Candy Mulder...The Vampire Slayer? (2/4)

The sun shone brightly through the curtain of rain. A faint rainbow arched in the sky, an inverted smile. Or was it a frown?
I felt like frowning at that moment. My mother had offered to drive me to school on the way to her first day at Sunnydale General, where she would finally be practicing medicine after years of debunking my father's alien stories in the X-Files division of the FBI. She had an artificial smile plastered on her face. She had acted cheerful all through breakfast, kissing my father's cheek happily when he said good-bye. He was on his way to his first day of teaching paranormal psychology at UCLA. It was the perfect job for my father, whose FBI Academy nickname was 'Spooky'. I knew my mom was proud of my dad for landing such a good job, but it was the first time in all the years they'd been married that they weren't carpooling to work together. Everything was changed.
Everything had changed over the summer, when my parents packed up and said farewell D.C. and hello Sunnydale, California. Little did they know that Sunnydale happens to sit on a little thing called the Hellmouth - and that's exactly what it is. The mouth of Hell. And I don't mean metaphorically.
How do I know all this? Well, last Friday, after attempting and failing to pass cheerleading tryouts, a weird teacher named Thomas Winford approached me and told me a little secret. I, Candy Mulder, sixteen, just happen to be the only girl in the whole world with the power to slay vampires on the Hellmouth. I didn't believe it, of course, but he managed somehow to slip a book into my bag that explains it all.
It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't blown up at my parents over their job change, leaving the FBI for medical and teaching careers. But when I did, I got to thinking about duty, and how if all that slayer stuff was true, and I didn't do my job, I'd be shirking my sacred responsibility. And lo and behold, a little book delineating all the specifics ends up in my bag.
So I sat down and read it through Everything from how vampires feed, to how the Hellmouth has been ground zero for bizzarro happenings since it was first settled way back then, to the most effective spot on the chest to stake a creature of the night. So that when I finished, I was pretty grossed out, bone-tired, and committed to the idea that I was IT.
Come Monday morning, I dressed all in black and dug up the old gold crucifix my mother gave me for my first communion. The book said it's only effective if the wearer believes in its powers, and while I wasn't the star pupil of my Sunday school class (I flushed the teacher's wig down the toilet), I still believe in God. So I slipped it on and conviced myself it was THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
"Bye, sweetie," my mother said. She leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Have fun."
"Ha, ha." I offered. My mother raised her eyebrows, something she usually only does to my father. I wondered if she was worried about me making friends, of which I still had none.
"I was always afraid the Mulder wit would rub off on you."
"Believe me, I have enough Scully rationalism to even it out. " I assured her. "Bye, mom. I love you."
I watched my mother drive off, unknowing. I stalled a few more minutes before retracing my steps on Friday back to the library Winford had taken me to. I peered in the small, diamond-shaped window cut into the door and saw that he was alone. Not bothering to knock, I stormed right in. "All right, I'm in." I announced.
He was balanced on a stool behind the checkout counter, a musty book opened before him. I reached into my backpack, removed the book he had given to me somehow, and tossed it on the counter. "I'm in," I said again.
He got off the stool slowly, reaching for the book I had thrown down. "You were always in," he said. He had the faint touch of an accent that I hadn't noticed before. Canadian?
I followed him through the tall shelves of books. "So, what now?" I asked impatiently.
He replaced the book, brushing his fingers off on his pants. He was dressed like a geek, reading glasses perched on his nose, shielding his vibrant eyes, pants hiked up to his chest. He didn't seem like the kind of person who could train a slayer. "Well?" I demanded.
"Well," he echoed. He took off his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt. "Now that you know, you keep a lookout."
I scratched my head. "Like where? Club Vampire? Vampire Central? Where do these guys go?"
"Oh, I assure you, they're everywhere. You just have to be ready for them. On that note, when can you come for calisthetics?"
"Huh?"
"Your workout. You may have the strength, but I exaggerated when I said you had the skill. That comes with practice. So, when are you available?"
I sighed. No social life for me. "After school, I guess."
"Wonderful!" Winford said. He sounded an awful lot like the first time I met him. "Today. After school. Here."
I sighed again, more audibly this time. "Sure."

I practiced after school everyday for the next three months. Winford wrote my parents saying I'd become a 'library aide', which my father found hilarious, considering I'd burned one down at one point in my life. My mom thought it was great. She'd never say it, but I think she thinks I'm a big flake, sort of like my father. He still surfs the net looking for the latest conspiracy theories and chats on alien abduction sites.
One evening, after a particularly brutal workout, I thought, "What if there aren't any vampires left to slay?" After all, I'd been here a full three months, and I hadn't seen even one.
My father saw me zoning off in front of the television set and asked what was wrong. "Daddy... do you think vampires exist?" I didn't feel quite so strange asking my dad. He thinks aliens abducted his sister. I was never really sure about that, and now I'm more uncertain than ever. Three months ago, vampires didn't exist. Now they did, and even more ironically, I was their slayer. Who knows about my aunt?
My father picked up the remote and began flipping through the channels. "I remember one case your mother and I worked on."
I sat up, rubbing my sore neck. "We went to this little town, a couple of tourists had died there. It looked like exsaunguination."
"Looked like it?"
"And it was. Your mother proved that. Only, by what? I said vampires. Your mother thought more along the lines of a vampire hanger-on."
"A wannabe?"
"As she said, someone who had watched 'one too many Bela Lugosi movies'."
"So what was it, dad?"
My dad continued to channel surf, but he leaned conspirationally close to me. "Vampires, of course."
I was glad my father knew.

