Post by demona on Jan 10, 2010 17:16:13 GMT
Hi Guys
Sorry for such the long gap, I didn't get as much writing done over Christmas as I had planned.
Hope you enjoy, as always i don't own the concept or any of the characters etc etc.
Ep 3 – Trick or Treat
Marty Strickland waited patiently for his vampire brethren to emerge from their coffins, as night fell on the Mansbridge Academy. He heard the creaking of lids and knew that his gesture would be kindly received. Karl was the first to emerge from the male dorms, wiping the sleepiness from his eyes he stumbled into the central room.
“What’s all this?” He asked as he surveyed Marty sitting quietly at the table, his hands clasped together resting on the table. Five glasses of red liquid were placed in the middle of the table on a silver tray each with a stick of celery sticking out.
“Breakfast.” Marty said cheerfully, his grin as big as the crescent moon. Karl stood still, wary of the gesture that Marty was making. He scratched the back of his head, and glanced back at the dorm where he caught a glimpse of Drew changing his shirt. Marty stood up and picked up two of the glasses, he moved over to Karl and offered him one of the glasses. “Real Bloody Mary?”
“Maybe we should wait for the others.” The bigger of the two vampires said as he hesitantly took the glass.
“Fine,” Marty said returning to the table, taking a small sip from his glass. Merrill walked out of the girls’ dorm and noted the scene.
“You did this? What’s the occasion?” She asked eying Marty suspiciously as he sat back down at the table.
“What? I can’t do something nice?” The brunette vampire smiled at him, he really is changing she thought to herself, she noddedat him as she too sat down at the table, and waited for the other to arrive before helping herself to a glass. Drew and Essie appeared a few minutes later, greeted with the expectant look of their fellow three vampires.
“Breakfast ready and poured, now this is how I used to be treated.” The blonde royal vampiress said leaning over the table to pick up a glass. Merrill picked up the remaining two glasses and gave one to Drew.
“Cheers.” Marty yelled out as the others took sips of their drinks. He too took a sip of his drink a Cheshire cat of a grin on his face, as he tasted the rich blood on his lips, and allowing the liquid to wash down the back of his throat. He opened his eyes as he heard the gagging sounds of his classmates.
“Tomato Juice.” Drew spat out as his wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve.
“With far too much Tabasco sauce in!” Merrill said tears beginning to roll down her face. Marty couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Happy Halloween!” He said as he walked out of the room, feeling the daggers mentally being thrown at him.
***
The human world is full of those who possess talents and gifts, and the majority use these to the benefit of others. But how will the vampires talents and gifts fit into this world? Do powers that evolved as part of a predatory mechanism for survival fit in with the ideals of the Mansbridge experiment? How will my vampires choose to use their powers in the human world?
***
Dr Murdoch stood before his table of students as he delivered the night’s lesson.
“Each of you have powers that humans do not possess, Drew your astral project for instance, so far you have used these as a way to evade being hunted, or to be the hunter.” Dr Murdoch paused to move around the table, “So far you have only used your powers for self-preservation.”
“Everyone has a super power for a reason.” Marty chipped in.
“I can’t think what the reason for your super ability of being annoying is.” Essie said still bitter from their breakfast trick.
Dr Murdoch smiled to himself and continued his lesson.
“Humans too have strengths and talents, but part of being human and living in the world human is to use these strengths wisely and ethically; to help society. So tonight your assignment is to assess how you can use your powers in the human world, and which would be ethical and beneficial. Marty I believe it is your night to interact with the day school until their curfew so I’m sure I’ll see you upstairs. To the rest of you I bid a good night.” Dr Murdoch nodded at the table and left to return to his study.
***
“Marty, what are you doing?” Merrill asked concern evident on her face.
“I’m going upstairs; I’m really craving some fresh human blood.” Marty chose his words carefully, knowing exactly why Merrill was worried, and smiled at her.
“Marty,” she began hesitantly, Merrill looked hesitantly at her fellow vampire who was trying to overcome his blood urges to kill mortals, “I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? I’m starving!” He whined checking himself in the mirror, red eyes; check. Fangs on show, check.
“Marty, no, you can’t. Think of the experiment, how far you’ve come, you can’t throw it all away for one little craving!” Merrill cried out panicked by the situation; she moved towards him; hanging onto him arm as he tried to move forward. Then she saw it; the flicker of a smile across his lips, “this is just another prank isn’t it?” She said angrily dropping her grasp from him. Marty looked down at where her arms had been and noticed how much he missed her touch. He looked up at her grinning.
“Actually no, Mimi is having a Halloween party in her dorm, and she invited me. Its fancy dress, so I thought I would go as a vampire – what do you think? Do I look authentic?” Marty spun around on his heels, showing Merrill his outfit consisting on his worn leather trousers, black shirt and his infamous long leather coat. “Don’t wait up.”
***
Malcolm frowned at the group before him, Mimi, Dillon, Nick, Zach and Marty. He stood in the doorway of the girls’ dorm, the latest book by Marianne Hackett in his arm, ready for his Halloween read; he surveyed the array of outfits in front of him in the mood lit room. Dillon had reluctantly dressed up as a cheerleader and was constantly fidgeting with her short skirt, pulling it down as far it would go; Nick’s effort of a ghost consisted of a white sheet draped around his shoulders. Meanwhile Mimi and her brother Zach put their peers to shame with their costumes; expertly dressing up as a witch and tribal witch doctor respectively.
“So what are you suppose to be?” Marty asked him, eyeing the dweeb in front of him.
“I’m not in costume, and what are you suppose to be.” Malcolm retorted.
“I’m a vampire.” Marty said proudly, allowing his fangs to show.
“Yeah right, as if real vampires look like that, I mean come on where did you get those contact lenses from? Don’t you know anything about vampires?” Marty’s grin faded and a day dream of Malcolm’s head accidently popping up flickered across his mind.
“Good night Malcolm,” Mimi said whilst was shutting the door in Malcolm’s face.
“Right lets have some fun!” She said as she moved towards the group, her short ripped black skirt swayed as she moved, revealing her slender thighs. She grabbed Marty’s arm and led him to the space she had cleared for the party, her pointed witches’ hat almost poking him in the eye. She sat down patting the space next to her, instructing Marty to also sit down.
“So what are we doing then sis?” Zach asked following suit, placing his maracas’ on the ground as he sat.
“Light as a feather; stiff as a board.” She said smiling. Dillon rolled her eyes as she joined the party.
“What’s that?” Nick asked smiling slightly at what Mimi said.
“Its where someone lies on the floor and everyone else puts one finger under their body and chants light as a feather; stiff as a board, then they are able to lift the person in the air.”
“Yeah right.” Nick snorted.
“No it’s true, a friend of ours did it and he said that they levitated three feet off the floor.” Zach insisted.
“Did you see it happen?” Dillon asked sceptically. Zach and Mimi looked at each other a secret sign between siblings, that suggested the answer was no to everyone else.
“Three feet eh?” Marty said thoughtfully, casting his eyes upward to see exactly how far up that would be, “let’s give it a go then.”
“Ok cool, lift me.” Mimi said already lying on the floor.
“No way, you’re the lightest here; that hardly a true test. Let’s see you guys lift me with one finger.” Nick said budging Mimi over from the central spot on the floor, and lying down. Nick closed his eyes and put his hands across is tummy, “Wake me when I’m in the air.”
Dillon moved over to kneel next to Zach, with Nick lying before them, opposite Mimi sat closely next to Marty. Each of them placed a single finger under Nick’s body and closed their eyes concentrating on the game, except Marty who kept his eyes firmly open watching the humans.
“Light as a feather; stiff as a board.” Mimi began to chant, “Light as a feather; stiff as a board, light as a feather; stiff as a board.” The others joined in and Marty concentrated on Nick’s form.
“Light as a feather, stiff as a...” Mimi’s lead in the chant stopped as she opened one eye to see what was happening, the others soon followed suit amazed as Nick began to lift slowly into the air, their digits no longer in contact with the boys body.
“Oh my god.” Dillon whispered slowly.
“Guys, I don’t think this is working.” Nick commented, sounding bored.
“Open your eyes!” Dillon commanded. Nick did so and frowned confused at the situation. The ceiling was so near that he would see the cracks in it clearly, but that would have to mean.
