Vampire Auction

I shifted slightly in my seat, trying to get more comfortable, but with no luck. My butt was killing me after an hour of sitting motionless on one of those stupid, blue plastic chairs, listening to the boring drones of speeches and lame poems and god knows what else.

It was Halloween night, and for some unfathomable reason I was stuck at school in the auditorium at a “Halloween Party” the school was throwing. Really, all it was was a lame dance with crappy, over priced food, some stupid speeches by teachers, and an auction, which would be coming up any minute now. Now, left to my own devices, there was no way in hell I’d be caught dead here on this particular night. I myself was a senior, and originally my plans had been to go to a party, a real party, with some girl friends, then a bonfire by the lake, egg a house or two, and end the night by seeing how much candy we could squeeze out of the neighborhood by trick-or-treating. But noooooooo, my stupid little 10 year-old sister insisted she had to go to that school thing. She got credits or something by going, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Of course, my mother would die before she let herself get dragged into a situation like that while I was around to do it instead, so she made me go.

Of course, not with out a fight. There was a lot of whining, bribing, and threatening going on, and I went so far as to tell my mom that I would just leave with my friends no matter what. Now, that may work for you, but the moment I said that my mom marched into my room and started throwing clothes in a bag. She told me that I was still underage, and I had to do what she said, if I wasn’t going to, she’d throw me out on the street. I have no idea what she would have really done if I kept on refusing, but I wasn’t about to take the chance. I went with my sister.

So thus, here I was, trying not to tear my hair out, half listening to the deafening drone of some teacher’s monotone voice. Suddenly, Jade, my sister, was shaking me.

“Beth, it’s the auction!”

“Huh? What?” I mumbled. I sat up straighter. I had been trying to fall asleep, but now even that escape was ruined, thanks to lovely Jade.

“The auction! There is bound to be something cool here!” Jade explained, wide eyed. Ah, what it was like once to be so young and so full of life! She hadn’t been dragged through four, painful years of learning, but her time will come, oh, it will come…

But I was broken out of my vengeful thoughts by the excited sound of Mr. Fisher’s voice announcing the beginning of the auction. Mr. Fisher was the only teacher I really liked, apart from Mrs. Hadda. He was young and energetic, and on a friendlier level with his students than any other teacher. So, for his sake, I tried to enter the real world and pay attention. And anyway, Jade was probably right about something worth biding being present. This year, like every year, the richest family in my town had contributed to the auction. And though they only did it to get kudos from the residents, they did always bring some kick-ass goods.

For about 15 minutes I watched various objects of different degrees of interest being brought up, auction off, and removed. An old painting or two, a life size plastic skeleton, a fancy black gothic dress, and some more random Halloween theme items. Nothing really caught my eye until the coffin was brought out.

They wheeled it out from behind the curtain, and I jumped up to get a better look. It was gorgeous. Big and black, it caught the florescent lights with a gleam that made me squint my eyes. It was locked down on the side with huge silver buckles. On the front was a plaque, also silver, that has some sort of inscriptions on it, but I couldn’t read them from this distance. Mr. Fisher took up the microphone and began talking again.

“And finally, we have this lovely piece, a genuine coffin, set with supposedly real silver,” He winked at the audience, “Courtesy of the Frindells.” This must be what the rich couple had brought. Wow, they really outdid themselves this year. “We will be starting the bidding at 300 dollars.” I grabbed my wallet and riffled through it. I had $700 with me, all my savings from baby sitting and my job at the ice cream parlor. So I started to bid.

Soon everyone had dropped out of the auction but me and another woman. Every time I made an offer, she out did it. I was running out of cash fast, and I was growing worried. For some reason, I really, really wanted that coffin. No, I needed it. I didn’t know why, but I was getting frantic at the idea of it slipping from my grasp.

“600!” The woman called out.

“650!” I countered.

“700!” I faltered. I didn’t have anymore money than that. I gulped. How badly did I really want the coffin anyway? I looked at it. It shined at me. Please, Beth, buy me! It begged. I need you! Please! I stared at it intently, thinking hard.

Then, at that second, something happened. I don’t think anyone else saw it, I was the only one. It was meant for me and me alone. The coffin had moved. Just a fraction of an inch, but it had rocked on its side slightly. That was all the incentive I needed.

“$700 and 6 months of community service!” I blabbed. The auditorium was silent. Mr. Fisher glanced at my competitor. She looked taken aback for a minute at the thought of manual labor, and sat down without a word.

