by Byron Thorne
As Jules stepped onto the second floor, she realized the stairs beneath her were the only way out. If she wasn’t fully committed before, she certainly was now. She needed to press forward or answer to the vamps beneath her. Morgan had to be up there. If he wasn’t, she needed to start thinking of a backup plan, quick.
There was no dancing on the second floor. The music still blared just as loud, but it didn’t seem to disturb the many creatures draped across the furniture in the shadows. It was as if she was staring at a gallery full of disturbingly realistic portraits. They all remained motionless, except she could still feel their eyes on her.
Still no sign of Morgan. A soft light peeked out of a curtain-covered entryway at the end of the room. Jules glanced over her shoulder. The group was moving up the stairs, and it had grown slightly in size. With no other option, Jules proceeded towards the unknown. She kept her shoulders back and her head high. Even if she didn’t know what she was doing, she didn’t want to make everyone else aware of it.
She pushed the curtain aside and was greeted with a room full of floor pillows, all velvet and various shades of dark red. There was nowhere to go from inside the room. Once she realized her mistake, Jules quickly spun around to leave. Unfortunately, the entryway was now cut off by the presence of her fan club. She had been in the room for less than a second- how had they managed to get behind her so quickly?
“Well, what do we have here?” one of them said. Jules instinctively backed up, but she had nowhere to go. She weighed her options. She could pull out the crossbow, and kill maybe one of them. Then what? Get ripped apart? Alternatively, she could play like she was helpless, and maybe talk her way out of it. Neither choice seemed like a good one. Things were not looking good.
“Hello, everybody,” Jules said, a shaky, horribly fake smile on her face. “Obviously I’m in the wrong room, so I’ll just be on my way.”
“Aw, the little kitten is lost. What’s the hurry? I bet you can find everything you need right here,” the vampire hissed. Jules did her best to avoid eye contact and looked instead at the intricate tattoos that covered the vampire’s muscular arms. She knew she didn’t have much time left.
“I’m looking for Morgan,” she said. “I’m sure you all know him. The head vampire?”
Whether it was true or not, Morgan’s name caused the vamps to stop advancing for the moment. They instead turned to look at each other, confusion on their faces.
“Head vampire?” one of them said to another. Then, the four of them all burst into laughter. Jules’ heart began to pound faster and faster while she stared at sets of glinting fangs in open mouths.
“Head vampire? What are you talking about, lady? There’s no head vampire here. Are you sure you know where you are? You know what, don’t answer that, I don’t even care.”
The female vamp in back chimed in. “I think I recognize this little one.”
“From where? She looks brand new to me. Smells fresh, too.”
Jules tried one more time, but the fear of the moment was shutting off the excuse-generating center of her brain. “Yes, I’m actually here on accident. My friends are all waiting for me outside. I should probably get back to them.”
“Friends? Do they look as good as you? Bring them in!”
“Mm… what are you really after, little girl? If you’re in this place, it’s for one of three simple reasons,” the female vampire dropped her originally playful tone. “Either you’re looking for the kiss, you’re looking for our blood, or you’re a hunter.”
“Whoa, hunter?” Jules yelled. “I don’t know anything about that; I’m actually on a blind date, what a fun place he chose.”
“She’s a hunter? That’s even better.”
“Why would that possibly be better?” Jules asked.
“It means we can eat all of you and no one will get mad,” the vamp hissed.
In an instant, the vampires had surrounded her. Icy claws dug into her wrists and her legs, preventing her from moving at all. Although she wouldn’t allow herself to give up just yet, Jules couldn’t help but feel like this could not have gone any worse. The more she thought about it, the more she realized it was a pretty bad plan to begin with. Just a couple of days ago, she wouldn’t have minded being in that position. Death seemed like it was an inevitability of the hunt, one that she wasn’t afraid of at all. Daniel might have been right about the whole death wish thing. Now that it was staring her in the face, and now that she had unfinished business, the whole thing seemed so much more problematic.
“You don’t have to kill me,” she offered.
“I know we don’t have to kill you. It’s just that we want to kill you.”
“Yeah, and I get that, but what if I offer myself willingly, you know, to join you in the ranks of the undead?” Jules didn’t even know if she was being serious or if she was just stalling for time. In that moment, the prospect of dying was more horrible than a transformation into a vamp. Even if she didn’t really know what that entailed, at least she could keep breathing. Although technically, not.
“You want me to turn you?” the female vampire laughed. “Oh, that’s rich. Sorry, sweetie, but this town’s getting a little too crowded as it is. Plus, there’s the code and all that. And then what about our dinner? Don’t worry. This will only hurt for a moment, then you’ll love it. Of course, then it’s definitely going to go back to hurting again. But after that, it will be over.”
“That’s enough,” came a voice from the darkness that Jules instantly recognized.
The vamps turned around simultaneously to see who dared to interrupt them. Jules already knew the answer, and couldn’t help but tell them out loud. “Morgan,” she exhaled. In that moment, she felt like he was her guardian angel. Then she realized how ridiculous of a notion was and that if anything he was probably closer towards the damned side of things.
