“Nice job, Spider-Man!” Terry laughed watching Shaun crawl down the side of the building clumsily. “I’ll send you a book, Shaun,
How to be a Vampire for Dummies!
” he added, laughing harder.
Shaun finally made some distance down the side of the building. Terry’s annoying voice was out of range. Shaun focused on getting to the pavement. He was still ten stories above the ground. He focused and concentrated then vanished.
Shaun appeared in a standing position on the sidewalk. He breathed heavily in disbelief that he actually made it down the side of the tower. A fear came over him watching the sky above him fill with swarms of flying vampires. He knew he was out of place even though he was one of them now. A group of vampires flew right over him. He ducked out of the way.
“Watch it!” one of them shouted at him in a rude tone while they flew away.
Shaun’s fear level rose. He looked around the dark streets trying to think of where to go. There was nowhere. He ran down the sidewalk on Grande Avenue not having a clue where he was going. Vampires flew over him talking to each other. The feeling of being around so many of them was overwhelming knowing he was no different.
I’m a damn vampire. I became the thing I’ve desperately tried to destroy,
he thought.
Shaun walked out to the street. Vampires were on top of cars, climbing up the walls of the buildings, floating in the air talking to one another. Others flew overhead at a fast speed. He heard other male vampires behind him laughing but he paid no attention at first. An elderly vampire looked at Shaun while crossing the street with mean look in his face. Shaun stared back at him for a moment.
“What are you looking at?” the older vampire snapped at Shaun rudely.
“Heads up, grandpa!” shouted the male vampires several yards away.
Shaun heard a loud crash sound and turned his head. A small car was sliding down the street rapidly upside down towards the elderly vampire. The older male put his hands up to guard himself, gnashing his teeth in anger at the menacing vampires. Shaun shoved him out of the way and was struck by the car. He was forced into the side of a building violently. One side of the car was smashed as if it had been in a terrible car accident. The wall was severely damaged. Large pieces of rubble fell on Shaun. He unburied himself from the rubble while the menacing vampires laughed at him. He shoved the car off him, pushing it back several feet. He stood up watching the mischievous vampires continue to laugh. The old vampire walked up to him. Shaun expected him to say thank you or some other form of pleasantry but instead the old vampire looked at him and said, “Idiot,” with a crusty look in his face.
Shaun jogged from the scene and ran into an alley and put his back against a wall. He tried to collect his thoughts, catching his breath. He heard crackling noises accompanied with a bone crunching sound that was disturbing. He looked further into the alley. A lady vampire stood from behind a trash receptacle chewing on something and holding a headless rat in one hand. Her teeth were bloody. There were traces of blood around her mouth. She stared at Shaun for a moment.
“Stay away! It’s mine!” she hollered, taking another bite of the rat’s neck.
“No problem, lady,” he said, backing away from the alley, somewhat disgusted.
Shaun wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and walked into the path of three large, male vampires that had bodybuilder physiques. Shaun bumped into the one in the middle and stumbled a few feet forward.
“Hey!” the vampire hollered.
“Sorry,” said Shaun, trying not to start a quarrel. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“You got that right,” said the middle vampire, gnashing his teeth at him with an intimidating stare, stepping up to Shaun.
“Hey, I don’t want any problems, fella—”
The vampire punched Shaun in the face sending him across the street through the air. Shaun struck the windshield of a parked sedan putting large cracks throughout. He looked up at the bully vampire trio.
“Next time, watch where you’re going!” said the vampire who struck him in a hard tone before the three of them flew away, chuckling.
Shaun lay back on the car gazing up at the night sky while other vampires flew over them not paying him any attention. He knew he was dead, judged and sent to a horrible hell for his deeds. He would never make it in the vampire world.
If I’m not Shaun anymore, why do I still think I’m me? Can I even be killed? Will I really never get sick or die?
he thought. He didn’t move but let a tear roll out the corner of each eye. He thought of Harold, Betty and the others and how he would most likely never be able to help them. He thought back on all the rendezvous with the vampire who disguised herself as Sharon. The pain of being deceived by her was too consuming.
“I’m such a fool,” Shaun mumbled. “I’m such a damn fool,” he added, dozing off, falling asleep in his tears.
***
The morning was arriving. Shaun still lay on the hood of the car with his back against the cracked windshield. The sun was rising over the horizon beginning to shine over his body which began to steam. The vapors ascended off his head, chest, arms and legs. He moved his head instinctively from the feeling of heat coming on. He opened his eyes noticing the smoke coming off his body.
“Oh damn!” he yelled, looking at a building across the street.
Shaun vanished from the hood of the car and appeared inside the main lobby of the building across the street. He looked around frantically for a place to hide from the creeping daylight that was moving in quickly to dissolve any vampire it could catch. His hoodie sleeve caught fire. He yelled, taking it off and throwing it to the floor. He looked around again, frightened of a fiery death that was seconds away from getting him. He vanished and appeared at the elevator doors. He ripped the doors open, hoping desperately that there was a lower level to the building that could shield him from the deadly rays of sunlight. He jumped down to the base of the elevator shaft and ripped open the next set of elevator doors. He was relieved to find it dark and protected from the daylight.
Shaun walked in the basement looking around. There were dozens of vampires sleeping on the floor, some in the fetal position, and others on their backs. He looked up and was startled to see that some of them even slept upside down like a bat. The vampires had taken out drop down ceiling panels and used the piping to hold the weight of their bodies with their toes. He put his back against a wall and slid down to a sitting position. He didn’t sleep. He couldn’t. He was in a new strange world; he had to adapt, which seemed impossible.
