Double digits!
I got to use my Dallas expertise in this chapter, which makes me happy. Represent! Everything named are actually places, except Hotel Carmilla, which the show made up, obvi. This chapter makes me a bit sad, which you'll find out soon enough why. I miss a certain little ancient badass vampire.
Cameron actually found herself anticipating the trip to Dallas. The idea of going back home and leaving Shreveport was all too appealing to her. She tried to conveniently forget the thought that she would have to return to Shreveport, though.
The drive from city to city hadn't been all that bad. Jackson slept for most of it, and Melanie kept to herself and her Blackberry. Once they checked into their hotel room, which Cameron was annoyed that they would all be sharing, they had lunch at one of their favorite restaurants from when they were younger and headed over to the nursing home to visit their father.
The visit was brief. He once again though Melanie was a nurse, thought Jackson was the neighbor's kid, and didn't even acknowledge Cameron, as if she was a complete stranger. They had all experienced it before. Luckily Cameron was able to convince Melanie to cut the visit short, since Jackson was getting visibly confused and upset.
They spent the rest of the afternoon driving around, visiting all of their old haunts.
"Oh my God, look! Chip's is still here!" Melanie shrieked as they drove through the part of town they used to live in.
"Oh shit, we're going before we leave!" Cameron said, equally excited. Chip's had been a family favorite and a childhood staple. They had grown up and lived in the wealthier and older part of Dallas, known as Highland Park, and Cameron couldn't help but think how Melanie would fit in there so much better than she did in Shreveport.
"Hey, Chanel is just down the street," Melanie said suggestively. There were far too many shopping centers in that part of town.
"The last thing you need is more Chanel," Cameron sighed.
"Hermes is there, too," Melanie said, oblivious to Cameron's distaste in going shopping with her sister.
"No, you said shopping was tomorrow," Cameron whined. The last thing she wanted to do with her time back in Dallas was to be carted around high end stores that she had no place in by her sister. She doubted Jackson would enjoy it, too.
"Well what do you suggest we do?" Melanie sighed.
"We could see a movie. Remember that theater with the big couches?" Cameron suggested. Melanie shrugged, and Cameron got out her phone to check times.
"Um, all they have that doesn't start after eight is R rated…" Cameron said, scrolling through the pages of movie listings. Melanie sighed again. Jackson was much too young for anything above a G rating, and couldn't but kept up that late.
"I guess we could just rent a movie at the hotel," Melanie said despondently. Their triumphant return to Dallas wasn't going so well.
"Hey, wait, there's a museum downtown that stays open late on Friday nights, and they usually have live music," Cameron suggested. She had gone a couple of times with friends during high school and remembered that it was fun and pretty family friendly.
"Sounds better than anything I can think of," Melanie shrugged as she made a turn and got onto the Tollway, heading South towards the Arts District. Early evening traffic was bad, but they were able to find a good parking spot in the museum parking lot, making up for any frustrations.
"I remember this place. Mom took us here when we were little," Melanie said as they trio walked into the building and purchased tickets to the Nasher Sculpture Garden.
"Yeah, I came here a few times in high school, too," Cameron replied.
The inside of the museum was filled with all sorts of odd little sculptures, and the large garden had monstrous installations, some that Jackson could climb up on. There was a jazz band playing, and a few groups were sitting in the grass on blankets in front of them.
After a light dinner at the museum's café, they left the museum and drove around downtown. Jackson was talking about how big and impressive some of the sculptures had been, but both Cameron and Melanie ignored him as they would point out thing that had changed or things that they remembered.
"God, this area has expanded so much! Look at all of these new hotels. It's like they think that people think Dallas is cool and would want to come visit," Melanie gawked as they drove down a street lined with hotels. A few of them were old institutions, hotels that had been there since the early days of Dallas. These were surrounded by new, larger, and much more modern hotels. The car came to a stop at a red light, and Cameron out of her window and up at the large new hotel, Hotel Carmilla. All sorts of people were going in and out of the grand doors, and Cameron realized that a lot of them had bite marks on their neck.
"This must be that new vampire hotel," Melanie said, watching the people like her sister was.
Cameron's gaze traveled up the side of the building, up until the top.
Cameron felt like she had been there before. The vague déjà vu gave way to a memory. Cameron was standing on the rooftop of the hotel, she could see the skyline of Dallas perfectly in the coming light of dawn. The sun was almost up. Turning away from the edge of the building and tearing her gaze form the view, Cameron saw three people. A woman by the stairs in a sundress was standing by the stairs. A young man, who looked nothing more than a teenager, stood in the center of the roof, wearing all white and sandals. He looked like he belonged in a commune, or even a different time. And then Eric, dressed in all black, stood between the two others.
