Chapter 3a: The Boarding House

Even vampires have to stay somewhere and all that stuff about their having to sleep on earth from their graves makes fine reading but it is pure invention. I personally prefer a good spring mattress whenever I feel the need to rest, though I can go without sleep for days if needed.

I went through the "to let" advertisements in the Malay Mail. I used the old-fashioned but infallible 'stick the pin into the target' method. I used a ballpoint pen instead of a pin. I closed my eyes and stabbed into the ads page with the pen. I opened my eyes and checked the page. I saw the address - No. 36, Swatow Lane. I decided to look it up right away.

No. 36, Swatow Lane

To this day I don't know what deity or spirit guided me to that doorstep to ring that doorbell. There was a sign in the window that said Rooms for Rent. The teen-ager who answered the door was nubile and very attractive. Her body language and her bad attitude prevented her from being beautiful. I discovered on the next day that she was Eurasian and answered to the name of Amanda Maria Lopez. Her jaws moved in that distinctive Brownian motion so typical of young people in the process of masticating flavoured gutta percha.

"What you want, ah?" she queried in a bored manner, her command of English was best described in the local idiom as 'so-so only'. I told her why I was there. She turned her head and yelled, her body leaning against the doorpost in an insolent manner.

"Aunt Philo, there's a guy asking about the room," she screeched and then gave me a feline grin and a look that said, You'll be sorree!

A bleary-eyed barge of a woman lumbered into view. She wasn't fat. She was big, but not unattractive. I could smell last night's whiskey on her breath. We introduced ourselves. She was Philomena Gomez, forty-five years old, 5 foot 10, dark skinned, and nursing an attitude most of the time.

"Come in," she said in a loud voice and her breath struck my nostrils like a cloud of sewer gas. If I were a true breather I would have choked. She led me up two flights of stairs to the top-most room. On the first floor a couple were leaving, carrying their belongings. It was obvious that there was bad blood between them and the landlady. They glared at each other as they passed.

The room was what I needed. It was air-conditioned and I could see a hole in the wall for a telephone jack. The room was large with its own bathroom and toilet — not that I needed the latter. The bathroom was small but it would do. There was a bed that could sleep two and an old spring mattress that was still usable.

"I'll take the room but you have to sweep it clean it first and mop it down. Then I want you to clean it and to give me fresh bedclothes once a week. I cannot stand dirty beds."

She began to protest but I gave her the eye and she subsided. The girl gave her aunt a startled look. Clearly, Philomena Gomez wasn't the sort to wilt under a sharp retort by a would-be sub-tenant.

"For the room, five hundred," she said. "One month in advance, one month's rent as deposit. Extra fifty for using the air conditioner. Cleaning room and other services another hundred."

I thought that the extra hundred was worth the trouble of having to do my own cleaning and laundry. The fifty for using the air conditioner was for power consumed. These were standard charges for Kuala Lumpur city.

"Fine," I replied and handed over the money. "I'm moving in this evening. Please get it ready." I left the house and went shopping for a car. I found a used Mercedes Benz E280 in reasonable condition and 'persuaded' the salesman and his manager to let me have it on hire-purchase. Under normal circumstances a guarantor would have been required for hire purchase. I even got the manager to replace all four tyres before I drove it away. When I returned to the house, my room had been cleaned and the bed properly covered.

Later, I got a new ID card, a birth certificate, a driving license, and other documents to replace those that had long been discarded. Tough? Not really. Not when you have the powers that I possess. I suppose I could have gotten along well enough without those documents but I could do without the hassle of having to mesmerise every petty official I came across into believing I had them.

My next step was to shop for wireless broadband and I found a Chinese firm that could give me satellite access to broadband. It was expensive but then it gave reasonable speed and freedom of access. I downloaded various programmes from the 'Net and installed my own firewalls, traps for unscrupulous hackers (including government agencies), and in general made my system unassailable.

