So I'm a Vampire... Now What? - Book 2 (Original Version)

Chapter 3.2 Under New Management (pt2)

Sammy sent me home around midnight. The store was officially closed to customers while she was hiring the new staff. She had been in and out of the store since noon, so she was exhausted and ready to pass out.

"Any idea when I'll be meeting the new owner?" I asked her, as she grabbed her bag and a heavy coat. It was already snowing outside, big fluffy flakes that were definitely sticking to the ground and taunting my choice not to check the weather, but Sammy seemed to be prepared for the worst.

Sammy pointed to a camera mounted in the corner of the ceiling. It looked expensive and very high tech. I had noticed it, and a few others like it when I had come in, an obvious sign that some things had changed. The CLOSED sign on the door had been the first indicator, and there had been more changes to notice, besides the stacks of brown boxes full of new merchandise to stock.

"I doubt you'll ever have to meet her," she said quietly and thoughtfully. "Those were the first things she had installed. Ten of them throughout the store, all remotely controlled. She could be on a beach in Maui and be able to take over a camera and tell it to point anywhere she wants. Miss La Page says she likes to be hands-off, but all evidence points to her being a controlling psychopath."

Wow. That was a huge change.

"I never thought I'd actually miss the old boss." I glanced at Sammy. "You sure you're going to be able to work like that? I'm beginning to have some doubts here."

"I really have no clue, Bob, but the paycheck is really too good to pass up, even if I only last a month. I've never made this much money before in my life."

"Still though, it's going to add another layer of stress."

Sammy shrugged, showed me how to set the alarm, and then turned off the lights as we exited quickly and locked the door.

"It's weird seeing the store like this," I said. "I don't think I've ever seen it closed before."

Sammy and I looked at the store for a long moment, each lost in our own thoughts.

"Okay, that's enough nostalgia for me!" Sammy proclaimed, and playfully but forcefully punched me on the shoulder. "I'm going to go home, get high as fuck and pass out. In that order."

She trudged off down the street, tromping through the light build-up of snow as she walked. I could already tell that the snow was going to be a pain in the ass to deal with in the morning. The snowploughs were probably already out roaming the city, and I could see some areas of melted snow where they had salted earlier. Still, the store owners had a responsibility to shovel and clear the sidewalks in front of the store to make sure nobody slipped and broke their hip, or whatever, in front of the store. Last year the Boss had hired some homeless guy to take care of that, one of his few extravagances, since he claimed that we would do a shitty job anyway. I glanced down at my feet, feeling the grit of the rock salt under my shoes, and wondered if the new owner had gotten the same homeless guy to come by again.

The snow was coming down steadily, doing it's best to look pretty enough so I could have time to be lulled into a sense of wonder at the first magical snowfall of the season. It would be a winter wonderland for a few brief moments without anyone driving or walking over it, just a simple cover of gentle snow that made everything look perfect and clean. It was pretty enough to make me forget that I had stupidly left my gloves in my other coat. I had honestly thought that gloves were going to be overkill today, but with the wind picking up, I could already feel the cold nipping at my fingers with a promise of numbness and eventual pain if I didn't keep them warm.

So much for vampires not being affected by the elements, right? It would have been nice to have been able to stand unaffected like a badass, but that was not in the cards.

I glanced at my phone, wondering if I had enough time to catch the train home. If there was time, then I could catch up with Sammy and walk to the station with her. It was weird not having to work until 4 AM and being off of work this early had definitely not been in the plans.

I texted Benjamin instead.

Me: Hey, where you guys at?

Benjamin: Shoeless Joe's on Spadina. You coming?

Me: Gonna hail a cab. See you in 10.

Benjamin: you know it's only half a mile away right?

Me: forgot gloves. Fingers numb. Pain. Ow. Pain.

I turned to look for a cab, sure that I'd see the familiar yellow or blue somewhere down the block, but there were none to be seen. The streets were clear, with just a line of parked cars and a grey van idling on the corner. Pretty typical for when you need a cab and it's snowing. It's like the cabbies go into hibernation or something. I was probably going to have to call an Uber instead.

I paused with my phone in my hand, the cold in my fingers momentarily forgotten, my attention caught by the woman standing across the street. Her face was hidden in shadow, a massive fur-lined hood obscuring her identity; it was the type of hood that was perfect for keeping the snow out of her face, and for keeping her face out of sight.

Usually, I would have just idly wondered what she really looked like, since winter is the greatest anonymizer and turns everyone into indistinct hooded shapes struggling valiantly against slipping and falling. Not this time, though. Somehow, I had a distinct feeling that this anonymous figure was anything but; like she was watching me.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I realized I was face to face with another vampire. A thought occurred to me—

"Beatrice?" I called out. "Is that you?"

I felt like a complete ass, not to mention a moron as the woman jerked her head to look up at me, her hood falling back enough to show a startled looking young woman who was definitely not Beatrice. She didn't look like anyone I knew either, and most importantly, she didn't have those telltale pale blue eyes that marked a vampire. She was just some ordinary chick, and she was looking at me in a way that I knew meant she was trying to figure out if I was a threat to her. It's the same look of caution you see on women everywhere, especially when you're a 5' 11" black man.

Sammy and I had discussed this in great detail, but it was something I had observed for myself about the different ways men and women were able to exist in public spaces. While men were able to walk almost anywhere as if they owned the world, women had a different situation. They had to be more diligent if they were walking somewhere by themselves. There is a heightened sensitivity to possible threats from strangers, simply because of so many random assholes who made it a challenge to walk or even exist as a woman. Through years of cultural and racial programming, that awareness went double if it was a black man like myself involved. I had seen that look before as they evaluated what kind of threat or jerk I was about to be. Believe me, there is practically nothing that a semi-tall black man can do to look non-threatening in this city.

There was a pause, and then the woman smiled tightly as I tried to look harmless and gave her a weak wave. Then she turned and hurried away down the street as quickly as possible.

"Well, I guess you're not Beatrice," I muttered to myself. "'Sorry to have creeped you out,' says the creepy guy talking to himself."

So much for her being a vampire, I guess. But for a moment there I had been so sure...

A cab rounded the corner, making its way down the block towards me, and I stepped out onto the street to flag it down, hoping like hell that the driver wasn't going to be an asshole and leave me stranded at the side of the road.

By the time we were driving away, I had almost forgotten the might-have-been-a-vampire lady.