“One thing I could never stomach about Santa Carla was all the damn Vampires”

-The Lost Boys

Brendan cracked his door open, peering into the living room. His size had been slowly returning over the last few hours, and while he’d have preferred to wait until full height again, he didn’t want to miss classes.

Nobody pays attention to you anyways, he thought, they won’t notice if you’re half a foot or so shorter than normal…

He was able to wear most of his clothing, although it was a little loose, and once he got dressed he peered out into the living room. The coast looked clear, and he slung his bookbag over his shoulder and began creeping across the house’s common area towards the door.

“Brendan!” Alex’s door slammed open, and the dark-haired girl practically bounded out, “y-you’re okay!” she said excitedly.

“Er, yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” he asked cautiously.

“Oh, well, neither you or Trent came home last night, and I was… I was a little freaked out, okay?” She gulped, “I tried both of your phones but-“

“I’m fine,” he said quickly, “I just went out walking and lost track of time, you must have not heard me come in…”

Alex blinked, her slightly bloodshot eyes narrowing a moment, “you’re uh…” she bit her lip, looking down at him, “you’re missing some inches.”

Brendan started, realizing that he normally stood slightly taller than Alex, but today was looking up at her, the top of his head coming maybe to the bridge of her nose.

“Y-You’re just tired Alex, go lay down,” he said quickly.

She scowled, “I’m not that tired, something funny is going on around here, and I don’t like it!” There was a beeping sound from her room, and she looked back in eagerly, where the soft glow of her computer screen lit up the dank curtain covered living space. “You’re lucky I have a match about to start,” she said, hurrying back, “and you better be normal size when I see you again or I’m going to want some answers!”

Brendan watched her go, and for a moment he thought of shouting another denial, but then he thought better of it.

Trent didn’t come back last night either? He thought, a little concerned. It wasn’t like him, he never stayed out after his night shifts, it was always straight home and right to bed… He’s probably fine, Brendan reassured himself, big guy like Trent, what could happen to him? He tried not to worry too much as he headed out the door.

…

Dr. Helen West walked down the mazelike hallway in the depths of the Stokerville University’s faculty office building, her shining black hair hanging around her face like a curtain, framing wide glasses that sat on an impassive pair of brown eyes. Her bag, a black doctor’s case the same ebony shade as her suit, swayed gently at her side, she was never without it, some things were just too precious to chance…

Sharing offices, she thought angrily, a woman of my genius shouldn’t have to suffer this! She scowled angrily, after some… indiscretions at her previous employer, this was the only academic work she could find… worse yet they expected her to teach general education classes. Her face and her mood darkened even more at the thought. Once the serum was complete she would show them all, she would-

She opened the door to find her apparent “office mate” already claiming one half of the windowless basement room.

“Excuse me,” she said, “I’ll need that side, it has more outlets-“

“I think not,” the other woman said in an eager tone, turning to face her. West was taken aback, the woman wore a buttoned up labcoat, and had a frizzy mop of curled black hair with a stark white shock going through one part, she tugged at her rubber gloves as she sized up the newcomer.

“I am Doctor Francine Stein,” she said with a toothy grin as she placed a small glass coil on her desk. A moment later it lit to life, electricity dancing within it.

“Helen West, I just transferred here from Miskatonic,” West muttered, looking at the things the other doctor was setting up, “I was told I would share my office with another physician? These don’t seem to be tools of medicine…”

“To the untrained eye perhaps,” Dr. Stein laughed, “but my research into the mysteries of electricity will yield results beyond any surgeries, drugs, or aetheric therapies!”

“And what has this ‘mystery electricity’ done for you so far?” West asked, stroking her chin.

“I’ve conquered death! Well… sort of, for a little while,” Dr. Stein admitted, chewing her lip, “also I have developed a means for growing organic creatures to fantastic sizes… if I can work out the kinks.”

“I should have known,” West laughed, “a crackpot!” she placed her bag on the desk opposite Dr. Stein, slowly unclasping it. An eerie glow washed across the room as West removed a capped syringe, filled with a swirling glowing yellow-green material which cast an unearthly reflection over her glasses, “behold, true mastery of science, my serum!”

“Oh?” Dr. Stein asked, lifting her reflective goggles up to take a closer look, “what does it do? Besides light up dim spots?”

West scowled, “it brings back the dead, and it shrinks living organisms, or it will… once I er…”

“Work the kinks out?” Dr. Stein smirked, “why would anyone want to shrink?”

