Vampire World

by Douglas, Rich

  Cobwebs blanketed the narrow passageway and I was finding it hard to breathe as I crawled forward. Eerie images of fangs surrounded by triangles were scattered about, which must have stood for something but I had no idea what. A feeling of unease developed. What was I doing in here anyway? I should have been with Brett, not down in some hellhole.

  All the same, I pressed on. Before long the passageway grew larger and the light brighter, allowing me to stand up and breathe easier. At this point, based on past experience, I was almost expecting to find a note. I was not disappointed. A folded sheet of paper was attached to the wall. My eyes ran over the page.

  'Janice, I’m proud that you are ready to discover the next secret of your existence. This private train depot you are in is operated by an exclusive and dangerous organization that you know little about, but that will change if you continue to follow my lead. Walk a little further and you’ll come to one of the train cars. I’ve set it up so it will take you to a place you must see. Get into the car, being careful not to make any loud noises or sudden movements. The train will automatically take you to your destination once you press the big red button. This place will be disturbing, but whatever you do, don’t scream or panic. Once you have seen it, get back in the train car and press the red button again. It will take you back to where you started from. After that, escape quickly. Good luck, Janice.'

  I pushed on until arriving at an enormous shaft that ran perpendicular to the tunnel I'd just passed through. Sitting on a track was the train car my messenger had written about. It appeared quite futuristic. Capable of holding only one vampire, it had a glass door at the top that allowed me to slid down into a leather seat. The red button was right in front of me. After securing the door above my head I pressed this, at the same time wondering where the heck I was being taken to.

  The train set off at an insane speed, rising up and down and twisting from side to side just like I was on a roller coaster ride. Several other tracks leading off in different directions flashed by, giving me the impression that there was a large network of tunnels here.

  After a few degrees the car pulled up directly beside a shaft that led into darkness. I quietly climbed out and moved along this. It was pitch black, making me feel like I was in a nightmare. Where was I going? This could be some vile, sick joke that was going to get me killed. I prayed not.

  Eventually, a door with a ruddy light flowing out of the bottom materialized ahead. I guessed that this was it. I opened the mysterious door and stepped inside.

  If my earlier feelings of being in a nightmare had been just in the mind, what I saw now made it become all too horrifyingly real. Dead vampires with decaying faces much paler than mine were everywhere, standing upright in lines that went back as far as I could see. They were precariously balanced on high rising shelves that seemed to stretch up forever inside this wicked room. The smell was deplorable. There must have been thousands of them.

  With a rush of revulsion, I then realized what was holding all these bodies in a vertical position. Long silver stakes had been forced through every one of them, starting from the groin and emerging out through the top of the head.

  The room spun madly. Desperately, I searched for the door but was too dazed to find it. I let out a scream. A really loud, I’m-gonna-die kind of scream.

  The scream was a bit of a trigger, firing at least a small part of my brain back into action. I somehow pulled myself together sufficiently to locate the door and rush back through the tunnel to the train. Once inside this, my sweaty, quivering hands stabbed at the button.

  During the terrifying ride back I told myself over and over that I would forget these wild goose chases and concentrate on living happily ever after with Brett BloodCut. Love was all that really mattered, right? The secret could wait. It could wait until I was dead.

  The car stopped and I hurried on through the return tunnel. On my hands and knees I squeezed through the tiny door, sweating heavily. I was back in the second level game room, with the sound of fireballs banging against the rotating squares the only thing I could hear. The door closed behind me, leaving no hint of its existence. I checked to make sure no one had seen me emerge from behind the gargoyle. It appeared that no one had.

  It was late, and I was exhausted. I probably stunk to high heaven as well. I glanced at the squares, knowing that I really needed to practice if I was gonna stand a chance of winning. And I desperately did want to win. But tonight, I was just too tired to care. Resolving to make more time for practice later, I headed back toward the first floor.

  “Well, look who decided to crawl out the gutter!”

