Misty Rose: Nature
Chapter 2
Pretty fucking dramatic, yeah? Felt like I had to get across what it felt like. I mean, going from the party to the murder apartment to Pops telling me I was a vampire felt like some kind of nightmare, only it wasn’t. It was really happening… and my heart wasn’t beating. Not how you usually see this kind of thing, either… no nightgowns or bedrooms, no handsome older rich guy in a cape. Just me and a shitty apartment and a dead guy and an address on a post-it. And my heart wasn’t beating.
I guess a lot of that was showing on my face, because Pops sighed and reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Not fair what happened to you.”
I couldn’t really say anything. It all sort of… crashed down on me at once, you know? Vampires were real, and I was one, and… everything. Almost everything that had happened to me before then… didn’t seem as bad. Almost everything. This was… well, it kind of felt the same. Like something that happens to you that you didn’t want and… you’re never going to be the same again. There’s entire books people wrote about dealing with that kind of shit. And dying and coming back as a blood drinking corpse has got to be up there on the list, you know?
Pops didn’t say anything, just pulled me towards him into a hug, and I hugged him back. I’m a hugger, you know? But… it’s not the same with vampires. There’s no heartbeat, and the person you’re hugging isn’t warm. So it’s like hugging a stuffed animal or a doll, and it’s worse when you’re a doll just like them. But… it still helped, at least a little. I could also feel that Pops had some muscle under that baggy suit, but I wasn’t really thinking about that right then. We just… stayed like that for a bit. I wasn’t crying, but not because I didn’t feel like it. Thought maybe vampires couldn’t cry.
After a little, I stepped back and sighed. “Okay. I’m okay. For now, anyway.” Pops just nodded, but he still looked a little sad for me. “So… what do I do now?”
“Depends on you,” Pops said. “Some new vampires, they can’t handle it. End up choosing to see the sunrise, if you get what I mean.”
“You mean they kill themselves.”
“Pretty much. Can’t blame them. Being a vampire isn’t a good thing.”
“No. But others…?” I had to ask. I mean, Pops wasn’t dead.
“Others…” he said and frowned. “Others take to being a vampire real fast. Too fast. Like they weren’t human so much as just waiting to become a vampire. Watch out for those.”
“They sound horrible.”
“They are. They… forgot how to be human.”
Something about that idea sort of… made me sick. And scared. That it might happen to me. One day… well, night, really… I might not remember what being human was. But… Pops seemed okay. “What about you? You don’t seem like that.”
“No,” Pops said. “But I been fighting against that for a long time. A real long time, and that’s the last choice. You decide to live, to be the best you can despite what you are.” Pops smiled at me. “Learned for myself a long time ago you don’t got to be what you were born as. Or what you were made, in this situation. So I don’t. Every night.”
“Oh,” I said. “Sounds like a hard life.”
“Better than an easy death, as I see it,” Pops said.
He had a point. Suicide was still suicide, even if I was technically dead, and… that just wasn’t where I was at, even with everything that went down. Besides… Pops seemed like a solid guy to have around… which I got to tell you, I needed right then. Not exactly empowered, I know, but sometimes it’s nice to have the bigger and stronger ones on your side, like when you feel like there’s nothing you can do yourself, and that’s how I felt. Maybe Kaitlyn could tell me how feminist ideas applied to being a vampire, she’s better with all that than me, but then I’d have to tell her about what happened, and shit, I’d have to deal with that too, she was my roommate and…
Yeah. I was starting to freak out. Again. But at least it was more of my normal freak out than the oh my god, I’m a vampire kind of freak out, so I guess I was adjusting. Or something. Pops saw that, I guess, and squeezed my shoulder again. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m… I think I’m… gonna try to live with this. For now.”
Pops nodded. “Okay. Then there’s some things you need to know.”
“Okay.”
“So… what’s in there?” Pops nodded at the door we were standing by. “Happens once a month on the first Tuesday. Don’t know why Tuesday, but that’s when it is. It’s… sort of a vampire meeting.”
“Like a party?”
“More like… a king’s court. Or a Baron, really, because the Baron is in charge.”
“A Baron? Um… aren’t vampires usually called Count?”
