From Darkness Comes: The Horror Box Set (5 page)

Sunglasses at Night

“So you are just going to meet this person with no sort of backup?” Lisa huffed.

“I made sure that we would meet in a public place,” I said as I tossed my bag in the passenger seat.

“Yeah…and that worked out so well in Estacada. A vampire snuck up on you, hexed me, and vanished into thin air. And shall we bring up the whole chunk of your memory that you lost?”

“I got it back,” I insisted. At least I think I did…most of it at least.

“This is a bad idea, Ava.” There was something in Lisa’s voice that I wasn’t used to hearing. That’s probably why I didn’t know what it was right away. It took me a few minutes.

“Are you worried about me?”

“Of course I am
, you idiot!” Lisa actually had that shiny look in her eyes, the type people get when they are right on the verge of crying.

“Look, I really appreciate it…you have no idea how much.” And she didn’t. Maybe that was part of the problem. Somewhere along the way, we stopped really telling people what they meant. Sort of like that joke, “Of course I love you, I told you once, didn’t I? If it changes, I’ll let you know.”

It was another one of those moments. When I had killed myself, not even my neighbors missed me. That was mostly because they had no idea who I was. I doubt that I had said more than a dozen words to all the other residents in my apartment complex back in those days. I kept to myself and they did the same. If somebody showed up on my doorstep with a casserole when I moved in, I
probably
would have waited for them to leave before I scraped it into the trash. Hey! Who knows what they put in that thing, right?

I had simply become accustomed to having nobody ask or care about my well-being. Now that I did, I don’t think that I had really been appreciating it.

“Look,” I turned to face Lisa and give her my full attention, “I know that this might be a little bit dangerous. But that is also why you can’t come with me. Morgan warned me against involving you in this case at all, and I did it anyways because I didn’t think.”

“What if something happens to you?”

“First off, the house is bought and paid for, and second you are listed as my beneficiary.”

“I don’t care about any of that!” Lisa snapped
.

“Well if you are worried about me, don’t be. I’m a ghoul for cr
ying out loud!”

“That doesn’t mean you are invincible,” Lisa shot back. “Nothing is really immortal. That is the problem with things like vampires, they think they can’t be
hurt all the way up to the point when somebody drives a stake through their heart. You already know that you can’t be out in the sun, but I bet there are other ways to hurt you that we don’t know.”

I wanted to
know
what brought on this sudden display of emotion. I knew it had to be more than just simple PMS. She was almost in tears…correct that. The first couple started to trickle down her cheek.

“I
f I promise to be careful, will that make you feel better?” I asked.

“No,” Lisa said. “You won’t mean to, but you will do or say something stupid and get yourself in trouble. It isn’t a bad thing, it’s just the way you are, Ava.”

I was almost hurt. The only problem was that I knew what she was saying. I couldn’t keep my big mouth shut.

“So what will help you feel better?” I asked.

“Take me with you,” Lisa insisted.

I thought it over. I could almost imagine the little angel and devil sitting on my shoulder arguing. If I took her with me, she would feel better, but I would possibly be putting her in serio
us danger. So is this what it was like being a parent? I mean, I feel responsible for her, but at the same time, I want her to still be my friend. One thing was for sure, when this whole thing was over, I was going out and buying some books on the whole parenting subject.

“Fine, you can go, but you have to do what I say,” I
conceded.

“Okay!” Lisa was al
ready zooming around to the other side of the car and shoving my bag on the floor.

We headed for the meeting with the mysterious stranger. I tried to let my music do its
magic and clear my head, but something about all of this was bothering me.

When we arrived, I found a spot to park and turned to Lisa with as serious of an expression on my face as I could muster.

“I will be going in alone. I want you to stay here in the car and keep an eye on the place. And I will be sitting close to a window. I want you to keep an eye on me.”

Lisa nodded. “Just don’t forget to grab me a Cock-N-Balls!”

For those of you who have not been to Voodoo Doughnut, you are missing out on quite an experience. They have some very creative people coming up with the names of their doughnuts. This one is a local favorite. I imagine that women order it more often. Most men probably wince at the idea of publically announcing that they would like a Cock-N-Balls. Big sissies.

“Fine. Now sit tight and keep the doors locked.”