  I groaned but said nothing. Of all the people I had to run into! It was Rob, together with his little gang of idiots. He was dressed all in black with a lone 3-D skull on his shirt. His scarlet hair seemed to be on fire, and when he laughed he appeared to be high.

  “Is your sewer sleeping bum with you?” Rob pressed.

  He giggled harder, filling me with a rare rage. “Why did you vandalize my boyfriend’s house, son of a blood bitch?” I screamed at him.

  He laughed again. “What makes you think I did that?”

  He had to be on something.

  “Oh yeah…” Rob snickered. “I remember now. I left a note.”

  He jumped into the air like he had wings, landing immediately in front of me. Gosh, how I despised him!

  “So where is your lover boy hobo?” he said. “Answer me, bloodsucker.”

  “You better stop calling him that,” I yelled. “You may have Carns, but he’s got more than all of your money could ever amount to. I love him. And I hate you.”

  He continued with his devilish laughing. “Are you high or something?” I asked.

  “Hell yeah. I’m a new man, Janice. Life is wonderful.”

  I spotted something striking on his forehead. Something that hadn't been there before. It was a small tattoo of a triangle with a fang in the center. I gasped. This was the same emblem I'd seen all over the tunnel wall right before I discovered the bodies.

  “I didn’t appreciate your love rat calling the cops on me,” Rob said. “But I know some important vampires. Lots of them. Cops can’t do anything to me.”

  His friends snarled behind him.

  “Last chance,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want to date me? I could give you so much.”

  I spat in his face. “You leave my boyfriend and his family alone.”

  He wiped away the saliva. I expected him to come after me, but instead he just giggled. “I should rip your head off,” he threatened. “But you’re lucky. I’m feeling good right now.” He gawked hard at me. “So he’s really your boyfriend? You actually went to the grave with that broke bloodsucker?”

  He lusted over me. He wanted my body. But there wasn’t a chance in hell.

  “So you’re trying to win the fireball tournament?” he said. “You’re gonna lose. You have to go against me, duh! You know, I think we should duke it out right now.”

  I was exhausted. But I didn’t care. I wanted to see him fall flat on his pale ass. “Okay, it’s on,” I told him.

  “Good, just you and me. Best out of three.”

  We stepped onto the nearest free square. As Rob’s friends congregated around I heard words like bimbo, bloodsucker and bitch. But I honestly didn't care. I just wanted to beat him.

  Rob chuckled when I grabbed the fireball and served first. I slammed it with all my might into his square. But he intercepted it quickly and smacked it back so violently that I didn't even see it. I just heard the sound of the ball bouncing against my square, getting me out.

  He laughed loudly. “One down, one more to go!”

  Frustrated, I prepared for the next round. This time the square rose early, twisting around and forcing us not only to focus on the ball, but our balance as well.

  Rob was still laughing when I hit the ball at him to start things off again. But an instant later I was forced to hold on to my handlebar as the main square tilted sharpl
y in my direction. Rob banged the ball back, and like before, I barely caught a sight of it. In a desperate attempt to make a return I took my hand off the bar. Next thing I knew I was flying through the air. I landed on my back with an excruciating thump. Gazing up at a smirking Rob, for the first time in quite a while I felt both physically and spiritually defeated.

  “Well, that was easy,” he said. “It’s a shame you’re so pretty. Why don’t you wrap those pale looking arms around my hot body.”

  He stuck out his hand to help me up. But I didn’t grab it. “I can manage without you,” I said, gazing again at the emblem tattooed on his forehead.

  His eyes bulged with anger. “Fine, stupid bloodsucker.”

  I remained there on the floor, staring up at the ceiling and starting to feel like I did shortly after getting out of the orphanage. I was exhausted and hurt.

  I'm not sure how long I stayed like that, but eventually I got together enough strength to stand up. By then, Rob and his friends had vanished and nearly all of the squares were empty. I'd suffered a hard lesson, and was really gonna have to practice if I was to become a fireball champion. And I wanted that so much.

  But not tonight. Tonight, or what was left of it, I needed to spend sleeping in my coffin.