“Vampires don’t like being called ‘Count’,” Pops said. “Most don’t have much of a sense of humor. Calling a vampire ‘Count’ is a good way to annoy them.”
“Okay,” I said. “But Baron isn’t much better.”
“The last ruler of this city was called the Baron, and it was easier for vampires to keep up the tradition than to change it,” Pops grinned. “Some of them haven’t had a new idea in a century. You’ll see what I mean. Oh, and there’s more vampires than just us and the ones you saw in this city.”
“Jesus,” I said. “How many?”
“City this size?” Pops shrugged. “Couple hundred, at least. Probably more.”
“That sounds bad,” I said. I didn’t know a lot about vampires at that point, but having a couple hundred blood-drinking monsters around couldn’t be good, not if some of them were like Pops said and took to being vampires really easy. People like that aren’t good to have around even when they’re just humans, you know? I’d met a few before I’d been turned.
“It can be,” Pops nodded. “Definitely for humans, and for vampires too.”
“Great. Guessin’ must of us don’t get along?”
“Nope. But it’s not outright war. Mostly it’s social conflict.”
I sighed. “I’m not much better with that than fightin’.”
“Don’t worry,” Pops smiled at me. “The Baron has rules and makes sure they’re followed. Other vampires come after you for no reason, it’s not going to go well for them.”
“Well, that’s good,” I said. “If I live. What’re the rules?”
Pops thought for a moment. “Probably best if I let the Sheriff tell you officially. So he knows you’ve been told. Should probably introduce you, too. You’re new here.”
“A Sheriff? Like a cop? Or like a cowboy?”
“Little of both. Enforces the Baron’s laws.”
“Okay, but… Sheriff? Seems kinda…” I shrugged.
“The word’s a lot older than the Wild West,” Pops smiled at me. “Vampires like old things.”
I didn’t say anything. Some kind of royal court, a Sheriff, laws, other vampires… felt like not only had my old world been ripped away from me, but a new one I didn’t understand had replaced it. One that… well, was filled with mean girls. With fangs. Turns out I was right about that, but… that comes later. I’ll get there. Right then, Pops was telling me what I’d need to do.
“Alright,” Pops said. “I’m not telling you to shut up and let me do everything, but it’d probably be best if you didn’t say much or interact with anyone in there. Vampires hold grudges. It’ll help that you’re with me, but I think we should take you to the Baron as fast as possible. Sounds like…” Pops stopped and stuck his head in the door for a moment. I couldn’t hear anything, but I guess Pops could, because he nodded. “They’re almost done with the formal stuff. So we’ll go in and introduce you.”
I was… a little surprised. It sounded like Pops knew the whole social navigation thing. I didn’t, but I could tell when someone else did. Pops caught my expression and grinned. “I’ve been doing this for a real long time, child. You pick up things, even if you don’t like to play the game.”
I nodded. “Makes sense. I’ll follow your lead.”
“Alright,” Pops said. “You’re going to go talk to the Baron. One of his rules is that any new vampires in the city are supposed to declare themselves, their allegiances, and how long they’re planning on staying in his domain. Most vampires actually do it, too. Rude not to. New vampires like you are also supposed to announce who their sire was.”
I must have had my resting dumb face on, because I had no idea about what he was talking about. Some of it, anyway. Weird vampire shit, I guess, but Pops smiled at me.
“Sorry,” he said. “Most new vampires get taught at least some things by their sire. That’s the person that made you a vampire, but… sounds like yours just left you, so you don’t know his name.”
“No,” I said. “Don’t even really know what he looks like.”
“The Baron won’t be happy with your sire, I know that.”
“Just so long as he doesn’t take it out on me.”
“He won’t,” Pops said. “You don’t know better yet.”
“I don’t know anythin’.”
Pops squeezed my shoulder again. “Yeah. But I promise I’ll tell you what you want to know. Me or one of my friends. Tonight is about playing along with the rules.”
So vampires could have friends. Or ones like Pops could, anyway. That was good.