“Well then, I guess we have a winner!” Mr. Fisher called, looking amused. Jade was staring at me too, and as I stood up to make my way on stage, she grabbed my sleeve.

“Wow… you really wanted that didn’t you?” She said. We both knew I was as lazy as hell. I nodded dumbly. I was beginning to regret my decision, 6 months was a long time… but as I climbed the steps to the stage and saw my beautiful prize lying there, any doubts I had were washed away. I felt like jumping for joy, I wanted to dance and sing and scream. There was something about this piece that intoxicated me. But for now I had to keep my cool. First things first, I had to find a way to get it in my car…

* * *

CRASH!

“No! Not the lamp… oh, be careful! Careful!” I wailed. Those stupid guys from the school had managed to break or knock over nearly everything in their path so far. From the auditorium to my car, from my car to my house, from the front yard to my living room, they left a path of carnage and destruction in their wake.

… Ok, maybe that is an exaggeration. But they did manage to leave a huge dent in my car door, which is gonna cost a pretty penny, totally tear up the grass in my front lawn (those idiots thought it would be easiest to drag the damned coffin to the door. I am so dead for this), knock over one of my elderly neighbors as she was bringing her grandkid home from trick-or-treating, and break my mother’s favorite lamp. They glared at me, obviously thinking I was in the wrong, and set the coffin down as gently as if it were a priceless stained glass window. Gee, thanks. Good thing you didn’t break the floor too.

Anyway, after I had shooed the workers out, it was just me and my prize. My sister went home with a friend, and my parents were out for the night. Lucky buggers…

I hastened over to the casket and took at better look. It was defiantly authentic, not some cheap imitation. It was solid and very heavy, and looked as if it could last decades six feet under without a sign of wear. I was mildly surprised; this would have probably been thousands of dollars in an actual store. The latches on the sides were huge, bigger than I had thought.

“Why would a dead guy need to be locked in?” I vaguely wondered aloud. Maybe they were there to keep people from getting in. But who the hell would want to rob a corpse? Gross. But I shook such thoughts from my head and turned to the plaque. There were 4 lines engraved on it, but they were all in some other language. I had only ever taken Latin for my studies, but I was pretty good at recognizing languages, but this one wasn’t one I had seen before. I crouched down and looked at the side of the coffin that would open.

“Hello…” I muttered. There was a sturdy silver lock, about the size of my fist, hanging from the closed lid. I stared at it. Once again, why? Suddenly, I felt the unexplainable urge to open it. Right then, right there. I jumped up and ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. I hurried back to the casket and carefully slid the knife’s point into the crack. I pushed. It didn’t yield. Not that I expected it to, but I was still disappointed. I tried again, putting more pressure on the knife. Nothing. I set my jaw and tried on more time, putting all my weight into it. There was a CRACK! And the entire top half of the knife’s blade went whizzing by my head, imbedding itself in the wall behind me, about an inch from my right ear. I sat motionless, my heart pounding. That was terrifying. I looked at the jagged edge of the metal still grasped in my hand, then at the quivering blade sticking out of the cracked plaster. That could have taken my flipping head off! I noticed I was holding the knife so tightly my knuckles had turned white. I relaxed my grip somewhat, though still shaken. But I wasn’t one to be put off so easily.

I got up and went back into the kitchen, yanking the knife out of the wall as I went. I rummaged through a drawer under the sink until I found a stray bobby pin buried at the bottom. Then back to the coffin I went. God, I felt like the Energizer Bunny, I just kept going back and forth and back and forth…

Anyway, squatting in front of the lock, I slipped the bobby pin into the keyhole. I put my ear to the icy cold lock, and wiggled the pin around. But to my dismay, I couldn’t get a thing. This lock was just too good to be picked. I sat back on my haunches and surveyed the coffin morosely. I wrinkled my nose slightly. A little baby thought was beginning to form. It was a long shot, but it would be stupid not to try… I reached out, grabbed the lock firmly with one hand, and pulled down.

…It opened.

Oh. It was never locked in the first place.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I wanted to tear my hair out and skip around the room at the same time. After a brief internal struggle in which I babbled aloud incoherently for a few minutes, I managed to gather my wits again.

I felt anticipation mounting in me as I slowly walked to the edge of the coffin. Here it was, ready to be opened. I knew it was empty, but it was probably just as beautiful on the inside as out. And there was just something about the idea of opening a coffin, the kind that dead people use (…is there another kind?), that made me feel all quivery and excited. Wouldn’t that just be awesome? Huh, maybe it’s just my morbid personality. So I carefully slid my fingers under the lid and began to lift it up. It was heavier that I had expected, and I had to strain to open it. Finally my exertions paid off and the lid fell back with a dull thud.
As I stared inside, my breath caught in my throat. I felt myself tense up and my insides turn to ice. I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t think.

