The Attack of the Gremlins
Chapter 1 – Why Erica Wanted To Strangle Ethan
Whitechapel's new school year officially began the day after Labour Day. Labour Day falling early, September 2, made it all the worse.
There was a silver lining. September 3rd was a Professional Development Day in the elementary schools, and Registration Day at Whitechapel High. So there was, for students at least, one extra day of summer vacation. Not officially, but it was an extra day.
And it was that day that the old Whitechapel Shoe Factory, a massive brick building with glass-block windows, was going to be destroyed in a controlled explosion.
The idea of going to watch an explosion was probably what made Erica so bitter that morning. After all, the last explosion in Whitechapel had been the lucifractor explosion, destroying all the dark energy in Whitechapel . . . and Erica's "dream life" along with it.
Without any dark energy to feed upon, a bloodsucker's curse is starved-out in a matter of minutes. That was how Jesse and Anastasia were stripped of their immortality, causing them to age, die, rot and ooze into yellowed skeletons in a pool of putrescent slime. But that was also how Sarah and Rory were cured, and were both now happily human again. And they would stay human, permanently, no matter where they went or moved, even when the normal amount of dark energy returned to the area in a few years time; it was as if they had never been under the curse in the first place.
But the dark-energy drain had also cured Erica. She still resented it and clung to Ethan's grudging offer to trade a pint of his blood to the duo of vampire nurses, if Erica still wanted to be a vampire in four years times and only if she never again fed on anyone in Whitechapel and never attempted in word or deed to encourage Sarah or Rory to join her in becoming vampires again.
But the return to school as an ordinary human being was weighing on Erica's mind as she put in her contact lenses after a full night's sleep. And it wasn't putting her in a good mood, as she thought back of her time in Grade 9 when she was mocked mercilessly by Stephanie and her cheerleader friends.
The fact that Stephanie was now a wrinkled old woman didn't have Erica feeling the least bit better that morning.
Most people are refreshed by a night's sleep. But not today, and not Erica. Erica had overslept and missed going with her BFF Sarah to register for Grade 12 . . . their final year at high school! Sarah had gone with Ethan (!) as the two registered early, having to get things ready for that geeky picnic lunch! The crazy notion behind this . . . jaunt . . . was that it was last free time "Team Sabre plus Erica and Jane" would have on a weekday until Thanksgiving Day.
But this boring picnic was no excuse to ditch Erica with a message to meet them at Ethan or Benny's house, or the explosion! The fact that Erica had ditched Sarah several times for a cute guy didn't check Erica's annoyance at being "ditched" herself.
For one thing, it wasn't a cute guy . . . it was Ethan they were talking about!
Well, at least, Erica was able to flirt with varsity footballer Bill Vanlake while she was registering at the principal's office. There was the fact a brief glimpse at her timetable showed her to be sharing most of her classes with her BFF. Grade 12 also meant Erica only needed to take six more classes to get her high school diploma – that meant two spare periods. One spare was scheduled this semester, the second would be in the New Year.
So, things did look to be okay, and Erica wasn't forgetting how hot she was and that she was as popular as Stephanie had been in the old days. But that was poor compensation for losing her immortality! And things had become so . . . so . . . boring!
As far as Erica knew, nothing dangerous or exciting had happened in Whitechapel since an abominable snowman trashed an ice cream parlour in June. Benny had a couple of missteps with his magic (a bit of information Erica heard third-hand from Sarah), but that was typical and only good for a laugh.
Ethan and his geek posse had randomly run into three vampires in Toronto, of all places. Erica had been pleased they had killed a vampire who tried to double-cross her, that is to say her ex-boss at the vampire restaurant (the place soon to reopen as a Greek dining establishment). But now Erica felt sore about Ethan not making a deal with the vamps to make her a bloodsucker again.
What was it with Ethan, Benn and Rory's goody-two-shoes campaign against immortals? Just because they "murdered" innocent people? Didn't they realize that vampires were naturally at the top of the food chain?
Ethan seemed, this fine September morning, to be the cause of all Erica's misfortunes. The end of Jesse's gang, and Erica's role as his girl. Sure, Erica hated Jesse for glamouring her . . . but his gang had been so cool! The end of the vampire council . . . even if Anastasia had glamoured her as well. The bungling of Stern and the lucifractor . . . and the lame insistence of everyone . . . Sarah included . . . that the aftermath couldn't have been better for "Team Sabre" (lame group, lame name!) if it had been planned!