  INCREASING DANGER & A TAT

  I didn’t feel sad any longer by the time I arrived home, concentrating instead on the awesome gifts in my life. But I was confused. Confused about all the dead bodies I'd seen. And the tattoo on Rob’s forehead. Was there a connection between him and the horror in the tunnel?

  I settled down in my coffin. Yet despite my fatigue, I still couldn’t sleep. I got back up and peered out of the window, only to have my view of Mr. FreeCut’s quaint little backyard once again blocked by the sight of my masked messenger.

  Adrenaline pumping, I dashed outside, not worried about waking Mr. FreeCut. But I was too late again. My search for the creeper turned up nothing. I did, however, find a box lying on the crumpled grass. It was pretty heavy for it size, and there was a note fastened to the top. My eyes flashed across the worrying message.

  'The situation is quickly becoming dangerous. You need to defend yourself. Use the contents in this box to do so. And remember, keep everything a secret.'

  I tip-toed to my room and opened the box. Inside were five silver stakes, together with a belt to hold them all. My eyes burned as I looked at them - so much so that I had to turn away. At the bottom of the box I also found a small circular mirror and another note. This one read:

  'These stakes will come in handy against threatening vampires. While obviously causing wounds and significant loss of blood, they also cause paralysis in the affected area. Aim for the heart if you can. As for the mirror, you may notice something very strange about it because it’s from a place you know well. That’s all I can reveal for now. Good luck.'

  I looked at the mirror more closely. It was small and plain, but beautiful in its own way. I held it up to my face and… oh gosh…

  I couldn’t see myself. I put the mirror down and cleaned it with a cloth. Then I looked again. Nothing. I wanted to see my face so badly. What was wrong with this thing? This had to be a really bad joke.

  Deeply concerned, I peered into the large mirror on the wall and sighed with relief when I saw my reflection. But when I looked once more into the weird mirror, I'd disappeared from existence again. I’d had enough of this for now, and slid the mirror and stakes out of sight behind my coffin. I then lay down and fell asleep, dreaming of Brett giving me a long and very loving kiss on the grave.

  The next day at work progressed well. All the time I was learning more about vampire fashions - dresses soaked in blood, a shirt composed of tiny green skulls, blood-red sweat pants with vampire fangs hanging from them - with each and every item I discovered, the faster and better I was becoming at finding them.

  At lunch I stuck my Carn card in the machine. Yes! I grinned when it told me I had now saved over 500 Carns. It was time to spend a little tonight on a couple of tattoos. One for me and one for Brett. I couldn’t wait.

  I called Brett on the cell and asked how his family was doing.

  “Everybody’s good,” he said. “Got them into a decent hotel. What I’m worried about is the price of my father’s pills. I think I can afford them. But damn, it’s gonna be close.”

  This made me perky in a weird way, I guess because I now felt even better about treating Brett to a tattoo. I knew girls were supposed to get pampered and spoiled by their boyfriends like self absorbed blood queens. But why did it have to be that way all the time? I could do what I wanted to do. And I was sure Brett would be fine with it. Well, he’d better be.

  During another break I chatted on the phone with Kate. The party at her apartment was in two days' time. Meanwhile, we'd been invited to another party tomorrow night at Michael’s mansion. Two parties back-to-back. I felt pretty darn popular.

  When I arrived home, Mr. FreeCut prepared me a tasty snack of bloody fish and snackle eyes. I told him my plans.

  “Be careful,” he warned. “Since I have a rare day off tomorrow, feel free to use the car.”

  It felt good not having to take the smelly train with all the horny vamp freaks on it. I was in control tonight. Yes.

  I put on a sexy new ruby-colored shirt and tight dark pants. I was finally free of the baggy granny pants! Don’t get me wrong. I loved the shirt Marsha had given to me, but by now I'd worn it out too many times. I stared at my dazzling tube-like hair and smiled.

  I picked up Brett from the nearby downtown hotel. I couldn’t wait to see him with his brand new tattoo.

  “So where are we going?” he asked.

  “You’ll see,” I told him.

