And A Meadowlark Sang

by Jen Pretty

  The car pulled up beside me, and the kindergarten-teacher-gone-vampire spoke, "I can give you a lift, it's no trouble, I'm going your way," he said flashing a toothy smile. He apparently thought he was clever.

  "No, thanks," I said moving away from the car.

  "Suit yourself," he replied and then stopped the car and let me walk on. Once I was about fifty feet ahead, the sound of tires rolling on the pavement told me he was following again.

  As I walked, the houses got more and more dilapidated. Fewer street lights, more shadows, more people standing in shadows. Creepier.

  I was looking around, trying to find the nearest bus stop when I noticed a group of men on the sidewalk, obscured by the shadow of a medium-sized apartment building. The building itself was dull and dirty, but brilliant graffiti covered the lower eight feet of the old brick exterior. The men were speaking quietly until one noticed me. They turned, and walked in my direction, taking up the entire sidewalk. They were large and hairy with full thick beards and long hair, reminding me of wild animals on the prowl.

  As they approached, I glanced across the street to see if I could zip across but before I could make my escape they were in front of me. I was surrounded.

  One of them wrapped his thick, steely arms around me, pinning my arms to my sides and lifting my feet off the pavement. I did what I should have done last time I was confronted with danger; I let out a deafening scream.

  I thrashed about kicking at him with my heels, but I couldn't seem to make enough contact to hurt him. I flung my head back, and a curse let me know I had at least done some kind of damage, but the man didn’t release me. One of the other men came up and sneered at me. I tried to kick him away, but he caught my feet and held them. Now I was suspended between the two men.

  I kept screaming until a hand covered my mouth. It belonged to the man holding me. He was able to hold my upper body with just one giant arm. Damn me for being small. He wouldn’t be able to do this if I were an average size person.

  Suddenly one of the men let out a scream, then another. The hand covering my mouth went to my neck, squeezing. I heard a rumbled "Back off, we found her first."

  There was a flash of red, and I was unceremoniously dropped to the pavement. Someone's boot swung towards my head then it was lights out, Lark.

  ✽✽✽

  There was a throbbing in the side of my head, and I couldn’t open my eyes. One felt like an overripe plum ready to burst from my eye socket. I knew I was on a bed, but the lack of foul odour from the downstairs garbage bin informed me that I was not in my apartment. The sweet smell of flowers and the deafening silence confirmed it.

  I peeked open my eye that still worked and took in the room. Well, half of it. Beige curtains met beige walls and carpet. It was like out of a catalogue. The furniture looked new and matched, and the ceiling was white Stucco. Everything was immaculate. I was starting to panic when I remembered being attacked.

  I sat up suddenly and frantically looked around as the door opened, and Mr. Crowden's butler walked in.

  The butler paused in the doorway. "Apologies, Miss Lark. I didn't mean to intrude. I thought you might be awake and came to see if you required anything."

  “I want to go home," I said staggering to a standing position and stumbling towards him.

  "Please if you will just wait, Mr. Crowden wants to speak with you, and you should be seen by the doctor again before you go."

  I pressed past him out the door and to the top of a broad set of stairs.

  "Please, wait and see the doctor at least. You have a serious injury," he said as I started down the stairs.

  I turned to tell him to go to hell but got dizzy and slipped. I landed on my back and slid down a few more stairs, hitting the back of my head and jarring my arm.

  I moaned and looked up to see the vampire who had followed me home standing on the stairs below me. "Why are you lying on the stairs?" he asked.

  I tried to pull myself up, unsuccessfully.

  "Let me help you," the vampire said reaching out towards me.

  "No," I replied, flinching back from him.

  "Why are you so stubborn?" he asked like I was the one being unreasonable.

  "I don't know, maybe because I like my blood on the inside," I replied, and he flinched back like I had slapped him.

  "You will have to excuse Randy. He is a new vampire. He is also still a bit sensitive about his status," the butler said from the top of the stairs.