“Whoa!” Nick yelled out, “Get me down from here!” Marty used every bit of his self-control not to laugh gleefully at the sight before him. Dillon and Mimi actually looked worried for Nick, whilst Zack stood there looking in awe at the floating teenager. The boy was only five or six feet in the air and Marty couldn’t control his telekinesis and resist the temptation to laugh out loud at the same time, so with a cheeky grin, he let the mortal drop.
“Ow!” Nick cried as he once again connected with the floor.
“That was so cool,” Zach yelled out, “Let’s try to do something else.”
“Yeah well I’m not volunteering this time.” Nick groaned, as he gingerly stood up rubbing his lower back.
“Ouija board?” Marty suggested, whilst trying to think of some interesting things he could get it to spell out.
“No way!” Mimi answered.
“Well, what about a séance? It is the one night where the boundaries between the living and dead are more open than usual.” Dillon proposed.
“Got some stiff you want to contact eh?” Nick asked limping slightly.
“How about Sherry?” Dillon advanced quietly and carefully. The room became silent. Marty’s smile faded as he wondered whether they would ever be rid of that mortal.
“Ok,” Mimi said solemnly, “Let’s do it.” The five students sat in a circle, all very serious, an expression Marty was finding hard to maintain, he could smell the apprehension and fear the humans were feeling, and wondered how scared they would be to know that a real live vampire was in their midst. Still a séance, although not particularly frightening to him, held other factors to be weary about. He watched as each of the humans closed their eyes. He himself let his eyes wander the darkened room, seeing perfectly were his fellow playmates could not, he looked for anything he could up the spook factor with.
“Everybody, I want you to concentrate on Sherry. Think of a special memory you have of her.” Dillon commanded.
“What if you didn’t actually know her?” Zach asked, opening his eyes, and disrupting the ambience of the room. The others looked at the witch doctor.
“Well just think of all the stuff I told you about her.” Mimi chipped in.
“And Drew surely told you about Sherry when they were going out with each other,” Dillon directed her sentence at Marty, “You dormed with him or something didn’t you?” Marty looked uncomfortable, as he struggled to come with a satisfactory answer. He could hardly tell them he knew all about Sherry, and in fact he had been one of five vampires who spend a great deal of time observing all of them as they went along with their daily lives.
“Bits and pieces.” He decided was as good an answer as any.
“Well then, just concentrate on that.” Dillon said closing her eyes again. Marty spent the next few minutes of silence, watching the humans sitting in the circle with their eyes closed then turning his attention back to the room, wondering what he could do to show the presence of Sherry’s ghost.
“Sherry; are you here?” Dillon asked out aloud, Marty wondered if she knew how stupid she sounded and suppressed the smirk. The vampire spied the slightly open closet door, and hoped it was old enough to squeak as he opened it further with his telekinesis.
“What was that?” Nick asked, his eyes flying open at the sound.
“What?” Marty asked him.
“There was a sound, a creaking,” he said agitated, “it came from behind me.”
“I didn’t hear anything.” Marty said with a shrug, looking for his next play toy.
“Well I did.” Said Mimi; she backed up the blonde boy who was becoming more spooked by the second.
“The lava lamp!” Zach cried out pointing, everyone looked over to Mimi’s bedside table and her lava lamp, the red orbs of lava bubbling away with the heat of the light below it.
“What the?” Dillon started but was unable to finish her sentence, as the sight she beheld made the words choke in her throat. The dancing globs of red were forming into a single mass in the shape of a horned face with a wicked smile. Marty’s eyebrows raised slightly in surprise at the spectacle before him.
“I am too good!” Marty whispered to himself, but the others didn’t hear him, completely entranced by the face that seemed to be laughing at them.
“That is it, I’m out of here,” Nick said standing up and running to the light switch. The sudden harshness of light caused the others to lose their focus on the lamp as they blinked away the pain. When they next looked, the lamp was as normal, happily bubbling away as if nothing had ever occurred. Marty rubbed away the tears that had formed in his eyes at the light.
“Yeah, I think perhaps we should stop now.” Dillon whispered. Mimi and Zach nodded in unison. Marty wanted to protest but knew that would direction suspicion at him.
“Party’s over I guess,” he mumbled. Nick was already opening the girls’ bedroom door, and leaving before the others began to stand.
“Hey wait up!” Zach called jogging after the boy he shared a room with, not wanting to be alone.
“Well Mims it’s be fun.” Marty said also heading for the door, but with an afterthought he turned, and said something he never expected to say.
“You girls gonna be alright?” He asked.
“Well act...” Mimi began.
“Fine.” Dillon answered before Mimi could invite Marty to spend the night in her bed to keep her safe. Marty nodded and made a hasty retreat for the door. Closing the door behind him, he smacked himself across the forehead.
“What the hell is wrong with me?” He asked himself, “d**n the experiment must be getting to me.” He muttered as he made his way down the corridor. Marty slowly made his way down the main stairs, disgruntled his night of fun had ended so soon, and wondering what he could do with himself now, when he paused. The vampire looked around him, he keen senses alerting him to something.
“Cut it out Drew,” he said out loud, “it wasn’t my idea to try and call forth Sherry, and stop spying on me! Go back to the basement will ya.” Marty continued down the stairs shaking his head, and muttering about astral projection. Behind him a shadow moved across the carpeted stairwell, ‘a vampire living amongst humans’ it mused, ‘with more living in the basement, this night could be very interesting.’
***
Karl watched the Mansbridge day students go about their evening business on the TV monitor before him. Kicking his feet up on the table he sighed and wished he could be like the others and get to spend time with the humans. He was sure that some of them would be into sports, he could maybe get a game going, basketball, baseball, football, it didn’t matter he loved them all. He was an all-rounder and the star player of every team he was on. He would be even better now he was a vampire, with his enhanced strength and speed. But he guessed that would be cheating, he screwed his face up deep in thought about the matter, then pulled his note book towards him and wrote his thoughts down for Murdoch’s assignment.
Karl lifted his head up from his note book, and turned to look behind him. He frowned at the empty space before him, sure there had been someone behind him, then shrugged and returned to his essay.
‘It is such a shame you cannot meet the humans.’ The shadow mused in Karl’s mind, ‘it seems so unfair, I’m sure you wouldn’t harm them.’
Karl frowned at what he had written down, about how it would be unfair to play sports with the humans, and mentally knew he wouldn’t harm them.
“I’ve learnt my lesson; I can control myself, if only Dr Murdoch could see that.” He muttered to himself. The shadow stretched out its mind and smiled when he found what he was looking for.
‘If only there was someone with the powers of persuasion that could make Dr Murdoch believe you could go around with the humans.’
“I wonder if Essie would be able to hypnotise Murdoch into thinking it would be ok.” Karl said thinking out loud as he put down his pen.
‘It’s always worth a shot, perhaps you could try and make Essie jealous by flirting with a human girl, I know you still like her.’ The shadow pressed further then moved away from Karl, as the vampire youth stood up and headed for the girls dorm. It laughed at how easy it was having fun.
***
Marty stared at his note book completely uninterested in his ethics assignment. He wanted to have fun, it was Halloween. Normally a night when vampires shied away from making themselves known to others, Marty had always relished it. It was a night the humans let down their guard and thought that everyone was having harmless fun. A smile crossed Marty’s face as he thought fondly of all his past antics across the centuries.
“Hey, you took your contacts and fangs out.” Marty’s attention was drawn from the past and into the present by Mimi’s voice. Although the human girl had removed her witches’ hat, the tight skimpy black outfit, with torn tights and knee high boots still firmly encased her body.
“Yeah, well I guess Halloween is over for another year.” Marty quipped at her. Mimi pressed her lips together slightly hurt by what he had said, and wondered why he wasn’t as freaked out by the events as she and the others had been, unless, she thought, he had something to do with it.
“That’s a shame,” Mimi said seductively, her fear of the evening events dissipating, the human teenager sauntered over to sit on the desk in front of Marty, “because I was just starting to get warmed up and I think you were having a good time too.” Marty raised one eyebrow at the human, seemingly over their spooky games and so obviously coming on to him.
“Ok,” he said dropping his pen onto the note pad, “impress me.” The vampire said folding his arms across his chest looking up at the petite girl sitting on the table before him, her right leg crossed on top of the other, showing off her perfectly formed thigh, to see what her next move would be.
“Well, I, erm.” Mimi faltered uncharacteristically caught off guard by Marty’s cool behaviour.
“How about,” Marty said leaning in close to her, resting his arm on her thigh, and smiling to himself as she shivered slightly, “we play loads of silly little tricks on people and cause absolute mayhem?” Mimi smiled her confidence restored, leaning down towards Marty’s face she replied.
