Chapter 6
Wednesday, January 8th, 1986
Hill Valley, California
8: 19 P. M.
Doc and Mysteria roamed the streets of Hill Valley, Doc's arm around Mystie's shoulders. They were on a date, trying to forget their troubles. The Time Trippers seemed almost helpless to stop Biff from taking over California at some point in the future. Their new friends the souled vampires could do little but prevent further attacks on them, and Doc refused to involve the rest of the McFly family. Life was grim.
Mysteria let out a deep sigh. "Emmett, have you ever wished you didn't have a time machine?" she mumbled, putting her head on his shoulder.
"Once every so often," Doc admitted. "Why? Would you prefer it if we had never glimpsed the future that is to come?"
"Sort of. It gives me nightmares, but it also strengthens my resolve. That future was such a horrible one. . . ."
"Don't worry, Mystie," Doc said, kissing her. "We'll find a way to prevent it. You'll see. The future is what you make of it." He looked around and frowned. "In the meantime, let's try figuring out our geographical location."
"We're lost?" asked Mysteria in surprise. Both she and Doc had been so wrapped up in their problems, they hadn't really noticed where they had been heading. She lifted her head and looked around. Not one of the buildings was familiar. "Good Grief, we are lost. Where are we?"
Doc shrugged. "I thought I knew every street in Hill Valley, but apparently I don't. I'll see if I can find some familiar landmarks." He walked over to a nearby intersection and checked the street sign. "Good! We're not far from my home. This street intersecting us is Valley Lane, which connects onto J. F. K. Drive. We're currently on Larkton Street. Funny, I wonder why I've never seen this street before."
"I think I know," Mystie giggled. "This is the club district. Look, there's Future Fest to your right."
Doc nodded as he saw it, lit up with neon. "Yes, I remember hearing about this place. Marty wants to see if he can get an engagement there. He feels it would be a good omen for his future, considering the name." He smiled at his girlfriend. "Do you want to go in and see what's what?"
She shook her head. "Actually, I'm more interested in that one," she admitted, pointing to a club down the street.
Doc studied the sign, which was pure black with red neon letters. "Darkness Falls," he read. "Sounds interesting. And it'll provide a much- needed break." He rejoined Mystie and proceeded up the street with her.
A woman beat them to the bouncer who stood guard at the door. She was dressed from head to foot in black, with white spider webs decorating the fabric. Her brown eyes were outlined in black like an Ancient Egyptians, and she wore an ankh on a chain around her neck. "Hi Richard."
"Hi Serena," the bouncer replied with a smile. "Got your ticket in?"
Serena grinned at him, revealing well-made plastic vampire fangs. He grinned back and let her in.
Doc looked at Mysteria. "What was that all about?" he asked, confused.
"Some nightclubs have special days where you can get in for free if you're dressed a certain way," Mysteria explained to him. "Must be for some fang manufacturer or something. Let's see if flashing our fangs has the same effect." She pulled Doc up to the door.
Richard the bouncer stopped them. "Sorry, but it's 20 bucks each if you want to get in," he informed them.
Doc and Mystie showed off their fangs with bright smiles. "Oh, you're dressed! Go ahead in." He opened the door for them. "Boy, those are good fangs. Custom-made?"
"You could say that," Doc replied, trying his darndest not to giggle. He and Mystie stepped inside. The place was very dark, with red lights illuminating choice spots. A bar ran along one wall. Near it was a mess of tables, along with a dance floor and band stage. A strange-looking group was playing a moody song. People were sitting at the tables or at the bar, drinking and chatting, or dancing. It would have appeared to be a normal nightclub, if not for the fact everyone in it wore fangs.
Mysteria did a smell check. "Not a vampire here," she whispered to Doc. "All humans pretending to be us."
Doc stared at the scene. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable and out of place. He had no idea how to behave in a club. "What do I do?" he whispered back, feeling like invisible eyes were watching him closely.
"First off, relax. You're supposed to have fun in a place like this." She glanced around the room. "Let's get a seat at the bar and see what's what here." She dragged Doc over to the bar.
