After claiming this for our use, Kate turned to me. “Okay, I'd better just explain the rules to you, Janice,” she said.
I expected her friends to think me stupid for not knowing how to play this game, especially since it was so popular. But they didn’t, and appeared quite happy to wait. I felt pretty sure that Kate had already told them about my accident.
Her instruction was fairly brief. “Each vampire stands in a square and hits the ball to the player in the next square. If the ball touches the flames, the player who hit the ball is out. The striker is also out if the ball does not reach the next person’s square. Players are allowed one bounce in their individual squares.” She paused. “Is that clear?”
I nodded.
“Okay, let’s play!”
We all stood on the granite square. To the left of me stood Kate, and in front of me was Brett. Darren positioned himself diagonally opposite, while April and Marsha waited in the wings. The flames shot up, surrounding and isolating me in an island of heat.
Before I knew it, Brett smacked the heavy ball to Darren. He then pounded the ball over the flames to Kate. When it looked like she was going to miss it completely, she quickly pounced back, shuffled her feet, and struck it firmly in my direction. I failed to make any contact whatsoever and the ball bounced out of play.
“Hey, since you’re new, we’ll give you another chance,” Kate said.
I thanked her, and the blazing ball flew around again.
Before I could breathe it came to me once more, Kate now hitting it as gently as possible so I could get the hang of things. This time I did manage to make contact, but way too softly. The ball landed in the flames that divided my individual square from Brett’s. The fire quickly burned it until there was nothing more than a pile of ashes left.
Kate chuckled. “It’s okay, that happens a lot. That’s why we have this baby.”
She pressed a button on a nearby machine. Within moments a new ball popped up.
I subbed out, allowing April to take my place.
“Don’t get upset,” Marsha said. “It takes a while to learn. When I first played it took me three games to get somebody out.”
Wow. And I thought I was the only slow one around here. I didn’t share this with Marsha though, which really did make me feel better.
I watched in awe while the ball was pounded around for what seemed like forever. What were these vampires on? They moved so fast.
Finally Brett slammed the ball to April, who missed it. The ball hit the corner of her square and bounced out of bounds. I couldn't keep my eyes off of Brett as Marsha took a frustrated April’s place. There was something about him…enigmatic…intriguing…and damn irresistible.
Kate was the next victim to get booted so I joined back in. I wanted to hit the ball. Not just hit it, but to get somebody out. I gazed into the attractive eyes of Brett, the delicious vampire who was stood in front of me - and the player who I was supposed to get out.
The ball flew around faster than a cannonball. I prepared to take a beating from Marsha, who was to the left of me. She spanked it hard into my square. Using all the speed, reflexes and luck that my inexperienced self could handle, I somehow hit the ball and rammed it hard across into Brett’s square. It bounced so fast that he missed it entirely and it flew out of bounds.
I had got somebody out. Hell freakin yeah!
I received instant praise. Brett was shocked that an amateur like me could knock him out.
“Great shot, Janice,” he said, smiling.
Gosh, he was so fine.
Although I felt like a champion, it didn’t take me long to get my ass sent back to reality when Kate knocked me out on the next round. April finished up winning, as she was the last one standing on the square when time was up.
We played two more games. I quickly got out in both rounds, pretty much confirming that my earlier shot had been a fluke. However, I did manage to knock the ball around a few times, which was good. Ironically, Brett won both rounds.
After getting our shoes back we had a few cups of blood at a nearby bar and chatted about a lot of things. The blood was refreshing after a hard work out, and Kate did most of the talking. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Kate. I just wished that Brett would have spoken to me a bit. Maybe he was shy. Nevertheless, Kate invited me to a party taking place the following night at April's house, while Marsha said she had a pair of cute jeans she wanted to give to me.
After saying goodbye, I left the recreation center feeling wonderful. What a turn around! Now I had friends. A purpose in life.
SKULL LIBRARY
While making my way to Skull Library, I couldn't shake Brett off my mind.
Following the directions given to me in the note, I soon arrived at my destination. Skull Library turned out to be a magnificent black castle surrounded by a moat of green goo. I crossed a bridge over the goo and approached a gate encased in a framework of vicious looking teeth. After carefully squeezing past these without getting cut, I entered a dungeon-like interior filled with row upon row of books. It was extremely dark and had low ceilings. I felt lost. Fortunately, there was a librarian sitting at a desk. He was very old, with lime flaky skin and gray hair.
“What do you want?” he said when I approached.
I showed him the call letters I was looking for. His eyes were frighteningly black, the blackest I had ever seen. This could have been because of his age.
“Follow me,” he said. “And don’t make a sound.”
I followed him past thousands of musty books, through thick cobwebs, down long cavernous hallways and up steep staircases. Eventually we came to a vast maze of bookshelves on the third floor. After winding and turning multiple more times, the librarian stopped and searched through the dusty books on the shelf now facing us. He pulled out a thin volume.
“Here's your book. Learn how to use the call system in future. You’re wasting my time.”
He walked away in disgust. Gosh, what an ass, I told myself.