“When I bring you to the Baron, wait for him to acknowledge you,” Pops went on. “He’s not the sort to get mad about it, but let’s be polite tonight. Tell him your name, that you’re a new vampire, and that you don’t know who your sire was. He’ll figure the rest out. Might ask you a few questions, so answer them, and be honest. He’ll probably hand you off to the Sheriff to be told the laws.” Pops made a face. “Try not to be too scared of the Sheriff. He can be pretty heavy handed.”
Didn’t like the sound of that, but I nodded. “I’ll try.”
Pops smiled at me and gave me another hug. I wasn’t saying no. “You’ll be fine,” he said.
“Yeah.” I wasn’t so sure, but at least Pops would be with me.
“You ready?” Pops asked after we’d hugged for a few moments.
“Um… I think so,” I said. “Keep my mouth shut, don’t piss anyone off, listen to what the Baron and the Sheriff hafta say. Think I can do that without fuckin’ up too bad.”
“You’ll do fine,” Pops said and stepped back. I followed him through the door. Inside was sort of a half flight of stairs up, then a hallway that turned to the left, which was different from most of the warehouses I’d been in which just opened right into the big space. Hallway was all… polished concrete, I think? Sounded like all the people were around the corner, I could hear quiet talking, and there was a lot of light from that direction. I picked a bit at my clothes as we walked, but there wasn’t much I could do about how I was going to be meeting a bunch of vampires while wearing a rave outfit.
We turned the corner and… well, I don’t know what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it. Outside, the place looked like any other warehouse, sort of old and like it’d been abandoned because the owner figured it was cheaper to just let it fall down on its own than rebuild anything. I’d been in a few of those for parties. But inside was… a palace. Shiny white marble everywhere, floor and walls and ceiling. No windows at all, but there were drapes and those wall carpet things. Pillars and everything, but I saw the chandeliers and candle holder things were all electric lights. Expensive furniture everywhere, lots of gold and red velvet and dark shiny wood. Found myself thinking about swiping something small so I could pawn it for some extra cash. And there was me in rave clothes that I’d been wearing for going on two days. I felt really out of place, you know?
But to be honest, I don’t think I needed to worry so much about that because of the other vampires. You know how all the books and movies and shit make vampires look all glamorous and like… well, like vampires are all hot like Hollywood actors and actresses? They weren’t like that. Okay, some were, but most of them… were just people, you know? Average. Maybe they all were average people trying to be dressed up and attractive for a party, but still. Weird, I mean I’d expect vampires to be more… vampire-like, I guess. Most of these weren’t. But that wasn’t the problem, because some of them were… monsters. I got no other way to say it. Some of them looked like some kind of half animal, some of them looked like corpses, and some… like something out of a monster movie. And no one seemed to care about the monsters. Which was weird as hell. One guy walking around just chatting with other people looked like something from one of those old movies. I hadn’t seen any of them, but they turn up in my feeds around Halloween sometimes.
Then there were the clothes. Few people in suits, of course, but… also people in street clothes. Nice ones, but still just normal clothes. Then there were… well, some of the vampires were dressed in old stuff. Like from movies about history, but just… walking around in that. There was some dominatrix lady with actual gimps in gimp suits, and another one that… only way I could describe her is like she was trying to be the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz, but she’d made her costume out of the kind of stuff you’d find in a dump. Over with the normal people was a guy dressed like King Tut except he was white… you know, just in case the ball gowns and shit weren’t historical enough. I could even see a Gothic Lolita over to one side, which seemed kind of dumb, and one that looked like a biker chick. Not pretty, so not one of the trophy ones, but like she could handle a motorcycle just fine herself. There were weirder outfits, too, but it was like my brain stopped trying to make any sense of them.
Pops had me sit down on a really expensive bench off to one side. He squeezed my shoulder and asked me to wait there and… I stopped looking around because by the time I’d sat down, it seemed like pretty much everyone in there was looking at me. And a lot of them were wrong. Not anything I could put my finger on, just… wrong. Some were more wrong, some were less wrong. Pops wasn’t wrong, and some of them were like him, but not many. And no one seemed to care.