“Back off, Morgan, we’re splitting this morsel four ways. There’s not enough to share with you,” the tattooed vamp said.
“I don’t expect her to be shared,” Morgan said, his face so calm he looked bored. His nonchalance almost seemed to have the opposite effect on the rest of the vampires. On the other side of the room, his apathy just caused Jules down.
“Oh, you’re just here to watch, then? I didn’t know you were in to that sort of thing. Very well.”
“She’s mine,” Morgan commanded.
“This isn’t your Domain. It’s free reign in here. We saw her first,” the vampire on Jules’ right arm whined. Jules took a moment to realize the absurdity of the situation. She was being argued over like a piece of meat. That was the way she had always imagined vampires, at least until she met Morgan. To be fair, it really didn’t make her feel that much different than two guys competing to pick her up at the same bar. It was just a lot of chest-thumping and dominance asserting, now with the added prospect of certain death.
“Besides, she’s a hunter,” the vampire said.
“You think that’s a hunter? What’s she going to kill you with, the cross on her neck?” Morgan asked.
“This isn’t silver, right? OK, good. I’m not waiting any longer,” the vampire holding Jules’ head in place opened his mouth wide and bared his fangs. Jules tried her best to free her arms and legs but the vampire hands that contained her might as well have been shackles. Her whole body tensed, bracing for the act. She refused to close her eyes, and even though she left them open she had a hard time processing the action that was taking place around her. All she knew for certain was the pain never came.
Morgan had disappeared from the entrance of the room, deciding instead to join the party up close. In an instant, Jules felt the vice grips on her limbs release, and she fell forward on her hands and knees. She pulled the crossbow out of her bag and turned to aim it, but quickly realized getting any kind of accurate shot off would have been impossible. What she saw was a blur of limbs, no longer around her, but around Morgan. The vamp with the tattoos flew out of the fray and slammed into t
he wall. There were three others left, until one of them dropped in a heap to the ground after contact with Morgan’s fist. One of the two left standing tried to speed out of the room, but Morgan grabbed onto his shoulder and ripped him to the ground. Only the female remained, who put her hands up and backed against the wall. She began laughing.
“Wow, Morgan, this is not a good look for you. All this aggression, and for what, a hunter?” she said. From the floor, the tattooed vampire voiced his displeasure. “This isn’t over, Morgan, not by a longshot. It might be over right now, but not because of anything you did, only because I want it to be. We’ll find you later.”
Morgan ignored them and instead glided over to Jules. He placed his hand gently on the small of her back. “I see you got my message,” he said calmly. “I’m glad you found me, but I think it’s time to leave.”
21
Second Date
“I think you’d better put that away, Jules. Don’t you think you’ve drawn enough attention to yourself?” Morgan pointed at the crossbow in Jules’ hand.
“Me? I had everything under control in there. I was just waiting to make my move. You’re the one that rolled in and started throwing a fit,” she said. Sure, he had saved her. But she didn’t appreciate the judgmental tone.
“Yes, well, I typically don’t get violent unless I need to. This way, come on.”
“Well. Thanks. Also, aren’t the stairs that way?” Jules pointed at the spiral staircase and noticed a balcony that she hadn’t before. She couldn’t help but focus her eyes on the woman sitting there, almost certainly a vampire, though with golden hair and a vibrant crimson dress that matched her lips. Even from that distance, Jules could tell that she was gorgeous and almost otherworldly. The woman seemed to be looking right at her, a small smile on her face, and it made Jules incredibly uncomfortable.
“Forget the stairs. Come on,” Morgan said and directed her back towards what appeared to be a dead end. Then, he flipped a lock and slid open a window that had been painted completely black. The orange glow of the night met her, and it was more beautiful than any sunset she had ever witnessed. “You first,” he said.
“You certainly know how to make an exit,” Jules quipped. She climbed out the window and onto the fire escape and then started to walk down the metal steps. Morgan was out of the building in an instant, and he shut the window behind him.
“You’re going the wrong way,” he said and began to climb the steps towards the roof.
“Oh, sorry, I’m just supposed to know we’re going to your helicopter on the roof. At least tell me now, are you going to turn into a giant bat? I don’t mind if that’s what it’s going to take to get us out of here, but I just want to make sure so I don’t freak out.”
“A giant bat?” Morgan laughed as he reached the top level of the stairs. “Is that what they’re teaching at Sunday school these days? Now hurry up, before they discover where we’ve gone. Petty bunch, those vampires, but they won’t look far.”
Jules ran the rest of the way, winded when she reached the top. She knew she should have trained stairs. “I’m so sorry it took so long. Humans don’t have it quite as easy as vamps when it comes to, you know, turning into a moving blur. Hey, no helicopter.”
“Yes, well, now that you’ve gotten the hard work out of the way, will you allow me to take over for the easy part?” Morgan extended a hand out to her.
“What are we going to do?” Jules asked, not waiting for his answer before she reached her hand out to take his. In one swift motion, Morgan reached underneath the back of her legs and swept her up into his arms.
“Just hold on tightly to me,” Morgan said, and she wrapped her arms around him. Despite the cold of his neck, Jules felt her own body heat rise rapidly. She couldn’t be sure if it was due to her proximity to the beautiful creature or if it was her body responding to what was about to happen.