The book was titled Planets of the Vampirian Solar System. I flipped through the first few pages, passing pictures of Garlic Moon and the three suns, as well as other curious planets. After that, the rest of the book was filled mostly with words. I couldn't see how there could be any important secret hidden within this mess. Had I fallen for one awful joke?
Then I heard something move on the other side of the bookshelf. I also felt like I was being watched, even though it was impossible to see through the mass of books.
I'd had enough of this foolish game; it was time to put it to bed. But as I reached up to place the book back on the shelf, a folded sheet of paper dropped out. A solid blue circle in the middle occupied most of the page. I had no idea what this was meant to be, but the hand written message below certainly caught my eye.
'Very good, Janice. This is your first clue to one of three major secrets that will reveal the most important truth of your life. Keep this paper on you at all times. The first clue has three secrets of its own. You’ve already found one. The second clue to the first secret is located in Bitemore Cemetery, behind Dracula’s gravesite. Good luck. And remember, don't say a word to anyone about this.'
Excited, I stuffed the paper in my pocket. As I did, I heard footsteps coming my way. It was time to get outta here.
I hurried through the maze of giant bookshelves, retracing the route I'd taken with the librarian. A book clattered to the floor behind me and I twirled around. There was nobody there, yet some keen vampire sixth sense told me to stay on my guard.
I turned back the way I'd been going and immediately came face-to-face with my dreaded stalker. He was dressed all in black and blended in perfectly with the gloomy surroundings.
This time he didn’t say anything and went straight on the attack, seizing my arms in an attempt to pull me toward him. But I broke free of his grasp and managed to back up. At the same time, I reached up to my neck and pulled free the flask of grains and seeds Mr. FreeCut had given to me. When the stalker came a
t me again I threw the seeds right in his face. They did the job brilliantly. He screamed in agony and fell to the floor.
“I ain’t scared of you anymore, blood dick,” I shouted as he moaned and rolled around. “You better leave me the hell alone.”
I found my way out of the stale library as quickly as possible.
Once outside, I felt like a new person, almost as if I had grown from a little girl to a woman. I had stood up to my fears and won. If I could fight off a freak stalker, then I could surely find a job and hold it, despite my accident.
I made my way over to Vampire Supermarket, my enthusiasm building when I eyed the fashionable clothes they had on display in their window.
Once inside however, I started to grow anxious, knowing that my vampire fashion sense was rather whacky. They might think I was a freak before I’d even got the application in my hands. Nevertheless, I asked one of the cashiers for a form and she passed it to me without any obvious show of disdain.
At least I knew my name, address and phone number this time, all of which I filled out pretty quickly. Then I came to job experience. What the hell was I going to put? Probably a lie. I still didn’t remember a thing about what I did before the accident.
I scanned the rest of the application. At the bottom it read: 'Disabilities and impairments: (Vampire Supermarket does not discriminate based on vampire impairments).'
I decided to write the truth, even if it cost me the job. In one short sentence I described the accident and my memory loss. Leaving the job experience section blank, I turned the application into the cashier.
She smiled at me. “Mrs. FangCut is conducting on the spot interviews right now. Would you be interested in doing one?”
I said yes without thinking, but then muttered a curse as I watched the cashier take my application over to the boss's office. I'd blown it. I'd just blown my chance of a dream job. My clothes, hair and granny shoes were terrible for an interview, especially an interview for a job in fashion. I was going to screw up big time on this. I just knew it.
The cashier returned. “She’ll take you right now, Janice. Follow me.”
Oh well, it looked like I'd just have to wing it.
I entered the boss’s office. A rosy-colored desk littered with statues of fangs and skulls was in front of me.
“Have a seat,” Mrs FangCut said.
She was beautiful, with pale skin and long hair that was fixed in a very impressive vampire style. Her red dress sparkled wondrously.
She took forever to check out my application. Damn! It was going to be a no. That was looking even more certain now.
Then she peered at me. “So tell me, Janice, why do you want to work in the fashion industry? More specifically, why do you want to work at Vampire Supermarket, which is one of the largest fashion merchandisers in all of Vampire World?”
I was speechless. But I wasn’t dumb enough to stay that way for very long. If I wanted a chance at this job, I’d better do some fast talking.
“Ever since I walked into this place, I’ve been amazed by it,” I began. “I love clothes, and I want to work in fashion more than anything. I also want to help others find the clothes they love.”
Mrs. FangCut grinned. “Hmm. That’s an impressive answer. Don’t be offended, but I didn’t expect that from you.”
I wasn’t offended. I just wanted a job.
“I read about your accident and know you’ve been through a lot,” she said kindly. “Thank you for being so honest about your memory loss.”
Yes! I was getting the sympathy vote. And I poured it on further by telling Mrs. FangCut about the loss of both my parents in the crash.
“You stay strong and keep your head up,” she said. “There’s something really special about you. You’re unique. If I hire you, I promise I will give you all the support and respect you need to succeed at your job, even if you don’t remember anything about working in the fashion industry before.”
I knew right away that she'd inferred from my cheap clothes that I was poor. Then again, that was more sympathy points. Hell ya!
