Maurice carefully folded the bloody napkin and put it in a plastic bag.  Such a messy job!  Still, he could make it as civilized as possible.  He lay the woman back in her bed and placed the sheet and blanket precisely one inch above her breastbone.  She wasn’t quite dead but would be in moments.  It had taken him centuries to perfect this little piece of deception!  Taking his right forefinger he licked it then rubbed the entry wounds.  Quickly they closed and healed.  It was unfortunate that trick only worked on the living!

Standing back up, he looked around the room.  The small flat was impeccably clean—something he insisted on.  The thought of eating in a filthy back room or in some dark, dank, dangerous alley sent shivers down his spine.  How uncivilized!  The room looked fairly the same as when he’d arrived.  Good!  Time to leave her to her fate.  With luck he’d be able to establish his alibi across town before she actually died of asphyxia. 

That’s what the papers would say: woman dies in bed, cause—asphyxia.  Not enough oxygen was reaching her brain.  …not enough blood left to carry it there, but that wouldn’t be in the coroner’s report.  Humans were amazing things.  They had infinite capacity to look the other way.

Maurice looked around the room one more time, then opened the door and went out into the grey dawn of approaching morning.

Back in the room, a fine mist began to move into a small shape.  “Biggest prick I know.” It said before solidifying into a Barbary Macaque.

“Biggest prick we all know, Claudia.” The woman from the bed opened her eyes. “Thanks for the assist, sister.”

“What are friends for?” Claudia jumped up on the bed and offered her wrist to the ‘dead’ woman. “Come on, Mary, we want to be far, far away from here when Maurice learns he has been poisoned.” Claudia spread her lips in a ‘grin’ showing the sharp, vampire fang.  “Now drink up.  I’ve had the antidote in my system far too long. Damn men!  Will they never look before they eat?”