  I looked at Randy and looked back at the butler. You have got to be kidding me. "Are you saying he has some issues?" I asked sarcastically.

  "Not all vampires wished to be vampires,” he said looking sadly at Randy.

  Great, now I was feeling bad for hurting a vampire’s feelings. "I have to go," I said finally pulling myself up off the stairs. Randy followed me out in to the sunshine. My eyes burned, and I didn't have any sunglasses. I squinted and tried to get into the shade of the trees that lined the driveway. At the gatehouse, there was no gatekeeper, and the gate was locked.

  "Hello?" I yelled, shaking the gate a bit, but then there was a buzzing sound, and the gate started rolling open. I heard tires on the pavement and glanced back to find Randy once again following behind me in his ridiculous car.

  God. They didn't know when to quit. Ok so the vampire, Randy, probably saved my ass last night with those lowlifes and he hadn’t drained my blood and killed me, but that didn’t mean I was willing to trust a vampire.

  I walked through the gate and headed for the bus stop. It was a pretty good route in the daytime. I knew I wouldn’t have to wait long.

  I waited. So did Randy.

  My head was throbbing, and my eyes were heavy. Finally, the bus pulled up, and I boarded. Sitting in the back, I watched as Randy followed the bus, stopping at all the stops and waiting to move again.

  Once home, I climbed the stairs and had a shower. Someone else in the building must have used all the hot water because I was greeted by only cold water. If felt nice on my face, but I was shivering by the time I rinsed the soap out of my hair. I heated up a microwave dinner and tried to eat some of it. My jaw ached every time I opened my mouth, but I finally managed to finish it. I washed my fork and threw away the packaging before climbing into bed. To hell with the vampire parked on the street in front of my building, his presence couldn’t keep my eyes from closing or sleep from taking me under.

  ✽✽✽

  Sunday night a pounding on my door woke me, and when I glanced at my clock, it said midnight. I had never slept so late before. I missed half the night.

  I rolled off my bed and tried to peel my eye open, but it was a no go. It was swollen shut and crusted over. I bet I looked super. Note to self, avoid mirrors.

  "Who is it?" I asked as I stumbled towards the door.

  "It's me," Frankie said from the other side.

  I swung the door open and turned to make coffee. Frankie had never been in my apartment, but since he knew all the secrets in my head, there was no point in keeping him out of my room. I pointedly kept all my thoughts to making coffee.

  I heard the door close behind him but kept busy for a few more minutes. I could feel his eyes drilling into the back of my head. When I finally faced him, his blank face immediately flashed to rage.

  "Who did this?" he asked stepping closer to me.

  "Some assholes on the street. I was walking home from the vampire's house, and they jumped me."

  "Why were you walking home? You should have taken the bus!" he sounded vicious with a slight growl to his voice. I took a step back. He noticed and took two deep breaths then blanked his face. "Answer me, why didn't you take the bus?"

  "Because, nosey parker, the busses had stopped running by the time I left."

  "Why didn't they drive you home?" he asked shortly with his anger rising again.

  "Calm down, God, they offered, but I didn't want to ride with a vampire," I said, grabbing a bag of peas from the freezer and holding it to my face. It was probabl
y too late for that, but I hoped it would help a little.

  A little louder and not calmer at all, he replied: “Then you should have called me!”

  “You don’t have a car!” I shot back exasperated with this whole conversation.

  He shook his head and ignored my argument completely, "Where were these people that jumped you?" he was growling again.

  "Out by the hockey stadium, maybe two blocks north of it,” I said, pointing uselessly at the wall.

  With that information, he turned on his heel and stormed out, slamming my door behind him. Thankfully my front door was sturdier than my face.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  I spent the rest of the night in my apartment. My advanced yoga class was in the morning, and I wasn't willing to give up on my dream just because a bunch of Neanderthals jumped me. I would have to ice my face and hope it looked at least somewhat better by 7 AM.

  It didn't.

