Breaking Trust

I was sitting in the dimly lit corner of an old dive bar I used to like. I was a brooding figure, sitting hunched over my whisky, savoring the burn as it went down.

My eyes, bloodshot with rage and alcohol, pierced through the soul of the bartender. I would teach him a lesson he would not soon forget. Tonight, my thirst for revenge surpassed my thirst for blood.

The bartender, a burly man with a bushy beard and a short buzz cut, had made a grave mistake when he crossed me.

His cruelty would unleash a fury unlike any he had witnessed in his pathetic mortal life. I would crush him with my bare hands.

My mind raced as I took another sip of whisky and recalled the night of betrayal.

I had confided in the bartender that me and my wife were immortal vampires, a secret that I thought I could trust him to keep safe, given we had been coming to this bar for years. I usually have good instincts for the living, and when I tell them, they ask to be converted to vampires themselves. And in exchange for a little blood, I was more then happily oblige.

But the bartender had decided money was more important, and had drugged my wife and I, and taken our teeth and ‘immortals blood’ to sell to the highest bidder on the black market. He still had my wife hostage, keeping her as his personal servant. He did not realize that our teeth grew back, and I was able to use mine to escape. I am back tonight to take Lucas the bartenders life.

My fangs grazed my lower lip as I imagined the sweet taste of vengeance. My plan began to take shape, one that would see the bartender beg for mercy before meeting his painful demise.

I scanned the room, making sure no one was close enough to interfere with my plan. A few scattered patrons, each lost in their own misery, posed no threat to me. I looked at the clock, less then a minute passed since I ordered my drink.

The clocks ticking now growing louder as the moment of Lucas’s death drew near. I could feel my body tingle.

I stood abruptly, my chair scraping against the worn wooden floor. All eyes turned to me, scared and curious.

“Hello, Lucas,” I shouted.

I fixed my gaze on the bartender, who swallowed nervously and took a hesitant step back.

With inhuman speed, I crossed to the other side of the bar to grab Lucas and vaulted over the barrier between us.

Lucas had stumbled backward, frantically searching for a weapon to defend himself. But he was no match for my otherworldly powers.

My lips curled into a sinister smile, then I lunged for the bartenders neck. A choked scream escaped the mortal's throat as my fangs found their mark. I dug them deep into his artery, the blood spraying out of his neck and covering my face like a blood mask in a Tarantino movie.

His blood coursed down my throat like a warm cup of tea, satisfying my lust for vengeance.

My time here was up, just under a minute passing since I had ordered my whisky.

As the patrons cowered in fear, I crushed the bartenders skull with my bare hands, then released the lifeless body of Lucas, enjoying the loud thud as it hit the ground. If I took enough blood, they would not change into a vampire, and I had taken more then enough.

I licked the remnants of blood from my lips, savoring the sweet taste of retribution.

“What are you freaks looking at? Any of you want to go next,” I hissed at the staring customers, who then turned and continued to mumble amongst themselves.

With a final glance at the clock, I had gone into Lucas’s secret back room and released my wife. We then vanished into the night, leaving behind a scene of horror that would haunt the bar for eternity, all of that accomplished in under a minute.

We returned to our forest and paid a visit our friends Twigly and Charlie, who had agreed to hide us.

This has been A Terrifying Tremulous Trees story