“I’m game if you are.”
***
Merrill sat reading a large dusty book, filled with stories of powerful vampires from era’s long ago, looking for inspiration for their assignment that extended beyond the powers of her immediate kin. She shuddered as a slight coldness came over her. The brunette looked about her hoping to see that Marty had returned from Mimi’s party, but the space around her was vacant, and a melancholy entered her heart. She looked at the clock, and saw it was nearly time for the day schoolers curfew, her mind wandered into thoughts of what Marty and Mimi could be up to. Were they alone or were the others with them? What kind of party games had they been playing?
‘Perhaps they are playing spin the bottle.’ The thought entered Merrill’s mind seemingly from nowhere, and yet she wondered if there could be any truth in it. ‘Wouldn’t it be good if you could go and have a sneaky look as to what the pair of them are doing?’
“Stop being so ridiculous,” Merrill scolded herself and shook her head, “as if Marty would be interested in a human.” But the nagging feeling of doubt wouldn’t leave her.
‘But you have been pushing him away, and the human obviously likes him, perhaps he’s fed up of trying with you.’ The shadow pushed at the vampires insecurities, Merrill bit her lip and remembered how she had constantly pushed Marty away, in some vain attempt that Drew might like her, now that Sherry was gone.
“Drew.” Merrill breathed, an idea forming in her mind, “perhaps he could use his astral projection to check on what they are doing.” Her lips turning upwards in a smile, as she voiced her thoughts.
‘Yes.’ The shadow hissed, glad it was finally breaking the unusually high level of morality in the vampire before him, but the victory was short lived for both parties as Merrill sighed and wondered what she would tell Drew to get him to go spy on Marty, she couldn’t very well tell him, it was because she was...was... Merrill didn’t want to say the word in her mind, let alone out loud. The shadow sighed loudly, a little too loudly, causing Merrill to look about her once more, sure she was not alone. The dark mist retreated towards the wall, hoping she did not sense it; that would spoil the fun. Then the shadow had an idea.
‘Perhaps you should check that he hasn’t fallen off the wagon.’ Merrill shut her book and promptly stood up.
***
Marty grabbed Mimi towards him as they moved quickly round the corner from a very perplexed and wet Jennifer coming out of the hallway wondering where the water that had suddenly engulfed her had come from. Mimi stifled her laughter by pressing her face into Marty’s black shirt, breathing in his scent. She looked up with a grin on her face and not from the pranks they were playing. Marty pulled Mimi further away from the scene and into the kitchen.
“Did you see Jen’s face?” He asked finally allowing himself to laugh out loud at the scene.
“Yeah it was even better than Nick’s when you jumped out at him in the bathroom!” Mimi answered between gasps for breath as she giggled uncontrollably.
“Ok,” Marty said catching his breath. “Who’s next?” He asked rubbing his hands together in anticipation of his next victim.
“Malcolm.” Mimi said without a beat. Marty thought for a second then opened the fridge door, and saw what he was looking for; pulling out the cardboard box he turned towards his partner in crime.
“Do you know where the flour is?”
***
Drew lay in his coffin, the lid closed, the drawing of Sherry taped to the inside above his face, but the darkness did not prevent him from seeing every angle of her face. He lifted his hand to caress the cheek of the pencil sketch, imagining the smoothness of her warm skin. He was thankful that Dillon had returned this to him. The vision of Sherry in his mind morphed into that of Dillon, causing Drew to pull his hand away from the picture and exhaled sharply. He was not developing feelings for Dillon, he convinced himself, Sherry had been his one, he felt nothing for the girl who he had been able to nurse back to health he decided resolutely, except maybe a feeling of friendship or perhaps that akin to a big brother, he allowed.
The shadow hovered over the coffin, listening with great interest to the mind of its occupant.
Drew’s thoughts continued to wander away from Sherry to that of Dillon, how she seemed to like him poems and sketches, the way she was compassionate enough to think of his needs after Sherry’s death and her endeavour to return his precious sketch, his only reminder of his beloved, the way she had gently place her hand on his knee, when he was overcome with emotion at seeing Sherry’s face again in his drawing.
‘Perhaps Dillon might see you as more than just a friend.’ Drew’s eyes fluttered open at the notion. The shadow smiled as it hit upon the jackpot.
“No, she couldn’t,” Drew whispered to himself, but the thought repeated itself in his mind as if it had a will of its own. Drew closed his eyes and ventured on to the astral plane, but knew it was pointless, Dillon played her cards pretty close to the chest there would be no obvious open sign of her affection, and she wouldn’t talk to anyone about it. Drew opened his eyes again,
“Stupid,” he whispered to himself, “as if she could see a vampire as more than a friend.”
‘But she doesn’t know you’re a vampire, does she? If only you could get into her mind and see what she’s really thinking.’
“Merrill.” Drew said throwing back the lid of his coffin.
***
Malcolm opened the door to his room. The distain for the sting of being hit with something was a close second to that of the sensation of a cold gooey liquid slowly rolling down his face, and by the third hit in quick succession, he had had quite enough, but his assaulters had other ideas, as a warm puff of powder enveloped him. The laughter as he saw two wobbly shapes disappear through his now yolk encrusted glasses, set alight in him an emotion he didn’t feel very often. Malcolm clenched his fists, it had been a lame prank, with no thought behind it, no intelligence; he could do better. He looked at the letter from the University of Vancouver he held in his hand, if he was smart enough to be accepted on their accelerated learning course, then he was smart enough to get his own back on them.
“If they want a Halloween prank, I’ll give them a Halloween prank!” He said to himself through gritted teeth, and moved back into his room slamming the door.
***
Essie stood observing her outfits, wondering whether to prune her wardrobe in preparation for the new arrivals that were being shipped. The royal vampire sensed the intruder entering her dorm behind her, the movement of a shadow in the corner of her eye confirmed her suspicions, her blonde hair flicked about her head and she spun round to question her visitor.
“Karl, what are you doing?” She asked the male vampire standing hesitantly in the archway.
“I was just thinking how cool it would be if we could all hang out together.” The male vampire said.
“Karl, we do all hang out together.” She said already becoming bored.
“I mean all hang out together with the day students,” he looked at the female vampire staring at him oddly, “I mean we could play games together.” Essie raised her eyebrows, “you know like basketball and stuff.”
“Something like vamps versus humans,” she said.
“Well, I think perhaps we should divide the vamps between teams, to make it fair on the humans...”
“Karl,” The blonde cried out interrupting him. Karl stopped talking abruptly.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Essie asked.
“Yeah but couldn’t you like persuade Murdoch to let me join in, just once?”
“Karl,” Essie paused, seeing the need of her fellow vampire, “I would really like to help you, but there is still Malcolm who knows that you died.” She paused again as a shadow crossed her mind. “I suppose I could,” she paused again, looking Karl in the eye, “I mean; the royal family could always do with nerds to look after the archives.”
Karl looked at Essie; she at him; the silence was thick with anticipation.
***
Marty and Mimi tripped down the stairway and into the common room, tears streaming down their faces with laughter. They stopped abruptly at the bottom and saw a group of students huddled together, defying the fast approaching curfew, and oblivious to their entrance. Marty sensed another chance to scare some humans, and silently stalked towards the assembly. As he approached he could hear the voice of a human coming through a mechanical device, a radio no doubt. He spied Dillon in the group, a human who had yet to be victim to his and Mimi’s antics that night. Moving quickly he snuck up behind her, so intent on the radio broadcast, Dillon failed to notice her stalker. Marty gently but firmly grabbed Dillon by the waist, her scream satisfying his hunger for fear. Dillon recovering from her scare lashed out at her hunter, with a fist square in the jaw. Despite his vampire reflexes Marty failed to anticipate Dillons’ adrenaline response to his attack, and felt the full force of the girls speed and strength; he staggered back, rubbing his jaw.
“d**n, you’re stronger than you look.” Marty winced.
“Marty! What the hell? Haven’t you been listening to the broadcast?” She asked unconcerned with his pain. Mimi joined the group just as the broadcast was being repeated.
“Once again, those in the local area are warned to stay inside their homes, and lock their doors tonight, as news of murderer, Jason Myers has escaped his maximum security holdings and has been seen near the Mansbridge Academy. People are urged to phone the police at any sign of an intruder or suspicious activity. Authorities warn not to approach the individual as he is armed and dangerous.”
Dillon looked sternly at Marty and Mimi for a moment.