“They don’t want to shrink I want to shrink them!” West scowled, “and then I can deal with them at leisure instead of plodding around as some kind of… what would you be if your ridiculous idea worked, a giant?”

“Giantess,” Dr. Stein corrected, “If I used it on myself anyways… like I said-“

“Kinks,” West smirked. “Well, I must commend your ambition doctor, but-“

The small electric device on Dr. Stein’s desk began to hum, the electrical current inside pulsing blue. Dr. West was about to ask what was happening, but the same pulsing light began flickering through her serum, the swirling substance pulsing and humming in time with the pulse of the electrical device on Stein’s desk.

“Extraordinary!” Dr. Stein beamed, “your serum seems to detect the strange energies in the same way that my machines do!”

“Strange energies!?” West exclaimed, looking at the pulsing material in her syringe, “I uh… my serum is naught but science, I assure you-“

“Yes, I spent plenty of time lying to myself about that too,” Stein tittered, “grab that dowsing rod over there, let’s go find what’s setting them off!”

…

Brendan’s day of classes passed fairly quickly, and he eagerly looked out at the sun going low in the sky in the afternoon, excited for it to dip beneath the horizon. Even though he wasn’t working that day he found himself drifting over to the campus book and gift shop, he had little to do but kill time until night fell, and he had something he wanted to pick up.

“Flowers,” he muttered, looking at the floral arrangements. He’d never bought a girl any before, but Valeria seemed… classy. The bookstores arrangements were fairly barebones, mostly small arrangements for parents to give students on visiting days, or for boyfriends to give to girlfriends.

“You’re off today,” an icy voice came from behind him.

He turned to see the store’s manager, Madison. Going by her age he was sure she was a student too, but he didn’t know much about her, not even her major really. She had bright red hair tied nightly behind her head in a bun, and a pale green ribbon that never seemed to come off her neck, an odd fashion statement but one Brendan hadn’t questioned, the girl seemed to dislike him enough as it was.

“Yeah, I just wanted to get some flowers for a girl I like,” he muttered.

The thinnest smile curled at the corners of Madison’s mouth, “really? You?”

“Surprised a girl would like me?” he asked, a little defensively, even if he was still a little surprised himself…

“No, surprised you’d think to get her flowers…” Madison drawled, “go for the red, I’ll have them deducted from your paycheck, at a discount of course…”

“Uh, thanks,” he said, grabbing the bouqet and heading towards the door. He wasn’t watching where he was going, and he almost ran into a pair of women blocking the door.

“Oh, sorry,” he muttered, steadying himself.

“Watch where you’re going you fool,” a pallid woman in glasses muttered.

“Wait, it’s here!” the other said, her eyes lighting up excitedly as she held up a glass tube, electricity dancing wildly up and down inside of it. She gestured it towards Brendan, and the lights went wild, almost completely filling the glass.

Brendan blinked, “Hey, what’s that?”

Dr. Stein chuckled, building into a slightly sinister laugh, “a device for the detection of spectral en-“

“It’s a mold detector,” Dr. West lied quickly, cutting off the other woman, “yep, looks good Stein, this place doesn’t have any.”

“Mold!?” Stein exclaimed, “Helen, are you mad? This boy is simply radiating energy from-“

“Mold, that’s right,” Dr. West said through gritted teeth, “young man you should uh… check your bathroom for black spots.”

Brendan blinked, “Yeah, okay, I’ll do that.” He hurried out of the store, eager to escape the awkward conversation with the two women.

“What are you doing?” Stein asked incredulously, “you just let him slip away!”

“We can follow him,” West explained, as though to a child, “and find the source of the… strange energies, as you called them.”

Stein thought a moment, then she nodded, grinning wickedly as the two of them followed Brendan out of the shop.

…

1313 Wormwood Avenue wasn’t far from campus, and in fact most of the main faculty buildings could be seen from the front sidewalk when Brendan arrived. The house itself was ringed by a wrought iron fence and gate, with a yard overgrown with weeds and vines overshadowed by a massive weeping willow that stood almost as tall as the gothic stone structure of the house itself. While the neighborhood abutting the campus was older to begin with, the stonework of the almost castle-like manor with its dreary yard and sinister looking gate seemed to be a step even further back, to some unknown history the town had forgotten as the other older homes had been knocked down and replaced by newer models.

