I handed the next guy his dimes and went back to dealing with the line. Pretty soon I had my old rhythm back: buck in quarters, two in dimes. The line was flying. I looked around to see if I recognized any of the customers. I didn't. I didn't see Alessandro anywhere, either. I wanted him where I could see him.
A woman with a little boy handed me a five and two ones. She glared coldly at me and said, "I want three ones and four dollars worth of dimes."
This made no sense. "Excuse me, but why did you give me the two ones when you wanted three back? Why didn't you just hand me the five?"
She stared at me like I'd just suggested she pose nude on top of Cosmic Guerilla. "What?" she snapped. "I didn't intend to bother you!" She grabbed her boy by the hair and yanked him away.
It was quiet for a few minutes. I couldn't see Al anywhere. Now I was worried. What if he'd run into the hunter? I turned to see if Jamey was around, but they had quit playing pool. I was alone.
I never felt so helpless before. Never. I was in a glass box and there was no one around I could yell to. I mean, I could use the phone, but it only called the prize counter. I felt sick at being so damn vulnerable.
Some girls came up. They work at the Castle, but they aren't employed by the Castle. They are there every night, working. I doubt if there's a male regular at the Castle they don't know by more than name.
They were a lot like the girls that used to hang out at Georges'. They were pretty in a hard way, with no heart left in them because it had all been drained away. Georges always used them cause he'd have them pick these guys up and we'd all get to feed off of them. Georges almost never kept the guys around. Usually he had them burned, so they wouldn't come back. Once in a while he kept one or two alive but that was only if they were going to be useful to him. The ones he kept were creepy and mean.
The last time I saw Georges was a few nights after Alessandro took me away. We had already moved my things and now we were supposed to go to a party at Georges to say good-bye. Georges was mad. He kept yelling at Al who ignored him. He tried to make me stay, but I wanted out. And then he went and shoved a cross at Al.
Alessandro got mad. He said something in Spanish and shoved it away. He told Georges he'd made his decision. He made me get into a car and we drove to our new place.
A couple days later Al took me over to a building near Georges'. We could see his place just fine. All of a sudden the whole place just exploded in flames. Not normal flames, but this weird blue-green fire. I could feel them screaming in their rooms and coffins. It wasn't a sound; it was a sense. I clung to Al and he hid me under his velvet cloak. I hung on to him for a long time, until the last of the howls faded away and sirens screamed the arrival of the fire department.
I am lucky to be with him. I don't know if he set Georges up, or if he was there to warn Georges that it was about to be set up. I don't care. Al said only that it was a bad idea to anger the Cardinal, and I left it alone.
I tried to concentrate back on the Castle. I wanted out of the Cage. More easy requests. My line was way shorter now. I saw the same people come through the line. Maybe one of them was the hunter. I couldn't tell from in here, and I couldn't see any of my protectors. The arcade was still busy, but it had died way back. The Twenty-Ones were starting to empty and stay that way. I could even see the prize counter. Terry was there, handing out little plastic dinosaurs to the kids with the guy's dimes. One of the other prize people stabbed him with a 15 point plastic dagger and they kept horsing around.
Alessandro wandered up. "Hi lover," he said through the little screen.
I was so glad to see him I wanted to shout. "Where've you been?"
"Wandering. Jamey is out on the golf course."
"OK. What about everyone else?"
"They are in the parking lot."
"OK. I should be done soon."
He smiled and gave me that hungry look. "Yes."
"Any sign of that hunter guy?"
The smile went. Gone. "No." He turned and walked away. There was no one else in line. Snack bar was closing down; they had the popcorn machine shut off and cleaned, and they were working on shutting off ice cream, too.
There were only a couple of Twenty-Ones busy. No one was on Cosmic Guerilla. I saw the last of the pool players turn in the balls and the Dungeon was quiet. Ron picked up the mike at the Prize counter and announced that the Castle would be closing in ten minutes. He called me on the phone and said to shut down.
