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Tommy flapped his wings as hard as he could, struggling to gain any lift with the heavy load he carried.
He was in a bit of trouble. It was late … he was late. He should have been back to the Fruit Colony roost by now, tucked in safely with the other yearling bats.
It was now twilight, and the forest was quickly growing dark. He shouldn’t be out here.
“The light is ours,” the matron had told the yearling fruit bats in their Colony gravely, before Tommy’s batch had been allowed out of the roost to join in the daily food-gathering expeditions, “but the night is theirs! Always be back in time, and beware.”
It was a real struggle, Tommy thought as he flapped determinedly. And okay … he may have been a little greedy, but he was determined not to lose his prize.
Speared on his pinprick claws was a whole grape, round and plump and juicy! He couldn’t wait to bring it back to his roosting spot and suck out all the delicious –
Tommy screeched as something huge swept past him, sending his tiny bat body pinwheeling in its wake. Then something else monstrously large buffeted his body from the other side and below, somehow combining to right him in the air.
“Whoa! Are you okay, kid?”
“My grape!” Tommy cried in dismay.
In the chaos, his claws had spasmed and cut straight through the flesh of the delicate fruit. It was now gone, fallen into the dark depths of the forest floor. Creatures lurked there, ones that walked … and stalked.
There was absolutely no way he could go down there and get his grape back.
We belong in the trees and in the sky! The ancient rhyme taught to all baby fruit bats echoed in his mind, a bit more prominently than the more recent warning about being out after dark. Never go down to where they do not fly!
Or could he? Tommy wrestled with temptation, spurred on the memory of the exquisite grape nectar he had sampled earlier. It wasn’t that far down to the forest floor, was it?
… Okay, he probably shouldn’t. But –
“Kid?”
Oh yeah. Tommy snapped his attention back to the bat who had spoken to him. It was one of the adults – maybe he could convince them to dive down and get his grape back? Unlikely, but maybe worth a –
Tommy froze as he took in the massive figure. Actually, the massive figures – there were two of them. And they were fucking huge!
… and they weren’t adult fruit bats. Tommy took a hitched breath and wobbled a little in the air.
They were vampire bats.
The twilight hunters, the terrors of the night … the bogeymen in the stories told to all baby fruit bats in their creche and the reason why Tommy had been supposed to be back in the roost before fucking dark!
Shit! This was so not good –
“Kid?” the voice was even closer, and Tommy swung around mid-air to see a third vampire bat, which was somehow even fucking huger than the other two, right behind him. Seriously, he was enormous. Tommy’s entire wingspan wouldn’t even account for half the length of a single one of this fucker’s wings.
“Uh, yeah,” he squeaked.
“You’re out late, mate,” one of the vampire bats now behind him said, as Tommy stared at the giant vampire bat in consternation. “Shouldn’t you be back at the Fruit Colony roost by now?”
Tommy swallowed hard and replied, “I was just heading back.”
“You’re still a ways away from the Colony cave,” the same vampire bat continued easily. “How about we escort you?”
What. Tommy blinked, and flapped a little bit further backwards. It wasn’t that far. And why did they even care?
Then his eyes widened. What if it was a trick, and what if they ‘escorted’ him back to the Vampire Colony roost instead, and then they sucked out all his blood? But ... what if he refused, and they decided to eat him on the spot instead?
“I … thank you, but I can make it back on my own,” he managed, in his politest possible voice.
The vampire bat laughed softly. “It’s no problem, mate. We were headed that way ourselves –”
Tommy’s eyes widened. Were they on their way to attack the Fruit Colony? There had never been a direct assault by the Vampire Colony before, ever! Only lone fruit bats who got caught alone had been taken by the vampires before –
“– and we wouldn’t want you to get turned around or accidentally hit someone again.”
“I mean, someone who was just talking while flying could accidentally eat you,” the third vampire bat said mockingly, “You’re so tiny you’d go right into their mouth and they’d not even notice.”
“Aerial choking hazard,” the biggest one drawled, prompting the others to laugh.
Tommy bristled.
“What do you mean, hit someone? You’re the one who fucking bumped into me,” he said hotly. “And you made me drop my grape!”
The vampire bats stopped laughing to peer at him.
“Your … grape?” one of them repeated doubtfully.
“It was a really good grape,” Tommy growled. “And now thanks to you, it’s gone!”
He gestured dramatically towards the forest floor.
“I … okay, I’m sorry about your grape, mate,” the vampire bat replied, shaking its head. “But if it’s gone, it’s gone. And it’s really too late for you to be out here. How about you start heading home? We’ll fly along with you, make sure you get back safe.”