Brendan gulped, suddenly feeling very silly with the wilting red flowers in his hand, and he shakily reached for the door buzzer. His finger never made it to the button, the gate creaked open slowly, as if pulled by spectral hands to invite him up the driveway towards the house.

He nervously walked up the stone walkway, like the gate before the wooden door seemed to open on it’s own, drawing him into the dark abyss of the house as the orange glow of the sun faded amidst pinks and reds behind the horizon. The wind blew, and the door suddenly slammed shut behind him, leaving him in darkness as he heard the soft *click* of the deadbolt on the door sliding into place.

A chandelier above him flickered to life, and with how dusty and ancient the interior it illuminated looked, he half expected to see candles instead of the electric lightbulbs. Inside the house cobwebs covered most of the surfaces and corners, the furniture in the living room was covered by sheets, and a quick glance in the kitchen told him no one had used it in a very long time.

“Hello?” he called.

“Brendan!” Valeria said happily, seemed to glide into view from atop one of the massive pair of staircases that framed the main foyer. “And here I vas vorried you vould not come…” her golden eyes lit up as she saw the flowers, “Are those… for me?”

“Uh, yeah,” he gulped, holding them out to her. She took them eagerly, setting them in an empty vase that rested in a nearby alcove.

“A vonderful gesture, bringing me flowers vith dinner…” She giggled softly, smiling as her fangs poked slightly over her lips.

“W-With dinner?” Brendan asked, stepping back slightly.

“Vell, breakfast for me,” she laughed, taking a step closer. She placed her hands behind her back, sticking that ample chest out slightly, “you vouldn’t turn down a hungry girl, vould you?”

He chewed his lip, he hadn’t expected her to shrink him again so quickly on their second meeting, but then again…

It’s what you signed up for, he told himself with a sigh, “Okay, I’m yours.”

“A vise vay to put it,” she said, embracing him quickly in a grip like iron as she held him close. She moaned, feeling his energy race into him as his body collapsed into hers. His feet lifted off the ground, and his arms seemed to stretch against hers until he was a doll, squeezed tight against those soft milky white breasts as his size slipped away. Within another few seconds he wasn’t even held in her arms anymore, but rather squeezed tightly between her fingers.

There was something highly arousing about the whole thing, and as he looked at Valeria’s happily panting face, squeezed tightly between her inescapable fingers, he couldn’t help but wonder if she felt his erection through his pants, poking lightly at the coiled insides of those pale digits.

“Hehehe,” Valeria chuckled softly, squeezing him in just one hand as she used her other to part her hair back behind a slightly pointed ear, “I vill not normally need to feed every day,” she said sheepishly, “but… your essence is so good Brendan, and it vas so long between feedings last time, I am still slightly famished.” From the way her golden eyes shimmered suddenly she definitely realized the effect the feeding had had on him, and he blushed, squirming slightly against her.

“H-Hey, no problem, consider me an all you can eat buffet!” he joked uncomfortably.

“Do not tempt me my little pet,” she cooed, a finger tracing through his hair, “I vould drink of you until there vas little left but a speck…” She smiled, “there are vicked size vampires who vould do such thinks… and feed forever on their victims so that they might never return to full size… the lucky vuns kept as pets, and the unlucky… simply drained out of existence!”

Brendan’s eyes were wide, and Valeria gave him a small smirk, “I vould not do such to you, be at ease.”

She walked that smooth slow almost floating walk through the house, bringing him into the kitchen, slowly setting him down on the counter. She went to a cabinet, then withdrew a dusty looking white plate. With a smile she set it down at one of the table’s seats, snapping her fingers and causing a small candlestick in the center to light. She returned to pick him up, easily plucking the back of his shirt between two fingers and slowly depositing him on the plate as she sat before it, head in her hands as she gave him a smug, almost predatory look.

“My meal should talk to me from a plate, no?” she asked slyly.

“Uh, yes master?” he managed, unsure of what she wanted.

“Mistress Brendan,” she corrected with a smirk, “and ve do not need to be so formal… though I like the sentiment… remove your shirt.”

He blinked, “S-Sure thing,” he replied, his heart pounding as he slowly unbuttoned the front.

“Slower,” she giggled, “good boy…” seeing his look she sighed, the barest hint of red appearing in the center of those pale cheeks, “the feeding can awaken certain… desires in us,” she explained, “a erm… longing for the physical, if you understand.”

