Neckbeard Vampire: Nightbeard Rising

by David Morgan

The warmth of the sun cracked over the roof of the convenience store and broke on Chad’s forehead. He rubbed his eyes in the light of the rising sun and then shook himself awake.

  He looked down to his phone—4 missed calls, all from Randall---the latest a half hour ago. Shit. He thought to himself as he dialed Randall, who didn’t answer. He called again with no luck.

  Unpleasant thoughts of what might have happened to Randall flew through his head, as Chad tried to focus. Moments came and went where his vampire theory seemed real and dangerous, and when it sounded equally nonsensical and he felt embarrassed that he had sent them all on this wild goose chase. Nevertheless, Randall wasn’t answering.

  He tried Johnathan.

  “Hello?” A groggy voice answered after the second ring.

  “Johnathan!” Chad yelled, “Any news?!”

  “Huh? No—I haven’t seen anything.”

  “Did you fall asleep?”

  Johnathan fumbled for an excuse. “What? No…uhh...just a few minutes ago, I think. What time is it?”

  Chad looked to the clock on his phone. “It’s almost seven—the sun is already up!”

  “Ok well I haven’t seen anything all night. I’m going home.”

  “We’re meeting today at Randall’s place again.” Chad squeezed in before the line disconnected.

  Chad hit the gas and pull off in the direction of home, mad at himself for having missed Dasha and even madder at himself for his own hypocrisy. He fell asleep for a few hours—Johnathan fell asleep for God-knows-how-long, and Randall’s not answering at all. He took the long way home, passing Paxton’s place to verify Randall wasn’t lying in a bloody mess on the side of the road. Fortunately, that was not the case, and the complete absence of Randall’s car gave him hope that he left not long before.

  He sent a text message to both of them:

  Randall’s place @ 15:00.

  Chad breathed a sigh of relief when Randall answered the door to meet at the agreed-upon time. Now having visual confirmation that his friend was, in fact, safe.

  “Dude! Where were you?” Chad asked. “Why didn’t you answer?”

  “Oh sorry—my phone battery died and I was so tired when I got home that I forgot to plug it back in until a few minutes ago. Then I saw your message.”

  Randall led Chad to the basement where, much to his surprise, Johnathan was already waiting.

  “So what’d you find out?” Randall turned to Chad.

  “Nothing. She never left the comic book store—even after it closed.”

  “Uhh…Yeah she did.” Randall countered.

  “What?” Chad said, shocked. “What do you mean?”

  “That’s when I called you—at about 5:30, just before sunrise, I saw Dasha walking down the street towards Paxton’s house.”

  “Seriously!?” Chad was beside himself.

  At this point Johnathan began laughing, “Haha—did you fall asleep, Chad?” He grinned wide.

  Chad ignored the mockery. “So what happened?”

  “Well she walked up to the door—and Pax must have been expecting her because she didn’t even knock, he just opened the door after she stood there for a second or so. She said something—he said something—I guess she was asking if she could come in? I don’t know. But he let her in—and that was it. The door closed. Then I called you.”

  Chad stood for a moment, pondering what it might mean. “Anything else?” he asked.

  “No—that was pretty much it.”

  Chad sat down on the couch, staring at the coffee table as he pondered Dasha actually living with Paxton. What did it mean? Where did she actually live? Was it really the friendzone or could there be…something more…something sexual? It would blow his theory out of the water—they could be in the beginning of a fun relationship together, getting to know each other. Pax could have lost his virginity to her.

  No. A pang of jealousy swept through Chad like a cold wind.

  Pax still behaved like a virgin as far as he could tell—she couldn’t possibly be sleeping with him. After all, what kind of beautiful girl like that would sleep with someone like him?

  “We need to go to Paxton’s.” Chad finally said. “We need to know what’s going on there.”

  “Chad.” Johnathan said, annoyed. “Aren’t you gonna ask about my findings?”

  Chad had no desire to play games, but didn’t want to risk missing important information. “Ok Johnathan—what happened to you?” He asked.

  “Nothing.” Johnathan responded, smiling smugly. “Nothing happened. Saw a big cat…that was it. A big waste of time, thanks.”

  The cat. Hadn’t he warned him about it? Chad’s irritation melted into wrath as the words sunk in. “You dip shit! If something’s happened to her—you’re dead.” And he ran up the stairs, and jumped in his car.

  “What’s going on?” John asked as the sound of screeching tires faded into the distance.

  “I don’t know—I think that cat was bad,” Randall said.

  “Oops.” Johnathan answered.