Tommy swallowed back his frustrated response and simply nodded, setting off. Now that he was unburdened by any load it was easy to fly, and he was decently fast.
Behind him, he heard the huge wings of the vampires flapping as they followed. He swallowed nervously and flapped a little faster.
---
“Psst!”
Tommy swung around to see –
His eyes widened. There, in a dark alcove of a neighboring tree, was one of the vampire bats from yesterday night. What the fuck were they still doing out here? It was morning! Sunlight was filtering through the trees. They weren’t supposed to be loitering near the Fruit Colony –
“Psst!” the vampire bat repeated insistently. “Kid! Come here for a minute.”
Casting a nervous glance around – pretty much all of the Fruit Colony gatherers had already dispersed into the forest for the day, there didn’t seem to be anyone left nearby – Tommy warily approached the tree.
“What do you want?” he asked, scowling.
“Here,” the vampire bat nudged a huge leaf that was cleverly folded around something towards him.
Tommy poked at it cautiously, and his eyes widened.
It was full of grapes! Half a dozen of them, all even bigger and plumper than the one he’d lost yesterday. He stared at them in amazement. He could never have collected so many and brought them back to his roost, ever.
“We felt a little bad,” the vampire bat said, “that you’d lost your food yesterday. Not,” he added loftily, “that it was our fault, seeing as how you bumped into us. But – yeah. We thought we’d replace it.”
Tommy’s mouth worked soundlessly for a moment,
“I … thanks. Thanks, big man. This is really poggers of you.”
The vampire bat huffed a laugh. “Poggers? What does that even – okay, never mind. Well, enjoy! I’ve got to get back to our roost now.”
“Thank you,” Tommy repeated sincerely. “Oh, but wait!” he exclaimed as the vampire bat was about to launch into the air. They paused and looked back at him.
“What’s … your name?” Tommy asked hesitantly. An instant after he asked, he winced and wished he could take the words back. Did vampire bats even have names, like fruit bats did? They might not be that civilized, after all. They never had names in the stories, now that he thought about it.
The vampire bat shot him a crooked grin. “I’m Wilbur. What’s your name, kid?”
Wilbur. Tommy processed it. That was a weird name. It must have some significance to the vampires, beyond the understanding of fruit bats.
“I’m Tommy,” he replied.
It was the beginning of an unexpected friendship.
---
“Good evening, our little fruit-sucker,” Wilbur said, mockingly cheerful.
Tommy glowered at him, perched on his usual branch in the rapidly approaching twilight.
“I just don’t get how you think that’s even, like, an insult?” he demanded. “You’re blood-suckers! That’s fucking animal nectar, or something, right? So why –”
“Fruit doesn’t move,” Wilbur explained loftily. “There’s no skill involved.”
“L,” Techno intoned.
Phil laughed as Tommy gasped in offense, and changed the subject before an argument could begin.
“Do you like these, mate?” The oldest vampire bat offered a strange green fruit to Tommy. “I saw a bush full of these that a bunch of fruit bats were swarming around yesterday, so I snagged one for you.”
Tommy peered at it with interest. “I’ve never seen one before. What is it? It’s still all green though – is it even ripe?”
“It’s called an avocado,” said Techno, who knew about all these things. “They’re edible when they’re still green like that. You should try it.”
Tommy tried it, and loved it.
Because his parents hadn’t been around to feed him when he was little, and he'd just been raised in the communal Fruit Colony nursery, Tommy had always been one of the smaller and weaker pups in his age group. Not only did it make it harder for him to get his share of food, but it also shoved him to the outskirts of his yearling cohort, socially. He’d had next to no friends his own age in the Colony.
But … now Tommy had his secret vampire bat friends! Even though they weren’t his own age either, and Wilbur was a dork, the three of them were way cooler and nicer than any of the stupid fruit yearlings. And now, thanks to all the extra food the vampires were sneaking him, Tommy was catching up in size and strength. And he was finally entering his growth spurt – and was hungrier than ever because of it.
Life was good, better than it had ever been really. Until one day –
“What happened?” Techno demanded, catching sight of Tommy’s stricken expression as the fruit bat came in for a landing on their usual tree. “Was it one of those idiot bullies in your cohort again?”
“They said we’re moving in a few weeks,” Tommy said shakily. “The whole Colony! We’re going away for months, to someplace far away.”
“Ah,” Phil said resignedly, and the vampire bats looked at each other. “It’s already that time of the year again.”
