The Vampire's Pet: Part One

I couldn’t get in.

Then I remembered that Kier had said I wasn’t able to leave without his permission while he was staying at the guesthouse.

“Get in,” she said, peering at me from the driver’s side.

“I can’t.”

We sat there at an impasse for a while. I tried to reach out to open the door, but I couldn’t.

“I can,” Chelsea said finally. She sat in the driver’s seat, her hands on the wheel. “But if you can’t come, I won’t go either.”

I shook my head. “You go. If you can, you should.”

“I couldn’t leave you.” She got out of the car and retrieved her bag. “We’ll stay together. Keep each other company.”

I smiled sadly and shrugged my shoulders, hating the helpless feeling that enveloped me. “I’m sorry about all this.”

She came around the car and threw her arm over my shoulders. “Not your fault. It’s a bitch, but we’re in this together.”

Arm in arm, we went back into the house and waited.

Hours later, after we’d spent the afternoon reminiscing about our years together, and all the silly things we had done, all the times we cried on each other’s shoulders, and after we ate the last of the leftover lasagna, we sat down on the sectional and I turned on Apple TV.

“Are we really going to watch it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to. I mean, he’s incredibly hot, for an impaler,” I said, thinking of Kier.

“Oh, definitely. As far as impalers go, very hot. But still…”

“Yeah…” I said, wondering if she was talking about Kier or the actor who played Dracula in the movie.

Kier was beautiful, in a pale Byronic-hero way with his dark hair and blue eyes, very fair skin and black leather clothes. Gothic rather than Goth

I flipped through the movies. “Oh,” Chelsea said when World War Z appeared in the lineup of suggested movies. She pointed to it eagerly. “Brad Pitt. I love him in this.”

I shook my head. “Undead zombies who want to eat your brain? I don’t think so.”

She made a face at that. “Sorry. You know I love horror movies.”

“I feel like I’m living in one,” I said and laughed nervously.

She nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

We passed another movie that attracted me. It was Byzantium with a vampire mother and daughter. I’d watched it before and loved it.

“This looks interesting,” Chelsea said. “Is there a happy ending in this?”

“Depends on what you define as happy. In the end, the human becomes… an impaler.”

“Oh,” Chelsea said and made a sad face. “Maybe not.”

I flipped through a few more. Then I saw a movie choice pop into view.

The Only Lovers Left Alive…

Was Fate trying to tell me something?

“I liked this one,” Chelsea said. “It’s about an old … impaler… couple who’ve been married for forever. He’s a dark gothic hero from the time of Jane Austen, I think. He's a rock star. One of my favorite actors. She’s like thousands of years old.”