The bartender smiled at them as they sat themselves on some stools. Like the rest, he wore fangs, although his looked more natural than the others. "What's your poison?"
"Just some water, thanks," Mysteria told him. Doc was too busy examining the decor to talk. The stool poles and the bar itself were mahogany, carved with bats, wolves, and other symbols of darkness. Behind the bar was a mural, depicting vampires and humans in various states of undress. Blood was readily seen running from the vampires' mouths as they bit and copulated with their human companions. The scientist wondered who could paint something like that.
"That's it? Water?"
"We don't drink," Mystie said, also admiring the decor. "Those are interesting fangs you have."
"Thanks. My dentist had to be forced into altering them. He said I'd regret doing it later. Well, if I do, I can always have them filed and capped." He produced 2 glasses of water. "I haven't seen you 2 in here before. What's your names?"
"I'm Mysteria Jones," Mystie said. "My stunned boyfriend here is Dr. Emmett Brown. It's his first time in a place like this."
The bartender looked at Doc. "You don't seem to be the sort who likes this kind of stuff," he admitted.
"Huh?" Doc snapped his attention away from the mural. "Well, I'm usually not in nightclubs that celebrate it. I normally keep this in the privacy of my own home."
The bartender nodded understandingly. "Yeah. A lot of the mundanes don't understand us. Or think we're losers with no lives."
"Sounds like you and me have a lot in common," Doc grumbled. "Everyone thinks I'm a crackpot because I like to explore new science and hold unconventional views." He looked at the bartender with vague curiosity. "Do you think I'm insane?"
The bartender shrugged. "I try not to judge people before I know them. A lot of the stories I've heard about you are incredible, Dr. Brown."
"Well, that's exactly what they are. Incredible. I am not a pyromaniac, I do not keep animals for experimental purposes, and I do not try to poison the minds of Hill Valley's youth. But then, what I do is really none of your business."
The bartender smiled lopsidedly. "I know, and I don't blame you for being upset over all the rumors. We've got plenty about us, let me tell you. I was just a little curious about our local legend." He examined Doc's half-extended fangs. "Where did you get those made? I could swear those were real teeth. But I know a guy like you probably would never get your teeth altered."
Doc was saved from answering by a girl sliding in next to him. She looked at him with an all too familiar expression, a mixture of fear and pity. Then she turned her attention to the bartender with a smile. "Scotch and soda, please, Joey."
Joey poured her a shot. "You look great tonight, Rachel," he said, admiring her costume. Besides the usual fangs, she wore a thin white nightgown, stained with red food coloring. Bats hung from her earlobes. Contact lenses gave her eyes a feline look.
"Thanks. It took me forever to find these lenses. I finally had to mail-order them." She looked back at Doc, who had spun his stool to face his girlfriend. "Aren't you the local crackpot?"
Doc didn't dignify the question with a response. Rachel tried again. "Is it true you keep animals locked up so you can feed them strange drugs?"
Doc didn't answer that one either. He idly perused her thoughts, wondering if she was going to say anything that he wanted to answer. "I wonder what he's doing here. The stories never mentioned he might be a lifestyler. They always said he was a shizo, or a pyromaniac, or junk like that. Will he talk to me if I ask?" "Do you- uh- do the vampire thing often? Are you a lifestyler?"
"Depends on what you mean by that," Doc said, swinging around to face her. "I don't think I've ever heard the term before."
"You know, you pretend you're a vampire to get away from your boring life."
Doc had to spin away again for a moment. The urge to burst out laughing had hit him hard. "'Pretend you're a vampire to get away from your boring life'," he mentally repeated, smiling. "Oh, God, if she knew the truth. . . .Get a grip on yourself, Emmett, she's expecting an answer."
He calmed down enough to speak. "Sometimes I do so. I only just discovered this place, though."
"We like to keep it secret," Rachel nodded, looking like her suspicions about him had been confirmed by his near-laughing fit. "Normal people never understand the vampire. They don't understand the power that comes with it. You're the ultimate seducer, with the ability to play with lives. You live off what makes others tick, consuming their very souls. It's complete and total power."