Fruit bats migrated, Tommy had just learned. It was apparently an annual event for the Fruit Colony to take to the air and follow the unfolding of the seasons, tracking the blossoming of flowers and fruits in the forests further to the south.
Vampire bats … didn’t. The Vampire Colony stayed where it was, year-round, and held its territory.
“It doesn’t matter, Toms,” Wilbur whispered bracingly. “It’s normal. You’ll be back soon, and we’ll be waiting for you!”
Techno seconded this, and then he and Wilbur were off, flying after a swarm of insects they’d spotted in the distance. Phil, who preferred blood to insects, stayed behind, hanging upside down next to a miserable Tommy.
“We’ll be here when you get back,” Phil said gently. “I promise, okay?”
“Can I stay here with you?” Tommy blurted out.
Silence.
“Tommy …” Phil began.
“You won’t have to do anything!” Tommy exclaimed. “I can find fruit and shit on my own. You’ll barely even know I’m here. I can –”
“Tommy,” Phil cut him off with a laugh. “I don’t want to not know that you’re here. I love having you here! We all do. But it’s just … it’s not done, mate. Only vampire bats can stay in the Vampire Colony. It’s just not the right place for fruit bats, it won’t work.”
“Can you turn me into a vampire bat?”
Tommy could barely believe he’d said it. No one said that, ever. A fruit bat getting grabbed by the vampires and turned into one of them was a horror, common wisdom in the Fruit Colony insisted. It was a terrible tragedy. No one ever went looking for it, or asked for it. Tommy really was the odd bat out, wasn’t he?
He braced himself for scolding … or worse, rejection. Because if the vampires had wanted to turn him, surely they would have by now? They’d literally had like a hundred opportunities.
“Oh Tommy,” Phil sighed, after a beat of silence. “You … you don’t understand what you’re asking, mate.”
“Yes, I do,” Tommy muttered resentfully. He curled his wings up tight and glared at Phil. “Why wouldn’t I understand?”
“There’s a reason we don’t Change other kinds of bats when they’re as young as you,” Phil said, his voice gentle. “You’re still a pup, you haven’t experienced much of life yet. You can’t know that you don’t want to keep being a fruit bat yet.”
Tommy blinked. “But I thought …”
Wait – was Phil saying that other bats who became vampire bats chose it? He’d always thought – and that was what the Fruit Colony elders seemed to say – that the vampires just snagged any fruit bat who ventured too close to their Colony, or was wandering out alone, and either killed them or turned them.
“After you’ve grown some more,” Phil continued seriously, “and you’ve had some time to see other perspectives, and you still want to Change, well. We’d love to welcome you into our Colony then, truly. But you’ve just got to be a little patient, mate.”
Tommy hunched down and said nothing.
---
The next few weeks were miserable.
The entire Fruit Colony was humming with excitement and activity as they prepared for the migration. Everyone was encouraged to collect and eat as much as they could, to build their energy stores to help them survive the long days of flight ahead.
Tommy half-heartedly threw himself into the task. He’d started tagging along with some of the other fruit yearlings on their gathering expeditions, occupying his time with other bats supposedly like him.
He hadn’t been back to the usual tree where he used to meet up with Wilbur, Techno, and Phil for weeks now. After that last conversation, he just couldn’t do it.
He knew that they’d come looking for him – he’d sensed the flash of their wings around trees near the entrance to the cave where the Fruit Colony roosted, but he’d pretended not to notice them.
Part of him knew that he should swallow his pride and go talk to them; the Fruit Colony was going to start its migration very soon, and then he wouldn’t get another chance. But … he just couldn’t.
The other fruit yearlings were mostly a bunch of annoying fucks. They just jumped from tree to tree without even bothering to look around properly for fruits, but Tommy had to follow or else risk being left behind. The only thing they were really good for was news and gossip.
And unsurprisingly, it turned out they were mostly just good for delivering bad news.
“Did you hear?” one the biggest and most annoying of the fruit yearlings said excitedly. The others crowded around him, chittering excitedly, while Tommy glowered in the distance.
“The Vampire Colony is moving!” the big yearling said exultantly. “They’re leaving! They’re fucking off to somewhere up north, where there’s more food or some shit! So once we’re back from migration, this whole place will be ours. It’ll be so much safer and nicer and –”
Tommy froze.
The Vampire Colony was leaving? An icy pit sunk into his stomach. That meant …
That meant that his friends would be gone soon. Even though he’d been avoiding them these past days, in a huff, that didn’t mean he wanted to avoid them forever.
And the Vampire Colony, he knew, didn’t migrate. Once they set off to wherever they were going, they’d be gone. That would be their new home for good. So … once the Fruit Colony left too, it would indeed be forever.
