Life Starts After Dark

All the boxes were finally unpacked. My small little Louisiana house was all ready for me to live in.

I brushed the dust from the butt of my shorts and set to sweeping the floors. The house needed a new coat of paint and more rocks in the driveway to cover the potholes. I could tell those would be a problem, because they were so big that if someone didn’t notice them when they were driving, it would mean being stuck until they could get a tow.

After sweeping the floor, I set to making my bed. My comforter, pillows, and sheets were already on the bed from when I had unpacked them early in the morning when I had arrived. My sheets were red, and the comforter and pillowcase matched, with little black paisley patterns embroidered into them. All the appliances in my room were red too. Could you guess what my favorite color was? My red laptop sat on the desk in the corner next to my red overhead lamp. My curtains, however, were a lacy white, and fluttered with the open window that let in the cool night air.

When I was finally satisfied and had made sure all of the necessities were all unpacked and put away where they needed to be, I shuffled through my closet, looking for something to wear.

As I looked, I thought of how I had come to be here. I had sort of run away from my home in California. I became an orphan at age fifteen, when my parents died in a house fire. I went bouncing all around California, from foster home to foster home. None of them were particularly bad to me. When they even showed signs of treating me badly, I immediately called my social worker, and I was out of there in no time flat.

When I turned eighteen, I said good riddance to the whole institution and eventually went off to college two and a half years later. I had gotten good grades in high school, and was accepted into a good school. So I finally settled down and lived in a dorm with a girl named Sarah, who quickly became my best friend.

And then, a few months after we met, I had a dream. In the dream, Sarah died. And that’s when I knew my perfect new world wouldn’t last. I had told her not to go out alone at night to that laundry mat downtown. But she didn’t listen to me.

It was after that ordeal that I decided I needed to move again. So I literally bought a giant map of American, and hung it up on the wall. Then I closed my eyes and threw a dart at the map. It landed on Louisiana. From there, I got a smaller map, and did the same thing, until it landed right on Bon Temps. I didn’t want to know anyone here. That way, it would be easier to keep a low profile. I didn’t want people knowing about my “gift”.

I snapped myself out of my reverie as my fingers fell on a red spaghetti strap dress. I decided it would be perfect for where I was planning to go tonight. I quickly undressed and changed into the dress, then tied a thin black ribbon at the waist of the dress, bringing the bow around to the back, where, the ribbon ends flowed like water to the hem. I pulled on a pair of black flats and grabbed a matching black clutch purse with me. I put on some mascara to enhance my large gray eyes, and glossed my full, pink lips. Everyone always told me I was so lovely, but I wasn’t going to let that get to my head. Three years in the system taught me that being irresistibly beautiful wasn’t necessarily a good thing when the world was full of pervy men.

I tied up my long black hair in a pile on my head, pinning in little ruby jewels here and there for added effect. I left my long neck bare, deciding I didn’t want to draw too much attention to it tonight.

I put my lip-gloss, breath mints, and wallet into the small clutch purse, along with my keys, and walked out the door, locking it behind me.

I was lucky the humidity didn’t seem too bad tonight, or else my hair would have probably turned into a giant frizz ball.

My car was a red Bug. (I know, enough with the red already.) I pulled my keys out from my purse, started the car, and drove the Shreveport.

The whole reason that I had decided to go to Fangtasia, was that I had found out something interesting on the internet. There had been some blogging about people claiming to have supernatural powers. And they all said that when they were around vampires, their powers lessened. Mind readers couldn’t read vamps, and clairvoyants tended to lose their power as well when around the undead. And I was completely fine with not being able to see the future. I wished that it would truly be that easy.

When I got to the parking lot, I could feel the boom of the music in my chest, even though I parked at the back of the lot.

I locked up my car, and strolled confidently up to the door where people were waiting in line. I certainly didn’t feel confident, but I had a feeling that fear didn’t go over well in the presence of vampires.

When I reached the front of the line, I saw a tall thin vampire checking ID cards. She was wearing a black leather strapless dress. She had full, pouty lips and wavy brown-blond hair.

