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Andrew Roller Presents
YOUNG VAMPIRES
in
Creatures of the Night
Chapter Three
The lovers strolled between the trees. He spotted them from the
sidewalk. He left the crowds and moved away from the bright lights of
the shops and the street lights. He felt light, as if he were moving with
the breeze. He approached the lovers from behind. They paused. He darted
behind a tree. Their lips touched. Anger rose in him. He remembered
Kayla and Casey, kissing at Round House Pizza.
He attacked. He went for the male. Swiftly he came in on them,
moving with an ease he had never felt before. He grabbed the male. He
pushed away the female. She fell to the grass. She screamed. Severin
sensed heads turning on the sidewalk, among the tourists. The man in his
grip shouted. Severin felt suddenly embarrassed, afraid. He let go of the
man.
ÒGod damn faggot!Ó the man yelled. Severin ran. He could feel his
face blushing, as if all the remaining blood in his veins had gone to his
head. It had been a tactical decision, to go for the male first. He could
hardly expect to drink from the female if the man was pounding on him.
But to grab the man-- it made him feel weird. He didnÕt like being called a
faggot.
ÒShit! That guy tried to fuck my ass!Ó the man swore. Severin felt
his shame rising higher. He wanted to turn back to the man and yell, ÒI
wasnÕt trying to fuck you! I was trying to drink your blood!Ó but instead he
kept on running.
He waited for Oscar by the green wooden door. He tried to stay
hidden. He was in a kind of small pit as he waited, for the steps leading
down to the green door led down from the street. He stood with his head
poking up from the pit. A dumpster was directly in front of him, on street
level, hiding him from view. But he could still look across the street, and
he did so warily, smelling the trash in the dumpster as he waited for the
night to draw to a close.
A figure emerged from the back door of a building, across the street.
It was an old man. He locked the door behind him. His keys jingled. He
stepped out into the street, illuminated by the half-light of an apartment
two floors above him. He moved with a shuffling noise, his feet seemingly
too tired to lift themselves. In his hand he held a cane. Severin noticed
that it was a wooden cane, with a long handle. It did not have a curved top
as a store-bought cane would. Instead it looked as if it had been chopped
from a tree limb. Curiously, the end of the cane, the part the man would
supposedly press to the asphalt to balance himself, was pointed. As the
man walked, shuffling, Severin noticed that the manÕs cane never touched
the ground. It was as if he needed it only to balance himself, and wanted
to preserve the newness of the caneÕs pointed tip by not ramming it
against the asphalt. Severin thought about attacking the man. But he was
tired. He still felt hugely embarrassed about being called a faggot. He
would feed another night, he told himself. HeÕd had enough of playing
vampire for this night.
Severin crouched down as the man approached. The man was
carrying a sack. At first Severin thought the man had bought groceries,
for it was a paper sack, but then he smelled an odor of day-old fish.
ÒOh. Garbage,Ó Severin muttered. There was a flight of steps
leading up to a landing above the green door. It rose up from the street,
above SeverinÕs head. Severin drew back underneath it. Muttering, the old
man shambled over to the dumpster. Then, with surprising strength, he
threw open the metal lid of the dumpster. Metal struck metal as the lid
came to rest against an upright support. As the old man tossed in his bag
of trash, Severin looked at the lid standing at an angle in the moonlight.
Flung back on its hinges, it looked very much like an open lid of a coffin.
ÒThey will all be in here one day,Ó the old man muttered. Then he
reached for the open lid. He pulled it closed. There was a clang of metal
striking metal as the lid fell shut. The man headed back across the street,
but paused in the middle of it. He turned toward Severin. He sniffed the
air.
ÒGet out of here, old fart, before IÕm tempted to bite you,Ó Severin
said under his breath. The man turned away. He walked back to the door
heÕd emerged from, like some old corpse returning to his mausoleum. He
unlocked it. He went inside. Severin heard the man lock the door, the
click of it coming to him from across the street.
ÒYes. YouÕre safe now,Ó Severin sighed. And then he wished heÕd
tried to jump the man, for his hunger made his belly ache.
Out of SeverinÕs sight, out of the chilly night air, the man sat down
at a writing table. The room he was in was a modest apartment. There
was a window several feet from the door, but it was shut and its curtains,
black curtains, were drawn tightly together. An overhead lamp threw
light onto the walls of the apartment. But it was an energy-efficient
lamp, restrained in its ambitions, and so the old man, as he sat down at
the writing table, flicked on a lamp standing on a shelf above the table.
