Love Bites

As I stopped to get gas, my mind was reeling with questions. Who was Andy? What was Oliver? How did he get that way? If I didn’t show up to dinner, would he really come after us? I pulled up to a 7/11, trying my best not to think about it. While pumping gas, I got the feeling that someone was watching me. I discreetly looked around from under my bangs and saw the other vampire from last night. He was sniffing the air and eventually looked at me with frosty, hypnotizing blue eyes. The pump clicked off just as I was turning away so I placed it back in its holder and scurried around the pumps and around “Ballsack” to go pay for the gas inside.

I pulled out my fake ID and headed for the alcohol. The first thing I grabbed was a 30 pack of Busch’s Beer when someone grabbed me. “Hey!” smiled the dark haired vampire. His teeth weren’t as noticeable as Oliver’s but were still questionable. “Let me get that for you!”

“That’s not necessary”, I said quickly. “I can get it.”

He locked eyes with me, like he realized he had to try a different approach. “You look really familiar? Have we met?” he asked.

“No”, I answered and it was basically the truth. I hadn’t spoken to him in the cemetery.

“Well, let’s get to know each other. My name’s Andy. Andy Biersack. Who are you?”

Andy took the beer from me and I shrugged. “Thorne”, I replied. “Really, I can take care of-“

“So are you having a party tonight? This is a lot of booze.”

“No. I just figured a bigger case would be cheaper since that’s the way it tends to work.”

Andy continued smiling at me. “Why don’t I get you a drink sometime? How about tonight? At seven? We can meet at the corner of Bourbon Street, where the Tina Turner cross dresser hangs out by the gay bars. There’s a really good gumbo place around the corner from there. Maybe we can-“

I took the beer from him and forced a smile. There was no way I wanted to get caught up in him and Oliver. “Listen, Andy, you seem like a nice guy but I have a dinner date tonight and I really, really cannot afford to miss it.”

He bit his lip some. “Well hey, gimme your number and I’ll give you mine so when you’re done you can hit me up and we can grab a beer”, Andy suggested. “Then you don’t miss your date.”

“If I give you my number, will you let me have my beer?” I asked. Andy nodded eagerly so I reluctantly recited the number out for him. “That’s my cell”, I informed quickly. “But I don’t always charge it and I have limited data so don’t be surprised if you can’t get through.”

“That’s fine”, Andy shrugged. “Phones are a bit of a hassle anyway.” He walked me up to the counter where I paid for the Busch’s and my gas with cash. Andy followed me to my car and made sure I was alright in it before he let me speed home. I walked up to the apartment and found Nikki and Valerie sitting on the couch together.

“Wake me up at six thirty”, I grunted. “The vampire wants us over for dinner.”

“Oh, what’s he making?” Valerie asked.