I walked across the parking lot. I could already see that the place was empty except for the employees. I walked in and smiled at the girl behind the counter. She smiled in that way that only those who work in the service industry can truly master.

There was one bonus to coming here of all places. It was sufficiently weird enou
gh that I did not need to spray paint myself. Wearing my sunglasses to cover my solid black eyes would be sufficient. I glanced up at the menu and caught a whiff of something nasty. I tried not to look obvious, but when I looked up and the girl in back making doughnuts met my gaze, she flashed just the tiniest glimpse of fang. Hmm…a vampire working the late night shift at Voodoo? Interesting.

“Try the Old Dirty Bastard, it is amazing,” a voice almost giggled in my ear.

Remember that whole thing about me regarding how I felt about anything that could sneak up on a ghoul and a vampire? Well if I’d had anything in my bladder, it would have been rather embarrassing. However, the sound of my nails clicking on the floor was bad enough. Fortunately, I was able to slip my hands behind my back before the girl at the counter noticed.

“How about a Voodoo D
ozen, you pick,” I said, trying my best not to spin around and face whoever this woman was that had managed to sneak up on me and whisper in my ear. “And also one Cock-N-Balls.” I had never actually ordered one, and I guess I expected a smirk or a dirty look. The girl behind the counter simply grabbed one of their famous pink boxes and started pulling an assortment of doughnuts from the various racks.

“Now—” I spun around ready to lay into this woman, but ended up standing there with my mouth open like an idiot. She was already sitting at a table with her hands folded neatly in front of her.

Fine
, I thought. She could wait. I was going to stand here until my order was filled, and then I would go over and see who and what this woman was.

I paid for my doughnuts and dropped a ten in the tip jar. Now that I had taken care of my business, it was time to meet
Adrianna.

As I walked across to her table, I took the time to get a rea
lly good look at her. She had dark hair, a maple syrup brunette if I had to nail down the color, and it was done in a really cute style that I could never pull off. You know that thing where it looks long on one side, but short on the other. On me it would just look like my hairdresser goofed.

Since she was dressed in
really
short shorts, I got to see her legs. Not that I go looking at other women’s legs, but hers really drew my attention. She had all the appearance of somebody who should be a natural warm olive tone. Yet, they were as ivory white as the rest of her skin, but her hair had already told me that she was not an albino. However, it was the tattoos that drew me in.

You know those comedy and tragedy masks that are on the Mötley Crüe
Theater of Pain
album? Well she had one of those on each leg just above the knee. At least I thought they were tattoos until one of them yawned. I think it was the sad face.

As for her eyes, well, that was the other giveaway that she wasn’t an albino. As far as I know, albinos have red eyes or pink or something. What I am certain of is that they are not all yellow where they should be white and then a sort of swirling brown and green with flecks of gold.

Yep. She was definitely a supernatural.

I took a seat across from her and tried not to be obvious as I looked out to the parking lot and checked
on my Corvette…and Lisa. Of course I was checking on Lisa! I just happened to also be able to see how pretty my car looked at the same time.

Adrianna
folded her hands on the table and that was when I got my next surprise. Her hands! Okay, for you to really understand this, you have to realize that Adrianna is
very
pretty. Not in that girl-next-door-pretty. Nope, she is more I-am-so-out-of-any-boy’s-league pretty. But her hands? They needed that Palmolive lady or something. Her nails looked like she trimmed them with a rusty chainsaw and they were all wrinkled and pruny like she had been in the pool for a week. Basically they were gross.

“If you are worried about your little human, don’t
be,” Adrianna said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I agreed to meet you, so I am bound by certain rules.”

“What sort of rules?” Might as well take this opportunity to learn a few things.

“Since I called for this meeting, I cannot make any attack on you or your representatives.”

“Umm, I guess that is
nice,” I said with a shrug. “So-o who set these rules?”

“Are you going to waste all of our time on such trivial ma
tters?”

That was the first time I noticed something odd about her voice. There was a bare
ly noticeable sort of echo. No…it wasn’t
exactly
an echo. You know when cheap horror films have that sort of layered voice thing that they use when somebody is possessed? It was like Bowser from Sha Na Na was repeating everything that Adrianna said, but just a fraction of a second late and from the same mouth.