There was a large painting of Jesus on the wall next to the writing table.
The Son of GodÕs face was uplifted, his hands clasped in prayer. But his
eyes were open, as if searching the heavens for divine guidance. At the
writing table, where the man sat, there was a Holy Bible. But the man did
not reach for the Bible, which stood between cross-shaped marble
bookends on an upper shelf of the table, next to the lamp. Instead he
opened a book lying flat on the table. Briskly the man wrote:
ÒSmelled a vampire this evening. Out by the dumpster. Cannot be
certain, of course. But I am going to go look now. I will take my stake, of
course. The long one that I use as a cane. May God help me in this matter.
Perhaps she is lying asleep in the dumpster, the foul bitch. I think itÕs the
female vampire who attacked me earlier this evening. Perhaps she is
lingering, hoping for another chance. If I do not return, it is because she
was quicker than I. May God help me in this matter.Ó
The man shut his book. He walked to the bathroom, moving without
sliding his feet on the floor, his stride firm and steady. He looked at
himself in the bathroom mirror. His face was warped by age. Large fleshy
jowls sagged on either side of his mouth, drooping down toward the collar
of the old brown overcoat he wore. He was warm, standing in the
bathroom. His apartment was heated and in his haste to write down his
thoughts he had left his coat on. He lifted a hand a wiped his brow. He
turned. He went to a bureau and opened a drawer. There was a gun in the
drawer, but he went for what was beside it. He picked up a wooden stake.
He drew back his brown coat and thrust the stake through the belt in his
pants. Then he drew his coat closed, and, without buttoning it, he held its
halves together with his fist. He walked to the door. He fished out his
keys from his pants pocket and unlocked it. With his free hand he reached
for the cane which he had placed, pointed end up, against the wall next to
the door. He went out, closing and locking his door behind him.
Severin had stepped out from under the flight of stairs leading to
the apartment above him. He was yawning, getting bored with waiting for
Oscar, when he heard the thud of the old manÕs door closing across the
street. Immediately Severin drew back under the staircase. He watched
the old man come toward him. The man moved quietly. His feet walked
with a tired gait but they moved noiselessly now, his cane still avoiding
touching the street.
ÒOh please,Ó Severin moaned to himself. He crouched down in the pit
outside the green door. He could not go inside. Oscar had locked the door
when theyÕd gone out for the night. Severin rolled his eyes. ÒHow much
fucking garbage does this old fart have?Ó he muttered to himself. His
stomach was hurting and he very much wanted something to feed on. But
he was still scared from his earlier attempt, scared and embarrassed.
ÒBy the light of Holy God, I reveal thee!Ó the old man shouted. There
was a clang of metal on metal as the old man threw open the dumpster.
Severin started. He rose, slightly. He watched as the old man clambered
up on to the dumpster and began stabbing into it with the point of his cane.
There was a sound of garbage rustling, of aluminum cans being disturbed.
A glass bottle fell somewhere within the dumpster and shattered. Above
SeverinÕs head a light went on. Severin crouched down. There was the
sound of a window sliding open, rapidly.
ÒHey you old man, why canÕt you fucking go to sleep?!Ó a voice
snarled. It was a male voice, young, vigorous. The old man ignored it. He
continued to stab at the trash. ÒHey!Ó the voice above SeverinÕs head
insisted. ÒGo to sleep!Ó The old man looked up. There was a defeated look
on his face.
ÒIÕm sorry. I thought it was a cat,Ó he said.
ÒDamn fucker. This is the second time tonight you woke me up!Ó the
voice swore. ÒYouÕre crazy, you know that? You belong in an old folks
home!Ó
ÒHe belongs in the grave, thatÕs where he belongs!Ó a womanÕs voice
suddenly shouted from two floors above the old manÕs apartment.
ÒIÕm sorry! IÕm sorry!Ó the old man said. He seemed embarrassed as
he got down off the dumpster. He dropped his cane. It clattered on the
street.
Severin had to restrain himself from laughing as he watched the old
man pick up his cane and shuffle across the street. He followed the old
man with his eyes until he had locked himself back inside his apartment.
No sooner had Severin squatted down again, in front of the green door,
wondering what to do with himself, when Oscar appeared.
ÒOscar!Ó Severin breathed.
