Vampires of the Sun (7 page)

              As she spoke, Mauve’s mouth slowly formed into a wide-mouthed smile where every tooth could be seen. When she was done, she stood there staring at Norah. Transfixed on what was happening in front of her, Norah watched something about Mauve’s mouth change. From her gums, two holes seemed to open up. The holes were not very big, maybe the width of a small dot made from a pen. Sharp objects slid out of the holes, reminiscent of snake fangs. Norah couldn’t take her eyes off the process. It seemed to be done in slow motion. Finally, two fully formed fangs were overwhelmingly pointy and protruding from Mauve’s mouth. Curse words slipped out of Norah’s mouth as she held her hand up to her own mouth to stop the words from flowing.

              “Norah, I want you to think about what you’ve seen happening here today. It won’t be the last you see or hear about it in the coming days. You’ll have food brought to you and if there is anything within reason that you would like to read or watch, it can be arranged. Do not think you can escape. We have full time guards in this institution as well as electronic security that you cannot possible get passed. I expect you to take your medicine daily. If you do not, there will be punishment. Your parents are on their way and once they have arrived, the next course of action will be decided.” The fangs retracted back into her gums, just as slowly as they had creeped out. It was a deliberate action from Mauve so that Norah would pay attention. She had her full attention.

              The first time Norah tried to evade swallowing the pills, her head was forced under water in the facet until she agreed, spitting out and choking on water. The three goons who had surrounded her in her condo were the ones to do it and just like before, they showed no expressions or empathy towards her. Their eyes were zoned out and everything they did was mechanical in motion.

              She waited a couple of days before trying to hide the pill in her hand but it was easily found out. This time, her arm was twisted until tears of pain leaked down her face. The dosage was stronger and for a few hours after she took them, Norah felt like she was high and her movements were jerky. It was hard to not take a nap on them. She hated it.

              One afternoon after about a week of being in the room, the guards caught her in the closet, untwisting a piece of metal. She had resolved her determination and was going to slice her wrists. Her punishment was sedation and the pills were forced down her throat. They took all of the metal hangers and replaced them with flimsy, soft fabric ones that barely held the weight of her clothes. Norah was weak-willed. She was losing the will to fight or even get out of bed. One good thing about constantly being drugged to sleep, Norah had plenty of time to begin thinking about the fangs.

              The clues Mauve had left behind were easy to piece together; after-hours businesses, fangs, tablets of blood, an office with no windows, cold hands, strangers who cornered you in the dark without trying to rob you. All of the clues in her head lead to vampires. Norah didn’t want to believe it. It must be an elaborate hoax or she had finally completely snapped from reality. But what if it was true?

              Part of Norah was intrigued at the existence of vampires. She watched movies, read books, and enjoyed the mythology of it all but  vampires being real? She’d never believed it. How could she? If she thought vampires were real than what was stopping her from believing in werewolves or mermaids? What about fairies or elves? Believing vampires existed meant opening a can of worms Norah didn’t want to explore but wasn’t Mauve living proof with the word living being a loose description? And wasn’t Jack? Maybe she hadn’t seen his fangs but he knew about Mauve so who was to say he wasn’t one either?

              Two weeks passed by before Norah saw Mauve again. She knew Mauve saw her. She didn’t doubt that Mauve was watching through the camera over her bed. If Norah was in the closet too long, she sent the goons in. If she was in the bathroom too long, there was even a female goon who came and checked on her. The door didn’t have a lock. Just so no one would bother her, she laid on her bed in the open, taking minimal time to get cleaned up and rested every day.

              The last act of defiance Norah could think of was to not eat. Already quite thin, her bones were beginning to prominently sticking out. Mauve tried to counteract by having her guards stand over Norah while she ate and then block the bathroom so she couldn’t throw it all up after the left. They’d wait for an hour while the food digested.

              Norah had begun to despair. The food was good and she was so hungry all of the time. She hadn’t the strength to make a grand escape and it wasn’t unknown for the guards to hurt her or scare her into submission if she didn’t do what these people wanted. She just started to obey them, going through the motions.

              At the end of the second week, Mauve stopped by in person to see her progress. “While I’m not happy with where you are at physically yet, it’s nice to see you’ve calmed down as you’ve realized struggling is completely useless. I’d like to hear what your theory is about what you saw last week.” Mauve turned the couch with little effort to face Norah’s bed so she could sit down. It was almost like being back in her office in one of their little sessions.

              “Vampires,” was Norah’s one word answer. Norah half-expected Mauve to laugh at her but instead a gentle smile creeped onto her face.

              “It’s nice when I don’t have to deal with imbeciles. What gave it away? I’d like you to talk about what lead you to fear me before you even knew what I was. Something or someone tipped you off. Who? If you do well this week, you’ll be allowed to see your parents.” Seemingly out of nowhere, Mauve protruded pen and paper.

              “I don’t want to see them.” Norah’s response surprised herself and Mauve. “I don’t want to see people who would lock me up and send me to a fake therapist who tries to tell me I’m going crazy. I’m obviously not crazy.”

              “Oh honey child, if only you knew the half of it.” Maniacal laughter chilled Norah to the bone, and she wished Mauve would stop cackling. “Either way, you will tell me or you will be punished.” She was sick, looking at Norah like she wanted her to try to disobey.

              “I met a boy. He showed genuine concern for my well-being. I could see after meeting him that neither you nor my parents were doing that. I realized from my interactions that something was off about you and the medicine you were giving me. You only proved me right when you started acting like a paranoid schizophrenic.” Mauve seemed unaffected by her words. It was like she’d lost control though. The words were coming out whether Norah wanted them to or not.

              “Who is this boy?” Mauve was slipping back into her ‘therapist’ act. She must have done it so many times that it came natural to her.

