Chapter 4 – The Beach House

September 25, 2004 = Saturday

"Help ya?" the guy holding a baseball said. He actually looked yummy with no shirt on, and I decided to try a little something different. I might be stuck with him for awhile if this worked, after all.

"Do I look dangerous?" I said, sticking my chest out a little and rocking my hips from side to side. "I'm sure a big man like you can think of better things to do than beat up on a sweetie like me."

A big smile came over his face as he looked me over and I swear my heart actually beat again before I actually felt really nauseous at the thought. "I tell you what," he said, as he put an arm around my waist and felt of my butt. I just smiled at him, hoping my fangs weren't too visible in the dim light. "I'll let you in. And if on your way out, you want to work out a little fair trade for future purchases, you come see me. I'm Brian."

I leaned in close, and I swear I could smell a girl's perfume on him. I settled on giving him a little peck on the cheek. He let me go and I went inside the house. There was a guy just inside the door fiddling with a TV. I looked at the screen and it definitely needed tinfoil. I tried the door at the back of the room, but it was locked.

"Go around, fool!" came from the other side.

I started around, turning left at the back of the room and left again into the kitchen. I was beginning to wonder if my eyesight might be off somehow as their kitchen seemed to be just as shoddy as mine was. I found two more guys playing rummy at a kitchen table. One guy pointed a finger and mumbled a "that way" before going back to his game. I edged by them, going through some kind of weight lifting room before finding their computer room.

I continued on, ending in the room with a set of bunk beds. Some kind of utility room, I guess, as it contained the washer and dryer. What drew my eye was the large vent built into the wall. This house had central air conditioning? And why a vent that big? I could almost crawl through it. My dorm room had a vent, but it was the size of a shoe box.

I looked at it, and saw that the vent itself actually had hinges hidden on the top. Pulling the bottom, It lifted away easily, and I poked my head inside. Maybe they kept drugs in here? What little light I had showed me it was a small closet-type space. On the floor next to me was a shoe box. I opened the shoe box, to find it stuffed with cash. I did a quick count and come up with about five hundred. Much of it had to have been Mercurio's, with the rest being from selling drugs.

Pocketing the money, and hoping no one saw me, I crawled back out and closed the vent cover. Straightening my clothes, and dusting myself off, I went through the far door. Inside were two men, one looked like the other thugs with his gray hoodie, but the other was dressed in a nice white coat and red patterned shirt and what could only be fake gold chains hanging from his neck. He was trying for class and coming up short in this dump.

"Yea, that is what I love about this business. Fine women come to my house for my shit. I don't even have to call 'em on the phone. Say there, pretty lady, what can I hook you up with tonight?"

'Play it cool' ran through my mind, so I cocked my hip with a hand, and told him "Whatcha got?"

"My staff maintains at all times a twenty-four carat smorgasbord of A plus narcotics guaranteed to make the competition's shit seem like weak cappuccino in comparison. White, green, blues, reds, black – pick a color."

"I'm looking for something different. I need explosives."

His face twisted a bit, "Explosives. Fun stuff. Get yourself a lotta attention that way. Yea, I got something. Why would you need to get your hands on some fireworks?"

I had a brief moment of panic, but decided to try to keep playing it cool. He was agreeable, just keep playing it. "Money problems. Need to make a withdrawal on the insurance."

"Sure, okay. I got some stuff that'll do the trick. Astrolite. TNT's bigger, meaner cousin with a prison record. Don't like to keep it around, too dangerous. I'll let you have it less than the going rate."

I felt the cash in my back packet, and not knowing how soon I could get my hands on more, decided I should try and hang on to it. "Anything you take besides cash?" I bat my eyes at him and ran a hand suggestively down a hip. Yea, I'm bad.

"I'm open to suggestions," he said coming, eyes falling to where my hand was now rubbing at my panties, "Question is, how open are you?"

Glad he took the bait, I looked at the other guy who was enjoying this way too much. "How about sending your buddy out of the room and find out?"

Dennis didn't even look away from leering at me. "Yo, go check the odometer of my car." The thug in the room with us sneered at me before unlocking the door behind him and leaving us alone. I walked up to Dennis, and he ran a hand over my shoulder before reaching down to grab and fondle my ass. "Now, I'll give you what you want…but I got what you need."

"Indeed," I whispered, reaching under my shirt to get one of the vials of my blood. "Fair trade? How about a better pick-me-up than speed. Safer too."

