Page 3 of A Vampire Bewitched
Chapter 2
The grass in the field has grown above Emma’s knees and tickles her bare legs. It catches on the bottom of her short, summer skirt as she runs, pulling at the flimsy material. Her sister, Keira is chasing her, and Emma laughs as she chances a look back over her shoulder. Keira is about to catch her, so she squeals and runs faster! Behind her sister, she can see the white lights of the Ferris wheel lighting up the night sky.
It’s so pretty.
The tinkling of the carnival music fades as she and Keira run toward their car parked by the edge of the field. Laughing, they zigzag through the grass, trying to catch each other, stumbling every so often on the uneven ground.
Emma glances back again to find Keira has stopped running. The stuffed dog Emma won for her hangs limply at her side. Out ofbreath and giggling,Emma shoves her hair out of her face and stops, too.
“Come on, Keira!” Emma shouts, but her sister doesn’t move, doesn’t look at her. Gradually, Emma’s smile fades.
Keira’s eyes are white-ringed with terror.
Emma stares at her, confused. “Keira? What’s the matter?”
The hair on the back of her neck lifts straight up. Someone, or something, is behind her. Something has scared her normally brave sister into immobility.
Slowly, reluctantly, she turns around to face this thing that has so rudely intruded upon their night. The first fun time they’d had in the months since their parents died.
The sight before her takes a few seconds to sink in, as it’s made from the stuff of nightmares.
Staggered along the tree line are monsters. Actual monsters. Grotesque creatures with skin oozing the rotting smell of death, and bleeding, bulging eyes. Their bodies are tall and muscular, yet emaciated at the same time. Powerful arms hang almost to their knees. Long, yellowed claws curl at the ends of their fingers. They wear no clothing, and their genitalia hang obscenely between their legs.
The one closest to Emma opens its mouth wide, and saliva drips down sharp, pointed teeth. It pushes its nearly hairless, distorted head forward on its neck and hisses loudly at them.
Emma screamed as Keira yells, “RUN, Emma! RUN!!”
Emma gotto work at 7:55am on the dot, just like she did every morning. And like every morning, she walked through the reception area with a “Good morning, Linda!”
The Receptionist put the romance novel she was reading in the desk drawer. Good morning, Emma.”
The security system beeped when Emma waved her badge over the access pad and she pushed through the door, She strode to her cubicle, locked her purse in her desk drawer, and sat down to boot up her computer. She took a sip of her soy latte while she waited for the outdated thing to wake up, and tried to shake off the effects of the dream she’d had.
She worked for an independent furniture company in their accounting department. Not the most exciting career, but it suited her. The work was routine, with very few surprises, which was exactly how she liked her life.
Or, so she told herself.
At 8:00am exactly, her boss arrived. Smiling broadly, he stopped by Emma’s desk. “Good Morning, Emma! You look especially nice today.”
She glanced down at her clothes. She was wearing her usual work attire—black pencil skirt, silk hose, black, 2-inch heels, and a forest green blouse buttoned up to her neck. A black sweater thrown over her shoulders completed the ensemble. Her wavy hair was styled back off her face, and she wore minimal makeup.
“Um. Thank you, Mark.” She felt a bit awkward as he beamed at her like he’d just won the lottery.
“I have some meetings this morning, so I’ll probably be here late tonight catching up on the regular stuff. Let me know when you’re leaving and I can walk you to your car.”
“Sure. Thanks.” Truth was, Mark walked her to her car almost every night since she’d started working here a year ago.
“I’ll see you then.” Mark rapped her desk once with his knuckles and continued to his office.
She sipped her latte and turned back to her computer.
“He likes you, Emma,” Darlene, her co-worker in the cubicle across the aisle, whispered loudly.
Emma furrowed her brow and whispered back, “Mark is nice to everyone.”
“Yeah, he is. But, Mark doesn’t stop and say good morning to everyone, or compliment what they’re wearing, or offer to walk them to their car every night.” With a knowing look, Darlene turned back to her computer.
Emma frowned at the back of Darlene’s gray head. She decided to ignore the comments and turned back to her computer, which had finally gotten to the log in screen. After all, Mark was married, with three kids. He was just a nice guy who was gentlemanly enough to walk her to her car after everyone else was gone.
