Melabeth the Vampire (13 page)

"What was that?" I inquired.

David said, “It happened about four years ago, in my apartment building. There were two different apartments with this wall around them. In one of them, an old lady died, and, about six months later, the woman who lived in the other apartment with the wall was murdered by her lover. Now their deaths had nothing to do with each other. The only thing they had in common was that they both happened to be in apartments that had a wall. And the other thing that they had in common was, afterward they both were ghosts. I know because I could see their spirits.  My dad was the apartment manager, so I helped him out from time to time. When I went into the apartments, I could see both ghosts. Now, it is important to know that the mean ghost was not the murdered woman. She was nice, and I talked to her almost every day. I used to wait for my friend Tom to walk to school with; I waited out in the hallway, and there I talked to her through the door.”

“Why did you do that?” I wondered.

David gave me a sheepish grin, “I could tell you that I did that because she was lonely and very nice. I also could tell you that I felt sorry for her trapped inside that apartment without any furniture and no place to go. The real reason was I could talk to her about all this strange shit in my life. Who was she going to tell? No one would move into the apartment because of the murder, and the wall started to disappear. One day the wall was gone, and so was the ghost.”

I asked, “Why did the wall disappear?”

David stretched, then said, “not sure, but I think it is because no one lived there. All things that do something take energy. So, what I think, and am not sure about is the
wall is powered by the souls of the living inside of whatever building it is surrounding. See, the old lady was a mean old bag, and she had died six months earlier. Even so, no one had a problem renting an apartment from an old dead lady that wasn’t murdered, so she haunted everyone that moved in. One day this couple moved in, and a few days later they had a lady come over and do a séance. I was told she asked the spirit to leave, and the apartment was fine after that. See, the way I saw it, was that she invited the spirit out. So if the living invite the spirit, it should be able to come and go at will. The old lady could leave, and then she went to where old grumpy ladies go.”

“And where is that?”

“To hell, to bitch and nag at men.” David said with a laugh. I laughed too, and then David added, “Just kidding; I have no idea where the dead go when they find peace.”

“So you think when I come to a house with this wall, I won’t be able to enter, at least without an invite.” I said.  Wow, if he is right there is so much stuff I still have no idea about.

“I guess we will find out soon.” David answered, and then he asked. “When you bite people, do they turn into vampires?”

“No, thank goodness” I responded, with a gasp. “That would be horrible. My master didn’t tell me much, but, lucky for me, he did explain how that all worked. You have to drink my blood, and what I understand is you have to get addicted. Then you need to die, and, if you’re lucky, you rise again. Or maybe you’re lucky if you stay dead. I don’t know; the verdict is still out.”

“Wood stakes?”

“Not about to test that one.” I laughed.

“Mind powers?”

“Obviously not, or I could control you, and then I would make you carry my bags and shut up.” I said with a smile.

David laughed, “I would carry your bags anyway; getting me to shut up, now that’s going to require some serious mind powers. You’re so new to this I wouldn’t rule it out. You may need time to learn how to use your different powers, or it may just take time, before you become strong enough.”

“Maybe” I said, “it would sure be nice to have those mind powers.”

“Can you fly?” David asked.

“No, and before you ask, yes I have tried and it didn’t go so well. Of course I could have picked a smaller cliff to try on.” I said with a pouty face.

David burst into laughter. I could listen to him laugh all day. When he laughed, something moved in me… passion… I could feel it. I wanted to reach up and kiss him. I was ready to try; no not yet. David stopped laughing and then said with concern, “what’s wrong?”

I smiled at him, “nothing, I enjoy your laugh, that’s all.”

“Good, I enjoy your company too.” David said, with a look that made me feel like my heart should be beating against my chest. He reached up and touched the side of my face.

I need to cool this down, “S
top that please. I know you can feel my emotion.”

“Sorry.” David said with a hurt look on his face. He pulled his hand away from my face.

“No, don’t take me wrong. I like it, I like it a lot. Just, I think we need to be careful; I have some control issues. If I ever hurt you… well I don’t even want think about that right now. Not only that, but I am a vampire. Don’t you want to… well you know, date humans?”

David turned to look at me with that smoldering look again. His face was serious, but full of passion. “Melabeth, I am not human. You and I are friends, maybe one day more than friends. If we are not more than friends, it will not be because of the fact you are a vampire.”

I think he is full of crap. I don’t want to argue with him; I just want to grab him and… “Thank you.” I said, before I let my emotions get away from me again.

I turned my head toward the window of the bus and took a deep breath. David touched my arm, and was about to say something when the bus came to a stop. The bus driver announced our arrival. Saved by the bell; I needed some fresh air.

David told me we were only a few blocks from his mother's house. So we grabbed our bags, and started to walk. It was close to five now; David said he was starving, and that made two of us. Plus I was tired; I hadn't been able to sleep all day.

My body didn’t feel tired, but my brain sure did. It was getting harder to think clearly; I will sleep when I get to David's.

"That’s not good," David announced.

"What's, not good?" I said, looking harder in the same direction that David was looking in. I couldn’t see anything wrong.

"That’s my house," David said pointing at a single story ranch house.

It had stucco siding painted some awful yellow, gray roof with dark brown trim, complete with chain link fence around the property. The yard was full of all kinds of plants; it looked like a jungle of green. The only thing that was not green was the lawn. The driveway led up to a porch that had two swings under it, and plants in planters all over the place. "Can you see the wall around my home?"

"No… Oh great, it has one of those you can't enter unless I invite you walls." I said it a little on the grumpy side. I was tired.

"We’re about to find out if you can come in, and, if not, I will try to invite you; I am sure that will work." David said, but not with a lot of confidence.

