Vampire World (25 page)
Infuriated,
Brett crumpled the note. “Damn! Just when I thought things couldn’t get any
worse, they do.”
“Rob did this,” I said. “He
stole your car.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he’s still jealous
of me dating you.”
“But how does he know we’re
back together?”
I told him I didn’t know. I
really should have told him the truth. I was close.
“I have a bad feeling about
this,” I warned Brett. “I know you want your car back, but it may be a trap.”
“I don’t care,” he replied.
“I ain’t gonna let some ass steal my car and get away with it. If you don’t
want to come, I’ll go alone.”
I assured Brett I was going
with him, just as long as we stopped off at my secret armory first. He seemed
intrigued. On the train over there I explained how I'd been guided to the cache
by my messenger.
When we arrived at the
abandoned storage facility, Brett eyed the plethora of weapons and licked his
pastel lips.
“Nice,” he said, clutching a
belt and fastening five stakes to it. He then put the belt on and hid it under
his shirt. While he was doing this, I equipped myself with a bottle of garlic
and a few potent bottles of seeds and grains. I experienced some pain from the
garlic, but knowing I may have to use this very soon, I was strong enough to
resist it. Finally, I stuffed a few tubes of Bloodstop ointment in my pocket,
just in case.
Before long we were back on
the train heading for the park.
“Do you think it was your
stranger who put those weapons there?” Brett asked. “I wonder how he found them
all.”
I told Brett about the group
of men that rescued me in Bloodwood Forest, specifically mentioning Martin and
my hunch that he and the secret messenger may be the same person. I was
determined to unravel this mystery when I saw Martin again. I couldn’t wait to
rip his mask off and see his real face.
We arrived on the surface
very close to Bloodbirth Park. After a short walk down a dark road, we came to
a field surrounded by a grove of sparkling trees that reached over to form a
magnificent dome. In the middle of the field was Brett’s car. Rob was sat on
its hood.
Brett lunged forward.
“Wait!” I said.
We approached Rob. He
appeared to be alone.
“Well, glad you two lovers
could make it,” he said. “You know, Janice, I had some fun with you when we
went into the closet. God, you were great.”
Hearing Rob’s nonsense, Brett
growled with anger.
“Too bad you had to leave me
the way you did,” Rob continued, now very pissed off.
Maybe it was rude the way I'd
run out on him. But it felt great.
“Shut your fangs and leave my
girlfriend alone,” Brett snarled. “I want my car back, now!”
It was then I realized that
Rob wasn't alone. Around a dozen burly vampires branded with nauseating tattoos
all over their bodies appeared out of nowhere. They stood behind Rob with
clenched fists.
“Remember how I challenged
you to a fun game, but you wimped out like a bloodsucking whore?” Rob jeered to
Brett. “You know, first person who draws blood wins? Well, if you want your
ride back, you’re gonna have to play me now.”
“And what if I don’t want
to?” Brett snapped.
“Well, looks like you’ll be
taking the train for a long time. That is, if you’re still alive.”
“Stop it, Rob!” I yelled.
“Just stay out of this,
whore,” Rob retorted. “It looks like your boyfriend is gonna have to play this
time. If he doesn't, we’ll all make sure he not only loses his car, but his
legs as well.” He gave a nasty laugh. “I’d love to see him wheeling himself
around with a tube stuck in his throat feeding him tainted blood for the rest
of his life.”
Brett edged forward, his fists
raised. I was scared for him and wished he would just run the other way. But
Rob’s mega henchmen had already formed a circle around the two of them. Many of
the thugs had the emblem of TriFang on their foreheads. Damn!
“Well, glad you’re ready to
play,” Rob said. “Didn’t think you had the vampire balls.” He turned to one of
his cronies. “Harry, count to three for me. Get ready. On three.”
Harry counted quickly to
three and the game began. But as I watched Brett and Rob ripping into each
other like animals trying to draw blood, I realized this was no game.
