“Totally,” Madison remarked. “Remember that’s how we first met a few months ago. Right here by our sister lockers.”
Madison opened her locker, tossed in a few books, and pulled out a bit of concealer.
“Are you for real doing your makeup at your locker mirror?” Hailey laughed.
“I, so, am,” Madison answered as she looked into the mirror. “Now it’s off to English Lit. Oh, by the way, did you get an invite?”
“Invite to what?”
“The pool party tomorrow night. There’s these guys walking all over the West Wing handing out flyers.”
“No way,” Hailey scoffed. “How did I not get one? Are you going?”
“Duh,” Madison rolled her eyes. “How often do we get invited to a pool party? Hell, who even has a pool in Corpus? Like no one. For real, for real.”
“Yeah, but it’s kinda pissy that I didn’t get an invite. And you said guys have been walking around passing out flyers? I haven’t seen anyone.”
“Yeah. They were doing it all morning. Actually, there they are now! But I gotta go.”
Madison skipped her way down the hall and Hailey was left alone when she turned around. There they were. The boys in black.
Well, a few of them. There was Percy, her favorite. Walking along with him was the mohawked Gabriel and the blonde Alobard. They were passing out flyers, smiling at everyone who took one.
“I hope you can make it,” Alobard told a seventeen-year-old girl.
“We never disappoint,” Gabriel said to a sixteen-year-old boy as he slipped a flyer between his books.
Students were talking amongst themselves as they read the flyers.
“Pool party at our place,” Alobard told a group of girls who’d gathered around him. They were blushing, flirting, and reaching out to touch him.
“Will we see you there?” one of the girls asked as she fluttered her eyelashes.
“Where else is a host to be but their own party, darling?” Alobard smiled. “Rather, it is you I hope to see.”
The girl took a deep breath and smiled. They were total rock stars, enchanting every kid who looked their way.
Percy was passing out flyers until Hailey caught his eye. The two met in the middle of the hall.
“Hailey,” Percy said. “It’s nice to see you again.” He handed her a flyer.
“A pool party?” she asked before looking at it.
“Go ahead, take a look.”
She looked at the small black flyer, which invited the high school students of Corpus to the best pool party of the year.
“The best?” Hailey laughed. “You mean the only. I haven’t heard of a pool since I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina.”
“Then I can’t wait to see you there.”
“Where do you live anyway?”
He pointed to the directions on the flyer and Hailey noticed there was no address listed upon it. The flyer did however, tell students to drive three miles past the school, southeast bound, and travel beyond the woods. On the other side they would find a gated pink manor. “The Manor,” it said.
“What a creative name,” Hailey said sarcastically.
“I thought about putting the full name on it – Vampyr Manor, but we wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise,” he smiled as his eyes flickered.
His pale skin radiated against the warm sunlight reflecting from the windows.
“I’ll be there just for you,” Hailey told him.
“You’re too sweet,” he smiled tiredly. “And I mean that literally. You have the single sweetest smelling trace I have encountered in my 300 years.”
“That’s why you can’t stay away from me?” she said.
“I didn’t say that,” he smirked.
“I can sense it,” she whispered.
The other vampires surrounded her. She was uncomfortable having not known them, and felt similarly when they raised their noses to sniff her.
“Boys, this is Hailey Lane. And I’m going to need each of you to back down,” Percy told them coolly.
“The pleasure is mine, Hailey,” Alobard told her as he shook her hand. “Young Percivell has mentioned so much about you”
The inside of his hand was not quite, but nearly, ice cold. And so went the same for the mohawked vampire who introduced himself as Gabriel.
“I remember there being more of you last week,” Hailey said. She changed the topic, not wanting to ask how much Percy had told his fellow vampires about her.
“Brother Gregorious is at home resting. We told him we could do this without him,” Percy answered. “Mind you, I am as tired this morning as hell is hot.”