  I knew exactly where Bloodcut’s tattoo parlor was because I passed it every day while walking to work. We stopped in front of the shop.

  “You’re getting a tattoo tonight,” I said. “And so am I.”

  He laughed and admitted he couldn’t afford one. I responded quite firmly that I was paying. He hesitated, but I refused to back down.

  We stepped inside. Just like the hair parlor, it was a gloomy place. A buff vampire covered with tattoos from head to foot handed us both a sales book.

  I opened my book and was confronted with hundreds of tattoos in all kinds of different shapes, sizes and effects. 3-D live beating hearts. Plain beating hearts. Moving dragons that covered the entire back. Three headed grotesque monsters with iridescent eyes. Chains of many different shapes. The list went on and on.

  The smaller, plainer tattoos were the cheapest, which was probably the kind I would have to settle for because I wasn’t rich by any means. I checked the price of the 3-D eyeball with blood dripping from it. It was 800 Carns. Simple though sprawling tattoos that covered entire arms, legs or backs started at 450 Carns. Add 3-D together with extra detail and some motion effects and you could go as high as a whopping 1,500 Carns. Damn!

  Brett seemed mesmerized as he read the book. I could tell he really wanted a tat. I just hoped it was something in my price range.

  “I’ve found the one I want,” he announced.

  He pointed to a little green skull with fiery eyes. It glowed in the dark and cost 100 Carns.

  “Sexy,” I said.

  It didn’t take me long to find mine - an amazing rosy-red tattoo bracelet with spikes that wrapped around the arm. Very cool. It cost 200 Carns because blood dripped off the spikes in a display of visual wizardry, so technically it moved even though it was rather small. But I could afford it. You have to splurge sometimes in life.

  It didn’t hurt that much when the tattoo artist stabbed and drilled with his needles.

  A few degrees later Brett and I had our much prized tats. My bracelet looked incredible. Even though it was small, it added color and life to my arm. Brett’s skull complemented his pale skin nicely as well.

  “It looks great,” I said.

  As he complimented me back, I fantasized about the grave. Hopefully, tonight it would hap
pen for real.

  We drove over to Michael’s party; I couldn’t wait to get there. Michael was rich, and I was ready to impress his friends with my new hairstyle, tattoo and clothes. And Brett of course.

  Like April, Michael lived inside one of the exclusive gated communities. When driving closer, I saw several thirsty vampires slumped down beside the gate. This sorry scene tugged at my heartstrings.

  After receiving permission to go inside, a line of grand mansions towered around us.

  Michael’s house turned out to be a five story monolithic residence that looked more like a dark castle, especially with the red and black circular turrets jutting up around the perimeter. Midway up these turrets were balconies crowded with merry vampires partying, relaxing and drinking blood by the light of a sparkling Garlic Moon.

  A moat of emerald liquid surrounded the house. As we crossed the drawbridge spanning this I was reminded of my visit to Skull Library.

  Eye candy vampires packed the luxurious house. All were enjoying large glasses of blood.

  The living room was dark and expansive, decorated with moving statues of beasts with four eyes, fangs and macabre skin. Brett led the way while we searched for our friends.

  We spotted Marsha first. She looked perfect in her golden boots with scarlet straps, not to mention a glistening dress that had fake blood trickling from tiny pores in the fabric. Her hair was braided with distinctive blazing tips.

  “Oh, I love your hair and new outfit!” she told me while sipping her blood.

  April was stood behind her. She gawked at my hair and new wardrobe while I marveled at her pretty jade dress. With her hair teased up into an eye-catching animal style and a necklace made of golden vampire fangs, she looked very beautiful. Not to mention wealthy.

  “I love your shirt,” she said, surprising the heck out of me. Wow! Maybe she was just shocked that I finally had some fashion sense. No matter what, it made me feel good.

  “Follow me to the blood pot,” Marsha said.

  We made our way through a dense crowd and came to a giant pot simmering with hot blood. On a table next to the pot were heavy mugs. We each took one of these and filled it to the brim with the warm bubbling liquid. Gosh it tasted great.