“This has nothing to do with us; we’ve just been jumping out on people and stuff.” Mimi admitted. Dillon nodded, aware of their games that evening.
“I know this has nothing to do with you.” Dillon switched off the radio. “I suppose we should get to our rooms, before Murdoch finds us downstairs after curfew.” She addressed the party, who nodded, needing no persuasion to run and hide. With the students quickly dispersing to their dorms, Dillon turned back to Marty and Mimi.
“What will you do?” Dillon asked him.
“Who me?” He asked, wondering why she was asking him such a question.
“He’ll have to stay here with us, he can’t possibility go back to his college house with an axe murderer on the loose.” Mimi interjected, affectionately hanging on to his arm, as if she were protecting him.
***
Karl and Essie moved into the central room of the basement following the raised voices that had interrupted their conversation, to see Drew and Merrill glaring angrily at each other.
“I can’t believe you would ask me to do such a thing.” Merrill cried out at the tall dark and handsome vampire.
“Oh cause its nothing like you asking me to go spy on Marty?” Karl gave Essie a questioning look; the blonde merely shook her head in response.
“Checking that Marty hasn’t lost control, is nothing like asking me to read Dillon’s mind!” Merrill shouted back.
Drew became silent aware that the others were watching him, then turned his attention to the pair of vampires that had joined them.
“And what are you too doing?” he asked them.
“Nothing.” Karl answered looking guilty. Merrill smiled momentarily, then her jaw dropped open.
“You’re going to do what?” She cried out.
“Oh so you don’t read human minds, but vampires are ok?” Essie snapped at her.
The four vampires stared at each other across the room, embarrassed that their desires were now openly known, and how their needs could be met if only the others would help.
“Now what?” Mumbled Drew as the lights went out.
***
“Will you be comfortable?” Mimi asked as Marty settled onto the sofa in the common room. “Can I get anything for you?” Marty thought about asking if she was willing to donate some blood, as he was getting really hungry, but figured that his request wouldn’t be greeted so kindly.
“I’m good thanks Mims.” He said, wondering how soon it would be until he could sneak off to the basement, whilst wrapping the blanket around him and organising the pillows behind his head. Mimi sat on the edge of the sofa and stared at him in the dim light afforded by the table lamp. “Shouldn’t you be heading up to your room or something?” Marty asked.
“I don’t want to leave you alone in case that murderer decides to break into the school.” Mimi said quietly. Marty tried not to roll his eyes, as if he was scared of a human he thought.
“I’ll be fine, you go off to bed; don’t want you to get into trouble with Murdoch.” Marty said impatient to feed. Mimi nodded and reluctantly stood up.
“Good night Marty, see you in the morning.” She said as she quickly bent over and pecked him on the cheek. Yeah right Marty thought sarcastically, but his mind changed as his chest was victim to an iron grip as the school was suddenly plunged into total darkness.
Marty could hear Mimi’s ragged panicked breathing in his ear, as her arms held tightly to his torso. Gently he tried to loosen her grip on him, it was futile as in the silence the pair heard the breaking of glass of an upstairs window.
“Oh my God!” Mimi whimpered, Marty smiled out into the darkness, he may well be able to get a proper snack after all, I mean who would care if he fed off a murderer right? Marty tried to stand up but the human body stuck to his side made it difficult but not impossible to move. Marty grabbed Mimi’s petit frame and lifted her up as he stood. He felt the human bury her face into his neck. He could smell the scent of fear irradiating from her, he couldn’t remember the last time he had felt the same sense of fear, the fear of dying. Then the first scream rang through the deathly silent school.
***
The four vampires stood in the dim candle light staring at the shadow that was taking form before their eyes. Within seconds the shadow had become a small creature about a foot in height, pure white skin, dark beady eyes, pointed ears and a huge smile.
“It’s an Imp.” Merrill said.
“A what?” Karl asked an unimpressed Drew.
“Oh no,” Groaned Essie.
“You were behind all this?” Drew asked.
“Ah ha,” It cackled, “t’was a romp indeed!” The Imp said with delight in his voice, slapping its thigh.
Karl looked perplexed at the rest of the group obviously familiar with the foot high creature doing a jig on their table.
“Imp’s are pranksters, once called forth; they hang around until they’ve had their fun.” Merrill answered Karl’s unspoken question.
“And what fun you have been.” It sang merrily, “you were all so easy, all those nasty desires and all those powers.”
“Wait, you said they needed to be called forth, so who did that?” Karl asked as the others looked at each other.
“Oh I think you should be able to guess.” The Imp taunted, "but he did do it purely by accident."
“Marty!” Drew muttered darkly.
“Well, I’ve got to say tonight has been interesting. Vampires living with morals; how ridiculous!”
“We are trying to change our ways.” Merrill said indignantly, insulted at the remark.
“Bored now.” The Imp said, “and there are still hours of Halloween fun left!” The creature did a slight bow, and dissipated into smoke and disappeared.
“Ok, so what just happened?” Karl asked scratching his head.
***
“In here, quick.” Marty guided the frightened human girl into the library, his ability to see in the dark allowing him to confidently lead the way. He shut the door silently behind them, his hand covering Mimi’s mouth to prevent her from screaming at every creak she heard, so to not give away their location, he wanted to get the drop on this guy, but first had to make sure Mimi was out of the way, he didn’t want any witnesses. He turned his back to the wall and stared into the darkness, looking for signs of an intruder in the room. Pain stung his eyes as he was momentarily blinded screwing up his eyes at the sudden but dim illumination of the room, he hands moved to rub his sore eyes and then more screaming began.
Mimi pressed herself up against Marty, as he opened his eyes to see what was freaking the human out. The scene before him was a mixture of his past memories and a delicious dream. The library reminded Marty of a slaughter house, red liquid was splattered across desks, floors, and walls. Pools of it formed on the ground under each body. Malcolms’ body lay limply over a library desk, eyes raised to the ceiling; his throat slashed, blood still oozing out of the cut. Next to him, Dillon’s body was slumped in a chair, a knife protruding out of her chest. Nick lay face down on the floor, a pool of blood forming around him.
“Zach.” Mimi murmured weakly, her knees giving way she sunk to the ground. Marty started to shake but it wasn’t through fear. The angle of Zach’s arm, lying next to the boys’ twisted body was impossible, making the fact it had been severed a foregone conclusion. But there was something wrong with the sight, there was something more wrong with Zach’s body. His head lay on its side, his eyes closed, but a black space separated it from the body.
Marty felt his fangs unsheathe, the picture in front of him was more luscious than he could have dreamt off. All that blood, all that human blood, it seems such a waste. He could feel Mimi hanging on to his legs, trembling with sobs of fear and sadness, and yet all he could feel was the rushing of her warm blood through her veins. The warmth surrounding his legs moved away, and he saw a crying Mimi crawling through the red liquid, towards her brothers’ mangled body. Marty inhaled deeply to catch the scent of the rich nutritious fluid, the vampire paused, the liquid looked like blood, but it didn’t smell like it, quickly he bent down to run his fingers through the pool nearest to him. He frowned at it as he brought his fingers nearer to his lips for a taste.
“Surprise!” Zach’s eyes opened, causing Mimi to scream again. “Happy Halloween Sis!” A torrent of bad language from Mimi assaulted the groups’ ears, as the other dead bodies began to move and join in the happy Halloween greeting. The black sheet expertly covering Zach’s head and real arm moved revealing an unharmed boy to which Mimi clung to for dear life.
“I think my trick won, don’t you?” Malcolm gloated proudly; adjust his glasses to their correct position on his nose.
“Whoa! Marty are you ok?” Dillon asked moving toward the college student dry retching in the corner, Marty nodded as he spat out as much of the fake blood as he could, why hadn’t he taken a smaller taste of what he knew wasn’t the thing he actually hungered for. He closed his eyes and tried to suppress the scene he had witnessed, it was too delightful to bear, and it would be so easy to re-create that scene for real that would be the best Halloween trick. Except he couldn’t risk it, not now he was so close to achieving his goal.
Dillon moved closer to Marty, she gently patted him on the shoulder, but his arm pushed her off, as he moved quickly from the room and out of sight.
“Guess he’s a sore loser.” She said carefully folding her arms across her chest, ignoring the knife still sticking out of it.
***
It is easy for one to use ones gifts for their own purposes. The Mansbridge experiment has shown that my vampires can now question these urges and perhaps in the future will be able to use them for the benefit of mankind.
