Codder was familiar with the resort, but, before tonight, he’d never been inside. Now he was on a king-sized bed, staring at a Jacuzzi, hoping she would want to get in with him, but mostly just wanting her to hurry.
She finally walked into the room, naked, a small woman with silky beige skin and wavy brown hair past her fanny.
“Wow!” Codder said.
She gave a seductive smile. “What? Have you never been with a woman as beautiful as me?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think a woman as beautiful as you has looked at me before tonight.”
She giggled. “I saw you cowering in the corner and knew that you were the closest to pure of anyone in that club. I knew I had to have you.”
Close to pure was right. He’d slept with one woman in his lifetime, and he was pretty sure she’d only done it after losing a bet.
She placed a finger on her lower lip. “Did you see what I did to that other man, the one who was hitting on me too hard?”
Codder chuckled. “Sure, I saw what you did to Mr. GQ, and I was very impressed by your speed.”
She dropped her head slightly, and now the finger made circles on her cheek. “I had to bite him, so he’d go away.”
Codder wondered if this were some kind of strange foreplay. Was that why she picked him? Did she know he’d tolerate whatever she needed? “It worked. He ran out.”
She opened her mouth to reveal incisors that seemed a little too long. He wondered if she’d had them altered.
He thought he understood the game, decided to play along. “Oh, so you’re a vampire.”
She shook her head slowly.
“No? So what are you?”
She studied him for a few seconds, like a predator studying its prey. “I am a woman. But just in this life. In my previous ten lives I was various kinds of venomous snakes. My soul decided to reincarnate as a woman, but part of what I was carried over.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes. And when I bit that man, I did not inject my venom. I didn’t want to waste it on someone that I just needed to leave.”
She shot to the bed, brought her mouth down on his thigh. Her bite hurt, but was tolerable. As quickly as she had shot down, she shot up.
She studied him again, held out a hand. “Come.”
Codder started to get up, when he noted that he couldn’t feel his left leg. He was able to sit up, but then fell to the floor as the paralysis spread.
She looked down on him. “I only eat a couple of times a year, and I think men who are pure taste better.”
At this point, he couldn’t even lift an arm.
“Soon, you’ll feel a terrible burn. That will be my venom predigesting you. You may or may not still be alive when I start to feed.”
She came down on him, kissed his lips. “But you should try to stick around, because I plan to do it in the nude.”
©2009 Joshua Scribner
Joshua Scribner is the author of the novels Mantis Nights, The Coma Lights and Nescata. His fiction won both second and fifth place in the 2008 Whispering Spirits Flash Fiction contest. Up to date information on his work can be found at joshuascribner.com. Joshua currently lives in Michigan with his wife and two daughters.
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November 5th, 2009 at 3:24 am
Josh,
Great story. Loved the ending.
Hal
November 5th, 2009 at 5:52 am
Now I did like that, from nudging us to think it was just a run of the mill vampire one and then twisting it, nice work.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Very cool-blooded…which happens to fit the species. Good show, sir.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
A very fatal femme.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
That was really cool and different. Great work, Mr. Scribner.
November 5th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Delicious
November 5th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
[...] check out this cool new flash story from Joshua Scribner – Closert to pure – on Flashes in the Dark. Very creepy twist on the vampire [...]
November 9th, 2009 at 10:56 am
A horrifying end … with sexy results!
Really enjoyed the story. It’s always exciting to see a new monster, especially when they’re so eloquent, and chilling.