So I did what any girl in my situation would do. I screamed.

* * *

I screamed until I couldn’t scream anymore, then I fell backwards, my arms flying out behind me to try to catch myself. But I twisted at the last second, and when I landed on my right wrist, I heard the awful crack of snapping bone. I screamed again, this time in pain, and scuttled backwards to the far wall, grasping my wrist in agony. My screams subsided into whimpers. My heart was pounding so hard and so loud, I was sure it would be able to wake up the coffin’s gruesome occupant. As a sat huddled in the corner, my jumbled thoughts somehow managed to produce an explanation. I had imagined it. I must have. Someone would have noticed if it was real… or maybe that was the answer! It was someone’s sick idea of a joke. I would have laughed at myself if my wrist wasn’t killing me. I glanced at it. It was already swelling. Damn, I must have broken it.

After a few minutes of deep breathing, I managed to muster up enough courage to hobble over to the casket. I slowly peeked over the edge, and discovered I hadn’t hallucinated what I had seen after all. There it lay- there he lay-, the body. A young man, probably not much older than myself. He had dark hair, a kind of thick, velvety black that hangs in the air at midnight. He was incredibly pale, and his unblemished skin stood out I sharp contrast with his hair. His features were sharp and defined, with high cheekbones and an almost regal quality to his face. He was slender, and even years later I could only say his frame was like a cats, lanky and wiry, slim but oh-so powerful. He was in an all black suit, and the only color on him was a bright red tie. He was lying on the blood red satin pillows that sat in the coffin. His eyes were closed, and his beautiful lips were parted very slightly. He was absolutely gorgeous, even in death. That is, if he was real at all. But if he wasn’t it was one hell of a fake.

Tentatively, I put out a finger and let it hover just above his cheek. I had to know if it was real or not, but I had no desire to touch a corpse. I bit the inside of my cheek in indecision. To touch, or not to touch…

“Well, aren’t you going to poke me?”

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” I shrieked, my ear splitting wail reverberating off the walls and making my ears hurt with its force. The dead guy clamped his hands over his own ears and screwed up his face.

“Ouch.” He said after my scream had died away. I wasn’t listening though. I was backed away, jabbering nonsense. This wasn’t happening!

“B-but you’re dead!” I howled. He stood up swiftly and stepped out of the-his-coffin. He took a step towards me, and I took three back.

“No, human, not dead. Well,” A wicked grin spread across his face, “Not entirely.” He took another step forward. I took one back.

“Stay back! I’m warning you!” I didn’t know what he would do to me, if he was just some stupid kid playing a prank or… something else. But either way I didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances.

“Or what?” He smirked. Oh my god, did he just have the nerve to smirk at me?!

“You know what, you (insert rude name of your choice here)! You had better get the hell out of my house right now, or I swear to God-” But I never got to finish. Before I could register what was happening, he had me pinned to the wall by my throat. My feet were dangling a foot from the ground, and I clawed at his hand, but his strength was inhuman. He pushed his face close to mine, our noses nearly touching. His eyes flashed dangerously, and he whispered through clenched teeth, his icy breath hitting my face.

“You’ll what, Doll Face?”

He dropped me, and I fell to the ground. I somehow managed to push myself up and squirm away from him. I stood unsteadily. He bared his teeth and feinted at me. I let out a strangled cry and spun on my heels and dashed into the kitchen. On my way I snatched up the phone and threw a chair down behind me. I pressed myself up against the refrigerator and fumbled with the buttons on the phone. I glanced up to see dead guy walking at a leisurely pace into the kitchen. I let out a small moan and began to press the button more franticly. 9… 1… 2, shit!

8… shit!

9… shit, shit, shit, shit, damn!

Dead guy came to the chair I had knocked over in a vain attempt to slow him down and looked at me, an eyebrow raised quizzically. He stepped over it and kept coming at me, with a horribly determined, steady pace. I threw the phone down in exasperation and flew over to the drawer where the cooking tools were kept. I didn’t turn my back on him; I just opened the drawer and fumbled around in it.

“I told you to stay AWAY!” I shouted, and I whipped my weapon out and waved it in his face.

