Five… long… days passed at Norman’s without any word from my father. He swore Harding was looking for him. When I explained who he was to me, Norman was baffled but understood the importance of finding him. I couldn’t understand why there weren’t any clues to his whereabouts yet. Aaron was good at laying low when he pissed off the wrong people, which he did frequently, but to my knowledge, he’d been staying out of trouble lately. I was the one who’d been setting off the bad guys, as my current situation was proof.

“I don’t know anything,” Norman answered immediately upon entering the living room, where I’d been sitting reading a book. It wasn’t a surprising entrance since I hadn’t really said much to him the last few days except to ask about news on my dad. Even so, I couldn’t let that slide.

“You’re presumptuous this evening,” I said closing my book as he opened the refrigerator only to close it empty handed.

“Yes, well, living on repeat is boring.” And he was on edge. Our secluded time together had given me insight into Norman’s many moods, and there were many. He seemed stoic and quiet, but it was clear that he was not used to having a roommate. Yes, he’d kept his word and treated me like a VIP guest, but he was quick to shut down or storm off when I did something to bug him. The frequency of these actions indicated I was a rather annoying person.

“Listen, I hate to do this, but I’m going to have to go out tonight. That means –”

“Oh no no no! You promised,” I shouted like a five-year-old who’d had her favorite toy taken away.

“Well, there’s not really anything to be done about it unless you’d like to be my dinner,” he said making sure to show off his rather pointed canines when he smiled.

“Not really,” I replied sourly. “How long will you be gone?”

“It should just be for the night,” he answered and looked genuinely sorry for having to force me back in the basement. “There is some good news, though. I’ve had the sump pump running all week. The room should be mostly dry.”

“There is an alternative,” I offered tentatively, not sure if I was ok with the suggestion I was about to make.

“Go ahead,” he said waving his hand for me to proceed. “This should be good.”

I laid my book on the sofa where I had been sitting so I could stand and walk towards him. I needed to look confident in my decision. “You could take me with you.”

“No.” That was it. No explanation no follow up. Just no.

“Why not?” I said losing some of my daring. “It’s the perfect way to help both of us. I can get some fresh air. You can do what you need to do to stay away from my neck and keep an eye on me at the same time.”

“No.” He started to walk back towards his bedroom; that frustrated glare I’d begun to associate with his feelings toward me was plastered all over his features. I darted in front of him to stop him just stopping myself from grabbing him.

“Norman, please,” I said with my outstretched hand begging him to halt and listen. “It’s only one night. I’ll be good. I promise. Please, don’t make me go back down there.”

“I’ll think about it,” was all he said as he bypassed me and continued on his way.

~

When the moon was fully high in the sky, the vampire emerged from his lair once more. “Let’s go,” was all he said, but it was enough. I knew what I promised, but there was no way I wasn’t taking advantage of this opportunity. It wasn’t even about escaping for my life anymore. I needed to find my dad. We hadn’t been close in years, but he was still the only family I had left. Vampire or not, he loved me.

The ride into town was a quiet one. It was clear Norman was not happy about taking me, but he was probably afraid of what retribution I would hand out if he put me back in that dank basement room.

“Trembley, I need you to understand the situation you’re willingly walking into. There are a few rules I need you to follow to ensure no one gets hurt tonight.” He was driving and not looking at me, but from his profile, I could tell he was serious. I mean when was Norman not serious, but this was graver than usual.

“Of couse, I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Even if it means protecting your own neck,” he repeated my joking words from earlier.

“Obviously, that’s not what I meant,” I corrected him. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you feed, but I won’t watch you kill someone.”

“That’s why there have to be rules. You think you understand this world because of your father, but you seem to know only the broad strokes. Vampires need blood, so vampires equal bad. When in actuality, you should know more than anyone becoming a vampire doesn’t strip away who you are. The years do that.” “I don’t need a lecture, Norman. I’ve seen enough for myself.” Who did he think he was to educate me on vampires? My life was a cosmic joke, but it had come in handy to help those who were preyed upon.

“You haven’t seen everything,” he said while pulling the car into a poorly lit parking lot that sat adjacent to a mostly empty shopping center. “I won’t press it anymore tonight, but if you plan to willingly put yourself in our crosshairs, you’re going to have to contend with certain realities.”

I couldn’t imagine what he expected me to learn, but if I was going to get away, I couldn’t piss him off. “What are the rules?”

“Number one: you have to stay by my side until we return home. Number two: you can’t alert whoever I choose to what’s about to happen. Number three: if something goes wrong and I tell you to run, ignore rule one and get as far away as fast as possible.”

“What could go wrong? Aren’t you like a billion and have done this one hundred times more than that.”

“Since we’re low on time,” he noted the clock to remind me we had to be back before sunrise, “I’m going to let the joke about my age slide. But many things can go wrong, an unwelcome human could stumble upon us or an unfriendly vampire or even one of Sarah’s people. Harding just lost Lucas. I may not mean as much to him, but he does rely heavily on me in this battle.”