Cameron hadn't been expecting to see Eric, and called out his name, but her voice had been muffled. She couldn't interact with a memory.
Taking a few steps closer to the scene, Cameron could see blood running down Eric's face as he moved closer to the teenager. They were speaking, but for some reason Cameron couldn't hear them, and she couldn't read their lips.
Eric collapsed onto his knees at the feet of the teenager. It looked like he was consoling him, as he spoke to him and patted his head affectionately, like a father would to an upset child.
Eric finally stood, and he towered over the teenager. He took a few tentative steps back, then turned to leave. The woman caught his hand as he walked past her, and she told him something before he left.
The woman walked towards the teenager, and they began to speak. Tears started to stream down her face, though he looked almost joyful. Cameron realized that the sky was getting lighter, and the sun was coming up. The teenager left the woman, moved to the edge of the roof, and removed his shirt. As the sun rose, he erupted into brilliant blue flames, and was gone in seconds.
In an instant, Cameron was back in the car. It jerked forward as the red light turned into green, and Melanie continued to drive down the street, and away from the hotel.
Cameron wasn't sure if what she had just seen was past or present. She needed to call Eric, or Pam, and find out what was going on. She of course couldn't do that in front of Melanie, and waited impatiently until they returned to their own hotel. The drive was unbearably long to Cameron, as they had to get back on the Tollway.
As soon as they returned to the hotel, Cameron begged Melanie to borrow it, lying and saying that she needed to run to the store. Melanie didn't take much convincing.
Cameron drove down the street a little ways and parked in an empty church parking lot. It had been dark for almost an hour, and Cameron was sure that Eric or Pam would be at Fangtasia by now.
Searching for the bar in her contacts, Cameron pressed "call" and waited for someone to pick up.
"Fangtasia, the bar with a bite, this is Pam," Pam answered the phone.
"Pam! Is Eric there?" Cameron tried to contain her sense of urgency.
"Why?" Pam questioned.
"It's important. Please, I had a vision and I need to speak with him," Cameron explained. It seemed to be good enough, because Pam put down the phone to get Eric, presumably. Cameron waited for a few minutes, until finally Eric spoke.
"What?" he asked impatiently.
"I had a vision," Cameron said.
"Obviously," he huffed.
"If this is a bad time, I can call back," Cameron snapped, not appreciating his attitude.
"What did you see?" Eric ignored her reaction and demanded to know why she had called.
"I don't know how to explain it. But have you been to Dallas or plan on going in the future?" Cameron asked, trying to carefully word what she saw. It had obviously been incredibly emotional for him. He had cried. Of course the bloody tears had made the scene a bit more macabre, but he was suffering, and then the teenage vampire had willingly met the sun.
"I no longer have any connections in Dallas," he said simply.
"Oh," Cameron mumbled, realized that her vision had already happened, long before she even met Eric.
"What did you see?" Eric repeated.
"Just something from the past. Sorry, I didn't realize it was after the fact until now," Cameron said. She didn't want Eric to know what she had seen, or that she had seen him so vulnerable.
"Very well. Good bye." Eric hung up.
Cameron sat in the car for a good fifteen minutes, thinking about what she had seen. The whole scene had been slightly disturbing, and the image of the boy burning in the sun haunted her. Why hadn't the blonde woman helped him, or try to stop him?
She wanted to talk to Eric, to find out what had really happened, who the other people were, why he was so sad, but she didn't feel comfortable bringing it up. He had obviously been close with the teenaged vampire, Cameron didn't think he would cry for just anyone.
Cameron felt a bit like crying herself. Visions rarely ever affected her emotionally, but what she had seen earlier that night was far too powerful to not get emotional about.
She had watched someone die. Cameron had never seen anyone die, not counting in movies or television shows. Of course she hadn't actually been present at the vampire's actual death, but knowing that it had already happened didn't comfort Cameron. She had seen her sister's husband dead, but not the actual death.
On the way back to the hotel, Cameron stopped into a gas station to buy a random bottle of shampoo and some candy. She couldn't return to the room empty handed, and being around people would keep her from crying, like she desperately wanted to.
As soon as she was in her room, she desperately tried to sleep, but ended up eating candy and watching television all night long.
"Into Dust" by Mazzy Star