“I’ll need to see your identification,” she said in a bored tone.

“Of course,” I said, pulling it out from my wallet.

“Twenty-one. Well, my, my, you’re practically a child. I would be careful here if I were you. You’re obviously not familiar with the territory,” she said, looking me up and down with peculiar interest. She chuckled and let me pass.

I could finally distinguish the music that was playing in the bar. It was “Hang You from the Heavens” by The Dead Weather. It seemed to fit the atmosphere perfectly.

There were vampire dancers on platforms stationed throughout the bar. The whole place was an obvious tourist trap. Fangtasia t-shirts hung from the walls along with posters from vampire movies. It was a place where humans could view the world of the undead. It was a world better seen from afar, and every once in a while this was proven when a human got to close. Fangbangers were everywhere. I had read a lot about them, from internet articles to the news. One man got too close to a dark male vampire, and received a sharp kick to the chest that sent him flying until he hit a wall.

The vampire hissed, then went back to his bottle of synthetic blood. I pretended not to notice what had just gone on right in front of me, and walked to the bar.

“Gin and tonic please,” I said to the barman who was, guess what, a vamp.

“Well, hello there. I’m Chow.” He slapped my drink on the bar in front of me. He had made it so fast I didn’t even see him do it. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

“No, that will do it. Thank you.” I paid the barman, Chow, and shuddered as his fingers brushed against mine when he took the cash.

I sat with my back to the bar, sipping my drink as I observed the activity around me.

I saw signs on the wall that said “No Biting on Premises” and barely suppressed a shudder.

I was happy with the way I had dressed when I got a good look at the clientele. There were all dressed in red and black, although in a more gothic style. I thought I blended in well enough.

I was dead wrong.

I noticed the vampire that had carded me at the door had gotten another staff member to cover for her as she walked the center of the room that was completely clear of table. In their stead was a large throne-like chair with smaller chairs placed on either side of it. In the large chair was the most beautiful vampire I had ever seen. He was tall; I could tell that even with him sitting. His blond hair brushed the tops of his broad shoulders and hung slightly in his face. And his intense blue eyes were staring right at me.

The female vampire reached him, bending down next to him as he whispered something to her. In response to his words, she looked briefly in my direction, and then I saw her lips move. He said something else. And then the female vampire was walking towards me.

Shit! What have I gotten myself into this time?

“Hello,” she said in her bored voice. “Eric has expressed to me that he would like to meet you.”

“Who the hell is Eric?” I asked in tone that questioned his authority over me.

“He is the owner of this establishment, and a very powerful vampire. I wouldn’t suggest you use that tone with him, if you would like to continue breathing.”

I nodded, refusing to show any fear, and rose from my seat at the bar. I followed her as she led me to the vampire.

“Thank you, Pam. You may go now,” Eric said, and with a wave of his hand, dismissed her. He turned back to me then, looking me up and down in an obnoxiously obvious way.

“Please, sit,” he said gesturing to the chair at his right. I obeyed. “Tell, me, what is your name?”

“Skylar Jones,” I said as politely as I could manage, holding out my hand to him. He stared at it. I guess vampires don’t do hand shakes.

I started to pull my hand away, when he caught it at the wrist with long white fingers. My heart hammered in my chest as he turned my hand palm upward and inhaled deeply at my wrist. I shivered at his cool breath.

“You smell different from the others. What are you?”

“No one special,” I replied. I didn’t want to draw any more attention to myself.

“Oh, I’d beg to differ. And your accent; where are you from originally?”

“California,” I replied. I pulled my hand back from him. He let it go reluctantly. I knew that if he had wanted to keep holding on to it, he would have no problem with keeping me from pulling it away.

“Hmmm. Unfortunately, I have never had the pleasure of traveling there.”

“Um, not to be rude, but what exactly do you want from me?”

“I am curious about you. I have never seen you here before. And your blood, well, in a thousand years I have never smelled anything like it. Tell me, are you someone’s human?”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you belong to another vampire?”

“I belong to no one,” I said stubbornly.

