Suburban Vampire Ragnarok

Chapter 31

"I screwed up, Larry," Scott whined as he paced Larry's office. He promised Larry that he'd meet with him that Friday morning to continue their counseling sessions, and there he was, in need of counseling. "I screwed up, big time."

Pastor Larry Parker remained calmly seated behind his desk. "Scott, calm down. How did you screw up?"

Scott dropped himself into one of the second-hand wood seats across the desk from Larry. "Well, I had Mom invite a strange vampire into the house earlier this week."

Larry's eyes widened. "Oh no, is your mother..."

"She's fine, Larry. She's fine. But this vampire stole something from us."

"A vampire who's also a thief?"

"I know, right? Yeah, anyway, she took something from us."

"She? She, Scott?"

"Uh, yeah. She."

"A strange female vampire. This strange vampire didn't happen to be attractive, did she?"

"Larry, she was homeless! And alone! Okay, yeah, she was really cute, too."

"Oh, Scott."

"I'm sorry, Larry! She reminded me of Grace Park from Battlestar Galactica! She was that cute, know what I'm saying?"

"So, you invited..."

"Had Mom invite."

"Had your mother invite a strange vampire into your home, because you were attracted to her."

"Gee, Larry, you're making it sound bad."

"Don't you think that is bad, Scott? I mean, she stole something from you. What was it a car, or money, or drugs, or what?"

"Why would a vampire steal drugs?"

"I don't know, Scott! You're the vampire! You tell me!"

"She stole a wooden box thing. An old wooden box."

"Okay, is that all?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"I feel there's more to the story, isn't there?"

"Maybe."

"Scott!"

"Okay. I had some research done, and the box is mystical."

"Oh, great."

"And it gets worse. There's a large wolf, and Norse gods, and the end of the world..."

Larry threw his hands up in frustration. "End of the world? How can it get any worse than that?"

"Well, knowing that I may have helped the end of the world along isn't much consolation, Larry."

"I guess not! So, what are you going to do about it?"

"I need to do more research, Larry. I need to find out how this box works, and how to stop it. So, I'm going to be taking off early Saturday and heading down to Astoria."

"What's in Astoria?"

"Laura's dad. No, really, he's cool. He knows everything there is to know about Scandinavian history and Norse legends and myths. Surely, he'll be able to help with our search."