# Read the first page of Thirst No. 1 by Christopher Pike

Read the opening of Thirst No. 1 by Christopher Pike free, no signup. A five-thousand-year-old vampire breaks her rules when her creator hunts her.

- Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/thirst-no-1-christopher-pike
- Genre: Horror
- Year: 2009
- ISBN: 9781416983088
- Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9781416983088&s=read-page
- Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9781416983088
- Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9781416983088

## The opening

I am a vampire, and that is the truth. But the modern meaning of the word vampire, the stories that have been told about creatures such as I, are not precisely true. I do not turn to ash in the sun, nor do I cringe when I see a crucifix. I wear a tiny gold cross now around my neck, but only because I like it. I cannot command a pack of wolves to attack or fly through the air. Nor can I make another of my kind simply by having him drink my blood. Wolves do like me, though, as do most predators, and I can jump so high that one might imagine I can fly. As to blood—ah, blood, the whole subject fascinates me. I do like that as well, warm and dripping, when I am thirsty. And I am often thirsty.

My name, at present, is Alisa Perne—just two words, something to last for a couple of decades. I am no more attached to them than to the sound of the wind. My hair is blond and silklike, my eyes like sapphires that have stared long at a volcanic fissure. My stature is slight by modern standards, five two in sandals, but my arms and legs are muscled, although not unattractively so. Before I speak I appear to be only eighteen years of age, but something in my voice—the coolness of my expressions, the echo of endless experience—makes people think I am much older. But even I seldom think about when I was born, long before the pyramids were erected beneath the pale moon. I was there, in that desert in those days, even though I am not originally from that part of the world.

Do I need blood to survive? Am I immortal? After all this time, I still don’t know. I drink blood because I crave it. But I can eat normal food as well, and digest it. I need food as much as any other man or woman. I am a living, breathing creature. My heart beats—I can hear it now, like thunder in my ears. My hearing is very sensitive, as is my sight. I can hear a dry leaf break off a branch a mile away, and I can clearly see the craters on the moon without a telescope. Both senses have grown more acute as I get older.

My immune system is impregnable, my regenerative system miraculous, if you believe in miracles—which I don’t. I can be stabbed in the arm with a knife and heal within minutes without scarring. But if I were to be stabbed in the heart, say with the currently fashionable wooden stake, then maybe I would die.

## Books with a similar feel
- [Spin a Black Yarn by Josh Malerman](https://uncovered.ink/read/spin-a-black-yarn-josh-malerman.md)
- [Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia](https://uncovered.ink/read/certain-dark-things-silvia-moreno-garcia.md)
- [The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-only-good-indians-stephen-graham-jones.md)
- [Disappearance at Devil's Rock by Paul Tremblay](https://uncovered.ink/read/disappearance-at-devils-rock-paul-tremblay.md)
- [Flowers in the Attic/Petals on the Wind by V.C. Andrews](https://uncovered.ink/read/flowers-in-the-attic-petals-on-the-wind-v-c-andrews.md)
- [Children of Lovecraft by Ellen Datlow](https://uncovered.ink/read/children-of-lovecraft-ellen-datlow.md)

---
Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.