by Elle Klass
He raised his palm to his chin. “OK. Tomorrow is Sunday. We do it then.”
“What time?”
“What’s your phone number?”
Her mouth dropped into her lap as the words rolled off his pink tongue. He wants my phone number, even if it’s not because he’s madly in love with me, he wants it, asked for it. She picked her jaw off her lap and placed it back onto her face while the numbers floated from her mouth. He typed them into his phone and called her. “Now you have mine.” He smiled as he slipped out of the booth.
Rodham
He shuddered as the vision of the vampire across the hall replayed in his mind. He couldn’t be sure whether it was real or not, but the vampire’s sly gaze through the window implied reality. One way or the other, he needed to find out.
His plan to get the cute girl with hair that reminded him of the beach at sunset worked like a charm. Rodham was more impressed with her inner spark as it ignited when he mentioned his thoughts about their neighbors being vampires. Her fire detonated, she exploded into a vampire book rant. A book worm - explained all the time she spent glued to her tablet. The intensity in the motion of her soft, cherry lips made him long to kiss her.
Their plan hatched and her number in his phone, it was a good day. He wasn’t sure he actually believed in the existence of vampires, but the clarity of the visions was like none he’d experienced before. The blood dripping off the fang moved in slow motion as it fell. Normally, he viewed small, fuzzy glimpses - flashes - in his visions. Sometimes he heard words in his head not his own, but never anything that made sense. He heeded their warnings, unknowing if they meant anything. A secret he kept to himself.
His parents both at work, Rodham sank into the soft couch, and searched for the remote. His hand hit a hard device under a blanket. He removed the layers hiding the device, and clicked the power button. The TV screen turned blue for a few seconds then the cable engaged. Flipping through the channels, a sudden blast of gunfire reverberated through his eardrums.
Chapter 4
Alison
When Alison returned home her mother was gone. She’d left a note beneath a magnet on the fridge.
Went grocery shopping, be back soon.
Love you,
Mom
The apartment empty, she tested the vampire theory. The brilliant afternoon sunlight filtered through the open patio blinds. In most vampire books they were literally dead from sun up to sun down, and nothing would wake them. She turned on the TV, popped in the movie Red Baron, assuming the noise from the fighter planes would wake any living person, and turned the volume to high. Alison didn’t worry about her other neighbors as they all worked in the afternoon. A combination of gunfire and music burst from the surround sound speakers. The vibration caused the pictures hanging on the walls to dance. She covered her own ears to save her eardrums from the noise blitz. After ten minutes she lowered the volume, momentarily deaf from the onslaught of gunfire and fighter planes. A light blinked on her phone, a message from Rodham: open your door.
She slid the blinds over and Rodham in all his glory stood outside her door. Scrunching her face, she unlocked the door and shrugged her shoulders as she motioned for him to enter. “I was testing out the vampire theory.”
His jaw tight and face stern, he asked, “And?”
“And I don’t hear a peep next door,” she replied, shouting as her hearing hadn’t returned to normal.
“Your surround sound was loud enough to wake the dead - and your shouting.”
She ignored his comment and padded towards her bedroom, signaling for him to follow. “Normal humans would be awake from the bombardment of racket.” Placing her ear to the wall that separated her apartment from the vampires’, she listened - silence.
A bouncy ball lay on the nightstand beside a purple feathery lamp, giving her another idea. She grabbed it and threw it with all her gusto against the wall. It bounced. She threw it again and again. Rodham joined in, the force behind his hits causing a louder noise than hers. They hurled the ball back and forth, taking turns for several minutes before she caught it and they both positioned an ear to the wall.
“Nothing. I wish at the least the noises would have caused them discomfort,” Alison lamented. After suffering four near sleepless nights because of their partying, twenty minutes of payback hurt her ears, causing the vampires no distress. Defeated, she plopped onto her bed, bouncing from the force.
Rodham sat beside her. His lips turned upwards in a smile. “You’re cool.”