Dr R Murdoch
Sorry for such the long gap, I didn't get as much writing done over Christmas as I had planned.
Hope you enjoy, as always i don't own the concept or any of the characters etc etc.
Ep 3 – Trick or Treat
Marty Strickland waited patiently for his vampire brethren to emerge from their coffins, as night fell on the Mansbridge Academy. He heard the creaking of lids and knew that his gesture would be kindly received. Karl was the first to emerge from the male dorms, wiping the sleepiness from his eyes he stumbled into the central room.
“What’s all this?” He asked as he surveyed Marty sitting quietly at the table, his hands clasped together resting on the table. Five glasses of red liquid were placed in the middle of the table on a silver tray each with a stick of celery sticking out.
“Breakfast.” Marty said cheerfully, his grin as big as the crescent moon. Karl stood still, wary of the gesture that Marty was making. He scratched the back of his head, and glanced back at the dorm where he caught a glimpse of Drew changing his shirt. Marty stood up and picked up two of the glasses, he moved over to Karl and offered him one of the glasses. “Real Bloody Mary?”
“Maybe we should wait for the others.” The bigger of the two vampires said as he hesitantly took the glass.
“Fine,” Marty said returning to the table, taking a small sip from his glass. Merrill walked out of the girls’ dorm and noted the scene.
“You did this? What’s the occasion?” She asked eying Marty suspiciously as he sat back down at the table.
“What? I can’t do something nice?” The brunette vampire smiled at him, he really is changing she thought to herself, she noddedat him as she too sat down at the table, and waited for the other to arrive before helping herself to a glass. Drew and Essie appeared a few minutes later, greeted with the expectant look of their fellow three vampires.
“Breakfast ready and poured, now this is how I used to be treated.” The blonde royal vampiress said leaning over the table to pick up a glass. Merrill picked up the remaining two glasses and gave one to Drew.
“Cheers.” Marty yelled out as the others took sips of their drinks. He too took a sip of his drink a Cheshire cat of a grin on his face, as he tasted the rich blood on his lips, and allowing the liquid to wash down the back of his throat. He opened his eyes as he heard the gagging sounds of his classmates.
“Tomato Juice.” Drew spat out as his wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve.
“With far too much Tabasco sauce in!” Merrill said tears beginning to roll down her face. Marty couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Happy Halloween!” He said as he walked out of the room, feeling the daggers mentally being thrown at him.
***
The human world is full of those who possess talents and gifts, and the majority use these to the benefit of others. But how will the vampires talents and gifts fit into this world? Do powers that evolved as part of a predatory mechanism for survival fit in with the ideals of the Mansbridge experiment? How will my vampires choose to use their powers in the human world?
***
Dr Murdoch stood before his table of students as he delivered the night’s lesson.
“Each of you have powers that humans do not possess, Drew your astral project for instance, so far you have used these as a way to evade being hunted, or to be the hunter.” Dr Murdoch paused to move around the table, “So far you have only used your powers for self-preservation.”
“Everyone has a super power for a reason.” Marty chipped in.
“I can’t think what the reason for your super ability of being annoying is.” Essie said still bitter from their breakfast trick.
Dr Murdoch smiled to himself and continued his lesson.
“Humans too have strengths and talents, but part of being human and living in the world human is to use these strengths wisely and ethically; to help society. So tonight your assignment is to assess how you can use your powers in the human world, and which would be ethical and beneficial. Marty I believe it is your night to interact with the day school until their curfew so I’m sure I’ll see you upstairs. To the rest of you I bid a good night.” Dr Murdoch nodded at the table and left to return to his study.
***
“Marty, what are you doing?” Merrill asked concern evident on her face.
“I’m going upstairs; I’m really craving some fresh human blood.” Marty chose his words carefully, knowing exactly why Merrill was worried, and smiled at her.
“Marty,” she began hesitantly, Merrill looked hesitantly at her fellow vampire who was trying to overcome his blood urges to kill mortals, “I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? I’m starving!” He whined checking himself in the mirror, red eyes; check. Fangs on show, check.
“Marty, no, you can’t. Think of the experiment, how far you’ve come, you can’t throw it all away for one little craving!” Merrill cried out panicked by the situation; she moved towards him; hanging onto him arm as he tried to move forward. Then she saw it; the flicker of a smile across his lips, “this is just another prank isn’t it?” She said angrily dropping her grasp from him. Marty looked down at where her arms had been and noticed how much he missed her touch. He looked up at her grinning.
“Actually no, Mimi is having a Halloween party in her dorm, and she invited me. Its fancy dress, so I thought I would go as a vampire – what do you think? Do I look authentic?” Marty spun around on his heels, showing Merrill his outfit consisting on his worn leather trousers, black shirt and his infamous long leather coat. “Don’t wait up.”
***
Malcolm frowned at the group before him, Mimi, Dillon, Nick, Zach and Marty. He stood in the doorway of the girls’ dorm, the latest book by Marianne Hackett in his arm, ready for his Halloween read; he surveyed the array of outfits in front of him in the mood lit room. Dillon had reluctantly dressed up as a cheerleader and was constantly fidgeting with her short skirt, pulling it down as far it would go; Nick’s effort of a ghost consisted of a white sheet draped around his shoulders. Meanwhile Mimi and her brother Zach put their peers to shame with their costumes; expertly dressing up as a witch and tribal witch doctor respectively.
“So what are you suppose to be?” Marty asked him, eyeing the dweeb in front of him.
“I’m not in costume, and what are you suppose to be.” Malcolm retorted.
“I’m a vampire.” Marty said proudly, allowing his fangs to show.
“Yeah right, as if real vampires look like that, I mean come on where did you get those contact lenses from? Don’t you know anything about vampires?” Marty’s grin faded and a day dream of Malcolm’s head accidently popping up flickered across his mind.
“Good night Malcolm,” Mimi said whilst was shutting the door in Malcolm’s face.
“Right lets have some fun!” She said as she moved towards the group, her short ripped black skirt swayed as she moved, revealing her slender thighs. She grabbed Marty’s arm and led him to the space she had cleared for the party, her pointed witches’ hat almost poking him in the eye. She sat down patting the space next to her, instructing Marty to also sit down.
“So what are we doing then sis?” Zach asked following suit, placing his maracas’ on the ground as he sat.
“Light as a feather; stiff as a board.” She said smiling. Dillon rolled her eyes as she joined the party.
“What’s that?” Nick asked smiling slightly at what Mimi said.
“Its where someone lies on the floor and everyone else puts one finger under their body and chants light as a feather; stiff as a board, then they are able to lift the person in the air.”
“Yeah right.” Nick snorted.
“No it’s true, a friend of ours did it and he said that they levitated three feet off the floor.” Zach insisted.
“Did you see it happen?” Dillon asked sceptically. Zach and Mimi looked at each other a secret sign between siblings, that suggested the answer was no to everyone else.
“Three feet eh?” Marty said thoughtfully, casting his eyes upward to see exactly how far up that would be, “let’s give it a go then.”
“Ok cool, lift me.” Mimi said already lying on the floor.
“No way, you’re the lightest here; that hardly a true test. Let’s see you guys lift me with one finger.” Nick said budging Mimi over from the central spot on the floor, and lying down. Nick closed his eyes and put his hands across is tummy, “Wake me when I’m in the air.”
Dillon moved over to kneel next to Zach, with Nick lying before them, opposite Mimi sat closely next to Marty. Each of them placed a single finger under Nick’s body and closed their eyes concentrating on the game, except Marty who kept his eyes firmly open watching the humans.
“Light as a feather; stiff as a board.” Mimi began to chant, “Light as a feather; stiff as a board, light as a feather; stiff as a board.” The others joined in and Marty concentrated on Nick’s form.
“Light as a feather, stiff as a...” Mimi’s lead in the chant stopped as she opened one eye to see what was happening, the others soon followed suit amazed as Nick began to lift slowly into the air, their digits no longer in contact with the boys body.
“Oh my god.” Dillon whispered slowly.
“Guys, I don’t think this is working.” Nick commented, sounding bored.
“Open your eyes!” Dillon commanded. Nick did so and frowned confused at the situation. The ceiling was so near that he would see the cracks in it clearly, but that would have to mean.
“Whoa!” Nick yelled out, “Get me down from here!” Marty used every bit of his self-control not to laugh gleefully at the sight before him. Dillon and Mimi actually looked worried for Nick, whilst Zack stood there looking in awe at the floating teenager. The boy was only five or six feet in the air and Marty couldn’t control his telekinesis and resist the temptation to laugh out loud at the same time, so with a cheeky grin, he let the mortal drop.