Shrinking people makes her horny, he thought, struggling to wrap his head around it.

She licked her lips suddenly, then giggled, her fangs flashing in the candlelight, “you should hear some of the things the people at home tell the prettier village boys, run home before dark they say, or Valeria gets you!” She giggled, “lovely though they are, I vould not just snatch vun up.” She leaned in closer, looking at him eagerly, “continue, if you vould…”

He realized he’d paused undressing himself, and struggling to keep himself from fumbling the buttons, he continued to remove the shirt. He felt his face heated, and he suddenly wondered if he counted as one of those “pretty boys” now. It was an odd way to think of himself, but he also had no doubt from the hungry expression on the giant face watching him that she was genuine in her attraction to him.

With a smirk he twirled his shirt overhead like a stripper, causing Valeria to squeal happily and clap once. Fighting the urge to laugh from embarrassment, he jutted his hips outward, and toyed with the button on his jeans while those golden eyes focused on him lustfully.

“So… so lewd!” Valeria whispered, “t-the trousers-“ she said huskily, a mix of a question and a demand.

Brendan obeyed, undoing his pants and letting them fall to the ground, leaving him in just a pair of plaid boxer shorts. Valeria’s face was practically glowing as her finger darted out, pinching the corner of that last piece of clothing, yanking them down so forcefully that it almost caused him to stumble over. She pulled at them roughly, dangling the tiny pair of boxer shorts in front of her face with an awed expression like she’d just uncovered some lost treasure.

“Lovely,” she laughed, rotating his underwear, and to his shock she even sniffed them once, a dreamy expression over her face as she lowered them back down to the pile of the rest of his things on the plate.

“T-That feeding really does rile you up, huh?” he managed. The idea that she was this fired up for him… it was breaking his brain.

“I vished to have you last night,” she said with a smile, “but you vere so tired… and I am a kind mistress and decided I could vait.” She licked her lips, eyeing his naked body, “that is… if you are villing to fulfill my other appetites of course.”

The question was almost comical at this point, shrunk down to a few inches tall, stripped and literally served up on a platter for her, he was more turned on than he’d ever been. He looked up at her and just nodded feebly, taking in the enormity of the vampire that had reduced him so quickly to her plaything.

“I thought as much,” she grinned, standing up. The pale hand darted out and wrapped around him again so quickly that it was just a blur, squeezing the air from his lungs with a grunt as she brought his naked form to her.  

She gestured with her hand, and seemingly of its own will the red dress she wore rose, exposing the pale flesh of her long smooth legs, tracing up over her knees and thighs until he saw a pair of red panties. He was brought towards them slowly, as if she wanted him to fully comprehend where he was going, what she was about to do to him. Without a word, she slipped him beneath the red fabric of her underwear, sliding him down and overwhelming him with the sudden strong musk emanating from her womanhood.

Brendan’s world went dark as she lowered her dress again, sealing him in with the wiry black hair and wet entrance that spilled the scent of her essence over him, along with a surprising amount of warmth. Valeria groaned as he shifted in place, and he felt pressure against his back as her hands moved outside the cloth, pressing him deeper against her, inviting him to go in.

With how wet she was, he slid between her lips easily, entering the slimy tunnel that seemed to eagerly grab at him and pull him deeper. He gasped as he felt her walls move against his own erection, each minor movement inside of her sending shockwaves up his own spine.

Valeria moaned as she forced him deeper inside her, and her feet left the ground as she began hovering slightly, her dress hanging below her feet like a curtain as her back arced.

“Deeper,” she muttered, the powerful contractions of her arousal drawing Brendan helplessly inside her as the wetness rose around him. He felt himself squeezed, as though in a soft vice, as her pleasure built. He struggled to breathe as her most intimate place overpowered him, rendering him helpless.

He cried out as he came, the sliding movements against her slick walls too much for him to hold back any longer. The spasms of his pleasure seemed to send Valeria over the edge too, and he heard an ear-piercing shriek echo from outside, the scream of her orgasm mixed with a primal growl as she slowly hovered near the ceiling of the room.

“Ha,” she chuckled slightly to herself as her orgasm faded, “almost hit the ceiling,” she said, looking up with a smile as she slowly lowered back to the ground. She felt Brendan stirring inside her, the force of her orgasm having squeezed him out and into the waiting red hammock of her panties. She thought of lifting her dress and retrieving him, but decided against it.

