I awoke just after sunset and rose from my coffin-er, bed for my shift at the diner. All was quiet on the window front as I dressed, ate some dinner and took the long drive to the lonely business. I was surprised to see there weren't any trucks out front, but my question was answered by Candy.
"The bridges are washed out up ahead. It was that dang storm last night that did it," she told me as she put on her coat. "Business has been slow all day because of it, and there's been nothing since the sun went down."
"So does that mean I can go home?" I asked her.
"Not a chance," came the voice of Ralph from the kitchen. He poked his balding head out the double swinging doors that led to the kitchen. "Yer staying here until yer shift is over."
"Yes, sir," I sighed, and got to scrubbing the counters clean of dust particles.
It was a long, slow night. At around midnight Ralph's snores marched through the swinging doors and nearly drowned out my thoughts. I was almost asleep myself behind the cash register when the bell above the door chimed the entrance of a customer. My hand slid out from my chin and I face-planted into the counter. I whipped my head up and smiled at the customer, hoping my nose didn't dribble blood.
Thank god it didn't because standing in front of me was the vampire. My eyes bulged out my head and I opened my mouth to scream, but he caught me with his eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes were like crystals that glowed in the dark. None of the blood-red stuff this night. He seated himself on one of the stools in front of me and glanced behind me at the drink machines.
"How's the coffee?" he asked me.
The normal question snapped me out of my funk, but I couldn't manage the scream that vibrated in my throat aching to be heard. If I couldn't fight him off with my girlish power to break glass then I'd fight him with my wits, if only I could keep them about me.
"It's not bad, but the only thing left is the bottom of the pot and at that point it takes on a life of its own," I warned him.
He smiled. His teeth were just a little too long. "Then I'll take a cup. I could use a little life in me," he returned. The color drained from my face. "Something wrong? You seem nervous," he teased.
"You just remind me of someone I met last night, that's all," I told him.
"What was his name?" he asked me.
"I didn't catch his name. He wasn't really welcomed, so he left," I explained.
"The man must have had a good reason to leave behind such a beautiful woman," he commented.
"Maybe it was the man I was with," I replied.
"Boyfriend?" he wondered.
I turned away to fetch the coffee, but kept an eye on him over my shoulder. "No, I was just babysitting him. Something scared him a few nights ago and his night light wasn't up to the job," I replied.
"Really? The same man that ran away from you was scared by a man who was scared by another man?" he teased.
"I'm not sure it was a man I saw, or he saw," I mused. I turned toward him and froze. The man looked at me with an intense gaze. His eyes beckoned to me and I felt myself falling into them.
He smiled and the spell was broken. I gasped and stumbled back against the counter behind me. The man chuckled. "I frighten you, don't I?" he asked me.
My pride as a truck-stop waitress bristled at the mocking note in his tone. "No, and do you know why?"
The man leaned over the counter and smiled at me. He was handsome, and under other circumstances I would have fallen like a fan girl for his boyish good looks. Unfortunately, he had unusually long teeth and that made him a member of the Undead, an elite club I had no intention of joining.
"No, why?" he asked me.
"Because of this." I threw the coffee mug with its searing drink in his face and raced for the door to the kitchen. You would have thought from his scream that the secret ingredient in our coffee was holy water and not lard. That, or maybe it was the searing heat from cooking all day in the pot.
I flew through the twin hanging doors and woke up Ralph from his beauty sleep. It was a pity, the bedraggled old man needed about a decade more to improve his wrinkled face and thin white hair. He jumped from his chair and whipped his head to and fro. "Wha? Huh?" he cried out.
"Vampire!" I yelled and ducked behind him.
"A what?" he yelped.
"Vampire!" I repeated. I grasped his shoulders and peeked out from behind his thin, short frame. No creature of the night flew through the twin doors and attacked us.
Ralph glared at me and shrugged off my clinging hands. "What in the world are ya yellin' about, woman?" he growled.
"A vampire was out there! He ordered coffee and-"
Ralph snorted. "Vampires don't drink coffee, and what are ya doing givin' him that stuff? Didn't Candy tell ya I spilled some garlic powder into it earlier and it weren't fit for an animal to drink?" he asked me.
"Well, he ordered some and then I caught him off guard by throwing a mug of coffee in his face. He hissed and screamed like it was-well, full of garlic powder," I explained.
Ralph glared at me. "Ya threw coffee in another customer's face because he got sweet on ya, didn't ya?" he growled.
I scowled back at him. "There was a vampire in there. He had dark eyes and sharp teeth and everything," I insisted.
"Ah don't care what excuses. Ya just ran in here to get out of apologizin'. Now ya just get in there and say yer sorry, and give the man a free cup of coffee," Ralph ordered me.
"But-"
"No buts, now get out there." He grabbed my arms and pushed me gently but firmly to the twin doors. "Now git! Go on!"
I swung around and balled my hands into fists at my sides. "Fine, but if I become a vampire than you're going to be my first victim, and when I'm through with you then I'll stake you myself," I warned him.
He cracked a bony finger at the doors. "Just git out there," he told me.
I spun around and marched to my fate. All I found for my brave words were an empty stool, a broken coffee mug, and the sticky drink all over the floor and counter. No vampire, and no tip. I admit I didn't deserve the tip, and I was glad to not have him there for me to ask for it. The doors behind me swung open and Ralph leaned against the doorway. "Yer vampire skimp out on his bill?" he teased.
"Yeah, but I'm not complaining," I replied.
Ralph slipped back into his grease-covered sanctuary. I was left alone to clean up the coffee and glance furtively over my shoulder every two seconds. My waitress-senses told me something was amiss in my diner domain, but I couldn't pin it down to any single problem. Maybe it was the dusty bunnies beneath the tables, or the crumbs encrusted in the seats. Or maybe it was the envelope tucked between the cash register and the salt-and-pepper shakers. I picked it up and saw my name on the back written in old-fashioned handwriting.
My curiosity told me there was nothing to lose from reading a letter, even if it was from a vampire. I opened the envelope and found not a letter, but a small slip of paper. On the paper was an address. I vaguely recognized it as a road outside of town that led to the middle of nowhere. There were a few farmhouses and an old barn here and there.
I pocketed the address and was going to toss aside the envelop, but something heavy slid along the bottom. I tipped the envelope over and a small metal key dropped into my hand. It was old and rusted like one of those keys you'd find in haunted houses. A skeleton key. I gulped for dramatic effect.
"Ah don't hear any cleaning out there," Ralph growled from the back.
I rolled my eyes and put the key in my pocket beside the paper. "That's because I'm done," I bit back.
"Then git to cleaning the rest of the place. We'll close up early tonight," he shouted.
I sighed and got to scrubbing the place so the grease shined. All the while I thought about the paper and key that jiggled in my pocket. There was a chance, a big chance, that this was a trap set by the handsome undead. That, or he was too cheap to leave a tip and thought wasting my time driving along a dusty di
rt road would be hilarious. Either way I couldn't be sure of anything unless I took a look out there.
CHAPTER 4