Vampire World (3 page)

Suddenly,
I lost all fear. “Where are my parents?” I called out after her.

She
turned around. “They are DEAD.”

My
pale face grew even whiter. Deep down, I'd already known the truth. But just
hearing her confirm my fears made it even harder to accept.

“I’m
your mama now, Janice," Ms. Bitemore told me. "So you better change
your ways fast. Otherwise, I’m gonna go on punishing you for a long, long
time.”

THE PIT

The
witch walked away.

I
tried to think about my parents, but I couldn’t remember a damn thing about
them. The accident must have really messed me up.

A
muffled cry of distress reached me; it was coming from behind the wall to my
right. I put my ear up against it in an effort to hear better. As the screams
and moans continued, I thought it sounded like a young boy, but there was no
door leading into whatever horrible place he was trapped in.

At
lunch I sat with Sally and Jennifer and had a decent conversation.

“So,
are you saying you don’t even feel like a vampire?” Sally asked. “Wow, you must
have bumped your head real bad.”

I
agreed with her, then gawked at my food. Bloodballs and noodles - some sort of
meat in the shape of a ball and snake-like noodles, both absolutely swimming in
blood. As before, the food repulsed me at first, but then I became mysteriously
drawn to it. I took one of the balls and nibbled a little. The blood trickled
down my throat and felt pretty good. After that I swallowed the rest of the
ball whole, and ate another two.

Sally
smiled. “You go, girl!”

On
a run now, I downed my entire cup of blood in one. Energy and power surged
through my body.

Jennifer
looked on, also smiling. “Now you’re feeling it!” she exclaimed. “That’s what
blood will do for a vampire.”

“Yeah,
you’re gonna need it,” Sally added. “After lunch we’re having a standoff.”

“What’s
a standoff?” I asked.

“It’s
when vampires interested in adopting an orphan come to check us out. We all
stand behind these bars and the vamps look at us. If they see someone they
like, they take them. It gets pretty crazy.”

“You've
got an advantage,” Jennifer told me. “You’re tall. And you’re pretty.”

I
felt better, knowing that I at least had a chance of getting the hell out of
here.

With
more blood entering my body than ever before, I felt incredible, like I was on
top of the world. There was an extreme energy in my legs that almost demanded
to be used somehow.

Momentarily
losing control, I leapt up perhaps three or four feet into the air and landed
on top of the table alongside mine – a table filled with vampires busy
stuffing bloody meatballs into their mouths. Though I didn’t actually step on
anyone’s food or blood, I was blasted with laughter and taunts. I quickly got
off the table, apologizing to everyone as I did so.

Before
I had a chance to sit back down, I found myself staring at Alexis. “You freak,”
she said. “You’re a damn freak of nature.”

“What
did I ever do to you?” I fired back, surprised that I had the guts to respond.
I guess my blood high certainly helped.

Her
midnight eyes grew round as quarters. “Get away from me,” she growled.

Worried
that Bitemore would come and find me, I backed off.

An
alarm sounded.

Instantly,
there was a mad scramble. I followed Jennifer and Sally and the rest of the
herd of screaming vampires toward a pair of double doors. Panting, we burst
into a huge room where I immediately saw the bars Sally had been talking about.
They stretched from the floor all the way up to the lofty ceiling, completely
segregating us from the small bunch of people on the other side. Their eyes
were scrutinizing us, trying to scope out who they might want to take home.

The
situation quickly became quite violent. The other vampire children, especially
those closest to the bars, jostled and pushed as the competition to show off
intensified. Several boys ganged together to slam another boy into the ground,
while a separate pack of wild kids literally trampled over two others who had
briefly managed to claim front row spots.

A
non-stop barrage of desperate pleas such as
“Pick me! - Pick me!”
and
“Please,
get me out of here!”
relentlessly assaulted the five adults carefully
checking us out. As the deafening cries continued, I found myself having to
jump about in order to avoid bumping into other frantic orphans and possibly
getting gored by their gnashing fangs.

