Re-Vamping Las Vegas

by Jen Pretty

  I tried to pull my arm away from him but he gripped it tighter and pulled me through the doorway.

  "You saved his life," he said.

  “Shut up. Let go of me,” I said, struggling to get away from him.

  “Hello, Matthew. It’s nice to see you,” said a woman dressed in a skirt suit. She looked mid-40s with a few grey hairs starting and was a human.

  “Emily, very good to see you too. I’d like to introduce you to Ren.” He let go of my hand and I almost fell over I had been pulling so hard when he let go.

  “Hello, Ren. I’ve heard so much about you.” The woman said, ignoring my near collision with the floor.

  I glared at Matthew and mumbled, “Believe none of what you hear and only half what you see.”

  She laughed, a light tinkle of a sound that made me hate her and like her all at once.

  “Come on in, we can have a chat,” she said, walking through a door into an office and leaving me to follow. I watched her sit down in a chair across from a small couch. Behind me, Matthew sat in a plastic chair beside the door we had come in, like a bouncer. It was a trap. I couldn’t go back and I didn’t want to go forward. I thought about making a break for it. The clock on the wall ticked the seconds like it was mocking me. I could just run. Leave Las Vegas and keep running. I could hide from the murderous bastard that had ruined my life.

  Payday wasn’t till Friday though. I would need to find a computer to get money in my account so I could get out of town.

  I tried to think of anyone who would help me, but no one came to mind.

  “You coming?” Emily asked.

  Shit. I took a deep breath and walked into the room, closing the door behind me.

  I walked over and sat on the couch. My leg bounced, and I dug my nails into my thigh to make it stop.

  “Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself?” she asked.

  I looked back at the door.

  “The room is soundproof. He can’t hear you, but I do have a call button here.” She showed me a small device in her hand.

  “Are you afraid of me?” I asked.

  “Not at all, but it’s good to have a link to the outside world if we need it.”

  Lie. She thought I would eat her. I smiled, showing off my fangs and her heart rate ticked up a notch.

  “All right, here is the deal. Matthew asked me to help you. I don’t typically talk to vampires, but I have spent my life with a vampire. I know what you just did and you can keep pushing or you can just talk for a little while and then Matthew will take you home. He will bring you here twice a week either way.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Good, so tell me what you did today,” she said.

  That seemed reasonably simple. “I went to work, then dined with Matthew and then came here.”

  “How was work?” she asked.

  “It was boring. I dealt cards for eight hours.”

  “What would you rather have been doing?”

  “I don’t know,” I said picking at the polish on my thumbnail.

  She sat in silence for a minute. I thought about Ben’s laptop. I could have taken all that money from the loser and given it back to sick kids. Maybe Ben would come back to the casino.

  “What are you thinking about right now?”

  “Nothing,”, I said, snapping back to the room.

  “Ok, so that nothing you were just thinking about was something important to you if you don’t want to talk about it. You don’t have to tell me, but I promise if you did, I wouldn’t share it with anyone else. That is what I’m here for. You can tell me things and I won’t tell anyone.”

  I laughed. “Like a priest?”

  “Exactly like that.”

  I stared at her for a moment, trying to judge if she was lying. She sounded truthful.

  I played with the idea. She didn't look like a priest and we weren’t in a church. I glanced back at the door.

  “I won’t tell him either. He knows the rules, he won’t even ask,” she said like she had read my mind.

  “Is it a sin if you are just righting the wrong?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “I don’t judge you, Ren.”

  “My name is Nia. Lavinia.”

  Her eyes went wide. If she was part of the vampire community, she would know who I am.

  “The princess.”

  “No, I’ll never be his princess,” I scowled.

  “Ok,” she said, nodding. “Completely understood. Do you prefer Lavinia?”

  “I prefer Nia.”

  She nodded. “So, you righted a wrong, Nia?”

  I still wasn’t sure if she would keep her trap shut, but I found confessing to the stupid Elvis unsatisfying. “I hack people who break the law and steal their money.”

  Her eyebrows shot up before she controlled her features. “And what do you do with the money?” she asked.

  “I funnel it through a ton of bank accounts and then divide it up and donate it to whatever charity can use it.”

  “You keep none of the money?”

  “No, it’s dirty,” I replied.

  "Ok," she nodded. "Thank you for sharing that with me."

  I nodded. I felt light like I did after talking to Father John.

  “Tell me about your father.”

  Of course, she had to ruin it. “I don’t want to talk about him,” I said.

  “Ok, let's talk about Matthew.”

  “What about him?”

  “What is he like?”

  “Are you a Disciple?” I asked. Disciples always asked dumb questions about vampires. They wanted to know all about us like we had the secrets to life.

  She smiled and shook her head. “I have known Matthew since I was 5 years old, I would just like to know what you think of Matthew.”

  “I don’t know. He’s boring, I guess.” The look in his eyes as he drank from the woman earlier in the night splashed across my mind. The words he whispered. “There are greater things in heaven and earth.”

  “That’s from Hamlet.”

  I guess I said that out loud. “Yes, I know, I’m not uneducated,” I retorted.

