to give you a pint of my blood.”
    Calida frowned. “You’ll just have to get me more. Siri has told me that there will always be enough.”
    “Okay, but we need to start off slow to see what your needs are.”
    “Seems like poor planning for a bunch of scientists,” Calida said in a light, mocking tone. “If you want to keep a vampire caged you’ll have to feed her.”
    “Then don’t be difficult.”
    Calida moved forward and started to gently mouth the feeding valve. She kept her eyes on Ryan who turned away and looked at Siri.
    “We can get started,” he said. “Siri, connect me.”
    “All right.” Siri walked over to Ryan and took hold of his left arm. She opened up the IV needle from a sterilization pouch, rubbed the injection site on his skin with alcohol, and inserted the needle. She then connected the line from the feeding station. “You’re all set.”
    “Don’t be nervous,” Calida said. “Your heart is so fast.”
    Ryan could feel his heart racing. Calida’s senses were extraordinary. “I’m not nervous,” he said, and entered a command on the laptop’s keyboard, made another mistake and again reentered. Both of the small pumps began to slowly turn and blood began to travel from his arm up to the small reservoir above the pumps. All three watched as the reservoir began to fill with his blood.
    Ryan nodded at Calida who surprisingly moved her lips away from the feeding valve. She reached out with her right hand and pinched the valve with her fingers. Blood began its journey from the reservoir, around the circulating pump heads, and down the tube on her side of the plexiglas.
    “Uh, what are you doing?” he asked.
    Calida moved closer to the plastic valve and watched as blood began to drip out. She then opened her mouth and allowed several drops to land on her tongue which she slowly smeared against her upper lip.
    “Hmm . . . I was wrong about you,” Calida said. “You’re actually kind of sweet. Salty and sweet.”
    “Calida, please,” Siri said.
    Calida’s eyes became deep violet and she reached up and wrapped her left hand around the feeding tube.
    “You can start anytime now,” Ryan said, growing impatient.
    Calida took the entire valve assembly into her mouth and carefully bit down. She began to feed, yet she never took her eyes off Ryan who could see her throat muscles swallow once every minute or so. The feeding went on for a while with the only sound being the low electric hum of the pumps. Ryan began to relax. Calida rested her hands on the inside of her thighs and gently rocked back and forth, but her eyes stayed locked on his.
    Ryan felt himself being shaken. He turned away from Calida and noticed that Siri’s lips were moving.
    “Ryan . . . the alarm?”
    “Huh?”
    “The alarm.”
    “Oh. Yes. The alarm.” An electronic beep announced that the target volume had been delivered. Ryan reached forward and shut off the delivery valve. He glanced at the laptop’s display and realized that he had gone past the one pint target volume by two ounces.
    Calida kept the valve in her mouth for several more minutes. She gave a final hard suck and tilted her head back. A drop of blood escaped