Chapter Eleven

An entry by Patrick Symmonds. A re-encounter with Andrew Buckley.

"As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me... a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal."

- An excerpt from Bram Stoker's Dracula

An entry by Patrick Symmonds

Vampires don’t melt in the sun. We don’t... disintegrate into a puff of smoke or... dust... ash. Our skin doesn’t shimmer either. You can’t tell us apart that easily. Isn’t that unsettling?

It’s true that my race couldn’t walk out into the sunlight once, but that was years ago... almost two thousand years ago actually. But we evolved over time and developed a resistance to UV rays. Sunlight no longer held us back, and I guess that’s when Vampirism really took off.

As the Vampires stepped out into the light they brought the darkness with them, and it came down hard on their human cousins. Years of war raged on, and lands were cluttered with the bodies of fallen men, women and children- Vampires and humans alike.

It’s strange to think of it now- this shunned history, this time of death and hatred. How can prejudice really be dead when the wounds of what was run so deep?

Andrew came to visit a few days before we moved. He brought me a present; a build-it-yourself toy aeroplane and a 500g packet of Marshmallows that he ended up eating most of. “You’re gunna get all hyperactive,” I said, making a face.

“Nu-uh!” He retorted and picked up my beat-up looking baseball bat. “This is cool,” He said.

“It’s okay,” I shrugged, and watched him pummel a rock into the ground with it.

“This could do some serious damage,” He said.

“I guess,” I replied and rolled up the sleeves of my oversized jumper as I got up off the backdoor step and walked towards him.

I put my hands in my pocket and watched him swing the bat at an imaginary ball. “You could take someone’s head out with this,” He said and grinned at me, squinting in the sun.

“Whose head would you wanna take out?”

“Dunno,” He said and turned around to swing the bat again, “Well, Raymond for a start,” He added in afterthought, “That guy’s a dipstick!”He giggled.

Sometimes it was hard to tell if Andrew was joking, or if he was being dead serious. His laughter confirmed nothing- if anything it hinted at a frightening sadistic side to him I wasn’t comfortable considering.

“Don’t you got someone you’d like to take out though, Patrick?” He asked suddenly and I looked up at him.

“No,” I said.

“So you’ve never been in a Fang Club before?” Andrew asked, sounding amused as he grinned and slung his arm over my shoulder.

“No,” I repeated with a heavy sigh.

Andrew had changed. It was as if the dark, monstrous soul that lived inside the innocent, bright-eyed 11 year old had finally outgrown its guise. He was dressed in a black overcoat and purple pinstripe skinny jeans with a studded belt and chains hanging off his belt loops- and he fiddled with them, twisting the chains around his black-nail-polish-painted-fingers and leaving red marks. He had a jet black fringe that hung over his eyes now, and had to toss his head back to catch a waitress’ eye as she walked past. They exchanged a smile before she disappeared into the sea of black clad patrons.

I caught glimpses of scars on his otherwise immaculate olive complexion; the purple bruise that framed his left eye, the stitches on the eyebrow just above it, and the bruise around his lip ring. He swiped it with his tongue and turned to me with a grin. The only thing that remained was that mischievous smile and that knowing glint in his eye- like he was always up to something devious. “So that makes you a virgin,” he giggled. I scoffed and folded my arms. Andrew had changed so much, but I had stayed the same. I wondered what my life would be like if I hadn’t moved, and we had stayed friends… and if I had ended up in a place like this.

He reclined back in the leather couch we were sitting on- so far back his t-shirt hitched up and exposed a tattoo just below his belly button; a bat with a skull in its chest. “Andrew…” I began, as carefully as I could, “What’re you doing here?” Part of me had made up my own mind as to why a guy his age was in a place like this; with Andrew’s taste for dark things, I suppose all he really needed was someone to lead the way. I looked around and saw a room full of possible candidates for enablers and so-called mentors. How much money or drugs or blood was he promised to become someone’s lap-dog?

“No one’s called me Andrew in awhile,” He said, “Its Sisky now, usually…” he giggled like it was all some sort of joke.

“Sisky?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” He shrugged, and took a deep breath in, his expression suddenly turning vacant. “It was Peter for awhile, then Sid- but it’s Sisky now, Sisky’s really sticking,”

“You work here?” I asked.

“Yeah,” He smiled, and sat up again, “Run errands and stuff mostly,” he said. “I’m a uh- sort of roadie for the Trail of Dead…” I hadn’t heard of the band, but I nodded anyway.

I had run out of questions, and we sat in silence for awhile. We watched the crowd; more patrons poured in through the front doors and more glasses and vials were filled, and the band was finally setting up for the night. The drum skin read “Trail of Dead”. “You know you’re the last person I would’ve picked to walk into a place like this,” Andrew said.

I turned to face him and saw his eyes were transfixed on one of the musicians who were setting up on the small glass stage.

“I wouldn’t have picked running into you here either,” I shrugged. The guitarist shot a glance up at us and Andrew dropped his gaze to the table in front of us. “Is it true what they say about these places?” I asked and he looked up at me.

“Every word,” He smiled.

I smirked and leaned back into the couch, “I’m not sure why I’m even here, I just drove, and ran, and I looked up and here I am,” I said and a sigh followed.

“Funny,” Andrew said, “That’s how I ended up here too,”

Andrew was anything but a model student, or a model son, or a model citizen, but I hung out with him anyway. He was good for a laugh, and had an imagination that stretched beyond reasonable boundaries of time and space- anything and everything was an adventure, and the world was his playground. At least, that’s how I remembered him; age 11 and still not quite disenchanted with the tired old world we lived in.