“Ow!” Nick cried as he once again connected with the floor.
“That was so cool,” Zach yelled out, “Let’s try to do something else.”
“Yeah well I’m not volunteering this time.” Nick groaned, as he gingerly stood up rubbing his lower back.
“Ouija board?” Marty suggested, whilst trying to think of some interesting things he could get it to spell out.
“No way!” Mimi answered.
“Well, what about a séance? It is the one night where the boundaries between the living and dead are more open than usual.” Dillon proposed.
“Got some stiff you want to contact eh?” Nick asked limping slightly.
“How about Sherry?” Dillon advanced quietly and carefully. The room became silent. Marty’s smile faded as he wondered whether they would ever be rid of that mortal.
“Ok,” Mimi said solemnly, “Let’s do it.” The five students sat in a circle, all very serious, an expression Marty was finding hard to maintain, he could smell the apprehension and fear the humans were feeling, and wondered how scared they would be to know that a real live vampire was in their midst. Still a séance, although not particularly frightening to him, held other factors to be weary about. He watched as each of the humans closed their eyes. He himself let his eyes wander the darkened room, seeing perfectly were his fellow playmates could not, he looked for anything he could up the spook factor with.
“Everybody, I want you to concentrate on Sherry. Think of a special memory you have of her.” Dillon commanded.
“What if you didn’t actually know her?” Zach asked, opening his eyes, and disrupting the ambience of the room. The others looked at the witch doctor.
“Well just think of all the stuff I told you about her.” Mimi chipped in.
“And Drew surely told you about Sherry when they were going out with each other,” Dillon directed her sentence at Marty, “You dormed with him or something didn’t you?” Marty looked uncomfortable, as he struggled to come with a satisfactory answer. He could hardly tell them he knew all about Sherry, and in fact he had been one of five vampires who spend a great deal of time observing all of them as they went along with their daily lives.
“Bits and pieces.” He decided was as good an answer as any.
“Well then, just concentrate on that.” Dillon said closing her eyes again. Marty spent the next few minutes of silence, watching the humans sitting in the circle with their eyes closed then turning his attention back to the room, wondering what he could do to show the presence of Sherry’s ghost.
“Sherry; are you here?” Dillon asked out aloud, Marty wondered if she knew how stupid she sounded and suppressed the smirk. The vampire spied the slightly open closet door, and hoped it was old enough to squeak as he opened it further with his telekinesis.
“What was that?” Nick asked, his eyes flying open at the sound.
“What?” Marty asked him.
“There was a sound, a creaking,” he said agitated, “it came from behind me.”
“I didn’t hear anything.” Marty said with a shrug, looking for his next play toy.
“Well I did.” Said Mimi; she backed up the blonde boy who was becoming more spooked by the second.
“The lava lamp!” Zach cried out pointing, everyone looked over to Mimi’s bedside table and her lava lamp, the red orbs of lava bubbling away with the heat of the light below it.
“What the?” Dillon started but was unable to finish her sentence, as the sight she beheld made the words choke in her throat. The dancing globs of red were forming into a single mass in the shape of a horned face with a wicked smile. Marty’s eyebrows raised slightly in surprise at the spectacle before him.
“I am too good!” Marty whispered to himself, but the others didn’t hear him, completely entranced by the face that seemed to be laughing at them.
“That is it, I’m out of here,” Nick said standing up and running to the light switch. The sudden harshness of light caused the others to lose their focus on the lamp as they blinked away the pain. When they next looked, the lamp was as normal, happily bubbling away as if nothing had ever occurred. Marty rubbed away the tears that had formed in his eyes at the light.
“Yeah, I think perhaps we should stop now.” Dillon whispered. Mimi and Zach nodded in unison. Marty wanted to protest but knew that would direction suspicion at him.
“Party’s over I guess,” he mumbled. Nick was already opening the girls’ bedroom door, and leaving before the others began to stand.
“Hey wait up!” Zach called jogging after the boy he shared a room with, not wanting to be alone.
“Well Mims it’s be fun.” Marty said also heading for the door, but with an afterthought he turned, and said something he never expected to say.
“You girls gonna be alright?” He asked.
“Well act...” Mimi began.
“Fine.” Dillon answered before Mimi could invite Marty to spend the night in her bed to keep her safe. Marty nodded and made a hasty retreat for the door. Closing the door behind him, he smacked himself across the forehead.
“What the hell is wrong with me?” He asked himself, “d**n the experiment must be getting to me.” He muttered as he made his way down the corridor. Marty slowly made his way down the main stairs, disgruntled his night of fun had ended so soon, and wondering what he could do with himself now, when he paused. The vampire looked around him, he keen senses alerting him to something.
“Cut it out Drew,” he said out loud, “it wasn’t my idea to try and call forth Sherry, and stop spying on me! Go back to the basement will ya.” Marty continued down the stairs shaking his head, and muttering about astral projection. Behind him a shadow moved across the carpeted stairwell, ‘a vampire living amongst humans’ it mused, ‘with more living in the basement, this night could be very interesting.’
***
Karl watched the Mansbridge day students go about their evening business on the TV monitor before him. Kicking his feet up on the table he sighed and wished he could be like the others and get to spend time with the humans. He was sure that some of them would be into sports, he could maybe get a game going, basketball, baseball, football, it didn’t matter he loved them all. He was an all-rounder and the star player of every team he was on. He would be even better now he was a vampire, with his enhanced strength and speed. But he guessed that would be cheating, he screwed his face up deep in thought about the matter, then pulled his note book towards him and wrote his thoughts down for Murdoch’s assignment.
Karl lifted his head up from his note book, and turned to look behind him. He frowned at the empty space before him, sure there had been someone behind him, then shrugged and returned to his essay.
‘It is such a shame you cannot meet the humans.’ The shadow mused in Karl’s mind, ‘it seems so unfair, I’m sure you wouldn’t harm them.’
Karl frowned at what he had written down, about how it would be unfair to play sports with the humans, and mentally knew he wouldn’t harm them.
“I’ve learnt my lesson; I can control myself, if only Dr Murdoch could see that.” He muttered to himself. The shadow stretched out its mind and smiled when he found what he was looking for.
‘If only there was someone with the powers of persuasion that could make Dr Murdoch believe you could go around with the humans.’
“I wonder if Essie would be able to hypnotise Murdoch into thinking it would be ok.” Karl said thinking out loud as he put down his pen.
‘It’s always worth a shot, perhaps you could try and make Essie jealous by flirting with a human girl, I know you still like her.’ The shadow pressed further then moved away from Karl, as the vampire youth stood up and headed for the girls dorm. It laughed at how easy it was having fun.
***
Marty stared at his note book completely uninterested in his ethics assignment. He wanted to have fun, it was Halloween. Normally a night when vampires shied away from making themselves known to others, Marty had always relished it. It was a night the humans let down their guard and thought that everyone was having harmless fun. A smile crossed Marty’s face as he thought fondly of all his past antics across the centuries.
“Hey, you took your contacts and fangs out.” Marty’s attention was drawn from the past and into the present by Mimi’s voice. Although the human girl had removed her witches’ hat, the tight skimpy black outfit, with torn tights and knee high boots still firmly encased her body.
“Yeah, well I guess Halloween is over for another year.” Marty quipped at her. Mimi pressed her lips together slightly hurt by what he had said, and wondered why he wasn’t as freaked out by the events as she and the others had been, unless, she thought, he had something to do with it.
“That’s a shame,” Mimi said seductively, her fear of the evening events dissipating, the human teenager sauntered over to sit on the desk in front of Marty, “because I was just starting to get warmed up and I think you were having a good time too.” Marty raised one eyebrow at the human, seemingly over their spooky games and so obviously coming on to him.
“Ok,” he said dropping his pen onto the note pad, “impress me.” The vampire said folding his arms across his chest looking up at the petite girl sitting on the table before him, her right leg crossed on top of the other, showing off her perfectly formed thigh, to see what her next move would be.
“Well, I, erm.” Mimi faltered uncharacteristically caught off guard by Marty’s cool behaviour.
“How about,” Marty said leaning in close to her, resting his arm on her thigh, and smiling to himself as she shivered slightly, “we play loads of silly little tricks on people and cause absolute mayhem?” Mimi smiled her confidence restored, leaning down towards Marty’s face she replied.