              “I don’t know much about him. His name is Jack. He might be a vampire too. I’m not sure. He’s slightly older than me. I don’t know where he lives but I’ve seen him around town. He said I’d been marked and he wanted to help me figure out how and why. He was looking into what was in the pills you gave me but they didn’t figure it out in time. He only knew it had some blood in it.” Norah couldn’t see the harm in admitting that much to Mauve. She honestly didn’t feel like she knew him very well at all. It was weird that she felt so comforted by his existence. More than anything she wished he was here.

              “You don’t know any other information? What are the names of his friends?” Norah was questioned. She didn’t want to answer but when she didn’t Mauve looked at her menacingly.

              “Dawn, Summer, James, and I think the other guy’s name was something like Carlos. Maybe Carlen? I didn’t really interact with him and Jack didn’t have much of a connection to him like he did with the others.”

              “Where did you meet them? Was it at a house or a public place?” Ticking of a pen hitting paper greeted Norah’s ears.

              “Public places. We met once in a club in Austin. Gigantor was the name. It’s new. I also met him at a coffee shop in San Marcos originally. We met there twice and I met him at a diner along the highway near my condo. We were supposed to meet again but you kidnapped me.”

              “I wouldn’t call it kidnapping as your parents orchestrated the whole thing. It’s to keep you safe Norah. Can’t you see that?” Mauve’s twisted concern didn’t fool Norah.

              “I don’t feel safe. In fact, I have to wonder if my parents are really even my parents and I feel like I might soon become a late night snack for you and your vampire goons.”

              “Norah, you’re not going to be a late night snack, I can guarantee that. And you’re parents are truly your parents. Do you think they would have put the time and effort in to raising you if you weren’t theirs or if you were meant to just be eaten?” Mauve made a good point but Norah wasn’t about to trust her. “And my ‘goons’ as you say aren’t vampires. I need humans to do my biding in day-light hours.”

              “If you care so much for my well-being, why can’t I leave? Why can’t I have a room with a window? Why won’t you tell me where I am?” Norah’s voice ran shrill with emotion, unable to stop herself from asking questions despite how upset she was becoming.

              “The answer to all of your questions lay within yourself Norah. You were becoming highly irrational, thinking that the whole world was out to get you. You had to be brought in and we had to let you in on our little secret. Now that you’ve been informed, your parents want you to join them so I’m safe-keeping you for them. I’d rather you not learn the truth in the wrong way and disappear from us with your new friends. It wouldn’t be proper. You should be with your parents.”

              “My vampire parents? What are they? Who are they really? They can only blame themselves that I don’t know more about them considering they were never home.” Norah blamed her captivity on them alone.

              “All in good time, Norah. They will arrive soon.” Mauve stood up, done with their conversation, despite Norah telling her to come back. She didn’t want their conversation to be done. She got up and ran to the door but Mauve was out of it and shutting it in her face before anything could be done. Banging her fist against the door and screaming did nothing for it to open back up or even garner a response and Norah sank in despair and anger to the floor. She sat there in embarrassment, knowing they were watching her leaning against the door for what seemed like hours.

              Mauve didn’t come back. She left Norah alone to eat her food and live her life in her prison cell. Labelling it a prison cell was what came naturally after her conversation with Mauve, even if it was overly dramatic. Realistically, it felt that way since she couldn’t leave or escape. Thankfully she wasn’t being drugged anymore, even if she tried to fight them but they weren’t opposed to using tactics that wouldn’t bruise her, like throwing her in the shower and turning it on freezing cold or shutting the lights off and leaving her in complete darkness for days at a time.

              With renewed resolve, she continue to do what she could to show that she wasn’t going to just be some pawn in whatever game they were playing. She wasn’t a part of it and deep down she knew that if push came to shove, there wouldn’t be any hesitations to hurt her.

              Sometimes with Norah’s meals, a note was left for her to read. It was the biggest concern for Norah that she could see because it was like a countdown but she didn’t know what it was counting down to. Hand-written from Mauve, the note detailed how her parents were on their way and the expected arrival date until it finally became the day of their arrival.

              When she woke up, the clock said it was a little after six p.m. Norah didn’t have a normal sleep schedule anymore. It switched from day to night and rotated depending on when she was bothered by others. Today she was woken by one of the goons coming in through the door with her food and a dress in a plastic dry-cleaning bag with a note attached. It simply told her to put it on with an elaborate M signature. The female that sometimes watched her in the bathroom if she was there too long came through the door and stayed with Norah while she ate and made sure Norah cleaned up and got ready. When Norah sat back down on her bed, the lady still hadn’t left, taking a seat on the couch and staring at her unnervingly as Norah preened in the mirror.

              The dress she’d been given was beautiful. It was white and while lower cut than she preferred in the chest, not as revealing as she would have expected. The hem line skimmed the tops of her feet if she slumped and the dress itself had an intricate embroidery running throughout it. If she had to place the era it was designed after, it would have been Regency era with the empire waist tie and lace work.

              Wondering what was about to happen, Norah didn’t have to wait long to figure it out. After half an hour of waiting around, the male goon she’d bitten and the one who’d held her arms down came through the door. She didn’t cower or run from them this time, only gave them each a defiant look that didn’t even seem to register. Taking up one of her arms each, they picked her up and she was forced to start walking forwards. “What about my shoes?” Norah yelled out, trying to twist out of their grasp without success.

              Her room was hard wood floors covered in rugs but despite open spaces, the wood was warm to the touch. The hallway floor she was being led over looked as cold as it felt with dark, polished marble. Taking in the aesthetics, Norah noticed a distinct lack of windows here too. With white, blank walls, nothing looked much different than her room. She noticed four more doors that matched her own along the same wall as hers.