by P. Mattern
“Can’t you guess? You know them.”
“Not Castor and Pollux?”
“Yes - the very same. My little family. I snatched them from death’s door. They were worth snatching, as aggravating as they can be at times. I’ve never regretted it. I can’t imagine going through immortality without them. I’ll tell you the whole story sometime, ok?”
“And exactly how long ago was that?” Charley asked, teasingly. Fress twisted one of Charley’s nipples playfully. “That information is only available on a need to know basis. And exactly why would you need to know this, Mr. Rabbit?”
Charley smiled dangerously, almost leering at her, “Because I want to know if I’m dating a cougar!” Charley initiated a tickling fight at that point until they were both were breathless and on their backs panting.
“I love this” said Charley, ”I love being here with you now. I feel as if I were born again, and the rest of my life was a slow motion fog. I remember things but I can’t remember interpreting them. I - I guess I didn’t have the capacity. I guess I just… couldn’t.”
Fress rolled over and positioned her body closer to charley’s, placing her head on his chest. ”This has to have a happy ending. I want your Mom on board. I don’t want to take you from her. I want to be an addition to your family, like a daughter – in - law.” She sighed, a sigh that carried a hint of wistfulness “I waited a very long time to love someone.”
Charley turned her face upwards until he could gaze into her eyes, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth, “And exactly how long was that?” He queried.
Fress laughed again, ”You’ll never give up trying to find out how old I am, will you?” “Nope. Never.” And having made that pronouncement, Charley once again gathered her up into his arms.
* * *
Mitzi rolled over in her rice pillared four - poster bed to face her digital alarm - it was 11:43 pm and she’d been in bed exactly an hour and a half without sleeping. It had been several days since the kitchen meeting with Fress and the twins that she had sardonically dubbed the “Vampire Pow - wow.” Life had continued as normally as could be expected under the circumstances. Only her son was a vampire.
And her own life would never be the same.
She swung her legs over the side of the canopied southern - influenced monstrosity of a bed that she’d insisted on having after her marriage to Sam. Sleeping in it with all the extra space unfilled by human warmth made her feel even more alone now. Suddenly she wanted ice cream-pistachio if she could possibly score it. She and Sam had had the same favorite ice cream, one of a myriad of preferences they’d held in common. Her pajama top looked like a tunic so she quickly slipped into a pair of skinny ribbed white corduroy pants and short boots. No bra. Hair seemed OK – she hadn’t been in bed long enough to mess it up. Mitzi grabbed her car keys and eased out of the front door quietly. She could hear Charley’s low snore issuing from the far end of the hall upstairs. The market was close; she’d only be a few minutes.
Driving toward the market she reflected some more on the events of the past few months. It had gotten cooler at night; she had to wait briefly for the car defrost system to work its magic. Traditionally she’d always enjoyed the coming of Fall and looked forward to the holidays. Halloween should be a hoot this year, she thought wryly-neither Charley nor his new group of friends would require costumes. Her preoccupation with the new realities was taking its toll on her concentration at work, her sleep schedule - and her appetite, which had all but disappeared during her waking hours. That would account for these night cravings.
The parking lot held less than a dozen cars, and a freak early light snow was twirling fat lazy white flakes beneath the luminescence of the outdoor light poles. The snow must have started as soon as she stepped outside. She hurried across the parking lot. The relative warmth of the warehouse like grocery enfolded her as soon as she stepped through the automatic doors.
A sleepy cashier leaning against the grocery conveyor belt perked up a little and smiled as Mitzi entered the store. It was practically deserted and her footsteps echoed eerily as she traversed the aisles toward the ice cream cases. No pistachio-but as luck would have it spumoni with its combination of chocolate, cherry and pistachio ice creams was in stock so Mitzi scooped it up along with a liter of diet Cola and headed to the checkout.
The store was huge. Twice on the way up to the store front Mitzi though she heard another set of footsteps behind her, but when she turned she saw nothing. In fact she hadn’t seen any other customers, just stock personnel, and unloading boxes onto shelves at a leisurely pace. Overhead pop music played - Mitzi recognized the song as the Eagles’ “Hotel California.”
