My heart was pounding hard. I could hear my blood in my ears and felt so nervous I thought I would puke.
My hands were shaking as I pulled out Elvira’s number and dialed it while I sat in my car, before pulling out of the lot and onto the road though I didn’t really have anywhere to go. As it rang I circled around, looking for somewhere I could just park and go unnoticed.
After a few moments, the phone clicked and I heard a pretty, feminine voice from the other side. “Hello?”
“Uhh, hi?”
“Who is this?”
“Oh, uh, s-sorry,” I stammered. I hated talking on the phone. I was so awkward and weird. “This is, uh, Sammy- Samantha from the other night?”
“Oh, hi!” she said, recognition filling her voice. “Is everything okay?”
“U-uh, no. Not really. I mean, I don’t know that anything is wrong per se, but I think there might be someone after me and, uh the police wouldn’t help me and I didn’t really know what else to do—”
“Woah, slow down and start from the beginning please.”
So, I did. I told her about the man and his looks, the way he grabbed me, the sense that I was being followed that night I ran into her, coming home and finding my house ransacked, the useless police officers… everything.
“I believe you,” she said. “And that sounds… troubling.”
“So, can you help?”
“Yeah, I can. I need you to come out to RURAL ADDRESS, though, okay?”
“I don’t know where that is.”
“It’s outside of the city. Take the train to NAME station, I’ll pick you up. Okay?”
“I don’t know…” I said, feeling uncomfortable meeting up with strange vampires.
“Just trust me. You’ve already got someone hunting you and no one willing to help. What’s the worst that could go wrong just trusting me?”
“You could, like, kill me.”
She laughed. “Well, what’s the worst that would happen if you don’t trust me?”
“... Fine.” I put my car in gear and headed towards the train station, grimacing at the thought of having to board a train. Trains were the worst. Especially the one that ran out of the human sector. The station was littered in graffiti and there always seemed to be people just lurking in the shadows. Bugs, mice, and god knows what else scampered underfoot and the trains were notorious for “losing” luggage. In fact, last time I’d been on the train, everything I’d taken with me had been taken. When I tried to report it, the workers had been even less helpful than the police had been earlier that morning.
So, it was with great disgust that I pulled into a parking spot at a restaurant across the street from the station, not wanting to pay to park at the actual station. After all I didn’t know how long I was going to be gone. Didn’t want to wrack up a bunch of charge.
I approached the ticket desk, unsure of which train I needed.
“Can I help you, ma’am?” the human operating the booth asked.
“Uh, yeah, I’m looking to get to 2113 S 48th hwy? I think the closest town to it is Davis?”
She punched a few numbers into the computer before speaking. “Yeah, we’ve got a Davis station. You want the B train towards Tulsa. It leaves in ten minutes. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, that’s perfect.”
I hurried to give her the fare and rushed off to get my bag in the storage compartment. I wanted to hold it, but I was told by a security officer that I wasn’t allowed to. It was too big.
Within eight minutes I was sitting uncomfortable on a seat with one stranger next to me and two across from me. I found myself wishing I had headphones or a book so I could at least pretend to be doing something and not be bothered.
The two men across from me seemed to know each other and were content to completely ignore, but the woman that next to me was a different story. I stared out the window trying to convey that I didn’t want to speak, but nonetheless she spoke to me.
“Hi,” she greeted. I turned and grinned at her, before doing a double take. No one but humans ever rode the train coming out of this station, but here was a vampire sitting next to me. Not only a vampire but one that beautiful, even by vampiric standards. Her red hair was wavy and fell to her shoulders, her skin was pale and dotted with freckles, her eyes were big and attention grabbing and her lips looked amazingly kissable…
I cleared my throat, embarrassed by my blatant staring and confused by my desire to kiss the woman. Sure, I knew I liked ladies as much as I liked men, but I’d never been this attracted to anyone in my whole life.
“H-hi,” I stuttered after a moment, realizing I hadn’t spoken in far too long.
“I’m Ophelia,” she said, smiling and offering her hand to shake. I took it with a limp hand, marvelling at the beautiful Ophelia and feeling completely lacking in comparison. Where she was tall and extremely curvaceous, I was short and flat. Where her hair was all perfectly in place, mine was sticking up in all directions. Even her name was more elegant and beautiful than mine, though, Ophelia seemed like an odd name choice....
“I’m Sammy,” I said, “Why Ophelia? Isn’t she the chick in Hamlet that goes crazy and drowns herself?” I clapped a hand over my mouth and felt horrified at the outburst. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to say that,” I tried to backtrack, hoping to take back the words.
Ophelia simply laughed it off. “Oh, it’s fine. My parents were big Shakespeare and always liked Ophelia’s character, though why they did is beyond me.”
“I’d never known a vampire that loved Shakespeare,” I mused. He had been human. Most vamps ignored human literature.
“Oh, my folks adored humans. Were so intrigued by them. I kind of am, too. It’s why I volunteer at St. John’s.”
I noticed her scrubs for the first time and realized she must be a nurse. St. John’s was a no charge human hospital for those that couldn’t afford the vampire hospital. A nice idea in theory, but St. John’s was anything but a nice place. The doctor’s there were simple humans trained in first aid methods, infection ran rampant, and it was constantly packed full of people.
“Oh, wow,” I said, impressed. “Are you a nurse?”
