Vampire World (16 page)
Brett looked
incredible when he picked me up in his newly fixed car. Honestly, it was not
much better than Mr. FreeCut’s ride, but I didn’t care.
“I know it’s a
piece of crap,” he said. “But it’s better than the train.”
We parked
downtown and walked together along a bustling Stake Avenue, on the way passing
many clubs and restaurants with long lines in front of them. My mind flashed
back to the night Rob had taken me to the extravagant DeathNail Club and
Spirits. The food was great, and the dancing was fun. But what happened after
had really sucked. I hoped Brett wasn't planning to take me there, because I
didn’t want to think about that night at all.
“Here it is,” he
said, pointing to a slender building sandwiched between two much larger ones.
It was called the RiverView.
We went inside.
A hostess with a startling hairstyle greeted us. “Thank you for coming to the
RiverView. Only ten Carns for two.”
Brett handed the
hostess his Carn card. I couldn’t help but marvel at her mass of blonde hair
that was perfectly shaped into the face of an animal. The flawless teeth, fur
and eyes, all molded from strands of hair, must have cost a fortune to create.
“The boat will
be ready in ten degrees,” she told us.
Boat? I wondered
what that was all about, but decided to keep my mouth shut so not to ruin any
surprises Brett might have up his sleeve.
The sparsely
crowded bloodpub was like a cool dungeon in the shape of a narrow rectangle.
Neon skulls and daggers flashed on the walls, while the bar stretched on a good
ways until ending in a cozy little dance floor. Bat-like creatures flew about,
though they didn’t scare me when I stayed close to Brett.
“This place has
the best damn bloodburgers in town,” Brett told me. “You’ve got to try one. If
you don’t like it, you can bite my neck.”
I smiled to myself.
I’d love to bite his neck. Without killing him, of course.
We feasted on
the scrumptious bloodburgers - thick patties of meat dripping in tantalizing
blood. Mmmmmmm. “This is really great,” I said after finishing off a cup of
blood.
“Glad you like it,”
he said.
After we
finished, he took me to the small dance floor. It wasn’t much - a far cry from
the floor of DeathNail Club and Spirits. But as my arms squeezed hard against
Brett’s back, I knew I was in the greatest place I could ever be.
“You are so
gorgeous,” he said.
We kissed again.
After that, I just couldn’t hold back. “I love you,” I told him.
“I love you
too,” he replied.
I knew I must
have heard those words before. But damn, they meant so much to me now.
“Tonight,” he
continued, “after the boat ride, I want to take you to the grave.”
OMG! I got
goosebumps all over.
The slow
distorted guitar music finished and we made our way out of the back door. Once
in the open air I immediately saw a lovely emerald river flowing through a city
forest of glowing trees. Just in front of us was a small paddle boat tied to a
jetty. I hadn't seen this marvelous view from the street. Only my wonderful
boyfriend could have thought to bring me here.
The view
impressed me even more after we'd stepped on board and started to paddle. Trees
alongside the river towered overhead, hiding us under their canopies of
sparkling rubicund leaves. Behind the beautiful trees reared the backs of
downtown buildings. There was nobody around to interrupt our moment as our arms
locked and we floated slowly along in paradise.
“I told you I
would take you somewhere great,” Brett said.
“You sure did,”
I responded. “How the heck did you find this place?”
“Well, it’s not
so very hard to find. It’s just that most vampires are only interested in going
into the big trendy clubs. So nobody cares about this.”
“Really? Well
that sucks. What’s wrong with them?”
“They all want
to be like someone they’re not. They all want to be rich, stuck-up brats.”
“Well I want to
be rich. But as long as I’m with you, I’m happy no matter how many Carns I
have.”
Garlic Moon
peeked through the magical canopy as we glided along. Again, all I could think
about was going to the grave. I’d waited long enough. I was ready to be his
official girlfriend. No more bull.
“Wait 'til you
see this,” he said.
We came to what
appeared to be a cave. Owww…dark places with the loveliest vampire in the
world. Couldn’t beat that.
Paddling through
the entrance, I expected to see something freaky. After all, this was Vampire
World. Instead, I saw something superb. A multitude of tiny, glistening lights
were embedded in the rocks above us, sparkling like a million diamonds.
“Oh, wow…” That
was all I could say.
“I don’t know
how I was lucky enough to find you amongst the millions of vampires out there,”
Brett said. “You really are the one. So let’s get out of here and go to the
graveyard.”
We paddled our
way back to the dock and walked to his car. On the way to the cemetery I
remained blissfully quiet, content to simply watch Brett driving.
Then his cell
rang. Because he was behind the wheel, I helped him open it so he didn’t get
gored by its fangs. He sounded fearfully alarmed while talking with his father.
“What happened?”
he asked. There was a short pause, then he groaned. “Oh no….dammit…I’ll be
right there!”
“What’s wrong?”
I asked after he'd hung up.
His voice rose
almost to a shout. “My parents! Their house is being attacked by a Slimeberg.”
He was
devastated.
He couldn’t even bring
himself to tell me what a Slimeberg was as he sped down the street.
I could only
guess that it was not good.
We pulled up at
Brett’s house and I could see straight away that there was a heap of big
trouble going on. Both of his parents were standing outside in their night
robes, sobbing away.
“It’s in the
house right now,” Mr. Naz told us. His wife was too traumatized to talk. “I’ve
called pest control. They're on their way.”
“Dammit!” cursed
Brett. “That’s expensive!”
He rushed into
the house and I followed him. What I saw inside horrified me. A giant creature
made up entirely of blood-red slime was slobbed out across virtually the entire
living room, sucking up everything it could and flooding the place with its
disgusting mucus.
