The Water Is Rusted, The Air Is Unclean
Running From Lions
Present Day - Tony’s POV
I knew I’d been having a terrible day when I allowed my friends to drag me out to a sketchy bar downtown. They weren’t exactly friends I’d call close, but I didn’t have much of a choice in who I hung around with considering my ‘alternative’ appearance and my tendency to prefer the company of men over women. Still, I did really question why I didn’t just accept the loner lifestyle when I found myself in the kind of place that puts ‘dive’ in ‘dive bar’. I watched my friends drink with a bored expression on my face, but soon I became aware that someone was staring at me from the end of the bar. At first I ignored the stranger, but then curiosity got the better of me and I turned my head, immediately regretting it.
I had thought that the embarrassment of me catching the man staring at me would make him blush and break his gaze, but it only caused him to smirk and wink at me until I was the one who was blushing. Was he trying to pick me up? He was cute, but definitely not my type. He had long brown hair, a ring through his nose and a tan which gave me the impression he was hispanic much like myself. It was strange though, as while he possessed darker skin there was a glaze of pale on top of it like he was sick or something. I eventually pulled my eyes away from him and focused more on the drink in my hands that I had nursing since I had come in to the bar. My friends were on their third or fourth drinks, but they weren’t paying much attention to me anyway.
Suddenly I was pulled from my zoned out state by the bartender, who waved his hand in front of my face. “Kid? The guy at the end there asked me to give you this,” he announced, and handed me what looked like a blank business card. I looked to the end of the bar, but the mysterious man was gone. When I turned the cream card over, I saw that there was black typewriter-style writing and it read, ‘be careful.’ Underneath the script was a Mexican Calavera Catrina, but no indication of who the man was or what he had meant by this gesture.
It couldn’t have been more than half an hour later when I decided to leave the bar. I was more than a little bored, and the situation with the stranger had left me feeling unsettled. I pocketed the business card and headed out the front of the bar, making a quick decision to take the shortcut down the alleyway to save myself a five minute walk around the block. I was halfway down the alley when two very sinister looking men appeared out of what seemed like nowhere and blocked my path. They hissed at me and I froze in fear, only to have one of them quickly floor me. I thought that it was the end, especially when he bared alarmingly sharp teeth and made aim for my neck, so I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.
Except death never came. The weight of the man on top of me was soon lifted and I heard the sound of bones cracking and screeching. I still didn’t dare to open my eyes until I heard a soft voice whisper in my ear. “I thought I told you to stay out of trouble, dude?”
When I opened my eyes, I recognised the man from the bar leaning down over me. I backed up immediately and then spotted what had become of the two men who had stopped and tried to attack me. They were piled one on top of the other with their throats more or less ripped out.
“Wha… what did you do?” I questioned weakly, to which the stranger from the bar simply laughed and offered me his hand so I could pull myself up.
“There’s a lot of explaining that needs to be done… but first, my name is Vic. I’m the leader of the Fuentes coven… we’re vegetarian vampires, unlike those guys,” he announced as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. It was at that moment that I decided to faint.
I knew I’d been having a terrible day when I allowed my friends to drag me out to a sketchy bar downtown. They weren’t exactly friends I’d call close, but I didn’t have much of a choice in who I hung around with considering my ‘alternative’ appearance and my tendency to prefer the company of men over women. Still, I did really question why I didn’t just accept the loner lifestyle when I found myself in the kind of place that puts ‘dive’ in ‘dive bar’. I watched my friends drink with a bored expression on my face, but soon I became aware that someone was staring at me from the end of the bar. At first I ignored the stranger, but then curiosity got the better of me and I turned my head, immediately regretting it.
I had thought that the embarrassment of me catching the man staring at me would make him blush and break his gaze, but it only caused him to smirk and wink at me until I was the one who was blushing. Was he trying to pick me up? He was cute, but definitely not my type. He had long brown hair, a ring through his nose and a tan which gave me the impression he was hispanic much like myself. It was strange though, as while he possessed darker skin there was a glaze of pale on top of it like he was sick or something. I eventually pulled my eyes away from him and focused more on the drink in my hands that I had nursing since I had come in to the bar. My friends were on their third or fourth drinks, but they weren’t paying much attention to me anyway.
Suddenly I was pulled from my zoned out state by the bartender, who waved his hand in front of my face. “Kid? The guy at the end there asked me to give you this,” he announced, and handed me what looked like a blank business card. I looked to the end of the bar, but the mysterious man was gone. When I turned the cream card over, I saw that there was black typewriter-style writing and it read, ‘be careful.’ Underneath the script was a Mexican Calavera Catrina, but no indication of who the man was or what he had meant by this gesture.
It couldn’t have been more than half an hour later when I decided to leave the bar. I was more than a little bored, and the situation with the stranger had left me feeling unsettled. I pocketed the business card and headed out the front of the bar, making a quick decision to take the shortcut down the alleyway to save myself a five minute walk around the block. I was halfway down the alley when two very sinister looking men appeared out of what seemed like nowhere and blocked my path. They hissed at me and I froze in fear, only to have one of them quickly floor me. I thought that it was the end, especially when he bared alarmingly sharp teeth and made aim for my neck, so I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.
Except death never came. The weight of the man on top of me was soon lifted and I heard the sound of bones cracking and screeching. I still didn’t dare to open my eyes until I heard a soft voice whisper in my ear. “I thought I told you to stay out of trouble, dude?”
When I opened my eyes, I recognised the man from the bar leaning down over me. I backed up immediately and then spotted what had become of the two men who had stopped and tried to attack me. They were piled one on top of the other with their throats more or less ripped out.
“Wha… what did you do?” I questioned weakly, to which the stranger from the bar simply laughed and offered me his hand so I could pull myself up.
“There’s a lot of explaining that needs to be done… but first, my name is Vic. I’m the leader of the Fuentes coven… we’re vegetarian vampires, unlike those guys,” he announced as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. It was at that moment that I decided to faint.