I hadn’t known him for very long, but we became inseparable in the few years that we knew each other. Then again, there weren’t many vampire kids in our neighbourhood- we were best friends by default, even if my mother never liked the idea of us playing together. I think she always preferred that I would make friends with the mere mortals and make a life-long career out of being a weaver… I guess that makes me a disappointment.

“Something about that Buckley boy,” She would say, “It’s not quite right,” But anyone within a 30 mile radius could have known that, or felt that- deep down inside and boiling up slowly was a dark monster waiting to erupt.

Now and then it would get the better of him, and it would extend beyond the disturbing jokes and the strange passing comments. “Hey Patty, what’re you doing?” he had climbed over my fence one day and found me in the back yard glued to my Nintendo console.

I shrugged and squinted my eyes in the sunlight as he walked towards me, looking a little disappointed. “Nothing,” I said, “What’re you doing?”

“Nothing,” He shrugged, and sat down in the grass next to me. “My parents grounded me, I’m not s’posed to be here,” He said, “So you can’t tell anyone,”

I nodded, this was a usual occurrence. “What did they ground you for?” I asked.

He let out a disgruntled sigh and put his fist under his chin, “They found out I stole Mrs. Bryar’s cat,” he said, “He got stuck in the garbage disposal,”

Andrew ordered us a couple of glasses of blood that he assured me belonged to a dozen or so rabbits. But I was hungry enough not to require any persuasion. He watched me drink and said: “Well that’s what we called her anyway,” and watched me spit back into the glass with a laugh. “Take it easy Patty, I was only joking,” he sniggered. I wiped my chin and laughed too, I didn’t mind being the butt of the joke- to be honest it looked like Andrew could have used a laugh. “So who’s the girl,” Andrew asked suddenly as he took a sip of his glass.

“What?”

“Who’s the girl you’re running from?” he said, then sat down the glass, “Or guy,” he smiled.

“Uh- Hayley,” I said, “Girl…” I added uncertainly as he placed a hand on my knee.

“Well, just making sure,” He said, “What happened?”

I paused for awhile and sighed, wishing the question hadn’t come up and that he didn’t have his hand on my knee. “She’s not a vampire,” I finally replied.

“Juicy,” Andrew said. “What did you do? Bite her?”

Silence.

“Oh my God,” Andrew’s eyes grew wide, “Well, well, well,” he grinned, “Maybe you are made for a place like this,”

I didn’t like what I heard, and wished for him to take it back. I wasn’t meant for a place like this, all the evil and all the sin; all the archaic practices of age old outlawed traditions. I could barely take it. I hated being reminded of the sick thing I was. I hated what I had done to Hayley. I hated being witness to all these things; the big secret; I wished it all away but it stuck. I hated being a part of this terrible, never-ending cluster-f**k. I just wanted to be normal. I looked up just as a gaunt girl walked in- she looked a bite away from death, and the eyes around here watched her like a flock of vultures would a dying outcast of the herd.

All along I had been wishing for the same thing my mother was; normalcy. I guess that makes me a hypocrite.

“Dude, you alright?” Andrew said and I looked up to nod at him with a hesitant smile.

“Yeah,”

“Sisky,” A voice said and we looked up in unison. It was the guitarist from the band that was setting up. He had messy short black hair and white porcelain skin that matched the pale ice-blue contacts he was wearing. He had a hand on his belt buckle; a bat with a skull in its chest, and a cigarette hanging off his lips that he removed to speak to Andrew. “Need a favour if you’re done sitting around,” he said and shot me a glance. “Who’s this weaving piece of-”

“Just a friend,” Andrew put in quickly. He looked nervous.

“Right,” The guitarist smiled at me in a way that made my skin crawl, “Didn’t know you had friends, Sisky,” he laughed. “Nice to meet you,” He said, giving me a once over that matched what he said next; “How much for this one then?”

I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, and it must have shown in my expression. Andrew’s face turned red and he stood up, “He’s not- uh, just… I’ll be there okay,” he stammered and whispered something to the guitarist that made him shoot me a look and another smile. I saw him put his finger through one of Andrew’s belt loops and tug him towards him forcefully. He whispered something into Andrew’s ear and let go suddenly with a laugh. He left, giving me a wink before he walked towards his band again.

I saw the name “Sisky” was tattooed to the back of his neck and let a moment of silence pass between us.

“I’ve gotta go,” He said. “You should probably go too,”

“What’s going on, Andrew?” I asked. “That was really weird,”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” He said. “I’ve gotta go help them set up and stuff, I’ll see you later ok,” He could barely look me in the eye when I stood up to face him.

“Are you in some sort of trouble?” I asked him in a hushed voice.

“Not if I go now,” He said and shot me a smile, “Come back again okay?” He said, “It was nice to see you,” He left abruptly, and with Andrew gone I figured it was as good a time as any to leave myself.

I pulled my hood up and made it out the front doors, the bouncers nodding at me as I walked out. I figure they must have thought I was going to be a new regular. As I crossed the threshold into the real world I wondered if I should have asked Andrew to leave with me- but then considered the pain that would come with reacquainting him with the outside world. I got to the car and saw my phone was sitting in the passenger seat, boasting 15 missed calls on its screen, all from Hayley. I got in the car, and with one more glance back at the Manor, hit the accelerator and hit the call button on my phone.

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