Brett threw a
chair at the single eye sticking up from this appalling blob of gook, but it
simply bounced off and was then sucked into its gelatinous body. The chair was
completely soaked, just like most everything else in the living room.
“Uggg!” Brett
screamed. We heard sirens.
Outside, trucks
were now parking in front of the house. Vampires wearing protective masks
approached holding heavy hoses.
They rushed into
the house and immediately started spraying the creature with some sort of pink
liquid. The monster hissed angrily as it got doused by the pink stuff. Then it
slithered up the wall and onto the ceiling in an attempt to escape, all the
time hissing ever louder as the professionals continued aiming their hoses at
it.
“It’s called
Nitroide Sioxide,” Brett said. “It kills those damn things.”
After a minute
or two the mammoth slime monster began to shrink quite rapidly. Soon it was no
more than the size of a roach. Unable to grasp onto the ceiling any longer, it
fell to the ground and was instantly stepped on by one of the exterminators.
Good riddance!
The creature was
dead, but the living room had been left in a slimy shambles. The TV, sofa and
furniture were all complete write-offs. The only good news was that, due to the
Slimeberg being
unable to get
through closed doors, the bedrooms had been spared.
Brett’s parents
rushed inside. Both wept as they looked at all the destruction. A pest control
worker removed his mask.
“I don’t know
how that thing could have gotten in here,” he said. “It’s most unusual for a
Slimeberg to get from the swamps into town. Somebody must have put it here.”
“Whoever did it,
I’ll kill ‘em,” Mr. Naz shouted between sobs.
It appeared
Brett was thinking the same thing when the pest control worker told them that
the extermination cost would be 150 Carns. Brett volunteered to pay. He was
sweet to go broke for his parents.
“You’ll have to
call a sanitary crew to come clean this place,” the pest worker said. “I
wouldn’t recommend living here until all the slime is gone.”
The workers
departed, leaving Brett’s parents to continue mourning the loss of their stuff.
Again, Mr. Naz took it especially hard.
“It’s not fair,”
he complained. “Rich folks can survive this. But look at us. We lose
everything. And we ain’t gonna get it back 'cos everything is so damn
expensive.”
Brett tried his
best to comfort his father. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I've got enough money to
get this place cleaned up. I’ll be able to get you into a hotel as well.”
Mr. Naz frowned.
“But what about all our things? It’s gone. All gone. And it’s way too much to
buy back.”
I sensed the strong
bond between Brett and his father being tested.
“It’s going to
be okay,” Brett told him. “I’ll help you buy all new stuff. It may take a
little while, but I promise you’ll get it back.”
This meant he
probably couldn’t afford to get me anything. Stuff was nice, but honestly I
didn’t care. If I wanted something, I worked so I could get it myself. All I
wanted him to do was take me to the grave.
After more
grieving we all left the house, the atrocious stench of slime still in our
nostrils. On the way out Brett spotted something that had obviously only just
been pinned to the front door. He grabbed the letter and read it aloud.
“I hope you
enjoyed my little friend, Janice. I mean, there wasn’t much stuff for him to
eat anyway, right? Well, I suggest you now ditch the hobo and date me. I can
give you so much more. Rob.”
Brett crumpled
the paper and threw it onto the ground.
“Oh my gosh!” I
cried.
“Who did it!?”
shouted Mr. Naz. “You know who is responsible for destroying my house? I’ll
kill ‘em! I’ll bite ‘em to bits!”
“It was Rob
Bloodworth,” I said.
“He's jealous
we're dating,” Brett explained. “That’s why he did this.” He then went on to
tell his father what Rob had done to his car.
“Well, we’re
going over to the police station, right NOW,” Mr. Naz demanded.
There was no way
to convince him otherwise, so we set off there. Yet as we gave Rob’s
description to authorities, I had a sickening feeling this wouldn’t do any
good.
Later that
evening, Brett walked me to my door. I didn’t want to leave him like this tonight.
“I’m sorry we
didn’t make it to the grave,” he said. “I promise it will happen soon.”
We kissed and it
felt great, even though things hadn't gone as planned. He left after telling me
he had to help his parents move into a hotel.
That night while
I lay in my coffin it rained a misty green. I couldn’t sleep. My thoughts were
on the gargoyle statue and whatever might be hidden behind it.
After tossing
and turning for more than an hour, I couldn’t take it any more. I ran to the
mirror and fixed my hair tubes the best I could, then put on the shirt that
Marsha had given me. I liked the shirt, but damn, I had money now. I had to get
some new clothes.
Even though it
was the middle of night, I was determined to go over to the recreation center
and discover the secret.
Clutching my
necklace of seeds and grains for extra protection, I snuck quietly out of the
house, making sure not to wake Mr. FreeCut. Clouds were totally obscuring
Garlic Moon and light rain wet my pale skin.
When I arrived
at the recreation center, the first level was still packed with late night
amateur players having some fun. Wasting no time, I used my tournament card to
descend to the second level.
There were far
fewer people practicing down here. I couldn't help but giggle when I saw these
tournament wannabes being flung around by the rotating platforms while
struggling to hit the fireball.
I worked my way
around to the gargoyle statue. Luckily, no one was playing on the square next
to this, so I was able to make my move without drawing attention.
I tugged on the
claws in the order the note had told me to. Nothing happened, so I tried again.
Still nothing. After a third time without success, I became frustrated and made
a close inspection of the wall behind the gargoyle. There was no sign of the
passageway that was supposed to appear. More out of hope than expectation, I
had one final go at the claw pulling routine. To my surprise, this time I heard
a slight rumbling noise. Moments later a section of the wall slid back and the
passageway was finally revealed.
I took a deep
breath and got down on my hands and knees to move inside, hoping no one had
seen me go through.