Her transaction at the lone open cash register took less than two minutes. She reached the automatic double doors and paused for a moment as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Cautiously, she stood on the precipice of the opening to the outside, scoping out the parking lot. The coolness of the outdoors was like a welcome slap in the face. Not a soul was in sight. Mitzi relaxed and stepped out into the chilly night air.
In spite of the fact that it was still spitting unseasonable snowflakes, a full moon was out, looking glorious, oddly tropical and somewhat out of place. She was still gazing upward when she heard rustling behind her.
Afterwards she would remember that rustling sound, the sensation of being pressed in on from all sides at once by something unseen, a slight shock of electricity and watching the huge yellow moon fall from the sky into a dark void that she then weightlessly fell into herself until her consciousness deserted her.
Or at least that was what she thought had happened. But somehow, with no discernible time lapse, she found herself seated in the driver’s side of her Kia sedan. The car was running, windshield wipers on, and the car’s interior was beginning to warm up. Mitzi realized that she had somehow spaced the last few minutes - she couldn’t remember having gotten into the front seat or turning the key in the ignition. She shook her head slightly as though to clear it. Early Alzheimer’s? Some kind of a psychotic fugue? Transient Global Amnesia? She had no explanation. Mitzi looked around - her purse was on the passenger seat. The occasional odd snowflake drifted down and melted on the windshield. A few wet patches glistened blackly across the surface of the parking lot. Everything appeared normal. She cracked the window slightly and breathed in the crisp night air to clear her head. She felt okay-definitely ok to drive. Looking down she noticed the first few buttons of her tunic top were undone. She hurriedly rebuttoned them - maybe that was why the cashier had smiled at her - crazy lady out late at night buying ice cream in her pajama top. Deftly shifting she pulled out of the lot and onto the highway home.
She entered her home by the garage door with her small grocery bag, pausing to listen for signs of life. All she could hear was the ocean – in – a – shell sound of the warm air issuing from the vents and the low, almost imperceptible hum of the fridge. Mitzi relaxed, removed the ice cream container from the bag, and opened the lid.
And frowned.
The ice cream was half melted. In the five or six minute ride from the store? Had she unwittingly placed the bag under a car heater vent? She decided to grab a scoop from the less melty pistachio side of the carton and pushed the rest into the freezer compartment.
Grabbing a spoon and her ice cream dish Mitzi padded upstairs to her room. Her goal was to kick off her soft suede boots, shrug off her coat and pants and crawl into her four poster to view late night tv and enjoy her ice cream. But as she placed her dish temporarily on the dresser she caught her reflection in the wide gilded dresser mirror and stopped to stare.
She looked - different. Actually better than she’d looked in a while. She moved closer to the mirror, not trusting her eyes, and peered at her face. There were her eyes, yes, set widely apart, with the same teal colored irises, arched eyebrows, and long straight nose that ended above a cupid bow mouth. She recognized the same features, but each of them seemed slightly altered. He
r eyes were larger than she remembered; her nose, cheekbones and mouth seemed inexplicably different as well. She looked well rested and her southern peaches and cream complexion glowed with a noticeable vibrancy. I look pretty she thought. Not tired, not stressed, just… pretty.
The top of her silk tunic was open. Mitzi gave a small gasp as she noticed for the first time a series of blue violet bruises on the right side of her long neck that stood out in stark contrast from her otherwise flawless ivory skin. It was hard to know what to make of them - how could she have injured her neck without knowing it or feeling it? Yet, there they were…
Impulsively she yanked the tunic over her head. Aside from the small group of ovalesque bruises on her neck there were several forming a corona over the top of her right breast. So odd. Insect bites? She shivered and put her tunic top back on. At her age she would have to keep an eye on the bruises - make a doctor’s appointment if they didn’t fade. She had never “seen the like” - Mitzi rarely reverted to the southern expressions of her childhood but reverted to them when confused or in pain. And she was confused - again. Lately it seemed harder and harder to maintain her bearings.
