"I'm sorry." I say softly, as we both close our doors, and I start up the
car. "Hey, if I had known you would be this sensitive, I - "
"You know what? Just stop. Drive. It's been a bad day and I'm overreacting."
"Well, it's not going to get any better anytime soon, so you just go ahead and pout, or fume or stew or whatever it is that you scientist guys do, alrigh'."
"How bad is it going to get?"
"For you? Terrible, awful, no good, very bad." I say, deciding to take a different way down. "Vampires are real, forget all you've seen in the movies or read. They can go out in the sunlight, eat real food, drink real drink, mate, and then kill you in their own bed. Crosses, holy water and all of that doesn't physically affect them, and they don't sleep in coffins. Yes, wooden stakes and decapitation kills them, and no, two vampires can't get together and have little baby vampires. Any questions on that front?"
"How is this bad for me especially?"
"Simple; vampires need blood because their own blood can't sustain itself, without drinking fresh blood a newly made vamp dies after two hours. The leader of a coven hired me to steal some research so that they could work out a way to "cure" themselves of the weakness of needing blood, without getting rid of the component that allows them to digest it."
"Geeze, what would they have paid you to bring back a geneticist?" He asks, jokingly.
"Just over double. I'm taking them out anyway."
"Are you serious?"
"Figuring out why I didn't want you along?"
"Oh, God, be joking."
"I wish, but just stay in the car and you'll be fine. Don't open the door either."
"Oh God." He whispers.
"Look, have I let anything that horrible happen to you?" I glance and he shakes his head "no". "And I'm not going to. So chill out. You're a grown man with a pistol under his seat."
"A bullet kills a vampire?"
"No, but they hurt like hell." I say, pulling into the driveway of an old house. "Here," I yank the gun from its very secure spot under his seat and hand it to him. "Feel better?"
"Uh, no." Adam says nervously.
"Okay." I take the gun from his lap, put it in the glove compartment, and leave the glove compartment open as I kiss him on the left temple. "How 'bout now?"
"Ahh, yeah."
"Great. Gun's loaded and the safety's off. Anything comes within arm's reach of the car, roll down the window and shoot it. I'm leaving the power for the windows on, going down they're nice and slow, but it only takes a tap to shut them again. Got it?"
"Yeah, go." He says quietly.
"Back soon, if I'm more than an hour, push the big red button." I get out of the car, activate the power locks, and head for the door.
"Whosit?" A male voice says gruffly from the other side of the door.
"Ariella." I say, switching my voice to a silky alto with a Dutch accent to go with my character.
"Oh." The man says, and a second later he opens the door wide for me. "You're late."
"And you're ugly, so that's two things neither of us can do anything about. Lead on." I say, maintaining my false voice and accent. He growls at me, but leads me into the family room of the house anyway.
"Ariella Van Tassel." The vampire announces.
"You're late, I've eaten." A tall, black haired vampire says, rising from a Laz-E-Boy recliner directly across from the door.
"I hope it wasn't that pretty blonde."
"Fat redhead."
"Oh." I say, thoughtfully. "Good." Sincerely glad that bastard child pornographer is dead. I have a little silent party in my head as the vampire laughs. "Let's get to it, then, Brooke."
"Yes, indeed." He smiles, displaying his fang-ish canines and bloodstained tongue openly. "You are dismissed."
"The captives?" I say, after Escort Vamp leaves the room.
"Ah, yes, y our fee. My research?"
"An unfortunate thing with that. It was a complete success." I toss a few mini-disks at him, which he catches.
"I've always loved the scent of a woman."
"Marvelous, my brother had them." He looks at me doubtfully. "A transvestite."
"Hm, well." He says, looking at the disks he had just so vigorously sniffed with obvious distaste. "The geneticist?"
"No such luck. Who knew a three story drop could kill a man?"
"Hmph. Oh well. There are eleven downstairs, you may choose four."
"Fine, but remember to feed door boy. He has become very unpleasant."
"Very well then. Lee!"
"Yes?" Escort Vamp Lee says, coming back into the room.
"Show our dear friend Ariella to the basement so that she may take her fee."
"Yes, sir." Lee says.
"So your name's Lee, and you're ugly on top of that." I muse as he leads me to the basement door. "No wonder you're cranky."
"Take your fee and go, bitch." He opens the door to the basement as I chuckle to myself in victory. I choose the four strongest, most attractive people out of the bunch, and ask for a moment alone with them.
"Names? I do not care if they are real or not." I ask, as soon as we're alone.
"Rayvyn." Says a girl; with black hair, black eyes, and the whitest skin I've ever seen outside of a magazine, in a very smoky alto voice.
"Connor." Says a guy with auburn hair and green eyes, dressed as an L.A. skateboarder. "You left me twin, we're here on fucking vacation."