  Her features didn’t change but her heart ticked up a bit. I smiled.

  “So, you steal from the rich and give to the poor. You are a modern-day Robin Hood?”

  “No, I don’t do it for the poor. I do it because people, some people, are slimy bastards who feel nothing. When I take their money, they feel something.”

  “Is your father like that?”

  I jumped up. “I told you I didn’t want to talk about him.”

  She leaned back in her chair. Usually, I wanted people to fear me, but the look on her face wasn’t fear, she hadn’t leaned back because she thought I would hurt her, it was pity. She pitied me. It was like a punch in the gut. I stormed out the door and slammed it behind me.

  Matthew stood between me and my escape.

  “Move or I will hurt you!” I yelled. His gaze flicked past me and then he stepped out of the way. I slammed through the door and took the stairs to the lobby, then ran out of the building into the early morning. The sun was clawing at the horizon, like a drowning man, fighting to breach the surface.

  I ran down the street, my feet slapping hard on the pavement. Matthew didn’t chase me, thank God, and when I found a small park with a stream and a bench, I sat down and dropped my head in my hands.

  She pitied me. The human with greying hair and sagging skin. The one who would die and rot while I stayed the same.

  Red bloody tears streaked my face, and I wiped them away and looked out across the stream. A duck with her ducklings paddled softly on the current. Life flowed through even them. Their tiny hearts pumped their blood much faster than a human’s, like a drummer beating inside their tiny bodies.

  I stood up to walk out of the park but stopped short when I turned to find Matthew leaning against a tree, watching the ducks too. I knew he saw me, but he didn’t look at me. He let me study his features and the wa
y his body leaned casually, but his muscles twitched, giving away his true feelings. He was no more relaxed than I was. He was a bundle of nerves ready to explode into action. I wasn’t sure if he was planning to chase me if I ran or if he would run away if I jumped at him.

  Instead, I stood still. Did nothing. So we remained like that for longer than was comfortable for either of us. The sun made its way into the world, birthed fully behind Matthew. It poured heat on my skin and burned my eyes as I tried to keep watching the strange vampire before me. More tears ran, this time not in sadness, but in pain from trying to look at the sun. I finally closed my eyes and sank down to the grass. It was damp with the morning dew, but it didn’t matter. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Burying my head in my knees, I shut the world away, but for the sound of the tiny ducks quacking and splashing. I retreated farther until there was nothing but blackness. A deep hole I could hide in.

  —

  1935

  During the Great Depression, nobody had anything, except my father and other rich men. The poor were so poor that they couldn’t feed their children and resorted to selling or giving them away to anyone with money. Meanwhile, the rich ate and luxuriated. Many older vampires weathered the storm of the 30s. I did not.

  It was during this decade my father began in earnest to have me follow his footsteps to power. I was resistant.

  “Please, father!” I begged from behind the locked door.

  “You can come out when you are willing to see reason. You are the heir, your place is at my side, leading the community.”

  “Darling, she is just sowing her wild oats,” my mother muttered. She was always the contrast to my father’s stern, unyielding temperament.

  “It has been a decade. It is time for her to settle down.” I listened to his boots as they moved away from the door. He’d had it reinforced with steel. I should have known not to return to this house.

  I slumped down to the floor, my head resting against the cold door frame.

  “I’m sorry, Nia,” my mother whispered. Her voice came through the door at about the same height as I was. I imagined her, leaning against the door opposite me. Her bouncy curls squished on one side as her head rested against mine — one door keeping us apart. What a pair we were.

  She stayed with me. We spoke through the door about everything and anything. Day and night, I spent curled on my side, my fingers pressed to the bottom panel of the door where her voice was loudest. I told her about my travels and she told me about novels and poetry. When I grew too weak from lack of blood and my jaw seized, she carried the conversation for both of us. My father tried to get her to come away from the door, but she refused. I knew he would never hurt her. She was his bonded. He couldn't risk losing her since she was half his power as a vampire. When mother stopped speaking, I assumed her jaw had also clenched from lack of blood. There was a jingle of keys and the door swung open.

  He had moved her. She was no longer sitting at my door. Shiny shoes stopped in front of my face. I had frozen with my cheek pressed to the carpet, but when blood poured across my lips and sensation returned, I knew my father had folded in our poker game. My mother had won. My freedom was granted. Though he didn’t speak to me that day, he fed me enough blood to get me moving and then left my door unlocked.

  —

  Lifted from the ground, breaking the roots I had thrown down, left me adrift, like a boat, unmoored. Matthew held me to his chest. He was cool but stable — a solid anchor. I tucked my arms into my chest like a child and let him carry me away. He whispered, “Let’s go home.” Then walked out of the park, me in his arms, and back across town to the parking lot of the psychiatrist’s office.

  He set me in the front seat and started the car. I closed my eyes and slept till we made it back to the casino, barely rousing when Matthew carried me from the parking garage to the top floor of his hotel. Instead of turning right, he went left and opened the door to his room. His suite was much larger than mine. The décor was antique and classy, like the man himself. I snorted a laugh at my comparison. His blinds were blood red, matching the ones in my suite and his bed, as he laid me down in it, was king size. He pulled the blankets back, and I heard a click as a heated blanket came to life. I curled my knees up to my chest and buried myself in the heat.

