The Meridian Gamble (19 page)

It’s buzzing all about my skull,
but only at the edges, trying to force it’s way in. Somehow, my mental wall is
holding, and I can tell that they haven’t invaded my mind yet. But it feels
like my brain is being squeezed in a vice, and I sense that the bricks are
buckling.

But that’s not going to happen. I
fight back. I imagine they’re made of gold, and are fused together with pure
light instead of mortar.

Thankfully, I don’t have to talk.
The waiters interrupt my story, bringing in more plates, filled with salad that
I recognize. It’s chopped with a hint of reddish dressing, Chinese Chicken Salad,
another of my favorites. And next to it, in front of each of us, they set down
little sizzling metal plates with perfect filet mignon medallions resting on
them. I don’t hesitate to dig in, uninterested in whether or not the rest of
the table wants to hear more about my dumb job.

And I smile at Adam, because I
suspect he must have done this for me, had them provide Asian treats, knowing
that I seemed to like them so much. Or at least I choose to think that. The
salad is delicious, even better than the one at Tom E. Wong’s, and I decide to
just focus on the mundane sensation of it dancing on my taste buds as a way to
fend off my psychic assault. Let them find that in my mind, if they can get
through. And as I eat, a thought comes to me, as my brain is on fire. I quickly
push it away, in case they can hear its echo, but not before I embrace it for
one strong moment.

I look to the vampires and realize
they have no power over me. I am Luminos, and whatever they do to me, I will
survive it. The fact that I’m sitting here now is proof. Even if they learn my
secret and tear me down, I’ll be back.

And a sudden calm comes over me. I
look to Marion with a smile.

“I think I’m going to need more of
this salad,” I say, in a flippant way. “It’s quite delicious.”

“Of course,” Marion says. And she
waves to an attendant standing by the doors. He quickly leaves, and returns
with more salad, far quicker than I could have imagined.

“Mmm, I’m going to enjoy this,” I
say to her again. “Or at least try.”

A guilty expression flickers across
Marion’s face, and she nods to me in understanding. She looks to the others,
sternly, and with that, the attack ceases as quickly as it began. And it’s one
of the greatest sensations of relief I’ve ever felt in my life.

The other humans seem just a bit
confused. They have a dim understanding that something is going on, but none of
them seem to know what. I’m guessing there are no psychic sensitives amongst
this crew. Tom and Marion’s faces relax, and only Lina has a slight look of
disappointment. Her continued irritation is palpable. I try to savor my salad,
but somehow, I suspect I’ve only delayed the inevitable, and that she’ll never
give up.

And a strange thought pops into my
head. It’s insanity, but I decide to take their game a bit further, which is
the last thing they would expect; that I would go on the offensive. I don’t
even know what makes me think I can manage it, but I did it once with Adam, so
it might work with Lina. I close my eyes for a moment, and imagine a place
where our minds can meet.

I picture that the bricks I built
up in my brain actually did construct a wall, around a castle. And I can see it
for a moment, resting in a barren landscape. The grass that surrounds it is
parched and blackened. It looks as though the structure has been at the center
of a war, one with pure evil. And for a brief moment, my mind goes to this
place, and I connect with the Astral Plane.

And sure enough, I can see Lina
there, skulking around outside the wall, trying to find some crack through
which she can sneak in. She wears a forest green cloak, one she might don to
slip through the shadows. Tom and Marion are in the distance, and even Adam is
there. And they have on gleaming silver armor, the kind knights would wear.

They haven’t truly given up, or perhaps
the vampires’ psychic powers are so strong that they always have some link with
the Astral plane.

I peek over the side of the wall,
which I stand on top of, and Lina looks up in shock.

“Moo,” I say.

And I tip a cauldron of hot oil
over the edge, and she desperately leaps away, as it splashes around her.

In the real world, Lina gasps in
shock. Her head snaps back, seemingly breaking our connection. And she holds
out her hand, in discomfort.

A bright red blister forms before
my eyes. It’s a small oval on the back of her hand, yet large enough so that
everyone can see it. And Lina stares at the burn in shock.