That was the best thing I'd heard all night. I screwed the little hole cover back in and started re-rolling the dimes from the dispenser. The burly man with all the tattoos stalked over to the prize counter. As long as he stayed away from me, I didn't care what he did. I should have had Al deal with him. I finished the dimes and started on the quarters.
"Lover," said Al through the screen. "I'm going to go out now. I'll wait for you."
"What time is it?"
He looked over at the clock. "One fifty-three." No wonder I was shot.
"Fine. I'll see you."
He turned and walked out, slinging his cloak across his shoulders as he left.
Ron picked up the mike again. The Castle was closed. I shoved the rolls back into the bag and waited for him to rescue me.
The arcade power shut off with a weird electric scream. Ron directed the big man out the door to the catapult gate. He still hadn't come, so I started to straighten out the ones, fives, tens and twenties in the drawer. I was still counting when the big man ran back in.
"The damn gate's locked and there's a vampire walking around out there!"
Everybody laughed at him. Terry pointed at me, still in the Cage. "That's her boyfriend. He won't hurt you."
"The hell he won't. I ain't going out the gate where that sucker is. No way."
Ron called one of the guards to come and let the guy out. They escorted him over to one of the big doors. "Sonovabitching vampire, that's what he is," said the man.
"Don't forget your cross!" the guard yelled after him.
Ron came and let me out. He and the guards were still laughing, screaming, "I vant to bite your neck!" I laughed at them.
I clocked out and went into the restroom to put on the bulletproof vest. It was big, but so what. I zipped up my uniform and headed out the catapult gate. No one was there. That was weird, because usually Alessandro waited for me there. He was gone. The other girls had already left, so I couldn't walk out to the car with a bunch of them. They made us park over by the dumpsters. Usually I didn't care, but not tonight. Now all I could see were a few cars away across the lot.
I didn't screw around. I ran. I ran over the pavement, scattering gravel. I slammed full tilt into the car on the end and waited. No one was around. I could see the police helicopter spiraling around, sweeping its light over the buildings across from the Castle. I wished they were looking for the hunter. I fished out my keys and carefully started for the car.
The dumpster smelled bad. I couldn't see anything. I slid over and reached for the car door. Something flew over my head and went tight at my throat. I reached up and tried to pull it off, but it burned into my hands. I fell onto the car and my hands were grabbed and pulled behind me.
"Vampire bitch!" screamed a man. "You're going to die tonight!"
I tried to get up, but he yanked the rope and I fell on my face. He slammed a knee in my back and started screaming about God and Hell. The rope burned, like someone was holding hot wires around my hands and throat. I tried to get free, but he twisted the rope tighter.
Where was Al? I needed him now!
He grabbed me by my hair and hauled me out into the parking lot. I tried to break away, but when I did, the burning got worse. He shoved me down on my knees and dropped a backpack on the ground. I looked up at him. He was a thickset, beefy man with red hair and a huge cross. He had a metal collar around his neck. When he saw me looking at him, he shoved the cross in my face. I had to pull away. He held it there and forced me onto my back. I saw him pull something ou
t of the backpack. It was a crossbow, loaded with a stake.
He pulled the rope until I was down flat. It hurt to move. The pain was so bad I felt like he was cutting through my skin. He grabbed the front of my uniform and zipped it open. When he saw the vest, he started laughing. "You can't stop me!" he screamed. "I know your tricks! You can't fool me!" And he tore it and my bra away from me.
I knew I was dead. He stood over me, shoving the tip of the stake next to my breast and right over my heart. I almost wished he'd do it, so I wouldn't hurt so bad.
"Alessandro!" he shouted. "Come to me! I have her and I will kill her! Come to me! My vengeance is now!"
I was crying then, from fear and pain. I wanted Al to save me, but I didn't want him to be killed. I felt like I was being burned away, drowned in blinding light. "No!" screamed the hunter.
I looked up. We were surrounded by cop cars, their lights focused on the hunter. The helicopter was right over us too, its light shining down. "Drop your weapon now!" ordered a voice.
