The Tiny Vampire From Outer Space That’s Bitey V: Blooddoll Factory on Earth (Shadow Conn Tiny Vampire Book 5)
In order to ensure he can feed his growing family and the family of his friends, Oliver and Alera, Marcus must build the first blooddoll factory on Earth. Unfortunately, the living planet poses challenges. He's certain Earthlings would vehemently object to his plan to create humans for food, so he plans to hide his true intentions by opening a homeless shelter.
Kindle Unlimited
Chapter 1
Renovating the Homeless Shelter
Marcus was perfectly content to lay in bed and listen to Shadow’s thoughts as she slept on him, but they had to shower and dress. They had an entire building to renovate, and Marcus didn’t want to waste any time. Even after they opened the homeless shelter, it would still take time to prepare the humans and get the blood they needed.
Though, he did let her sleep for another fifteen minutes before he nudged her.
Shadow huffed.
“We have a lot to do tonight,” Marcus said.
“Are we going to the building?” Shadow asked.
“We are,” Marcus said.
Shadow stretched and rolled off Marcus.
Marcus slid out of the bed then helped Shadow out of it and into the bathroom so he could wash her and himself.
Once they were clean and dry, Shadow grabbed a pair of stretchy jeans from the dresser and slid them on.
“How do those feel?” Marcus asked as he put on a pair of black jeans.
“They’re okay. Not too tight,” Shadow said.
“There should be a bigger t-shirt in your closet,” Marcus said as he walked into his closet to find a shirt for himself.
“I feel like I get bigger every time we do this.” Shadow found one of the larger t-shirts Marcus bought for her and slid it over her head.
“You wouldn’t wear clothes last time,” Marcus said as he pulled a black t-shirt off a hanger. “You didn’t want anything touching your stomach.” He slid it on then entered the bedroom to put on his shoes and socks.
“I’m more comfortable this time.” Shadow walked out of her closet.
Marcus looked at her and chuckled. “You are so full of sacs.” He stood from the chair and picked her up before carrying her into the kitchen.
“Are you making fun of me?”
Marcus set her on her feet. “Not at all. I think it’s adorable.” He tossed two bloodbags into the microwave just as the doorbell rang. “That’s probably Oliver and Alera. I don’t know if they called.”
Shadow hopped into the living room and opened the door. She stepped back to allow Oliver and Alera into the house.
“I forgot to call,” Oliver said.
“It’s all right. I haven’t looked at my phone yet,” Marcus said from the kitchen.
“The architect and general contractor should be there. It took some convincing, but they agreed to start tonight then work out a schedule,” Oliver said as he walked into the kitchen.
“How are your sacs?” Alera asked Shadow.
“Good. They’re not doing much now, but I haven’t had anything to eat yet,” Shadow said.
“They look like they’re progressing nicely,” Alera said as they walked into the kitchen.
“Marcus massaged them all night,” Shadow said.
Marcus took the bloodbags out of the microwave and poured them into glasses. “Are you two hungry?”
“We just ate,” Oliver said.
Marcus handed a glass to Shadow before draining his own.
“How are you massaging her sacs?” Alera asked.
Marcus contemplated. “It’s a massage so that her muscles release and give the sacs more room.”
When Alera looked confused, Shadow spoke. “You’ll have to show her. It’s impossible to describe. It’s not a normal massage.”
“It’s targeted,” Marcus said. [I don’t want to do that. She’s already fascinated with me.]
[I know, but we’re all standing right here. Maybe it’ll motivate Oliver if he sees another male touching her,] Shadow said.
[Maybe. I have my doubts,] Marcus said. He didn’t want to do it, but he could see Shadow’s point. If Oliver started taking care of her needs, maybe she’d leave him alone. “Lay on the table, Alera.”
“Uh… Okay.” Alera laid on the kitchen table.
“Pull up your shirt.” Marcus walked over to the table. “I’m not going to touch any intimate areas, but she’s going to feel like I did. This is why you need to do this, Oliver.” He laid his hand on her abdomen then moved it slightly. “Her sac is here.” He started massaging her abdomen. “Found a muscle knot.” Marcus lightly kneaded the area.
Alera inhaled. “Oh...”
Marcus moved to the other side of the sac. “Found another one.” He wasn’t surprised when he heard Alera moan just as the muscle released. Marcus brushed his hand over her abdomen. “There’s your half-inch distension.” He helped Alera off the table.
Alera looked down at her abdomen. “There he is.”
Oliver could feel Alera’s relief through their Bond. “I can do that.”
“It would be nice if you would,” Alera said. She leaned toward Marcus and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
Marcus had to work to keep the scowl off his face. “One or two times a night should be enough.” He wondered what the expellaries did on Umbra and Chivitas. Alera didn’t seem to know much about the process. Oliver knew even less. Marcus only knew by reading the book and testing various techniques on Shadow, but he had to keep the process pleasurable for her if he wanted more mated childer. If Oliver was smart, he’d do the same.