“I’m game if you are.”
***
Merrill sat reading a large dusty book, filled with stories of powerful vampires from era’s long ago, looking for inspiration for their assignment that extended beyond the powers of her immediate kin. She shuddered as a slight coldness came over her. The brunette looked about her hoping to see that Marty had returned from Mimi’s party, but the space around her was vacant, and a melancholy entered her heart. She looked at the clock, and saw it was nearly time for the day schoolers curfew, her mind wandered into thoughts of what Marty and Mimi could be up to. Were they alone or were the others with them? What kind of party games had they been playing?
‘Perhaps they are playing spin the bottle.’ The thought entered Merrill’s mind seemingly from nowhere, and yet she wondered if there could be any truth in it. ‘Wouldn’t it be good if you could go and have a sneaky look as to what the pair of them are doing?’
“Stop being so ridiculous,” Merrill scolded herself and shook her head, “as if Marty would be interested in a human.” But the nagging feeling of doubt wouldn’t leave her.
‘But you have been pushing him away, and the human obviously likes him, perhaps he’s fed up of trying with you.’ The shadow pushed at the vampires insecurities, Merrill bit her lip and remembered how she had constantly pushed Marty away, in some vain attempt that Drew might like her, now that Sherry was gone.
“Drew.” Merrill breathed, an idea forming in her mind, “perhaps he could use his astral projection to check on what they are doing.” Her lips turning upwards in a smile, as she voiced her thoughts.
‘Yes.’ The shadow hissed, glad it was finally breaking the unusually high level of morality in the vampire before him, but the victory was short lived for both parties as Merrill sighed and wondered what she would tell Drew to get him to go spy on Marty, she couldn’t very well tell him, it was because she was...was... Merrill didn’t want to say the word in her mind, let alone out loud. The shadow sighed loudly, a little too loudly, causing Merrill to look about her once more, sure she was not alone. The dark mist retreated towards the wall, hoping she did not sense it; that would spoil the fun. Then the shadow had an idea.
‘Perhaps you should check that he hasn’t fallen off the wagon.’ Merrill shut her book and promptly stood up.
***
Marty grabbed Mimi towards him as they moved quickly round the corner from a very perplexed and wet Jennifer coming out of the hallway wondering where the water that had suddenly engulfed her had come from. Mimi stifled her laughter by pressing her face into Marty’s black shirt, breathing in his scent. She looked up with a grin on her face and not from the pranks they were playing. Marty pulled Mimi further away from the scene and into the kitchen.
“Did you see Jen’s face?” He asked finally allowing himself to laugh out loud at the scene.
“Yeah it was even better than Nick’s when you jumped out at him in the bathroom!” Mimi answered between gasps for breath as she giggled uncontrollably.
“Ok,” Marty said catching his breath. “Who’s next?” He asked rubbing his hands together in anticipation of his next victim.
“Malcolm.” Mimi said without a beat. Marty thought for a second then opened the fridge door, and saw what he was looking for; pulling out the cardboard box he turned towards his partner in crime.
“Do you know where the flour is?”
***
Drew lay in his coffin, the lid closed, the drawing of Sherry taped to the inside above his face, but the darkness did not prevent him from seeing every angle of her face. He lifted his hand to caress the cheek of the pencil sketch, imagining the smoothness of her warm skin. He was thankful that Dillon had returned this to him. The vision of Sherry in his mind morphed into that of Dillon, causing Drew to pull his hand away from the picture and exhaled sharply. He was not developing feelings for Dillon, he convinced himself, Sherry had been his one, he felt nothing for the girl who he had been able to nurse back to health he decided resolutely, except maybe a feeling of friendship or perhaps that akin to a big brother, he allowed.
The shadow hovered over the coffin, listening with great interest to the mind of its occupant.
Drew’s thoughts continued to wander away from Sherry to that of Dillon, how she seemed to like him poems and sketches, the way she was compassionate enough to think of his needs after Sherry’s death and her endeavour to return his precious sketch, his only reminder of his beloved, the way she had gently place her hand on his knee, when he was overcome with emotion at seeing Sherry’s face again in his drawing.
‘Perhaps Dillon might see you as more than just a friend.’ Drew’s eyes fluttered open at the notion. The shadow smiled as it hit upon the jackpot.
“No, she couldn’t,” Drew whispered to himself, but the thought repeated itself in his mind as if it had a will of its own. Drew closed his eyes and ventured on to the astral plane, but knew it was pointless, Dillon played her cards pretty close to the chest there would be no obvious open sign of her affection, and she wouldn’t talk to anyone about it. Drew opened his eyes again,
“Stupid,” he whispered to himself, “as if she could see a vampire as more than a friend.”
‘But she doesn’t know you’re a vampire, does she? If only you could get into her mind and see what she’s really thinking.’
“Merrill.” Drew said throwing back the lid of his coffin.
***
Malcolm opened the door to his room. The distain for the sting of being hit with something was a close second to that of the sensation of a cold gooey liquid slowly rolling down his face, and by the third hit in quick succession, he had had quite enough, but his assaulters had other ideas, as a warm puff of powder enveloped him. The laughter as he saw two wobbly shapes disappear through his now yolk encrusted glasses, set alight in him an emotion he didn’t feel very often. Malcolm clenched his fists, it had been a lame prank, with no thought behind it, no intelligence; he could do better. He looked at the letter from the University of Vancouver he held in his hand, if he was smart enough to be accepted on their accelerated learning course, then he was smart enough to get his own back on them.
“If they want a Halloween prank, I’ll give them a Halloween prank!” He said to himself through gritted teeth, and moved back into his room slamming the door.
***
Essie stood observing her outfits, wondering whether to prune her wardrobe in preparation for the new arrivals that were being shipped. The royal vampire sensed the intruder entering her dorm behind her, the movement of a shadow in the corner of her eye confirmed her suspicions, her blonde hair flicked about her head and she spun round to question her visitor.
“Karl, what are you doing?” She asked the male vampire standing hesitantly in the archway.
“I was just thinking how cool it would be if we could all hang out together.” The male vampire said.
“Karl, we do all hang out together.” She said already becoming bored.
“I mean all hang out together with the day students,” he looked at the female vampire staring at him oddly, “I mean we could play games together.” Essie raised her eyebrows, “you know like basketball and stuff.”
“Something like vamps versus humans,” she said.
“Well, I think perhaps we should divide the vamps between teams, to make it fair on the humans...”
“Karl,” The blonde cried out interrupting him. Karl stopped talking abruptly.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Essie asked.
“Yeah but couldn’t you like persuade Murdoch to let me join in, just once?”
“Karl,” Essie paused, seeing the need of her fellow vampire, “I would really like to help you, but there is still Malcolm who knows that you died.” She paused again as a shadow crossed her mind. “I suppose I could,” she paused again, looking Karl in the eye, “I mean; the royal family could always do with nerds to look after the archives.”
Karl looked at Essie; she at him; the silence was thick with anticipation.
***
Marty and Mimi tripped down the stairway and into the common room, tears streaming down their faces with laughter. They stopped abruptly at the bottom and saw a group of students huddled together, defying the fast approaching curfew, and oblivious to their entrance. Marty sensed another chance to scare some humans, and silently stalked towards the assembly. As he approached he could hear the voice of a human coming through a mechanical device, a radio no doubt. He spied Dillon in the group, a human who had yet to be victim to his and Mimi’s antics that night. Moving quickly he snuck up behind her, so intent on the radio broadcast, Dillon failed to notice her stalker. Marty gently but firmly grabbed Dillon by the waist, her scream satisfying his hunger for fear. Dillon recovering from her scare lashed out at her hunter, with a fist square in the jaw. Despite his vampire reflexes Marty failed to anticipate Dillons’ adrenaline response to his attack, and felt the full force of the girls speed and strength; he staggered back, rubbing his jaw.
“d**n, you’re stronger than you look.” Marty winced.
“Marty! What the hell? Haven’t you been listening to the broadcast?” She asked unconcerned with his pain. Mimi joined the group just as the broadcast was being repeated.
“Once again, those in the local area are warned to stay inside their homes, and lock their doors tonight, as news of murderer, Jason Myers has escaped his maximum security holdings and has been seen near the Mansbridge Academy. People are urged to phone the police at any sign of an intruder or suspicious activity. Authorities warn not to approach the individual as he is armed and dangerous.”
Dillon looked sternly at Marty and Mimi for a moment.