Didn’t help that a lot of them were carrying weapons. Guns and shit, sure, but… knives and swords too. Didn’t seem to matter much what the person was wearing because the weapons didn’t always match what they were dressed up as. Even the ones that didn’t have weapons seemed like someone I shouldn’t fuck with. Don’t know if you can beat a vampire to death with your fists, but they kind of look like they’d be happy to try if I pissed them off. Or maybe I was just having one of those things where I’m scared and everything looked scary no matter what. Either way, it sucked.
So I sat there and… tried to ignore them looking at me. I’ve been looked at a lot, so I know what that’s like, but this was… it didn’t feel like some guy obviously leering at me, but more like… I was some kind of meat. Like they were trying to decide what to do to me, and that I probably didn’t have any choice about it. But I did see that a lot of the more wrong ones would glance at Pops and go back to whatever they were doing, so I guess he was right about it helping that I was with him. Still felt really horrible being looked at like that, but maybe not as much like I was in danger right that moment.
Felt like forever before Pops came back for me, and I guess I was showing how I felt because he squeezed my shoulder as we walked towards the other end of the hall toward… a fucking throne. Like out of a museum. And on the throne was the Baron. Maybe because the name and the throne room, but I was expecting… well, someone who looked like a Baron. But the guy on the throne looked like a doctor. He had a suit, but he had a long white lab coat over it. Glasses, short brown hair, the whole look. Like one of those scientists that’s always mad that some other character is interrupting his research, or like… I don’t know, an evil doctor that’s up to something really bad, but not one of the ones that acts crazy. If he’d taken out that thing doctors have and checked to see if my heart was beating, I probably wouldn’t been surprised. But he didn’t. He just looked at me and… he was one of the more wrong ones. And he felt old. Real old. Can’t say how I could tell, but I could. Pops and I stopped a little ways away and Pops bowed. I tried to remember how to curtsey, but gave up and bowed instead. Then the Baron nodded and said he was… something that sounded like kan-slesh, and some kind of long complicated title after it that was even harder. Honestly, I’m just not going to even try because I couldn’t pronounce it, and at that point I’d just call him Baron Whathisname, or just avoid it. Your Highness is a hell of a lot easier to say than… something from Europe or wherever. It’s honestly worse than those supermodels with the weird names. It’s even worse than Kaitlyn’s last name, and I didn’t get that right most of the time.
Pops stepped forward and introduced me. Said my name was Misty Rose, and that I’d been a vampire for only a day, which was true enough I guess, and that my sire had abandoned me, which was also true, and that I didn’t know my bloodline, which made no sense.
The Baron just looked at me for a while. I felt like I was a research experiment. Some kind of lab animal or something. But eventually the Baron nodded. “Very well,” he said. “I assume you’ve had no instruction in the laws of my city.”
It wasn’t a question, so it took me a moment to realize I had to say something. “Yes, Your Highness. I have no idea what I’m doin’.” That’s me, socially graceful all the time. Sounded like a few of the vampires behind me thought it was funny, but not in a nice way. The Baron didn’t seem to notice though. He just nodded and did one of those come here gestures over his shoulder.
That was when… well, I want to say he appeared, but it was more like I just hadn’t noticed the guy, and now I’d noticed him, which is pretty fucking weird when the guy I somehow hadn’t noticed was seven feet tall, covered in scars, and carrying a huge curved sword. He was wearing some kind of armor like police wear, and in case it wasn’t clear, he had a huge fucking sword in his hand. Just sort of… resting the dull side on his shoulder. I keep bringing up his sword because it was really fucking hard to ignore it. Or the guy holding it. Then the Baron said probably one of the last things I wanted to hear right then: “Very well. This is my…” Well, what he said mostly sounded like sheriff but not completely. “You will go with him, so he may instruct you as to my laws, and the penalties for breaking them. That is all.” Then the Baron turned to one of the other suits around him and just sort of… shut me off. Pops patted me on the shoulder and seemed like he was going to say something, but right then the guy with the sword grabbed my arm and more or less dragged me away.
Sorry, that sounds worse than it was, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was being dragged off to have horrible things done to me, you know? We only ended up going off to one side where there was an empty corner. Sword guy shoved me into the corner and… loomed over me. No other way to describe it. He didn’t look any nicer up close, and the glare he was giving me didn’t help, either.