Her own mouth curved into a smile as she met his gaze. “So are you.”
His eyes met hers then shifted to the colorful plastic butterflies clinging to her walls, a few crooked from their impromptu game of wall ping pong.
“If they aren’t vampires than they are deaf humans,” he joked, hoping to wipe the disappointment off her face.
She glanced at him, and chuckled.
He stood, slipping his hands into his nylon short pockets. “I need to get home, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” Alison watched his cute butt and strong, sexy legs leave the room as she followed then closed the front door behind him. She’d met her dream guy, succumbed to his charming ways, now she was his partner in crime. How did that happen? She didn’t care. Instead, relaxed with hearts in her eyes, and laid on the couch, propping her feet on the back and took a nap.
“Honey, I could use a little help.” Her mother’s words woke her from a dreamless sleep. She spied the position of the sun. It was dusk and she knew that meant the vampires would wake soon, rise from their coffins or whatever they slept in, and party. She jumped off the couch, ran to the car, and lifted two bags of groceries in each hand, noticing the sun was drifting below the three story apartment buildings.
While her mom unpacked the groceries, Alison hefted more from the car trunk and carried them to the kitchen. The sun growing lower with each load until it sat just above the Earth’s surface. Fearing the neighbors, she rushed inside with the last bag and locked the door. According to vampire legend they had to be invited inside a residence. She wasn’t taking any chances on that being false.
“What’s the rush?” asked her mom, her back to Alison, and her hands filled with canned goods as she stuffed them into a cabinet, labels facing out.
She shrugged. Never good at lying, she attempted to avoid the question.
“I can’t see shrugs, what’s up?” She turned, eyes fixed on Alison.
Thinking quickly, she used her book addiction to avoid the question and change the subject. Saying, ‘the neighbors are vampires’ was too absurd. “The book I read today, Reliquary, freaked me out. This lady goes under New York in these subway tunnels and finds creatures without any eyes living inside them.” She racked her brain trying to remember since she actually read the book a couple years previous.
Her mother nodded. “You weren’t home when I left. Did you go to the library?”
“No, I met a neighbor. We hung out at the smoothie shop for a little then I came home and read. We’re going to hang tomorrow, too.”
Her mother’s eyes grew round and her mouth formed an O as she craned her neck backwards. “Tell me about her. Why haven’t I heard about her before?”
At that moment blackness fully enveloped the outside. Within moments, music from next door screamed through the air. Saved by the neighbors. She wasn’t ready to tell her about Rodham. Her mother jumped while her face went from smiling to serious in less than a half-second. She shouted, “What is that?!”
Alison, feeling a tinge of guilt over not saying anything about the crazy neighbors earlier, moved closer and leaned towards her left ear, “The neighbors.”
“What, honey? I can’t hear you.” She nodded her head and pointed towards her ears. A pad of paper lay on the counter beside Alison, she dragged it towards her, pulled a pen from the holder and scribbled. The neighbors.
Her mother scribbled. I’m going next door to give them a piece of my mind.
“No!” Alison
shouted. Thoughts of them dragging her into their lair and exsanguinating her lurched in her mind. Her mother either didn’t hear or ignored Alison’s pleas. She followed her to the door, pulling her arms, trying to make her stop. She’d have serious explaining to do if they didn’t get eaten first, something she weighed that as less significant than saving her mother’s life. Her mother turned towards her, scrunching her eyes as she wiggled her arm free of Alison’s death grip.
Alison waited beside the concrete wall that jutted out between the apartments and peeked around the corner, her heart thumping like a rabid kangaroo inside her chest. After several knocks on their door with no answer, her mother huffed and turned towards home. Alison scrambled inside the apartment and jumped onto the recliner, sinking into its fluff as if she’d not waited outside. She drew in a deep breath.