“Rest now, my pet, job vell done,” she said quietly, patting the outside of her dress over her crotch.

…

Brendan wasn’t sure how long he was trapped in her underwear, soaked with her cum and tangled in the wiry black hair that grew around her opening, but eventually a dim light returned, and a pair of pale lukewarm fingers drew him out.

He looked around, blinking his mussed hair out of his eyes as he took in his surroundings. He was gripped in Valeria’s hand again, and she had a pleased expression on her face as she held him up to her eyes again. They were in what looked like one of the house’s bedrooms, with a writing desk, several bookshelves, and a large canopy like one would expect in a royal bedchamber… though instead of a mattress a large ornately carved black and gold coffin rested in the center of the room.

“Now that I am fed and… sated,” she said with an embarrassed grin, “ve should talk of vhat else being a familiar vill entail…”

“You said you wanted me to keep you safe during the daylight hours?” he asked nervously, “like… safe from what?”

Valeria shrugged, “in truth I have few enemies, and none in this part of the vorld as of yet… though my home is in a state of… ill maintenance. If you vould come here and perhaps clean and arrange the furniture, that vould be vonderful.”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” he said, a little disappointed.

She seemed to note his downcast look and smiled, “don’t vorry, if it is excitement and adventure you vish for I’m certain some vill crop up… my mission here vill demand it.”

“Your mission?” he asked curiously.

“Of course, did you think an old vorld vampire would simply vish to move to America?” she laughed, “no, I am here at my mother’s command, this town is vun of several points where reality is… thinned, creatures of the night operate more often and more freely. My mother has bid me to come here and establish dominion over other such creatures and prevent any… incursions vhich might threaten mankind.”

“So you’re here to keep us safe?” Brendan asked quizzically, “that uh… doesn’t really fit with how vampires are usually shown in our stories.”

Valeria shrugged, “it vould be a foolish predator to let its primary food source go extinct. I vill subdue those who valk in the shadows and bring them under my dominion, as mother did in the old country long ago, and I vill protect these lands as my own domain if necessary.”

“Uh, wow,” Brendan said, “honored to be part of it I guess…”

Valeria beamed, “That is the spirit! I am glad to have met you Brendan, vhen you have regrown somevhat, I have many questions you must answer for me as well, for example I am very interested in this ‘vi-fi’ and how I could obtain it for my own uses. Also a television, I don’t know if you have heard of them but the performing duo of Abbot and Costello are favorites of mine.”

“Wi-fi?” He chuckled, “yeah I could probably help you with that…”

I guess I should probably quit my job at the bookstore, he thought.

Valeria perked up suddenly, “oh, I nearly forgot, you said something about problems vith money?” She hovered off the desk chair, keeping him in her grip as she approached a large chest in the corner of the room. She flicked her wrist and the lock snapped open, the lid flying upwards and revealing a shining pile of gold coins and jewels. Brendan’s eyes bulged, it was like something out of a pirate movie.

“Vhen your size has returned, help yourself to however much you need to resolve your difficulties,” Valeria said nonchalantly, “I vill not have my familiar concern himself with trifling matters of food and housing while in my service.”

“Will do,” Brendan said, eyes wide. I’ll have some good news for Trent at least, he thought excitedly.

“Now then,” Valeria said with a smirk, “vhat shall ve do until your size returns, hm?”

From the eager look on her face, she had plenty of ideas of her own already.

…

“He went in there,” Dr. West scowled, pointing at the gothic looking house down the block from where she and Dr. Stein had hidden themselves behind a car.

“The scanner’s going wild again,” Dr. Stein said excitedly, holding up the glowing glass rod to show West the swirling electricity. “Whatever is causing this has to be in that house! If we could harness the source of this much strange energy-“

“You can call it magic doctor,” West said tersely, eyeing the other woman.

“I will not!” Dr. Stein snapped, “anyways, if we can harness the source, it could be the key to our understanding of both the deeper electrical secrets, and perfecting your serum…”

West raised an eyebrow, “indeed,” she said, a small grin coming over her face, “Dr. Stein, I do believe this partnership is going to be… animating.”

There was a howl somewhere behind them, and both women jumped, “We’d best return to campus,” Dr. Stein said, snapping her reflective goggles back into place, “I don’t know how it is in Arkham Dr. West, but here in Stokerville we get some real weirdos on the streets late at night.” A second lupine howl, slightly deeper, rang out, causing the women to pick up their pace.