“Good.”

I didn’t even ask what that was supposed to mean. I had a sick feeling I already knew.

“And I take it that you came here alone,” he said. It was not a question.

“Yes,” I said anyway. I accidentally looked right into his eyes afterward. He looked at me intently, and I felt something touch the borders of my mind.

He was glamouring me.

“You will come out back with me now,” he said in a low voice.

I tried to fight it, but instead I felt myself rise from the chair and nod. He took my hand in his and led me out the back door. The next thing I knew, I was up against that wall outside the back of Fangtasia, and his hands were at my waist.

“Now, Skylar, you will offer yourself to me, and I will feed on you.”

I felt him trying to bend my will to his command, and I forced myself to shake my head. I pushed at his hands, trying to get him as far away from me as possible.

“No,” I said firmly. Eric’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “That won’t work on me, Eric.”

“But it worked before,” he said, and sounded almost embarrassed at his inability to glamour me further.

“That was because my guard wasn’t up. But now it is, and you won’t be glamouring me again.”

“What are you?” he asked me again. He put his hand on my cheek, and tried to force me to look into his eyes again. Instead, I closed my eyes.

And then my head flashed away from Fangtasia entirely.

I was in my house, watching the news, when there was a knock at the door. I answered it and found Eric standing there, staring at me. He walked right in. And then his lips were on mine.

“What the hell?” I gasped, and ducked underneath the circle of Eric’s arms. I wanted to get back inside, where I couldn’t be alone with Eric. I wanted to forget what I had just seen, even though it played repeatedly in my head.

Eric didn’t stop me as I walked back into Fangtasia. However, he did follow me.

In my vision, Eric walked right into my house. But it was impossible for vampires to do that unless invited inside. This meant that I must have invited him. But why on earth would I do something so stupid?

I headed for the exit. I had gone out for an adventure and some answers. And hell, I had found an adventure, all right. But I was leaving more confused than I had been when I had come.

Eric was still following me. I ran to the parking lot. I knew I would never outrun him. He was right in front of me as soon as I had caught sight of my car.

“Leaving so soon?” he asked.

“Leave me alone. I’m sorry to break it to you, but not everyone enjoys your company.” He laughed at that one.

“What happened back there?” he asked, stepping in front of me again as I tried to get to my car.

“If I tell you, will you let me go?”

“Yes,” he said with a smile, knowing he had won.

I couldn’t believe, after all my determination to keep a low profile, I was about to give myself away. “I can see the future. That’s probably why I smell different to you. And when you touched me back there, I had a vision.”

“Really? Was it about me?” I blushed, and he knew. “Was it exciting to you?”

“It was disgusting, actually,” I said, walking around him to my car. He was in front of me again just as I had reached my door.

“Hey, we made a deal,” I said, practically growling at him.

“Just one more thing,” he said, and he brought his head down to my neck. I jerked away, but he used a hand to hold me in place. He inhaled again, this time letting his nose run along my jugular vein.

I shook, and against my will, sighed. I heard him laugh, his cool breath blowing on my neck. “Just committing you to memory,” he said.

I turned away from him, opening my door and scrambling in. I started the car, and would have run him over if he weren’t so fast.

________________________________________________________________________________

When I got home, I took a shower, scrubbing myself clean of the bar and the smells that would undoubtedly haunt my nightmares.

When I got out of the shower, I pulled on a pair of sweats and my sports bra. I double-checked that everything was locked; even though I knew, what I feared would not be able to come in unless it was invited. Then I slipped under my covers and reluctantly fell asleep.

I always knew the difference between normal dreams and visions. In visions, I was always looking down at what was happening, even if I was the subject of my vision.

This was a dream. Because I was within myself, and I was sitting in the Bon Temps cemetery. What the hell was I doing here?

“It’s a lovely night,” I heard a familiar voice say. Then I turned, and Eric was standing next to me.

The next thing I knew, I was in his arms as he drained me.

I woke up screaming and clutching at my throat. The sunlight filtered through my window, and I knew that I was safe. At least for now.