“This has nothing to do with us; we’ve just been jumping out on people and stuff.” Mimi admitted. Dillon nodded, aware of their games that evening.
“I know this has nothing to do with you.” Dillon switched off the radio. “I suppose we should get to our rooms, before Murdoch finds us downstairs after curfew.” She addressed the party, who nodded, needing no persuasion to run and hide. With the students quickly dispersing to their dorms, Dillon turned back to Marty and Mimi.
“What will you do?” Dillon asked him.
“Who me?” He asked, wondering why she was asking him such a question.
“He’ll have to stay here with us, he can’t possibility go back to his college house with an axe murderer on the loose.” Mimi interjected, affectionately hanging on to his arm, as if she were protecting him.
***
Karl and Essie moved into the central room of the basement following the raised voices that had interrupted their conversation, to see Drew and Merrill glaring angrily at each other.
“I can’t believe you would ask me to do such a thing.” Merrill cried out at the tall dark and handsome vampire.
“Oh cause its nothing like you asking me to go spy on Marty?” Karl gave Essie a questioning look; the blonde merely shook her head in response.
“Checking that Marty hasn’t lost control, is nothing like asking me to read Dillon’s mind!” Merrill shouted back.
Drew became silent aware that the others were watching him, then turned his attention to the pair of vampires that had joined them.
“And what are you too doing?” he asked them.
“Nothing.” Karl answered looking guilty. Merrill smiled momentarily, then her jaw dropped open.
“You’re going to do what?” She cried out.
“Oh so you don’t read human minds, but vampires are ok?” Essie snapped at her.
The four vampires stared at each other across the room, embarrassed that their desires were now openly known, and how their needs could be met if only the others would help.
“Now what?” Mumbled Drew as the lights went out.
***
“Will you be comfortable?” Mimi asked as Marty settled onto the sofa in the common room. “Can I get anything for you?” Marty thought about asking if she was willing to donate some blood, as he was getting really hungry, but figured that his request wouldn’t be greeted so kindly.
“I’m good thanks Mims.” He said, wondering how soon it would be until he could sneak off to the basement, whilst wrapping the blanket around him and organising the pillows behind his head. Mimi sat on the edge of the sofa and stared at him in the dim light afforded by the table lamp. “Shouldn’t you be heading up to your room or something?” Marty asked.
“I don’t want to leave you alone in case that murderer decides to break into the school.” Mimi said quietly. Marty tried not to roll his eyes, as if he was scared of a human he thought.
“I’ll be fine, you go off to bed; don’t want you to get into trouble with Murdoch.” Marty said impatient to feed. Mimi nodded and reluctantly stood up.
“Good night Marty, see you in the morning.” She said as she quickly bent over and pecked him on the cheek. Yeah right Marty thought sarcastically, but his mind changed as his chest was victim to an iron grip as the school was suddenly plunged into total darkness.
Marty could hear Mimi’s ragged panicked breathing in his ear, as her arms held tightly to his torso. Gently he tried to loosen her grip on him, it was futile as in the silence the pair heard the breaking of glass of an upstairs window.
“Oh my God!” Mimi whimpered, Marty smiled out into the darkness, he may well be able to get a proper snack after all, I mean who would care if he fed off a murderer right? Marty tried to stand up but the human body stuck to his side made it difficult but not impossible to move. Marty grabbed Mimi’s petit frame and lifted her up as he stood. He felt the human bury her face into his neck. He could smell the scent of fear irradiating from her, he couldn’t remember the last time he had felt the same sense of fear, the fear of dying. Then the first scream rang through the deathly silent school.
***
The four vampires stood in the dim candle light staring at the shadow that was taking form before their eyes. Within seconds the shadow had become a small creature about a foot in height, pure white skin, dark beady eyes, pointed ears and a huge smile.
“It’s an Imp.” Merrill said.
“A what?” Karl asked an unimpressed Drew.
“Oh no,” Groaned Essie.
“You were behind all this?” Drew asked.
“Ah ha,” It cackled, “t’was a romp indeed!” The Imp said with delight in his voice, slapping its thigh.
Karl looked perplexed at the rest of the group obviously familiar with the foot high creature doing a jig on their table.
“Imp’s are pranksters, once called forth; they hang around until they’ve had their fun.” Merrill answered Karl’s unspoken question.
“And what fun you have been.” It sang merrily, “you were all so easy, all those nasty desires and all those powers.”
“Wait, you said they needed to be called forth, so who did that?” Karl asked as the others looked at each other.
“Oh I think you should be able to guess.” The Imp taunted, "but he did do it purely by accident."
“Marty!” Drew muttered darkly.
“Well, I’ve got to say tonight has been interesting. Vampires living with morals; how ridiculous!”
“We are trying to change our ways.” Merrill said indignantly, insulted at the remark.
“Bored now.” The Imp said, “and there are still hours of Halloween fun left!” The creature did a slight bow, and dissipated into smoke and disappeared.
“Ok, so what just happened?” Karl asked scratching his head.
***
“In here, quick.” Marty guided the frightened human girl into the library, his ability to see in the dark allowing him to confidently lead the way. He shut the door silently behind them, his hand covering Mimi’s mouth to prevent her from screaming at every creak she heard, so to not give away their location, he wanted to get the drop on this guy, but first had to make sure Mimi was out of the way, he didn’t want any witnesses. He turned his back to the wall and stared into the darkness, looking for signs of an intruder in the room. Pain stung his eyes as he was momentarily blinded screwing up his eyes at the sudden but dim illumination of the room, he hands moved to rub his sore eyes and then more screaming began.
Mimi pressed herself up against Marty, as he opened his eyes to see what was freaking the human out. The scene before him was a mixture of his past memories and a delicious dream. The library reminded Marty of a slaughter house, red liquid was splattered across desks, floors, and walls. Pools of it formed on the ground under each body. Malcolms’ body lay limply over a library desk, eyes raised to the ceiling; his throat slashed, blood still oozing out of the cut. Next to him, Dillon’s body was slumped in a chair, a knife protruding out of her chest. Nick lay face down on the floor, a pool of blood forming around him.
“Zach.” Mimi murmured weakly, her knees giving way she sunk to the ground. Marty started to shake but it wasn’t through fear. The angle of Zach’s arm, lying next to the boys’ twisted body was impossible, making the fact it had been severed a foregone conclusion. But there was something wrong with the sight, there was something more wrong with Zach’s body. His head lay on its side, his eyes closed, but a black space separated it from the body.
Marty felt his fangs unsheathe, the picture in front of him was more luscious than he could have dreamt off. All that blood, all that human blood, it seems such a waste. He could feel Mimi hanging on to his legs, trembling with sobs of fear and sadness, and yet all he could feel was the rushing of her warm blood through her veins. The warmth surrounding his legs moved away, and he saw a crying Mimi crawling through the red liquid, towards her brothers’ mangled body. Marty inhaled deeply to catch the scent of the rich nutritious fluid, the vampire paused, the liquid looked like blood, but it didn’t smell like it, quickly he bent down to run his fingers through the pool nearest to him. He frowned at it as he brought his fingers nearer to his lips for a taste.
“Surprise!” Zach’s eyes opened, causing Mimi to scream again. “Happy Halloween Sis!” A torrent of bad language from Mimi assaulted the groups’ ears, as the other dead bodies began to move and join in the happy Halloween greeting. The black sheet expertly covering Zach’s head and real arm moved revealing an unharmed boy to which Mimi clung to for dear life.
“I think my trick won, don’t you?” Malcolm gloated proudly; adjust his glasses to their correct position on his nose.
“Whoa! Marty are you ok?” Dillon asked moving toward the college student dry retching in the corner, Marty nodded as he spat out as much of the fake blood as he could, why hadn’t he taken a smaller taste of what he knew wasn’t the thing he actually hungered for. He closed his eyes and tried to suppress the scene he had witnessed, it was too delightful to bear, and it would be so easy to re-create that scene for real that would be the best Halloween trick. Except he couldn’t risk it, not now he was so close to achieving his goal.
Dillon moved closer to Marty, she gently patted him on the shoulder, but his arm pushed her off, as he moved quickly from the room and out of sight.
“Guess he’s a sore loser.” She said carefully folding her arms across her chest, ignoring the knife still sticking out of it.
***
It is easy for one to use ones gifts for their own purposes. The Mansbridge experiment has shown that my vampires can now question these urges and perhaps in the future will be able to use them for the benefit of mankind.
Dr R Murdoch
