Year of the Vampire

by Sakurapu

  "So I told her, I can sing that and the nurse's part," Lornie was saying, the words jumbled as she piled them onto each other at a dizzying pace. "We can record it and play it back. It'll work. Two shows tomorrow and we're down to a barebones cast. Who would have thought we'd run out of understudies?"

  Ivy wasn't sure where the time had gone, but by the time she got back to town after stopping by the Hall, it was nearly seven-thirty. Somewhere, she'd lost half the day, and missed the matinee. So far, Lornie hadn't seemed to notice. Loss of time wasn't a feeling Ivy liked. She could only come up with one explanation—she'd spent far more time at Brylinden Hall than she realized.

  Camille's large house was quickly filling with guests for her party. Between the breakdown in the play and with Halloween still hanging in the atmosphere, tensions and escapism were in overdrive. Usually Camille had her party on Halloween or the night before, but since the production of Romeo and Juliet had taxed so many students and extras this year, the party has been put off a day. Still, costumes were a must, and the house was decorated for a masquerade ball.

  Camille's mother was all-in for the event, as usual, chaperoning invisibly in her Cleopatra costume. Camille was already in full persona as a black-and-white, spriggy-skirted harlequin doll with red hair. She had already told Ivy and Lornie to change in her bedroom.

  "If you can remember where it is," Camille had added with a laugh. "Geez, it's been like a month."

  Lornie had nodded, blowing up a balloon for her outfit as they took the stairs up.

  Now, forty-five minutes later, the balloons were filled, and Lornie and Ivy were both out of breath. Camille was still gone, attending last minute details for the pirate-themed party.

  Lornie lay back on Camille's queen-size bed. "I'm gonna die. Ugh . . . And all I've got is tan leotard and leggings. I'll look like a tongue depressor."

  "No one's going to see you under all the balloons." Ivy felt lightheaded from the rubber and balloon-blowing, but at least they had enough roundish colorful balls to transform Lornie into a bag of jellybeans.

  "Next year for Halloween, I'm going to be whatever I am for the play." Lornie sat up, leaning on her elbows behind her. "If I make it."

  "You will. Ms. Decker will remember your hard work and give you a top role. You'll see." Ivy smiled for conviction. "You said yourself this was one of her toughest, most-plagued productions. That's got to count."

  "Yup. Challenging, was what she told the reporter from the county paper. I can't wait to read the review this Monday." Lornie stood up and found the large, clear plastic bag she was using as her outfit in her duffle bag. "All right, I'm going in."

  "Me, too." Ivy set about stripping down to her bare necessities and began the process of dressing. "I don't know how all those debutante southern belles did it way back then." She pulled on the corset and adjusted it to fit at her waist.

  "They had servants, that's how." Lornie was already in her leggings and was pulling on her leotard. "Want me to tie you in?"

  "Yes, please." Ivy held the corset to her stomach as Lornie worked the laces and grommets at her back. She couldn't help but wonder at Scarlet's dress. Mandrake's tune was still in her head, too, but she didn't entirely want to shake that. She liked it. Brylinden Hall and its residents—especially Dred—were something she had to face. "Do you know if Dred is coming tonight?"

  Lornie tightened the corset and laced the back, bringing a few grunts from Ivy. "I thought you knew what he was doing. Camille said he'd be here."

  Ivy felt the last tug of laces and the snugness of the boning against her ribs. "Okay, I think that'll hold." She pulled on her petticoat and cinched it at her waist.

  "Did you two have a fight?"

  Ivy faced her. "No. We're not going out or anything, Lornie. Just friends."

  Lornie nodded. "'Cause I seen he was alone today."

  Ivy opened her mouth, but her corset suffocated her reply. She cleared her throat and ended up hacking a cough that made her nearly wheeze.

  "Too tight?"

  "No. I haven't had a chance to break it in."

  Lornie stuck her feet into the leg holes in the large clear plastic bag and pulled it up, winding her arms around to find the arm holes inside. "I can retie it."

  Ivy did a few twists, finding enough movement in the extra-ribbed corset. "I'm good." She watched Lornie pull on the ends of the large red drawstring at her neck. "Ready for jellybeans?"

  "Let's finish you first."

  Ivy pulled the white and green dress from the garment bag. She'd attached some of the floofy skirt already, but the green sash was still separate. It took both of them to get the dress on her and seated correctly.

