Serialized Science Fiction.

The Nanovampire
Tom Haynes

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(overview)

two talking and it was the very evident concussion which had their knickers in a knot.

I decided to practice good customer relations and help them solve their little problem. I could not go to the hospital, I'd be helpless and extradited in no time - I shouldn't have left Atkins in the escape pod. I closed my eyes, they were taking their own sweet time, they must believe I wasn't going anywhere.

I shut my eyes and closed my ears. The last sounds hard, but really, all I did was a trick I learned in Tibet. It wasn't an old one from the monasteries, but a product of the monks learning from the inventive Americans. A monk had been given a helicopter ride and he asked how it was that he and the pilot could talk over the noise of the engine. The pilot explained how the speaker system applied an inverse wave form to cancel out the sound of the engine. The monk didn't know squat about electronics, but he had an intuitive feel for balance. So he taught himself how to eliminate sounds he didn't want to be bothered with as he meditated. He taught others the technique and eventually I was taught it in repayment of a life debt.

So I concentrated on my new friends, I let them know I needed my claws and jaws - nothing happened. I let them know why I needed my defenses - nothing happened. I showed them my feasting on the warm succulent blood of the robbers - bam, I felt the transformation occur as the claws sprang into my palms. I made a mental note to never clench my fists during intense and stressful concentration. The blood welled in the pools when I slipped the finger daggers out. Then the blood gelled and pretty soon my palms were smooth again.

I wanted to flex my muscles to see if I could snap the handcuffs off, but I had a pressing urge to see how strong and nimble a single finger could be when in its transformed state. I pushed one tip into the keyhole and twisted it, the lock popped off. I used the pointer from my other hand to press under the cuff and to rip it off.

I wanted this to be quick and yet be an effective signal to the organization which had experimented with my life. I had no idea when Santiago's buddies would show up and I wanted out of town before they cordoned it off. I wanted to push down with my arms, use the coiled energy to spring upwards, twist in the air, and decapitate the two of them before I landed.

Instead, I rose and thrust my right hand up and under the ribcage of the guy who had sucker punched me. I pulled out his heart and gulped it down in one swallow. I felt my throat widen a bit and then the muscles pass the cargo down, like a boa constrictor doing lunch. I got a little melodramatic and tried to shush Santiago with a finger to my lips. It didn't work, he let out a piercing scream. I didn't have much time, I took a deep breath, then I latched onto his jugular and suckled for all I was worth.

I drained him in under a minute. My vision cleared about 20 seconds into my repast.

I looked with regret at the other cooling body, but after all I had eaten today, I really couldn't finish him off. I had to get some clothes and get out of here. I grabbed a bag on the nightstand and stuffed some clothes in it from the dresser. I took a chance and grabbed their wallets, perhaps I could come out ahead from this little fiasco. I was going to throw on some clean clothes when I noticed there wasn't a stain to be found on my shirt or the rest of my outfit. Those busy little beavers, they must have absorbed the fluids back in when they scurried back to mama.

I hightailed it out of there and had to knockdown the rest of

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(overview)

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