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eBook Category: Horror
eBook Description: Bela was once a famous actor, renowned for his performance of Dracula. Now, he's a drug-addicted has-been. But vampires are real, and one comes to make a seductive offer.

eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Blood Muse, ed. Esther M. Friesner and Martin H. Greenberg, 1995
Fictionwise Release Date: April 2002

22 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [23 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [30 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [9 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [49 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [9 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [61 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [79 KB] , hiebook (KML) [53 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [34 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [7 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [10 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [37 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [16 KB]
Words: 2724
Reading time: 7-10 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

He woke up just after sunset, the hunger too strong to allow him his sleep. After all these years, he no longer hesitated; there was only one way to put an end to the gnawing pain.

He dragged himself upright, and stumbled into the bathroom. The hypodermic was in the medicine cabinet, ready for him. With a sigh, he took it and, with a lack of squeamishness that came from long practice, injected the morphine into his vein.

Bela collapsed onto the toilet and waited for the rush of the drug to carry him away.

He hated his weakness. Sometimes, he thought the best thing might be to overdose and put an end to it all. They would bury him and he'd have his last bit of fame. But he didn't have the courage. Despite everything, he wanted to keep on living.

Hollywood thought him a has-been, and the only acting opportunities were in wretched little films unworthy of his talent. But they gave him his only chance to do what he loved.

Slowly, his mood lightened as the drug began to work its wonders. In a few minutes, he felt the artificial elation begin to give him strength. It was almost like the feeling he had gotten when he was on stage, or in front of a camera, when he could ply his trade as an actor. The drug gave that back to him, if only for a little while, and he was grateful.

There was a loud tapping at on the bathroom window.

Bela looked up, startled. Something the size of a robin fluttered outside, bumping into the window, its flight more like an insect than a bird.

Bela laughed. A bat. How appropriate.

Giddy from the morphine, Bela rose and threw the window open. "I bid you welcome," he said in his best Count Dracula voice, his tone only slightly weakened by age. "You may be an old friend of mine." He laughed.

The bat flew in the open window then, in a flash of darkness metamorphosed into a man.

"Yiiii!" Bela said, shrinking away.

"A fine way to greet an old friend," the man said, a smile twisting his lips upward, revealing sharp, pointed teeth. He was taller than Bela, and thin, with a long nose and dark eyes. He spoke with a slight accent that reminded Bela of his boyhood in Hungary.

"Who are you?" Bela demanded.

"I think you know."