“Shrimp.” I walked to the room Valerie and I shared and plopped down on a mattress that laid on the floor. The instant my head hit the pillow, I was out.

~~~~~TIME LAPSE!!!~~~~~


Oliver was cheery as ever, letting us in the front door of his home. His house smelled like traditional Creole cooking and it reminded me of Mom. We were brought out to the back porch where we were seated at a patio table with some chairs. Oliver had lit some paper lamps, giving the porch a soft, colourful glow in the bayou night that accentuated the variety of dishes he had laid out on the table.

“Do you think the paper lamps are gaudy?” Oliver questioned after everyone had dived in. “I thought about using some mason jars with mosquito candles since you guys get bit by those things, right? But then I remembered I didn’t have any bug candles and would have to use scented candles which would probably attract them and-oh look! The lights are out.”

Valerie slurped on a shrimp tail as Nikki sucked on sweet tea. “Do you mean lightning bugs?” I questioned.

Oliver shrugged. “I guess. The bugs that light up? When I first came here, I was so fascinated since we don’t have these where I’m from. It’s too cold.” He wiped his mouth with a white cloth napkin that he then tossed on the table. Oliver seemed to glow with all the lights around him. It was kind of attractive.

“This shrimp is really good”, Valerie said, finally coming up for air. She hadn’t eaten anything else so far so I wondered if she knew that everything else was good too.

“Of course it is!” Oliver laughed. “I’ve had years to perfect it!”

Nikki, who was toying with his fork, glanced up at Oliver. “Can I ask how you became a vampire?” he questioned. “Or is that-“

“It’s not a big deal. What happened was-“ Oliver cut himself off and looked around. “Did you hear that?” he whispered.

My siblings and I glanced at each other. “No?” I answered.

Oliver straightened up some and became rigid. Suddenly, he smiled and stood up. “Let’s go inside”, he said rather loudly. “I have homemade cheesecake in the fridge and I don’t want the bugs getting to it!” He rushed us all in and locked the back door.

“Is everything okay?” Nikki asked. “Dude, you’re being weird.”

“Dude, I think Ballsack is hanging around here”, Oliver hissed. “Thorne, you brought him here, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t bring anyone here!” I argued.

He glowered when there was a knock on the door. “Well, you have to answer it”, Valerie pointed out. “This guy already knows that we’re here.”

Oliver glared at me a little. “Why not let Thorne get it? She brought him here?” he growled.

“But it’s your house”, I snapped, grabbing Oliver by the wrist. I drug him to his front door where the knocking was persisting. He wrenched it open and unsurprisingly, Andy was there.

“Hey, Oliver! I was in the neighborhood and-Thorne, you’re here”, Andy grinned.

“Can I help you?” Oliver questioned, folding his arms. Andy was rocking on his feet outside the doorway and I wondered if he could come inside or not. One of the many rumors about vampires is that they have to be invited inside after all.

“Well, like I said, I was in the neighborhood so I figured why not visit my best friend?”

“How do you know Thorne?” Oliver was being fairly short with his questions, like he didn’t want to play games.

“I met her at the gas station today and invited her for drinks!” Andy announced. “Thorne, would you like to come with me now? We can-“

“Dude! Who’s this?!” gasped Nikki, walking into the entry hall. “Come on in. We’re about to have cheesecake.”

Andy smiled at Oliver and stepped through the doorway like this was a huge triumph. As he introduced himself to Nikki, Oliver pulled me into a separate room. “Listen, Thorne”, Oliver began, looking around for a light switch. He pulled on a chain and I realized this “room” was just a large broom closet. “You need to stay away from him. Ballsack is trouble.”

“And you’re not?” I replied sarcastically.

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Ha ha, you’re sooo funny”, he sneered. “But seriously, Thorne. This guy’s trying to kill me for turning him. He hasn’t been like this for long, maybe since the 1800s. He still doesn’t know how to control his feeding habits. Do not under any circumstances agree to go off alone with him. Hell, don’t agree to do anything with him. Andrew will turn on you in the blink of an eye-“

“How do I know you won’t?” I demanded.

He shook his head. “In 24 hours, I’ve got enough dirt and other things hanging over your head that would’ve made you disappear by now”, Oliver grunted. “But seriously. Don’t hang out with him. Ballsack’s nothing but a seedy wankstain. Just please Thorne.”

“Oliver, it’ll be alright”, I said.

“No it won’t be”, Oliver sighed. He tensed up a little and grabbed my shoulders. “Thorne, my home, which was initially Ballsack free, has now been infiltrated because your brother invited Andrew in. Andrew was here to be invited because you came here-“

“You wanted me here!” I gasped.

“Basically you invited him here. Did you missed the part where I talked about smells and hunting?” Oliver propped himself up against a shelf of cleaning chemicals. “Now I have to hire a new staff which means having a job so Andy can’t try to kill me because he has to pretend to be human- Thorne. You have a job.”

“Yeah?” I replied. “And?”

“Well, why don’t you charge extra for the bodies? You and Nikki both. And I can move Valerie’s voodoo store to a much more central area and revamp it. All you have to do is move in here and give me your money so we can-“

“Seriously Oliver?” I questioned. “You come to my house, make us buy you food, make me drop you off, force us back over here, blame me for your unwanted guest, and now you want to-“

Oliver batted his eyes at me and smiled. His pupils dilated a little as a fuzzy, dizzy feeling came over me. “Thorne, it wouldn’t be that bad”, he cooed, pressing against me. “Think of it as playing Cinderella! Besides, giving me your money won’t be so bad. I can give you everything you could ever need. I’ve been alive forever you-”

“Is this some kind of vampire hypnosis?” I asked, leaning on Oliver. My knees were starting to get kind of wobbly and my mind didn’t feel like my own. It felt like I was being pulled by something.

He smiled. “Yeah, you’re pretty smart”, Oliver cooed, wrapping his arms around me. “If you plan on going out with Andy, then I wanna go with you. You know, just to make sure you’re alright.”

“Of course I’ll be alright”, I grinned. “I’m a grave robber!”

Oliver kept smiling. “I dunno, you let me pull you into a broom closet”, he laughed. “We can go as soon as you agree to move in though. I need you here.”

The logical answer was no but I said yes anyway. I couldn’t move in with Oliver since he was just using us and the envelope would probably get pushed but I had to. We probably wouldn’t be able to afford the building the shop was in anymore and what was so bad about living in a plantation house for the price of a body? Oliver grinned and pressed his forehead to mine.

“I promise you won’t regret it”, he said brightly. “Now let’s go make Ballsack wish he hadn’t invited you out, shall we?”

Notes