Moving more slowly and despondently than ever, Tommy continued to aimlessly look for fruits. He allowed the yearling group to drift away from him, off to other trees. They didn't call him, and he didn’t really want to be with them now, anyway.
As the sun began to set, he began to slowly make his way back towards the Colony roost. Ever since he’d stopped loitering with the vampire bats in the evenings, he’d always been on time getting back to roost. But today, it had gotten late again. Lost in his thoughts, he must have drifted farther away from the Colony without noticing. It had gotten darker, without him noticing.
Twilight cast eerie shadows around him in the forest. Tommy cast his senses around uneasily, and flapped as fast as he dared.
And then suddenly –
He inhaled sharply as a shadow suddenly passed overhead, disturbingly close by. Was it an owl or something? Shit! Tommy banked sharply in flight, ducking into the thick tangle of tree branches where a larger predator couldn’t easily follow.
Nothing happened for a minute, and he began to relax, breathing a little easier. Whatever it was seemed to have passed by, given up –
No sooner had the thought passed through his mind when something grabbed him, snatching him straight out of the air and into a fold of darkness.
Tommy screamed.
“Shhh!” a familiar voice hissed.
Tommy blinked and twisted, staring wide-eyed up at …
Phil?
The older vampire bat settled them into a secluded alcove in the trees and gave Tommy a crooked smile.
“You’ve been avoiding us,” Phil explained in a whisper, “so I’m kidnapping you.”
Tommy gaped at him.
“But … the Fruit Colony’s moving out. The first groups are leaving tomorrow morning,” Tommy said, confused. “I need to get back to the roost, I need to go –”
“You don’t need to go with them,” Phil replied quietly.
Tommy’s eyes widened in confusion. “But you said –”
“Shhh,” Phil warned again, looking around carefully and pulling Tommy deeper into the branches. “I know what I said. But that was before it was decided that the Vampire Colony was moving, too. Now we won’t be here when the Fruit Colony gets back … when you get back. So I can’t take that chance. Unless …”
He looked at Tommy seriously.
“Toms, I very much want to Change you and take you with us now, when we move. But it’s up to you, truly. If you’re not sure, and you want to wait another year – do the migration and come back, and see how you feel about the Change then … well, we’ll come back here and find you then, I swear it. Even if I have to fly back here on my own.”
Tommy stared up at Phil, wide-eyed. From everything the Fruit Colony elders had been saying about their own migration, that … would be an incredibly long and difficult journey for a Colony, much less a lone bat.
And Phil would do it for him?
Tommy’s eyes filled with tears.
“I want to come with you now,” he whispered.
---
“Phil,” Puffy chided gently, peering at the sleeping fledgling vampire bat tucked into Phil’s wing. “You know we’re not supposed to Change the fruit yearlings.”
Phil grumbled wordlessly. “But it’s Tommy,” he objected.
“Yes, but still –”
“I wasn’t going to leave him behind,” Phil replied mulishly, scowling at his sister. “It was one thing if the Colony was going to stay here, but –”
“I know, I know,” Puffy sighed. “And – not that it matters, but we’re not even going to commune with the Fruit Colony from next year, so who cares if they make a fuss about the rules.”
She peered at the sleeping bundle again and smiled. “He is a cutie, though, isn’t he? Can I hold him?”
Before Phil could reply, Wilbur and Techno flew into their small alcove of the Vampire Colony’s main cave, skidding to a halt in front of where Phil and Puffy hung upside down.
“Dad!” Wilbur exclaimed, panicked. “Puffy!”
“Tommy’s missing,” Techno growled. “Those sap-drunk imbeciles apparently just lost him while they were out sniffing at apples and berries –”
“A few of them just flew back through, looking for him – we overheard them talking about how he didn’t come back with the others. And the Fruit Colony’s moving on tomorrow regardless, they won’t wait for just one bat. And he’s so little, any predator could have grabbed him,” Wilbur barely paused for breath in his diatribe, sounding incredibly distressed. “We should have turned him weeks ago, Dad, this is all our fault. We’ve got to go back out and look for him again, right now –”
“I really can’t go anywhere right now,” Phil said mildly, and Puffy shot him an amused look.
Wilbur’s jaw dropped and Techno bristled. “What –”
“Aren’t you listening, Dad? It’s Tommy –”
“Shhh,” Phil hissed.
Phil had to admit, as he unfurled his wing to reveal the small fuzzy sleeping head, that he very much enjoyed any opportunity to stun his two older children into silence.