The ice cream was melted but she ate it anyway, watching but not concentrating on the late night variety show. Thinking of Sam. Missing him. And reluctantly resolving to call Fress in the morning and show her the bruises, just in case they were connected with any of the weirdness she and Charley had been exposed to lately.
* * *
Chapter 07: Say “AAAAh”
“Say Aaaaaaaaaah”
Dr. Remy Caligare, product of a rare blend of Cajun and Italian ancestry, was a skilled physician that had been in practice for 35 years - 15 as a human and the last twenty as a vampire. In that time he had acquired a specialization in providing care for others of his kind. And because he was the sole Vampire practitioner in Fort Hunt his practice was burgeoning.
Fress had insisted that Mitzi make an appointment after hearing of her strange experience in the grocery store parking lot-and was especially insistent after seeing the bruises. Mitzi had butterflies twirling in her stomach as she sat on the end of the examining table, despite the fact that Fress was holding her hand.
The doctor was handsome and impressively professional, with a full head of white hair brushed GQ style straight back from his temples. Below his crowning glory of a mane, his brows were black and his eyes dark and piercing. The first thing he did was smile - a generous and warm smile that revealed rows and rows of perfectly white teeth. And no fangs! That put Mitzi at ease.
“Very pleased to meet you Mitzi” the doctor intoned in a gentle masculine voice, ”I’m going to have a peek here - first at those bruises on your neck and then in your eyes, yes? Next I will listen to your heartbeat and breathing, OK?” Mitzi smiled a little and nodded. She was thinking that Dr. Caligare’s voice had an almost hypnotic quality, and that was a good thing - because she was feeling a very unanticipated sense of relaxation and well-being. The Doctor was deft and thorough, proceeding exactly as he’d described, then pulling away from her to say ”Finished now.”
Mitzi suddenly tensed, waiting for him to speak. Finally, unable to bear the anticipation she said, ”What did you find? Am I-am I…?”
The doctor finished her query for her. ”A vampire? Hmmmmm - not in the completed sense. But you are on your way. Mitzi, you are what we term ”Once Bitten” at this point. Your irises are showing some color change. Your heartbeat is predictably slower than the norm by about 20 beats per minute. Are you feeling any ill effects?”
Mitzi nodded ”Not many. I feel a little dizzy sometimes. And I don’t seem to need as much sleep. And I seem to be able to move more… precisely, to do things faster without even trying. So far it’s almost all to the positive. Should I expect any drawbacks?” For a brief moment she thought of a book title ”What to Expect When You’re Expecting to be A Vampire” and wanted to smile.
Dr. Caligare removed his stethoscope and placed it in his breast pocket. ”That will be up to your body as it adjusts to the genetic changes from the venom. You may experience other manifestations - it’s a uniquely individual process. But it will eventually level out - or in some cases after an initial spike in manifestations it subsides completely over time. You could eventually return to normal. That is, unless you are exposed to the protein antigen in the venom again.”
Fress squeezed Mitzi’s hand in reassurance. ”That’s what we term” Twice Bitten”. Mitzi looked at her with huge eyes, ”Is that what you are? Twice Bitten?”
Fress nodded. ”That’s when the transformation becomes permanent. But that should be your decision. Of course.”
Dr. Caligare interrupted to pat Mitzi’s knee in a fatherly fashion. ”Well it seems that you have a lot to consider. Mitzi I won’t be seeing you again-unless you decide to join the community. In which case I will be looking forward to your next visit - to welcome you, so to speak.”
When Mitzi and Fressenda returned to the car, Mitzi said suddenly, ”Fress, what happens if I decide not to be twice bitten? Why don’t people who decide NOT to join the Transcendent lifestyle tell the press - or blow the lid off the “community” ?”
Fress slipped behind the wheel of the blue sedan and clicked on her seatbelt. She gave Mitzi a resigned look. ”Ok, first off, there is NO organized movement to change humans to ourselves. Quite the opposite, in fact. There has to be a strict ecological balance - or we don’t get fed for one thing. Changing every human to a vampire would guarantee our extinction. Secondly, it’s rare that more than one member in a human family is involved - you and Charley are exceptions to the rule.