Her mother yanked her phone off the kitchen counter and dashed outside, exaggerated movements and the fire in her eyes said everything. She was infuriated. Alison let out her breath and trailed her outside, peered around the corner of the concrete building as she watched her mother pace the sidewalk; the phone to her ear. She marched towards Alison after hanging up and slipping her phone into her back pocket.
Her mother’s eyes fixed onto Alison’s as she approached. Alison gulped, she knew the look in her eyes too well. “I called the police. They’re sending someone right away. It seems this has been going on for a few days. Why didn’t you tell me?” Her soft eyes held only concern for Alison’s safety.
She shrugged her shoulders. “When you’re home, you sleep. I didn’t want to bother you.”
Grabbing her hands, her mother curled her fingers around Alison’s. “How are you going to get your homework done and rest when school starts? And noise that loud is against the lease. It’s a nuisance to all who live here.” She didn’t wait for a response to the question but continued talking, using her over protective momma bear tone.
“I know.” Alison dropped her eyes.
The noise quieter in the parking lot, she continued. “I’m stopping at the leasing office in the morning to have a chat with them. This needs to stop. And look at the trash outside their apartment,” she said, grabbing her phone and snapping pictures of the glass bottles and cigarette butts littering the ground as they walked towards home. Her red-headed mother was a force to be reckoned with, not someone who Alison ever wanted upset. She looked innocent with her bobbed auburn curls and amber eyes, but when she got mad her inner dragon surfaced and flames billowed from her mouth.
Twenty minutes later, the police showed and her mother had a long chat with the officer, getting up to date on the situation. Alison’s mind drifted to Rodham and their plan. How are Rodham and I going to sneak the key out if mom goes to the office? If I steal something under her nose. I’ll be dead or grounded forever when she finds out!
An hour or so after the police left, so did the neighbors. Alison peered out her bedroom window, light from the large gibbous moon streaming through. Tomorrow will be a full moon. Werewolves turn, but what about vampires?
Rodham
The vampires climbed into their car, and squealed out of the parking lot. Through the dining room window overlooking the breezeway, Rodham watched them leave. On impulse he snatched his keys from his dresser.
Walking past his mom in the kitchen, who alternated between frying chicken and flipping waffles, he leaned against the granite bar and said, “Going to the gym.”
She twisted her round figure to see him. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
“I know, but I want to get in a quick workout.” He reached over the bar and grabbed a piece of chicken off the plate.
She shook her head and smiled.
He considered knocking on Alison’s door as he devoured the last bit of meat off the chicken bone, then decided it’d be better to follow them alone - without distraction.
He eased his Charger out of the parking lot, spotting them just ahead waiting to turn left onto Highway One, several cars between them. They turned, knowing how long it took to make a left turn, he slipped his car to the right instead, made the turn, then darted into the far left lane making a U-turn, determined not to lose them.
Keeping a few cars between them, he tailed them into historic St. Augustine. They turned onto M.L. King Ave. No cars stood between them as he made the turn, so he crept slowly through the residential roads and drove past them as they pulled into the drive of an older home. He cruised around the corner and stopped in the narrow road. Motor running while he watched them exit their car and stroll up to the house.
Rodham contemplated getting out of his car and walking by the house, but his instincts urged him against doing so. He shifted into drive and made left turns on the narrow one-way streets. His car crawling by the house as they stepped inside. He saw their backs, clothed in miniskirts and loose tops. A man closed the door behind them, penetrating jade eyes stared Rodham down. He sped his car up and peered into his rearview, in a matter of seconds the jade-eyed man stood in the middle of the road behind Rodham’s car, glaring in his direction. His heartbeat quickened as he hadn’t seen the man move. He simply appeared.
Chapter 5
Alison
The aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the apartment. Alison inhaled deeply then pulled her body upright from the comfort of her bed, slipped her feet into her fuzzy purple house shoes and strolled to the kitchen. She poured a half cup, added three spoons of sugar and filled the rest of the cup with French Vanilla creamer. Cup in hand, she padded through the apartment searching for her mom. When she didn’t find her she hoped that meant she was paying the leasing officer a visit and she wouldn’t have to go into stealth mode under her nose.
