DISCLAIMER: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and its characters are the propert of James Cameron and Fox. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story came about because I wanted to put one of River Tam's lines in Cameron's mouth. Many thanks to my alpha inspectorboxer for looking this over for me.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Go For the Jugular
By Revolos55
It was three in the morning and as usual Sarah couldn't sleep. With an aggravated sigh she threw the thin sheet off her and rose from her bed. Figuring a glass of water might do the trick, she made her way to the kitchen, stopping briefly by John's room to check on him. The blue glow of the television illuminated the doorway to the living room and Sarah poked her head around the corner to see who else was up at this hour. She found Cameron sitting at the center of the sofa with a ramrod-straight posture that any girl's finishing school would be proud to claim as a product of their training.
She hadn't really expected it to be Derek. Despite the lack of basic entertainment amenities, like television, in the desolate future he came from, he didn't partake while here in the 21st century, preferring instead to maintain the spartan lifestyle he was accustomed to. She idly wondered if this was because he took comfort in the familiarity of his routine, or, more cynically, if he didn't want to become used to something he knew would eventually end.
Shaking her head at her late night ponderings she turned the corner and walked a ways into the room to see what had captured Cameron's attention. As a bald, hunchbacked, bat-looking man with rat-like teeth and ghoulish fingernails stalked across the screen she turned to the terminator.
"What on earth is this?"
Cameron turned to regard her with intensely focused brown eyes.
"Nosferatu, filmed in 1922, and directed F.W. Murnau. It's the story of the vampire Count Orlok who follows a real estate agent Hutter to the town of Wisburg and becomes obsessed with Hutter's wife Ellen. It's based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, but since the company could not secure the rights to the original story they changed the names of the characters. Vampires are nocturnal creatures who drink the blood of the liv-"
"I know what vampires are," Sarah interjected, rolling her eyes and cutting Cameron off before she got the entire encyclopedic entry recited to her.
Cameron tilted her head slightly to the side and Sarah imagined hearing the whirling and clicking of gears. Not that a killer robot from the future would have anything as primitive as gears in her head.
"The human body can be drained of blood in eight point six seconds, given adequate vacuuming systems."
Startled at the seemingly random statement, as well as the morbid image it conjured up, all Sarah could do was stare at Cameron and raise an eyebrow.
"It would take a vampire significantly longer to accomplish the task, however since it is a mythological creature with unknown physical specifications, it is impossible to calculate exactly."
Crossing her arms, Sarah commented "I'm afraid to ask how you know these things."
"I read," came the reply.
"Aha," Sarah said, turning to leave. "Well, don't go getting any ideas about my neck there, girlie. I don't want to have to start decorating the house with garlic and crosses."
"That will not be necessary. I am a cybernetic organism, not a vampire."
"Glad to hear it."
With that Sarah finally made her way to the kitchen for her glass of water, which she chugged, placing the empty glass in the sink to be dealt with tomorrow. As she walked back to her room she idly wondered which would be worse to find in your house, a vampire or a cyborg, then chuckled to herself at the strangeness of her life.
The End