The cops made us fill out a bunch of forms. They kept looking at the burns on my neck and hands. They wanted me to go to the hospital but Alessandro told them he'd take me to our family doctor in the morning. I knew that meant he'd take care of me himself.
I had Al's cloak over my shoulders, so I was covered. I leaned on him while the cops dealt with the hunter. They had him in handcuffs. Spread out on the pavement was all his junk from the backpack. I couldn't see everything he had in it, but I could see the stakes. Alessandro kept me close while they took pictures of everything. The cops finally pushed the guy into the back of one of their cars. Overhead the helicopter spun away, trailing its light through the trees.
I wanted to get this guy stopped. "Is this the guy who killed that man in Canyon Crest?"
"We'll be investigating that," said the cop taking my statement.
"I hope he fries," I said.
The cop looked at me. "He won't be going anywhere for a while. There's a number of things we want to discuss with him."
"It is good that he will be put away," said Al. "Thank you for your time, officer. We will be leaving the area anyway."
"I hate to see that," said the cop, "but I understand."
We watched the cops break away before going to Al's car. The red haired hunter saw us and flipped out. I saw him struggling in the back of the car, trying to bust loose. He started screaming, "Vampires! They're vampires! You have to free me! I have to stop them! They're vampires!"
Some of the cops laughed. Most didn't. We drove past them, the man's yelling echoing through the night like the screech of an owl.
When we were clear of them, I started crying. "Why didn't you come and get me? Why did you let him hurt me?"
Alessandro stopped the car. I could see he was crying, too. "Because," he said finally, "I knew that as long as I was away, you would be safe. I had Jamey call the police. It was the only way I could keep you."
I collapsed on him and hung on for a long time.
So now we move on. Alessandro says San Antonio is nice. Maybe we'll try there. Like they say, we're eternal.
RUNAWAY
DARRELL SCHWEITZER
BY THE TIME he picked me up, I might have been standing by the side of that highway for hours. I couldn't remember much, just then, only the darkness and the rain and the soft, soothing sound of the traffic, and how I was very tired and something hurt but I didn't know quite what.
He was honking his horn. "Hey kid! You coming?"
I ran for the car, clutching my knapsack tightly against my chest. Then we were moving, and I felt sleepy, but he was one of the ones who want to talk.
"Where you going?"
"Just going."
"I see. But you'll know where it is when you get there."
"I guess so."
I held the knapsack in my lap, and I brought my knees up, feet on the seat, gripped my knees, and leaned my face against the window, watching the landscape roll by, black and gray and flashes of light that seemed to streak and bob and slowly drift down the wet glass.
"Jesus, it's no night for you to be out," he said. "Skinny kid like you, in just that light jacket and jeans and sneakers. You haven't even got any socks. You must be soaked to the skin. You'll catch your death…"
"I'm not cold. I don't feel it."
He reached over and touched me on the leg. "You're frozen like ice! Christ!"
"I'm okay."
"What you need is a good hot meal; a hot shower; and new, warm clothes; and maybe a friend who can provide all those things."
I just turned away, let my feet drop to the floor, and stared out the side window. I was crying softly. I didn't know why. The sound of the wheels on the pavement was like a soft voice far away, singing, and the rain had turned into sleet and it clattered on the roof. I watched the farmhouses pass, one by one, vanishing into the darkness, and the people inside them were like warm points of light, like candle flames, far away, but definitely there, alive. Then gone. I listened to the night, while the man in the car with me chattered on and on, about how this sure was big, beautiful country we had here in the Midwest – but was I from around here? I didn't sound like it. He was from California, which was beautiful too; but, hey, see America first, even if the only vacation he could get was in October; autumn in the mountains of Tennessee and Virginia, the leaves turning color, quite a sight…
I started to remember things, and I was afraid, and the tears came more freely.
He was silent for a while. Finally he said, "My name is Howard." The traffic went by, the sleet and rain beat down, and the night was dark.
