A Day in Bridgend

The next night Matt came into the living room where I was sitting announcing that he was going to have a shower. I just nodded, carrying on reading. I heard the shower go on and the slight change in sound as he stepped underneath the cascading water. After a while I went into the kitchen to make myself some tea, still absorbed in the book. The water was suddenly turned off.

Finally, I thought. I’d been desperate to pee for the last ten minutes but obviously been unable to go in. I waited for a moment, finishing the paragraph I was on. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Matt quickly slip into the bedroom. I put the book down on the counter and hurried straight to the bathroom. I opened the door, already undoing my trousers.

I stopped in my tracks and let out a small squeal of fright. Matt stood in the middle of the room, completely naked, and using both hands to towel dry his hair. Even though I only stood in the doorway for a split second it was enough time for him to turn around at the sound of the door opening and reveal everything to me. I slammed the door shut swiftly and leaned against it, my face burning. My first thought was, Wow…but I quickly pushed that thought away, blushing even more.

I went back to the kitchen to finish off the tea, sat down in the living room again and tried to concentrate on my book. However I just couldn’t get that image out of my head. I dreaded the moment he’d come out of the bathroom but I noticed he was taking longer than usual. He must be as embarrassed as I am, I thought. Just as I did the door opened. I looked up from my book quickly, almost expecting to see him naked again but this time he had a towel tied around his waist.

‘I’m…really sorry about…what just happened,’ I said nervously.

‘Its fine,’ he assured me. ‘I should have covered up a bit faster.’

‘I should have knocked,’ I said. ‘I thought you had come out already.’

‘Honestly its okay.’ He chuckled. ‘So much for innocent eyes, hmm?’ I laughed. After a pause he said, ‘Well the bathroom is free.’

‘Right…yes…pee…of course.’

He smiled and watched me as I passed him.

About an hour later Jay showed up. Matt answered the door and I listened as Jay asked him if he wanted to go to “the club”.

‘Yeah, awesome,’ said Matt, who was by now fully dressed. ‘But I’m not leaving Lilly alone.’

‘Do you really think she’s ready for it?’ Jay asked doubtfully.

‘Yeah, I think so,’ Matt replied confidently. ‘Come in for a minute.’ I heard the door close and looked up as Jay came in. We smiled at each other briefly. ‘Do you want to come to the club?’ Matt asked me.

‘They won’t let me in,’ I said. ‘I’m only fifteen and I look it.’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,’ Jay smirked. ‘They let in all ages.’

‘Okay,’ I shrugged. ‘I’ll just change my top.’ I made sure the bedroom door was firmly shut before I took off the Guns N’ Roses tee shirt. I already had my short trousers on; I just needed to put on one of the tops I had grabbed before I’d left home. It was a plain purple top that was tight around the boobs, then became looser the rest of the way down. It had a low neck, which I was a little uncomfortable about, but so did the other one. I wished desperately I had taken longer searching for a top with a higher neck, I was worried the ones I had would tempt the vampires too much. However they were all I had so they’d have to do. I tied the purple ribbon around my neck to lessen my nerves, then left the Guns N’ Roses top on the bed and went back to the other room. Matt and Jay looked me up and down smiling.

‘Lets go then,’ I said. They stood up as I grabbed Matt’s Iron Maiden hoody.

We walked through the streets of Cardiff until we got to a rougher, more deserted part of the city. We turned into an alley empty of life and both Matt and Jay put their arms around me. I glanced up at them, nervous.

‘Just act calm and casual,’ said Jay.

‘Like you do this all the time,’ added Matt, smiling.

Do what all the time? I thought but nodded as we stopped outside a big metal door. Jay knocked on it. A couple of seconds later a small window was opened, the vampires looked straight at it. It was closed suddenly and the door opened. They led me inside. I never saw the person behind the door. We walked through a short passage ending in a black, transparent curtain. We stepped through it into a massive room filled with people, a metal band I didn’t recognize played loudly. In this part of the room there were a lot of people kissing (amongst other things) while a little further in, others were dancing and moshing, hitting and pushing each other around.

‘She came!’ I looked up and saw Moose and Padge getting up from a couch and coming towards us. Padge hugged me and I rested my head on his chest. When he pulled away Moose hugged me. As the men were talking I noticed two men who were apparently giving a woman love bites on different parts of her body. But then, I saw some blood slide down her skin, from where the man’s mouth was.

