Empire of Vampires ✔️

Chapter Thirty-Nine

'Since you liked foosball you're going to LOVE the video game arcade!' Marie said, excitedly pushing Danyel through a cracked-open window. 'I've always wanted to come here in the middle of the night when it's empty, but I didn't want to come alone,' she continued, 'Everyone I know is too boring to help me break in!'

Danyel toppled head-first onto a pixelated alien game. 'What's this? he asked, intrigued. He felt around for the controls, his improved eyesight allowing him to see fairly well in the pitch black room.

'Oh, hang on a minute, let me find the light switch.' Marie fuddled around for a bit till the entire room was flooded in neon light. Catchy tunes played out of every game-box and blinking high scores illuminated the inside perimeter.

'Let's start with the alien shooter!' She hopped onto her seat and grabbed a set of controls, motioning for Danyel to do the same. She pounded her fist on the start button. 'Oh, wait, we have to get tokens first. Just go break into that counter area and grab some, would you?'

Danyel obediently did as he was told and came back with a huge bucket of tokens. Marie showed him how to insert them and he grinned widely as the game started.

Soon they were both yelling "Die, alien scum!" as they wildly and unskillfully smashed all the buttons they could see. The aliens overtook them and a large banner stating "Failure" rolled over the screen.

'Oh no, my lady. Alas! We have failed!' Danyel turned to her, his lifeless eyes wide in his chiseled marble face.

'Worry not, lad, the game is merely broken,' she gallantly replied, 'And I know where else we can get aliens... the claw machine!'

She dragged Danyel to it and shoved in the tokens. He watched enthralled as Marie positioned the claw over an alien plushie and tried to grab it. The claw missed it by a mere inch.

'Darn it,' she complained, 'It's okay. I think I can just reach in there and grab something.' She stuck her arm through the hole and yanked the ears of a nearby donkey. 'Ew, all I can get is this donkey. You give it a go Danyel; you have longer arms.'

'May I try with the claw, my lady?'

'Uh, yeah sure. And you don't have to call me that all the time, you know. It's been five-hundred years since- where have you been anyway? Did you disappear off the face of Ather?'

Danyel slipped in a token, starting his turn. 'I could not stay in society after what I had done,' he bleakly replied.

'And what had you done.'

'You know what I did.' He turned to face her, lifeless eyes blazing.

'I really don't.'

'I turned you sweet Marienne. I turned you into a monster.'

Marie didn't know whether to be offended or not. 'Well, you sort of... saved me, actually,' she awkwardly started, 'You know, from dying. Also, I wouldn't say I was a monster, Danyel, that's actually kind of rude.'

'Aren't we all monsters?' he asked of her, 'We're inhuman.'

'We're special,' Marie corrected.

'But we're not normal.'

'The word you're looking for is ordinary. We're not ordinary.'

Marie stared into his lifeless eyes, filled with so much pain. She couldn't figure him out. Her mind was cloudy with musings. She wanted... something from him, even just a clear explanation. She wasn't sure really. One minute he was laughing and playing. The next one he was telling her he left society after the mistake of saving her life. And the next moment he was killing.

But then the next moment he was excitedly grabbing the alien plushie, like a kid on Christmas Eve.

'I did it!' Danyel exclaimed, waving it around in glee, 'Oh, it's perfect!'

'Oooh, you did! Thanks!' Marie reached out for it.

'What? No. It's mine, I won it.' Danyel stared at her in horror.

'But you won it for me.'

'No.' He looked surprised. 'Why would I? I won it for myself.'

'However, Danyel, this is actually a date,' Marie explained, 'and the rules of a date clearly state that whoever wins the plushie must give it to the other.'

'A date?'

'A courtship.' She rolled her eyes. Anything to get that alien plushie. 'And giving me the plushie would be the gallant thing to do.'

Danyel bowed deeply from the waist down. 'My lady-

'Okay, whatever, never mind!' Marie quickly interrupted, realizing the alien wasn't really worth it, 'I have a better idea. Let's compete for the plushie instead!' She grabbed his upper arm, uprighting him in the process, and dragged him to the next game.

'Pray tell, Marienne, what is this magical floor with bright lights ablaze?'

'The dance floor.' Marie grinned. 'We have to do the same steps shown on the screen, and whoever does it more perfect gets a higher score and wins the plushie!'

She punched the start button and the screen lit up, showing where on the floor to step on. Marie immediately started hopping around haphazardly, her excitement getting the better of her.

'Arrgh, this is so hard,' she complained as she saw her score dropping lower and lower, 'How are you so good at this, you haven't even looked at screen before.'

Danyel shrugged and smiled. The smirk was wiped clean off his face, however, when Marie stepped hard on his foot.

'Oops! Accident!'

She quickly stepped on the wrong tiles on his floor while he was distracted. It brought his score lower but not low enough; soon the game ended and Danyel was still ahead by a few points.

'That was no accident, vixen! The plushie is still mine!'