"You must have a name," he said.
"Lawrence."
"Larry, then. Do your friends call you Larry?"
"I suppose so."
More silence. He kept looking at me, sideways as he drove, sizing me up, as if he were, it seemed to me, not just a friend, not just someone who felt sorry for me and wanted to help, but someone who was – I couldn't put it any other way – hungry.
"Are you running away from home, Larry?"
"Leaving."
"How old are you, Larry?"
"Uh ... fifteen."
"At your age, do you think it's such a good idea to be out on your own? Not that I want to sound like a parent. I mean, I respect a young man who is independent and can decide things for himself…"
The memories came flooding back now, all the pain.
"It's because of my mom."
"She's a real bitch then? Women are like that. Real bitches sometimes. You have to get away." He launched into another long monologue about mothers and wives and such. I wasn't listening. Up ahead, lights flashed. Traffic slowed down. We sat still for several minutes, then crept forward, then sat again, until a policeman in a yellow raincoat waved us onto the shoulder and around two smashed cars and a jack-knifed truck; cops and people everywhere, ambulance lights whirling.
"Looks bad," Howard said.
The warmth. The burning lights, like candles flickering, going out. There was death here.
"Looks real bad," Howard said. "Somebody could have been killed."
"Two. Two dead. Another will die soon."
He looked at me funny and shook his head. "Oh."
Then we drove in silence for a while, and I reached into my knapsack and touched. I tried to hold back tears a third time, but couldn't. I was so ashamed.
"You said it was your mom," Howard said. "Maybe it will help if you tell me. Get it all out. She was a domineering bitch. Beat you, did she? I bet she drove your dad right out of the house."
"Actually, she killed him. Then she sold her soul to the Devil."
The car lurched. "What?"
I smiled inwardly, bitterly. I could have been making all this up, and he would still have to listen, because of the hurt he might do me if it were all true and he said he didn't believe me ... like those Jews the Nazis tortured and stuff, you can't say they're lying, not to their faces, because if they really were there and it really did
happen...
"Mom used to put black candles in my room at night," I said, "and make drawings on the floor and walls, stars and circles and things like that she called sigils. My dad said it was all bullshit, but Mom said that if you really want to get something, there are things you just have to do. They fought a lot, yeah. He beat her up till her face was all bloody. I remember the time he smashed her head into the TV screen and the glass cracked. Fortunately the TV was off at the time. So she killed him."
"Right then?"
"No, later."
"Can you blame her?"
"No. Not really."
He was following along now. I might have been remembering; but, for all he knew, I might have been making up a story. Either way, I had him caught. It felt good. He was getting real nervous, pounding his hands on the steering wheel, looking at me, then back at the road, then at me again, breathing hard.
"Don't you think... I mean, the police..."
"No."
"Why?"
"My mom was a witch. Maybe that's why Dad hated her. Maybe she became a witch because he hated her first. I don't know."
"That's a very perceptive thing for someone ... who's been through what you have ... to say."
"Oh," I shrugged and stared out the window for a while, remembering or dreaming.
"Oh Christ," he said to himself in a low, whiny voice over and over. "Oh Christ, why did I have to get this one? Oh Christ..."
"Mom's friends were witches too," I said, "or at least they were after a while. She got rid of the ones who weren't. They used to hold ceremonies in the basement, all of them naked, with cats and dogs for sacrifice ... and maybe more. Once I was upstairs in my room, locked in, listening, and I'm sure I heard a baby crying downstairs. Then Dad came home suddenly, and there was a lot of screaming and bad words and things crashing. Then silence. I wanted to run away then, but my room was on the third floor and there was no place to go. I really did crawl out on the roof for a while ... then Mom came to get me, still naked and covered with blood, and she said I knew too much and might as well know everything now. She and her friends took me down into the basement, and there was my dad, lying on the floor with black candles all around him. They'd cut out his heart."
I, Vampire Page 5