I Have Lost The Nerve But It's All Right

I was slightly nervous as Ghost and I headed for the front door. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Would it be all medieval and cult like? Or more like a spy movie? I had reason to believe the second one. What with Ghost's car and everything.

When he pushed open the completely unlocked front door I was completely disappointed. There was nothing there. It was just an empty gigantic room complete with old wooden floors, crates, and spiderwebs.
"Hmmm . . . not what I was expecting," I said.

"It's underground," he explained, "This is just a landmark."
"Ahhh . . . It's all coming together."

He just rolled his eyes and I followed him to the other end of the room, where he paused. He pushed aside a stack of crates effortlessly to reveal what looked like a door to a cellar. He lifted it open and I peered down and saw nothing but darkness.

"Well," he said, gesturing for me to go.
"Damn you," I muttered, sitting down carefully and letting my legs dangle into the hole. I didn't want him to have any excuse to make fun of me, so I closed my eyes and slid off. I fell for a second and landed hard on the ground.

"Fuck," I muttered when I hit the ground. My knees bent to absorb the impact but I still stumbled and feel. I could hear Ghost laughing from above me. Glowering, I scrambled to my feet, brushing dirt off my jeans. I looked up and could see Ghost standing at the edge of the hole. Feeble grey light filtered in, giving me some visibility. Ghost jumped down, landing on his feet gracefully and silently. Smirking, with the lollipop still in his mouth, he grabbed the rope that was dangling from the little open door above us and pulled it. The latch slammed shut and it was completely black.

"Well this is great," I muttered, "I can't see."
"You don't have to," he said and I could feel his cool hand clamp around my wrist, "It's not far."

I let him pull me along through the darkness. I really only knew two things about where I was. First off, it was obviously underground. The floor was all dirt and it was considerably cooler down here. Secondly, it was dark. That was just about it.

After a few minutes I noticed little colorful lights up ahead. They were really tiny - like the lights from a laser pointer, only brighter. There was a green light and a red light, one on top of each other. As we got closer, I noticed there was a number of faint green lights underneath it. Although those were a lot harder to see.

When we reached the lights, I could see a little bit. The lights were on a metal panel next to a metal door placed into the dirt wall. The faint green lights were the glow of little numbered buttons. Ghost typed in a long password and the little red light turned off and a light beeping noise went off. The door clicked and opened slightly. Ghost pushed open the door and I was piratically blinded by the mass of light. I regained my sight slowly as we stepped inside and closed the door behind us, and was amazed.

"Now this more like it," I said. We were staring down a long platform. When I looked off the sides of the platform, clear water was at least two dozen feet down. Little bridge like platforms sprung up from the main platform, leading to doors. Everything was pristine white. The ceiling was high and bright fluorescent lights hung from it. The hallway/platform (whatever) extended extremely far. People - or should I say vampires - walked around looking confident and efficient. And they were defiantly vampires. They were all beautiful, red-eyed, and pale skinned. Some were dressed in all black and others were wearing white lab coats and carrying clipboards. They mostly traveled alone or in groups of two.

"I thought you'd appreciate it," he said and I could hear the smirk in his voice as he started walking down the long hallway. I followed behind me, looking around in amazement like a tourist in NYC. Some of the vampires we passed gave me a curious look, and some nodded at Ghost who nodded back.

"This is amazing," I said as we reached the end of the hallway, which descended into a staircase that we descended. Water splashed down along the sides like mini waterfalls.
"Yes it is all very pleasing to the eye I guess," he said as we reached the end of the stairs, which led to an area identical to the one we just left.

We went about three quarters of the way before Ghost turned off onto one of the mini bridges. I followed him reluctantly, seeing as the little platforms had no railings which left me several inches away from plummeting twenty odd feet down into a makeshift lake.

I was relieved when he opened the white door and it led to a normal hallway. This one didn't have any platforms or bridges or water; it was just a normal pristine white hallway. We continued to walk down this hallway, passing more vampires as we went. The walls of this hallway had large glass windows in them which showed different fancy looking offices with vampires in them.

After walking down the same hallway for a minute or so, we were stopped by two vampires. One I immediately recognized as Benjamin. The second one was a guy, who looked a little younger then Benjamin, probably around my or Ghost's age. He was pale, and red-eyed like all the other vampires, and extremely good looking. He was relatively tall and had messy dirty blonde hair. Both him and Benjamin were dressed in all black.

"Congrats Ghost," the other one said, shaking his hand the way guys do, "You actually did it."
"Damn you," Benjamin muttered, mock-punching Ghost's shoulder, "I can't believe you actually got her to come here. She tried to kill me last time."

"Don't think I've given up on that," I snapped, not liking the way he was talking about me like I was an animal that had been tamed.
"If you actually do it I'll pay you twenty bucks," the second one said.

