Mortal Dilemmas

I'm interrupting the tale of my embrace because that damnable sun is shining out there, somewhere, and I have spent many hours contemplating the events of last evening.

In the interest of being good girls for their surrogate father, my virgins have practically attacked their schooling. I have received regular evening reports on how things are during the day for them, and their first week of classes has been relatively uneventful...until last night.

My attractive teens were invited to join a study group at a café. The lure, as I learned afterward, was that they would pool their young minds to tackle various assignments and go their separate ways come sunset. The youths that initiated this were athletes from the school, and transparent enough to see that they were hoping to gain a great deal of aid accomplishing goals without having to actually do much of the work. But there was an ulterior motive to even that translucent plan...

As per what has become ritual, I was up within the hour before sunset. With nothing on my agenda for the evening, I was composing my next post when my phone rang. It was Tina, and she was on the cusp of complete panic. Shay was behaving oddly, her speech slurred and coordination seemingly obliterated. Tina had made every effort to get her back to the car and bring her home, but the "jocks" were running interference. Tina had finally broken away from them and made her call to me.

Bless whatever dark powers granted me my gifts! I ignored my car and used my unnatural speed to get to them. The minutes stretched before me like hours, as I wondered what was happening to my girls.

I must pause here to give you a brief description of myself. I am average in every way. I stand at 5' 9", weigh approximately 160 lbs., am Caucasian, have brown hair, and no outstanding scars, birthmarks, or other defining features. Were I forced to use this material as the name of a superhero, I would be "Captain Common." You must also keep in mind that I have been trapped in the appearance of a 27-year-old for well over a century. Yes, I could alter my features, but that was furthest from my mind as I arrived at the café.

One honestly has to wonder what they feed the children today. These athletes from the school would be judged the sons of blacksmiths when I was young, as their chests and arms rippled with muscular power. Most were close to 6' in height, if not more, making me look almost tiny by comparison.

Three of these monstrous "children" were handling Shay in a most ungentlemanly manner. Had Tina not delayed them past sunset, my ebony princess might well be of the most common blood by now. What followed was very much like a scene from a movie.

The brazen and lecherous athletes were practically fondling Shay in public, and I approached from a discrete place at normal speed. "Excuse me," I began, "but I believe my daughters want to go home, and you are in their way."

They looked from Shay, to Tina, and finally to me before breaking out in laughter. "'Daughters?!?'" one said. "You been sliding your wick in the chocolate and bean dip?"

"Your ethnic jibe will gain you no ground," I countered. "My daughters wish to leave, and I will not let you stop them."

Now the second dolt spoke up. "Check out Mr. Dictionary and the triple-digit vocabulary!"

The third added, "There's no way you're old enough to be their father."

I had not the patience to battle unarmed opponents in a battle of wits, and so I played to the most base natures of humanity; those of gain and loss. Gesturing to a nearby table, I said, "Seat the girls here, and we'll make a wager. The bet will be for my girls and a quarter."

"Huh?" said the apparent leader, with all the intellect of a Neanderthal.

"A quarter," I repeated. "It's the big coin that represents 25 cents. Seat the young ladies, hand me a quarter, and our bet will be on."

"What bet?" asked genius number three.

"Oh, it's quite simple. If I convince you that my concern for them is that of a parent watching over his children, you get your quarter back and we'll be on our way. If you remain unconvinced, I will allow you take them off to whatever lair you maintain and have your way with them."

From the corner of my eye, I could see Tina about to scream some protest or another, but I gestured for her to remain silent, and she obeyed.

"You're off to a bad start, dude, if giving up your kids is your idea of being a dad," the leader quipped, digging into his pocket and producing a quarter. He handed it to me while the other two sat the girls at the table and stood guard over them.

"The situation is simplicity itself," I began. I held the quarter within their view, but concealed from anyone else who might be paying attention. My fingers went to work as I said, "That I am not the girls' biological father is obvious. I assure you that my appearance is deceptive when it comes to my true age. There is nothing I can say to convince you of my true caring for them, but I assure you that your lives are about to change. You see, not only will I be leaving with my ladies, but you will become their daytime guardians."

Number two scoffed at this, even though his eyes were becoming glued to my hands.

"It's true. You will protect them with your very lives, if necessary. You will do this voluntarily. The facts are not as you see them, and you know nothing about me, them, or the mess that you've gotten yourselves into by mistreating my girls. If you do not take on the role I have described, I'm afraid you'll have to answer directly to me. Am I understood?"

At this point, I handed the quarter to the leader. I had, with no apparent effort, folded it into eighths.

His eyes wide and mouth agape, the leader shakily took the ruined coin and stared at it.

"Am...I...understood?" I asked more forcefully.

"Y-y-yes, sir," said the leader.

"Tina, take Shay home and be sure she begins drinking a lot of water. Whatever these fools slipped into her drink should dilute. I will meet you there shortly."

As my girls left, the three athletes appeared to be rooted to the spot, frozen in action. This suited me just fine, as it allowed me to retrieve the evidence from the palm of the ringleader. "If I find out that you've slackened in your duties," I said softly, but dangerously, "I will find you and use my considerable skills to make what I've done to this coin seem like a kindness. The same applies to spreading word of this little event. What I may well tell the world is my choice, not yours."

I turned and started to walk away, adding pleasantly and with a backward wave, "Have a good evening, boys. Don't stay out too late."

Once again, actions prove louder than words.

Tina was relieved when I arrived at the guesthouse, as getting Shay to ingest fluids became difficult; the girl had slipped into unconsciousness, which likely was part of the boys' plans. Tina wasn't feeling all that well either, and I confirmed it with a taste of her blood that she'd been given something. I suppose she's lucky she didn't wrap the car around a pole on the drive home, and both girls are spending the day at home to recover.

Meanwhile, my problem with all of this is that I'm discovering that I care about my well-kept virgins. They were meant to be a means to an end, a source of food. That I find myself growing fond of them in such a short time has me honestly wondering what's wrong with me. Decades have passed since my emotions have run so deep. This is not to say I've been a completely neutral party to any and all in my life, but as I reflected on the events last night, I began to think of the worst. It was the trolley accident in Manhattan all over again. Instead of runaway horses trampling my daughter to death, it was a group of brutes inadvertently slaying my foster children.

To this day, I don't know what Antoinette was doing out at that hour, but I watched in horror as her body was battered and broken mere yards away. Remember that I can only see my future, not others. Minutes before the accident, I could see myself losing my composure, but not see why. The rage that consumed me that night left me little memory of slaughtering those horses and the driver. I was forced to remain outside of New York after that, from 1889 to 1899, in the hopes that witnesses would forget what they saw.

I fear what I'm feeling for Shay and Tina. To lose them, and, subsequently, my control, would make me an outcast amongst my own. I thought I'd managed to distance myself from such emotional depth, and it makes me wonder if my final sunrise isn't a short series of blunders away.