  Everyone stared as I entered the gym. The muscular man behind the counter looked at me, pity flashing across his face. He handed me a flyer for women's self-defence class. Not a bad idea, actually. It was on Tuesday mornings immediately after my yoga class. I would be exhausted from work and then yoga, but I could probably manage it.

  I signed up and then continued to the locker rooms.

  Yoga was brutal, all my sore muscles shook with exertion, and I found new things that hurt. The pain started in my leg halfway through class, and the throbbing only served to remind me that I would still have to walk back to the bus stop with my gym bag. That was going to suck. Our instructor, or Yogi, Shanti, tried to help me, but I was all over the place.

  Near the end of class, I glanced over and saw Randy sitting by the front door of the gym, reading a magazine about bodybuilding. When I hadn’t seen him outside my apartment in the morning, I thought he must have gone off to do vampire things. Things I didn’t want to know about.

  Shanti led us through some meditation. Sitting in our rows on the floor, I let my mind drift and shut out the pain I felt.

  “Lark.”

  I opened my eyes to Shanti’s smiling face.

  “You must have gone into deep meditation, I was going to leave you till you came back naturally, but the next class is coming in.”

  I looked up at the clock and realized I had lost nearly half an hour. I should have felt calmer, but as I stood up the pain in my leg throbbed and I angry instead.

  The pain must have made me a little stupid. It’s the only excuse for what happened next. I marched up to Randy and demanded "I want my car back," putting my hands on my hips like an angry school teacher.

  His reply was cool and composed. "You will have to talk to Mr. Crowden about your car. I can take you back to the estate now if you wish."

  I didn't bother answering him. I just narrowed my eyes and turned back to the locker rooms. As long as I was still alive, I had work to do and rent to pay.

  Of course, he followed the bus in his car. What kind of vampire drove a freaking Tesla anyway?

  After a fitful sleep, I had a shower, got dressed and left for work. I needed extra travel time since my poor car was being held, hostage. The longer I was without it, the more I treasured its memory. It wasn’t a great car, but it had never let me down.

  "Lark, can I speak to you for a minute?" Mr. Fellum called, as I walked in to work that evening.

  I stepped into his office without a word. His eyes raked over my bruised and swollen features, and I tensed at his scrutiny.

  "What happened, Lark?"

  "I fell down." I had fallen, it wasn't really a lie I just had some help in the falling part.

  He watched me in silence for a moment before he spoke again. "You should be more careful."

  "I will." Moving to leave, he didn't stop me, so I put my stuff in the break room and went on shift. It would be a long night, but at least I was still alive.

  Monday nights were always quiet. I had the usual moms grabbing a few items, kids getting candy, some drunks, but it was mainly quiet. I spent some time thinking about all the ways my life could get worse.

  I could see Randy's car in the parking lot the whole night. I wasn't sure how he slept. Maybe vampires didn't need to sleep. Put that on the list of things I might know about vampires.

  About 3 AM, the bell above the bell above the door chimed. A man walked to the back of the store and picked out some items from the refrigerator section.

  As he turned back towards the cash, I caught his pale face and realized he was the vamp from the bar the other night.

  "Good evening," he said in his refined voice while setting yogurt and juice on the counter. Apparently, he didn’t recognize me. Thank God.

  "Find everything you were looking for?" I asked. Did vamps eat yogurt?

  He paused for a second looking at me. "Not hardly," he said before dropping a twenty on the counter.

  I wasn't going to fall into his trap. I took the money and handed him back his change.

  "Thank you, Amelia," he said.

  He was out the door before I picked up my chin off the ground. I had gone by Lark my whole adult life. I wasn't Amelia anymore. That name belonged to a happy girl who lived a different life. A life without vampires.

  The fact that a vampire knew the name sent a cold sweat down my back. Did every vampire know who I was and what I could do? The walls were closing in on me.

  I couldn't even go hide in my hovel. My shift wasn't over for a few more hours. I looked out the door, and Randy's car was gone. Shit. When had he left? Why had he left?