Fortunately,
like Jennifer said, my height and looks helped me to stand out. I noticed an older
dude eyeing me closely. He continued to appear interested when I tried to make
my way closer to the bars, though this wasn't easy as my path was being blocked
by a group of boys fighting. But the dude kept looking at me, all the same.
Could this be the guy that got me out of this hell hole, I wondered? Or maybe
he simply thought I was hot?

I
was just getting closer when someone was pushed violently into me. I hit the
floor hard and lost sight of my admirer. I tried to get up, but couldn’t
because my back was hurting so much.

I
saw Jennifer's hand reaching down to me and gratefully grabbed hold of it. Once
back on my feet I thanked her and quickly looked for the man who'd been
watching me.

 
With a huge sense of disappointment, I
saw that he was gone.

Another
alarm sounded. Amid loud groans of disappointment, the crowd slowly filtered
back through the double doors, leaving behind several wounded and beaten up
vampires on the floor. Medical folks came in to help them, but to everyone else
it seemed like no big deal. It was becoming clear that, with the exception of
Jennifer and Sally, nobody gave a hoot about others around here.

“Looks
like no one got picked today,” Jennifer said. “People are gonna be upset.”

As
we moved back into the dining hall, somebody pointed a finger at me. It was a
very whiny Alexis.

“She
did it!”

Others
started peering at me like I was the devil. It didn’t take very long to figure
out what was causing the problem.

“Is
this your work?” Bitemore yelled at me.

Spray
painted all over the walls and doors of the cafeteria was the very visible and
blunt message: “F U Ms. Bitemore.”

I
instantly knew who was responsible for this. I pointed at my giggling accuser.

“I
didn’t do it!” I shouted. “Alexis did. She set me up.”

This
only infuriated Bitemore further.

“Quit
lying, you little twerp,” she snapped. “I know it was you. You’ve hated me ever
since you got here.”

“I
swear it wasn’t me.”

Bitemore
showed her fangs. “We have evidence against you.” She held up a yellow spray
paint can. “We found THIS under your bed.”

“No!”
I cried. “I didn’t put it there. Alexis must have done.”

I
wanted to lunge at Bitemore’s ugly face. But before I got that chance, Sally
pounced on top of Alexis and pushed her hard into a table. Several of
Bitemore’s guards rushed over, grabbing Sally and holding her down. Bitemore
seized hold of my shoulders, once again gouging me with her nails. I tried to
move, but this only served to double the pain.

“Both
of you will be put into the dark room for an entire week,” she snarled.

With
that, Bitemore picked me up, carelessly carrying me like a freakin' baby doll.
Two guards behind her dragged Sally along by her arms and legs. It seemed like
everyone in the orphanage was watching the two of us getting taken to the dark
room. Many of them were laughing loudly and making fun of us, while a few just
seemed plain scared. I tried to resist Bitemore but it was useless, her
strength was overwhelming.

Sally
and I were tossed roughly through a red door and into a dimly lit circular
room. Once inside, the guards immediately set about securing us to the walls by
wrapping chains around our waists and legs. The heavy door then slammed shut,
leaving us trapped on opposite sides of the room. A very faint ruddy light
shone down, allowing us to just about see each other.

“That
bitch Alexis,” Sally yelled. “How could she stoop so low?”

“I
don’t know,” I said. “Everybody here is so mean.”

“And
you’re so nice, Janice. But that’s a good thing. People may try to make you
think different, but don't believe them.”

I
could barely make out Sally’s face. And even though I was a vampire, the
darkness was smothering me and felt like my enemy. I tried to move, pushing my
stomach up against the chain that held me, but I couldn’t budge.

“So
is this all we do here?” I said. “Just stand here?”

“I
don’t know,” Sally replied. “I’ve never been in here before.”