“Are we ready to go, Marcus?” Oliver asked.
“We are,” Marcus said. He led everyone out of the kitchen.
Marcus closed and locked the door on their way out of the house.
The walk was fifteen minutes and thankfully, uneventful. They didn’t run into any hooligans or homeless. However, Marcus still scanned the lot across the street for the undesirables. He didn’t see any. What he did see was a plethora of work trucks parked around his building.
“They’re already here and working,” Oliver said.
“What did you tell them to start on?’ Marcus asked as they walked toward the front door.
“I told them we wanted to do a homeless shelter, and I emailed the architect our drawings,” Oliver said. He opened the door to allow everyone inside.
“Is one of you Marcus or Oliver?” a man asked as he walked out of the kitchen.
“I’m Marcus. That’s Oliver.” He motioned.
“Great. I’m the architect. The crew is getting the demolition underway. We saw your cleaning crew. They finished the basement about an hour ago,” he said. “Name’s Joe.”
“Nice to meet you, Joe,” Marcus said. “We haven’t seen the basement yet.”
“I guessed correctly then. Oliver’s diagrams only covered the main and second floors,” Joe said.
“We wanted to see the basement before we made any decisions,” Marcus said.
“I have the blueprints for this floor and the second if you’d like to see them,” Joe said.
“I would,” Marcus said.
“This way. I set up a table,” he said.
Marcus followed Joe into what he anticipated would be the dining room.
Shadow hopped beside Marcus.
“Please, don’t hop. You’re making me nervous,” Marcus said.
Shadow huffed and walked. [The sacs are fine.]
Marcus picked her up and held her. [You’re distended almost five inches. Humor me.]
“Afraid she’s trying to shake them out, Marcus?” Alera asked.
“It crossed my mind.” Though, Marcus laughed at the absurdity of his thought as they walked over to a plastic table. [I’m glad you feel good enough to hop.] He sat down in one of the chairs, keeping Shadow in his lap.
[This feels much better than the last four,] Shadow said.
[I’m glad,] Marcus said.
“Here’s the diagrams I did earlier today.” Joe passed the blueprints to Marcus. “They are based off of what Oliver sent me.”
Marcus looked them over. “This looks fine, except we want half the second floor to be temporary offices, and I expect we’ll put a third floor in for permanent offices at some point.”
“We can install supports for a third floor, but we have to do that before we do anything else,” Joe said.
“How long will that take?” Marcus asked.
“It takes three days,” Joe said. “It’s the slowest part of the process because we still use concrete, iron and steel. The rest of this won’t take but about a week.”
“Why are you still using the old materials?” Oliver asked after skimming the man’s surface thoughts. The company had just purchased an automatic foundation repair machine.
“The men like the old ways. Says it feels nostalgic,” Joe said.
“Well, our goal here is to help this neighborhood,” Oliver said. “The sooner we get up and running, the sooner we can help them. We know you have a homeless and derelict problem.”
“That we do,” Joe said. “It’s getting out of control.”
“Are you trained to use the new equipment?” Marcus asked.
“They just finished training last month,” Joe said.
“And if you use that, it’s done by tomorrow evening,” Oliver said.
“It’s some quick-drying shit,” Joe said. “Almost no way to make a mistake too. It’s all computer-controlled. Once you set the parameters, it’s all automatic.”
“I think we’d prefer that,” Marcus said. “Is there any additional cost?”
“I’d be willing to give a little bit of a discount, considering you’d be the first project where we used it. Just let us use you for advertising,” Joe said.
“I’m fine with that. Oliver?” Marcus asked.
“That’s fine,” Oliver said. “So, once you use that, and we get out equipment in, how long do you think it’d take us to get up and running?”
“One day for your foundation. We already use the advanced Remodelators,” Joe said. “Four days. If that, to complete the project.”
“So, we’d be able to open in less than a week,” Oliver said.
“You should be able to,” Joe said. “You may want to order your equipment and furniture now. Delivery is actually slower than the remodeling process these days.”
“And when we’re ready for the third floor?” Marcus asked.
“Just give us a call,” Joe said. “All the supports will be in place. We’ll just have to build it.”
“What does that involve?” Marcus asked.
“We have to take the roof off, put in a floor, build new walls and put a new roof on,” Joe said. “That would probably take two or three weeks.”
“What do you think, Oliver?” Marcus asked.
“I think that’s fine. We can certainly go ahead with the first and second-floor renovations,” Oliver said. “But who does the furniture and decorating?”
“Shadow and I can do that,” Alera said.
“You can do it yourself, or we can hire an interior decorator,” Joe said. “It’s an extra cost. We don’t factor that in because it’s hard to tell who wants to do it themselves, and who wants it professionally done.”
“If you two want to tackle it, I don’t have a problem with that,” Marcus said.
“We’ll do it,” Shadow said.
“Would you like us to do anything with the basement?” Joe asked.
“Clean it up and finish it,” Marcus said. “We’re not sure what we want to do down there yet.”
“Can do,” Joe said.