“Look,” I decided that I was going to be assertive. Mayb
e I had been too much of a pushover when I first met Morgan. Now she thought that she could just walk all over me. “I have no idea who…or
what
for that matter…you are, but since you called me and supposedly can’t hurt me right now, I have some questions.”

“Fine.”
Adrianna sat back. I guess I had the floor…or the table.

“Do I get a certain number of questions?” That might be good to know in advance. “And this one doesn’t count if I do!”
Whew! Didn’t want to get caught with that little trick.

“How about we be fair?
” Adrianna proposed. “You ask a question and then I ask one. We trade off five each. Then we can get down to business if there is anything that remains to be discussed once we have finished.”

It sounded fair, but I bet anybody who has signed a deal with The Devil thought it was a good deal at first. Hey, did you know that you could actually do that? I was blown away. You are probably wondering how I kno
w this. Yeah, well one of the ghosts that I have talked to in the past made one. I guess she asked to live forever. Somehow, The Devil managed to find a loophole in his contract that allowed her existence as a ghost to count as living by equating living with existing or something along those lines. I tend to space out a bit when she starts talking and so I may have missed some of the details.

“…and nobody has to die tonight.”

Wait…what?
I hate it when my mind wanders. I mean it has its advantages because it makes it easier to go to my ‘happy’ place—damn, I’m doing it again, aren’t I?

“So who goes first?” No sense in making her angry by showing that I w
as not paying her the slightest bit of attention. Besides, the important thing I heard was that nobody ‘has to die tonight.’

“Since I invited you to meet, I will
allow
you to go first,” Adrianna said. That deep voice thing was gone. I wonder if that meant she only did it at certain times. Although there was the way she said the word ‘allow’ like she meant it in the most literal sense.

“Okay.” I wanted to make sure I didn’t ask anything stupid.
After just a moment of thought, I had it! The first question was so obvious. How could I ask anything else?

“You are obviously not human, so just what
exactly are you?” It would help to know just what I was dealing with.

“Silly girl,
I thought you already knew that one. I am The Queen of the Zombies.”

Always Something There to Remind Me

If I would have been eating or drinking anything, I would have done an excellent spit-take. As it was, my wide-open mouth was probably sufficient.

“Ah.”
Adrianna smiled and clicked her horrendous fingernails on the surface of the table. “You either know who I am, or have heard tales.”

I tried to reconcile the person I had just been told was r
esponsible for wiping out like half the population of the world with this petite—and let’s face it, if not for the hands, she would be sickeningly hot, not that men notice things like hands when confronted with curves that scream Victoria’s Secret—brunette that sat here smiling like nothing was wrong. It just did not seem to add up. And then there was the name: Adrianna. Not very European in my opinion. Wasn’t that the girl from
Rocky
? Now had she said Monique or Giselle, I could have seen the connection a little clearer.

“So, since knowledge is power, my question to you is
this…who told you about me?”

Well, it wasn’t like I owed Belinda anything. “A vampire named Belinda.”

Adrianna mulled this over and seemed okay with the answer. But now I was suffering from stage fright. Yes, I had The Queen of the Zombies (yep…she gets the caps now) sitting right here, and I had four questions left to ask. The only problem was that now I didn’t know which ones. After all, if she had wiped out half the world, then what was she doing in Estacada, Oregon? And was she really setting zombies loose out there in the woods? Should I think local or global?

“Are you letting zombies loose in the woods of Estacada?” That seemed like a pretty important question.

“I…” Adrianna started, but her voice seemed to fade and got a little strangled. She shot me a dirty look like I had just done something wrong. “The zombies in the woods outside of Estacada are mine, yes.”

She took a deep breath and seemed really annoyed for some reason. Since I hadn’t
done anything wrong—that I knew of—I decided to let it go.

“And just what sort of creature might you be?”
Adrianna leaned forward. I wondered if that is how a mouse feels when the cat has it by the tail.

“I’m a ghoul,” I said. That seemed like an easy one. I was a bit perplexed that she had to ask considering how old she must be if she had started the Black Plague.

