What Waits Through the Trapdoor

by Jude Michael Connors

corner and Reidy once again fell in behind them.

  Clear of the shop, the boy tugged the necklace out of his pants and handed it to the girl. She squealed with delight so loudly that Reidy grimaced at the high pitch sound that pierced his ears. The necklace couldn’t have been more than a few bucks and Reidy assumed the girl’s excitement came from the thrill of the theft.

  They exchanged a few passionate kisses before the couple returned to their aimless wanderings. They strolled down one street and then another. Reidy’s slacks clung to his sweat soaked legs. Walking in the open was only a little better than sitting in the stifling car. The air was hot, but at least it was an improvement over the sweltering car. He didn’t know how the kids, in their heavy black clothes could stand the heat.

  Casually walking down another street, the girl pointed to a frozen yogurt store and dragged the boy to it. Reidy took his position across the street from the store and observed the kids. The girl got some pink colored yogurt and loaded it down with berries and nuts. The boy stood by her with his hands in his pockets. After eating a spoonful, the girl offered some to the boy. He shook his head, begging off the yogurt. The overly cautious part of Reidy’s mind feared this was just another sign that the boy was a vampire—they only fed on blood.

  The pair sat outside on one of the store’s benches. The girl ate while the boy talked.

  Reidy’s phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and saw that it was Giselle, one of his fellow Georgies.

  “Hello, Sister,” he greeted the nun.

  “Ugh, don’t call me that,” she groused. “You don’t call Tony Father Anthony. How’d you like it if I called you… what are deacons called?”

  “I think deacons. But I don’t know for sure.”

  “Fine, how’d you like it if I called you Deacon Tom?”

  “I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t care, actually.”

  Across the street, the boy said something funny and the girl laughed so hard that she spit up some of the yogurt. She was still laughing when she wiped her lips and chin with a paper napkin.

  “So, what’s up?” Reidy asked Giselle.

  “Nothing,” she groaned. “I’m fucking bored.”

  In the years Reidy had known Giselle, he realized that her favorite word in the world was the f-bomb. She generously peppered her conversations with it. When he had first met her, Reidy had been surprised to see the petite nun cuss like a sailor. Her vulgar language had now become a source of amusement for him. Sometime later, after the shock over what happened to his family abated, Reidy noticed that the petite, vulgar nun was simply gorgeous. Then, unfortunately, he started to develop feelings for her. Much to his frustration, he could never possibly entertain those feelings because of Giselle’s vows.

  That was one of the drawbacks working for the Order of St. George. Almost every member was a part of the clergy. Giselle, who clearly wasn’t nun material, had to take vows and the habit. Reidy had lucked out. He didn’t need to become a monk or a priest when he joined. He knew it was due to his Special Forces training that allowed him to take the cushy position of deacon.

  “I haven’t seen a damn thing,” she added gloomily. “How about you, Tommy?”

  “Actually, I think I may be onto something.”

  “You think you may?” Giselle gave a chortle. “Wow, you’re just oozing confidence.”

  Not paying her sarcasm any heed, Reidy told her of his suspicions regarding the boy.

  “How old are they?” she asked.

  “They look to be in their mid-teens. But if he’s a vamp, there’s no telling how old he is.”

  “So, a pale, skinny kid who’s wearing black has got your interest piqued? Wow, it’s a good thing vamps aren’t in and loads of kids are doing their damnedest to look like them. Oh, wait a sec… vampires are in!”

  “You are Ms. Sarcasm tonight, aren’t you?’

  “Yeah, but seriously, there’s more than a good chance this kid’s not a fucking vamp,” Giselle said with a surprising level of sensitivity.

  “What about him not eating with her?”

  “He could be lactose intolerant.” She sighed. “Listen, Tommy, I know how much you fucking hate vampires. But for Christ’s sake, you can’t just jump the gun every time you see some pale person.”

  “I don’t just jump the gun,” he protested. On the other side of the street, the boy brushed a loose strand of the girl’s purple hair behind her ear.

  “I know you don’t, Tommy. But you know what I mean,” Giselle continued in a gentle tone. “You’ve got to make sure—damn sure—he’s a vamp before you do anything.”

  “I will. Once he pops fangs, I’ll kill him.”

  “Tommy, some kids wear fake fangs… really good looking ones.”