“Do we owe anything upfront?” Oliver asked.
“We prefer 30 percent upfront. Let me get the contracts,” Joe said. He pulled his briefcase out from under the table and opened it. “Estimated costs are in there. To do two floors, it’s $150,000. That includes all your kitchen appliances, but let me adjust this. $20,000 for the basement and a twenty percent discount.” He added the numbers handed the pages to Marcus.
“So that means you need forty-eight-hundred,” Marcus said as Shadow climbed out of his lap.
“I’ll do twenty, four. You do twenty, four,” Oliver said.
“That’s fine.” He read, initialed and signed the pages then passed them to Oliver.
Oliver signed and initialed. Then, he pulled out his bank card.
“I can scan those,” Joe said. He pulled a device from his briefcase and took Oliver’s card. He scanned it, then typed in $20,400. He did the same with Marcus’ card. Then, handed the men their receipts.
“You said you wanted different working hours,” Oliver said.
“We’d prefer to work during the day,” Joe said.
“We have jobs during the day. We’d only be able to come here at night,” Oliver said.
“If we need to talk, I can stay late,” Joe said.
“That’ll work,” Oliver said.
“Thank you. We’ll let you get to it,” Marcus said as he stood.
“I’ll mail copies of the contract,” Joe said. “And I will call you with daily progress and any questions.” He paused. “Oh, almost forgot. What do you want done with the outside of the building?”
“Just make it look new,” Marcus said. “We like the style.”
“We can do that.” Joe made some notes on a digital tablet.
“Did you want to see your office again, Shadow?” Marcus asked.
“Yes,” Shadow said.
“Let’s take a look at the offices,” Marcus said.
Shadow hopped up the stairs ahead of everyone.
Marcus inwardly cringed as he climbed the stairs.
“She feels good, Marcus,” Alera said.
“She’s making me nervous,” Marcus said. He stepped onto the landing and looked down the hall. Shadow was already walking into her office.
“She’s not going to shake them out or damaged them,” Alera said.
“She likes feeling them move,” Marcus said. He walked down the hall with Oliver and Alera. “These four rooms I thought would make good temporary offices.”
“These are nice and at the end of the hall,” Oliver said.
“It forces us to walk past the ‘guest’ rooms, but we may want to keep an eye on them,” Marcus said. “All the rooms have large windows, but we can get some blackout curtains.”
“How many beds do you want to put in each room?” Alera asked.
Marcus counted the rooms. “We have ten for guests and four for us. At least two per room.”
“I think we should start with one per room,” Oliver said. “You ever see the homeless on Chivitas?”
“No, but I saw them on Umbra,” Marcus said.
“They can be unsavory at first. They forget how to live inside,” Oliver said.
“I hadn’t thought of that. One per room then until we get used to them, and they learn how to live inside,” Marcus said.
“Once we get them on a schedule, we can add more,” Alera said. “Oliver and I can help with some subtle ‘suggestions’.”
“Handy skill,” Marcus said.
“Handier here than it was on Chivitas,” Oliver said. “He wasn’t going to tell us about the foundation injection system.”
“I got that feeling,” Marcus said. “And we need to get this place open. We need to eat good food. Those bags will only hold us for so long.”
“We want to serve lots of lamb and pork here. If we can get them to taste good straight out of the vein, we’ll all do a lot better,” Alera said.
“We’ll be a lot happier and satisfied,” Marcus said.
“What happens if they don’t eat pork?” Shadow asked.
“They can eat it or leave,” Marcus said. “It’s free food.”
“How are we making money with this?” Shadow asked. “This remodel is almost a hundred and fifty thousand. You just took out a loan for that much too, and we have no income other than your pensions.”
“She has a point,” Oliver said. “We haven’t thought about how we’re going to make money on this.”
“Have we determined that we are the only ones of our kind on this planet?” Marcus asked.
“I doubt they’re advertising, Marcus,” Oliver said. “I think we need to assume that we are until we hear or discover otherwise.”
“I don’t want to draw attention to ourselves,” Alera said. “We’re getting quite a large family.”
“We can charge for the rooms,” Marcus said. “Couple dollars a night.”
“That’s a start,” Oliver said.
“I guess we could charge for extra meals. If they want to leave and take a meal with them, they have to pay for it,” Marcus said.
“We could do a clothing store. Ask for donations, then charge a dollar for each piece of clothing,” Shadow said.
“We can ask for food donations too,” Oliver said. “Cut down on our food bills.”
“We need to get food and clothing donation containers in front of the building so people can just drop it off,” Marcus said.
“And another box for money,” Shadow said. “Maybe they’ll drop coins in.”
“Good idea,” Marcus said. “I have some building materials at my house. We can get them done by morning.” He scooped Shadow into his arms and waited for her to wrap around him. “You’re about a hundred pounds tonight.”
Shadow laughed. “Who’s fault is that?”
Marcus grinned and kissed the side of her face. “Mine. Entirely.” He carried her down the hall to the staircase.