And it’s very disturbing that we don’t know who initiated YOU Mitzi - or why. Situations like this are just not supposed to happen. We don’t know if it was a planned attack or if it was a random attack by a classless rogue vampire. But, you heard Dr. Caligare yourself - if you decide to you can stop the process, remain human and with a return to your humanity will eventually come a forgetting. It will be as if nothing ever happened. Unless-“
Mitzi finished it for her ”Unless they come back and bite me again, I mean draw my blood through my skin again.”
They were quiet for a minute, then Fressenda said, ”There is a third option. If you want to forget any of this ever happened I mean. We can burn a few brain cells in your memory bank - we call it “stunning” or “zapping” - and you won’t remember.”
“But I’ll see Charley, how he’s changed, won’t I?” Fress sighed. “Yes. You are a curious and smart woman Mitzi. I don’t think it would be an effective option.”
Mitzi patted Fress on the forearm as she drove. ”its okay. For now. The good seems to outweigh the bad. I’m “in” as far as what I know so far. I still haven’t decided if I want to be ALL the way in-to be permanent, ”twice bitten”, whatever. I just am not sure.”
“That’s fine. You should take your time. Mitzi?”
“Yes?”
“Are you ever sorry you met us - all of us? Tell the truth please.”
Mitzi shook her head, ”No. It took me awhile to admit this even to myself but my life-and Charley’s - was growing… bleak. I didn’t realize how sad I was. Now is better - there are more possibilities. It makes me more excited about life. And, anyway, you know we love you and the twins.”
Fress let out a breath in relief. ”Oh thank you for saying that. We feel the same about you and Charley.”
Mitzi gave her a warm smile of reassurance. ”I’m so glad to have you to talk to -talking really helps. When you give me answers to my questions the – situation - doesn’t seem so strange or sinister.” She thought again of Sam and wondered what he would make of all of this. He had been so practical and down to earth. Then again she couldn’t imagine him turning down any option for a second chance for Charley, under any circumstances. Sam would definitely have ‘gone for it’ - gone for the transformation as far as Charley was concerned.
In fact, he would have given his OWN soul, without reservation
, to help Charley.
When she arrived home she was delighted to find Charley delving into a pile of books that he had taken off a shelf in the family room. He was speed reading at this point-Dickens, Stephen Hawking, and even Ronald Dahl’s “James and the Giant Peach were some of his already perused titles. He looked up from ‘The Atlas Obscura’ to give her his famous grin. ”Hey Mom!” before returning intently to his reading. Mitzi felt a swell of excitement and motherly pride in her breast.
“This is better”. Mitzi reflected to herself.” This IS a better life won’t allow my frame of reference, doubts or insecurities try to tell me any different.”
* * *
Chapter 08: The Year Without A Summer
Fressenda, Charley, the twins, and Mitzi were all piled into Lux’s silver Ford Explorer for a picnic. As the only parental figure, Mitzi was flattered to be included, had volunteered to make picnic fare, and had loaded a huge woven picnic basket with homemade delicacies. Deviled eggs of course, and hardboiled ones, ham biscuits (a nod to Mitzi’s southern heritage) fried chicken, potato salad, pickles - both sweet and dill and iced brownies for dessert. The delicious smells issuing from the closed basket wafted through the air conditioned cab of the vehicle tantalizingly. Two large jugs - one of tea and another of lemonade sat beside the picnic basket, as well as several old quilts and a traditional red and white checkered tablecloth.
Lux, who was driving turned around to survey the picnic basket and took in a deep breath. ”Mitzi my love you have outdone yourself - I’m sure the repast you’ve prepared will be well worth the indignities of eating human food.”
“Thank you” Mitzi replied from her lone third row seat in the back of the SUV, ”It was surprisingly fun to make. It’s been forever since Charley and I have gone on a picnic-not since his dad was alive. Just making a reference to Sam caused a twinge of sadness but Mitzi brushed off the feeling by continuing, ”Where are you taking us anyway? Is it somewhere out in the country?”