If Erica was truthful with herself, she would realize she was softening on the issue of Whitechapel's vampires and how evil bloodsuckers truly were. Erica wistfully wondered what would have happened IF ONLY Whitechapel's vampires had acted more like the vampires in Dusk! Sarah wouldn't have been disgusted with the idea of being immortal! Ethan would mind his own business; and Rory wouldn't have been accidentally turned into a vampire and become the bane of her existence with his doglike worship. Well, at least that part was over! No, Jesse and Anastasia had the wrong approach. Really, the immortals should have been "living aloof, above and apart the rabble of humanity", but with a sense of "noblesse oblige" . . . .
In short, Erica still subscribed to the Dusk-type gibberish she always had; a bunch of garbage that no one aside from Duskers took seriously.
But softening or not, but how could Erica abide what would have been her two-year anniversary as an immortal by celebrating her last day without-school by . . . could you believe it? . . . a picnic in the country with Sarah and her geek boyfriend, Ethan. Just to make the idea all the more sickening, Benny, Rory and Ethan's little sister Jane were coming along too; right after they all watched the shoe factory bite the dust. All of them stuffed into Evelyn Weir's vintage Ford with the bench seats. Could anything be more gross?
What was "more gross" was the fact that, just outside the fencing to protect the crowd of spectators, there the unlikely pair of Rory and Ethan's little sister Jane were waiting. And Rory had a dog on a leash, a golden Labrador-retriever puppy.
"Hi Erica" said Rory, in his typical rapid-fire way, and as sociable if Erica was a close friend. "Did you see what my Mom got me for my sixteenth birthday? His name's Krypto. Jane came with me too while Benny's grandma helps Sarah, Ethan and Benny get the picnic set-up and . . . ."
"Rory was swiping sandwiches for himself" Jane interrupted. "It cut down on Sarah and Ethan's canoodling-time."
"Nuh-uh" insisted Rory. "Ethan wanted me to take Jane to the explosion to keep her out of trouble. So I went with Jane and Krypto."
"More like Jane watching you and Krypto so you don't get blown-up" Erica said, before suddenly grimacing. "Krypto?!"
"This is going to be fun" Jane observed, as she first looked to Rory's enthusiastic expression and then peered at Erica's scowl.
"What kind of a crappy name is Krypto for a dog anyways?" said Erica, with a vicious glance at the puppy at her shoe.
Like its master, Krypto had a rather dopey, eager expression. The dog annoyed the already angry Erica by barking at her in greeting, a rather high "yip".
"He's named after the Krypto" explained Rory. "You know, Krypto the Superdog! Superman's dog from the Planet Krypton."
Rory went into a convoluted story about the origins of Superman's dog, sent by the Man of Steel's father to Earth in a test rocket.
The secret origins of "Krypto the Superdog" didn't interest Erica in the slightest. Yet Erica pretended to hear Rory's eager recitation; truthfully, Erica wondered whether by throwing a few insults at his puppy she might get a reaction from Rory. Usually Rory was immune to any barbs Erica sent his way, but by insulting the pup Erica . . . well, she was feeling exceptionally mean-spirited this morning and wanted to see a look of surprise and disappointment on the pup's master's face.
"Only an idiot would be impressed by a Super-dog from an alien planet" sneered Erica, her bluntness surprising both Rory and Jane. "And that weak-looking pup can't be too smart to have you as a master."
"Why?" objected Rory, quickly getting over his disappointment. "He's awesome as I am."
"It's a cool dog, Rory" said Jane, rubbing Krypto's ears.
"Well" tried Erica, "what kind of dog likes an ex-vampire? Everyone know immortals don't have pet dogs."
"He's not your pet, he's mine" Rory explained innocently. "And you're an ex-vampire, so it doesn't make a difference anymore."
"I meant YOU!" said Erica, in a tone of such complete exasperation that she managed to attract a few brief looks from the bystanders . . . and even the cameraman sent by the Whitechapel Bystander.
"Oh yeah!" said Rory, petting Krypto. "I forgot. I mean, after I got back from that trip I took with Ethan and Benny I stopped thinking of having been one that much . . . I mean, I guess I wouldn't know how much I like garlic if it hadn't been for being a bloodsucker, but . . . ."
Jane stopped listening to Rory and looked at Erica's face. It was a perfect mix of incredulity and fury. Jane wasn't surprised that his once being a vampire had . . . at least momentarily . . . slipped Rory's over-excited mind. Or that Rory was oblivious to Erica's anger. But Jane was in wonder how Erica could be so upset that Rory had not only (with some help from Ethan and Benny) quickly become as happy as Sarah to be freed from the curse, but be able to have it slip his mind that he was ever under it.
