Night Things: The Monster Collection

by West, Terry M.

  They had been rechristened by their vampire father. Human names were often tossed away when you were accepted into the house of Dracula.

  The first convert had been Lucian. Lucian was the most outspoken and cruel of them all. The brat had been the child of English nobility and he knew how to cut deeply with words. He was brown-haired and too handsome for his own good. Life had been his servant, and Lucian seemed intent on bending the vampire existence to his will as well.

  Then there was Edwina, a dark complexioned and statuesque gypsy girl Dracula had taken in Transylvania. She was fierce and strong and Primul lusted for her to a great degree. Primul suspected at first that she had been brought in as an experiment- an attempt at infusing Dracula's house with a vampire who could wield gypsy magic. But the girl had no skills. She could barely read a tarot.

  Ruth was a foul-mouthed street whore with a dark mop of curly hair whom Dracula had taken on in London. She always looked like a peasant. Even when adorned in expensive clothing.

  Zachariah and Simon were two blonde Finnish fraternal twins. They seemed a little too enamored with themselves.

  Wilfred and Lenora had been acquisitions during a holiday in France. Both were red-haired and wide-eyed followers who laughed a little too hard at Lucian's cruel jokes. They looked like they had been brother and sister in human life, but they hadn't. Still, they generally flocked together.

  The last was Patsy, a Greek girl who had been on holiday in Barcelona when she crossed her last human path with Father. She had an olive complexion, hair darker than a starless night and a virtuous face. She was probably the prettiest of them all, but so soft-spoken that she disappeared often among them.

  "Can we please leave this empty dad house and have a proper meal?" Ruth complained. "We've only had goat's blood since we've arrived. Why are we being dratted to this rock?"

  "Please, Primul," Edwina said. "Father will listen to you, brother. I beg you please let us see Galway!"

  "There isn't much to see, but I will ask him," Primul said. "If it pleases you."

  "See, he isn't a thrown together bootlicker," Ruth said to Lucian. Then she turned to Primul. "The things he says when you aren't around."

  "Shut up, you lying strumpet," Lucian barked. He turned back to Primul. "Brother, even though you are not as beautiful as us, we accept you. Scars, bad taste, bad breath and all."

  The rest snickered.

  "Well, he does have an ear for music," Zachariah chimed in.

  "It does calm most ugly beasts," Simon chuckled.

  "I am the first. You should respect that," Primul said.

  He was used to their taunts. Dracula had told him that this was merely a phase that would pass. Primul had to be patient with them.

  "Does the vampire life come with natural cruelness and insufferable arrogance, or did you all bring it with you when you crossed?"

  "Forgive us, brother," Edwina said. "We are hungry and going insane in these walls. We take it out on you and we shouldn't."

  "I will ask father if we can leave," Primul gave in.

  ***

  Primul rapped his big knuckles against the majestic gray door of Dracula's room.

  The vampire pulled the door open. He stood, nude, in front of his first son. Two beautiful peasants- male and female- occupied Dracula's bed. The boy lay on his stomach and offered his bare haunches to the world. The girl, giggling, showed a bit more modesty and covered her breasts with a skin quilt when she saw Primul's shadow on the threshold. Both were drunk.

  "Your babes are restless and hungry," Primul informed his father.

  "Then see them to a stroll and a meal," Dracula said. "I shall be dining in this night."

  "They have been difficult these past few days," Primul said. "They are unruly and dismissive."

  "You are their elder brother. They will listen to you. If they don't, I will correct their behavior. Now please, Primul- I wish to bite that attractive boy's ass."

  Dracula shut his door. Primul sighed and then marched toward his siblings.

  ***

  Primul walked the eight vampire infants on the quiet, muddy streets of Galway as the town slept with crosses, garlic and wolfs bane on their doors.

  They were all colorful peacocks, in frills and lace. Primul preferred the uninspired dark clothes with high upturned collars that were custom made for his large body. He didn't need the attention.

  While his sisters giggled into their gloves as they trailed behind, Primul's brothers strode next to him.

  "What a shit place," Ruth said, as they passed a street of dirty row houses.

  "There is no opera house in Galway, Primul," Lucian said. "How will you ever survive?"

  "I will cope," Primul said. He had spent many nights outside of concert halls across Europe listening to symphonies in piss-stained alleys. The music stirred him to his equally patchwork soul. He had read many praises about the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra. But, alas, there was no venue yet in Galway.

  "We can sing for you, dear Primul," Edwina called from behind.

  The girls rang out in a chorus of The Finding of Moses.

  "On Egypt's banks, contagious to the Nile, The auld Pharaoh's daughter, she went to bathe in style. She took her dip and she came unto the land. And to dry her royal pelt she ran along the strand!"

  The brothers joined in at the end, "And so little Moses got his mammy back, which shows that co-in-ci-dence is a nut to crack."