The next day I began to tinker with the computer. I had some ideas that I wanted to incorporate into the system. Next was a recording machine that was voice activated and that was hooked to the computer as well. Having done that, I was ready for business. The things I did to my computer enabled me to eavesdrop into other telephone conversations. At first I targeted corporate offices, government officials, and politicians. In two months I gained enough information to begin my careful assault on the commodity futures market. Those were the halcyon days before the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. In one year my forays enabled me to amass a fortune that I carefully moved into several offshore accounts throughout the world. More about that later!

Meanwhile I had to feed and I found the ideal spot for my marauding forays. I discovered Bangsar, the watering hole of the affluent and for 'night people.' The night spots — pubs, bistros, restaurants, etc — were clustered in an area surrounding a very upmarket shopping Mall called Bangsar Village. There were two of these malls — Bangsar Village One and the more modern and upmarket Bangsar Village Two. It was the perfect hunting ground for me. There were young whores who trolled for customers (mostly tourists and lonely foreigners) and I targeted them for my sustenance. If I wasn't in need of sustenance I hung around enjoying myself.

I discovered that I could drink liquids as these passed through my altered alimentary canal without difficulty. This ability to drink alcohol and certain beverages is one difference between grey and dark vampires. The latter could only consume blood and nothing else. I do not eat solids. Drinking for me is a social thing and I do like the taste of good wines or brandies and well-made cocktails. I do not eat any kind of solid food. Anything I consume would merely pass through my system without being digested. Imagine the effort needed to void a large steak. Black vampires can only consume blood from a warm-blooded creature. Anything else would poison them. They could not be killed but they would suffer great discomfort.

Odali taught me that vampires are divided into two classes — grey and black. Those who choose the dark path are fully nocturnal creatures. They become catatonic during the daylight hours and abhor the sun. The sun in its turn abhors them. The result of this mutual abhorrence on the affected black vampire is a heap of steaming mush that quickly desiccates into fine dust. Black vampires are powerful in their own way and they have the ability to change shape, something those who follow the grey path cannot do. They become black vampires when they take the blood of innocents. Odali warned me never to do this, so I have always only taken the blood of transgressors and people who have lost their innocence — the street girl in Madras city, for example.

I was lucky to have been changed by Odali who follows the grey path. While grey vampires cannot change into animals or winged creatures like the bat, we have the advantages of near immortality, greater strength, and speed. We also have the advantage of being able to shrink or expand our bodies or any part thereof. And we have the advantage of being able to expose ourselves to the rays of the sun without being incinerated. Both grey and dark path vampires possess the power to summon and control demons and good spirits. I often wondered what it would be like to be a black vampire. I suppose it was a stroke of luck my change was carried out by Odali. I could have been attacked by a black vampire and become one, although it was more likely the black vampire would have used me as food and wouldn't have bothered to give me a choice between un-life and true death.

And let it be understood. All vampires know that there is a Guiding Force that governs all aspects of our existence. To us the Creator is referred to as The One. We do not take his name in vain and we avoid using names of power, a habit mortals are inclined to indulge in.

Things were really looking good for me and I was satisfied with things as they were.

Mandy

WHEN he came looking for a room to rent I thought he was the palest man I ever saw. Not white pale but funny pale. He isn't a very big guy, maybe about 5 feet 8 inches tall and slim. He has very smooth skin and I don't think he shaves at all. The other funny thing is his hair. For an old guy his hair is black. There isn't any grey in it. First thing I noticed about him was his quietness. He looks like a wimp but he's got those no-nonsense eyes. Those weird eyes make you think of the night and bedrooms and stuff like that. I mean there are guys who are big but you get the feeling they're all show and no go. Not this guy, Kaid.

If it were not for Vince maybe I could go for Mr. Kaid, although he's an old guy. Like he's thirty years old, at least that's what he said. And he's really strong too. I saw him move the big cupboard in his room alone by himself. When I saw him do that my pussy became wet. I bet he could poke a girl the whole night, non-stop.

I wondered what it was like to get it non-stop for a whole night. Vince is good for one shot only then you got to give him at least three hours before he get a cock stand. Sometimes I think I'm wasting time over Vince but he's a cool guy and he's got a motorcycle.