ÒWhatÕs the commotion?Ó Oscar asked. He was supple as the wind,
standing before Severin where, moments before, there had been nothing
but the dank concrete walls of the pit.
ÒSome old man, chasing a cat,Ó Severin said.
ÒOh. I was afraid it had something to do with us,Ó Oscar said. He
unlocked the green door. He led Severin into the darkness. Shutting the
door behind him, he continued, ÒNever attack anyone right where we live.Ó
ÒOkay,Ó Severin said. ÒI just let him go, even though I was hungry.Ó
ÒGood,Ó Oscar said. ÒYou are an intelligent spawn. IÕm glad I
embraced you.Ó
ÒCould you turn on a light in here?Ó Severin asked.
ÒOh. Yes,Ó Oscar said. With the same ease heÕd shown before, he
found a match and struck it.
ÒYou know, I sort of would like to take a bath,Ó Severin said. Oscar
laughed.
ÒA bath?Ó Oscar asked, his voice sounding incredulous. He laughed
again.
ÒYes, donÕt you take baths?Ó Severin asked.
ÒNo, my dear boy. Vampires donÕt take baths,Ó Oscar said. ÒIt is a
human desire you feel. It will pass.Ó He laughed again. ÒScrub a dub dub,
my spawn in a tub!Ó
He awoke. His hunger was intense. He pushed back the lid of his
coffin. Instinctively he glanced at the crack under the door. It was dark.
Or, rather, it was almost dark. There was still a touch of grey there,
gleaming at him, taunting him with the daylight he would never see again.
Severin had been dreaming. In his dream it was two years ago, and
he was sitting in a park. Three girls were playing baseball nearby. He
ignored them. They were elementary school girls. But they did not ignore
him. They went home and told their father there was Òa manÓ in the park.
The police were called. Severin wound up spending the night in the county
jail, suspected of being a child molester.
There was a near soundless movement behind him. Severin turned.
He gaped into the darkness of the room. He sensed movement.
ÒHow is the vampire this evening, hmmm?Ó Oscar asked in the
darkness. Severin sensed that the Chinese boy was rising from his coffin.
Severin stared, but he could see nothing.
ÒOh, fine,Ó Severin replied. He felt queasy talking to someone
newly-risen from a coffin. But he himself was sitting in a coffin of his
own. It was a decidedly less expensive coffin. It was, in fact, just the
cheap sort of coffin used for convicts. ÒIÕm dreaming of my past life,Ó
Severin told Oscar. ÒI never had a girlfriend, not really anyway, so I was
mostly alone. Little girls used to accuse me of being a child molester. A
stranger, you know? WhoÕs that strange man? All that shit.Ó
ÒIt will pass,Ó Oscar said. Severin heard Oscar climb out of his
coffin. They boy jumped down from the table. His feet hit the bare
concrete floor of the room gracefully, like a wolf dropping down among
rocks along the side of a mountain. ÒYou will forget your past life,Ó Oscar
told Severin. He found matches in the darkness and lit one of them. He
walked to a candle and lit it. Using the candle he then lit more candles,
mounted in fastenings on the wall. The illuminated room showed coffins,
the embalming sign, and a mirror. Oscar blew out the match. He put the
candle he was holding on top of a garish green coffin. ÒI think IÕll feed
tonight,Ó Oscar said. He rubbed his stomach.
At the mention of food, Severin felt pangs in his own belly.
ÒIÕm hungry,Ó Severin whined.
ÒHave you fed yet?Ó Oscar asked.
ÒNo,Ó Severin answered.
ÒStill not quite the predator, eh?Ó Oscar grinned. He walked to a
mirror. It was a large mirror, over six feet tall. It was bolted to the
wall, near the embalming sign, as if the dead had to check their looks one
last time before resigning themselves to the eternity of the grave. The
Chinese boy smiled at himself in the mirror. ÒIÕm the best looking
mother-fucker to ever stand four feet nine inches tall!Ó the boy crowed.
Then, remembering Severin, he turned and said, ÒSorry about that. MustnÕt
swear when one has company.Ó
ÒItÕs okay,Ó Severin said. He climbed out of his own coffin, which
rested on the floor. He stretched. It hurt lying in that hard wooden coffin
and he wondered if he could have another one. Seeming to read his
thoughts, Oscar said,
ÒTake any coffin you like. The others who used to sleep here are
dead.Ó
ÒWeÕre both dead,Ó Severin frowned. He looked again at the crack
under the door. It was dark now. He sensed it was night outside.