A text from Rodham shot across the screen of Alison’s phone: Be ready at noon. She glimpsed the message and typed back: My mom’s going to office today. Can’t go till after she does. Laying the phone on her dresser, she sifted through her wardrobe for burglar-black. Remembering the blazing Florida heat she changed her mind and settled on denim shorts and a T-shirt.
Her mother’s voice outside and steady thumping on the neighbor’s door carried through the walls of the apartment. She parted the blinds to see. Both her mother and the leasing lady stood in the breezeway. With a sigh she raked her fingers through her hair and texted Rodham: Change of plans meet me in parking lot now. With the leasing office on the other side of the complex, the equivalent of a couple blocks, it would be a while before she got back, providing an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.
Scribbling a note for her mom, she stuck it on the fridge under a magnet, grabbed her keys and scurried to the door. The apartment next door stuck out two feet further than her own. She gently opened and closed the door so as to not make a sound, her eyes darted towards the sound of her mother’s voice but she couldn’t see her. She twisted her key in the lock and skirted the building, staying close to the inside wall.
She hadn’t gotten further than a few steps when a door opened and Rodham appeared. He glanced her way and parted his mouth as if to speak. Before he could get a word out, Alison lifted a finger to her mouth signaling for him to be quiet. He nodded and shifted his eyes towards her mother and the leasing lady, “Good morning!”
In unison both women responded, “Good morning.” He was already around the corner.
Alison stood beside his car, he saw tufts of her ginger hair, then two amber eyes just above the top of the car. Laughing at how silly she looked, he asked, “Was that your mother?”
“Yes, let’s do this now while they’re busy.” The door locks clinked and she climbed onto the passenger seat.
“OK,” Rodham responded, lifting one eyebrow, amused at her behavior.
His engine roared, and Alison slunk down in the passenger seat so her head fell beneath the window.
He chuckled, “You don’t need to duck - she can’t see you.”
“My mom has eyes everywhere. I’m not taking any chances.”
Once they left the parking lot, sh
e lifted her head and pulled her body into an upright position. They cruised past the lake and waterfall and turned into the main parking lot. He whipped his car into a parking space.
“I’m going in, keep the car running,” she ordered, leaping out of the car.
“Aye, aye matey,” he said in a pirate voice. So sexy!
Alison darted through the parking lot and up the brick steps. Planters of colorful flowers stood beside the double doors. As she pushed the door open she ogled the inside, checking to be sure she was alone. A huge ceiling fan, the blades shaped like palm leaves, swished above her head. The guest computers blinked in unison and the lounge area was empty.
Sucking in a lungful of air to rid her stomach of the mass of butterflies flying around inside it, she tiptoed straight to the back, dodging desks and waste baskets, to avoid making noise, and made a left. To her relief, keys to every apartment lined the wall, like he said. They were ordered numerically. She found #1106 and yanked one set off the peg. Ready to bolt, she glanced back at the peg, and thought the extra set may come in handy so she skated it off the peg too, then slid both into her pocket.
The bell on the door rang as she stepped into the hall. Fixing her body alongside the wall, she slid back into the room. Heels clicks on the tile floor drew closer, and her heart thumped hard inside her chest. A trickle of sweat dripped across her forehead as she scanned the little room for a place to hide. In a fit of panic, she pressed her back against the wall and hoped for the best.
The footsteps halted at the small desk in front of the door. She held in her breath, too afraid the sound of her breathing would capture the lady’s attention, and squished her eyes shut, hoping the leasing lady didn’t turn around. Unable to watch with her eyes, she listened with her ears as the lady fumbled through a stack of papers on the desk then the click of her heels moved further away. Alison’s eyes popped open and she let out her breath, relieved. She poked her head around the corner of the key room and stared towards the lobby.