For
a while, we just talked about stuff. She told me how she was once picked up and
taken care of by a foster parent. But he got drunk and left the house without
providing the daily blood she needed to survive. So she was brought here. I
tried to think about my past life, but once again I had nothing to say because
my mind was a blank.

I
was so grateful to have Sally here with me. I guess at least some vampires have
a need for each other, which was a good thing.

With
a shock I saw something moving on the floor. A worm-like insect dripping in
glowing, neon-blue slime was crawling toward me. Seeing as how my legs were
chained, I couldn’t stamp on it, and very soon it was slithering up my leg.

“What
the hell is it?”
 
I cried.

“A
deadworm,” Sally told me. “Get it off of you. They bite like hell.”

I
tried to swing at the creature with my arm to knock it away, but the tight
chain around my stomach kept me from reaching down that far. I could see its
sharp teeth and scarlet eyes glaring at me as I waited for it to get close
enough to swat. At last it was. I made ready to strike, but before I could do
so a sharp pain ripped first through my leg, and then my whole body. Screaming,
I punched at the creature repeatedly until it finally fell to the floor.

The
deadworm was dead.

“You
okay?” Sally asked. “I’ve been bit by one before, so I know what it's like.
It'll be alright though. It goes away fairly soon.”

The
pain lingered, and for a while it felt like I'd stepped through fire. But as
Sally had said, gradually it stopped.

After
that, forever seemed to drag by. My vampire muscles cramped from not being able
to move, especially around my butt and thighs.
 
I shivered. It was getting cold too.

“I’m
thirsty,” Sally said.

“Thirsty?”
I asked. “You mean for blood?”

She
had told me that, once I got used to drinking blood, I would become addicted
and need at least a cup of it every day to avoid becoming sick.

“So
how long do you think we’ve been in here?” I asked.

“A
long time. Dinner has got to be soon.”

Almost
as if in reaction to her words, two small shelves slid out of the wall, one
beside Sally and one by me. Each had a cup of blood on it. I had to stretch
hard for mine because it was only just within reach.

This
time I was not sickened at all by the blood when I gulped it down. In fact, I
felt great.

“See,
I told you you’d love it,” Sally said

She
reached across for her own cup, but somehow it slipped through her fingers and
the precious liquid spilled on the floor.

“Damn!”
she shouted.

The
light above flickered, then went out completely. We went from gloom to total
blackout.

“What's
happened?” I called out.

Sally
didn't answer. I hated not being able to see her.

“Are
you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah,”
she said. “Oh shit, how could I be so dumb?”

“You’re
blood,” I said. “You spilled it.”

“Yeah.
It’s been a while since I’ve gone this long without any.”

At
first, I didn’t understand why Sally seemed so worried.

“God,
I hate it without the light,” I said. “I thought vampires could see in the
dark.”

Again,
Sally failed to answer.

“You
still worried about losing your blood? It’s just one cup. I’m sure they’ll send
us some more in soon.”

“But
what if they don’t?” she said. “I could get really sick if I don’t get blood
soon. My body must have a certain amount every day.”

Now
I was worried. “Okay, let’s scream like hell for some,” I said.

Sally
said they wouldn’t hear us, but I knew that wasn't true because I'd heard the
boy behind the wall. They had to hear us.

“We
need more blood!” I shouted as loudly as I could. “Help us!”

I
waited in the darkness for a response, but nothing happened. Nobody came in and
no new blood was delivered. I was actually starting to feel as if I'd been
buried alive.

I
kept talking to Sally, trying my best to comfort her.

“I
wish I could see you,” I said. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m
okay for now. But I’m starting to feel tired.”

“Well
just hang in there, girl.”

Sally
coughed occasionally and was soon saying very little at all. Freezing and
worried about her, I screamed again. Still nothing.

To
make matters worse, I felt two more deadworms slithering up my leg. I managed
to brush both of them off, but my anger was growing. I tried to use my extra
vampire strength to break the chains, but it was no use.