  Primul clapped his massive gray hands together as they finished.

  "Who needs a proper concert when I am flanked by such rich-throated angels," Primul declared, as they all playfully bowed and curtsied to him in their fine clothes and dresses paid for by Dracula's coin.

  "Well, look here," Lucian said, his features lighting up and fangs popping out.

  Primul looked to the distressed building that had caught Lucian's eye. It was a sad and unattractive structure with several small black-shuttered windows and a fronted sign that read: God's Mercy Orphanage.

  "Oh how fiendish," Edwina exclaimed breathlessly.

  "It looks like we won't have to chase a whore or thug down for a meal tonight," Zachariah said, his fangs drooling from his mouth.

  "I forbid it," Primul said sternly.

  "What?" Lucian said, sneering defiantly at his keeper. "You overstep, brother. We take our nourishment where we see fit."

  "They are children. Orphans," Primul said, trying to appeal to a soul within Lucian that just wasn't there. "They have been plagued enough in their miserable little lives. Take whomever else you like from this town, but pass this building by."

  "If they are that troubled, maybe we should end their suffering," Edwina suggested, and Primul could see they were all settling on this.

  "Are you damn fools?" Primul said. "What do you think the townspeople will do when they discover the horror you wish to visit upon this cheerless place?"

  "We will burn it when we are done," Edwina said. "No one will suspect anything save an errant torch."

  Primul turned his large form across the walk. "I won't allow it," he said.

  "You bloody miscreant," Lucian said. "You really don't know your place, do you, brother? Our father's blood courses through us. You are a lackey composed with parts stolen from graves. You might be the first of the chosen, but we are your betters. Step aside, Primul, or I will hurt you."

  "Please," Primul said. "As one who has pledged to our father to protect and guide you and as your brother, find another meal."

  Lucian scoffed and attempted to brush past Primul. The monster grabbed the arrogant vampire by his throat and hoisted him into the air. Lucian hissed and his brothers and sisters clambered quickly onto Primul. He tried to repel them but they clung to him like deep thorns. They beat him with their bare fists and each blow sent him further to the edge of unconsciousness. He was barely aware that Edwina was sitting on his chest and pounding the back of his head against the dirt road. She backed off, and Primul saw them all through clouded eyes. They crowded arou
nd him.

  Lucian moved closer to Primul's dazed face. "You might be an even match for one of us, but not all," he said, his face glowering with hateful triumph. "Let us agree; we won't tell father of your display and you won't tell him of the lesson we imparted to you this night. We are vampire, the top of the hierarchy. We are the only breed that shares Dracula's life-force."

  Edwina pressed in and knelt softly to Primul. "I have seen the way you stare at me, brother. I know you would have me, were I to allow it."

  Edwina flashed her fangs and her face twisted in disgust. She slapped Primul so hard that he tasted his own blood. "Did you honestly think I would take a hideous wretch like you to my bed? That I would surrender to you in passion?"

  Primul was too stunned by the violence to talk. He was defeated and he had never been humbled in such a way before.

  Lucian poked back into Primul's vision. "By the way, we were only going to drain the little bastards while they slept. But now we are going to torture them first," he said, gleefully.

  The sisters each took a limb of Primul and they turned into dancing, giggling mist. They carried Primul deep into the night sky. He lolled in their clutch like a worn doll, limbs flailing. He couldn't open his eyes against the rush of black air. Primul seemed to ascend forever. Finally the sisters paused with him in the air.

  "Remember your place," the mist said in Edwina's voice.

  They released him and Primul plummeted toward the ground. A cacophonous quartet of mean cackles melted in the screaming wind of his decent. His body was limp and unresponsive. He blacked out before he met the earth.

  9.

  The elevator doors opened, and the doctor entered Johnny Stücke's penthouse. The man wasn't at all what Gary had expected. The doctor had a very youthful face, but tired and ancient blue eyes spied from behind his horn rimmed glasses. He had thinning blonde hair and he toted a black doctor's bag that looked like an antique. He wore blue scrubs beneath a black trench coat.

  Johnny smiled and shook the doctor's hand. "Thanks for coming, doc," Stücke said. He turned toward Gary. "This is my personal physician- Dr. West."

  "Call me Herbert," Dr. West said, grasping Gary's hand and giving it a firm shake.

  "Nice to meet you. I'm Gary," Gary said, and then he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He was feeling the need again.

  Herbert West looked Gary over. "Heroin, is it?" The doctor sat his black bag on a nearby end table.

  "Yes," Gary confessed.

  "How much do you consume a day, Gary?" Herbert asked, pulling a penlight from his pocket.

  "Too much. I can't even tell you," Gary said, as Herbert pried Gary's eyelids open and shined his light around. Gary saw stars.

  Herbert clicked off his penlight and put it away. "Roll up your sleeves, please."