“Or you’ll kill me with your egg beater?” He asked. I glanced down. Damn. I threw it at him. He dodged it. Not that it would have done him much harm if it had actually hit him. I rummaged around the drawer again and pulled out a…

“A spatula? You’re not very good at this are you, Doll Face?” He laughed at little. He began making his way towards me again, but just as I was started hopelessly praying to God to save my unworthy life, he took a detour to the far counter and hopped up on it. He leaned back slightly and stared at me, a smile playing on his lips, his legs swinging back and forth. He looked like a freaking little kid, instead of the murderous, undead psychopath he was a minute ago.

I gave up on trying to find a weapon, partly because Dead Guy seemed to have lost interest in ripping my head off, and partly because I probably would end up grabbing a wooden spoon next. I cleared my throat nervously. Dead Guy Looked up at me and stopped exploring the cupboards beside him. I decided to be polite.

“Um, Mr. Dead Person, would you terribly mind telling me who-what you are and why you were lurking in a flipping coffin?”

…Well, as polite as the circumstances would allow. Dead Guy studied me with a scrutinizing intensity. I could tell he was sizing me up.

“I’m glad you’ve decided to stop screaming. You’ve really got a set of lungs there, don’t you?” He finally said, and turned away from me to continue to plunder the kitchen cabinets. Despite my better judgment, I got angry. If there was one thing I hated, it was being ignored. And having my questions deflected. So I guess that’s two things… Oh well, the point was he pissed me off.

I stalked up to Dead Guy and shoved him aside. He fell off the counter, not because of the force of my push, but because of his surprise. From what I knew about him from our previous incident, I doubted a cement truck could make this guy budge.

“Stop going through my stuff! And don’t ignore me! And don’t avoid my questions!” I ordered huffily, putting all the items his wandering fingers had rearranged back in their designated places.

“You sure have a lot of rules. I don’t appreciate rules.” He stated. He came up behind me and watched me fix the cupboards contents. I could feel his breath on my neck. It was freezing cold, and I tensed involuntarily, for several reasons.

“You’re obsessive compulsive. That says a lot about a person.” A hand sneaked out over my shoulder, brushing against my ear, making me shiver slightly, and pushed some cans of green beans to the left in a clump. I tried to ignore him and pushed them back. He grabbed a bag of cake mix from the bottom self and put it on the one above it. I put it back down. His hand reached for something else, but this time I grabbed his wrist. In response, his other arm shot out and grabbed a box of cookie cutters. I couldn’t help it, I let out a small whine of frustration. I heard, and felt, him chuckle behind me. Suddenly I realized our position: We were back to front and I was pressed to the counter, and both of his arms were out against the cabinet edge, caging me in.

I never realized I should have felt a heartbeat, because where there should have been the soft, regular pounding of his heart, there was no movement. But that was a detail that didn’t quite register at that moment.

Instead I slipped quickly out from under him and took two hasty steps back. I could feel myself turning red, though I had no idea why. I snatched the cookie cutter from his hand and scooted him to the side, replacing them. I stayed there for a minute, pretending to shuffle things around, to hide my burning face. But just when I thought it was safe to turn around, it wasn’t.

He was right there in front of me. I tried to turn back around, but he had grabbed my wrist, preventing me from moving. “You asked me what I was. Do you still want to know?”

I was speechless. I couldn’t even remember my own name. How did he have this affect on me?

“Awww, you’re blushing. How cute,” He sneered, “I would kill to have a camera right now.”
I jerked my wrist away. “You are so annoying! Go back and…sleep in your freaking coffin or something.” I turned my back on him and started to organize the stuff he had taken out. Then he started playing with my hair. What is with this guy?! Or dead guy?! I slapped his hand away.

“Stop it! Do you, like, annoy people for a living?”

“No, because technically, I’m not fully living.”

“You’re not fully living? What’s that supposed to mean?” Dead Guy was getting stranger and stranger the more he talked. He smiled a not-too-friendly smile. It looked more evil than anything else.

“Are you sure you want to know?” he still had that evil smile. I hesitated. Dead Guy seemed like he was just joking, but there was a hint of seriousness under it. I looked at that smile of his one more time and I nodded. His smile grew. “Do you believe in monsters?” He took one step towards me, I took one step back. “You know that I’m different, dangerous, and something ominous. But you don’t know what. I’ll give you hints: I am a ruler of the night. I hunt life and have the power to do so many things.” I had backed into the counter. He trapped me. “I’m a---”

I heard the front door open.