ÒWe are undead,Ó Oscar told Severin. He adjusted his red bow tie.
He ran his hands over his shirt, smoothing it. ÒAnd you must not feel
guilty about feeding. Oscar glanced at the door. The boy sat down on a
closed coffin that was resting on the floor. His legs dangled off it. His
feet barely touched the concrete. ÒLet me tell you a story,Ó Oscar said to
Severin.
ÒSure,Ó Severin answered. He closed the lid of his own coffin and
sat down on top of it.
ÒThere was a man,Ó Oscar told Severin. ÒA human. He lived on an
island where there was no vegetation. However, there were animals. But
this human was uncomfortable about eating the animals. So do you know
what happened to him?Ó
ÒNo,Ó Severin replied.
ÒHe died,Ó Oscar said. ÒOf hunger.Ó
ÒAnd?Ó Severin asked, expecting more.
ÒThatÕs it. ThatÕs the end of the story,Ó Oscar told Severin. ÒAnd
the same thing will happen to you if you resist your urge to feed.Ó Oscar
peered at Severin from behind his oval-shaped glasses. ÒDid you ever go
to McDonalds?Ó Oscar asked Severin.
ÒSure. Lots of times,Ó Severin replied.
ÒAnd you ate a hamburger, right?Ó Oscar asked.
ÒCheeseburger,Ó Severin answered.
ÒNo matter. The point is that it was made of beef, and the beef came
from a slaughtered cow. A cow killed by the humans, without guilt or
remorse. And did you feel any guilt or remorse?Ó
ÒAbout eating a cheeseburg?Ó Severin asked.
ÒYes! You ate it without feeling guilty about it, am I right?Ó
ÒOf course,Ó Severin said.
ÒBut an animal died to make that cheeseburger.Ó Oscar lifted a
finger. ÒWe do not kill in order to feed,Ó Oscar said said. ÒUnless the
blood is completely drained. We are a superior life form. If only the
humans would feed like us! But they are too barbaric, of course.Ó Oscar
stood up. ÒSo tonight you will feed. The important thing is to remember
to lick the neck when you are finished. That will cause the twin puncture
wounds, from your fangs, to seal over. The victim will look like they got a
hickey, thatÕs all. No one will suspect that a vampire bit them.Ó
Oscar blew out the candle sitting on the lurid green coffin. Then he
picked up a brass candle extinguisher. It had a long handle, with a bell-
shaped hood. He walked from one wall-mounted candle to the next, putting
them out.
ÒWhat are you doing?Ó Severin asked anxiously. The room was
growing as dark as the night outside.
ÒNo use wasting wax,Ó Oscar said. ÒI only lit them for your
convenience.Ó
ÒAre we going out?Ó Severin asked.
ÒYes,Ó Oscar said.
Severin leaped up. He rushed over to the mirror. ÒWait!Ó he cried.
Then, in a lower voice, he explained, ÒI want to see what I look like, as a
vampire.Ó To his horror, standing in front of the mirror, he saw nothing.
Hastily he backed away from the mirror and approached it again. Still he
saw nothing. Oscar laughed.
ÒYouÕre undead now,Ó Oscar said. Severin felt terror run up his
spine.
ÒBut I saw myself last night!Ó Severin cried. ÒIn my apartment,
before I went out. IÕd already been bitten then!Ó
ÒBitten, but not embraced,Ó Oscar said. He put out the final candle,
plunging the room into darkness. Severin sensed Oscar turning toward
him. His voice came to him. It was disembodied, like the hoot of an
unseen owl. ÒWhen I embraced you, you lost all the remaining vestiges of
your humanity,Ó Oscar told Severin. ÒUntil then you could stand the
daylight, although you found it increasingly disagreeable. You could eat
pizza, you could drink Coca- Cola. Now the daylight is forbidden to you, if
you value your unlife. And if you tried eating or drinking, youÕd throw up.
Only blood is good for you now.Ó
ÒBut--Ó Severin gasped. He turned toward the mirror again. He
became confused. Was the mirror in fact this way in the blackness, or in
another direction? ÒI saw you look at yourself in the mirror!Ó Severin
yelled. ÒAnd the vampires at Round House Pizza, they were eating!Ó
ÒDid you not hear Darius?Ó Oscar asked. ÒThe gypsies provided a
serum that allowed us to eat. One meal. Now we are all back to feeding on
blood. As for myself, seeing myself in the mirror, different vampires
acquire different skills. Perhaps you will learn skills too, if you manage
to live long enough.Ó
ÒAlright, alright! IÕll go out and kill someone then!Ó Severin said.