Fuck, those guys are vampires! I thought. I was about to say something to Bullet when I realised the same thing was happening on many different couches and even in the dancing area as the people bounced around madly. I glanced at the bar on the other side of the room and saw a man sitting on a stool at the bar. He was watching me and as I looked his eyes flashed a bright red, visible even from this distance.

‘Are you okay Lilly?’ Matt asked me, resting his hand on my back.

‘They’re all vampires,’ I said terrified. ‘This is a vampire club. Why the fuck did you bring me here?’

‘Shit, you didn’t tell her?’ said Padge, shocked.

‘Its okay, your safe with us,’ Matt promised, ignoring Padge. ‘They’ll think you belong to us.’

‘Belong to you…?’

‘Matt!’ A woman appeared out of nowhere and flung her arms around him. She pulled away from him and turned around, she smiled at the band as they greeted each other, then her eyes fell on me. Her smile widened. She was a little shorter than Matt, around the same size as Jay, long brown hair and very pretty. I immediately felt like the plainest girl in the world next to her. Her blue eyes shone when a stray light hit them and so did the sharp canines protruding from her mouth slightly as she smiled. Another vampire. ‘You brought a snack.’ She looked me up and down. ‘A hot one at that. Can I have some?’ she stepped towards me, without waiting for an answer. I took an automatic step back.

‘No, Rina,’ said Matt quickly, grabbing her arm.

‘You’re so stingy!’ she whined. ‘Come on, just let me have a little!’

‘She’s not to eat,’ said Moose. ‘We’re taking her on tour with us.’

She paused briefly. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah, she’s a friend of ours,’ said Matt. ‘Her name is Lilly.’ He turned to me. ‘This is Rina, my sister.’

She smiled at me again and put her hand out to me. ‘Nice to meet you.’

I returned the smile nervously. ‘And you.’ I put my hand in hers and she raised it to her mouth. She turned it over and kissed a vein gently, her fangs brushing against my skin. I pulled my hand away quickly. She looked at me, slightly amused.

‘You’ve already bitten her,’ she said to the men, although her gaze never left mine. ‘How is she?’

‘Amazing,’ said Moose.

‘I’ll have to try her some time,’ she said, ignoring the death glare Matt shot Moose. I shuffled from one foot to the other nervously.

‘Lets go sit down,’ Jay said. It seemed he’d been in his own world during the whole conversation and hadn’t acknowledged any of it.

‘You sit down, I’m going to get us some drinks,’ said Matt. ‘Do you want anything in particular?’

‘Anything’s fine,’ I said as Jay shrugged. Matt went to the bar while the rest of us went to sit where Moose and Padge had been earlier; they already had their drinks. Matt came back a couple of minutes later, somehow balancing three pints of beer and a bottle of Jack Daniels. I was sitting on the end beside Jay, so Matt sat beside me. I’d never drunk much in the past, in fact I had probably drunk more in the last few days than I had in my entire life.

Jay noticed me watching the feeding vampires with unease. He nudged me gently to make me look at him and bent his head towards me slightly. I shrank back a little but he only whispered to me, ‘Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. Not while you’re with us.’ I returned the smile he was giving me and drank some of my beer.

For a while we just sat on the couches, talking and drinking. Then Moose literally dragged me from my seat and took me into the mosh pit. It was fucking crazy but I somehow managed to get out of there alive. I fell back onto the couch, boiling hot, my face red from the heat, and gasping for breath. Rina sat down beside me, a little too close for comfort. I could feel her looking at me out of the corner of her eye. I knew she was able to hear my heart beating, the blood pulsing through my veins, even over the loud music. Bullet may not want to hurt me, but I didn’t think Rina would care much if she killed me. I grabbed my beer and gulped down what was left to break the awkward, scared silence between us. Luckily, as soon as I was finished Padge grabbed me and pulled me back to the mosh pit. I groaned but let him drag me away.