“Beth? Beth, are you home?” It was my sister. Crap. She wasn’t even supposed to be home! I have to hide Dead Guy before Jade sees him. I started pushing Dead Guy back to the coffin, but he wouldn’t move an inch.

“You need to get back into that coffin, my sister can’t see you. If she does, she’ll tell on me. C’mon, go!” But Dead Guy still wouldn’t move, despite me pushing on him with all my strength. He gave me another evil smile.

“Why should I leave? I would really love to meet someone from your family. I hope she’s more prettier than you.” My sister was getting closer, so I ignored his rude comment.

I gave up trying to push him. It was like pushing a brick wall. “No, you can’t. My sister is going to tell and my parents are going to kill me first then you. Now, please, please, go back into the coffin.” I almost went on my knees, begging. He actually chuckled.

I knew he wasn’t going to move, so I moved in front of him, hoping somehow I could explain to my annoying sister. The kitchen door opened and my sister walked in. I waited for her to question Dead Guy. “Are you still trying to open that coffin?”

“What? No, as you can see, the coffin is…” The coffin was closed, and locked. And Dead Guy was nowhere to be seen. “The coffin was open a few moments ago.”

“Uh-huh, sure, whatever. You might want to put that in your room and get a good night’s sleep. Mr. Fisher wanted you to know that your six months of community service starts tomorrow at 12 o’clock to 4:30 p.m. But that’s only on the weekends. During school days, it’s after school until 8 o’clock.” She was actually taunting me. “Well, I’m off to bed. You should go to bed too, because you have a big day tomorrow.” She started to walk up the stairs to her room.

“Wait! Why aren’t at your friend’s house? I thought you weren’t coming home until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Her mom got a call that her grandpa is I the hospital. So, she had to leave to go see him.” Then she turned and walked off to her room and closed the door. I gave a sigh of relief.

“Y’know, she wasn’t as pretty as I imagined her to be. I honestly expected more. You look better than her, which is saying something.” I whipped around and found Dead Guy causally leaning on the counter.

“How did you hide so quickly?” I asked, again ignoring his rude comment.

He did that evil smile thing. “I told you I can do many things. Many unnatural things I might want to add.” Then, without warning, Dead Guy grabbed my right wrist. I almost screamed from the pain. But if I had screamed, Jade would have come down to investigate. But then again, Dead Guy would probably disappear like last time. I didn’t scream anyway. Dead Guy snickered at my expression, “Did you forget about your wrist? You should get rid of the blood there. I can help you, but you probably wouldn’t like that so much.” He chuckled. But I almost didn’t hear him because of the agonizing pain in my wrist.

“Let…me…go…please…” Tears were sitting on the edge of my eyes. But Dead Guy didn’t let go. Instead, he squeezed harder and nearly blacked out. “Stop…let go of me!” I pushed him as hard as I could with my free hand. I think he let me push him away, because I’ve seen, and felt, his power. But I ignored him and cradled my swollen wrist to my chest, trying to ease my pain. Great God am I so tired. No last Halloween party with friends, community service, $700 dollars gone, and an annoying…an annoying something.

Then, faster than I can blink, Dead Guy threw me over his shoulder and ran up the stairs and into my bedroom. How he knew it which was mine was a mystery. He set me on my bed, paused and then said, “Well? Aren’t you going to thank me?” I didn’t answer him. I stared at him, completely shocked. Dead Guy picked me up as if I weighed no more than five pounds. Dead Guy spoke again, “Hello? Where’s my thank you?”

I glared at him. “Thank you for what? For tossing me into my bedroom when I’ll just have to go back downstairs to get your stupid coffin? For being an annoying jerk and making my crappy night even crappier?” This creepy person was really pissing me off! I mean, who was this person? What was this person…wait.

“What were you going to say before Jade came in?” He was telling what he was then Jade came in.

Dead Guy eyes widened in mockery, or so it seemed to me. “What are you talking about? I didn’t say anything.” Yeah, he was mocking me.

“You were telling me what you were smartass. Now what are you?” I was really losing my patience with this…this…thing.

“I didn’t think you’d remember. You’re so oblivious.” He chuckled again, that made my skin crawl. Then he leaned closer to me. I took a step back automatically. “Are you positively sure you want to know?” I couldn’t do anything but nod. He took a step closer to, I took another step back. “I’m a vamp…” I wasn’t able to completely think about his answer. I think I knew what he said, but something in his dark brown eyes kept me from thinking coherently. My eyes closed unwilling and started to fall. The last thing I remember were cold hands, a sting in my right wrist, and the darkness that shadowed me.