ÒOr perhaps IÕll find a cow.Ó
ÒNo,Ó Oscar said. ÒOnly the vampire clan that lives in the
wilderness can drink the blood of animals. It is considered a perversion
among vampires of the city. In addition to which, it will quite likely make
you sick. You were once human. It is human blood you need.Ó
They went out into the night. They walked through Old Sanramento,
along the plank sidewalk, through the throngs of tourists. They went out
past the old rail yard to a wharf running along the Sanramento river.
There were paddle boats moored there, two of them, one full-sized, the
other smaller. The large boat was named the Delta Queen and the smaller
boat was called The Spirit of Sanramento. Beyond them, standing astride
the river, was the Old Sanramento toll bridge. It was a beautiful sight.
ItÕs metal beams were painted gold. Lights strung along it increased the
sheen of the gold. The boats moored by the wharf were an immaculate
white, lit up by white spotlights. On the bridge red warning lights gave
out its location to low-flying aircraft. Oscar and Severin approached the
bridge. They walked silently, not talking, Severin admiring the bridge and
Oscar, who had seen it many times before, lost in his thoughts. Severin
turned to ask Oscar if they were going to cross the bridge but when he did,
he saw that the boy was gone.
ÒShit. HeÕs like Batman,Ó Severin remarked. ÒOne minute heÕs here
and the next heÕs not.Ó Severin decided to cross the bridge. He had never
been in this part of town before. He tried to forget his hunger, hoping he
would find some way to placate it later. He was fascinated by the night.
The air seemed to have a tang to it, that made the rising chill enjoyable.
As he left Old Sanramento, crossing the bridge, he was glad to leave the
brightly lit shops behind.
Severin wandered into a neighborhood. Tall houses stood on either
side of the street. He did his best to avoid the street lights, crossing
through the middle of peopleÕs front yards. He came to a park. ÒGarnet
Park,Ó a wooden sign read. ÒCity of Sanramento.Ó Severin walked into the
park. There was a big old tree standing in the park and he headed toward
it. His stomach was really bothering him now. He felt light-headed, like
when, as a human being, he skipped lunch. He went to the old tree. He saw
that it had a particularly low branch. The branch formed a kind of bow-
shaped seat, and he sat in it. ÒConvenient,Ó Severin remarked to himself.
He felt his head clear a little as he sat down.
Then he saw the girls. Two girls. Apparently they had been heading
toward the tree. But then they saw him sitting there, and they quickly
turned away. Severin remembered his dream. He watched as the girls
approached a woman walking a dog. They pointed at Severin. The woman
looked toward where he was sitting.
ÒDamn. Last night I was a faggot and tonight IÕm a child molester,Ó
Severin muttered. He felt angry. He had been intending to feed sometime
tonight but heÕd wanted to simply to enjoy the night first, and then to
rest, to clear his head and contemplate just what being a vampire meant.
Now he would have to move, to find someplace else to sit down.
As Severin stood, he felt the breeze. Strange thoughts came into his
head. He was no longer looking at the woman and the two girls but,
seemingly, at their pulse. He felt three heartbeats, not including that of
the dog, which he tried to screen out of his mind. The dog barked. The
woman took an object from her purse. With a heightened sense of
awareness Severin saw numbers illuminate on the object. It was a
portable phone.
ÒShit!Ó Severin swore. He ran across the neatly manicured lawn of
the park. He darted down the street, going again across the front lawns,
trying to avoid the pools of light cast by the street lamps. As he turned a
corner, heading back toward the bridge, he saw a police car. It was
moving swiftly, silently toward the park. Severin darted up to a house. It
had a hedge in front of it and he crawled behind the hedge. Lying there in
the dirt, he heard laughter. A door opened along the side of the house.
When the police car had passed he crept around the side of the house.
She was, perhaps, 14-years-old. She was gorgeous. Her hair was
long and blond and her tits were the size of melons. She had a watering
can in her hand and she was sprinkling water on potted plants. In her hand
was a mobile phone. She paid little attention to her watering, sprinkling
the water haphazardly, sometimes on a plant, sometimes on the concrete
walk on which the potted plant sat. Severin approached her from behind.