Rory, for his part, soon found himself on the ground, a victim of an uppercut and a shin-kick by Erica.
Erica stomped off across the cracked pavement to the road to see when her BFF would arrive . . . the only reason she was at this "geekfest" to begin with.
"Nice karate moves" Rory said, in something of a groan as Krypto came to his master's rescue by licking his face. "I guess Erica's upset that school starts tomorrow?"
"I think she's upset you forgot you spent almost two years as a vampire" Jane pointed out, amused.
Jane thought Erica was weird . . . and more than a little funny when she took on Ethan and his friends.
"One year, nine months" Rory retorted. "But, man! I can't think about that for the rest of my life It would be boring, not to mention totally gnarly! But, you know, that reminds me . . . did I tell you that Ethan thinks Krypto is an evil-detecting dog?"
"Because he smelled out your old socks?" Jane replied sarcastically.
"They weren't just any socks" said Rory excitedly. "They were a pair of gym socks waaaaay underneath my bed, that I haven't had washed or worn since I was a bloodsucker. But Krypto ran underneath, pulled them out, growled and tore them to shreds. They must have had vampire sweat on them."
"Are you sure it wasn't just the smell of the socks?" said Jane, who thought this weird idea was typical of Ethan and his friends.
"Nuh-uh" said Rory. "Krypto only chews on my other socks. But these he tore up."
"I'm sure it was just the smell of the socks" Sarah told Ethan, Benny and Rory, a little while later.
Sarah, Ethan and Benny had finally finished packing (Benny also had swiped a sandwich or two from the basket, not to mention a fried chicken leg). Sarah had then driven Evelyn's Ford on the "usual conditions" . . . plus the additional one that she didn't let Ethan, Benny or Rory drive (the three now all had their G1 licenses, Rory having passed his written test by the skin-of-his-teeth on his birthday).
"The undead stench must have been on the socks" said Benny, carelessly. "Dogs have sensitive noses. Krypto must have smelt it out. Man, it must be really have driven him crazy. You ought to have been there!"
"And it couldn't be me" Rory added. "Krypto loves me, it's puppy love."
"That's not what they call puppy love, Rory" laughed Sarah, with a look at Ethan who also began chuckling at Rory's mistake.
"Are you saying vampires stink?" put in Erica, bitterly crossing her arms.
"Literally" said Ethan, with a grin. "At least to dogs."
"I didn't have dogs bark at me as an immortal" said Erica.
Benny rolled his eyes at the term "immortal".
"There were a couple of dogs that weren't too happy to see me back then" Sarah said. "But other than Della's demon-possessed dog, I didn't have any trouble."
"Maybe it was the concentrated and ripe smell in the socks" shrugged Ethan. "But pets do see things. I mean, there's lots of stories about cats predicting earthquakes. Both dogs and cats seeing ghosts that most people can't see."
"We used to have a large coven of amazing vampires in this city" muttered Erica to herself solemnly. "Now all we have is a Labrador retriever that tears up dirty gym socks."
Fortunately for Erica, nobody heard her aside from Sarah, who decided that Erica had enough of the "evil-detecting puppy." Besides . . . .
"We didn't come here to talk about Rory's socks" said Sarah, with a look of disgust. "Where's this explosion?"
"It looks to be soon" said Ethan, as the demolition crew was now moving away from the building. "Did you read what the Bystander's online edition said about the factory?"
"Yes" said Erica, to everyone else's surprise. "I can read, you know. And I do want to know about what I'm watching being blown up. This place opened in the nineteen-twenties and made shoes and boots for decades until they closed up ten years ago. The only interesting thing that ever happened there was during World War II, when they made boots and other leather goods day and night for the war effort. They even placed an assembly lines in the basement. But through the war they feared a Nazi saboteur was at work as they had trouble with the machinery, especially on the temporary line installed in the basement. He or she was never discovered, and the problems ended with the war and the closing of the basement."
"I keep forgetting Erica used to be a geek like us" said Benny wryly, before shrinking under her angry glare.
Even without her fangs, Erica could look very intimidating.
"Given this town, instead of a spy it could have been something supernatural, maybe the bloodsuckers" said Ethan with a shrug. "It could even have been Jesse. We know he was here in the forties, that's when he hid the lucifractor at the old hotel."
