Sleeping With Ghosts: Chapter Two

Chapter Two:1

“Vamps Are Real.”2

It was dark, she hardly knew what was happening but her first thought was oh no! I’m going to be raped! Then she thought of vampires and knew there were worse things than being raped, a chill went down her spine.3

“Stop struggling-I’m not going to harm you!” A man said in a gruff voice. She stopped moving, she knew that voice but she didn’t know where from.4

“Fine.” she said trying to keep her voice steady but fear crept into it despite her efforts. “Who are you?” She said turning around and to her shock it was-5

“Victor.” She was silent for a moment then burst out laughing.6

“Victor! You’re the guy who used to get bullied! I remember the time when-”7

“Shut up!” He said quietly but with so much venom that Cathy fell silent. “You’ve attracted some serious attention.” Victor said while he pulled out a silver necklace with a Christian cross dangling from it. “Put this on.” He held it out to her.8

“Fuck off! I’m not a Christian.” Cathy exclaimed looking at the necklace with disgust. Victor sighed in exasperation. 9

“You will be soon.” He said simply.10

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cathy asked.11

“Vamps, darling.”12

“What are you on about?” Cathy asked, she knew what Victor was saying but she wasn’t sure she was ready to believe it. She had read Dracula, and a few of Anne Rice’s stories, but they were just stories: this was real.13

“Darling, vamps are real.” he spelt it out for her. She felt suddenly light headed, so it was true. Vampires weren’t just blood-sucking villains in stories, they were real, and she had attracted their attention. Could the situation get any worse?14

“Poisoning dear Cathy’s mind Victor?”15

Cathy knew without having to turn around who it was. Yes, she thought, things can always get worse.16

“Gaius!” Victor said shocked. “You didn’t tell me you knew Gaius!” He said to her without turning his eyes away from the slight figure standing a few meters away. “This is bad.” 17

“I didn’t tell you anything you moron.” Cathy said, suddenly getting angry, she heard the laughter which was like small bells ringing on a Christmas tree. “Now, if you’ll both excuse me I have better things to do than talk to a couple of psychos.”18

She tried to push past Gaius but he held her arm tight.19

“I’ll be seeing you around.” he breathed in her ear, she felt a shiver go down her back, then he let go.20

***21

“So you going to that party in the upper precinct?”22

Cathy was laying down in the back of an old blue ford with her legs sticking out of the window, a breeze played with them as Damien drove around town slowly, going nowhere in particular. He passed a spliff back to Cathy who took a long drag.23

“I’m not sure. I’m running out of money.”24

“Aw, come on, I’ll treat you.”25

Damien was Cathy’s drug dealer and had been for years, although he was always nice to Cathy and jokingly flirty with her Cathy had no doubt he could be as mean as an angry lion, and knew that he had a reputation for murder.26

“Okay!” Cathy smiled having just blown a perfect smoke ring.27

“What are we waiting for! Let’s go party! I’ve got coke, weed and condoms!” He whooped. Cathy laughed in the back.28

“I wouldn’t fuck you if you were the last man on the planet.” Cathy snorted.29

“Oh come on love, you know you can’t resist my irresistible charm.”30

“Sure thing cowboy.” They both cracked up while Damien parked in an empty space.31

The city was glowing red in the fading light as Cathy and Damien walked to a seemingly decrepit building, all of the windows were blocked by decaying wood and the door had a huge red X on it, supposedly using the symbol for the plague.32

“Charming.” Cathy commented.33

“Truly.” Damien replied.34

He knocked a strange little tune on the door which was replied a few minutes later by a big man who looked like he needed a good shower and some serious dental treatment.35

“Come on.” Damien told Cathy, she followed him inside, music was booming through the hallway, already Cathy’s ears were ringing from it, but when Damien opened the door the bass almost blew her off her feet.36

They made their way through the sweating bodies to the crowded bar. Damien pushed someone out of the way for him and Cathy, they were just about to retaliate before they realised who it was who pushed them out the way and quickly walked off.37

“Two lagers.” Damien demanded.38

Cathy observed Damien while he stood there, his back stiff, a scowl on his stubbly face. His blue eyes shone in the disco lights and his brown hair licked his neck. He was a very handsome guy but Cathy would never even think about dating him: he was like a brother to her, but not the brother she lost.39

“Damien!” Someone called out from a booth, when they were close enough Cathy could see it was two of Damien’s regular customers, Mary and Harpreet. They squeezed in next to them.40

“Alright man, have a pill.” Harpreet passed them both a pill and before even wondering what it was Cathy swallowed it with her lager. She already felt giddy even though the weed was wearing off making her feel tired.41

Damien was discussing business with the both of them who were looking at him like he was God while Cathy observed the people around her. The bodies seemed to mixed together, the colours smudging while the faces turned into smiling clown faces. She wasn’t scared, she knew it was just the drugs so she laughed.42

“What was in that?” she asked turning to Mary and Harpreet who were laughing at her wrecked expression. They replied but it seemed to be very far away and she couldn’t make out what she was saying, instead she grabbed Damien’s arm and pulled him onto the dance floor. 43

They danced closely to the techno music and strobe lights made their movements jagged. Soon Damien saw a girl he liked the look off and left Cathy to dance on her own. Soon another man had moved in to dance with her and, completely off her head, she started dancing with the handsome stranger.44

He was wearing a Lost Prophets tee shirt and black skinnies. He had two Piercings on his rich red lips and his red eyes (contacts?) looked at Cathy with lust.45

“Do you wanna get out of here?” he shouted over the noise.46

“Sure!” Cathy shouted back.47

He took her hand and pulled her through the crowd, and Cathy completely forgetting about Damien followed without a care in the world.48

