Doesn't Anyone Stay Dead Around Here?
Chapter 6
Abe did not realize how lucky he was. At 2:00 in the morning, he had just returned to his hotel room after traipsing across town to the cemetery with the crypt he and Blair had visited earlier that day. After their aborted interview, Blair had insisted that they set up a camera to record anyone entering or exiting the crypt. Shortly after midnight, Abe had remembered that the tape in the camera was not long enough to last the entire night.
He had then debated with himself about returning to the graveyard to insert a new tape. Certainly, that girl knew more than she was telling, and she had warned him not to go out at night. But he was a big guy and could handle himself. Besides, vampires didn't really exist, right? Sure, maybe some crackpot had set up house in the mausoleum and maybe he even drank real blood, but that didn't mean he actually was a cape-wearing, I-vant-to- suck-your-blood, creature-of-the-night vampire, right? And, if the tape ran out before sunrise, Blair would surely want to run the tape the next night. If changing the tape meant they could leave this creepy little town one day earlier, it was certainly worth it. After his common sense finished severely reprimanding his gut instinct, Abe left the hotel and changed the tape. His journey was a rarity; he traveled unmolested.
Even as such, Abe's gut instinct had reasserted itself by the time he returned to the hotel room. A combination of adrenaline and morbid curiosity caused Abe to pop the tape in his VCR and give it a quick screening. As he watched the tape on fast-forward, and nothing happened for the first three hours, he began to relax. As the tape neared it's end, and Abe had all but convinced himself that he and Blair were on another fool's errand, two figures entered the camera's view.
One was a man in a long, dark coat, while the other was a short woman. Both had light hair, and Abe squinted, trying to make out their features in the small, black and white picture. As he watched, the woman pushed the man up against the side of the crypt and began kissing him, almost violently. As the two continued to make out, another figure entered the screen, a man.
Abe rubbed his eyes and moved closer to the television screen. He could have sworn that before he turned his back, the new man's face had been deformed, with lumps across the brow. As Abe watched, entranced, the three interacted. The woman spun around, and words were exchanged between the three. *It's really too bad we didn't set up an audio feed for the area near the crypt,* Abe mused.
Suddenly the woman punched the new man square in the nose. He reeled, and appeared to appeal to the other man for help. The man in the long, dark coat simply shrugged as if to say, "She does that to me all the time." As the woman continued her assault on the man, she reached behind her as if to pull something out of her back pocket. When her had emerged from behind her back empty, her face took on an expression of long suffering hardship and untold toil.
As she called over her shoulder to her companion, he had already pulled what appeared to be a wooden stake from the pocket of his coat and thrown it in her direction. Without looking, the woman reached out in one fluid motion, grabbed it, and plunged it into the chest of the man she was fighting.
Abe was surprised. While this obviously wasn't vampires, violent midnight attacks in cemeteries was a just as good, if not better, story. Perhaps it was some kind of gang initiation ritual. Even as the thought crossed his mind, Abe's surprise turned into shock. The man that the woman had just stabbed had disappeared. Abe rewound the tape and watched it again. No, the man didn't disappear; he exploded into dust moments after the woman's stake plunged into his body. Even more appalling was that the woman dusted her hands off nonchalantly and turned to her companion, apparently with every intention of picking up where they had left off.
The two exchanged a few words, and then the man's face changed. No longer was it a face of smooth planes and sculpted cheekbones. Now it was bumpy and disfigured. In fact, Abe realized, it was similar to the way the other man's face had looked. As the man smiled at the woman, Abe also saw that he had fangs! Aghast, Abe continued to watch as the two began to exchange blows.
Both were very skilled fighters, and the fight was obviously more of a sparring match than an actual brawl. However, Abe was still unprepared for the two to suddenly switch from violence to passion. As they started kissing again, the woman jumped up and wrapped her legs around the man's waist. Then, still kissing, he carried her into the crypt.
Abe watched the tape three more times before he realized that he had seen the couple before. They were the two Blair had spoken to that afternoon during his ill-fated interview.
***
On the other side of the planet, in a flat in Bath, a middle-aged watcher removed his glasses and absently cleaned them on his shirt. He replaced them and looked at the translations and calculations before him. They had not changed during the time he could not see them. He spoke, but even as the words left his mouth, he was reaching for the telephone.