Brett scored the first hit,
popping Rob hard in the chest, though this did not draw any blood. Then Rob
heaved a wild roundhouse but missed completely and stumbled to the ground. What
a pathetic wimp.
With grass on his lips and in
his mouth, a now furious Rob got back up and started swinging.
I spotted something in his right fist,
glowing under the light of Garlic Moon. Then I saw it more clearly. Oh no…it was
a small blade….
There was no time to warn
Brett before he was punched on the arm. The sharp blade cut deep, instantly
drawing blood. Flabbergasted, Brett gazed at the wound. Then he peered into
Rob’s flaming eyes.
“You cheated,” he said. “You
lousy, bloodsucking cheater!”
Rob laughed like a devil.
“Well, I never said I was going to be fair. Besides, why would I want to play
straight with a bloodsucking douche like you? What the hell does your
girlfriend see in you anyway?”
Brett was slugged again, this
time in the face. To my horror, a nasty gash appeared above his left eye.
“NO!” I screamed.
On a nod from Rob, two of his
pals seized hold of Brett, keeping him helpless while Rob continued to bang in
punch after punch. Brett had zero chance to defend himself. Terror gripped me.
Rob was going to kill him. He was going to kill my baby!
I grabbed two of the stakes
from my belt and ran to help Brett. But before I could get close, I was latched
onto by two members of Rob's back-up team and pinned firmly on the ground. I
tried to struggle free, even though the smelly brutes were three times my size.
The moans and cries coming
from my helpless boyfriend sent renewed vampire adrenaline surging through me.
Somehow I managed to twist one hand free. Without hesitation, I thrust the
stake hard into the thigh of one thug. Blood spurted out of his leg like a
fountain. He collapsed in a heap, unable to move.
Such was the surprise of my
attack, I was able to wriggle free from the other thug's grip. But then he hit
me with a closed fist and I slammed back down onto the ground, dropping my
second stake as I fell. Though I was hurt, I wasn’t gonna let this vampire
chauvinist get the better of me. Sticking out his pierced tongue, he came
closer. But I quickly snatched a flask of seeds and grains from around my neck
and threw them into his face. He screamed and pulled back, his hands over his
eyes like they were saturated with acid.
Another chump came after me,
hammering me hard in the gut. But before he could do any more damage, I grabbed
up the stake lying on the ground. As he took another brutal swing at me, I
thrust it directly into his heart. After letting out a wail of agony, his body
literally disintegrated before my eyes and turned to dust.
Hastily, I pulled more stakes
from my belt in an effort to protect myself. But too many vampires were now
coming after me. I was knocked to the ground once again. I caught one last
glimpse of Brett lying in a pool of blood and his car blazing in the
background. It looked like both of our lives were over. Especially now I could
see Rob standing over me, a vicious snarl on his face.
Held firmly by his minions, I
tried to spit up into Rob’s face but missed. In response, he produced some kind
of miniature saw blade attached to a handle. It spun rapidly as he lowered it
toward my neck.
“Go ahead, scum!” I screamed.
“Cut my head off!”
I was scared as hell, but I
wasn’t gonna show it to this heartless jerk. I spat again, and this time a glob
of green mucous hit Rob right in the eyes. Infuriated, he lowered the blade to
less than an inch away from my throat. But I still didn’t stop spitting.
Then, just when I thought I
was going to die, he drew back the blade.
“You know, I’ve just had a
better idea,” he said, grinning evilly. “I'd rather keep you alive so you can
see your boyfriend bleed to death. I mean, life is funny. Sometimes dying
doesn’t cause the most suffering. Living does.”
He moved away, telling his
boys to follow him. A getaway cloud of dust and smoke then engulfed them
all.
I was free. They were gone.
