Vampire World (22 page)

   
“So you got a promotion,” he
began.

   
Well, maybe I wasn't as smart
as I thought.

   
Upbeat, I told him
everything, especially how much I loved my job and how I couldn’t wait to
advance.

   
He congratulated me. “Finding
a career that you love is one of the most rewarding things a vampire can
experience. Intelligence, willpower and patience are all qualities that you
possess, and they will lead you to success, Janice. In other words, you will
lead yourself to success. Your future is entirely in your own hands.”

   
He comforted me with his
words of wisdom.

   
After talking for quite some
time without once referring to Brett, he headed toward the door. I didn’t want
him to leave.

   
“Janice,” he said, pausing and
turning around. “I know about the break-up, so I understand it’s probably a
very tough time for you.”

   
Oh my gosh! I'd been right
all along.

WAITING
& WEAPONS

“Did Brett tell
you?” I said, upset.

   
“He told me everything. He
also told me why you broke up.”

   
I gasped. Mr. FreeCut wasn’t
supposed to know about that. Damn it, why had he said anything?

   
“Naturally, you’re old enough
to make your own decisions,” Mr. FreeCut said. “You don’t need another vampire
to make you happy. All you need is yourself.”

   
I should have known Brett had
a big ass mouth when I wasn't with him.

   
“At the same time, you know
very well I love you,” he continued. “And that I want you to stay around. So do
me a favor. Listen to yourself. Listen to me. Listen to wisdom. Stay alive. Stay
safe. Do all these things, because I want you to be around for a long time.”

   
An unexpected rush of emotion
came over me. “I promise,” I said. I gave him a very long hug. Without Mr.
FreeCut, I’d be a nobody. I had to stay around. For him.

   
I went to work feeling like a
brand new vampire and spent my last day as a regular sales associate zooming up
and down the ladders and handing out tons of clothes to energetic customers.
Brett occasionally popped in my mind. So did Mr. FreeCut.
 
But most of all I thought about my
secret messenger.

   
At times I cursed him,
wishing he would just go away and leave me alone. My life would be so easy
then. I could get back with Brett. I could also make Mr. FreeCut feel better
about me and not have to worry. Damn. But then again, Mr. FreeCut had never
actually said I should stop following the quest to find myself. In fact, he
wanted me to be safe and alive. And what if not finding out about myself could
put me in more danger than discovering the secret? I'd never thought of it that
way before.

   
After work, Kate and Marsha
asked me to go grab a bloodburger with them. They already knew about the
break-up, though I didn’t know how. It seemed like the whole world knew.

   
I met them on the overlooking
deck. Surprisingly, Michael turned up too. His needy eyes never left my face,
like he was in love with me.

   
“Sorry about what happened,”
Kate said.

   
“I’m just shocked,” added
Marsha. “You seemed inseparable.”

   
Both Kate and Michael frowned
on Marsha for not trying to make me feel better. But I wasn't offended. Brett
and I had been the perfect couple. Everything she said was true.

   
“Don’t take this the wrong
way, Janice,” Michael said, “but sometimes when crap happens it opens new doors
you couldn’t even dream of. You’re an intelligent, amazing and beautiful
vampire. You’ll find a new love very soon.”

   
I thanked him for the
compliment, though I didn’t feel it really was one. In truth, it was a flirt.
And I was not ready for that.

   
Michael did not remind me of
Brett one bit. If he had, that would have been a problem. Certainly the flashy
dragon tattoo covering half his body and the snake tat around his neck were
both visually stunning, as were his expensive clothes laced with the finest 3-D
images of jagged vampire weapons and grotesque beating hearts. His necklace of
rubies set the night on fire, while his fancy earrings and piercings gave him a
glow that was almost irresistible. He was handsome too, with nice eyes and
smooth hair. And he was rich. But with all of these things going for him, he
was still no Brett. Absolutely no Brett.

   
Michael continued to pound me
with the flirtation crap and I wished he would go away. I just wanted an
evening with the girls, dammit.

   
After a delicious meal, Kate
and I said goodbye to the others and headed for the train. But Michael followed
us.

   
“Hey Janice, want to come
over to my house for dinner?” he asked. “You probably need something to take
your mind off of you-know-who.”

   
“No thanks,” I replied,
wishing I was on the train and far away from this aggravating fluke.

   
“You remember my house,
right?”

   
Oh. What the hell was that
supposed to mean? Just because he lived in a freakin mansion, that did not make
me want to go out with him. I could have said something mean. But I stopped
myself and settled for a polite brush-off

   
“Well, it’s getting late.
Goodbye Michael.”

   
Without waiting to find out
what his response might be, I quickly headed underground for the train. All I
cared about was getting another respectable fireball practice in, which was
exactly where our train was heading.

   
“I know Michael may come off
as a conceited ass,” Kate said. “But he’s actually a pretty good guy. He might
be a good catch one day. You never know.”

   
She giggled. I wanted to tell
her over my dead body. But I kept my mouth shut. Hmmm. Maybe I was being too
nice. Maybe I needed to be more of a vamp bitch. I wasn't sure.

   
We made it to the recreation
center and down to the third level. During this practice we both took
particularly hard beatings, dropping and falling on our bosoms a bunch of
times. The squares rose and fell with such ferocity that I had particular
trouble keeping my footing. It was both daunting and frustrating. The
holographic beasts, this time consisting of one-eyed snakes with gaping fangs,
caused me to tumble to the ground a number of times as well. Though the
creatures might not have been capable of actually injuring me or anyone else,
the falls most certainly did.

   
“I don’t know how much longer
I can take this,” a heavily bruised Kate told me. Though I was equally battered
and blue, I helped her up off the unforgiving floor.