I guess I will probably be sleeping outside tonight. We went through the gate and headed up toward the door of the house. David reached up and grabbed the door handle, only to find it locked. He reached into one of the many planters that were sitting next to the door and retrieved a key.

He then went into the house saying, "Hello, is anyone home?" No one answered.  "Well, I guess not. That may be a good thing no one is here; try coming in, Melabeth."

"How exciting," I said sarcastically. I stepped forward and was met with a wall. It felt like I was trying to shove myself through saranwrap; the more I pushed forward the tighter it became.

Finally like a rubber band, it threw me backwards. With my perfect balance I only slid a few feet away from where I started, and I was still standing. “You called that. I hope your inviting me works, or I will be sleeping outside.”

David said in a loud and clear voice “Melabeth, you are invited into my home. Please come in.” He stood to one side, and then gave a little bow as his arm made a sweeping motion.

I laughed at him as I entered the house, with my hand out in front of me looking for the wall. Sure enough, the wall was not there to stop me. “So the wall is gone then?”

“No” David said as he lead me into the living room. He fell down into the couch; I joined him even though I had no need to sit. David let out a yawn and then said, “It’s still there. It will let you through now, now that someone invited you.”

“Can anyone invite me?” I asked.

David said, “Not sure, but I think you need to live at the place that you are invited in. Then again, I don’t know how this home would know that I live here. Maybe you just need to be a living person. I am sure we will figure it out.”

Something was off. I normally figured things out pretty quickly, but I was tired. Something wasn’t adding up, and I couldn’t put it together. I was starting to worry about meeting David’s mom.

So I asked, “So, when is your mom getting home?”

David responded with a worried look in his eyes. “I would think soon. You need some sleep. Come with me into my room, and I will set you up so you can get some rest. Don’t worry about my mom; you’ll see.”

That remark only made me worry more. David was worried about something too; I wasn’t sure what it was. I followed David into a little bedroom. There wasn’t much in there except a bed, dresser, bookshelf and a closet. David carried both of our bags into the room.

Too tired to think straight, I laid down on his bed; David laid blankets over me and said, “Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

I looked up at David and said with a smile, “you have bugs?”

“Sleep,” David whispered. I closed my eyes.

*                        *                      *

When I opened them, it was still pitch black. Then I realized that I was buried under blankets.

I heard Carrie’s voice, “you awake yet? You might want to wake up, damn; it’s hard to wake the dead.”

“I am awake.” I grumbled.  “What time is it?”

“It's about time.” Carrie said, as she pulled the blankets off of me. I was still in David’s room, but it was dark. “It is about ten after nine, and I think you need to be awake.” There was worry in Carrie’s voice.

Carrie’s worry woke me up; I shot up out of bed. I used my second sight; we were alone in the room. “What’s going on, Carrie?”

Then she said, “Don’t freak girl, but you need to be awake. Let me tell you what you missed.”

I calmed down. I could hear some people talking quietly in the house but could not make out what they were saying. “What’s been happening?”

Carrie sat on the edge of the bed and said, “Long version or short version?”

This being Carrie, I knew there was no short version to be heard, so I said, “short.”

Carrie frowned and then started to fill me in. “When I reappeared in this room, you were out for the count, and it looked like David went through some effort to hide you. Just look at all the blankets he laid on you; he put his bag in front of your body. Then he laid clothes all over you; hell, it took me a solid minute to find you in this room. I was a little scared you had dropped your necklace.” I could see the thought scared her, “I am glad that was not the case. I took a walk around the rest of the house. Ran into David getting something to eat; I was starting a conversation with him, when some women came through the front door, a middle age lady and two young gals. They yelled to see if David was here. David came out into the living room, and, bam, they were hugging and kissing. We missed you David and all that shit; it didn’t take long for me to realize that they couldn’t see me. I told David, ha, they can’t see me, and he gave me a little head nod. Then he went on pretending I wasn’t there. After all their hellos, it didn’t take but a few hours before David was askin’ questions about his powers. His mom started to tell him that he was a Warlock that he came from a family of witches. They all are in a coven called the Shadow of Hills or some such thing. I would call my coven, Dancing Ponies, but that’s just me. Then David started to tell them about all the things he could do and all of the ghosts he could see. That’s when the cow shit hit the side of the barn.”

“Why, because he was a warlock?” I asked. Carrie was a little hard to follow with her country accent, and it didn’t help when she got excited about something.

“No, not because he was a warlock.” Carrie said while she tossed her hand in the air like whatever she was talking about was easily understood. “Aren’t you listening? See witches ain't supposed to see no ghosts. And then they started asking all these questions. I didn’t understand any of it really, but what I did understand is that David is a Necromancer.”

She gave me a look as if a Necromancer explained everything. “What the hell is that, some sort of learning disorder?”

Carrie let out a breath, and started to explain. “Well I thought everyone knew that. A Necromancer is a magic user that uses death magic, kind of frowned upon, kind a like vampires; no one likes them very much.”

“Well, thanks a lot,
” I said.

“I don’t have no problem with vamps. Then again, you can’t eat me” Carrie quickly added, “not that you would, if you could.”

“Yes, yes I would. And I would have already eaten you. Talking about hungry, I could use a bite. So stop talking about eating; what did David say about me?”

Carrie looked at me with sorry eyes, “well… kinda nothin’. He hasn’t really told them about you. Somewhere in that conversation they were having, one of the sisters made a remark along the lines of, damn, my own brother’s a Necromancer. It could be worse; he could be a vampire. After that David said, what’s wrong with vampires? His mom said, don’t even get me started; we have enough to
worry about you being a Necromancer. That’s kind of why I thought you should be awake, just in case they did find out about you. These kinds of folks are the kind that would drive a stake through your heart while you were napping.”