Vampire World (10 page)

She
pressed a button on a nearby machine. Within moments a new ball popped up.

I
subbed out, allowing April to take my place.

“Don’t
get upset,” Marsha said. “It takes a while to learn. When I first played it
took me three games to get somebody out.”

Wow.
And I thought I was the only slow one around here. I didn’t share this with
Marsha though, which
really did
make
me feel better.

I
watched in awe while the ball was pounded around for what seemed like forever.
What were these vampires on? They moved so fast.

Finally
Brett slammed the ball to April, who missed it. The ball hit the corner of her
square and bounced out of bounds. I couldn't keep my eyes off of Brett as Marsha
took a frustrated April’s place. There was something about
him…enigmatic…intriguing…and damn irresistible.

Kate
was the next victim to get booted so I joined back in. I wanted to hit the
ball.
 
Not just hit it, but to get
somebody out. I gazed into the attractive eyes of Brett, the delicious vampire
who was stood in front of me - and the player who I was supposed to get out.

The
ball flew around faster than a cannonball. I prepared to take a beating from
Marsha, who was to the left of me. She spanked it hard into my square. Using
all the speed, reflexes and luck that my inexperienced self could handle, I
somehow hit the ball and rammed it hard across into Brett’s square. It bounced
so fast that he missed it entirely and it flew out of bounds.

I had got somebody out. Hell freakin yeah!

I
received instant praise. Brett was shocked that an amateur like me could knock
him out.

“Great
shot, Janice,” he said, smiling.

Gosh,
he was so fine.

Although
I felt like a champion, it didn’t take me long to get my ass sent back to
reality when Kate knocked me out on the next round. April finished up winning,
as she was the last one standing on the square when time was up.

We
played two more games. I quickly got out in both rounds, pretty much confirming
that my earlier shot had been a fluke. However, I did manage to knock the ball
around a few times, which was good. Ironically, Brett won both rounds.

After
getting our shoes back we had a few cups of blood at a nearby bar and chatted
about a lot of things. The blood was refreshing after a hard work out, and Kate
did most of the talking. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Kate. I just wished that
Brett would have spoken to me a bit. Maybe he was shy. Nevertheless, Kate
invited me to a party taking place the following night at April's house, while
Marsha said she had a pair of cute jeans she wanted to give to me.

After
saying goodbye, I left the recreation center feeling wonderful. What a turn
around! Now I had friends. A purpose in life.

SKULL LIBRARY

While
making my way to Skull Library, I couldn't shake Brett off my mind.

Following
the directions given to me in the note, I soon arrived at my destination. Skull
Library turned out to be a magnificent black castle surrounded by a moat of
green goo. I crossed a bridge over the goo and approached a gate encased in a
framework of vicious looking teeth. After carefully squeezing past these
without getting cut, I entered a dungeon-like interior filled with row upon row
of books. It was extremely dark and had low ceilings. I felt lost. Fortunately,
there was a librarian sitting at a desk. He was very old, with lime flaky skin
and gray hair.

“What
do you want?” he said when I approached.

I
showed him the call letters I was looking for. His eyes were frighteningly
black, the blackest I had ever seen. This could have been because of his age.

“Follow
me,” he said. “And don’t make a sound.”

I
followed him past thousands of musty books, through thick cobwebs, down long
cavernous hallways and up steep staircases. Eventually we came to a vast maze
of bookshelves on the third floor. After winding and turning multiple more
times, the librarian stopped and searched through the dusty books on the shelf
now facing us. He pulled out a thin volume.

“Here's
your book.
 
Learn how to use the
call system in future. You’re wasting my time.”

He
walked away in disgust. Gosh, what an ass, I told myself.

The
book was titled
Planets of the Vampirian
Solar System
. I flipped through the first few pages, passing pictures of
Garlic Moon and the three suns, as well as other curious planets. After that,
the rest of the book was filled mostly with words. I couldn't see how there
could be any important secret hidden within this mess. Had I fallen for one
awful joke?

Then
I heard something move on the other side of the bookshelf. I also felt like I
was being watched, even though it was impossible to see through the mass of
books.

I'd
had enough of this foolish game; it was time to put it to bed. But as I reached
up to place the book back on the shelf, a folded sheet of paper dropped out. A
solid blue circle in the middle occupied most of the page. I had no idea what
this was meant to be, but the hand written message below certainly caught my
eye.

'Very
good, Janice. This is your first clue to one of three major secrets that will
reveal the most important truth of your life. Keep this paper on you at all
times. The first clue has three secrets of its own. You’ve already found one.
The second clue to the first secret is located in Bitemore Cemetery, behind
Dracula’s gravesite. Good luck. And remember, don't say a word to anyone about
this.'

Excited,
I stuffed the paper in my pocket. As I did, I heard footsteps coming my way. It
was time to get outta here.

I
hurried through the maze of giant bookshelves, retracing the route I'd taken
with the librarian. A book clattered to the floor behind me and I twirled
around. There was nobody there, yet some keen vampire sixth sense told me to
stay on my guard.

I
turned back the way I'd been going and immediately came face-to-face with my
dreaded stalker. He was dressed all in black and blended in perfectly with the
gloomy surroundings.

This
time he didn’t say anything and went straight on the attack, seizing my arms in
an attempt to pull me toward him. But I broke free of his grasp and managed to
back up. At the same time, I reached up to my neck and pulled free the flask of
grains and seeds Mr. FreeCut had given to me. When the stalker came at me again
I threw the seeds right in his face. They did the job brilliantly. He screamed
in agony and fell to the floor.