  "No wonder women were always fainting in the eighteen hundreds. It's a struggle to just get dressed." She looked at the balloons on the bed. "Ready now?"

  Lornie opened her plastic neckline. "Ready."

  By the time they were done, every balloon had been used and Lornie looked like a floating head above a bag of colorful balls. They waded out into the hallway after a little bit of strategic wiggling through the doorway.

  Ivy stood at the top of the staircase leading to Camille's large grand room, as they called it. Her parents were in the topmost of Rasperville social ladder, which meant lots of business entertaining and even some fundraising events, so they had one of the largest houses in the area. Since the house had been built a quarter-decade ago, however, much business schmoozing was now done online, leaving the large house without its former entertaining life.

  Now it was decked with pirate themed crêpe paper streamers and decorations, right down to shanty music over the speakers. A ship net of crêpe paper hung from one tall wall, on it starfish, an anchor, and a scarecrow mermaid.

  The staircase didn't curve, but it did have a turn and was wider than most. Ivy almost wished she'd taken up Scarlet's offer earlier, even if only to descend the Hall's staircase in fashion. She still wasn't sure what she was going to do about that yet. She couldn't very well hide forever from whatever Dred's family presented.

  "Go," Lornie said again, nudging Ivy's bare shoulder. "I can't get past you."

  Ivy trounced down the steps. No sense in trying any sort of entrance, she thought.

  The grand room floor was already filling, mostly with pop culture costumed students and characters from movies. Standing out among them were a Lucille Ball and Fritz as Zorro.

  "Why so many pirates?" Ivy wondered as Lornie stood beside her.

  "Yeah, well, the guys playing the Montagues and Capulets for the rumble scene kind of took the parts to heart." Lornie made a broad wave with her arm over the bulbous balloons surrounding her. "Montagues were blue, so lots of blue pirates and the Capulets were orange, so that got worked in, too."

  Ivy counted three orange-heavy pirate costumes and four for blue. "Those aren't real swords, right?"

  "No. Props. Ms. Decker kinda felt bad for yelling so much, so she let them use the props. Mr. Sandovar said absolutely not, but they did it anyway." Lornie raised a stiff arm to push her hair out of her collar. "I should have asked to keep my costume, but thought I was going to be Brass Barbarella so long I forgot."

  "Look at you!" Cleopatra, Camille's mom, greeted them with large Egyptian eyes and an asp staff. "Scarlett, right, Ivy? And . . . marbles?"

  "Jellybeans." Lornie giggled.

  "Ooh, clever." Camille's mom turned, perusing the room quickly filling with more students. "Have fun. I have a Starship Trooper in charge of making sure the punch doesn't get spiked. Just to let you know."

  "Thanks," Ivy said.

  "Have fun." Camille's mom winked a kohl-black eye. "Looks like a record crowd tonight."

  The music changed to a full swinging shanty with a quicker tempo, bringing on shouts from both blue and orange pirates, and a mock fight as the strobe light turned spotty and cast small dots of starlight on the ceiling, turning in time, as the main room lights dimmed. The music shifted to a rowdy rendition of What Will We Do With a Drunken Sailo
r? Someone put the song on loop and the scores of partygoers formed a circle, a few nearly tossing Lucille Ball and a blue pirate into the center, who did a lopsided impromptu Russian dance more at home in Fiddler on the Roof.

  Music filled the grand room, crêpe paper swinging as the song repeated for the fourth time.

  "Goscie Jada!" Fritz yelled, minus his dignity now.

  There was a pirate whoop and the circle of laughing teens joined hands and raised them, pushing the circle smaller as the walked it to the center, and then out again before beginning rotation. It was an old Polish circle dance, expanding and collapsing with the shanty, and Ivy almost wished she'd opted for a smaller costume. The circle moved faster, clockwise, the room a blur of black, red, and green decorations, the pinpoints of light dancing across the ceiling adding to the dizzying affect with the tall windows providing real moonlight.

  Ivy laughed, nearly losing her breath, mind whirring.

  "Again!" shouted a girl dressed as Kill Bill's Beatrix.

  Fritz seconded the request, and the music repeated the boisterous shanty. "Reverse!"