She didn’t offer me the job right away. She said she’ll call and let me know.
After a long day, I headed back home just as the three suns were setting in the south sky and Garlic Moon was glowing brightly over the horizon. How beautiful!
The next day, my mind was cluttered with thoughts about my new friends, possible job prospects, and those extraordinary secrets I was meant to collect. But most of all I was thinking about the upcoming party, and that had a lot to do with Brett.
Mr. FreeCut was off work for the day, which was great. I'd really missed him lately. I told him about all the good things that had been going on, and how I toughened up against my stalker.
“I told you things would turn around,” he said. “Just continue being strong and think positive. You’ll enjoy vampire life.”
I didn’t tell him about the secret. But I did ask him a question that was bugging me.
“Who was Dracula?”
Mr. FreeCut seemed surprised. “Dracula? How did you know about him? Have you been studying up on some history behind my back?”
“I’m just curious.”
He gave a small laugh. “Many years ago, Dracula was president of Vampire World. He’s considered to be the greatest president in our history because he helped to overthrow a dictator and establish a democratic government.”
“How did he die?”
“Well, that’s a big mystery. He disappeared. His body was never recovered. It’s believed that he was kidnapped and killed by some very jealous and evil vampires from BloodFall, which is a country that borders Vampire World.”
“Really? So they built a grave without a body?”
“Yes. Dracula deserves lots of credit for what he did. We have so much freedom in our land compared to other places. Whether his body is there or not, it doesn’t really matter. It's what he did that counts.”
I wondered why my secret messenger had decided to choose the gravesite of such an important vampire. I also wondered briefly about how Dracula had died, even though I had more important things to think about.
Like an exhilarating party that night.
And a very steamy Brett.
A HOT PARTY
I got dressed, putting on the black shirt that I bought at the supermarket. Once again it was not much, but it was decent. At least I had my charming purse and my phone. But I frowned at my pitiful shoes. If I got the job, I was getting a new pair pronto.
Anyway, if he liked me…well…appearances wouldn’t matter. Yeah right. I remembered Sally complimenting me on how pretty I was, but that was back in the orphanage. I was in a much bigger, wilder, crazier place now, with a lot more beautiful vampires around.
Astonished that Mr. FreeCut was kind enough to let me borrow his car after I had wrecked it, I thanked him several times, said goodbye, and headed off to the party at April’s house.
Passing over Slice canyon, downtown loomed in the distance. But I took a sharp right and came to an iron gate leading into an exclusive estate. A heavy-set guard walked out of a station.
He gazed at me with an ugly scowl. “Show me your Carn card.”
I handed it over and he scanned it with some sort of machine. Then he stared at me angrily. “What the hell? Can’t you read? You need proof of ten thousand Carns to get in here. You've only got thirty. Get the hell out of here you cheap, blood-sucking rat.”
Although I was tempted to punch his fangs out, I really just wanted to get to the party.
“I know someone who lives inside,” I said. “I’m invited to their party.”
“Do you actually think I'd believe someone who has only thirty Carns on them? Why would you have any friends anyway?”
Growing quite irritated, I dialed Kate’s number and told her about the jerk guard.
“I’m going to have to hear from your friend,” the guard snapped.
I forcefully handed him the phone.
Moments la
ter I passed through the gate and left the ass behind. He did not look happy.
I cruised through an impressive neighborhood of Gothic mansions, some three or four stories high. Several of the mansions had castle-like spheres rising from them, while others had elaborate decks decorated with lavish statues of beasts. The lawns were spacious and beautiful, their dead grass twinkling brightly around trees with sparkling leaves.
Turning right on Skull Street, I saw cars parked on the side of the street and all along a wide driveway that led up to a scarlet, three story house. I parked Mr. FreeCut’s car. This must be April’s house, or April’s parent’s house. But the distinction was pointless. Either way, she was quite rich.
Walking over the dead grass, I passed a statue of a three headed dog with gargantuan fangs. I called Kate to tell her I had arrived. She met me by the front door dressed in a cute outfit and strutting tall ruby heels.
“Glad you made it, Janice. Hey, I've got that cute shirt for you – the one I told you about. Follow me to April’s room.”
Inside, the party was hopping. Shrieking music with heavy bass beats had the living room floor smoking with avid vampire feet. Adding to the atmosphere, machines were sending glowing mist swirling around in the air. Following Kate, I crossed through a crowd of sexy vampires, all dressed to impress. Everyone was downing cups of blood. I stared up at the ghost-like ceiling for a moment. A humongous chandelier shaped like a skull with spikes jabbing out of it hung above me. This was one damn cool place.
We arrived in a bedroom where a glow-in-the-dark coffin that was much larger than mine was positioned in the middle of the room. Three dimensional posters of muscular vampire models littered the walls, each one showing off vivid tattoos.
Kate smiled and handed me the sexy red shirt she'd told me about earlier. I went to the nearby bathroom and put it on; it fitted me perfectly. Looking into the mirror, I felt like a new vampire, although I still had to deal with the crappy pants and shoes, and my hair too. But the crimson shirt showed off my skinny figure well, and even sparkled a little.
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