"No. We haven't left the house yet. Don't assume." I scold.
"I'm Vivian." A woman dressed all in ocean colors with black hair and blue eyes says calmly.
"Hi, I'm Mia." The pretty blonde girl says, being very perky in the face of her possible death.
"Good. Who drives, show of hands?" Connor and Vivian raise their hands; Rayvyn just looks around a little shyly. "Terrific. I only have a small car; so all of you will either have to steal a car or run like hell, take your pick, but get out of here now unless you can help me."
"What are you thinking to do?" Connor asks.
"What can she do? These are vampires there's no killing them, they always come back." Raevyn says her panic driving her almost to tears.
"They are vampires, dear. Not cockroaches. I've fought them before." I tell her, trying to divert her overreaction.
"Then I will help you. I can't steal or lie, but neither can I sit back and watch you fight without repaying you for taking me off the evening menu." Vivian says.
"No, no, I promised me mum that I'd get Carolyn home safely. I can hotwire if need be." Connor says, beginning to pace the room.
"I don't see me being much help to you, but I don't have anything to run to." Mia says, her perkiness refusing to wear off.
"Connor, would you be opposed to taking Raevyn and Mia with you and your sister for a couple of hours at least?" I ask.
"No, if they want to come with me, they can, but I'll not look after them forever." Connor says, his fear entering into his voice.
"All right, then that's what is to be done. Everyone able to accept it?" I say, and get nods of agreement all around. "Good."
"Time's up, Ariella." Lee calls from the top of the stairs.
"Uh, oh. Do not like the sound of that." I mutter to myself. "Vivian, right in back of me, Connor, Mia, and Raevyn, a little further away."
"Brooke? Probl-" I begin. I stop when I see Adam on his knees, with his face bloodied.
"Seems you've been holding out on me, Ariella. Mick found this in your car." Brooke says, as I stare at Adam.
"So?" I ask, shifting my gaze to Brooke.
"He hasn't said a damn word." Brooke says.
"Again; so? You know I have a boy toy." I say, wishing I could just give in and throw a bunch of daggers at him.
"A very well trained boy toy." Lee interjects, and I have to resist wincing as I imagine how he learned that.
"Yes, and with a Genomex identification badge." Brooke says, reaching into Adam's jacket and ripping the breast pocket as he tore free the ID. I risk a glance at Adam and See only one thing that is unexpected in his eyes; hurt. "Kill them all, starting with the boy toy."
"Not bloody likely." I say, dropping my character.
"You know what? Just stop. Drive. It's been a bad day and I'm overreacting."
"Well, it's not going to get any better anytime soon, so you just go ahead and pout, or fume or stew or whatever it is that you scientist guys do, alrigh'."
"How bad is it going to get?"
"For you? Terrible, awful, no good, very bad." I say, deciding to take a different way down. "Vampires are real, forget all you've seen in the movies or read. They can go out in the sunlight, eat real food, drink real drink, mate, and then kill you in their own bed. Crosses, holy water and all of that doesn't physically affect them, and they don't sleep in coffins. Yes, wooden stakes and decapitation kills them, and no, two vampires can't get together and have little baby vampires. Any questions on that front?"
"How is this bad for me especially?"
"Simple; vampires need blood because their own blood can't sustain itself, without drinking fresh blood a newly made vamp dies after two hours. The leader of a coven hired me to steal some research so that they could work out a way to "cure" themselves of the weakness of needing blood, without getting rid of the component that allows them to digest it."
"Geeze, what would they have paid you to bring back a geneticist?" He asks, jokingly.
"Just over double. I'm taking them out anyway."
"Are you serious?"
"Figuring out why I didn't want you along?"
"Oh, God, be joking."
"I wish, but just stay in the car and you'll be fine. Don't open the door either."
"Oh God." He whispers.
"Look, have I let anything that horrible happen to you?" I glance and he shakes his head "no". "And I'm not going to. So chill out. You're a grown man with a pistol under his seat."
"A bullet kills a vampire?"
"No, but they hurt like hell." I say, pulling into the driveway of an old house. "Here," I yank the gun from its very secure spot under his seat and hand it to him. "Feel better?"
"Uh, no." Adam says nervously.
"Okay." I take the gun from his lap, put it in the glove compartment, and leave the glove compartment open as I kiss him on the left temple. "How 'bout now?"
"Ahh, yeah."
"Great. Gun's loaded and the safety's off. Anything comes within arm's reach of the car, roll down the window and shoot it. I'm leaving the power for the windows on, going down they're nice and slow, but it only takes a tap to shut them again. Got it?"
"Yeah, go." He says quietly.
"Back soon, if I'm more than an hour, push the big red button." I get out of the car, activate the power locks, and head for the door.
"Whosit?" A male voice says gruffly from the other side of the door.