  Now it was Reidy’s turn to sigh. “Yeah, I’ll make sure.”

  He wasn’t upset at Giselle for pushing and challenging him. She was right after all. If he made a move before he was absolutely positive and killed a human in his haste, Reidy didn’t know if he would be able to deal with the guilt.

  “Regardless of if the kid’s a vamp or not, I think you should keep following them,” Giselle added just as the purple haired girl wadded up the paper napkin and placed it in the empty yogurt cup. “They sound like they fit the profile. Hell, the only kids I’ve seen tonight are a bunch of band geeks whose idea of a wild night out was to whistle at cute guys that walked by.”

  “I betcha you whistled at cute boys when you were sixteen,” he said just as the boy and girl stood.

  “No,” she said and then chuckled. “Make that a big no. I did a lot more than whistle. A hell of a lot more. There was this one time, after a football game, where I took my boyfriend over… oh boy, I better stop thinking about days gone by. It does me no good.”

  Reidy almost added aloud that it did not do him any good either. He couldn’t help imagining Giselle doing things that nuns shouldn’t do. For what seemed like the millionth time, Reidy reprimanded himself for his infatuation with Giselle.

  “Well, I better get going. The kids are on the move again.”

  “Call me if anything pops up, Tommy.”

  “You, too.” With that, Reidy slipped his phone back into his pocket and started following the kids again. He trotted across the street and as before kept his distance. The kids turned a corner and a few seconds afterwards so did Reidy. As he rounded the corner, he almost bumped into the pair. They had stopped just on the other side, choosing it as the perfect spot to make-out. Thankfully, the teens, occupied with their kissing and groping, did not see Reidy and he was able to duck back around the corner.

  Their wet kisses were loud enough that Reidy was able to hear them four feet away. He could use the kids’ passion to his advantage. They were both so wrapped up with one another they couldn’t possibly notice him. Slowly and silently, he edged to the corner. Still in the shadows, Reidy leaned out as far as he dared and took a deep breath in through his nose. Normally a man in his thirties smelling a pair of teenagers making out would be inappropriate and even criminal. Reidy was trying to detect the stench of death. Many breeds of vamps gave off the foul stink of death and blood. Reidy couldn’t smell any such thing. The only thing he was able to pick up was a liberal helping of cheap body spray.

  As the kids’ make-out session started to wane, Reidy inched away from them. This time he did not go far and stayed within earshot hoping to hear anything they might say. He didn’t have to wait long.

  “Damn, baby, I love you,” the boy said while panting softly.

  “I love you, too, baby,” she returned gasping. Then she giggled. It was the titter of a young girl. Someone young enough to write in a diary and still had posters of bands lining the walls of her bedroom. It was also the laugh of someone who kept a stuffed teddy bear hidden under her bed in case she needed a cuddle. “I can feel it in your pants, Drew. It’s all hard and stuff.”

  At that moment, Reidy felt very uncomfortable. If someone were to walk by and see him there standing ne
xt to the teens, that someone might think he was a pervert. The situation could have been easily misconstrued.

  “You do that to me, baby,” Drew said in a whisper. “It’s ‘cuz I love you.”

  Reidy rolled his eyes.

  “I want to do it,” Drew said with a growl-like grumble to his voice.

  “What? Here?” she asked appalled.

  “What? No!” he said quickly and with just as much shock and disbelief. “No, Becca, let’s go back to your place, grab some booze and do it.”

  “We can’t, baby,” Becca said with a whine of disappointment. “My step-dad noticed all the whiskey you drank last week.”

  “Damn it!”

  “I told you to only take a few sips,” Becca admonished. “Now Phil’s keeping track of his liquor and he lectured me for two hours once he saw that you nearly drank half the bottle. He thought I did it!”

  Reidy’s suspicion that Drew was a vampire disappeared. Not only had Becca witnessed him drinking something other than blood, but more importantly, their relationship had lasted more than a week. If Drew was a vamp, he would’ve seduced and killed Becca in one night. Vamps usually didn’t play with their food for very long.

  “No problem. I know a place where we can score some booze,” Drew announced. “My cousin, you know Tim, told me about it. It’s some convenience store around here. Tim told me the owner’s some half-blind dude who’s too paranoid to hire help. People have been stealing from him for years and the old idiot has no clue. Hey, what’s