“Pay attention,” he growled, and you see people say someone growled things at them in books and shit, but sword guy actually did it. He sounded like a wolf or something, only he was speaking words at me in some accent I didn’t know. Middle Eastern? He had dark skin under the scars, so it was possible. “The Laws and Traditions are as follows. First, you will not do or say anything that reveals the existence of vampires to mortals. If you do so, you may be executed, and I will probably also execute whatever mortals you revealed us to. Understand?”
“Um, yes sir,” I said.
“Second, you will not create new vampires without the express permission of the Baron. If you do, you may be executed, along with the vampire you create. Understand?”
“Um… I don’t even know how to do that.”
“Understand?” Sword guy actually sounded angrier, if that was possible.
“Yes sir.”
“Third, you will not engage in soul eating. Ever. If you do, you will be executed. Understand?”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“Understand?” Angrier. I was getting the feeling questions weren’t allowed.
“Yes sir.”
“Fourth, you will not trespass on the formally recognized territory of any other vampire or faction. If you do, you may be executed. Understand?”
“Yes sir.”
“Fifth, the Kan-slesh’s word is law. The Council’s decrees are law, in the name of the Kan-slesh. If you do not obey, you will be punished, up to and including execution. Understand?”
“Yes sir.” There was a definite pattern here.
“Sixth, you are not to kill any humans except in extreme situations, such as self-defense. Feeding is not considered self-defense. Religious rituals are never considered to be exceptions. If you do, you may be executed. Understand?”
“Yes sir.” Well, that sounded better than the rest. Not killing people is usually a good thing.
“Seventh, violation of the spirit of the Kan-slesh’s laws by the commission of acts not expressly covered in any previously stated law is also a violation of the Kan-slesh’s laws. If you do so, you will be punished, up to and including execution. Understand?”
“Yes sir.” That last one was sort of weird, but maybe it was necessary for vampires.
“Any questions?” he asked like he didn’t actually want to answer any.
“Um…” It probably wasn’t a good idea, but I felt like I should say something. “About killin’ humans. Um… I think I might have broken that one. Except I don’t remember doin’ it because… well, I don’t remember actually becomin’ a vampire. So…” I stopped talking because sword guy rolled his eyes in a very not friendly way.
“Where?” he demanded.
“Where what?”
“Where did you find the body? Give me the address.”
“Uh… why?”
“So I can send someone to clean up after you before mortals find the body.”
“Um, okay,” I said and gave him the address and apartment number. Or I tried to. I hadn’t actually looked at the apartment address, but I remembered the street name and what apartment I’d woken up in. Have to say, I also got the feeling that dealing with the dead kid was more like a chore to sword guy than… covering up a murder, you know? So maybe the Baron had a law about not killing humans, but not because killing was wrong or anything.
Sword guy glared at me some more. “Don’t fuck up,” he said, then turned on his heel and stomped a few feet away before… fading into the background again somehow. Scary.
Um… I should probably mention that it might sound like I wasn’t terrified of sword guy because of some of how I described this. But I was. I spent the entire time half convinced he was gonna chop my head off right there. There was just… something about him that was terrifying, on top of the sword and the scars and the glaring. Maybe some kind of vampire fear thing. It’s just… well, honestly, there’s kind of a point where I stop being scared because I can’t get any more afraid. Been there a few times and… it’s like I notice stupid shit. Say stupid shit, too. Gotten me in trouble more than once, and that was kind of what happened there. The not being scared because it’s too much thing.
Anyway, after all that I was too scared to move. But Pops came over and patted me on the shoulder. “How’d it go?” he asked and smiled.
“Well, I’m not dead,” I said. “Seems like it went that well at least.”
Pops grinned at me. “I think he likes you.”
I just shuddered. Sword guy was scary. “Think I can do without that kinda friend.”
“You’re probably right,” Pops said. “So… feel up to socializing?”
“With vampires? No. I wanna go home.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s fair. I’ll walk you out.”