“Gregorious has been enjoying that new young friend of his, hasn’t he?” Gabriel laughed heartily. “Well Hailey, I do hope you’ll join us tomorrow night.”
Gabriel and Alobard turned down a corner, moving through the corridor as other girls followed with giggles and smiles.
“You guys really are well liked, aren’t you?” Hailey said.
“Life’s not always easy being a cold body,” Percy answered.
“Well what’s difficult for you?”
“For one, this sunlight is truly soul sapping. It’d be near impossible for me to fly in a condition like this.” Hailey could tell he was tired.
“Poor Percy can’t fly during the day, what a toll that must take,” she teased him. “Imagine not ever being able to fly.”
“It’s been 300 years and I still vividly recall my life as a daywalker.”
“I’d love to know more about your life as a human. It still sounds to me like being a nightwalker has a lot of perks.”
When she said those words, Percy drew closer to her – as if gliding. Their faces only inches apart. The aura he exuded was one of a great sensation. Even while tired, he was powerful and seductive.
“Tomorrow night. I’ll tell you everything you could ever want to know. And everything you could ever want to feel. Such as that dream you had last night.”
“How do you know I had a dream last night?” Hailey asked, as a feeling of overwhelming impact overcame her.
“You dreamed of me. We were in lilac fields. There existed no one but us. We were the beginning and the end of all there ever was and all there ever will be. You placed your hands upon my chest. And when you saw my fangs you awoke.”
“How can you possible know that? Can vampires read minds like in some of the stories I’ve read?”
“No,” he whispered. “We cannot read minds. We had a shared dream. I know about that dream because I was there with you.”
“How is that possible?”
“Because you drank from me. And what is a vampire but a fountain of knowledge. Such as in the tale of Adam and Eve.”
“Does that mean I’ll be banished from the garden now? Cast out to wander the earth until the end of my days.”
“That is up for you to decide, Hailey… The decision is yours. And yours alone. But who is to say that wandering the earth is bad? We have done it for millennia.”
“But Adam and Eve is just a story, right?” she asked.
“Have you ever truly stopped to contemplate the meaning of it? Why, I ask…. does God not want humans to have knowledge and enlightenment?”
“I… I hadn’t ever really thought of what is truly meant,” Hailey admitted.
“The story is quite a simple one, really. Humans have always held the notion that knowledge is power. The God of Zion did not wish for humans to have power, and thus knowledge. For knowledge and power is a gift meant only for the gods.”
“So vampires are the only creatures on earth who were meant to have knowledge?” Hailey suggested. “What are you but gods of the night?”
“That is a fascinating take, to be sure.”
By now the halls had cleared for classes to begin. Hailey stood alone with Percy. Quietly their eyes met and the moment of silence they shared was perhaps more powerful than any discussion.
“How long will I dream about you? Like, will it
last forever?”
“No,” he answered. “The connection breaks after several months if you go without consuming anymore of a vampire’s blood. Can you believe the bond we now feel came from you having swallowed only three droplets of my blood?”
“Was that all?” she asked.
“It causes a deep sense of euphoria followed by an ephemeral bond that is unlike anything else on earth. The more you drink, the closer we would become.”
“But if I were to stop talking to you and never drink from you again then that bond would break over time?” He nodded to her question and she continued. “It’s just funny… in vampire lore it’s always about vampires feasting on humans. They never mention the other way around.”
Before they could say anything further to each other, a voice yelled down the hall.
“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING OUT OF CLASS!?”
Percy turned around. He and Hailey were both facing Dr Dawkins who dashed down the hall toward them.
“Oh no, I gotta go,” Hailey said. She attempted to run but Percy grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer.
“Don’t,” he told her. The look he’d given to her was one that simply conveyed I got this.
The vice principal, Dr Graham, entered the hall and ran towards them as well. The two principals were facing off with Hailey and Percy.
“What are you two doing out of class!” Dr Dawkins demanded.
