Vampire World (15 page)

We arrived at a
very busy recreation center. Mr. FreeCut warned us he would probably have to
jet off before the rest of us because of an early work day tomorrow. Still, he
was eager to play.

Inside, there
were long lines of enthusiastic vampires waiting to use one of the countless
fireball courts that seemed to stretch on for miles into the dark place.

“Just as I
thought,” Mr. FreeCut noted. “Fireball hasn’t lost its popularity.”

“It’s the best
game in the world,” Brett said.

A sign hung down
from the murky ceiling. It read:
'Fireball Tournament try-outs are open
tonight. All highly skilled fireball players are welcome to take the plunge to
the second level to practice. But serious and blood daring vampires only!'

Mr. FreeCut
chuckled. “I remember entering the contest long ago. It was one of the most
exciting times of my life. You both should try it.
 
Even if you don’t make it to the third
level, it will still be worthwhile.”

Brett and I
agreed to enter the contest. I mean, we would be stupid not to. The prize was
10,000 Carns. We needed the cash!

As we moved down
the narrow walkways between the fireball courts a ball whizzed by me, nearly
taking my head off. It looked like we might have to wait forever to play
tonight. Then I spotted Kate playing with April and Marsha, plus a bunch of
other vampires I didn't recognize. She saw us too.

“Hey, Janice!
Brett!” she called out. “We’ve reserved this square. Come play.”

As expected, the
girls were surprised and delighted by my new hairstyle.

“Oh my god, you
go girl!” Kate said. Even April told me it looked good. Whether she liked me
now or not, I really didn’t care. Tonight I just wanted to have fun.

I introduced Mr.
FreeCut to my friends. They didn’t seem to mind, even though I thought I heard
April snicker for a degree. But I could have imagined it.

Kate spoke
briefly to April and her other friends. Then she turned around. “Hey, we’re
going to let you all take the square together,” she said. “Go ahead and have
fun. Oh, don’t worry about the blood tubes. They're on me.”

We thanked Kate
as she, April, and another female vampire left the square to make room for us.
Mr. FreeCut grinned as he occupied the square next to a cute, tattoo-clad
vampire I hadn’t seen before. Dressed in a stark T-shirt with 3-D severed
bleeding heads moving about, the stranger smiled at me.

“Hey, I’m
Michael. Let’s play.”

And we were off.
Michael hit the ball to Mr. FreeCut, who slammed it to me with such unexpected
force that I tripped, fell down, and ultimately missed it.

I stood up,
perplexed that someone hundreds of years older than me could knock me out on
the first try. I was actually offended. But I quickly got over it.

“Damn,” I said,
smiling. “Great shot, Dad.”

“Sorry, Janice,”
he said. “It just felt so good to hit the ball.”

I subbed out as
someone else took my place. Gosh, I'd called him Dad. I was so glad he was
reliving a happy part of his life. He could get me out a million times and I’d
still be pleased. He meant so much to me.

However, I
realized I needed to start practicing more if I was going to make the tournament
and win the big money.

Mr. FreeCut
continued to impress. After me, he then got out Michael, Brett, and a girl
named Emma. Maybe they knew he was old and decided to go easy on him. Or maybe
my caretaker was just rock-solid good.

When I
eventually subbed back in, Mr. FreeCut was yet to be played off the square. As
the flaming ball soared my way, this time I concentrated more on keeping my
ground. I smacked the ball hard to Brett, who then hit it sideways to April.
After it had bounced once in her square she knocked it to Mr. FreeCut, who
literally jumped sideways like he was a pro athlete and sent it my way. Where
the hell did he get his energy from?

Around and
around it went for what seemed like forever. Finally, Mr. FreeCut, with a look
of nostalgic determination in his fiery eyes, spiked the ball my way, making it
land very close to the border of flames. I tried my best to hit it before it
went out of bounds, but missed and fell right on my ass. Damn!