“I
ain’t scared of you anymore, blood dick,” I shouted as he moaned and rolled
around. “You better leave me the hell alone.”

I
found my way out of the stale library as quickly as possible.

Once
outside, I felt like a new person, almost as if I had grown from a little girl
to a woman. I had stood up to my fears and won. If I could fight off a freak
stalker, then I could surely find a job and hold it, despite my accident.

I
made my way over to Vampire Supermarket, my enthusiasm building when I eyed the
fashionable clothes they had on display in their window.

Once
inside however, I started to grow anxious, knowing that my vampire fashion
sense was rather whacky. They might think I was a freak before I’d even got the
application in my hands. Nevertheless, I asked one of the cashiers for a form
and she passed it to me without any obvious show of disdain.

At
least I knew my name, address and phone number this time, all of which I filled
out pretty quickly. Then I came to job experience. What the hell was I going to
put? Probably a lie. I still didn’t remember a thing about what I did before
the accident.

I
scanned the rest of the application. At the bottom it read:
'Disabilities
and impairments: (Vampire Supermarket does not discriminate based on vampire
impairments).'

I
decided to write the truth, even if it cost me the job. In one short sentence I
described the accident and my memory loss. Leaving the job experience section
blank, I turned the application into the cashier.

She
smiled at me. “Mrs. FangCut is conducting on the spot interviews right now.
Would you be interested in doing one?”

I
said yes without thinking, but then muttered a curse as I watched the cashier
take my application over to the boss's office. I'd blown it. I'd just blown my
chance of a dream job. My clothes, hair and granny shoes were terrible for an
interview, especially an interview for a job in fashion. I was going to screw
up big time on this. I just knew it.

The
cashier returned. “She’ll take you right now, Janice. Follow me.”

Oh
well, it looked like I'd just have to wing it.

I
entered the boss’s office. A rosy-colored desk littered with statues of fangs
and skulls was in front of me.

“Have
a seat,” Mrs FangCut said.

She
was beautiful, with pale skin and long hair that was fixed in a very impressive
vampire style. Her red dress sparkled wondrously.

She
took forever to check out my application. Damn! It was going to be a no. That
was looking even more certain now.

Then
she peered at me. “So tell me, Janice, why do you want to work in the fashion
industry? More specifically, why do you want to work at Vampire Supermarket,
which is one of the largest fashion merchandisers in all of Vampire World?”

I
was speechless. But I wasn’t dumb enough to stay that way for very long. If I wanted
a chance at this job, I’d better do some fast talking.

“Ever
since I walked into this place, I’ve been amazed by it,” I began. “I love
clothes, and I want to work in fashion more than anything. I also want to help
others find the clothes they love.”

Mrs.
FangCut grinned. “Hmm. That’s an impressive answer. Don’t be offended, but I
didn’t expect that from you.”

I
wasn’t offended. I just wanted
a job
.

“I
read about your accident and know you’ve been through a lot,” she said kindly.
“Thank you for being so honest about your memory loss.”

Yes!
I was getting the sympathy vote. And I poured it on further by telling Mrs.
FangCut about the loss of both my parents in the crash.

“You
stay strong and keep your head up,” she said. “There’s something really special
about you. You’re unique. If I hire you, I promise I will give you all the
support and respect you need to succeed at your job, even if you don’t remember
anything about working in the fashion industry before.”

I
knew right away that she'd inferred from my cheap clothes that I was poor. Then
again, that was more sympathy points. Hell ya!

She
didn’t offer me the job right away. She said she’ll call and let me know.

After
a long day, I headed back home just as the three suns were setting in the south
sky and Garlic Moon was glowing brightly over the horizon. How beautiful!

The
next day, my mind was cluttered with thoughts about my new friends, possible
job prospects, and those extraordinary secrets I was meant to collect. But most
of all I was thinking about the upcoming party, and that had a lot to do with
Brett.

Mr.
FreeCut was off work for the day, which was great. I'd really missed him
lately. I told him about all the good things that had been going on, and how I
toughened up against my stalker.

“I
told you things would turn around,” he said. “Just continue being strong and
think positive. You’ll enjoy vampire life.”

I
didn’t tell him about the secret. But I did ask him a question that was bugging
me.

“Who
was Dracula?”

Mr.
FreeCut seemed surprised. “Dracula? How did you know about him? Have you been
studying up on some history behind my back?”

“I’m
just curious.”

He
gave a small laugh. “Many years ago, Dracula was president of Vampire World.
He’s considered to be the greatest president in our history because he helped
to overthrow a dictator and establish a democratic government.”

“How
did he die?”

“Well,
that’s a big mystery. He disappeared. His body was never recovered. It’s
believed that he was kidnapped and killed by some very jealous and evil
vampires from BloodFall, which is a country that borders Vampire World.”

“Really?
So they built a grave without a body?”

“Yes.
Dracula deserves lots of credit for what he did. We have so much freedom in our
land compared to other places. Whether his body is there or not, it doesn’t
really matter. It's what he did that counts.”

I
wondered why my secret messenger had decided to choose the gravesite of such an
important vampire. I also wondered briefly about how Dracula had died, even
though I had more important things to think about.

Like
an exhilarating party that night.

And
a very steamy Brett.