Doc looked back at Mystie, impressed. "Rather romanticized, but I understand her passion. I feel that same rush whenever I fly."
"Yeah, or when the blood thirst hits," Mysteria thought back. Aloud she commented, "It's really alluring, I admit." She extended a hand to Rachel. "Mysteria Jones. I'm Emmett's fiancé."
Rachel was surprised. "Rachel Carthak." "Huh! I never knew he had a girlfriend. I guess he's gotta be somewhat normal if somebody wants to marry him." "Welcome to the scene, you two." She finished her glass and got up to dance.
"At least she's tolerant of me," Doc murmured. "It's surprising what having a girlfriend can do for you." He smiled warmly at Mysteria. She smiled back just as warmly.
A pair assumed Rachel's seat. They did a double take upon seeing Doc beside them. "Never expected to see him here," the woman thought. "Ah, well, it's his life." Doc stopped himself from rolling his eyes.
Mysteria started the conversation this time. "Hello. I'm Mysteria Jones, and I think you know my fiancé. Who are you?"
"Chris and Tina Smith," the couple introduced themselves. "We're regulars here. It's nice to see some new faces too." They extended their hands. As Doc shook with Tina, he noticed scars all over her arm. Some were old and gray-colored, while others were fresh, with beads of blood on the cuts. "Great Scott! What happened to you?" he asked, startled.
"Oh, my scars?" Tina waved her hands. "They're nothing. Just marks from the razor Chris and I use. We're blood players, you see."
"Blood players?" Mysteria repeated. "We're newbies at this, so excuse me for asking what a blood player is."
"We like to get totally into the vampire experience," Chris explained. He had long curly hair and multiple piercings in each ear. "For us, the cutting is an art form. We use razors, scalpels, and syringes to extract the fluid of life, and we drink it or do other things with it. I've heard of a man who paints with his own blood. It's mind-bending, feeling that hotness run down your throat into your stomach, to feel the life of someone else flood your body. It's total intimacy, total control over- Are you all right?"
Doc had had to turn away from the blood players. He could feel his fang muscles aching to relax and fully extend his fangs. His eyes were already aglow with need, even though it wasn't a feeding night. Their description of blood-drinking had awoken his animal instincts. "Now I know how Nick feels when he's thirsty." He shut his eyes tight and tried to calm himself down.
"We're sorry; we forget people can get squeamish around blood," Tina apologized.
"It's not exactly squeamishness," Doc admitted, looking at Mysteria. Her own eyes were glowing a little. She, too, had been affected by what the blood players had said. He felt a powerful urge to sink his fangs into her neck, but refrained. "If you enjoy it, it can't be bad."
"We try to be careful," Tina nodded. "We make sure everything is sterile and sharp before we cut. And we try not to drink directly from the wound."
"We brush our teeth before and after too, just in case," added Chris. He cocked his head, looking carefully at Doc. "You know, Linda never mentioned you were into this sort of thing."
"Oh, you're friends of Linda?" Doc said, calmed down enough to face them.
"We double date sometimes. She knows about the cutting, just not the drinking. She really likes you, Dr. Brown. She told us you helped save her brother's life."
"That was mere chance," Doc said modestly, with a slight shiver. He hated being reminded of Marty's near death at Sucker's hand. "It scared the hell out of me."
"Would've scared the hell out of us too." Tina smiled at him. "Have you 2 been lifestylers long?"
"For a while," Mysteria chuckled. "We have a small circle of friends who are also lifestylers, so we usually hang around them. They're blood players too, actually."
"You'll have to bring them over," Tina said eagerly. "They'd love it here. It's a haven from the outside world."
"Not that we can't deal with the outside world," Chris said hastily. "Both Tina and I have regular jobs. We just like to let our hair down and acknowledge our secret selves here."
"Heck, I even do volunteer work at the local 4-H," Tina told them with a chuckle. "I'm a real cut-up at the Halloween parties."