"What is this? Blood?" he said, eyeing it.

"Just a special mix of mine, it'll make you stronger, tougher."

"Still looks like blood. Probably tainted with AIDS or something." This was going south fast.

"If your so scared, give it to me, I'll sample it for you." I said, holding out my hand.

"Yea, and your ass is probably already got it. Shit!" he said, his hand reaching behind him. "You can cough up five hundred bucks now, or I can take you fishing." His hand came back out with a gun, and it was pointed at me. I was really starting to wonder how far I could push my dead body. Did guns still hurt?

"How about you give it to me, and no one gets hurt." I said, trying to put an edge to my voice.

"Yo boys," He called out, and the other guy immediately came in leaving the door open, bat in hand. "Get the boat ready, we're going fishing." I only had eyes for that gun, wondering how I was going to salvage this when the first shot rang out and I felt the sting in my chest and the thump like I'd been hit with a sledgehammer. I stumbled back and he shot me five more times, each shot hitting me in the chest and knocked me back into the wall.

I somehow managed to stay on my feet, and looked down at my bloody chest. That was just pissing me off. I only had the one shirt, and it wasn't like I could go shopping for more. I looked up to see a startled Dennis reloading his pistol. With deliberate steps I walked forward and grabbed his gun hand just as he was bringing it back up to fire again. I started to bend his gun arm around to face him, and I could feel him use every muscle to fight me. I still managed to keep turning the gun to face him and as I started to line it up with his face, saw the stark fear there. Once I had it lined up, I pulled the trigger myself.

The gun barked once, the bullet ripping into left eye and painting the wall behind him with his brains. After that he went limp and I let him fall to the side. I looked around to see the other five guys lined up at the doorway. Each one had a shocked looked on their face. The guy closest to me, one I think was in here with Dennis when I came in, shook his head then charged me. I reached up and caught the bat down swing, the strength still flowing through my body. He looked just as shocked as Dennis did when I twisted the bat away from his hands with no effort. He reached behind him to grab for something.

Fearing it was another gun, and not wanting the nearby cops to come and lock me up for disturbing the peace, I swung as hard as I could. The bat caught his chin in an upswing, and with a sickening crunch as loud as a gunshot, broke his neck clean through. His head continued to roll back from my swing, and he looked at his buddies as he died, falling backwards to land in front of them.

I looked at the last four guys, and saw the stark fear on their faces. I looked at the bat in my hands, and wanting to see how strong I truly was, grabbed the thick part in my hands, then brought it down over my raised leg. The resounding crack sounded like a homerun hit, and I was left with two pieces of ash in my hands. One of the survivors looked at his dead buddy, and ran like a frightened rabbit.

One more joined him as I walked towards the last two. One was Brian, the other was a blond haired boy who looked like he was about to bolt. As I got near enough to smell the stench off Brian, I felt something flow from me to them. I didn't know what it was, but I the look in their eyes was of cornered prey.

"Please don't kill me," blonde boy whimpered as I reached under my shirt for my vials, only to find them all shattered. Shit! That must be where the blood was from.

"You two boys want a job with perks?" I asked, my voice amazingly calm even though I had just killed two people. I reached down and took blonde boys knife from his limp fingers. Both guys at my feet didn't even nod, but stared up at me with wide eyes. I took a bite out of my wrist, allowing the blood to start flowing. "You boys want to live to see the sunrise, start drinking."

Brian immediately started drinking, only stopping when I pulled him off my wrist. Blondie looked at my proffered wrist, then bolted for the door. I took the knife and threw it at him, hitting him in the head with the handle end. It did cause him to stumble and miss the slightly open door, and he slammed it closed with his body. Suddenly thirsty, I stepped past Brian towards Blondie as he started to pick himself up. He didn't hardly get to his feet before I shoved him back against the door, then yanked his head to the side revealing his neck. Pushing my fangs out with muscles I were beginning to realize I had, I bit hard into his neck. He struggled for a moment, then stood there, as gulp after gulp of his blood went down my throat. I could feel the blood thin, but I kept drinking him deep. Only when his blood quit flowing did I release his dead body.

"You," Brian started to say, before I shut him up with a serious look.

"Yes, I killed him." I admitted. "The people I'm with don't take violations of our privacy lightly. So you want to live, rule one, you never tell people about vampires being real. Got it?"

"Yes," he said, the fear still in his voice.

"Bring the Astrolite," I commanded, looking up at the passing moon. "Much to do, so little night to do it in."