“How interesting.
”

Adrianna
had a new expression on her face. I remembered back to when I was just a little girl and my mom took me and Sophia Riggs to see the movie
The Jungle Book
for my ninth birthday. This was that Disney cartoon version with those talking vultures that were sort of beatnik knockoffs of The Beatles. (Of course I didn’t get that reference until I was much older.) In the cartoon, I remember being so afraid of that damn tiger that anytime I heard somebody speak with a British accent for the next two years, I would run and cry. There was something sinister in that tiger’s smile…kudos to the cartoonists on that one. My point being, I was seeing something in Adrianna’s eyes now that had not been there a moment ago. It was like she was staring at a buffet after having been without food for at least a month.

“Are you planning on trying to wipe out the world again?” Yay for me. I was thinking of everybody else like a good little girl.

“No, and how are you doing that?” Adrianna snapped after getting that look on her face like I was kicking her or pinching her under the table; which I wasn’t if you are thinking that.

“Doing what?” At least those are the words that came to the very tip of my tongue. However, something seemed to click in my brain and all I could do was answer the question. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Okay, stop talking!” Adrianna was using that creepy voice trick again, but the low voice was actually a bit louder than her regular voice. If my guess was correct and that was tied to her being angry, then she was starting to get really pissed.

“But—” I was about to ask what was wrong when she put one of those super gross hands on my mouth. That certainly shut me up.
It smelled like candy.

“We are bound by our agreement to ask and answer five questions.” She said all of that like it was really important. “I initially thought that you were being exceptionally clever when you chose to meet here of all places. This location and the other have certain aspects that can be either a help or a hindrance for the supernaturals who might frequent the establishment.”

Now I had a bunch of questions. The problem was, every single time that I opened my mouth, Adrianna made for me with one of those hands. If she kept doing that, I was going to end up having a snack. And trust me, it wouldn’t be one of the doughnuts.

However,
I can’t begin to explain how absolutely repulsed by them I was on the visual side of things. But perhaps this would help clarify. I would rather lick Belinda’s nether parts. Considering the fact that I have never even been the teensiest bit bi-curious and couple it with that whole thing about her mere presence bringing to me the smell of hot garbage frosted with the goo from the bottom of a Dumpster and perhaps you are on the same page with me.

“I request that we suspend our agreement in regards to our questions. If you agree, then you must state, ‘I agree to suspend our contract’ and then prick your finger and let a drop of your blood and mine mingle.”

This all seemed a bit too weird, but she was unequivocally serious. I nodded in agreement and dug through my carry bag for something that I could use to cut my finger. I had plenty of heavy artillery in the way of stakes and mallets, but I had to dig until I found a sharpener for my eyeliner. That would have to do.

After slicing my finger, I must admit that I was shocked when some dark goopy stuff
came out. I guess it was blood; Adrianna didn’t seem to have any problems with it. I waited as she cut her finger. It was a serious disappointment. Blood. Just regular old red blood. I imagine that if it were tested or something it would probably be interesting to some degree, but on the table, all I saw was a drop of just-plain-blood.

It was only a little strange when she started mumbling a bunch of stuff in a funny language. Having worked as a waitress, I am familiar enough with Spanish to know it wasn’t
español
. Beyond that, I didn’t have a clue.

Finally, she made it extra nasty by spitting on the blood fi
nger-painting that she had created. I looked around. Of course the employees were completely ignoring us—even the vampire. I waited for the lights to flicker or for a sudden breeze to kick up.

Nothing.

I looked up at Adrianna with an expression that I hoped read “Is that it? Can I talk now?” She made a clicking sound with her tongue and grabbed her purse.

“Seriously?” I blurted when she pulled out a little compact and did some touch up work on her make-up.

“What?” Adrianna snorted. “So this isn’t that ‘animal safe’ crap. Look, if it takes a few monkeys or rabbits to make sure that this stuff doesn’t run, who cares?” She pulled out a tube and ran the little wand over her lips. I had to admit, it was an awesome shape of purple. I tried to sneak a look at the label, but she stuffed it into her purse.

“I take it we can ask questions now.” I was super careful with how my voice sounded so that it didn’t come out as a que
stion just in case.

“We have
approximately ten minutes,” Adrianna said before taking a sip from her cup of coffee.

“So what the hell just happened?” I had to ask.

“You really are clueless, aren’t you?” Adrianna laughed. It is one of those kinds of laughs you would expect to hear from Martha Stewart if you told her a fart joke.