***
At the tower, Terry and the bikers had Harold and the other males sitting down on the living room floor with duct tape wrapped around their wrists. Yuri and Thai glared at them wishing they could break free and subdue them. The bikers looked like a gang of terrorists holding the tower family hostage.
Terry paced back and forth in front of the windows breathing heavily with large eyes, nearly paranoid, waiting for Shaun to make another daring entry. He stopped and looked out the windows gripping his machine gun then paced around some more.
“Terry?” said Harold in a calm voice.
Terry didn’t respond but continued to pace the floor in front of the windows watching the swarms of vampires fly through the air.
“Terry?” Harold said again, his voice a little louder.
“What!” Terry hollered, turning to Harold with an intense look in his face.
“What is it you’re trying to achieve here?” asked Harold.
“Don’t talk to me like that, man,” Terry responded, calming down a bit. “Like I’m some freaking nutcase. I know what you’re trying to do!” he added, raising his voice again in anger.
“So, we’re to sit here wrapped in tape until we die?” Harold asked as if Terry was acting like a lunatic.
“Maybe so. As I recall, you were going to kick us out and feed us to the lions, Harold,” Terry answered, still intense. “Maybe we should so the same to you?”
“The drug thing wasn’t going to fly, Terry,” Harold replied in a firm voice. “You see Chris is still in a coma over there.”
“Don’t blame that crap on me. Chris went through my things and stole my stuff. I gave him a taste of freedom is all,” said Terry, trying to justify himself.
“You think that makes it okay?” asked Harold.
“Shut up dude,” Terry responded in a voice of warning. “We ain’t talking anymore.”
“You’re a pathetic, thoughtless murderer,” said Harold, not caring if he provoked Terry.
“I said, shut up!” Terry hollered, stomping over to Harold and hitting him in the side of the face with the butt end of his gun.
Harold dropped to the floor having his lights knocked out. Betty, Kim and Ni screamed.
“Stop it damn you! For the love of god. Please stop!” Betty cried.
Terry turned to Betty and stared at her with a mean face.
“We’ll do what you ask, just don’t hurt anybody else!” Kim hollered.
“Keep an eye on ’em, Curtis,” said Terry storming out of the room.
***
Shaun sat in the dark basement against the wall and began to nod off. He was aroused immediately by all the vampires in the room waking up. His heart rate rose. He filled with anxiety. He became scared not knowing if he was going to be accepted or if they would recognize him as Kristof’s mortal enemy.
“I’m thirsty,” said a female vampire. “There’s too many of us and not enough blood!” she hollered.
“Shut up!” a male vampire in the room hollered. “We’re all starving. The last thing I want to do is hear your belly aching!”
The female vampire hissed at the rebuke. The male vampire gnashed his teeth back at her.
“We need to find a way to get to those in the tower!” said another male vampire.
Shaun’s became increasingly scared. He was worried as they began to speak about his tower family.
“Idiot! They are too heavily guarded,” another male vampire hollered. “Many of us have already died trying. Kristof nearly died himself.”
“But I’m dying for a taste!” shouted another female vampire.
“Stop your complaining!” hollered a male vampire.
“I’ll complain if I wish!” shouted the female vampire.
The male vampire rushed the female causing a large scuffle match between several of the vampires in the room. They grabbed and threw one another to the floor, beating on each other violently. Shaun stood back against the wall fearing he would be pulled into the brutal fray.
“Knock it off!” a voice shouted across the room.
All the vampires stopped at the voice and turned their heads. Kristof floated in the air in the room glaring at them. The vampires released one another and stood back to make way for him. They were speechless. It was obvious they respected him and were afraid of him too.
“How dare you show yourself here,” said Kristof in a threatening voice, looking in Shaun’s direction, floating towards him.
Shaun began to quiver. He was already found out. He knew at any moment Kristof would tear him to pieces. He stood there defenselessly waiting for his brutal killing as Kristof drew closer.
“Look, I—” said Shaun but quieting himself realizing Kristof wasn’t after him.
Kristof grabbed a male vampire around the neck that stood next to Shaun and lifted him in the air bringing him face to face. The male vampire was scared to death looking into Kristof’s evil, piercing, orange eyes.
“I’m sorry, Kristof! I’m very sorry!” begged the male vampire.
“I gave you everything,” said Kristof in low pitched, sinister voice. “Because of me, you’ll never experience sickness, grow old and die like the mortals.”
“Yes I know and I was very stupid!” said the male vampire, continuing to beg for his life.
“What makes you think you can steal from my blood reserves?” asked Kristof, knowing he had full power over his subject.
“Please forgive me, Kristof,” said the male vampire in a shivering voice, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“You whine like a pig on a skewer,” Kristof responded, gnashing his teeth. “In that case, you can die like one too!” he added, stabbing the male vampire through the heart with a dagger and piercing him all the way through. Kristof used a black cloth between the skin of his hand and the dagger handle.
The male vampire dropped to the floor landing on his back, screaming in agony with the dagger handle sticking out of his chest. Shaun noticed the handle and the blade guard was in the form of a Christian cross. A wave of flames rolled out from the dagger blade and engulfed the entire body of the stabbed vampire until his head, chest, arms, legs and feet were consumed in fire.
Kristof let go of the handle of the dagger. Shaun noticed it burned Kristof’s hand slightly making a soft sizzling sound. Kristof gripped his hand because of the pain.
“My favorite part,” said Kristof sadistically. “Sudden death.”
The vampire that lay on the floor on fire exploded. Kristof, Shaun and the other vampires in the room guarded themselves from the blast of fire, ashes and pieces of burning vampire. Kristof wiped the ashes from his chest and off his shoulders from his black robe.