"Shut it Joseph," Benjamin said before turning to Ghost, "Fine kid, you win."
"I always do," he said proudly, "Even when you purposely sabotage my plans."

"All's fair kid, all's fair," he said, "I'll go tell Cruz about you going solo."
"Well while you're doing that, I'm going to take Charlotte to see Jessamine," Ghost told him.

"Have fun with that," he said, disappearing with Joseph following behind him.
"Now, let's go find Jessamine," he told me.

"Who is she exactly?"
"My - and soon to be your - secondary boss. She handles all the younger vampires. She reports back to the main boss - Cruz," he told me, "This is her office."

He turned off and opened a white door which led to a nice office. The walls were paneled with dark wood and the carpet was a dark burgundy color. There was a large oak desk in the center of the room with a young woman sitting at it. She was very pretty and looked like she was in her mid twenties - although she was probably much older. She had long dark hair and a calm serene face. Her burgundy eyes looked wise and all-knowing.

"I see you got Charlotte here," she said in a cool voice, "Nice work Ghost. I might have to suggest your proposal to Cruz."
He nodded. "It was easier then expected," he said in a business like voice.

"Just like you," I mumbled under my breath. Obviously they both heard me because both of their eyes flickered to me. Ghost's looked furious and accusing, and Jessamine looked curious.
"Come again?" she asked, cocking her head to the side thoughtfully.

"Not a word," he hissed, "Not a word."
"Just a little inside joke," I said breezily.

Jessamine smiled a slightly amused smile. "All right then. Well, Ghost, why don't you go get yourself a drink," she suggested, "Give me and Charlotte a chance to talk."
Ghost's gaze flickered down to look at me questioningly; silently asking me if I was comfortable alone with Jessamine. I nodded; she seemed nice enough.

"Okay. I'll be right back," he said it like a threat before disappearing.
"Well, why don't you take a seat Charlotte," she suggested, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. I sat down and looked up at her, she was smiling without showing any teeth.

"So Charlotte," she said, "Exactly how much has Ghost told you."
"He said that you've been watching me," I said, "And that you're going to turn me into a vampire."

"Correct," she said simply, "Now, tell me, what exactly do you know about real vampires?"
"Well . . . he said that you're all very strong and very fast. That you're immortal. You drink blood. Real food makes you sick," I listed, "And I think that's about all I'm sure of. Oh, and that you all have red eyes."

"All true," she agreed, "Vampires are the most extraordinary species, if I do say so myself. We have night vision unlike any other. Strength beyond belief. Speed humans can only obtain by car. Our intelligence and wit surpasses the ordinary. We heal at incredible rates. We're beautiful like no human. We posses unique powers unlike any other. We can live forever, without aging. Now, Charlotte, you can't tell me that you don't want this."

Listening to her and staring into her mesmerizing red eyes, I was sure that I did want that. I wanted to be fast and strong and beautiful and powerful. I wanted to be a vampire.
"Yes," I said immediately, "I want this."

Jessamine smiled, this time with teeth. Her two pointed canine teeth gave the smile a sinister edge.
"Excellent," she purred, "Now if you could just sign here."

She handed me a clipboard with several sheets of thick paper on it and a pen. I glanced at the bound document; there were a lot of words. I flipped through several pages.
"Don't think that I'm not going to read this," I said, "I'm not stupid enough to sign a contract without reading it."

"Of course," she said easily, too easily, "You can take it home with you and read it over."
"Okay . . . but um, hypothetically speaking, if I did sign this contract . . .When exactly would you turn me into a vampire?" I asked.

"As soon as possible," she said, "Tomorrow night?"
Tomorrow night? Wow . . . that was an eye opener. If I signed the contract I would be a vampire in twenty four hours. I wouldn't ever have to be a weak defenseless human ever again. I could be a vampire. Strong, fast, cunning, beautiful . . . just like Jessamine, just like Benjamin, just like Joseph, just like Ghost. Just like Ghost.

"Well what do you say I give you the grand tour?" she suggested.
"Tour?" I asked. Hmmm, sounded appealing.

"Yes. It's quite a large facility we have here," she said, standing up. She was pretty tall, maybe even taller then Ghost. She was dressed in a blood red blouse under a black jacket over black slacks. Very business looking. She walked over to the door and paused. "You can leave that here," she told me as I got up with the contract in my hands, "We'll be coming back."

"Okay," I said, placing it on the chair and following her out. She headed back the way Ghost and I had came.
"This is the executive hallway," she told me, "All the offices are in here."

We left through the door that I'd come in earlier. We were back on the platform-bridge looking over the artificial lake.
"Now, here we have a lot of various areas," she said, leading me onto the larger platform and continuing down the way Ghost and I had been heading earlier. Not to my surprise, at the end of this hallway there was a staircase leading to an identical platformed hallway.

"We have offices and laboratories and dorms," she said as we walked.
"Dorms?" I asked.