“Oh, I … I seemed to have scalded
my hand on the plate,” she says, covering. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

Angel takes a closer look, cooing
in distress, and Lina takes a quick sip from her glass. And now that I can tell
that she’ll truly leave my mind alone, I try to finally enjoy the food in front
of me

From across the table, Marion
smiles.

“I had no idea this would be such
an amusing dinner party. We’ll definitely have to do this again.”

But the waiters come in to clear
away the finished plates, and I can tell something else is going to happen.
From across the table, Lina shoots me a quick smile, and I realize I was
foolish to think she would ever give up. She’s an immortal, after all, and has
an eternity to plot ways to punish her foes.

“Are we almost ready for the main
course?” she says, with delight.

“Of course.”

Marion raises a finger again, and a
small ripple of excitement crosses the table. The vampires’ faces light up,
even Adam’s. Their heads turn toward the restaurant doors, as two sets of
waiters enter, each carrying what looks like a large board with something on
top of it, draped in a cloth. At first, I think they’re roast pigs, and that our
delicious feast is continuing. And then it hits me; this isn’t our feast. This
is the vampires’ meal.

The waiters are carrying in humans.

I turn to Adam, but he says
nothing, and simply stares me down. And I wish that I could communicate with
him telepathically, the way he and his “family” talk with each other. It seems
like he wants to say something to me. I ponder trying to go to the Astral
Plane, to connect with him in that way, but I don’t have the energy to try it
one more time, and I’m sure the others would catch on.

The waiters set the boards on the
table, and remove the sheets that are covering the victims. I can see now that
it’s a man and a woman, both naked, draped only with pieces of gauzy cloth that
barely hide their private parts. And they’re absolutely beautiful, two of the
most perfect physical specimens I’ve ever seen.

The woman has long brown hair that
hangs straight, and lies fanned out beneath her, and I realize that she’s being
offered up in an appealing way, like our food. She has bangs that creep over a
mask that covers her eyes, but what I can see of her face makes me think she’s
supermodel perfect. She has full, pouty lips and a perfect button nose, and
there isn’t so much as an ounce of fat on her body. If this seemingly perfect female
specimen has any flaw, it’s that her breasts seem just a bit too pneumatic and
large for her frame. And I can see the hint of her pink, pointy nipples through
the flimsy fabric that covers them.

The man has long, curly hair that’s
something between brown and blonde, with stubble along his strong jaw. His
muscles are glistening with the sheen of a slight layer of oil. And I’m
horrified, frightened that he’s about to be slaughtered before my eyes. Yet,
the dinner party has become like a car crash from which I can’t look away. It’s
fascinating, in a perverse sort of way. Am I really going to see this? Am I
going to watch vampires eat? Will I see their fangs puncture through human
flesh?

Even worse, it’s sexy, the way
these morsels are offering themselves up so freely.

A wide look crosses the vampires’
eyes that betrays their hunger, and the two beauties on the table become the
only humans in the room who seem to exist.

Another server comes out, or at
least, I think he’s a server, at first. He’s wearing all white, a long jacket
and gloves, and I realize the man looks like a doctor, of sorts. He pulls a
sharp needle from a small case which looks frightening, far bigger than the
normal one used to draw blood. And the attendant stabs it into the arm of the
woman, who lets out a small whine that’s a mix of pleasure and pain. It’s
attached to a long tube that has a little valve on its end, and he hands it to
Marion.

Apparently, she gets first drink,
because she’s their queen. Marion claps her hands with excitement, like a child
at a birthday party.

“It’s such a treat to drink fresh,”
she says. And she begins to gently sip at her main course.

The doctor inserts another tube
into the arm of the woman, and goes to the other victim, the man, inserting
tubes into both of his arms. He passes them to Lina and Tom, and Adam crosses
over to a chair to the right of me, so he can sit closer to the woman. And he
smiles a playful, almost guilty little grin, as he grabs the free tube that’s
hanging from her arm.

“Excuse me, my love,” he says. “I
need a drink.”

And Adam begins to sip.

