Pop, bubble, glug, slam. I was spending my whole allowance on juice, and it still wasn't enough. Water just wasn't as good. Even the juice wasn't totally working for me – something was missing. But what?!
My room was too small to spend all day in, and it was the weekend, so the school wasn't open. I headed for the town library, and hit the books.

What was really the difference between Drake drinking blood and me drinking juice? Juice was kind of like the blood of a fruit, right? But fruit doesn't feel pain. Besides, Drake wasn't drinking blood because he was thirsty, he was doing it as some kind of... invasion. Like he was trying to fuse with other people, by making part of them a part of him, and vice versa. So then why was I so thirsty, and why wasn't I behaving like he did? I made some notes.

- VAMPIRE = VIM PIERCER. ANAGRAM: VIM REAP.

What was the real difference? What separated us? Well, I had to track the changes.

- Drake was: avaricious, manipulative, grandiose, dramatic.

I was: uh... it's really tough to define yourself from the inside. I had to observe what changed in Drake.

- Drake became: faithful, strong in conviction, paladin-esque.

So I could infer that those traits sat in the middle of some kind of overlap with my own. Basically, my blood was turning him from a vampire into a vampriest. And he was turning me into some kind of... juice-addicted shadow genius. I'd become thirsty, gossipy, and calculating. A juicepire, or grimpire. Yeah, let's go with 'grimpire'.

- GRIMPIRE. GRIM PIERCER?

At what point did the effects wear off? Did the person need to grow into their stolen traits in order to keep them? Was it really the blood, or the time we spent together? I poured over whatever books I could, looking for answers.

- Vampires are basically undead people who drink blood to stay young forever. If they go hungry, they turn to dust. They may also choose to sleep in coffins, but are at greater risk of being found by a vampire hunter.
- They don't like garlic. Garlic is a natural blood-thinner, which promotes bleeding and permeability. It may affect their hearts and brains.
- They don't like the sun – it burns their skin. People of fair complexions are more prone to sunburns, but can produce melanin in response. This process creates Vitamin D, which is rarely found elsewhere and is essential. People of darker skin can better resist sunburn, but produce less Vitamin D on average. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment in seniors, severe asthma in children, and potentially cancer.
- Silver burns a vampire's skin. Many people have reported a 'silver allergy', but it was found to more likely be an allergy to nickel, which is mixed in with the silver in minute amounts. Nickel allergies can cause rashes, burning, or discoloration.

I looked out the window – the ground was covered in snow, but the sun was shining. The pool fountain was shut for the winter, but it had a sparrow perched on top, mingling with the sticks and branches of the now dried-up bushes surrounding. It was trying to build a nest.
Drake sat at a park bench surrounded by his 'hive'. He was wearing silver jewelry, but he was definitely pale – he had his jacket collar flipped up to keep his face away from the sun, and a pair of sunglasses. His hair covered what was left to bare. He'd mentioned sleeping outside, so I don't think the sun bothered much more than anyone else. Neither did garlic – it was common in Romania to eat garlic as the main component of a dish. He'd invited me to try garlic soup the day he attacked me. I still liked garlic, too – mom made spaghetti for dinner last night. Neither Drake nor I had a single weakness from these stupid, commercialized distillations of folklore. I needed the SOURCE... and a bottle of pure maple syrup. I mean, another book. I bit an orange with my fangs, and used the holes to peel its tough skin off. The navel oranges were always a challenge, but these fangs were handy. Fangy? Anyway, I sucked the orange dry and tossed it.
If I wanted the truth, I needed to zoom out and make sense of the broader themes of vampirism. Chupacabra, wendigo, jiangshi, kappa, impundulu, mandurugo... all bloodsuckers. Romania even had the strigoi, a vampire or ghost-like creature said to rise from its grave and feed on its living family. There's a saying... "feed on family, eat alone." Yeah, that sounds about right.
Writers liked to pile on sins like avarice, greed, vanity, and lust, to make their vampire characters more interesting – but their defining trait is a lack of respect for personal space. They truly believe that they're entitled to the bodies of others! The vampire pretends to be polite and concerned with your well-being, but slowly and surely, wears down on your boundaries until you're too tired to fight them off. And when they've got you, they drain you dry of everything you've got!
The problem was, that's not a health issue, that's a mental one. But maybe something was preventing Drake from learning this basic lesson, impeding his progress and maturity. I'd never seen Drake vomit, but he was definitely cold and socially deaf, except on his brighter days. The kind of thing that only impressed kids who were absolutely alone (like me). It didn't account for the fangs or night vision, though. I flipped to hangover effects:

- Fatigue, weakness, thirst
- Headaches, muscle aches
- Nausea, vomiting, stomach pains
- Decreased sleep and deep sleep, including slow-wave sleep (REM, necessary for restoration of the mind and body)
- Vertigo and sensitivity to light and sound
- Decreased attention and concentration.
- Body tremors, sweating, and increased pulse and blood pressure.

That pretty much summed him up. He was constantly annoyed with everyone, looked sore when he got up (like we were all somehow trying to hurt him), and wanted the sun on his skin but not in his eyes. I looked at positive effects, to see why Drake might have such a need for his 'secret sauce':

- In moderation, reduces risk of developing heart disease. Possibly reduces risk of ischemic stroke (from narrowed blood flow in brain) and diabetes.
- Increased mood and possible euphoria, as well as self-confidence and sociability. May also act as a sedative, allowing the user to feel less pain, or no pain at all.

So he's self-treating for insecurity, I guess. It seemed like the drawbacks were worse than the benefits. Maybe his prime was a long time ago, when we were friends, and this was just his fall from grace that I was unfortunate enough to witness. I'd also bet that his 'charm' was really just his booze-soaked pores, sweating enough vodka to put a small horse into submission by sheer inhalation.
If he was constantly drinking a sedative, then the only thing that would wake him up is... adrenaline! I searched:

- Adrenaline is secreted from the adrenal glands in response to stress, and increases heart rate, breathing, and circulation. It plays an important role in the Fight or Flight response, as it increases blood flow to the muscles, pupil dilation, and blood sugar levels.

That could explain the fangs and night vision – lots of animals use them as weapons, and the worst time to get ambushed is after dark.

- Vampire Bats have a mucous membrane that prevents their intestinal tract from absorbing too much iron.
- Hemochromatosis: Iron overload. Causes fatigue, joint pain, abdominal pain, loss of sex drive, grey/bronze skin. Can lead to organ damage and eventual failure, as well as infertility, diabetes, liver cirrhosis, arthritis, hypothyroidism, impaired growth, erectile dysfunction, cancer, and depression.'

Yikes. So in conclusion, I'm probably suffering from adrenaline overload, and Drake Tempest is a drunken storm. That actually makes perfect se- aaaaAAAAHHHH. Oh wow. That's a headache. Ow. The light in here is too harsh. Need... darkness.
Drake and his crew watched me slink away from the library, my hood up, avoiding the sun. It didn't burn my skin, it just felt like... wait. This is way better.
See? It was all in your head.
Yeah. I do see, actually. I'm writing at the other bench now. Drake is giving me a sour face, but I don't really care. The sun feels good. I'm staring at it, a few seconds at a time... it feels great. My eyes are getting warm. Maybe I just needed natural light, and all this thirst has been part of my hangover and recovery.

I'm just gonna lay down here, on the bench... facing the sun.

Huh. It's quiet.