  The circle of partiers trampled counter-clockwise, hands joined as they shrunk the circle and retreated out again, spouting lyrics that only vaguely resembled the real ones.

  A sudden brightening of the windows flashed, and the circle slowed.

  Out the nearest window, Ivy saw lightning rip through the dark heaven, but no rain.

  The circle of teens got back up to speed, feet thumping to the shanty.

  A rip of thunder crashed, shaking the whole room.

  This time the teens slowed to a halt. The lights went out, leaving only the disorienting strobing star-dots swirling on the ceiling and the music still jauntily playing.

  "Blew a fuse!" a boy called as the circle dissolved.

  Ivy dropped the hands she held, turning to see a milling of shadows head to the back of the room.

  A jag of lightning lit up Cleopatra across the room. "I'll get the flashlight. I'll be back in a minute."

  Camille's mom disappeared into the dark.

  "I'll help," a boy's labored voice said. "My dad has me do it all the time."

  Camille's mom didn't reply, but another figure, one shaped like a thin Darth Vader, followed her.

  Ivy turned, unable to identify anyone in the whirl of white dots of light.

  A low murmuring went through the crowd, and then a girl asked, "Should we shut the music off?"

  A girl's scream filled the air.

  Ivy pivoted, certain the sound had come from behind her.

  In the brief light of the star-dots and a streak of lightning, she saw Beatrix lying on the floor. Another girl screamed, and this time Ivy turned quickly enough to see Camille slump to the floor.

  "Camille!" Ivy bolted, only to trip over another prone body. She barely stayed on her feet, and when she looked down, an orange pirate lay unmoving. She looked around at the falling bodies of classmates. "Lornie!"

  "Cut the music!" a boy yelled.

  A chorus of screams enveloped the air, and when a flash of lightning lit the room for a second, Ivy saw that half the crowd had keeled over. She turned again, and faced where she'd last seen Camille.

  The shanty continued, running on a separate circuit as the main lights, sounding mockingly maniacal in the surreal lighting as another round of screaming split the air. When a bolt of lightning came with jarring crack of thunder, Ivy saw them.

  At each of the tall windows stood figures, lean and caped, like folded umbrellas, mere silhouettes in the swirling dots of lights.

  "Boo!"

  Ivy shrieked and cuffed Dred as he popped out in front of her.

  "Ugh!" he groaned, backing up a step. "Ivy!"

  A long flash of lightning lit him up. His black-and-white tie-dye T-shirt was ripped, with red dripped down his collar and chest. His mouth hung open as he rubbed his jaw where she'd cuffed him. From his upper teeth hung two long fangs.

  "Dred," she breathed. "You're a . . . a vampire."

  "Yeah, a damn good one, too, don't ya think?" He wiped a hand back over his head, smoothing his already slicked back dark hair. "Your teen vampire prom date. Printer ink. Original, huh?"

  Her face wrinkled in disbelief. "Did you do this?" She swallowed, her voice shaking. "You're really one."

  "What?" He frowned at her, most of his expression lost in the blinky lighting. "Oh, this?" He pulled the fake fangs from his mouth, sucking up saliva. "Look real, don't they? But damn, they're cutting the hell outta my gums."

  "Oh . . ." She could only stare at him as he plugged the fangs back in and did a test chomp at her. "Dred—"

  "Yarh!" he said, lurching again toward her with a laugh and feigning a bite.

  "Stop it!" She turned to the window behind her. A rip of lightning went over the room, and she used it to turn, taking in the crowd.

  Everyone lay unmoving on the floor.

  Ivy spun to face the figure in the window again. "What is this? Who are you?" Her legs trembled. "Did you do this?"

  "We asked you to come to the hall," Mandrake's voice came from behind her.

  She turned to see his silhouette outlined by lightning at the far window. "Mandrake. But why?"

  "We had to get your attention," said a female voice with a heavy accent from another window.

  Ivy found her, a shorter dark figure, wrapped in a long cloak.

  Dred turned slowly, scowling as he looked at each of the ominous figures. "What's up, guys?"

  "Go home," a man's voice said from another window.

  Ivy swore it was Jovan, but she couldn't be sure.

  Dred turned to face her. "Let's go."

  "Alone," Mandrake told him. "This does not include you."

  "What did you do?" Ivy stepped over a prone boy lying at her feet, heading for where she thought Mandrake to be. "Are they dead?"