Once again I was
astonished he could beat me. But I wasn’t angry when he eventually came off the
square.
 
I was proud of him.

“You’re going to
be a great fireball player,” he said, putting his arm around me. “Whatever you
do, don’t stop practicing.”

I promised I
wouldn’t. Then it was time for him to head home. I didn’t want him to leave,
even though I knew he needed his sleep.

After my friends
and I said goodbye to him, I realized how much fireball practice I would need
to do if I was going to stand a chance at even making it past the second level
of the tournament.

For the next
several degrees we all practiced hard - so hard that I completely forgot about
the soreness in my legs. The ball flew around so many times I got dizzy. I
became better at leaping for the ball and hitting it before it soared over the
flames and out of bounds. I couldn't resist grinning when I knocked Brett out
for the third time, but cringed when he did the same and got me out a bunch of
times. But I didn’t really hate it.
 
I just wanted to get better. Just like I wanted to get better at my job
and everything else in Vampire World.

And now that I
had all this new found confidence, hell, I was gonna do it!

FIREBALL, LEVEL TWO

After an
exhausting practice, we relaxed at a table and downed refreshing glass tubes of
blood. April was quiet as usual, though Michael and Marsha talked my ear off
while Brett held me tightly.

“You’re really
getting better, Janice,” Marsha said. “You’re gonna do well in the tournament.”

“Thanks. I could
really use the money,” I said.

Brett laughed.
“We all could use the money.”

“All of us
except Michael,” April responded. Wow! So she could talk! And the funny thing
was, she was loaded. She certainly didn’t need the money. Nevertheless, I
wisely kept my mouth shut.

Michael
chuckled. “Hey, I can never get enough Carns. I don’t think any sane vampire
can.”

He'd been gazing
continuously in my direction ever since we'd sat down, like he had a thing for
me. Although his tattoos, clothes and looks were impressive, there was no need
for Brett to worry. Nothing would ever tear us apart.

“So when do we
enter?” I asked. “I’m ready.”

“Once we finish
these drinks we’ll go stand in the line,” Brett said. “When we’re checked in,
we’ll go down the escalator to the second level.”

Kate sighed.
“Before we can go down, we have to sign a document that says we promise to
attend the qualifying round. We can practice as much as we want after we sign,
but we have to be at the qualifying round. If we don't turn up for that we
could go to jail.”

I was shocked.
“Jail? Over a game?”

“This tournament
is taken very seriously,” Kate warned.

“Don’t worry,”
Michael cut in. “You’re way too pretty to go to jail.”

I saw Brett
immediately flinch with jealousy. I appreciated Michael’s compliment, but if he
continued like this he was gonna risk pissing Brett off to the point where he
might want to take a bite out of him.

We finished our
blood and made our way to a long line of motivated and athletic vampires. I
heard chatter about rotating platforms and winning Carns.

After a lengthy
wait, we eventually arrived at a long desk with a burly attendant standing
behind it. Further back, I could see eager vampires descending into a cave-like
passageway. A sign above it read:
'Welcome to the 850th Fireball Tournament.
Where courageous vampires fight for glory.'

The desk bouncer
handed me a document that he said I must sign in order to play. Because I
already knew the rules, I did this without question.

“Here is your
ticket, together with the time you must be here for the qualifying round,” he
said. “Failure to show up could mean imprisonment, torture or death.”

Yep! They really
did take this freakin game seriously.

We rode down the
steep escalator toward a faint light at the bottom. Throughout the ride,
stalactites hovered threateningly overhead.

After stepping off
the escalator, we entered a room similar to the one above. However, instead of
ruddy lighting, only a few jade-colored lights illuminated the place. There
were far less players here than above, which was just as well seeing as how
there were considerably fewer playing squares as well. But the thing that
caught my attention the most was seeing several of the squares rising up in the
air, then twisting and turning to send players tumbling many feet to the
punishing floor.