  Gary did as instructed. Herbert grabbed Gary's wrists and flipped his arms around. "No tracks. Do you smoke it?"

  "Sometimes. I usually snort it," Gary replied. "I have a tremendous fear of needles."

  "Then this isn't your lucky day," Herbert said with a tiny dark laugh. He reached into his bag and pulled a large hypodermic needle from it.

  Herbert took a blue cap off the end of the needle. "There are a few things I need to tell you about this serum I created. It will keep you from feeling withdrawal. It acts as a shroud on your nervous system. It will block specific receptors without shutting down your pain response completely. You will feel rejuvenated and stronger than you ever have. This is a chemical ruse. You can't run a marathon and if you try, you'll probably have a heart attack. And that is something else this drug will mask. Be careful. This dose will linger in your bloodstream for a week, maybe longer. Your body will burn the addiction off without causing you physical suffering. When it is out of your system, you will be cured of your habit. But you can not ingest heroin while there is even a minute trace of this drug in your system. It will kill you. Understood?"

  Gary nodded, his eyes on the needle.

  "Are you allergic to shellfish?" Herbert asked.

  "No," Gary said.

  "Maybe you should look away," Herbert advised, rubbing Gary's left arm with an alcohol swab and then tying a tourniquet around it.

  Gary looked toward the elevator. He winced and groaned as Herbert gave the shot. He felt the tourniquet loosen and Herbert bent Gary's arm forward.

  "You will feel it in about an hour," the doctor promised. "The fog will clear and the want will start to shrivel. You will be tired today. You will sleep a lot. And you will be hungrier and thirstier while my serum is in your system. "

  Herbert collected his bag and turned his attention to Johnny. "How is the new arm doing?"

  Johnny held it up and flexed his fingers around. "Excellent work as always, Dr. West."

  "Good. I am sure we'll be replacing something else soon," Herbert said with a tight grin. He buttoned up his bag. "I'll send you a bill."

  The doctor walked to the elevator and left.

  Gary was feeling drained.

  "I am going to have a car take you home," Johnny said. "Meet me here tomorrow night at seven."

  ***

  Gary had slept until noon, and he woke up hungrier than he could ever remember being. He had called Mike and the two traveled the sidewalk to the Greek diner near Gary's apartment.

  "I am sorry for abandoning you, man," Mike said shamefully. "When Johnny told me about you getting arrested and how you must have been a rat, I didn't think it was possible. But shit, he's a monster. He would have ripped my head off if I had stayed or defended you."

  "It's okay," Gary assured his best friend. "I should have contacted you or him right away. I don't expect you to risk your life for me."

  Gary was in good spirits, despite the circumstances. The serum made him feel a decade younger.

  "Jesus, Gary, slow down," Mike chided him. "I can barely keep up."

  "Sorry," Gary said, mindful of his stride.

  "I don't know what Stücke's doctor injected you with, but you seem like a different person. Like the Gary I met before the drugs," Mike observed.

  "I have never felt this well," Gary admitted. "I am not going back to the poison. Ever. No matter what happens."

  "I am glad to hear that," Mike said.

  Gary opened the diner door for Mike, and then he followed his friend inside.

  The place looked deserted. The booths were empty and the staff absent.

  "I figured we'd be fighting the lunch crowd for a booth," Gary said, perching at their usual spot.

  Mike slid in on the other side. "Maybe they opened late today. They probably hit the raki too hard last night."

  The both took a menu from the condiment tray clip, though they knew what they were going to order.

  Gary heard the diner door open behind him. "I am very glad we beat the rush," he mused, looking over the low carb lunch specials.

  "Fuck, Gary," Mike muttered fearfully.

  Gary turned around. Eight zombies had entered the establishment. The last one flipped the open sign to closed and locked the door.

  Gary and Mike stood and pressed toward the back of the diner. Mike pulled his hook from his fake arm, hit a button on the underside of the prosthetic, and a long silver blade emerged from it and locked into place. It was common knowledge that silver did damage to any night thing. "I had an upgrade recently," he said to Gary.

  Mike faced the zombies. "Listen up, shit heads. I am going to take at least half of you out before you kill us."

  A leering male zombie that had been a cyclist of some kind judging by his gear and bike helmet, regarded the duo. "We aren't here to kill Gary Hack. We are here to kill you, Mike Cooke. Dracula has declared a death sentence on you. You were Hack's producer and word has it that you enjoy destroying our kind."

  "You are right about that, chief," Mike said with no regret. "I hate all of the Night Things. If I could make a bomb that took all of you out, I would. And I would dance and twirl glow sticks while you pricks melted away."

&
nbsp; The zombies came at them, quicker than either expected. Two female zombies in dirty pantsuits held Gary at bay while the rest of the undead circled Mike. To his credit, he managed to spear the leader's throat with his blade. But the rest took him down quickly.