  "This?" Mandrake's voice was almost musical. "This is all temporary, Ivy."

  "How?" She turned, taking in the bodies slumped on the floor in the starry-dots.

  A loud pop came from across the room. Lornie screamed, and then a string of popping followed.

  "Lornie!" Ivy scrambled over a girl lying before her. "Lornie! Don't hurt her, please!"

  "Come to the Hall, Ivy." It was Scarlet's voice. "Please. Before it's too late."

  Ivy stepped over the girl, only to trip over another fallen classmate. She landed with a thud, feeling the stays crush into her ribs. She grunted and tried to get up, but her foot was caught in her classmate's costume—Medusa's hair. She got up, her ankle ripping the snaky wig off Carlie lying there.

  A loud, bouncy pop sounded and she saw Lornie fall to the floor atop a blue pirate.

  When a flash of lightning lit up the room for several seconds, Ivy frantically looked to as many windows as she could. All were void of the dark figures.

  "Where are you?" She turned again. "Mandrake? Lornie?" Her pulse spiked as she spun around, searching. "Scarlet? Lornie? Dred? Lornie?"

  In the next flash of lightning, a deep red caught her eye. She looked down, feeling her bodice. The white material had dark smears where she knew there were no green flower patterns. Her hand was sticky, still warm from where she had fallen. Her fingers shook, reddened from a classmate's blood.

  A loud sob broke from her. "Lornie!"

  Chapter Fifteen

  A light rain had started by the time Ivy reached the block where Brylinden Hall's rose into the night. The heavens were still bright with lightning and the occasional bout of thunder. She hadn't lingered to search for Camille's mom or anyone else. She had found Lornie, who was still breathing but unconscious, half her balloons squashed. Whatever Mandrake wanted, Ivy felt it was urgent.

  Dred had abandoned her with another stiff command from Mandrake.

  Her dress was damp, from blood and rainwater, slowly seeping through her corset, a sickening feeling welling in her. She'd tripped over two more classmates when she tried to find her way out of Camille's house, making her all the mo
re desperate when she saw their pale faces splattered with blood.

  Her right leg was stiff where she'd wrapped it with the green hair ribbons, but it didn't hinder her movements. Her hair was now loose, hanging with rain, draping over her shoulders, occasionally blown by the rising wind. Even the corset had relaxed some in the wet night.

  Another heavy flapping sound came from overhead and she looked up in time to see a large, dark shape wing its way toward the Hall. That made six, she had counted. Whatever they were, they were serious. And she thought she knew what they really were.

  "Damn Dred," she muttered, swinging open the creaking gate at the front of the Hall without hesitation.

  At the front steps, the right double-door opened to reveal Dred. "Hey, come on, Ivy!"

  "What are you doing?" She stomped up the steps. "You're behind this?"

  He chuckled, fangs still in place. "It's not so bad. You'll see."

  She wanted to scream a hundred things at him, but instead grabbed the fangs from his grin. They didn't budge.

  He stepped back, wiping her hand away. "What the hell are you doing?"

  She stared at the very real fangs hanging from his mouth. "You fake."

  He shrugged, a guilty look on his face. "It's not easy to resist on a night like this."

  "Halloween was yesterday, you dope!"

  "But today's the first day . . ." He stopped, looking uneasily into the ballroom.

  She glared at him. "Today is what?"

  "Go on in, Ivy."

  She wanted an answer, but brushed past him instead. "You and your, your family killed all my friends!"

  "I hope you can accept this soon." It was Jovan's voice.

  She looked to where he stood just in the shadows of the ballroom. She stopped on the interior entry step, finding Jovan in the room's candlelight. He was shrouded in a long, black cloak, its bottom edge slightly frayed. As he spoke, she caught only a glimpse of his long canines. He gestured to the center of the room.

  A tall statue of her, dressed in the green and white Scarlett O'Hara dress, carved of green-veined white marble, stood on a short, round pedestal, larger than life.

  "I hope you like it." Evandis stepped from around it, a deep purple cloak hanging from his shoulders, ending in strands of dark amethyst beads that rattled when he moved, held by a silver chain across his chest. He looked up at the statue, admiration in his face. "I only had a glimpse of the material, but I did research it. Strange things, computers; I seldom use them myself, but very handy when—"