“Doctor, actually,” she said, smiling proudly.
“Where are you heading?” I asked.
“Davis.”
“Oh, really? So am I! What do you have to do in Davis?” This lady didn’t seem to be the type to be going to a town as small and podunk as Davis.
“Oh, I’ve got a friend that lives outside of Davis. I’m visiting her. How about you?”
“Same actually.”
“Huh.”
After that we sat in silence. Ophelia pulled out a book and started reading, so I just rested my head on the window and stared at the land passing by. We were out of the city now and there seemed to be nothing but grass and cows and hay for miles.
Occasionally we hit other towns and the train slowed to a stop, allowing people on and off, but finally, after a good hour of riding, we came to Davis.
I stood up, stretching and moaning at the feeling of moving after an hour being still. I made my way off the train, walking behind Ophelia, and was not surprised to see my luggage was stolen.
“You should report it,” Ophelia told me as she grabbed her small bright pink suitcase from the luggage department. “That can probably get it back.”
I shook my head. “Nah, I tried that last time my stuff got stolen and they said I was responsible for my own stuff.”
“That’s shitty.”
“Yeah.”
We both walked out to the parking lot side by side. Something about her made me feel instantly comfortable and it didn’t seem weird at all that this vampire was quickly working into my mind as a friend.
I realized I didn’t know what Elvira’s car looked like, but that didn’t end up being an issue as soon after I saw the black haired vampire approaching me.
“Hey there,” she greeted, the smiled. “I see you two found each other.”
Ophelia and I looked at each other, realizing that we were both heading to Elvira’s house, before laughing. “I guess we did,” Ophelia said.
Elvira’s car was gorgeous. A ‘67 black pontiac GTO in amazing condition. To say I was jealous would be an understatement. “Wow,” I said just staring at it.
Elvire laughed and ran her hands over the hood. “Isn’t she great? She’s my baby.”
I nodded and noticed the other girls climbing into the vehicle, so I scrambled to get in as well, taking the front seat.
“So, what has Elvira told you?” Ophelia asked after a couple of minutes of being on the road.
“Not anything really. Just that she thinks she can help me.”
“She can,” Ophelia said. “Or at least she can keep you safe.”
“You’ll have to excuse my skepticism because I’m really not convinced anything can help.”
“That’s okay,” Elvira said. “Most people are skeptical when they arrive.”
“So, are you going to fill me in on what exactly is going on?”
“Well, see, I have a pretty, uh, ridiculous amount of money that I’ve inherited,” Elvira started. “I was around when the human’s rights activists started getting real big and it’s just always something I’ve believed in, ya know? But I kept seeing humans being persecuted and even once the human rights act passed, you all were still being so mistreated. So, I decided I needed to do something. I used my fortune to build a safe haven for humans to escape those trying to hurt them while I use my resources to take care of the threat after them.”
“That’s… well, that sounds too good to be true,” I said after a few moments of silence.
Elvira smiled. “You have to see to believe I suppose.”
“And you work with her?” I asked, turning to look at Ophelia.
“Yeah, I do. I stay in the city most of the time, but I usually spend weekends out here helping out.”
After maybe twenty minutes, we turned down a little dirt road where there was a large gate with the letters “ECZ” in the center. Elvira punched in a code into a box next to the road and the doors swung open. Beyond the gates there was so much land it was almost ridiculous. Almost the size of a small town, all mowed and groomed beautifully. When Elvira said she was rich, she damn well meant it.
We continued heading down what I guessed was her driveway before we finally came to a house that was more of a mansion than a house. It was absolutely massive.
“Holy shit…” I said staring.
“Yeah,” Elvira said, looking embarrassed. “It’s a bit, um, opulent, huh? As you’ll soon see, though, I need lots of land and it would seem weird to people to buy such a huge lot and not have a big manor.”
“I quite like it,” Ophelia said from behind us, a twinkle in her eyes.
Elvira simply rolled her eyes and made her way to the house. It was locked up tight and it took a bit to get the door open.
“Do I, uh, need to take my shoes off or something?” I asked, feeling out of place in this monstrosity of a house. I wasn’t used to this much wealth and now in the face of it I was extremely uncomfortable.
“Nah, it doesn’t matter. Come on.”
I tried not to gawk as Elvira and Ophelia led me through the house and down a set of stairs into a basement.
“A-are you sure you’re not going to kill me?” I asked. Most of my nerves had died away earlier, they were all back full force now and I wanted to run for the hills.
Elvira rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure. Now come along.”
The basement was dark and appeared to just be used for storage. Elvira moved a barrel off of a place on the floor and underneath was a trap door. Pulling a key off of her necklace, she undid a padlock and lifted the door up, revealing a tall ladder. She started down it and I followed behind. The drop off of the ladder would be massive and the idea of falling terrified me, but soon all my fears disappeared when I saw what the ladder ran down into.
She hadn’t been lying. It was an underground haven for humans, but more massive than I ever would have imagined. It appeared be an underground town, complete with roadways. People milled about the streets, there were even little storefronts and it sprawled across in all directions. Sun lamps were all over the top of the city, giving the appearance and feel of daytime.
“Wow.”
There was really nothing else to say.
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So things are finally picking up after 10,000 words of exposition ;) Let me know what you think ^-^ Encourages faster updates c: 524Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlHv4e1Y7R