He felt her pulse throb through his hungry body. He didnÕt want to feed on
her, she was so beautiful. It would be like damaging her. He didnÕt want
to damage her. Then she turned. Her eyes met his and she nearly dropped
her phone.
ÒI--Ó Severin said awkwardly. Her eyes widened. They were blue.
Deep blue. To his immense surprise, she smiled at him.
ÒHi,Ó she said, as if she had known him all her life, and loved him.
Severin was shocked. Except for Jennifer Jane Dobbin, heÕd never had a
girlfriend. And she had dumped him. Severin felt himself smile back at
the girl. And then he felt guilt-ridden, for the sensation of her pulse
beating in her neck was driving him nuts. He wanted to ask her out, he
wanted to fuck her, he wanted to eat her!
And then he was upon her, his hand over her mouth, silencing her
scream as he went for the long beautiful swan-like curve of her throat.
Somewhere there was the sound of her phone clattering on the pavement.
SeverinÕs teeth sank into the girlÕs neck. He tasted blood. He felt a rush
of ecstasy so intense that he thought, for a moment, that he was sperming
his pants. The girl bit his hand. Severin ignored it. He loved the feeling
of her blood coursing up his new fangs and into his body. He sucked harder
upon her. He tried to take everything she could give him, every last drop
of her. He relished the sensation of satisfying his hunger. It was more
than hunger, he realized. It was lust. Drunk in the cool air of the night.
The girl tried screaming again. Then she collapsed under him. She fell to
the sidewalk, taking him with her.
ÒMiriam? Miriam?Ó a beelike voice said from the phone.
Severin drank. The girl swooned under him, seemingly enjoying it
now, giving him all of herself, every last ounce of her blood. When he had
fed on her, when his belly was full, he stood up. He looked down at her.
She was no longer moving. She was very pale. He saw where his teeth had
cut into her and, remembering what Oscar had told him, he bent down and
licked her neck. Miraculously, the wound on her neck became an unsightly
red mark, nothing more. He could not see any fang marks any more.
ÒMiriam? Are you really pregnant?Ó the voice from the phone asked.
ÒFuck, youÕve got to get an abortion if youÕre pregnant, Miriam,Ó the voice
insisted.
Severin walked away. He ran across the front lawns and headed back
toward the lights of the bridge. He hid down by the river until early
morning. Then, when there were no cars on the roads, he crossed the
drawbridge. He ran along the wharf. He left it and hurried down to the
plank sidewalks of Old Sanramento. They were empty now. The stores
were all closed. He walked along them until, cutting into a narrow side
street, he came to OscarÕs door.
ÒSometimes I just want to walk out into the sun. Just walk out into
it. Into the sun. Get it over with,Ó a girl with red hair told Severin.
ÒI donÕt know. YouÕd have to use an awful lot of sunscreen,Ó Arnie
chided. Then he laughed maniacally. But Severin nodded, ignoring Arnie.
They sat on a low metal bar, with Trace and Boner. They were using it as
a bench, though it was rather uncomfortable to sit on.
ÒBut then I feel an incredible weakness,Ó the girl continued. She
talked absently, needing the others there to listen but not really speaking
to any of them, just talking into the air of the night, into the gentle
breeze blowing off the river. In the distance the drawbridge loomed.
Nearer, the bright white lights of the Delta Queen and The Spirit glowed.
ÒA weakness and a fear,Ó the girl said. ÒThatÕs what really gets to me. A
fear of facing the sun. God, the dawn! The feeling of it coming near sends
chills up my spine. And the fear grows, IÕve heard, as you continue in your
undead life, night after night.Ó She turned her head. She looked toward
the buildings to the east.
ÒRelax. ItÕs only eight oÕclock,Ó Arnie said, looking at his watch.
Then, grinning stupidly, he added, ÒTick tock. Tick tock. Every minute
Sara gets closer to shock.Ó
ÒWhat a crock!Ó Trace giggled.
ÒItÕs true! ArenÕt you afraid of the dawn?Ó Sara asked, indignant.
ÒI belong to a clan that summers on the Riviera, with topless women
who tan as dark as the night,Ó Arnie chortled.
ÒBullshit,Ó Boner said to Arnie. ÒYou and Trace belong to a the
Looney Tunes clan. Any sun you can stand must be from a cartoon.Ó Arnie,
apparently impressed with the insult, laughed harder. When his laughter
subsided he gazed at Severin. ÒNew here is Looney too,Ó Arnie said. ÒIÕm
afraid youÕre outnumbered, Boner, three to one.Ó
ÒHeÕs doesnÕt talk nonsense like you two,Ó Boner said, jabbing with
his thumb toward Severin.
