Vampire World (VAMPIRE WORLD #1)

Part 22 Increasing Danger and a Tat

Chapter 21: Increasing Danger and 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.