Doc wanted to groan at that, but stopped himself. It was possible Tina hadn't even realized she had made a bad joke. "I think we will tell our friends about this place," he said with a wink to Mysteria. "It would interest them greatly."
Tina and Chris smiled brightly and clinked glasses with Doc and Mystie. "Great. Welcome to Darkness Falls."
Wednesday, January 8th
10: 45 P. M.
"There's people who pretend to be vampires?" asked James, astonished. "Fangs and capes and all that?"
"Fangs yes, but capes are optional. And there's people who cut themselves and let others drink their blood. We talked to two of them, and once they left, Emmett and I were so worked up we bit each other on the spot! It's perfect for us souled vampires. We'll have a private place to express our true natures in perfect safety. And it gives us a good place to hide from Biff's goons."
Louis looked extremely pleased. "Good work, guys. Just the place we need to make plans and plot Biff's down fall."
"And feast on the patrons, beside," Henry smacked his lips, eyes aglow.
"Is that all you ever think about? Blood?" Mysteria demanded.
"I'm a vampire. I'm supposed to have a fixation on it." Henry glared at her, adding mentally, "At least I'm not dating the town weirdo!"
"Henry," Louis warned, sensing the thought. "If we want to survive Biff's plan, we need to work together." Henry just grumbled.
"Boy, Doc, I don't think the normal population of Hill Valley hates you as much as Henry does," Marty thought to Doc. He and Jennifer were listening in to the meeting through their blood links. "I don't trust him."
"I've studied his brain waves, Marty," Doc thought back. "He's simply an angry person who loves to pick out scapegoats to blame for every problem on earth." To the others he asked, "Has anyone heard of any more disappearances?"
Everyone shook their heads. "Jennifer says no, honey," Mysteria added.
"So does Marty."
"That's good. Means we don't have to worry about any more than we've already got," Natalie said in relief. "So we've still got time to make plans. Let's all meet- that includes Marty and Jennifer too, if they can come- at Darkness Falls tomorrow and see what we can come up with."
"That's fine," Louis agreed as everyone else nodded. "Well, if that's all the news, we'll be off."
"Henry wants to say something," Magnus reported. "However, I don't think he should, as there are ladies present."
"Don't read my thoughts," Henry growled. "What I choose to think is my own business."
"It is if it involves one of our own. Honestly, Henry, Dr. Brown seems like a very nice man. Possibly a little touched, but nice."
"You're a great help, Magnus," Doc said sarcastically.
"I meant that in a good way. Every genius is slightly mad. I don't understand why the majority of Hill Valley citizens think of you as a loon."
"Research my childhood and you'll have a better understanding of why." Doc smiled at Magnus. He liked this guy a lot. "But it's nice to know there's people like you in Hill Valley." Magnus smiled back.
"Stop that! Emmett is a dear, sweet man and I love him!" Mysteria snapped at Henry, hearing his latest thoughts on her boyfriend. Louis glared at him.
Henry sighed and turned away from the rest of the group. "Everyone knows he's really screwing that McFly kid," he muttered.
Abruptly he found himself against the wall, held off the floor by his throat by a fully vamped Doc. "Do you want to make another comment about my relationship with Marty?" he hissed, enraged. "Or should I rip out your throat right now before you further insult me and my best friend?"
"Easy on, Doc," Louis warned. "I don't tolerate the killing of souled vampires by their own kind, as unofficial leader. Put him down."
Doc glared at Louis, but released Henry. He snarled at him and rubbed his throat. "Now apologize for that entirely inappropriate comment, Henry. You know very well Marty has a blood link with Doc, nothing more. And don't mention it again."
"Sorry," Henry growled, not sounding sorry at all. He leaned in closer to Doc. "But don't regard me lightly, Brown. You'll be the next disappearance, if I have anything to do with it." He flew out of the window. The rest of the vampires said goodbye and also left.
"That bastard," Marty thought angrily, having heard the whole thing. "I told you I didn't trust him. You'd better look out, Doc."
Doc didn't reply. He had a feeling Henry Fleming would prove a more dangerous opponent than any soulless vampire.