Yeah, maybe I was running away, but… it was all just too much, you know? The vampires staring at me, their clothes, the Baron, sword guy… all of that when I was still trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do now that I was a vampire. I just wanted some time to myself. Pops seemed to understand. We went right past all the other vampires and out the front door. We kept walking a little, to the other side of the little parking lot, then Pops stopped.
“You did well,” he said and smiled.
“Thanks,” I said. “Mostly I just kept my mouth shut.”
“Not a bad idea for now. Least until you get your feet under you.”
“Yeah.” I hesitated. “Are they… really as bad as it sounds? All the laws?”
“They’re not as bad as it sounds,” Pops said. “Old Demir doesn’t like to admit that there’s usually a trial when someone breaks the Baron’s laws. You get to defend yourself, and not every case ends in someone getting executed.”
“Demir?”
“Sword guy.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good,” I said. “I was kinda imaginin’ fuckin’ up and sword guy just appearin’ outa nowhere and choppin’ my head off with that sword.”
“I doubt that’ll happen to you,” Pops said. “Long as you stay human.”
“That’s the idea. Hey… how’d you know my name? I didn’t say.”
Pops grinned and winked at me. “You think really loud.” Pretty sure I gave him side eye or something because he just grinned a little wider and patted my shoulder.
“I’m gonna guess I find out about that later too,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said. “You okay to get home on your own?”
“Yeah, I should be fine,” I sighed. “What more could happen to me?”
“Okay then. I’ll make sure things get explained to you one way or another. If it isn’t me, it’ll be a friend of mine. They’ll make sure that you know they’re my friend.”
“How?” Being paranoid didn’t come easy to me, but neither did being a vampire, and I was going to have to learn if I wanted to survive.
“I’ll tell them something from this conversation that no one else would know.”
“Okay,” I said. I guess that would have to do. “Gonna head home.”
“Hey,” Pops said, and pulled me into another hug. “It’s going to be okay, child. Keep your head on straight, think before you do things, and trust the human part of you and you’ll be fine.”
“For a vampire, anyway,” I said and sighed, hugging back.
“Didn’t say it would be easy. But you’re going to be okay.”
“Thanks.” We stayed hugging a bit longer, then I pulled away and started walking. About half a block away, I turned and looked and Pops was still watching me, so I waved and he waved back. Then I kept walking. Wasn’t really anyone on the streets then because it was getting late. Or early. Or whatever. Had to be past midnight and my phone was still dead. I wasn’t hurrying, but I wasn’t just strolling along either, and getting across town is slow on foot, so I didn’t get back home until almost four in the morning. I let myself in and… right, details.
Me and Kaitlyn had a studio apartment in one of those… don’t know what they’re called, but you see them a lot in low rent parts of cities. Ours was a long two story building with a bunch of doors facing a parking lot for the tenants. Our place was on the first floor and tiny, but it was what we could more or less afford if we both pitched in on rent. Couple beds, couple dressers, and a little end table by the door that I kept telling Kaitlyn she was going to break because she’d treat it like it was stronger than it was. Closet was on the same side as the tiny little bathroom, opposite the only two windows, which were on the same wall. Think the place had been part of a larger apartment that’d been split up, so it definitely wasn’t anything special. I’ve been in cheap apartments where the main room by itself was bigger than our place… but anyway, yeah. It was a mess, as usual. Always seemed like Kaitlyn was allergic to picking up her stuff. And there was glitter everywhere. I told you about that, right? Kaitlyn was obsessed with glitter, and that shit lingers.
Anyway, when I got home, I plugged my phone in first thing. Had a few dozen messages from Kaitlyn, mostly texts, but… didn’t feel like dealing with them right then. I just… laid down on my bed. Well, no, I closed the curtains first because my bed was right under one of the windows. Death by sunlight, right? Kaitlyn wasn’t home, and it seemed like she hadn’t been there for a while. No clue when she’d get back. Then I just laid on my back and stared at the ceiling. Think I had the idea of trying to process everything somehow, but… my brain just wasn’t doing anything, like I was in shock or something. So I just laid there. I guess at some point the sun came up because I fell asleep or passed out or whatever. Not easy for vampires to stay awake when the sun is out, and I wasn’t even trying. And that was it for that night. Not exactly mood lifting, right?
