April Fools
“April fools!” Carl said, for the tenth time tonight.
Gabriel took a deep breath trying to keep his cool with the annoying human. “Got me again. Filling my half of the cubicle with pictures of you was almost as funny as you putting the fish in the coffee pot.”
Carl shrugged. “Probably would have been funnier if I hadn’t forgotten to turn the coffee warmer off.”
Gabriel chuckled. He pulled up the spreadsheet he’d been working on for the last several weeks. As he was typing, the cursor moved, deleting several rows of work.
Crap, must have his a key on accident. He used the undo function, he’d recently learned and started typing again. Deleted again. Carl quietly chuckled.
“Carl?”
“April fools! Got you again, wireless mouse!”
Can’t kill him. Too much can go wrong. Deep breath. He fixed his computer and tried again.
“I’m going to lunch, you want anything?” Carl asked, grinning.
“No thanks,” Gabriel said, as his stomach growled. It had been several days since he fed last. He needed to soon, before the hunger didn’t give him a choice.
Carl left, leaving Gabriel alone in their shared cubicle. “Finally, peace and quiet.”
Gabriel leaned back in his chair and a loud blast from an air horn sounded, making him jump to his feet swearing.
Carl laughed in the distance. “Damn it Carl!” He ripped the duct taped can out from under his chair tossing it in a trash can.
Gabriel started throwing the pictures of Carl in the trash, wishing he’d taken Carl up on his offer of lunch.
One blissful hour later, Carl walked back into the cubical without a word. He was pale and shaky. He laid his head on the desk.
“Carl, are you okay?” Gabriel asked, taking a step closer to Carl.
“I don’t know, some random chick started making out with me. Now I don’t feel so good,” Carl said, without lifting his head.
Gabriel noticed two unsealed puncture wounds on his neck. Sloppy work. Definitely a newbie.
“What’s on your neck?” Gabriel asked.
“What?” he said, lifting his head to look at Gabriel.
Gabriel pointed at the wounds on his neck. Carl reached up and touched them.
“Dude, what the hell is that?” His eyes widened and he started hyperventilating.
I don’t smell anyone new. Just the few of us on the night crew. They all know better than attacking humans in the open. No one’s requested access to this territory. I have to investigate.
“Carl, can you show me where you were attacked?”
“In a minute, I don’t feel very well. Oh, my God! Something’s wrong!”
Scarlet blood flowed from his mouth in a flash of two elongated fangs that he hadn’t had before.
Gabriel scented the air and wrinkled his face in disgust.
“Dammit Carl.”
Carl laughed wiping the fake blood from his chin. “April fools!”
“There’s something deeply wrong with you.”
“Me? I’m not the one panicking at the sight of a “vampire” bite. Vampires aren’t real,” Carl said removing the fake bite marks.
“Of course vampires aren’t real,” Gabriel said, taking a step closer, smiling revealing his fangs. “April fools.”
