Killing Vermin - a piece of flash fiction
‘Vampires, like in Buffy?’ ‘Buffy?’ ‘Buffy the vampire slayer.’ ‘No, not vampires, vampire bats,’ he asserted firmly, none the wiser as to the identity of Buffy. ‘There’s a difference?’ she sounded unconvinced, ‘a difference between vampires and vampire bats?’ ‘Yes, of course there’s a difference, I’m a naturalist, not a fantasist.’ ‘A naturist! You take your clothes off in public?’ she suggested, mischievously. ‘Naturalist,’ he corrected her, his voice tinged with impatience. A painfully literal man, humour had no place in a conversation about his life passion, even with a beautiful woman. Perhaps that was why he remained unattached at fifty five. Unperturbed, he explained with the patronising tone of a bad schoolteacher, ‘Vampire Bats are hematophagic mammals. That means they feed on the blood of other mammals. They are as real as you and I.’ Pausing to mull something over, the deep frown creasing his brow did nothing to spoil what she...