Angus
When Rebecca rang the doorbell at ten that morning, I thought that she had decided to skip school for the day. But when she told me what had happened, and more importantly, what had almost happened, I realised that it was a bit worse than I had thought.
Rebecca sat curled in her corner on the three seater sofa, her eyes filled with anguish as she described her near catastrophic encounter with the smell of fresh blood, and how much she had wanted to taste it.
"It could have been a lot worse," I told her. "You did fairly well, actually. For one, you didn't actually lick the blood on your hand, no matter how much you wanted to. And secondly, you didn't go for Shanice's neck either."
"You haven't met Shanice, have you," she said dryly. I laughed.
"Mark saved me. I think he knew something like this would happen."
"I am really going to have to get him a big present some time soon."
"I think he wants the kitten," she smiled at me. Speak of the devil. It sauntered in to the sitting room from wherever it had been hiding and mewled at Rebecca. She picked it up and it sat purring on her lap, clearly satisfied with the situation.
"Rebecca, whether you like her or not, the fact that you didn't bite Shanice when you smelled her blood is a very good sign. I would never have been able to do that when I was your age. I think that's why our father kept us out of school. Boys fight, and blood gets spilled. It's one of those things. My father knew he couldn't take that risk. I didn't expect you to be breaking noses quite so soon though."
"She had it coming. She's been trying to bully me for ten years." She paused, her brow furrowed in thought. "The strange thing was that I really enjoyed breaking her nose. It was so satisfying. And afterwards, when I realised what I had done, I wasn't really sorry I'd done it. I tried to feel sorry, but it just wasn't there. I was a lot more upset that I'd almost exposed myself as beyond freaky by licking her blood off my hand. That really scared me."
I nodded slowly.
"Have you ever hurt someone and actually enjoyed it?" she wanted to know, looking at me with a worried expression, and stroking the kitten's back. It purred even louder.
How to answer a question like that. Hmmm. I decided to be truthful. Mostly.
"Yes." I let that sink in for a few seconds. "I think it's because when you develop this need and ability to kill people and drink their blood, your brain makes a kind of automatic adjustment, so it doesn't feel completely wrong to hurt other people."