chapter 5

America, I learned, was much better for my constitution. The people there were louder and more confident than my British contemporaries. Maybe it was because they had so much more room to spread out and they considered they had to shout across the wider distances to be heard.
Whatever the reason, they had better nutrition and were better fed than the fishermen back home.
I travelled around, not staying in one place any longer than a few weeks. I left a trail of destruction behind me. Corpses left in shallow graves with all their fat sucked out of them.
Reports of missing people abounded. But in the countryside where people could still get lost in the wilderness, attacked by bears or other hazards, my exploits were hidden and were barely noticed.
I tried to keep a low profile, sticking to smaller towns, not cities, travelling by horse or stage coach to places where the railway did not reach.
The further away I got from the cities, the more I felt like I was going back in time. The places were built along dirt tracks. They had no electricity, no motor cars, they had to fetch their water from streams and wells.
I understood this way of life. It was the way I had grew up.
I no longer had to raid graveyards for my sustenance. Live bait was plentiful, and much tastier. I found it reasonably easy to catch too.

After establishing myself at a local inn or hotel, I would go to explore the town on foot. My youthful appearance and relatively handsome good looks soon attracted the attention of at least one bold female who was keen to find out about what life was like beyond the country town.
I would do my best to court her. I would take her for a walk along the river, or I'd try dancing at the local 'hoe down'. My dancing skills were not good. I had learned much more demure complicated dances. These country dances were very much more energetic, yet simple. Skirts were hitched up high. I had to look away at the sight of not just an ankle, but calves and knees too!
I lured them into my affection. Then when they trusted me and expected the inevitable proposal speech, I would move in.
I would use some of the mesmerising techniques alucard had taught me to keep my victim still and calm. I removed enough clothing so that I could reach their soft belly without hinderance, then I would start to suck.

Mary was my first victim to survive. She was heavily corseted when I met her, but she held promise from the plumpness of her face.
Then when her corsets were removed I was rewarded with a plentiful array of flesh. Her skin was marked with the pressure from her corset, but underneath that was a lovely thick layer of wobbly blubber! I could not resist playing with it before I started to kiss it.
I had been working on perfecting my technique, leaving as small as scar as I could. Mary threw her head bank in pleasure, while I sucked and drank my fill.
She shrunk in front of my eyes, she screamed and wriggled beneath me, pleasure and pain rolled into one. Then she went limp.
This was my cue to clean up the evidence and get rid of the body. We were outside the town boundaries by the river. I'd brought her out here in my hired cart. I fetched my spade and began to dig a little way from the river, preparing her grave.
I'd worked up quite a sweat when I felt bare arms around me. I turned around to see her, naked with a tiny scar on her abdomen. Her figure was now two stones lighter, curvy and elegant. She looked beautiful standing there in the moonlight.
I, in the meantime, had put on two stones, mostly around my middle. My belly felt full and stretched. Her fat had been some if the tastiest I'd had in a while.
I considered my predicament. What did I do? Did I let her go so that she would be able to identify me at one of my other crimes... or did I silence her with another feeding?
I chose the latter. I could not take any risks. If my victims could talk there was a high chance of me being hung.
I approached her romantically so that she did not suspect and had a second bite of her cherry.

I left town late the next night four stones heavier than I was when I arrived. My trousers would not fasten. I had to pull my bulging gaping waistcoat down over the top to hide it. My jacket was tight around the back of the shoulders and under the arms.
I sat on my waggon and pulled a blanket over my knees to hide my fat belly. As soon as I got out of town, the jacket came off. It was so restricting it was cutting off the blood supply in my arms and giving me pins and needles in my hands.
The experience set me thinking. Maybe I could put my ability to good use if I could keep my victims alive.