Chapter Four

When Marceline was eight, she had found an old book in a ruined library. Although she was already an excellent reader, she would often lie on Simon's lap and ask him to read it to her. Simon would often try to convince Marceline that there were other books that a girl her age might enjoy more, ones with fewer long words and far less scary, but Marceline was insistent.

"Now, you know Marceline." Simon would say, every single time he closed the book. "You know this is all just make-believe right? Really, there's no such thing as vampires."

After which, Marceline would laugh. "I know that, Simon. I'm not a little kid."

Marceline rolled over and groaned. She still dreamt of Simon all the time, but she had almost forgotten about that stupid book she had used to love so much. Vampires… what a load of trash.

Marceline rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. She blinked twice, and slowly convinced herself that she wasn't dreaming.

Kneeling over her, with his mouth wide open, was the boy from earlier. His sharp fangs were pointing right at her. He quickly closed his mouth and retracted his head slightly.

"Wow… this is awkward…" He muttered.

Before the boy could react, Marceline sat up, grabbed a handful of the boy's hair and slammed his face into the side of the caravan, causing several of her possessions to fall off the shelves. Without letting go of the boy's hair, Marceline kneed him in the stomach and elbowed him in the small of the back, sending him crashing to the floor of the caravan.

"Geez… relax babe…" The boy groaned.

Marceline seized Vera.

"My... Name… Is… Marceline!" Marceline cried, emphasising each word with a blow from Vera.

There was a clear indent in the floor of the caravan, where the boy was lying, face down. Marceline looked up and breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed Bubblegum wasn't there. She would have hated for it to have seen that display. She got the impression that it was very judgemental from time to time.

The boy groaned and carefully looked up. Marceline glared at him, Vera in hand. He quickly stood up and floated to the other side of the caravan.

"Explain yourself! Now!" Marceline demanded.

"You want me to explain!?" The boy asked. "What about you? Who beats up a vampire with their bare hands? That doesn't happen!"

"A what…?"

"Dude… I'm a vampire."

Marceline stared at the boy. The boy who was floating. The boy who had pointed teeth and didn't like sunlight. The boy who crept around sleeping girls. She wanted desperately to quote Simon's advice, 'There's no such thing as vampires', but she was seeing some very strong evidence that Simon had been wrong.

"I'm half-demon." Marceline eventually said, in answer to the boy's question.

"Oh… sweet." The boy replied.

There was an moment of awkward silence, during which Marceline realised how angry she was supposed to be.

"So what the hell, dude?" She demanded. "You were gonna drink my blood?"

The boy raised his hands defensively.

"No… ew. I drink the colour red. But look, I need you babe… Marceline!" He quickly corrected himself, as Marceline raised Vera.

"What do you mean, you need me?" Marceline scowled, warning the boy to chose his words carefully, with her glare.

The boy gritted his fanged teeth nervously.

"Ok, look. I'm a member of this gang, and it's vampires only." He explained. "Except it's just me and like, five other dudes, so it's crazy boring! And because mortals are so rare right now, recruiting one gets you mad street cred. And if it's a girl…" He started, but Marceline had heard enough.

She darted forward and jabbed Vera at his face. They boy ducked and quickly darted out of the door. Marceline chased after him. It was the dead of night, a full moon hung in the sky.

The boy flew out from under the overpass and out of Marceline's reach.

"Ok, I promise I won't turn you. You'll still probably get in!" He shouted quickly, as Marceline scanned the area for something to throw at him. "Come on! Vampires are people too, you know! And I don't know if you've noticed, but 'people' are in pretty short supply right now."

Marceline fumed under her breath. She knew what the boy was getting at, and she had to admit that he had a point. Marceline had met all of two people in the last fourteen years, and loneliness was something she had battled with all that time, even with Simon.

She sighed. "Say I was interested…" She started. They boy's eyes lit up. "… where do you guys meet?"

"In the basement of the store I was in before." The boy said. "Hey, I'll see you around. Sun's about to come up." He started to drift away. "It's Conner, by the way."

Marceline frowned as Conner flew away. Was she really considering hanging out with that loser? She usually slept in until the sun was up, but she was wide-awake. More than ever, she wished Simon was there, she really needed someone to talk to.

"I mean, the book said that vampires kill people! But if I have to spend the rest of my life with no one but you to talk to, I'M gonna start killing people!"

Marceline sat on the awning above a shop window, her legs hanging over the side. Next to her, Bubblegum was spread over the awning and was dripping onto the street.

"No offence…" She added, apologetically. Bubblegum didn't seem to have taken any.

Marceline had found Bubblegum quickly enough, and had sat next to it, filling it in on her encounter with Conner. In between the buildings, the horizon was beginning to glow in anticipation of the sunrise.

"I mean sure, he tried to kill me, but that turned out fine. Maybe he knew I'd be ok? I did hit him pretty hard."

Bubblegum stared at her with a look of confused interest. Marceline groaned.

"A little input here would be cool!" She snapped. "I know you can't talk, but you gotta give me something! How about blinking? Once for yes, twice for no?"

Bubblegum didn't react.

"Should I meet this dweeb's stupid gang?" Marceline said, loudly, spacing out the words.

Still, Bubblegum only stared at her. Marceline groaned again.

She jumped down from the awning and onto the street. Deep down, she knew she had already made her decision. She couldn't go the rest of her life with no one to talk to except a pile of pink goo, and even if they were evil, it was better than nothing.

Marceline carefully walked over the shop's threshold. Broken glass and bits of plaster crunched under her boots. She squinted into the back of the shop, but it was impossible to see more than a couple of feet in.

"Conner?" Marceline called out, nervously.

"You must be Marceline." A gruff voice said, making Marceline jump.

A man emerged from the darkness. He seemed around fifty years old. He was fat and had a wiry, brown beard. Over his shoulders, was draped an impossibly tacky fur cape, but that was nothing compared to the eyesore he had perched on his head. It was a gold crown, far more elaborate than Simon's. It had red velvet in the middle and gems in every colour of the rainbow arranged around it.

Like Connor, he was floating above the ground, had razor-sharp teeth and a bite mark on his neck.

"I've been expecting you." He said.

"And you are…?" Marceline asked, irritably.

"Archie." The vampire declared, forcefully. "The Vampire King!"