   
“Do you want to win ten
thousand Carns?” I encouraged. “Don’t give up girl! Push yourself.”

   
Though the session was rough,
I was getting better by mastering the monsters' attack patterns, and by
learning how to keep my feet firmly planted on a moving platform while slamming
the ball into the opponent’s square.

   
I only won three rounds that
evening. It was going to take many degrees of sweat and pain, but I was set on
becoming an expert. I wished I could say the same for Kate. She looked defeated
not only physically, but mentally.

   
Later that night I studied
thirty pages of my store manager book before deciding to crash in my coffin.
Tomorrow was going to be a rough day, especially since I would be officially
starting as an assistant manager. I had no idea who would train me, but I
needed to be ready if I was going to do my very best.

   
I wanted to erase all
memories of Brett, but I just couldn’t. I was honestly happy with my freedom
and new outlook on life, but as I lay in my coffin staring at the obscure
ceiling of my diminutive room, I pictured his beautiful face and incredible
body. It would have been so nice to have him in the coffin beside me. But he
was gone now. I had to face that fact. I concentrated hard instead on all the
good things I had going for me.

   
Just as I was about to close
my eyes, I saw an odd flash outside of my window. I got up and looked out. My
secret masked messenger was gawking right at me, with only the thin pane of glass
separating us. He pointed to something.

   
His dark mask no longer
intimated me, but I was definitely intrigued. I rushed outside, hoping he would
talk to me.

   
As expected, he was gone. I
wondered why he didn’t have the courage to chat with me. I had thought about
the messenger and Martin possibly being the same person, but that was only my
gut reaction. There was a slight similarity between Martin's voice and the one
I heard on my orb, but not enough to make a definite identification. I would
have loved to know for sure.

   
I picked up the letter and
read.

   
'Janice, I’m so glad you
have made the correct decision to follow me. Soon you’ll discover a shocking
yet glorious realization about yourself. In the meantime, you need to be
careful. The organization may know of your whereabouts, so you need to use
everything at your disposal for protection. I will direct you to a secret
weapon cache. Get on the train as soon as possible. Have the orb with you. This
is the way we will communicate until I tell you otherwise. Be careful and watch
your back.'

   
As usual, I snuck out the
house and made my way to the train.

   
By listening to the orb, I
was directed to a gritty part of town filled with abandoned warehouses and
rotting buildings. Though I was in the middle of a bustling city, it was dead
quiet. And with Garlic Moon shrouded by a suffocating deck of olive clouds, it
was very dark too. Grabbing the seeds and grains from my neck, I kept a careful
eye on my surroundings just in case someone decided to jump out at me. Even my
own shadow caused me to flinch as I continued listening to my directions.

   
“It’s a little further. Look
for a large jade warehouse.”

   
Soon I saw the ugly building;
it was huge.

   
“You’ll come to a red door.
Next to it is a picture combination lock. You need to line up a blue skull, an
orange beating heart, and a crimson blade to gain entry. Make sure no one is
watching you.”

   
Like a slot machine, I lined
up the combination. The door unlocked and I went inside.

   
The windowless place creeped
me out. Dimly lit by just one small ceiling light, it reeked of death, which
was actually quite a tempting aroma since I was a vampire. However, there was
no blood to be found. My orb vibrated.

   
“Very good, Janice. Keep
walking forward. You’ll find the weapons soon.”

   
I felt as though eyes were on
me; a chill slid down my back.

   
I spotted the weapons. At
least thirty shiny stakes rested in stand-up cases on the floor, many of them
longer than those I had on my belt and bearing impressive gold tips. Alongside
the stakes lay flasks of seeds and grains in a variety of different colors and
textures, more than enough to stop any threatening vampire. There were also
flasks of a yellow substance that I didn’t recognize. I picked one of these up.

   
Instantly, I felt a throbbing
pain in my head, so bad that I was forced to put the flask down again. Once I
did, I immediately felt better and was able to inspect the remaining weapons
scattered about on the dusty floor. There were more flasks, these this time
containing a clear liquid. Close by was a long tubular contraption with a
trigger at the bottom. I guessed this was some kind of gun. Completing the
armory were sharp blades of all shapes and sizes together with some vampire
stars. My orb buzzed again.

   
“Janice, you are allowed to
use these weapons any time you need them. You already know about the stakes,
and how if you aim for the heart they will kill a vampire. You also know what
the seeds and grains will do, so you can use them for both attack and defense.
In the yellow bottles is garlic. Exposure to garlic will eat away a vampire's
skin and eventually kill him, especially if it is ingested or breathed. The
clear bottles are full of holy water. This instantly burns through a vampire
and is fatal.
 
Do not open either
the garlic or the holy water bottles unless you absolutely need them. If you
wish, you can load them in your gun for a safe, distance attack. The same goes
for the stakes, also the seeds and grains.”

   
Ah, so the yellow stuff was
garlic. My secret messenger was correct about avoiding exposure to it. I got a
pounding headache just by picking up the bottle.

   
“Janice, now is a good time
to learn how to use the distance attacker. Walk forward and you’ll see a
target.”

   
I followed his instructions
and nearly screamed when I spotted a vampire beaming at me. But I quickly
calmed down when I realized it was just a dummy with a target smack dab in the
middle of its chest. The bull’s-eye was positioned over the heart.

   
“Pick up the
distance-attacker, Janice. Pull back the top, load a stake into it, then use
the trigger at the bottom to fire. Trust me, you won’t be a pro on the first
round. It’s going to take you many degrees to get good. Remember, bottles can
also be placed in the front compartment of the barrel. But use empty ones to
practice your long range attacks. You never know when a full bottle may save
your life. Good luck.”