With the smoke
still clearing I ran over to Brett, who was lying on the ground almost drowning
in a pool of his own blood. Miraculously, he was still breathing, though there
were cuts all over his face and body. The slash on his forehead was gushing
like hell and clearly needed attention first. With one hand I applied the
Bloodstop ointment to this, while with the other I called for an ambulance.
“It’s going to be alright!” I
said, rubbing the blood out of his eyes. They looked beautiful, in spite the
severe bruising all around. Meanwhile, the ointment had already worked and
stopped the bleeding on his face by causing a temporary though very effective
clotting.
“Stay alive for me, baby!” I
cried while ripping off his clothes to discover where the rest of the cuts
were. Wasting no time, I rubbed the ointment on a nasty cut to his belly, then
on several to his thighs and one on his calf.
Even after all this he was
still bleeding. Mustering every bit of strength I had left, I turned him over
and spotted another gaping wound on his back. He moaned as I applied more
ointment. Just then, the ambulance appeared.
The paramedics
lifted him over to the ambulance. I didn’t know if I'd done enough to save him.
I could only weep and hope for the best.
Once inside the foul smelling
ambulance, tubes of emergency blood were attached to Brett. I wanted to ask
someone if he was going to be alright, but I was too scared.
At the hospital, they would
not allow me to go past a certain area of the emergency room. All I could do
now was sit there and pray for good news. A vision of the doctors carrying
Brett’s inert body into the treatment room kept flashing through my mind. If I
lost him, I didn’t know what I would do.
The hospital was dark, filthy
and very cold. I hated this place.
As the degrees dragged by, so
my fears for Brett increased. I asked a busty nurse if he was okay. She showed
me her fangs and brusquely replied that she didn’t know.
Despair was chewing away at
my nerves. I couldn’t take this any more. I jumped up in front of the bitch
nurse and demanded that she tell me how my boyfriend was doing. She scowled and
popped out her bloody fangs again.
Then, incredibly, she had a
change of heart. Maybe she felt sorry for me after all? Whatever it was, she
smiled. “I’ll be right back,” she said.
Hmmm. A little while later
she returned. “Your boyfriend is on his way to full recovery,” she told me.
“You’re….”
I dashed past her, almost
knocking her to the floor, and rushed into the treatment room.
Brett was lying on a bed with
blood tubes connected to his head, chest, back and thighs. The life-saving
blood flowed through the tubes into his body, just like it had done with me
after my fall into Slice Canyon. Emerald tears flooded my eyes when he smiled
at me.
“He’s going to make it,” the
doctor said. “It was close though. Thanks to the ointment you applied, we were
able to give him enough blood to allow him to make a full recovery. He should
be back to normal in about a hundred degrees, but I’d like to keep him in here
overnight anyway. I want to make sure his deep cuts heal properly.”
I gazed into Brett’s
improving eyes. “I love you,” I said.
Thankfully, he was now able
to say the same thing to me.
While sitting beside his bed
I once again marveled at how new blood could heal old wounds. Brett was looking
better and better with each passing degree. Now lacking any discernible cuts
and bruises, he was reclaiming the radiant glow that made his ivory skin
glisten so brightly. He also had enough energy to thank me over and over for
saving his life. Having him alive and well was truly paradise in Vampire World.
“But where am I going to go?”
he asked, a melancholy mood coming over him.
I'd almost forgotten. Brett
couldn’t go home. He no longer had anyone to take care of him. Except for me.
“Everything is going to be
alright,” I said. “Mr. FreeCut will let you stay with us.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
To be honest, I wasn't one
hundred percent sure. But I did know that Mr FreeCut was a kind person who
would want to help a vampire in need. And Brett wasn't just anyone, but someone
who was so very important to me.
I hated leaving Brett, but
really I needed to go ask Mr. FreeCut if his staying with us was okay. If not,
I’d have to sneak him into my room and coffin without my guardian knowing.
Either way, Brett was going to stay with me, safe and sound.
