Have You Bitten My Brother?

20260226

Written for Bradley Ramsey’s “Flash Fiction February Day 23”.

My parents think I’m in Las Vegas. If they had any idea of the stunt I’m about to pull… far more of a gamble than any casino could offer. If the legends are wrong, I’m alone for 65 days of arctic winter.
If the legends are true, I’m about to face vampires.
The town’s so eerie. Utterly dark. Lifeless. The wind howling between the buildings only underscores the absence of normal sounds.
My family’s home, like everyone else’s, is locked up tight, salt across every sealed doorway and windowsill. Everyone says vampires can’t enter without being invited, with the building empty… Best make it clear they’re not welcome.
Unlocking the door and stepping inside makes me feel like I’m not welcome. An intruder in my own home. My flashlight’s reflections stare and frown at me, silently asking why I’m not in a hotel miles south, like I told my parents.
I hurry my supplies inside and shut the door against the howling wind.
My room’s covered in dust sheets and stinks of the garlic mom hung from every light. With the temperature solidly below freezing I can’t air it out, either. Ugh. Wish I’d thought to bring air freshener or something. Though, that might just make it worse.
Hopefully I’ll get used to it. Or lose my sense of smell. Right now either’s fine.
No electricity, no running water, barely even a satellite signal… it’s like I’m in some post-apocalypse movie. Normally that thought would be funny, maybe even fun. But I’m not in the mood for role-playing.
First I make sure the curtains are securely shut - while this little hand-cranked flashlight is dim by most standards, in this abject blackness it’s extremely visible. Reassured, I set up base camp. Oil heater, bottled water, military rations…
Once everything’s arranged, I turn off the flashlight and fumble along walls to my parents’ room. They have windows on two corners, giving the best vantage point across the town.
I wish I knew how long it’ll take for the vampires to arrive.
Assuming they’re real. But I can’t think we’ve done all this for so long without knowing they exist.
Dark and stillness makes time slow to a crawl. No, more a languid drip; it grates on my nerves like the most annoying leaky pipe. Every time I check my watch (carefully shielding it so no light would be visible through the window) I find it’s only been a few minutes, if that.
Ugh. This is so stupid. Why am I doing this?
It’s not too late to pack up and head south again. Sure, I don’t have tickets to Las Vegas, that money had actually gone to my preparations for this stunt, but I could at least contact my parents and admit the truth. From a place with people.
Mulling these options over, playing out increasingly detailed scenarios in my head, passed the time. Until I saw lights on the horizon.
I’m not sure how I expected the vampires to arrive. Rising up from the snow? Flying in from the endless night sky?
Definitely not in an old, battered coach, all the windows cranked down and some golden oldie cranked up so it drowns out the arctic wind. Rocking into town like they own the place. I… guess with everyone having left, they kinda do.
Most of them are singing along. I don’t recognise the tune. The vampires’ voices have a wavery, leathery timbre which blurs syllables together and makes my skin crawl.
Holy shit. This is… this is real.
There’s a coachload of vampires parking by the supermart. Piling out and extracting luggage. The scene’s eerily reminiscent of a holiday tour. Which I guess is what this is?
Amongst the luggage is a lot of coolers. I shudder to think what might be inside them.
Now what? I feel stupider by the second. But it’s too late to run, and-
A face appears at the window. I jerk back and scream. She laughs, fangs glinting in the reflected light from the coach below.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? A wannabe vampire hunter?”
Heart clogging my mouth, all I can do is shake my head.
“Oh? A researcher, then?” She presses her face against the glass. Her smile far too sharp in all the wrong ways.
Deep breaths. I manage to croak “I-is one of you named Herman Warren?”
The predatory grin morphs to a blank stare. She jumps down from the windowsill as abruptly as she pounced and is lost in the crowd, which huddles around… then turns to look up at me.
Well… either the line of salt my parents left will protect me, or it won’t. I muster my courage, turn on my flashlight, and head downstairs.
Looking them in the eye is not less creepy than that sea of upturned faces.
The first vampire pushes to the front and shakes her head. “No, sorry. Nobody here knows any Herman Warren.”
“Oh.”
I’m about to die, aren’t I?
“Why did you think they’d be here?”
“Well… uh…” Oh god this is so stupid they’re gonna laugh than kill me. “These asshole older kids always claimed I used to have a big brother, but he stayed behind one year and… and when I told my parents they went ballistic like I’d never seen before so I thought maybe it was true, and…”
Two dozen lifeless faces gaze at me with baffled pity. I’d almost rather be ripped apart.
“Nope. You’re the first in… sixty years?”
“Oh.”
“Now you know. Buuuut… what happens in our holiday town stays in our holiday town, so…”
Her eyes are suddenly shining quicksilver and I can’t look away can’t blink can’t think I’m drowning in her gaze-
I’m woken by my parents freaking out about the bite marks on my neck. They rush me to hospital before my muzziness clears.
Tests say I’m human. Not even suffering blood loss - though I clearly have been the past two months.

Prompt was “In northern Alaska, there’s a town where the sun sets each year in mid-November and doesn’t rise again for over 65 days. During that time, the people of the town pack their bags and leave. Legend has it that vampires emerge and take over the town during those two months of darkness. Growing up, you always followed the rules and left. This time, though, you’ve decided to stay…”