The Taste Of Blood *1*

∞   ...C.h.a.p.t.e.r.O.n.e...   ∞1

There were blood stains on the carpet and a little on the walls. The house was the scariest place Addie McKinnon had ever been in her life. There was no real explanation to the stains, but they certainly weren’t new. Just looking around at the place she wished she hadn’t come. It had been abandoned for years, but no one ever took the duty of cleaning it up and selling it. It was nasty.2

She walked deeper into the room and kicked aside the used rubbers that lay on the floor. She wished she could puke right there, but she swallowed hard and kept moving forward. Her cat had run in here after getting loose from the house, and her father refused to help, since he was adamant about getting a cat in the first place.3

The cat’s name was Cheeseburger, after Addie’s number one favorite food. He was  purebred from two perfect cats. He had no strayed patches of any thing besides the inky shade of black that his fur was. His eyes were green and they normally had a guilty expression. Usually someone would find a dead mouse or something after he’d had that look.4

“Cheesy? Cheesy come here!” Addie called.5

She saw the cat run across the doorway toward what might have been a kitchen. “Cheese? Here kitty, kitty. Come here.” When she turned into the kitchen, she saw a furry tail go around another corner. 6

“Cheesy! Cheeseburger come”7

Addie looked around the corner and saw her cat. He was sitting, waving his tail back and forth and staring up. She didn’t call him.  Her plan was to sneak up on him and grab him. She tip-toed toward him and then jumped. She caught him in her arms, and it was easier than it should have been. When she began to walk away, she realized the cat’s eyes had not moved from the spot it was focused on. She followed its gaze and saw a red stain seeping through the floor above. 8

Before she could get out, she heard, or thought she heard, a girl’s screams. She whispered a few curses to herself. Cheeseburger turned his head to glance at her. It seemed playful to Addie, so she cuddled. Instead, the cat scratched her, just missing her eye. When she looked down to scold him, she saw his green eyes flash a fiery orange glare.9

She dropped the cat to the ground, thinking he was totally possessed, but as soon as she pulled the door open, letting the sunlight in, he was back to normal. She walked back home and the cat followed the whole way, acting completely like his usual self. 10

The blood from the scratch below her eye rolled down her cheek, but she wiped it away as fast as it came. One drop slipped down to the sidewalk and the cat jumped at it and began licking the ground. Addie nudged him forward with her foot and he scratched her again, spilling more blood from her ankle. The cat jumped at the wound and began to lick the flesh and blood. Addie didn’t nudge it this time, she shook her leg to make it lose grip on her and she ran fast down the sidewalk. She didn’t turn to see what the cat was going to do next. All she did was sprint as fast as she could to her house.11

She ran into the bathroom and stared into the mirror. Her eye was black and blue, but the bleeding had stopped. Her ankle was swollen and there were bite marks around the wound. Why didn’t I feel that? She asked herself. She took the roll of toilet paper and cleaned out both her cuts.  The tube of Neosporin was nearly empty when she took it from the cupboard, but she managed to squeeze enough out to cover the scratches. Despite the fact that they were only scratches, they were deep and painful. 12

“Addie! Addie are you home?” Her father called.13

“Yeah, I’m home,” She replied.14

“Did you get your cat?” He asked.15

Addie cleaned up her mess in the bathroom and walked downstairs to talk to him. “I found him, but I didn’t take him.” She pointed to her face and her ankle. 16

“Why did he do that?”17

“I don’t know but that house is frickin’ sketchy.”18

“Why do you say that?”19

“Well, there were blood stains on the walls and the carpet,” Addie was cut off by her father.20

“I’m sure it wasn’t bl---” 21

“Let me finish, dad! There were blood stains on the carpet and the walls, there were used rubbers everywhere, Cheeseburger was possessed by some red liquid seeping through the floor, when I left I heard a girl scream. If I’m lying I’m crying. 22

“Oh, and when I was leaving I was holding Cheese and he glared at me and his eyes were orange. You and I both know they’re green. That’s when he scratched me. He was acting strange on the way back. A drop of my blood fell on the sidewalk and he practically dove into it. I pushed him away and he tried to tear my foot off, then he started trying to, like, suck the blood out of the cut. Look at the bite marks here!”23

Addie pointed to the cut on her ankle and the little teeth marks around it. Her father didn’t believe that the cat tried to drain her blood, but he saw the bites and believed it gnawed her leg. Before anyone could do anything else, they heard scratching on the door.24

“Daddy it’s Cheese!” Addie’s little sister, Miranda gasped. She waddled to the door and was just about to let him in.25

“Miranda, don’t let him in,” Addie insisted.26

Her father got up and picked up the crate that they carried the cat home in. He took out a Gladware container and a knife. He cut a little slit in his palm and let a few drops fall into the tupperware dish. 27

“Dad? What the---” Addie gasped.28

“Let’s see if it’s really drawn to blood,” He said.29

“Daddy?” Miranda started to cry, and her twin, Matthew, began to cry to.30

He didn’t say anything, he just reached for the paper towels and wrapped his hand to stop the blood. He put the dish in the back of the crate and put it near the door way. Addie guessed what he was doing and took Matthew and Miranda to their room. She hurried back and her father was ready to open the door. 31

Addie grabbed a baseball bat, for no other reason than she was scared of what was going on. Nothing made much sense to her at the moment. It all seemed like a crazy nightmare.32