"Oh, dear Lord."
tbc
Chapter 6
Abe did not realize how lucky he was. At 2:00 in the morning, he had just returned to his hotel room after traipsing across town to the cemetery with the crypt he and Blair had visited earlier that day. After their aborted interview, Blair had insisted that they set up a camera to record anyone entering or exiting the crypt. Shortly after midnight, Abe had remembered that the tape in the camera was not long enough to last the entire night.
He had then debated with himself about returning to the graveyard to insert a new tape. Certainly, that girl knew more than she was telling, and she had warned him not to go out at night. But he was a big guy and could handle himself. Besides, vampires didn't really exist, right? Sure, maybe some crackpot had set up house in the mausoleum and maybe he even drank real blood, but that didn't mean he actually was a cape-wearing, I-vant-to- suck-your-blood, creature-of-the-night vampire, right? And, if the tape ran out before sunrise, Blair would surely want to run the tape the next night. If changing the tape meant they could leave this creepy little town one day earlier, it was certainly worth it. After his common sense finished severely reprimanding his gut instinct, Abe left the hotel and changed the tape. His journey was a rarity; he traveled unmolested.
Even as such, Abe's gut instinct had reasserted itself by the time he returned to the hotel room. A combination of adrenaline and morbid curiosity caused Abe to pop the tape in his VCR and give it a quick screening. As he watched the tape on fast-forward, and nothing happened for the first three hours, he began to relax. As the tape neared it's end, and Abe had all but convinced himself that he and Blair were on another fool's errand, two figures entered the camera's view.
One was a man in a long, dark coat, while the other was a short woman. Both had light hair, and Abe squinted, trying to make out their features in the small, black and white picture. As he watched, the woman pushed the man up against the side of the crypt and began kissing him, almost violently. As the two continued to make out, another figure entered the screen, a man.
Abe rubbed his eyes and moved closer to the television screen. He could have sworn that before he turned his back, the new man's face had been deformed, with lumps across the brow. As Abe watched, entranced, the three interacted. The woman spun around, and words were exchanged between the three. *It's really too bad we didn't set up an audio feed for the area near the crypt,* Abe mused.
Suddenly the woman punched the new man square in the nose. He reeled, and appeared to appeal to the other man for help. The man in the long, dark coat simply shrugged as if to say, "She does that to me all the time." As the woman continued her assault on the man, she reached behind her as if to pull something out of her back pocket. When her had emerged from behind her back empty, her face took on an expression of long suffering hardship and untold toil.
As she called over her shoulder to her companion, he had already pulled what appeared to be a wooden stake from the pocket of his coat and thrown it in her direction. Without looking, the woman reached out in one fluid motion, grabbed it, and plunged it into the chest of the man she was fighting.
Abe was surprised. While this obviously wasn't vampires, violent midnight attacks in cemeteries was a just as good, if not better, story. Perhaps it was some kind of gang initiation ritual. Even as the thought crossed his mind, Abe's surprise turned into shock. The man that the woman had just stabbed had disappeared. Abe rewound the tape and watched it again. No, the man didn't disappear; he exploded into dust moments after the woman's stake plunged into his body. Even more appalling was that the woman dusted her hands off nonchalantly and turned to her companion, apparently with every intention of picking up where they had left off.
The two exchanged a few words, and then the man's face changed. No longer was it a face of smooth planes and sculpted cheekbones. Now it was bumpy and disfigured. In fact, Abe realized, it was similar to the way the other man's face had looked. As the man smiled at the woman, Abe also saw that he had fangs! Aghast, Abe continued to watch as the two began to exchange blows.
Both were very skilled fighters, and the fight was obviously more of a sparring match than an actual brawl. However, Abe was still unprepared for the two to suddenly switch from violence to passion. As they started kissing again, the woman jumped up and wrapped her legs around the man's waist. Then, still kissing, he carried her into the crypt.
Abe watched the tape three more times before he realized that he had seen the couple before. They were the two Blair had spoken to that afternoon during his ill-fated interview.
***
On the other side of the planet, in a flat in Bath, a middle-aged watcher removed his glasses and absently cleaned them on his shirt. He replaced them and looked at the translations and calculations before him. They had not changed during the time he could not see them. He spoke, but even as the words left his mouth, he was reaching for the telephone.
"Oh, dear Lord."
tbc