At the other side of the table,
Lina looks at the man she’s drinking from in disgust. And it would seem that
it’s no mistake that she’s with Angel. She really does dislike men.

“Ugh, why did they set this thing
in front of me?”

“Here, take mine,” Marion says,
wearily. And they switch places. The vampires seemingly don’t care about germs,
as Marion begins drinking from the man and Lina takes her place, draining the
woman.

I look around, feeling bewildered.
And now I’m definitely becoming uncomfortable. I can see Bernard get up from
his chair and stand back, as he watches Marion and the others drink. He tries
to keep a calm demeanor, but I can tell he’s excited by what his lover is
doing. I can almost see the outline of an erection forming in his pants.

Angel gets up from her seat, and
joins Lina. I watch in amazement, as she pulls the cloth away from the woman’s
breasts, exposing them to everyone, and begins kneading them. And the woman on
the table groans with pleasure.

Angel notices that she has my
attention, and she looks to me and giggles.

“I used to be a massage therapist,
back when I had to earn a living,” she tells me. “This helps with the blood
flow.”

And she goes back to her task.

I turn to the other side of the
table, which doesn’t offer much relief from the bizarre tableau that’s
unfolding. Jennifer is massaging the feet of the male donor. And she looks to
me and smiles.

“Better them than us,” she says
with a laugh.

And she notices my eyes, looking
him over.

“He’s beautiful, isn’t he? Go
ahead. It’s okay to play with their food.”

I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
Jennifer’s hand slowly creeps up the man’s legs. She reaches under the towel
that covers his private parts, and smiles at the erection that begins to bounce
beneath it. Tom looks to her and laughs with abandon.

And I can see it in their eyes.
This is some kind of kinky thing the humans take part in. They get off on
seeing their lovers feeding, almost like it’s foreplay. And I can’t help but to
think it’s tied into the bite, the rush of pleasure they feel when their own
masters drink from them. And though I remember Adam saying that not all
vampires do it, I can’t help but think that at least one or two of them are in
thrall to Marion and the others, that they’ve been bitten.

Maybe they’ll share their own necks
with their lovers tonight.

And I wonder if I’ll be like them
some day, or if I already am. Because I feel drawn toward the man on the table.
It’s exciting, to see him helpless before me. I want to touch him. He’s
beautiful, almost as attractive as Adam. And despite my bravado, I really
haven’t been with that many men who are so spectacularly good-looking, none who
were even close.

I turn to Adam, and he gives me a
slight nod of permission, as he sips from his own human.

And I can’t help myself. I get up
and move around Tom and Jennifer, taking a seat to the left of them.

The man at the table has the most
exquisite body, the most perfect flat stomach with ripples of muscles across
it. It’s naughty and perverse and kinky, and it disgusts me that I’m like the
others, getting off on this.

I reach out across the table, and
run my hands over the delicious ridges that form his belly. They’re
well-defined, like Adam’s, yet still uniquely his own. More lean. And their
succulent snack gasps with pleasure as I caress him. I begin to massage his
neck, comforting him in some way, as the man groans with delight.

Jennifer switches places with Tom,
and now she’s running her hands over his stomach. And I lean in a bit closer,
to whisper to her.

“Are they going to …”

“Kill him? No, but they’re going to
drain them pretty good,” she whispers back. “But don’t worry about it. They’re
fetish freaks. They live for this kind of stuff.”

She laughs.

“Well, ‘live’ might not be the best
choice of words.”

She leans in closer and puts her
hand up to my ear.

“This is how they offer themselves,
to become vampires, hoping they’ll attract one’s attention. Which is so stupid.
They don’t really know how it works. I met Tom at a party!”

“And I met Adam in a bar.”

Jennifer giggles, and I can’t help
but to chuckle along.

I don’t know what comes over me,
but I lean over and lightly brush my lips against his forehead and cheek, and
finally his lips. The man tastes like liquor and sin. I can hear Jennifer laugh
again, and as I pull away, he strains his neck, struggling for another kiss. I
look up, and Marion is watching me as she sips, giving a small smile at my
antics. But she pulls the tube away from her lips, and gives a slight look of
concern.