“Two?” Dr Graham blurted.
“I haven’t seen you before,” Dr Dawkins said to Percy. “You’re not one of my students. Just who are you!”
“Principal, who are you talking to?” Dr Graham asked him, as if his boss had gone mad.
“I’m talking to this young man here wearing all…” Dr Dawkins gasped. “That’s him! The one the sheriff mentioned! He’s dressed in all black like some kind of gothic heathen!”
“I don’t see anyone!” Dr Graham exclaimed.
“Dear God, Vice Principal! How can you not see him???” Dr Dawkins demanded. “He’s standing right in front of you next to the new girl, Hailey Lane.”
“I see Hailey,” the vice principal said incredulously, “But there’s no one standing next to her. What are you on about, Principal?”
“If you can’t see him, Dr Graham, then I’m going to schedule you an eye appointment immediately. Right after we alert the sheriff to his presence!”
“What’s going on?” Hailey whispered as she grabbed Percy’s hand.
“Your Vice Principal cannot see me nor my brothers,” Percy said aloud. “We dealt with him last Friday. And now it is your turn, Principal Dawkins.”
Percy opened his mouth and his fangs appeared.
“OH JESUS, HE’S A VAMPIRE!” Dr Dawkins shouted.
“Who’s a vampire!? What on God’s earth are you rattling on about?” the Vice Principal said, totally unaware, and unable to see Percy.
“Dr Dawkins,” Percy said, looking the Principal in the eyes. Immediately the Principal’s posture became relaxed. His eyelids began to lower.
“You have not seen a vampire today,” Percy commanded him in a quiet tone. “Not today nor ever. When you come across me and my brethren, you shall not see us just as your subordinate does not see us. When you see us in the halls you shall keep walking.”
The Principal nodded under the full trance of hypnotism.
“As for Hailey,” Percy spoke again. “She is not late for class. She, now and forever, will arrive at her own time and walk among these grounds as she pleases. Now gentlemen, you shall keep moving, tend to the orderlies of your school, and have a good day.”
The two principals nodded in unison. They turned around and continued to walk down the hall as if this altercation had never occurred.
“Did I mention,” Percy said to Hailey with a seductive smirk, “that being a vampire… has its privileges.”
Immediately, Hailey’s arms were around his neck. She thrust him against the locker as if she’d had a modicum of power over him. Her breath travelled along his cold face as their lips met. Her respiration rose faster and faster as his pale face met with hers.
At the touch of his lips, ecstasy radiated – blossomed within her. The taste of his lips gave to her the same sense of eternity as his vampiric blood had given her. Finally, he pulled his mouth away from hers.
“You have a class to get to,” he told her, frost almost emanating from his breath.
“Tomorrow night?” she asked.
“Tomorrow night,” he repeated.
And so she shut her locker and hurried to class with her books in hand. She was halfway down the hall when she turned to look at him – but in her desire for a second glance at him, she found only disappointment. He was gone, surely long gone.
***
Sheriff Zeddman was driving along in his cruiser, having left the school about ten minutes prior. He’d told Coleman he was headed to breakfast and would return to the Sheriff’s Office shortly thereafter.
Of course he hadn’t told Coleman that he’d already had breakfaster at sunrise, the same as he did every morning. No, he was headed to the diner for more than breakfast. He was headed there for the one thing that kept his mind off people killers and cow killers and whatever lunatic was stealing blood across town.
Sure, it was his job to investigate all wrongdoing in Corpus, but even the sheriff needed an occasional break. And what better way to take a break than to see his favorite new waitress.
So he took the long route to the Grits ’n’ Gravy Diner. Being here as a patron and not on official business, he parked in the lot amongst everyone else instead of planting his cruiser at the entrance door. Not that he hadn’t been guilty of doing that in the past at other places.
The sheriff entered the diner and asked the hostess if he could sit in the area where Melanie Lane would be working.