“I told you the
second level was a moving platform,” Michael said. “Get ready to fall on your
asses.”

“Looks like
fun,” Marsha responded. “It’s going to be tough at first, but we’ll get used to
it.”

I was actually
pumped. It was time to learn something new again, and if I had to harden my
vampire ass, then so be it.

I followed the
others as we searched for a free square. We found one in the corner, the
tube-like machine next to it holding five fireballs ready for us. But this time
there were no flames. Instead, the playing area was divided into four
individual squares by distinct jade lines. Also different, each individual
square was now equipped with a pair of handlebars.

Then, something
else abruptly caught my attention. Sitting just beside the left wall was the
gargoyle statue that my enigmatic stranger had told me about, behind which was
a hidden passageway that would supposedly lead me to another secret about my
life. Although I was very tempted, I decided to hold off on investigating. I
didn’t want to keep on disappearing.

“So you're checking
out the gargoyle, huh?” Marsha said, amused. “Well, that can be done later.
It’s time to play!”

We each took a
square on the main playing platform. “Get ready for a wild ride,” Brett said.
He was across from me. Michael was to my right, while April was on the other
side opposite Brett. Marsha sat out the first round.

The platform
rose rapidly several feet into the air; I hit the ball to Brett and tried not
to think about the height. It felt like a normal game to begin with –
that was until the platform started to spin, slowly at first but with
increasing speed. I was finding it harder and harder to hold my balance. Just
when the ball came whizzing back to me, the platform jerked sharply up and
down, causing both Brett and Michael to fall off and slam into the floor below.

Now it was just
April and me who were struggling to stay on board. Clutching hard onto the
handlebars as we dipped steeply in April's direction, I spiked the ball at her
while somehow keeping my balance. She attempted to return the ball, but missed
and tumbled over the side. Success! I had won the first round.

I leapt off of
the square and checked with the others, especially Brett, that no one was hurt.
After being assured that everyone was fine, Marsha congratulated me on my
victory.

Wow. I won. I
couldn’t believe I freakin won.

April stared
cantankerously at me, almost like she wanted to rip the sexy tubes out of my
scalp. I thought about telling her it was just a game, and that she needed to
get some of that blood out of her cute little head and calm down. But I kept
quiet.

We got back on
the square and battled again. This time I was the first to tumble on my ass
when I lost my footing going after a speedy ball knocked by Michael. My back
hurt a little as I got to my feet, but I was fine. April pummeled to the floor
next, soon followed by Marsha. Michael had won round two.

We played ten
rounds all together, and with each stinging fall or satisfying victory, I
became a better and more confident player. And I seemed to have more fun. Finally,
tired and beaten up, we called it a night. Kate invited Brett and me to a party
at her apartment. I felt so popular and loved.

On the train
home with Brett, we started doing the steamy tongue biting thing again to an
audience of horny vampires. I honestly didn't care what they thought.

At my house we
kissed again. He told me to be ready for the perfect place to eat and go
dancing the following night. “It won’t be the most expensive,” he said. “But
you’ll like it.”

Yet again I told
him I didn’t care about how expensive something was. Would he ever get it
through his adorable vampire skull that all I wanted to do was spend time with
him?

The next day at
work flowed pretty smoothly, though I did come close to slipping down the
ladder when I rushed to find a pink tank top with 3-D knives jutting out of it.
At least I managed to avoid stabbing myself this time. All in all it was a good
day. I was continuing to learn the department, and becoming faster with helping
customers.

During a break,
Mira and I grew closer and had a good conversation. I invited her to Kate’s
party. I was sure Kate wouldn’t mind.

 
When the work day was over, I went to one
of the Carn machines to check on how much money I now had. I stuck my card in
and it told me I already had three hundred. Nice. Looked like I’d be going
shopping soon.

I
mean, I loved it when Brett treated me to things. But I wanted to treat myself
to some stuff as well. Sometimes, those were the most rewarding gifts of all.