Vampire World (9 page)
While
changing, I should have cried over what had just happened. But I didn't.
Somehow, I held my head high.
Storming
out, I threw my uniform on the counter and didn’t look back. Kate came running
up to me.
“Don’t
let it get to you,” she said. “I saw the way Hannah was treating you. She
deserved it. Anyway, there are better jobs than this out there.”
She
gave me a piece of paper with directions written on it and told me that she and
her friends were going to play a game called fireball. I was invited.
“Thank
you,” I said.
Leaving
hell behind, I very soon ran into more of the same as Rob with his fiery hair
appeared from almost nowhere. What a devil!
“Look
Janice,” he began, “I just want to apologize for the way I treated you last
night. You’re way too precious to be spoken to like that.”
Amazingly,
I maintained my composure without popping him in the face.
“I
have some time off tonight,” he continued. “How about me and you hanging out
again? I’ll take you to another great place to eat. Or should we go shopping?”
I
saw right through the fake smile engraved on his pretty face.
“Apology
accepted,” I said, coughing over my words. “But I’m going to have to
say…uh….no.”
Like
before, he was not satisfied.
“That’s
not a good choice,” he warned. “You’re gonna be crying blood to see me. Just
you wait.”
I
turned away and trotted down the hall, expecting him to follow. But he didn’t.
And if he had, I’d have bitten him in the balls. That was, if he had any.
For
the rest of the day I sat and thought about everything that had happened to me
since arriving in Vampire World, right up to me getting canned. I should have
felt my worst. But no. For some reason, I was actually feeling pretty good.
Mr.
FreeCut arrived home from work looking tired and reeking of blood. In a bag he
carried were two hefty burgers smothered with blood. Tasty!
“After
the tough time we had last night, I thought I'd splurge a little,” he said.
I
ate my bloodburger and downed another cup of blood. So refreshing. So good.
“I’m
sorry for stealing your car,” I admitted.
“And
I’m sorry for forgetting that you're a young lady who shouldn’t be locked up
inside a house all day long.”
I
giggled, knowing that we were both right.
He
asked me how my first day at work had been. I’d had enough of the lies.
“I
got canned.”
“Oh,”
he said. “Well, don’t lose any sleep over it. Many vampires think losing a job
is the worst thing in the world. But sometimes it gives us freedom from a job
we don’t want and opens a door to better things. Did you really want to be a
blood hostess anyway?”
“Not
really. I just kind of picked it so I could find work.”
“So
what do you really want to do then?”
I
thought about this for a little while.
“Something
with clothes,” I replied. “I’ve always been interested in fashion. At least, I
think I have.”
He
reminded me of the 'Help Wanted' sign at Vampire Supermarket. Yes. That would
be an awesome place to work. I’d go apply there as soon as I could.
After
we'd finished our meal I gathered the nerve to tell him the truth about the
wreck, and how I was being chased by a stalker.
“There
are bad people in this world who will try to take advantage of a pretty and
innocent young vampire like yourself,” he told me. “But don’t let this scum
bring you down. File a police report against him. Most importantly, you should
learn how to defend yourself.”
He
left the room and returned moments later carrying a small glass flask with a string
attached. A brown substance was inside.
“This
should help you,” he said. “It's called vampire urb. Inside are finely crushed
seeds and grains. Just throw a tiny portion of it on any vampire troubling you
and it will give them a quite painful but temporary burn. Try to aim for the
eyes and mouth of your attacker.”
I
thanked Mr. FreeCut and placed the flask around my neck. It sat there snugly
beside the chain-like necklace.
The
bond between us was growing. I was genuinely beginning to love Mr. FreeCut; he
was starting to feel like a real father figure.
“I
put twenty-five more Carns on your card,” he said. “That's as much as I could
possibly afford right now. Please use it wisely this time.”
“Thank
you. I will.”
“Oh,
there is one more thing I want to give you, Janice. You’re a young vampire, so
I got you on a cheap plan. Hope you enjoy.”
He
handed me something palm-sized and oval shaped. Looking at it harder, it
appeared to be a replica of a vampire mouth with fangs jutting out in both
directions.
“Pull
it open,” he instructed.
I
opened the mouth, being careful not to stab myself. A screen appeared, with
buttons and numbers sitting below it. I felt a surge of happiness. A phone!
“Use
it only for emergencies. That is, until you get another job and can afford to
put more degrees on it.”
I
thanked him for the gift. Where would I be without him? Certainly not here.
Most likely I'd still be locked up in that atrocious orphanage with that crazy
Bitebitch woman.
After
watching an exciting television show about a psycho vampire killer with Mr.
FreeCut,
I went into my room and
called Kate on my new phone, telling her I would meet her at the Fang
Recreation Center tomorrow. This was pretty close to downtown, so I’d be able to
apply for a job at Vampire Supermarket at the same time. It was funny how a bad
thing like getting canned could sometimes turn things around.
Before
settling down to sleep, I remembered the letter from my secret stranger. It was
still tucked away inside my desk. I read it again, then placed it deep inside
my purse so that no one would find it, including Mr. FreeCut.
I
felt so good as I stepped into my coffin. It looked like tomorrow was gonna be
a busy day. On top of the other stuff, I’d also have to stop by the Skull
Library to figure out whatever this secret was supposed to be. It may be
nothing but bull. On the other hand, it might just be something important.
The
next day, I woke up refreshed.
Wearing
the somewhat fashionably decent shirt I'd bought for my disastrous date with
Rob, I put Mr. FreeCut’s chain and flask of creep repellent around my neck.