"Yes, nearly all the vampires live here," she explained, "We have some quite nice rooms"
"If I . . . didn't want to live here," I said, "Would that be okay?"

"Of coure,"she said, "Oh and over there's the kitchen. And down this way is the training area. She turned off onto one of the bridges and I followed her inside one of the door. Inside was a 'normal' hallway, as in no platforms or rivers. It was wider then the executive hallway, and everything was made of metal and was a silver color.

"Down here is where all the training takes place," she told me, "There are several gyms and arenas for practicing. We also have instructional courses for fighting. Would you like to sit in on a fight?"
"Umm sure," I said, "Sounds cool."

"Excelent," she said, leading me up a normal staircase at the end of the hallway. The next floor was identical to the one before. She opened the first door and stepped in, I followed. We were in some kind of glass box overlooking a huge room. It was basically empty with concrete walls and concrete floors. There was a large scoreboard on the wall across from us; no points were recorded just the time 2:34. Two vampires were fighting inside the huge room.

"This is one of our arenas," she told me, "We have booths above each of them for observation." I just nodded and watched the fight. It was hard to see the vampires well from so high up, but I could tell that one was a female and one was male. The girl was a lot smaller then the guy, probably like my height. She looked younger then me though. The guy was a big guy, muscely and appearing to be his twenties or something.

The two of them were fighting like I'd never seen anybody fight. It was unlike humans fighting and unlike lions fighting; yet somehow I could make a comparison to both. The little girl and the guy were standing at least fifty feet apart, circling each other in crouched positions. Suddenly, the girl lunged foward, clearing the distance between them with ease, and tackled the guy to the ground. When his back hit the ground the whole room seemed to shake. He didn't stay down for more then a second though. He kicked the girl in stomach and she rocketed an unbelievable distance away. She slammed into the concrete wall and the room seemed to shake again. She pushed herself from the wall, completely unscathed, unlike the wall which had a dent in it.

She started running at the guy who was back on his feet, but not like normal running. She zigzagged back and forth, darting all over. Her movements to fast for my eyes. She was all over the place but the guy seemed to be able to keep his eyes on her. When she lunged at him from the side he ducked incredibly fast. She flew over him and stopped herself by putting her hands on the ground and doing a front flip. She skidded to a stop and spun around.

The fight was incredible to watch. This little girl and this guy were both stronger then anybody I'd ever seen. They'd both been slammed into concrete walls and the only damage belonged to the wall. They were so fast that my eyes could barely follow them. Their movements were so agile and graceful that I was excited to be becoming one of them.

The fight progressed for a long time, neither of them gaining an edge on the other though. I didn't care though, I just loved to watch them fight. It was amazing. Especially when the little girl jumped at least fifty feet in the air and grabbed one of the rafters above us and swung from it. I watched in amazement as she swung herself up on the rafters and perched there.

I looked up and realized that she was defiantly younger then me. She looked about thirteen or fourteen with loose blonde curls that reached to her shoulders. She was beautiful of course, with bright red eyes. She had a very confident and smug way about her; reminding me faintly of Ghost. She smiled at me, revealing braces and fangs. Then she dropped off the rafter and plummeted down to the ground. She didn't land very silently this time, the impact caused a sound like I'd dropped a ten ton boulder, when the little girl couldn't way more then ninety pounds.

The room shook and when the guy tackled her from the side, I saw that there was a dent in the concrete ground where she had landed. The two of them started rolling around on the floor, and animal like snarls and growls could be heard through the glass.

"That's incredible," I said.
"What's incredible is that Hattie and Lucas have been going at this for three hours according to the timer," she said, nodding to the scoreboard, "And neither of them have won." I looked at the scoreboard. It read 3:25. I couldn't believe they'd been fighting for that long and they still weren't tired. I was getting tired just looking at them.

Jessamine held her finger on a little button on the wall behind her, and when she spoke it was highly amplified, so much that I was sure they could hear her in the arena.
"Hattie, Lucas," she said, "Rap it up. Break time."

The guy, Lucas, slid off the little girl, Hattie and they both got up. They both walked out of the arena, looking like they were laughing. Even though twenty seconds ago they looked like they were trying to rip each other's throats out.

"Now . . ." Jessamine said, "Let's go find Ghost." I followed her out of the booth and back to her office. When we walked into her office, Ghost was leaning up against one of the paneled walls. He had his usual calm in place but he seemed a little agitated.

"I've been waiting," he said plainly, but there was a bit of anger in his voice. He was annoyed at having been ditched by us.
"My apologies Ghost," she said, "I was just giving Charlotte a mini tour. But now, we are done, and you can drive her home."

"Lucky me," he muttered as I walked over to the chair and grabbed the contract.
"You be sure to look over that," Jessamine said, "And I'll see you tomorrow night for your decision."