"Are you serious, Ethan?" said Benny. "Jesse was a complete a . . . ." Benny stalled with a look at Jane. "A complete jerk. But we're talking two different kinds of evil here. Jesse was his own operator, he wouldn't take on a job as spy."
"Not that he wasn't evil enough to spy for the wrong side" Sarah put in. "Especially if it meant easy meals."
"Yeah, it would be the wrong side" Rory said, "We were the only good bloodsuckers, the other vamps are evil so they'd never spy for the Allies. They'd spy for the Nazis. So if he was a spy Jesse was definitely on the wrong side."
"If vampires spied at all" Sarah reminded him. "They're not the spying types."
"If you three geeks read Dusk" said Erica furiously, "You'd know that immortals aren't Nazi spies or Axis spies or spies of any kind."
Erica's day was turning out even worse than she expected! And Erica had herself to blame! Having introduced the subject of vampires, Erica had to listen to Ethan and his geek posse reduce the "glamorous immortals" to a discussion of dirty socks, a Labrador retriever pup, and despicable Nazi spies.
To add insult to injury, Erica now had the feeling that even Jane was laughing at her, given her bemused look!
And Erica's BFF? Sarah was barely any help; rather than defend vampires she merely changed the topic. Timetables and Rory's driver's license and the impending explosion.
More mind-numbing boredom for Erica!
Finally, there was a stir in the crowd. The definitely-unglamorous Whitechapel Shoe Factorywas soon to meet its end. While Rory had the idea the whole building was going to be blown-up "sky-high", Ethan explained only the main structural supports were going to be blasted causing the factory to fall in on itself. It would take weeks or even months to tear down the building with an old-fashioned wrecking ball; that is without damaging the surrounding buildings. This way all that would have to be done afterwards was clear away the rubble.
"It's good to see an explosion without fearing for your life" said Sarah to Jane, with a laugh. "Of course, I don't have anything to complain about the last one."
Erica could have screamed!
"You said it" said Ethan, who now nervously, but boldly (for him) put his arm around Sarah despite the crowd.
They kissed.
Erica was horrified! Sarah kissing Ethan in public! With some actual cool people from school in the crowd! While Sarah dating Ethan was common knowledge at school (it had been rumoured before they began dating), Erica despised Sarah "throwing away" her social life like this.
The fact that Sarah was happy (and her popularity hadn't suffered) didn't make a difference. Sarah and Ethan? Erica felt like putting her fingerprints all over Ethan's neck.
Benny giving the pair two thumbs-up didn't ease Erica's mind. Nor the fact that Krypto barked his approval. Nor the realization that Rory and Jane were too busy watching for the explosion to pay attention to what, after all, no longer a novel sight make Erica any happier.
Erica couldn't wait to see the end of this misery! This was worse than the geek picnic she had agreed to attend! All for this grubby brick building, with glass-blocks windows half smashed and half-boarded, surrounded by a once paved parking lot that had deteriorated into gravel interspersed by clumps of crabgrass!
A policewoman on a megaphone announced the impending demolition. A couple more officers made sure everyone was safely behind the yellow-tape. Then it was demolition hour! Ten-thirty to be exact. Without further ceremony, a roar came from inside the building and the roof and walls quickly buckled into a pile of rubble as they fell inward upon themselves.
"Awesome" said Rory who shared a high-five with Benny.
"Front-row seats" said Benny in return. "Ethan, dude?"
"Ethan?" asked Sarah.
"Ethan?" said Jane.
Krypto started barking wildly.
The rest of the crowd looked towards the remains of the plant, and . . . for a few seconds . . . heard an unaccountable tapping, as of miniature tools, and a strange scrambling. A few seconds later more of the building crumbled into what had been its basement with another resounding crash.
But Erica was happy. She observed that Ethan's eyeballs had that strange gleam in them, as if someone were shining a flashlight from in behind the pupils.
That tapping, that scrambling . . . it meant something interesting . . . something exciting . . . something cool was up.
Even if Erica had to hang out with "Team Sabre" to see it through, she wasn't going to miss the fun.
Author's Note
This is the fifth and second-last story in a series beginning with "The End of the Beginning", and continuing through "Ethan to the Future", "Good v. Evil or Some Assembly Required" and "Busman's Holiday".
For the sake of convenience, Sarah and Erica are in Grade 12 and one year older than Ethan, Benny and Rory – although Erica called herself a Senior in "Flushed".