Eugene hadn’t felt the warmth of a woman’s touch in too long. The pandemic, lockdowns, and all the rest made most people reluctant to become intimate with a stranger. His life had always been dependent on a near endless string of brief, anonymous affairs. He had been starved for what he needed for what felt like an eternity.

“Come here, lover.” Brenda cooed and sighed as he took the nipple of her right breast between his lips and expertly fondled it with his tongue.

They were both nude and his penis began to stir, but the longing he felt went far beyond that. However, as he was about to strike, he was startled out of the moment.

“And now you’re mine, you poor sap.” Brenda clutched his head in both of her palms and began a ritual Eugene knew all too well.

He pulled back and sank to his knees on the mattress. “You have got to be kidding.”

“No, I’m not.” She appeared perplexed but obviously hadn’t divined the truth yet. “This usually works. Here, let me try again.”

As she extended both arms toward his face, he slapped her hands away. “Stop it, you idiot. Oh for Hell’s sake, I can’t believe my bad luck.”

“Bad luck, what do you…hey. Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you’re a soul sucker, too.”

He waved his arms in mock drama. “Ta-da! In the undead flesh.”

“Well, this is awkward.” Chagrin tainted her voice. “And after all that work, to come up dry. God…Satan, I’m hungry.”

“Me, too. But we can’t feed on each other. I mean, we’re both running on empty.”

“We only rented this room for an hour and…” Brenda’s voice drifted off as they both listened to faint noises from the room next door.

“Well, someone’s getting it on…oh, I think I see.”

“If we can’t seduce…”

“We’ll just party crash. Splendid idea. Want to get dressed or should we pop over nude?”

“Nude, Eugene. From the sound of things, he’s about to cum, rather prematurely I should say. We’d better hurry while they’re still distracted.”

Eugene and Brenda, two kindred spirits from the pits of Hell, stalked out into the hallway, kicked in the door of the adjoining motel room, and made a rather satisfying meal of a middle aged accountant and a teenage hooker (apparently his need for sex and her need for money somehow outweighed social distancing and masking). Yes, it was a lot of noise with screaming and wailing and such, but in places like that, people minded their own business.

Afterward, with the two wizened corpses secured in the closet, the pair made their way back to their original room to retrieve their clothing. Sitting back in a nearby chair, Eugene lit a cigarette (cancer wasn’t one of his problems) and watched Brenda finish dressing. “You know my dear…”

Instantly she stiffened and glaring at him warned, “Don’t you dare say it.”

“This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Hand on her hip, Brenda smirked. “You just had to say it, didn’t you?”

Stubbing out his coffin nail in the ashtray on the end table, he stood. “I’m still a little peckish. Want to go out for dessert? I know of a wonderful little park where the kids make out. Very dark and discrete. No masking or even condoms. Teenagers think they’re immortal.”

“I’m with you…partner.”

Smiling, Brenda and Eugene held hands and made their way out of the motel and into the night.

I wrote this for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge #350. The idea is to use the image above as the inspiration for crafting a short story, poem, or other creative work.

I was stumped momentarily, and then the idea popped into my head to make them two predators who accidentally, hilariously tried to prey upon each other. Of course it was awkward.

To read other stories based on the prompt, click Mister Linky.

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