ÒYes, he does seem remarkably sensible, for a loon,Ó Arnie agreed.
ÒI just donÕt feel like an idiot, thatÕs all,Ó Severin replied.
ÒWith every night, my fear of the dawn grows,Ó the girl with red
hair continued. ÒI used to go to bed around nine oÕclock, when I was a
human. I loved getting up early in the morning!Ó she said. Then she paused.
She stared, vacantly. ÒI think,Ó she added, as if unable to remember
clearly. ÒAnyway, itÕs that fear of the dawn that gets to me now. Get up
early, thatÕs what I say. You know, as soon as the sun goes down. No later.
The early bird catches the worm! Take the maximum amount of time
available to stalk a victim and feed. DonÕt let yourself get out late and be
caught by the dawn!Ó
ÒYes,Ó Severin agreed, not really listening now, but glad Arnie
wasnÕt making any more stupid remarks.
ÒMy Priduchan has given me no help at all,Ó the girl complained,
changing the subject. ÒAnd whereÕs that woman who embraced me? She
just wanted sex, thatÕs all.Ó
ÒWhat clan are you?Ó Severin asked. He looked at the girl. She gave
him a frown, as if annoyed at being interrupted. ÒThe Egyptian clan,Ó she
answered.
ÒOh, Phernetiti,Ó Severin said.
ÒNever say that out loud,Ó the girl admonished Severin.
ÒWhy?Ó Severin asked. The girl glanced around. She was chubby,
short, her red hair obviously the product of some dye. ÒBecause they
might hear,Ó she said, pointing to the throngs of tourists walking past the
shops of Old Sanramento. ÒThereÕs nothing like a good stake to do in
someone like us.Ó
ÒBut not without plenty of steak sauce,Ó Arnie laughed. Trace
laughed too. Severin groaned.
ÒNew isnÕt partial to our humor,Ó Arnie moped, his laughter ceasing.
ÒCanÕt you make anything other than senseless remarks?Ó Severin
shouted at Arnie. ÒGood God! Try to advance the conversation in a logical
way, instead of just sitting around prattling, like some nerd in junior high
school!Ó
ÒWhat do you expect from a Cavmaulian?Ó Boner said offhandedly.
ÒTheyÕre all nuts. ThatÕs their distinguishing feature.Ó
ÒDonÕt say the name out loud!Ó the girl with red hair shrieked.
ÒWhat name?Ó Boner asked.
ÒThe name of the clan,Ó the girl said.
ÒOh shut your clam,Ó Boner retorted. He got up. He walked away. He
walked toward the buildings to the east and the girl turned her head and
watched him until he was gone. They sat in silence for awhile. The moon
appeared over the buildings in the east and when the girl, turning her head,
saw it, she abruptly sat up straighter, as if fearing it might be the sun.
ÒIÕm hungry,Ó Trace announced. Arnie gestured toward the shops of
Old Sanramento.
ÒHumanity awaits,Ó Arnie said.
ÒI donÕt know,Ó the girl said. ÒTwo nights ago, in an apartment,
some old guy tried stake me.Ó
ÒWith or without sauce?Ó Arnie asked.
ÒOh fuck,Ó Severin said. He shook his head.
ÒHe was just some old man, but when I grabbed him he knew at once
to feel for my pulse,Ó the girl said. ÒWhen he didnÕt find it, he reached for
a wooden stake. He opened a drawer, you know?Ó she reached out into the
air, with her hand. She gestured, as if opening something. ÒThere was a
gun in that drawer. It scared the shit out of me. But he didnÕt pick up the
gun. There was a wooden stake beside the gun and he very intelligently,
the old bastard, left the gun lying where it was and picked up the fucking
stake!Ó The girl jumped up. Her flesh shook under her baggy clothes. Her
eyes were wide. ÒShit,Ó she said. ÒI canÕt bear even talking about it. I
barely got out of there with my life!Ó She turned and walked away,
hastily. She did not head toward the crowds and the lights but toward the
old shed with the porch. Severin watched her walk. She moved with
surprising speed for a fat girl with oddly dyed hair. She stepped up onto
the porch by the shed and then she kept going, into the dark trees that
grew behind it.
30
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