Vampirony

Sitting at the bar waiting:  Weds night, Ladies Ladies Night at the EO Bar, DJ stage somewhat out of space and time for the “library chic“ of the rest of the hotel lobby.  Strange crowd includes our lesbian friends here supporting their girl, suits sizing up their newly introduced female companions in overly short, overly tight attire, the odd couple enjoying a chat over cocktails in window booths overlooking the balmy night.

Enter Vampire Skovajsa.  Overlarge black leather jacket, black slacks, dark leather shoes.  Dark hair, dark eyes, first guess Greek or Slavic.  He senses for a moment, not sure if it’s for prey or me. (Maybe me in both cases?)  Warm night for that jacket, must not have fed recently.  Somewhat dated look completely overwhelmed by lack of movement.  Tightly controlled but still unable (unwilling?) to keep his negative energies from causing the bartender to flinch when he leans across the bar.  Handles that effortlessly as he charms the bartender over to ask for me. 

Moment of decision: my sense for vampires not liking this so far, his pick of locale, his utter discord with it.  Something tells me this guy is trying to impress with his first date selection.  But I should ride it out.  He seems harmless enough.  For now.

I slide my card to him at the bar, smile to myself.  Am I just another female companion being paid for my services here tonight?  Hand in my jacket taps the ‘record’ button.

He ignores normal introductions:  “Aren’t you going to suggest we retire to a more, um, private locale?” voice thick with accent.  He’s learned English very recently or acting it up that way.

“That depends, Mr. Sko…”
“Just Skovajsa.”
“Yes, well, Skovajsa, that depends on what you expect me to do for you.”
Carefully regards me.  “You are the, um, psychologist. You tell me.”
“That’s not how this works. You have to want my help. If you don’t have a specific reason you called, then I think we’re done here.”
I give him a moment.  He’s doing what I call Computing.  Some vamps lose a lot of their emotional base when they are turned; they can have trouble reading humans because of it.  They try to mimic what they think the human reaction should be.

I ease off the bar stool, start to move past him.
He takes my arm, not with force I note, “Wait.  Please.  Sit.”
I resume my seat, thankful.  At least seated, I don’t have to crane my neck to keep eye contact.  “So?”
He turns his head full towards me and I know it’s coming before he even speaks.  Eyes widen, voice guttural with what can best be described as a reverb effect to it:

 “Don’t you want to be alone with me?” 

Ah, vampires.  Sometimes you can set your watch by their moves.  Especially an uncomfortable one.  This wasn’t to the level of entrancing but a strong attempt at persuasion for sure.   And using Vox Compulsum, “the Compelling Voice.”  That’s not nice.
“I think you want to go with me.”
“I bet that works on lots of the ladies.”
He blinks, surprised.  Yeah, I can’t help it if I always enjoy this moment.  It reaffirms everything I’ve been through and maybe forgives some of what I’ve done.  Being immune to most vampire powers means being in a position to cut to the chase. 
“You’re not afraid of me…Why then did you sit back down?
“I like to wait for the punch line.”
I tap my card on the bar.
“Keep the card. When you think of a reason to talk, we can try again.”
I leave him standing there, nonplussed.  Catch a cab immediately and leave the area, heading back over the 520 bridge.  I’ve got the recording, bartender should call me for the end credits, then I’ll record my observations.  For now, I just want to absorb.

This entry was posted on July 18, 2009 at 1:29 am and is filed under Fiction, Vampirony, writing with tags creative writing, Fiction, preternatural, psychology, reincarnation, supernatural, vampire, vampires, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.