A Day in Bridgend

The nights passed and finally it was the night before the day we left for the tour. Of course, Matt didn’t actually tell me that until a couple of hours before we were due to leave.

‘Are you packed yet?’ he asked, as I was about to go to bed.

‘Packed? No.’

He looked up at me from the sofa in surprise and said, ‘Well you better hurry up, we’re leaving at eleven.’

‘What?!’ I almost shouted. ‘And you didn’t think to tell me this sooner? Its 8:30 now!’

‘I thought I did tell you!’

‘Nope.’

‘Oh…whoops!’

I laughed. ‘Can I borrow a bag or something? So I can pack.’

‘Yeah, I’ll find you one.’

He grabbed a spare bag from the cupboard by the door. ‘Thanks,’ I said, taking it and going straight to the bedroom to pack. I wasn’t too worried; two and a half hours is plenty of time to shove what I needed into a bag and say goodbye to Gus and Phoebe.

As I packed I felt Matt come into the room. ‘So, I take it we’re pulling an all… dayer then?’ I said.

‘Yep,’ he chuckled. ‘We purposely arranged it for a day when the sun wouldn’t be out much. This way we can get all our shit into the bus without having to worry about getting burnt.’

‘Makes sense,’ I said, randomly throwing another top in the bag. ‘What would happen to you if… the sun touched you?’

‘It wouldn’t kill me if that’s what you want to know. The sun doesn’t kill vampires unless they are exposed to it for a long time but it does burn us so badly that within minutes we look as if we’ve been in a fire and it gets worse every second.’

‘Wow,’ I said. ‘So you can’t go out in the sun at all?’

‘Nah, hurts like fuck. Someone dared me to put my hand in direct sunlight once. I was drunk at the time and I only did it for a few seconds. It was all I could do!’ He shook his head a little. ‘Definitely the most painful thing I’ve ever done.’ He paused for a moment, then said, ‘Apart from becoming a vampire.’ However he didn’t elaborate on that subject and I didn’t press him. I was curious about it, how a human would go about becoming a vampire, but I didn’t think it was the best topic of conversation at the time. And I didn’t want Matt getting any ideas.

When I had finished packing it was almost time to go. I cuddled the kittens tightly before letting them leap to the floor and scamper away. ‘Who’s going to look after them while we’re gone?’ I asked, as Matt shut and locked the door to his apartment.

‘Rina will be here to pick them up in a while. She has her own key.’

I was so relieved I wouldn’t have to see her for a couple of months or so. After the last time I had…spent time with her the last thing I wanted was to be anywhere near the female vampire again. Outside the apartment block a big black tour bus waited for us. I raised my eyebrows as I looked up at it before Moose leapt out.

‘Tour!’ he shouted and ran over. He took my bag, put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward the bus. ‘Allow me to show you around the bus and where you’ll be sleeping!’

‘Sure,’ I said, as we stepped inside and I smiled briefly at the driver who nodded back.

Moose led me through the bus, showing me each section as he did. It only took a matter of minutes. When we got to the bunks he dumped my bag on the bed above Padge’s.

‘Well, that’s it,’ he said, turning to me. ‘Welcome to your home for the next two months! Excited?’

‘Actually I am!’ I said, smiling. I was about to go on tour with the best band ever of course I was excited!

‘Then lets kick this shit off! Come down for a drink.’

‘Of course!’ I said, walking ahead of him to the stairs.

We all spent the rest of the day getting into the feel of the tour and having a couple of drinks. When the night returned the bus stopped for a while so the vampires could feed.

‘This will be the last kill we’ll be making for a few nights,’ Jay explained. ‘When we’re on tour we can’t stop as often or for as long we’d like to so we can only have a little blood a night from roadies and any other humans who come with us.’

I looked at him slightly scared. ‘So, you’re going to want me to let you…’

‘No,’ said Matt quickly, giving the others warning looks.

I sighed with relief. They all knew I was scared of being bitten but Matt was the only one who understood just how much it freaked me out. Even though I didn’t quite know why. I was fine (ish) with the vampires killing because that was the only way they could survive, however I just couldn’t let them drink a little from me.

‘Damn, I was hoping this was going to be our chance to taste you again,’ Padge said, faking anger.

‘Well, lets go, we have to get moving soon,’ said Moose, getting to his feet.

The others rose too and set out. I decided to follow them instead of staying on the bus with a bunch of tech guys I didn’t know. Beside I’d have to get used to the whole feeding thing. Yes, I was okay (ish) with the concept, but it still turned my stomach to watch them find a human they liked and the light leave the victim’s eyes as the vampire drained them.

Each man had a woman whom they killed so casually I shuddered. Once they were done we bought a little more alcohol to add to the supply and returned to the bus where we simply continued our start-of-tour celebration, as if we hadn’t even gone out. That night we managed to drink half of the supply we had brought on tour with us. And that supply had been massive.

As the night wore on Matt started acting weird, anxious, and it didn’t have anything to do with the alcohol. I didn’t really notice however. By this time I was so exhausted and still drunk I was lazily lounging on a sofa, dozing a little.

‘Awww, Lilly’s tired,’ Moose mocked playfully.

‘Shuup, Lilly’s drunk,’ I mumbled. ‘And it’s been a long day.’

Matt made a ‘Mhmmm’ sound in agreement. ‘You should probably go to bed, you look exhausted.’

‘I am,’ I replied as I hauled myself up. ‘I’ll go happily. ‘’Night.’ I went up to the bunk area, with “goodnights” floating after me, and grabbed a nightshirt out of my bag. When I was all changed and comfortable I climbed into my bunk, pulled the curtain and lay down. The bunk certainly wasn’t anywhere near as nice as Matt’s amazing bed but it was still like bliss considering how tired I was. I sighed as I starred up at the ceiling of my new bed.

So this is my new life now, I thought as my eyes fluttered shut and I vaguely heard someone else get undressed and clamber into bed.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I started awake to a commotion on the other side of the curtain and gasping breaths. As if someone was having serious trouble breathing. I threw the curtain open, blinking in the sudden light, and found Moose, Jay, Padge and another guy I didn’t know crowding around the bottom bunk opposite me.

They were speaking however I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then Moose reached into the bunk and dragged out a gasping, red and wide-eyed Matt. His mouth was open, his lips curled back in a snarl, and his long sharp fangs were in full view. I watched in horror as Moose wrestled with him to stop him struggling and shouting at him in an attempt to bring him back to sanity.

Finally Matt’s limbs stopped struggling against Moose, his eyes returned to normal along with his breathing. I lay back in the bunk, quietly closing the curtain again. I didn’t know what was going on. Just that I was terrified. I turned over to face the wall of the bunk and after a few minutes fell back into a slightly uneasy sleep.

© Amber Williams 2009