Her father swung the door open and the cat just stood there. Its eyes had no expression. They weren’t Cheesy’s usual emeralds, instead they were like fire hot volcanic embers. A flash of challenge flickered in his eyes when he glanced at Addie and her baseball bat. The cat started to move toward her, but a breeze blew outside and the scent of the blood toward its nostrils. It was mesmerized and sulked into the cage like a zombie. Her father snapped the cage shut and peered inside, to see the cat tearing the dish to shreds, searching for more of the sweet red liquid.33

“Jesus, Addie, You couldn’t have chosen one that wasn’t a demon, could you?” He said to her.34

“Daddy? What’s wrong with Cheese?” Miranda asked. 35

“Why is he a demon?” Matthew cried. The twins had left their rooms like Addie had warned them not to, of course.36

“He’s not a demon, he’s just sick,” Addie said.37

“But daddy said . . . ”38

“He was joking. Cheese is just sick.” Addie repeated. “And twisted.” She didn’t let them hear that last part, but she knew it was true. The cat was screwed up.39

Her father told her he was taking the cat to the vet, right that instant and that she had to take the twins to their aunt Leah’s house. Leah was watching them because Addie was meeting friends at the movies and her father was meeting with a client for work.40

She watched him pull out of the driveway with the cat in the backseat and then she helped the twins get their shoes on. Since their mother died, Addie had been the one dressing them and choosing their clothes, which might have been a good thing if she had perfect fashion sense. Matthew was dressed in camouflage shorts and a black “the Clash” T-shirt. Miranda wore denim shorts and a pink Billabong shirt. Both of them wore black, high-top Converse sneakers with ankle socks that no one could see. Most of the time the socks didn’t match, but, since no one saw them, it wasn’t much of a big deal. 41

Miranda’s bleach-blonde hair was thin and hung down to her small shoulders. Addie wished her hair was naturally straight like her sister’s was. Not to mention the fact that Gwen Stefani would be jealous of the shade of her hair. It was nearly white, that’s how blonde it was. 42

Matthew’s hair was the same color, but shorter. Addie made it a point to keep his hair unbrushed, because it spiked with no gel or anything when he didn’t push it down with his chubby hands.43

Addie stared at her reflection in the hallway mirror and decided to slap on some cover-up over the cut below her eye. She also put on a pair of acid wash jeans instead of her, now blood stained, orange capris. Luckily her shirt hadn’t been damaged by the cat’s little episode. It was her favorite, a tight black cap sleeved tee she’d bought at the “Taste of Chaos” tour she’d seen. Her two favorite bands had played and it was the most memorable night of her life.44

She led the twins out the door and they followed close behind. The walk to Leah’s house was the longest she thought she’d ever had. Before they were even halfway there Addie decided that she would take the kids home and call her friends and Leah and tell them about her change of plans. She was too scared to walk the three miles to the theater alone.45

She herded them back to the house and she locked all the doors and windows. Then she called Leah and her friend Danielle and explained that she didn’t feel well and wasn’t going to leave. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about the cat’s change in personality.46

Miranda and Matthew sat in front of the TV and watched a childish show, but that’s just normal for four year-olds. Addie sat on the couch and read a book she’d been meaning to get to for weeks. Everything was just like normal when a knock came on the door. Addie told the twins to stay exactly where they were, for fear it was someone unwanted. She discreetly grabbed the baseball bat she had earlier and peered out the window. 47

Two uniformed cops stood at the doorway. Addie opened the door and put the bat aside.48

“Adrienne McKinnon?” One cop, the taller of the two, asked.49

“Yeah, that’s me,” She said nervously.50

“The news we have to deliver is potentially, uh, upsetting. Your father was taking your cat to the vet, was he not?” The other cop said.51

“Yeah, Cheese, our cat, was acting... aggressive. Like, I don’t know, a vampire cat. That probably sounds completely insane, but I swear on a stack of Bibles it’s true.”52

“Well, the cat, somehow, got out of the crate he was in and, from what we’re told, you’re father was spooked and drove off the road into a tree. He’s still alive, but in critical condition. He’s in a coma.”53

Addie felt tears prick her eyes, but she resisted and wouldn’t let herself cry. Crying was a weakness. She cleared her throat and spoke again. “Where’s the cat?”54

“They took him to the humane society. His face was covered in blood but he had no real damage done...”55

“That’s because he drank my dad’s blood when the car hit the tree.”56

“How would you know that?”57

“Have them do a blood test for my dad’s blood type. I promise you it’s the same. That cat is a psycho.”58

The cops asked her a few more questions and then they left. They told her to go about her usual lifestyle and if she needed anything that she should give Leah a call. Addie didn’t want Leah to come watch over them. It wasn’t that she was bad, she was just strict and overprotective. Addie insisted that she could take care of the twins and herself until her father came home.59

“Why were ‘da police here?” Matthew asked.60

“Uh, they just came to tell me something. Guys, Cheeseburger got loose in the car and made dad get in a car accident. He’s in a coma in the hospital right now. I have to be in charge for a little while,” Addie explained.61

“A coma?” Matthew mimicked, wondering what it was.62

“A coma is when you go to sleep for a long time. You don’t die, but you don’t wake up for a long time.”63

“Why?”64

“Because dad hit his head when he got in the car accident.”65

The twins didn’t understand how serious the situation was, so Addie quit explaining it to them. She helped them get their pajamas on and put them to bed at seven. The hot, summer air kept her from sleeping herself. She stared up at the ceiling and wondered when she would wake up from her horror-movie nightmare. There was no way she could take care of two four year olds for too long. She was only fifteen, and she’d just gotten used to taking care of herself. Not to forget the fact that her father may take months or even years to wake up. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, not at all....66