However, after thinking
further about things, I became a little more uneasy about the situation. By
bringing Brett into his house, in a way I was putting Mr. FreeCut in danger.
But I had to do it. If TriFang knew Brett was still alive, he’d be killed
instantly.
At home, Mr. FreeCut fixed me
raw death fish soaked in blood. As I ate them and licked the blood off my lips,
I decided I could no longer hide any information from him. For the next thirty
degrees I told my caretaker everything that had been happening to me. I talked
about TriFang, my secret messenger, and most importantly, how Brett's parents
had disowned him because he wouldn’t fall in love with a rich vampire that
TriFang tried to bribe him with.
Mr. FreeCut seemed surprised
but calm. “You know, I always thought Senator BloodHunt was hiding something
from me. Now it all makes sense. I think him and I are going to need a serious
talk.”
He gobbled up his scaly fish,
then peered at me and grinned. “I want you to be happy, Janice. Your boyfriend
can stay here.”
I thanked him and gave him a
hug.
“But there is one condition,”
he said. “Since you haven’t been through a Separation Ceremony together, I must
ask that you sleep in different rooms.”
I said that was fine, even
though I would have loved feeling Brett’s warm and cold body next to me in the
coffin.
We talked and joked like best
friends for a while longer. Then it was time to get ready for a difficult day
at work; my managerial training tasks at Vampire Supermarket were becoming ever
more challenging each day.
I checked myself out in the
bedroom mirror before leaving the house. I looked good in my black uniform. At
the same time I thought about Brett, hoping he was safe in the hospital. Guilt
plagued me for not being with him. But I had to work.
When I arrived, Mira appeared
depressed.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“You don’t want to know,” she
said.
Shortly after I ran into
Susan. “Mrs. FangCut needs to see you in her office, right now,” she said. Her
tone was unusually stern. Something was not right.
I entered the office and
twirled my thumbs in confusion.
Mrs. FangCut was sat behind
her desk, “Sit down, Janice,” she said.
As I took a seat, I could
immediately tell that she was very upset about something. There was a disturbed
look in her perfect eyes, and her skin did not seem to shimmer with the same
intensity it usually did.
“I hate to be the person to
do this,” she began. “But the situation is out of my control. Even though
you’re a great worker with a kind spirit and a larger than life positive
attitude, unfortunately, as of today, you’re no longer needed for work at
Vampire Supermarket.”
Stunned, I was unable to say
a word at first. But as I thought about it, just like when I saw Brett get
disowned by his parents, it all made sense.
“Why?” I asked sternly.
“I can’t discuss that,” she
said.
I stood up and got into her
face. “Yes you can. But you choose not to out of fear.”
She stiffened. “What are you
talking about?”
“You know what I’m saying.
Some people forced you to fire me, or else they would do something bad to you.”
She took a deep breath. “I
had no choice.”
My now ex-boss hit me with a
nasty glare. “You made the wrong choice, Janice. Shame on you. All you had to
do was ignore them, but you chose to get involved.”
“And I'll keep getting
involved,” I replied.
Mrs. FangCut slammed her fist
against her desk, revealing a temper that I’d never seen from her before. I was
intimidated. “How could you be so stupid?” she yelled. “You’re such an
intelligent and beautiful vampire, yet you act like this. Get some common sense
into that head of yours, young lady. If you learn to mind your own business,
maybe you can come back to work here some time in the future.”
I stood my ground. “I will
not give into them the same way you’re doing.”
“Then get out of my office,”
she shouted.
I
tried to hold back my tears while leaving. But on reaching the door, I turned
around. “I once looked up to you,” I said. “I thought you were the best boss in
the world. Turns out you’re not. The only thing you are is a coward.”
I stormed out of her office.
As much as I loved Vampire Supermarket, all I wanted to do right now was get
the hell away from there as fast as possible.
Mira caught up with me and
asked what was wrong. I told her that I was fired, but I didn’t say any more
than that. I was in no mood for a long conversation.