“Sure thing, I can do that for you, Sheriff. Mel’s just been stealing up all the customers, ain’t she?” the hostess laughed and walked the sheriff to the area where Mel would be serving him.
He took a seat, grabbed a menu, and immediately tucked it aside. Almost no one at the Grits ’n’ Gravy Diner ever looked at a menu. In fact, if there were any place on earth where menus didn’t need to exist, it was right here. Everyone always knew what he or she wanted.
The Grits ’n’Gravy Diner was the type of place visited by folk who were creatures of habits. Changing up orders? That was practically unheard of. Not in Corpus and not at this diner, no sir-ree.
Melanie, however, had not learned every customer and each of their orders. She’d only been on the job for a week. Who thought being a waitress would be so hard. Surprisingly, it was.
At any given moment she was looking after three customers on a slow day and seven or eight or a fast day. And country folk weren’t known their generous tipping. Not when everyone in town were all of the “make ends meet” variety.
Now sitting in her area was the sheriff. He’s a good tipper. Not bad on the eyes either, Melanie thought to herself.
“Good morning, Sheriff,” Melanie said to him as she approached his table.
“Good morning, Mel,” the sheriff beamed. “Please, just call me Antwan.”
He took off his hat and laid it down on the tabletop.
“Alright, Antwan,” she smiled. “How can I start you off?”
“Coffee,” he said.
“Sugar and cream?”
“Absolutely not,” he smiled back. “I like it black.”
“Me too,” she said. “Good choice. One coffee, black. Coming right up.”
Zeddman watched her dart around tables and enter the Employees Only area. She returned just a minute later with a mug and a steel canister of hot coffee. She placed the mug on his table and poured his first cup.
“Fresh brew, Sher– I mean, Antwan.”
He took the first sip and exclaimed it delightful. The best he’d ever had – whether it was true or not. Of course the diner’s coffee never changed. Heck, not even the pots were changed
very often.
But Mel served this cup. And that made it pitch perfect. Next he ordered a steak omelet with extra peppers.
“Like it spicy, Antwan?” Mel laughed.
“I always do,” he told her.
“So how’s life been at the Sheriff’s Office?”
The Sheriff thought for a moment. He realized it would be best not to discuss the most recent headlines regarding the homicide ruling. And the case of the slaughtered cows seemed too queasy to bring up at a breakfast diner. Then he recalled another case he could mention, vaguely–
“Went to the hospital over the weekend,” he told her. “These two boys claimed they were attacked by some strange pale kids. So this morning I headed to the school, looking for these goth kids or whatever. And get this… the principal says he’s never heard of anyone like that in the history of Corpus High. Dark clothes, eyeliners, no boys match a description like that in Corpus.”
“They’d stick out like a sore thumb, right? At least here in Corpus. Because trust me, back home in Charlotte, that describes three quarters of every high school kid. The angst is real up north. Look at me, referring to the Carolinas as the north. Never thought I’d say that.”
They both laughed. Mel told him she’d be taking his order to the back immediately. He watched as she walked away for a second time.
“That’s it, I’m gonna do it,” the sheriff said quietly to himself. The next time she walks through that door, I’ll ask her out. His initial plan was to ask her after he ate and paid for his food, on his way out. But he was too anxious. He couldn’t wait that long.
Minutes later she walked back out into the area where the customers sat and her eyes caught the sheriff’s own. His smile drew her back to his table.
“I see you looking. Anything I can do for you, Antwan?”
“Why, yes. Yes, there is, Mel. I was wondering. Kinda wondering…” it was unusual for the sheriff to stammer over his words, “… if you’d be interested in going out sometime.”
“I’d love to,” she said.
“Well that’s just perfect. Truly the highlight of my day.”
“But that day’s only begun. How can you say that for sure?”
“Trust me. Just consider the work I’m in. This is as good as it gets,” he smirked and gulped a cup of coffee.
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