One Friday afternoon after school, Winford told me I deserved a break. "No workout today. Why don't you go down to that place where all the kids go, the Bronze?"
"Are you sure?" I asked. I was wearing my father's "Aliens Make Better Coffee" t-shirt and was ready to work up a sweat. "What about the vamps?"
Winford shook his head as though confused. "I don't understand it. Three months and not a breath of activity. I truly can't conceive why. But, we should count our blessings. Go to the Bronze, enjoy yourself. Watch your back."
So I changed into trendier clothes and went to the Bronze. They had a live act every Friday, and that Friday it was a local band called "Sanguis-Bound" - a name that made no sense whatsoever, but whose music was adequate.
I fingered my crucifix as I slurped up a diet cola from the safety of a quiet back table. I observed the people milling around, wondering if some of them were the very demons that I hunted. I saw a lot of people from school, but not signs of demonic activity.
After Sanguis-Bound's third song, I saw Barbie enter, dressed in skintight pink pants and a halter top to match. She looked like a pink swizzle stick that could strut. She eyed the people seated at the tables, and made directly fo rone just behind me. As she passed, I gave her a small smile, but I shouldn't have bothered.
I sighed, removed the straw from my drink and tried to catch some drops on my tongue. I laid the straw down on the table, then guzzled down the last of the diet cola. This was even more boring than training, if that was even possible. It might have been fun, if I had had any friends, but the fact was, I didn't. Between my new role as the savior of the world, school and my parents, I hadn't had much time to forge a social life.
Sighing again, I swung my purse over my shoulder and proceeded to leave. Abruptly, the music stopped. A few people immediately began to complain, and the dancers spread out over the floor stared in confusion at the musicians on stage. I cocked my head, wondering what was happening.
The lead singer, a slacker-type with orange-spiked hair, way too much lip gloss and an obsession with black, breathed into the microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen."
Waiting for the microphone feedback to stop, he continued, "I'm sorry, but tonight is the night..."
His ecpression was something that was cross between a sympathetic smile and a mocking grin. "...that you all..." he took a deep breath. He was enjoying everyone's expectation. "DIE."
There wasn't an immediate reaction. Some people still stood, waiting for him to say, "Just joking." Others screamed out obscenities. Most were just incredulous. And all this time, the musicians were slowly placing their instruments in their traveling cases. I caught a glimpse of the bass player. His face had turned into something that was definitely not human.
Then, someone screamed, a long, loud, piercing scream and that was all it took for chaos to erupt. People began to run, pushing and shoving others out of the way. Sanguis-Bound leapt off of the stage in one synchronized, feline movement. All of them has turned into something I had become very familiar with over three months - vampires.
Thinking quickly, I ran to the emergency exit. Someone had melted the door shut, but that wasn't a problem. I kicked the door open and yelled, "This way, everyone!"
A flood of people ran towards me, including the lead singer. His mouth was open, his fangs beared. I was scared for only a split second. In that second I was paralyzed, but in the next, I spun out of his way and looked frantically around for a weapon.
There was an ax on the wall, something to do with fire safety. In that moment, it was more like safety against the forces of evil. I pulled it off the wall and ran back towards the crowd.
One of them, the keyboardist, noticed me and nudged one of his companions. "Who's she?" he asked.
I held the ax in front of me. He walked towards me, confident in his strength. I suddenly understood the band name. Sanguis-Bound - blood ties.
"Stay back," I commanded. I swung the ax at him, but he dodged it.
"Oh, a little superhero, huh?" He gave me a menacing smile.
In that instant, I shoved the ax through his chest. He disappeared in a cloud of dust. "I'm no superhero," I said to the rest of them. "I'm Candy Mulder...the vampire slayer."
The lead singer chuckled. "Great stuff for prime time." he snickered.
So, all right, my witty repartee needed serious help. At that moment, all that stood between me and three vampires was a flimsy ax. I needed more than help with my rhetoric. I needed a miracle. And I thought the night was going to be a bummer.
"Uh...en garde!" I shouted. I jumped onto a table for a more dramatic effect.
One of them came towards me. I spun around and nailed him in the heart with the heel of my boot. He vanished, screaming like someone who'd watched seven hours of Al Gore.
With my second vampire down, I was gaining more confidence. Maybe this wasn't such a hard job after all. That's when a table came flying at my head.
"Whumph!" I slid off the table and rolled over to the stage.
The Bronze was empty save for me and the two remaining goons. "Go on," the lead singer shoved his friend at me. Obviously, he was the head honcho.
The vampire came towards me, a little shakier than the first two. He lunged for my neck, but I was wearing my crucifix. As he screamed, I pushed the ax through and he vanished.
The lead singer gave me a wan smile, then ran off and disappeared into the night. Somehow, I knew I hadn't seen the last of him. But I had proved myself that night. I was now officially Candy Mulder, Vampire Slayer.
Why did I feel like I had had my last night out?