As the night wore on the man I’d noticed earlier at the bar approached me as I was getting more drinks. I was beginning to relax. Well, relax enough to go somewhere alone anyway. I wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol taking effect or if I was gaining more confidence with being around vampires, but I didn’t really care. I stood at the bar waiting patiently to get serves when the man stood up and moved towards me. At first he didn’t say anything, just stood beside me, silently watching. I was really uncomfortable, terribly aware of his wondering eyes, but I tried my best to ignore him, hoping he’d go away like some kind of animal. Until he spoke.

‘A young girl like you really shouldn’t be walking around in a place like this alone,’ he said to me.

‘I’m not alone,’ I retorted, sounding a lot braver than I felt.

‘Much can happen in the split second it takes for a person to walk in front of your friends’ line of vision,’ he smirked, stepping ever closer to me.

I bit my lip and stepped back. We were by the part of the bar that ran into the wall. The vampire kept moving towards me until I backed into the wall. I attempted slipping past him but he firmly placed his hand on the wall beside my head. I was shaking with fear yet frozen in place. He smiled, then leant in towards my neck. My eyes were wide with terror because I knew I could do nothing against a vampire. His mouth was getting closer to my neck, moving slowly to savour the moment.

Out of nowhere, Jay appeared and grabbed the other vampire’s throat. He pushed him back.

‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!’ Jay shouted in his face.

‘Getting myself a meal!’ the vampire shouted back.

‘Well, get one somewhere else!’ shouted Jay. Then the rest of Bullet were standing behind him. ‘She’s with us! And if you fucking touch her again you’re dead!’ With that he pushed him back roughly. The vampire glared at us once more then grabbed his jacket and stormed out.

‘Are you okay?’ Moose asked me, moving my hair out of the way to check on my neck.

‘I’m fine,’ I said quickly. ‘Thanks, guys.’

‘You’re welcome,’ said Moose. ‘We couldn’t let you get hurt, could we?’ He stayed with me to get the drinks then. After that last round we made our separate ways home. The incident with the strange vampire had affected me badly but I recovered a lot faster than I thought I would. The last drink made me calm down and I even started laughing and joking with the vampires. Rina hugged me tightly, her hands uncomfortably low, and kissed my neck quickly before we left. I pulled away very fast making her laugh at me.

As soon as Matt and I got home I made straight for the sofa and sat down. I sighed, letting my head loll backwards over the back and closed my eyes.

‘Fuck, I’m tired,’ I said as I felt Matt sit beside me.

‘Did you have fun tonight?’ he asked.

I smiled. ‘Well apart from nearly getting bitten and your sister coming on to me, yeah, it was great.’ I opened my eyes to look at him. I noticed his eyes flicker from my neck to my face as if he hadn’t been looking. I raised my head quickly and pulled my hair forward to cover my throat. For a while we jut sat in silence, relaxing, until Matt asked me if I was hungry.

‘No, not really. I ate before we left.’

‘If you’re sure…’ he said.

‘Yeah. I think I’ll just go to bed actually.’ I stood up and realized something. ‘You haven’t had any blood tonight, have you?’

‘Why? Are you offering?’ he said smiling.

‘No,’ I said quickly. ‘I just thought you had to have it every night.’

‘We do,’ he replied. ‘I think I’ll go out in a minute.’

‘Okay. ’Night.’

‘’Night.’

I went into the bedroom, put the light on and closed the door before stripping down to my underwear. I slipped the Guns N’ Roses top over my head. I still wasn’t sure what to do with my clothes so I shoved them back into my bag along with the purple ribbon. I put the light off again and slipped into bed. It felt strange being alone in the big bed since Matt and I usually went to bed at the same time. I held Gatomon close to my chest to make up for it. I heard Matt leave and not long after I fell into a deep sleep.

I woke to the sound of the bedroom door opening. I opened my eyes slightly. Matt already
had his top off and was now undoing his jeans. Watching him do this always made me nervous. When he was in nothing but his boxers he walked around the bed and slipped into bed behind me. He put his arm around me, his big hand on my belly, and pressed against me. Until now I had been in a strange half sleep state but when I felt his now warm body against mine I squirmed slightly. If I pushed him away he would know I was awake so instead I let him press against my back.

He must have felt me tense up or heard my heartbeat quicken because he whispered, ‘Do you want me to move away?’

I shook my head. ‘Not if you don’t want to.’ I felt him smile and he used the hand that was on my belly to pull me closer to him. In no time at all we were both in a deep slumber again.

© Amber Williams 2008