“Where are we going?” Cathy asked as soon as they got out of the secret night club. A motorbike sat idle against the wall and the strange boy led her over to it.49

“Downtown, I’m Adrian by the way.” he smirked at her while he passed her a helmet. Cathy put it on not caring too much about her hair, she was high and loving it.50

“Cathy.” she said.51

They both got onto the motorbike, Adrian revved it a few times before taking off in a wheelie. The world turned upside down and soon they were speeding past lights. Everything was a blur for Cathy and she couldn’t stop laughing in delight. 52

Eventually they pulled up in front of a house, it looked like a typical house party: two people were strewn across the grass making out, and music boomed out of the open doorway, from her position outside she could see people dancing in the living room to drum and bass and through the first floor windows there was an orgy going on.53

Adrian switched off the engine and jumped off the bike, he turned around and like a true gentleman helped Cathy off. They left the helmets near the bike and walked into the house hand in hand.54

As soon as they entered the house it was like entering Royston Vesey: everybody stopped what they were doing to look at them but it didn’t freak Cathy out as much as it should have since she was high as a kite. They started muttering to each other and as soon as they saw the glare Adrian was giving them they went back to what they were doing only casting glances at Cathy.55

“Dance with me!” Cathy yelled dragging Adrian to the dance floor. 56

They danced close together Adrian holding onto her possessively. 57

“Do you want to live forever?” Adrian whispered in Cathy’s ear.58

“Hell yeah!” Cathy screamed.59

“I knew you’d say yes.” Adrian smiled before lowering his head to her neck.60

Before anyone could see what was happening Adrian was pushed away from Cathy and crashed so hard into the wall that a dent appeared. 61

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”62

Everyone turned to see-63

“Gaius?” Cathy laughed, this sure was a strange night for her. It was almost like a dream, in fact she was pretty sure it must be. All these strange people, and Gaius, maybe it was all just a very long dream. She laughed again at her thoughts.64

“I’ll ask you one more time,” he said, glaring at Adrian. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Adrian was trembling on the floor, not looking quite so arrogant and cocky anymore. 65

“I-I was just-Please forgive me master.” Adrian stuttered.66

“Don’t let me catch you doing that again.” Gaius said thunderously.67

“O-Okay master.” and he scurried out of the door and revved away.68

“Are you okay?” Gaius turned his eyes towards Cathy who had sat down and was now drinking from someone else’s lager.69

“Peachy.” Cathy slurred. “Say, how come you keep turning up everywhere?”70

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” Gaius sighed looking forlorn. Cathy wanted to reach out and hug him-but no, she shouldn’t be thinking that about a vampire for God’s sake, and from she heard he’s the one in charge.71

“Well sorry for wrecking the party guys!” Cathy shouted and jumped up suddenly full of energy. “I’m off!” 72

“She can’t go! Not now!” A woman cried out, Cathy didn’t even turn to look at who had spoken, she just wandered towards the door in a semi-conscious state. Before she could get to the door a man who looked like he was in his mid-thirties stood in front of her.73

“Hello? I’m trying to walk here.” Cathy said to him, he just stared at her with stormy grey eyes.74

“Gaius! You can’t possibly be thinking of letting her leave!” The same woman shouted.75

“No, I’m afraid I can’t let you go. Not now you know the truth about us.”76

“And I’m afraid you’re gunna have to.” Cathy turned, recognising that voice, and saw that victor was standing to her side in army uniform he was holding a gun, but it wasn’t a normal gun, it had the end of stake pointing out of it.77

“You look so cool.” Cathy blurted out. He smirked slightly but didn’t take his eyes off Gaius, he took another gun out of his holster and pointed it at the vampire who was stopping Cathy from leaving.78

“Move.” he said, and the vampire, clearly scared, stepped out of the way.79

“Thank you very much.” Cathy directed at the vampire before walking down the pathway to the road, Victor followed, still facing the vampires.80

“Get in the car.” He demanded, and Cathy happily complied. With the squeal of tires they were off into the night to God knows where. Gaius’ strangely sad face reflected in the wind mirror before they turned a corner.81

They pulled up after a ten minute drive at a darkened house. All of the blinds were closed revealing no light from the interior, apart from the ominous atmosphere around it, it looked quite nice with a large patio and beautifully tended gardens.82

“This is where you live?”83

“Yeah,” he said gruffly.84

“So, Vicky,” Cathy said, mocking him by using the nickname people used to call him back in school. “What got you into vampire hunting?” She tried to imitate Jeremy Kyle.85

“None of your business.” Victor growled and opened the door, it was surprisingly light and busy. There were other people wandering around looking busy in army uniforms the same as Victor.86

He led her through into the kitchen and took out two lagers handing one to Cathy which she gladly took and gulped down.87

“You really need to be more careful.” Victor told her.88

“Don’t tell me what I need to do.” Cathy told him in a lazy way.89

“If it weren’t for me you would have either been dead or abducted tonight.” Victor said viciously slamming his lager onto the worktop. Cathy watched as the froth spilt up the can and down onto the worktop. It was somehow fascinating.90

“Are you listening to me?” he sighed when Cathy didn’t answer. “Listen-I think it would be a good thing if you stayed here for a while, there’s plenty of protection and the vampires might soon forget about you then you can go back to your-” he paused looking at her drugged up state. “Life.” 91

“Fuck you Vicky, I’m not staying here. In fact I’m leaving right now.” She stood up and walked to your own door.92

“Leave at your own peril!” Victor shouted, to which Cathy laughed. “And God save your soul.” he muttered after the door shut.