  I spent the next few hours jumping every time the door chimed, but I made it to the end of my shift. The sun was just peeking up between the buildings, but it didn't comfort me like it usually did. I hopped on the bus and made it home in one piece, but I still had to go to yoga and self-defence. I wanted to hide away but knew I wasn't safe at home either.

  Hopefully, the class would help me relax. I was ok. That's all I needed to keep repeating to myself. I was alive. Of course, I missed the bus I needed to get to yoga class on time and showed up just as it was starting, disturbing Shanti, and everyone in the class.

  It was an excellent class, but I couldn't focus. My breathing never settled, and my concentration was zero.

  Self-defence was a different story.

  "Welcome to women's self-defence," the instructor said. "My name is Laurie. In this class, you will be learning defence and evasion techniques. Don't worry if you aren't strong, these skills don't require you to be stronger than your attacker, just smarter, and I guarantee you are smarter than anyone who tries to mess with you after you have taken this class."

  That sounded hopeful. I couldn't wait to get started. The instructor paired us off and demonstrated proper technique for evading and escaping. We began with wrist grabs and moved up to choke holds. The end of class was about kicking and punching. She had us line up in front of punching bags and practice punching and kicking technique. I hadn't expected the adrenaline rush I got from the class.

  "Next class we will have our live dummy to help you work on your techniques with full force. It is a man, dressed in heavy padding. If some of you can't handle that yet" --she looked at me-- "because you have been victimized and aren't ready to relive that trauma with a live attacker, I will have the punching bags set up to practice on as well. Please don't feel pressured to participate if you aren't comfortable."

  Apparently, everyone thought I was in an abusive relationship. Whatever, I had no interest in sharing with the class. I thanked her and left. I already felt more in control and capable. A class of punching and kicking helped much more than yoga. Why didn't I discover this sooner?

  I hit the locker room for a quick shower. Unlike my apartment, the water here was always hot, and the shower stall was bigger than a school locker. I got dressed in black jeans and t-shirt and tied my wet hair up in a ponytail.

  When I walked out of the gym a half hour later, I slid my sunglasses on momentarily before abruptly taking them off again when I
noticed my old Honda was parked right in front, engine running. There was no one in sight, but there must have been a vampire somewhere nearby. Something seemed different, but I couldn't put my finger on it until I got in and shut the door. The car was quiet. The muffler which had been rattling so loud it would vibrate the whole vehicle, particularly when in reverse, was silent.

  Weird.

  I turned the radio on, and the dial didn't stick, it turned smoothly. The blown-out passenger side speaker had lost the muffled, gritty sound.

  The ride home was smooth, the potholes on the old roads were no longer teeth rattling. I got home and parked, got out of the car and took a walk around. New tires, I hadn't noticed. When I released the trunk, it opened. It hadn't opened when I bought the car, so I never used the trunk. Ok, so the vampires did some things to my car while they had it. Maybe one of them was a mechanic.

  Still, it didn't sit well with me. I wasn't a charity and fixing my car didn't change what kind of monsters they were. I locked the car and went back to my apartment. The sun was getting high in the sky, and I was exhausted.

  When I woke that night, I was restless. I didn't want to sit at home alone all night so sent a text to Frankie: want to go out?

  He replied a moment later: meet you downstairs in 20

  Perfect. I got dressed quickly and zipped out the door.

  Frankie was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. When he saw me, he turned on his heel and started walking down the road. Not towards Arnie's though, he was headed towards the warehouse he had taken me to the day the vampires had summoned me. He did his fancy knock and the guy who had let us in the first time swung open the door. Frankie walked inside and disappeared into the darkness. My eyes took an extra second to adjust, but I could make out his shape across the open space.

  "What are you?" I asked, and that was the right question. I had hoped to be a little bit drunk for this conversation though.

  He snorted a laugh and opened a bottle, taking a sip before handing it to me.