Then, holding my cute purse, I peered into the mirror. My eyes were instantly
drawn to my baggy pants and ridiculous shoes. If I could find a job and hold on
to it, the first thing I was going to buy was some sexy jeans. But at least I
had the purse for now.
Using
my card with a few more Carns on it thanks to Mr. FreeCut's generosity, I
decided to head for the recreation center first. I checked my watch,
remembering that Kate had said to meet her at seventy degrees before sunsets.
The
train ride was pretty uneventful, but after arriving close to downtown and
climbing up from the tunnel, I realized that I was lost. Everywhere I looked
there were nothing but crumbling warehouses. I called Kate on the cell and
asked her for directions. After more turns down uninviting alleyways, I
eventually came to a large crimson building with a sign on it that told me I
had at last found the Fang Recreation Center.
A
crowd of raucous vampires were loitering in front as I passed by. I got stares,
but they didn’t bother me when I saw Kate waiting for me. I ran up to her.
“Thanks
for coming” she said gleefully. “Come this way. I want you to meet some cool
people.”
Dressed
in becoming dark clothes and wearing cute rubicund heels, she led the way
inside.
The place was
massive; it was like stepping into another world. I looked for walls and a
ceiling, but couldn’t find any. There were ruby stars all around me, lighting
up the place with a hazy glow. Directly ahead I could see several groups of
animated vamps ferociously hitting balls at each other.
“This
is fireball, level one,” Kate said.
The
vampires were in groups of four, spread apart on a black square. The square was
divided into four sections by thin boundaries of flames that shot up about a
foot off the ground. Each vampire grabbed a ball and hit it over the flames as
hard as they could to the other player.
“I
want you to meet my friends,” Kate continued.
She
introduced me to April, a tall lanky vampire with a pretty face, multiple
piercings including a double nose ring, and a fabulous hairstyle of knots and
spikes.
Next
I met Marsha, another scantily dressed vampire wearing a tight tank top and
cute jeans. Though she lacked the piercings of April, she had some visually
stunning glow-in-the-dark tats on her arms and shoulders. As she turned around,
a remarkable three-dimensional tattoo of a vampire’s mouth on her lower back
flashed before me.
“Do
you like it?” Marsha said.
I
nodded my head to confirm that I did.
“Well,
it cost me over three hundred Carns. Trust me, I’m not as rich as you think.
It’s just something I really wanted. I sacrificed a lot of other things to get
it.”
Next
I met the guys. Kate introduced me first to Darren, a short stocky fellow with
jet black hair and a glowing tattoo of flames that surrounded his mouth.
Wearing a leather clad shirt decorated with jagged spikes, I reckoned he must
have owned a hot motorbike.
Then
I was introduced to a tall vampire called Brett. He had a muscular yet lean
body, clear pale skin, and long, jet-black hair. For the first few seconds,
while looking into his rather endearing face, I wasn't so very impressed. I
didn’t see many tats on him like others, and absolutely no piercings. Dressed
in a plain red shirt and forgettable dark pants, he was different. In fact, he
was almost abnormal. But not in a bad way.
“Hello,”
I said.
Brett
told me hello back. And when he spoke, an icy cold flowed down my spine. Even
so, I didn’t shiver. In fact, it felt great.
“Well,
let’s go get our shoes,” Kate said.
I
followed her and her friends to a bar shrouded in a dense mist. The clerk, a
beefy guy with prickly lavender hair so sharp it looked like blades were edging
out of his scalp, asked us what size shoes we wore. He then handed us pairs of
nifty tennis shoes that glowed in the dark.
I
couldn’t wait to take off my crappy shoes and put on something comfortable and
cute. After Kate and the other girls had replaced their high heels with
loafers, I was certainly now the tallest of us four.
Kate
was several inches shorter than me. “Wow,” she said. “You really look great,
Janice.”
Enjoying
the attention, I grinned.
We
made our way past a bunch of occupied game squares and seemed to walk a mile
through the misty darkness before finally finding a free square.
After
claiming this for our use, Kate turned to me. “Okay, I'd better just explain
the rules to you, Janice,” she said.
I
expected her friends to think me stupid for not knowing how to play this game,
especially since it was so popular. But they didn’t, and appeared quite happy
to wait. I felt pretty sure that Kate had already told them about my accident.
Her
instruction was fairly brief. “Each vampire stands in a square and hits the
ball to the player in the next square. If the ball touches the flames, the
player who hit the ball is out. The striker is also out if the ball does not
reach the next person’s square. Players are allowed one bounce in their
individual squares.” She paused. “Is that clear?”
I
nodded.
“Okay,
let’s play!”
We
all stood on the granite square. To the left of me stood Kate, and in front of
me was Brett. Darren positioned himself diagonally opposite, while April and
Marsha waited in the wings. The flames shot up, surrounding and isolating me in
an island of heat.
Before
I knew it, Brett smacked the heavy ball to Darren. He then pounded the ball
over the flames to Kate. When it looked like she was going to miss it
completely, she quickly pounced back, shuffled her feet, and struck it firmly
in my direction. I failed to make any contact whatsoever and the ball bounced
out of play.
“Hey,
since you’re new, we’ll give you another chance,” Kate said.
I
thanked her, and the blazing ball flew around again.
Before
I could breathe it came to me once more, Kate now hitting it as gently as
possible so I could get the hang of things. This time I did manage to make
contact, but way too softly. The ball landed in the flames that divided my
individual square from Brett’s. The fire quickly burned it until there was
nothing more than a pile of ashes left.
Kate
chuckled. “It’s okay, that happens a lot. That’s why we have this baby.”
