Checking In

She smelled them before she saw them.

While sitting on an old beach towel on the far side of the crowd that was watching the original Dracula film being shown, Callie detected the unmistakable scent of the last two creatures she wanted to see at night. Turning her head slightly to the left, Callie easily spotted the approaching figures of her superior vampires, Elizabeth and Donovan.

Of all the places in this city, they had to come here, Callie thought to herself as she let out a small sigh and watched from the corner of her eye as Elizabeth and Donovan discretely scanned the crowd for their next meal. If there was one thing Elizabeth loved other than drinking blood, having sex and breaking people's hearts, it was the thrill of the hunt.

Not having been seen by the Countess and her lover of twenty years, Callie sat back and silently watched as the two creatures of the night encouraged, through a use of gestures that left nothing to the imagination, a younger couple sitting next to them to come and have a good time. Those poor souls Callie thought to herself; If they only knew.

As the two couples walked by, Elizabeth glanced at Callie with cold eyes and a look of indifference. Callie simply stared back at Elizabeth with a look of her own, before giving into those cold, soulless eyes and averting her gaze to the beach towel underneath her. Callie hated how the Countess had that effect on her; the ability to make her feel powerless and worthless with a flash of those eyes. Donovan didn't bother to acknowledge Callie's presence; as if the fifteen year-old vampire wasn't worth his time.

With a small smile and a teasing wink at the younger vampire, Elizabeth redirected her attention back to the direction of the hotel with Donovan and the young couple following. With a small frown, Callie turned her attention back to the black and white film and tried not think about the mess she would be told to clean up later.

When the movie ended, Callie gathered her things and began to slowly make her way back to the Hotel Cortez; knowing there would be at least two dead bodies waiting for her when she got back.

…

Looking up at the eerie neon sign, and not yet wanting to go into the building she both dreaded and welcomed as her home, Callie reaching into her backpack (having brought it with her to the movie), and pulled out a sketch pad with a pencil connected to it. Leaning against the front entrance of the hotel, she flipped to a clean page and began to sketch the outline of the Hotel Cortez sign.

Callie had always had a talent for drawing and found enjoyment in the process of creating a work of art with little more than a piece of paper, some pens and pencils, and her own imagination. She was even able to sell some of her sketches to pocket a little extra money. Drawing also provided a temporary escape from dealing with the hotel and it's not-so-friendly occupants.

Just as she finished the outline and began working on the neon letters, a blood curling scream shattered the blissful silence Callie enjoyed so much. Slamming the front of her sketch pad down on her incomplete drawing, Callie hastily packed up her backpack and peeked through the hotel's glass doors. Running down the hotel steps was a bloody, half naked women whom Callie could tell right away had unbelievably escaped from the "torture chamber" and from becoming a meal to the Countess's other vampire children.

Knowing she could not allow the woman to escape, for the consequences would be torturous, Callie pulled out the pocketknife she always kept hidden in her jacket pocket and pushed through the hotel's double doors.

With her knife hidden from view and the woman headed right towards her, Callie gripped the knife handle, whispered an "I'm sorry" as she briefly locked eyes with the terrified woman, and began to raise the knife when…

SLASH!

Elizabeth, having seemed to appear out of nowhere, stood with her back to Callie and used one of her infamous claw-gloves to slash open the woman's throat; getting a single drop of blood on her cheek. The woman collapsed to the floor as the Countess used her clawed finger to wipe and suck the blood that had landed on her cheek. Callie, still clutching her knife, could only stare at the bloodshed her mistress had made.

"I-I don't know what happened" Isis stuttered as she approached Elizabeth. "She got loose s-somehow." Elizabeth stared coldly at Isis. "This can never happen again" she replied in a tone that held deadly promise if an incident like this was to be repeated. Elizabeth then turned her attention to Callie, who was still staring at the woman choking on her own blood on the hotel lobby floor.

Using her gloved hand, Elizabeth placed her pointer finger under Callie's chin and forced her to look into her cold eyes. "You hesitated. Do not make that mistake again" she said in the same tone given to Iris. "Yes Mistress", Callie answered in a small voice. Satisfied with her response, Elizabeth retracted her gloved hand and began to walk towards the hotel staircases. "Clean it up, than assist Ms. Evers with the penthouse" the Countess said as she reached the stairs. Callie knew this order was directed towards her.

Still shaken up from what had just happened mere seconds ago, Callie and Iris looked at each other with terror and dread. After a few seconds, Iris focused her gaze on Callie's right hand; the hand which was still holding the knife. "Cal" Iris spoke, "your knife". Looking down, Callie saw she was clutching the knife handle so tight that it might break; out of fear or anger, or both, Callie did not know.

Quickly folding up the knife and putting it back in her pocket, she gave Iris a small smile. "Thanks" she said with a final nod to the older woman. Callie then headed off to gather the supplies she would need to get rid of the mess the Countess had made.