"Ariella." I say, switching my voice to a silky alto with a Dutch accent to go with my character.
"Oh." The man says, and a second later he opens the door wide for me. "You're late."
"And you're ugly, so that's two things neither of us can do anything about. Lead on." I say, maintaining my false voice and accent. He growls at me, but leads me into the family room of the house anyway.
"Ariella Van Tassel." The vampire announces.
"You're late, I've eaten." A tall, black haired vampire says, rising from a Laz-E-Boy recliner directly across from the door.
"I hope it wasn't that pretty blonde."
"Fat redhead."
"Oh." I say, thoughtfully. "Good." Sincerely glad that bastard child pornographer is dead. I have a little silent party in my head as the vampire laughs. "Let's get to it, then, Brooke."
"Yes, indeed." He smiles, displaying his fang-ish canines and bloodstained tongue openly. "You are dismissed."
"The captives?" I say, after Escort Vamp leaves the room.
"Ah, yes, y our fee. My research?"
"An unfortunate thing with that. It was a complete success." I toss a few mini-disks at him, which he catches.
"I've always loved the scent of a woman."
"Marvelous, my brother had them." He looks at me doubtfully. "A transvestite."
"Hm, well." He says, looking at the disks he had just so vigorously sniffed with obvious distaste. "The geneticist?"
"No such luck. Who knew a three story drop could kill a man?"
"Hmph. Oh well. There are eleven downstairs, you may choose four."
"Fine, but remember to feed door boy. He has become very unpleasant."
"Very well then. Lee!"
"Yes?" Escort Vamp Lee says, coming back into the room.
"Show our dear friend Ariella to the basement so that she may take her fee."
"Yes, sir." Lee says.
"So your name's Lee, and you're ugly on top of that." I muse as he leads me to the basement door. "No wonder you're cranky."
"Take your fee and go, bitch." He opens the door to the basement as I chuckle to myself in victory. I choose the four strongest, most attractive people out of the bunch, and ask for a moment alone with them.
"Names? I do not care if they are real or not." I ask, as soon as we're alone.
"Rayvyn." Says a girl; with black hair, black eyes, and the whitest skin I've ever seen outside of a magazine, in a very smoky alto voice.
"Connor." Says a guy with auburn hair and green eyes, dressed as an L.A. skateboarder. "You left me twin, we're here on fucking vacation."
"No. We haven't left the house yet. Don't assume." I scold.
"I'm Vivian." A woman dressed all in ocean colors with black hair and blue eyes says calmly.
"Hi, I'm Mia." The pretty blonde girl says, being very perky in the face of her possible death.
"Good. Who drives, show of hands?" Connor and Vivian raise their hands; Rayvyn just looks around a little shyly. "Terrific. I only have a small car; so all of you will either have to steal a car or run like hell, take your pick, but get out of here now unless you can help me."
"What are you thinking to do?" Connor asks.
"What can she do? These are vampires there's no killing them, they always come back." Raevyn says her panic driving her almost to tears.
"They are vampires, dear. Not cockroaches. I've fought them before." I tell her, trying to divert her overreaction.
"Then I will help you. I can't steal or lie, but neither can I sit back and watch you fight without repaying you for taking me off the evening menu." Vivian says.
"No, no, I promised me mum that I'd get Carolyn home safely. I can hotwire if need be." Connor says, beginning to pace the room.
"I don't see me being much help to you, but I don't have anything to run to." Mia says, her perkiness refusing to wear off.
"Connor, would you be opposed to taking Raevyn and Mia with you and your sister for a couple of hours at least?" I ask.
"No, if they want to come with me, they can, but I'll not look after them forever." Connor says, his fear entering into his voice.
"All right, then that's what is to be done. Everyone able to accept it?" I say, and get nods of agreement all around. "Good."
"Time's up, Ariella." Lee calls from the top of the stairs.
"Uh, oh. Do not like the sound of that." I mutter to myself. "Vivian, right in back of me, Connor, Mia, and Raevyn, a little further away."
"Brooke? Probl-" I begin. I stop when I see Adam on his knees, with his face bloodied.
"Seems you've been holding out on me, Ariella. Mick found this in your car." Brooke says, as I stare at Adam.
"So?" I ask, shifting my gaze to Brooke.
"He hasn't said a damn word." Brooke says.
"Again; so? You know I have a boy toy." I say, wishing I could just give in and throw a bunch of daggers at him.
"A very well trained boy toy." Lee interjects, and I have to resist wincing as I imagine how he learned that.
"Yes, and with a Genomex identification badge." Brooke says, reaching into Adam's jacket and ripping the breast pocket as he tore free the ID. I risk a glance at Adam and See only one thing that is unexpected in his eyes; hurt. "Kill them all, starting with the boy toy."
"Not bloody likely." I say, dropping my character.