“Wait, what are we going to do?” Jules shouted. “Also, whose perfume is this.”
First they were gliding along the roof and then they were off of it, in midair, ten stories above Hollywood Boulevard. Jules had too many questions bouncing around in her head to even worry about how far off the ground they were. For starters, she realized that she missed another opportunity to shoot Morgan with the crossbow. That was a scratch off though, because she would never have gone through with it without at least having a conversation with him. Then she wondered just how many forms of danger she was in. Forget about the drop. She was, for all intents and purposes, a willing prisoner to a vampire. That didn’t sound great when she thought about it. Which Morgan was she going to get whenever he stopped moving? Would it be the one from her dreams- not likely- or a legitimate blood sucker?
They landed on the next roof one building over without Morgan kicking up so much as a speck of dust. “You seem worried,” Morgan asked, “but not so much about our method of travel. It’s more existential problems that are troubling you.”
“Great. You can fly, and you can read minds, too? Anything else?” Jules asked as Morgan leapt once again from the edge of the building. This time, when they landed Morgan returned Jules to her feet.
“I can’t fly. Not even a little. But I suppose I can jump rather far, these buildings are relatively close together. If we would have left out the front door and walked along the street, we would have gathered too much attention.”
“So jumping across rooftops is subtle in the vampire world?”
“Well, I don’t do it very often. Besides. No one looks up in this city, humans or vampires alike. There’s too much to step in on the street, and too much to look at in every window.”
“And the mind reading?”
“Afraid not, although I suppose I have become more perceptive with time. But really, if you were afraid of heights, I assumed you would have been screaming. That was the real giveaway. Was there anything else?” Morgan frowned as he stared at her, seemingly trying his best to analyze what was in front of him. It actually made Jules more comfortable with the situation, because it appeared that neither of them knew quite what to expect from the other. The alternative was Jules just being part of some sinister plan, which seemed less and less likely.
“I guess that makes sense,” Jules said. “Seriously, though, thank you for getting me out of there. I’ve got too many questions to process. I’ll get around to them eventually. For now, I think I’d like to get out of this neighborhood.”
“Well I’d love to chat, but I agree that the rooftop hardly seems like an ideal place to do so. If I lead the way downstairs, you’re not going to shoot me, are you?” Morgan asked. Jules couldn’t decide if Morgan was just serious all the time, or if he had the world’s driest sense of humor. Either way, she found herself strangely embarrassed at his comment.
“I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet,” Jules said.
“Well, at least you’re honest.”
“Are you going to bite me?”
“If I really wanted to hurt don’t you think I would have done so already? What advantage would I have in causing all of this trouble for myself?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m not quite sure, either. So perhaps we’ll need to trust each other. If that’s fine, then let’s go,” he said.
“Alright hang on one second.” Jules pulled out her phone. If she didn’t tell Daniel that she made it out OK, he might legitimately get himself killed.
Hey, I had to bail out, but don’t worry, I’m safe. I’ll meet up with you later.
Jules didn’t really know if she was safe but there was no sense in worrying Daniel about it. Morgan opened the roof access door and followed down the stairs, as relaxed as possible. He either didn’t view Jules as a proper threat or he simply didn’t care. Jules wasn’t going to shoot him- they both knew it.
“We should still stay out of sight for a while. Especially since the Coven knows about your existence. I’d like to stay with you, at least until the morning. We could go to the observatory. It’s s
ecluded and quiet and we can see from every direction.”
“OK, here’s a good question,” Jules stopped in her tracks for a moment. “And it’s not even condescending. What did you mean when you said ‘you got my message’?”
“You did, didn’t you? We shared a dream,” Morgan said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
“We went to the observatory in my dream. You’re telling me that was real?”
“It was a real dream, yes.”
“That’s helpful. Well, I make my own destiny, OK? And I’m not falling for that smooth-makeout-point stuff. I bet you take all the ladies to Griffith Park, don’t you?”
“No,” Morgan remarked coldly. “Would you prefer somewhere else?”
“Come to think of it, this whole near-death experience business has made me pretty hungry.”
“I don’t think you understand how many vampires might want to kill you right now.”
“Yeah, but you said all the vamps are hanging out in Hollywood tonight, right? Let’s get some food, and then we can assess the situation. There’s a pretty great diner in my neighborhood.” To be fair, Jules was pretty hungry, but the diner also served as a neutral public place. Even though her head was swimming, she decided avoiding unpopulated mountainsides was probably the best course of action.
“Yes, I suppose they will be preoccupied in the neighborhood. We can go to your diner, if you wish,” Morgan said.
“Don't sound so excited about it.”
“No, it sounds...great.”
“Alright, I called an Uber. It should be here in just a…oh, it’s here.”
The car pulled up and Jules got in. Morgan just stared at her.
“Whose car is this?” he asked.
“I dunno…Brandon’s? According to the app?”
“Yeah, that’s me,” the driver said. “Where are you guys going? Costume party, huh?”
“Will you get in the car?” Jules beckoned to Morgan. “You look ridiculous right now. Los Feliz.”