“If you are just going to sit there and offend me—” I started to get up. I didn’t need to sit here and be abused. There were plenty of people that would come to my house and do it. Hey, at least I would be able to sit on my comfy couch instead of sitting on this hard plastic.

“Actually, that was not meant as an offense. I am just truly surprised that you did not know what you were doing.”

“So what did I do?”

“Well, this place sits on a natural
ju-ju
.” When I just stared at her with my best blank expression, she continued. “A
ju-ju
is like a charm. It can be good or bad, but it has power. This one took our agreement and bound us to it since we are both supernatural. It would not allow us to be deceptive in our responses, and it would not allow us to ask a question until we answered the one posed by the other.”

That explained why I had felt so compelled to answer and had not been able to ask
the question that had come to mind. But there was also that little bit about not being able to be deceptive. I wonder if that had anything to do with the nasty looks she had shot me just before answering a couple of my questions. That would be good information to keep in mind.

“So what you did to stop it or pause or whatever, that was magic?”

Adrianna laughed. Once again it was the kind of laugh that made me want to reach across the table and slap her. She was looking at me and treating me in a way that made Morgan’s treatment of me seem almost kind. The biggest problem was not what she was saying, it was all in the looks and the tone.

You ever know somebody like that? If you shared what they said to
piss you off, your boyfriend or whatever would look at you and say something stupid like, “So what’s the problem?” The problem is that when you were at Jamie Cowan’s slumber party and they were all talking about their favorite songs, and you heard them mention
Love Song
, how were you supposed to know that they were talking about Broadway musicals and something called
Pippin
, and not the band Tesla? Stupid Jenny Atkinson. I was doing it again, I could tell by the look on Adrianna’s face that I had just missed something.

“Excuse me,” I apologized. Well, technically that isn’t rea
lly an apology, but she should know what I meant.

“Is this a cultural thing?”
Adrianna huffed.

“What?”

“You Americans are an incredibly self-absorbed bunch, aren’t you?”

Okay, I’m not what you would consider patriotic. Sure, I cried
when all the memorials and stuff happened after 9/11. And I stand for the National Anthem or whatever that song is that nobody has been able to sing properly since Whitney Houston did it at that football game during one of those wars over in one of those deserty places. But it is like when somebody picks on a member of your family, you may not like him or her, but the only person allowed to pick on them is you!

“
Us
Americans?” I exclaimed. “And what country are you from? Wait!” I raised my hand and cut her off before she could answer. “Nobody cares. You know why? Because this country totally rocks!” So it wasn’t the most inspirational speech. It wasn’t going to win any awards or make a great scene if I ever became the inspiration for a movie or television series like that bitch Sookie.

“Yes, well, be that as it may…”
Adrianna began.

You have to be seeing the same thing that I am here. She is a total bitch, right? I mean, who says that?
Be that as it blah-bady-blah-blah.

“…I was trying to explain that all I managed to do is
postpone the binding. We will be forced to resume it in just a few minutes, so perhaps you should clear your head…not that there should be any problems with that.”

See? She didn’t need to say that. She just had to get a little dig on me.

“So how is it that you came to Estacada looking for me? Because I initially thought one thing, but now I can see I was mistaken.”

Okay, I had no idea what point she was trying to make, but I knew she was implying that I am an idiot. However, one thing was certain; she didn’t know anything about Morgan. That
had
to be important.

Now, say what she would— Damn! Now I was thinking like her. I don’t think I’m the kind of gal that would say “say what she would”
any more than I would say “Be that as it may.”

Great, now I am spacing out on myself!

So the point that I was trying to make is that her not knowing about Morgan seemed to be important. Since we were going to be bound to answer questions again in a minute, something like that could wait. Let her pay for it.

“You want to know something like that…ask in about ten minutes or whenever this little parlay is over.”

“Parlay? Where on earth would you pick up a word like that?”

“I’ve seen the
Pirates of the Caribbean
movies.” Take that Little-Miss-Smarty-Pants!

“Yes, well, be that as it may (See!), perhaps I have undere
stimated you. I can assure you that I will not be doing so from here on out.”

Hmm, I wondered if that was a good thing or not. The best thing about having people think that I am a bit ditzy is that they have little to no expectations. Having this self-proclaimed
Queen of the Zombies thinking that I am a threat might come back to bite me in the ass.