  “Please stay here. I’ll be back,” he said.

  I did as he asked since I had nowhere else to go.

  I slept the day away.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  When I opened my eyes again, it was night. I slid out of the bed and used Matthew's shower, then walked out into the living room and flicked on the TV.

  ‘The Blood Guard took down the notorious vampire and drug king-pin Ed Florence today. The report sent to all media outlets says the Blood Guard caught him killing a human in New York City. He was staked and his body burned in accordance with vampire law. The report did not release the name of the woman he killed, to protect the family.’

  “Whoa,” I said, flicking off the TV.

  I could go home.

  I leaned back on the couch. Then stood up and walked out of Matthew’s apartment. I took the elevator down and walked the back halls to Matthew’s office.

  I knocked on the door and then pushed it open. Inside Matthew was sitting on his desk talking to a pretty blonde. She was sitting in his chair, laughing at some witty thing he had said. Just his type. She smiled at me and I narrowed my eyes.

  “I’m going home,” I told him, then I turned and walked back out of the room, closing the door behind me.

  I ran back to the elevator, but I couldn’t think of anything I needed from my room, so I went into the casino.

  “Carson, I need my pay, I’m leaving,” I said when I found the older vampire talking to Thor.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Home. I want to leave now. I need my pay so I can get a train ticket back home.”

  Thor put his finger to his ear and got that far away look in his eyes. “Boss wants to talk to you.”

  “He looked pretty busy when I was just in there. No need to bother him again,” I replied.

  “He will have your pay ready if you follow me,” Thor said. I shook my head and followed behind the giant vampire. He led me back through the maze, knocked on Matthew’s door, then opened it to reveal the office with zero blondes. Only Matthew, sitting behind his desk, pen in hand, looking through some paperwork.

  Thor shut the door behind me, leaving us alone. Standing there, I waited. I was as far from Matthew as I could get, contained by the room.

  I tapped my fingers on my thigh, impatience wearing me down. “Do you have my pay?” I asked.

  He lifted his head and looked at me. “You don’t have to leave.”

  “Yes, I do. This isn’t my life.”

  “It could be.”

  “Dealing Black Jack isn’t a life.”

  “You could do something else. I want you to stay.”

  I stared at him. There was no reason he wanted me to stay.

  “I already have a life in Belcrest.”

  “Stealing from rich people and watching soap operas isn’t a life.”

  “I knew that bitch couldn’t keep her mouth shut!” I yelled.

  “It wasn’t Emily. It was the deaf boy you saved. He spilled it all when I told him I would kill you for hurting him. Seems you’ve made a loyal friend.”

  “He is just a kid. He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.”

  “Too late, you already admitted to telling Emily you stole from wealthy scum bags.”

  I glared at him.

  He nodded. “Ok, fine. Here is your check. You can spend it on a train ticket or whatever you want. But you have a place here, and friends.”

  I walked across the room and took the check from his hand, stuffed it in my pocket and then walked back across the room and out the door without another word, slamming it hard behind me.

  As I marched through the lobby, a loud clap fro
m behind me made me turn my head.

  Ben stood there with a pen and paper, scribbling.

  I turned back to walk out, but the boy caught up and grabbed my arm.

  I hissed at him, but he didn’t back down. He held up the paper. It said, “Please don’t go.”

  “How do you even know I’m leaving?”

  His pen scratched over the paper again before he held it up. “I heard you yelling at Carson.”

  “You should leave too. Those vampires will come after you again,” I said, as I tried to walk away before he could stop me again.

  Ben threw his body in front of mine just before I reached the door. I bared my teeth at him like an angry lion. Bold little bugger didn’t even bat an eye. I must be getting soft. He just held up one last piece of scribbled paper.

  “Matthew killed them. You saved my life. Please stay.”

  I scoffed and pushed past him. I had saved no one. This kid was worse than a disciple.

  I walked out of the Casino and took a bus to the train station. The city rolled by, a blur of colour and lights and music. I walked into the bank beside the train station to deposit the check. When I pulled it out and uncrumpled it, the amount was half a million dollars.

  I wasn’t sure if it was a joke, but I was sure if I deposited it in the bank machine, I could get enough cash to get home. Ren was dead anyway, I would wish them good luck tracking her down if the check bounced.

  The machine spit out 500 dollars and I tucked it in my purse and went across the street to the train station.

  “Hi, one ticket to Belcrest please,” I asked the lady behind the counter.

  “Sure, hon, you going to college there or something?” she asked absent-mindedly as her fingers slammed on the keyboard with her long fake nails.

  “Yeah, something like that,” I replied

  “I have a direct train leaving in the morning, or you can take the next train and do a few transfers. Either way will get you there in about 24 hours.”

  “I’ll take the next train. I want to get going.”

  “Sure, I totally understand. Vegas isn’t for everyone.”

  I smiled at her and gave her most of the money I had taken out of the bank machine. She handed me the ticket and pointed out the platform for the first of the three trains that would eventually take me home.