When he spoke about Harding, I was surprised at the fierce loyalty that he emanated. Contrary to what Norman believed, I was well aware that vampires were not necessarily bad. However, I’d seen enough to know most gave in to the power and bloodlust and cared for little else. Even my father wasn’t immune and gave in from time to time, but he always came back.

“Are you ready,” he asked taking the key out of the ignition.

“Yeah, buddy, let’s get you fed.” What else was I supposed to say.

I followed him through the vacant parking lot to one of the closed shops that looked like it had been that way since the 70s. To my surprise he knocked a familiar tune on the boarded up glass door, and after about five seconds of my confusion, the top portion of the door pulled back a la the gate to Oz. However, instead of a dumpy man in a green suit and top hat, there was a burly man who was clearly bending over to look through the hole. He did coincidently have similar facial hair, though.

“Private event,” he said in a comically higher pitched voice than should be allowed. “No guests allowed.”

“Dimitri, really do we have to do this everytime,” Norman responded flustered.

“Hey, either you are invited and know the password or you can get lost.” Looking at the size of this guy I was firmly in favor of the latter, but before I could pull Norman away he started singing.

“We’re no strangers to love. You know the rules and so do I.” I swear if vampires could blush his face would have been hotter than the sun.

“Was that?” I started but was quickly cut off by a brusk, “Yeah,” from Norman. I didn’t mean to laugh, but it just kind of slipped out. He gave me a violent stare in response, so I muffled it but not before letting him know he had a lovely voice.

The very non-munchkin-like guard opened the door and we were off to see the wizard. “Barrett is in the back,” Dimitri said before baricading the glass facade with an inner barrier.

“What is with you guys and those steel doors?” I asked Norman.

“Vampires can live a long time, but if you’re stupid, it’s not likely to happen. Protecting ourselves from potential threats is key to our survival.” I would ponder the irony to that statement later. Right now, I realized, I was completely surrounded by otherworldly creatures in a dark, loud environment and had zero weapons on me. Stupid was sounding more and more like my defining modifer.

Norman watching me scan the room obviously picked up on my fear. “There’s nothing to worry about,” he said leaning into my ear. “I wouldn’t have brought you here if I was worried for your safety. There’s no feeding on the premises unless the food has agreed.”

That made me feel a little relieved until I realized the flaw in that rule. “Couldn’t you just lie and say that I agreed?”

“You’re not the only human that knows about us you know,” he said while guiding me deeper into the club. The loud sounds were pulsating in my ear and I could barely make out what was going on around me it was so dark. “If we killed every one of you who set foot in here, there would be problems. The right humans would stop coming, and the wrong ones would be alerted to our presence. We try very hard to avoid that. So no unwilling feeding. But if you’re volunteering, I could go for a pre-dinner snack.”

It was dark, but I could see him turn back to stare at me at that remark. I’m not sure what reaction was on my face, but he smirked before continuing to pull me through the throngs of bodies. How did these people fit in here? From the outside the space didn’t look that big, but then it dawned on me. The club wasn’t in a single closed shop. All the closed stores had probably been merged together on the inside. As long as the property taxes were paid and the parking lot wasn’t in complete shambles, no one would care why some developer was holding on to a dead shopping center.

Finally Norman stopped pulling my arm. Confused, I realized we had maneuvered ourselves to a wall. “What were you trying to accomplish?” I asked, but he wasn’t listening at the moment. Actually, he looked crazy running his hands all over the wall like it was the pet he never received as a child. “Whatcha doing?” I tried again getting closer, so I could be sure he heard me.

“I haven’t been here in a while, and I need to pay respects to the owner. Only I have no ruddy idea where the passage is. He moves it around, so not just anyone can go barging in.”

“The passage is a secret panel that opens?” I asked returning to my comparison of vampires and serial killers. “Is there any chance it’s like Harding’s murder mystery door?” That elicited a groan.

“You may be on to something. Barrett’s always been a bit obsessed with one-upping Harding, but it often turns into him emulating instead.” Without any more discussion, Norman took a few steps back before running shoulder first into the wall he’d been molesting. To both our surprises, it worked, and the panel slid over to reveal a blinding hallway.

We’d been mostly ignored up until this point, but now faces everywhere we’re turning to stare. And they were not happy. Red eyes were reflecting out of the darkness indicating many of them had been feeding, but others were mid… other things. It was clear they didn’t like being disturbed. One even yelled, “Get on with it!” However, none of them bothered to follow us into the hall which was a relief. From inside the bright hall, Norman pressed a button on the wall and the panel closed.

“What was that?” I nearly screeched at Norman, who merely proceeded down the hall.

“Club Taste,” he answered not bothered in the least. “It’s the only haven around here. It’s much better to feed in safety than snatch someone off the streets if you can. And living out in the middle of nowhere doesn’t exactly offer me many options.”

“But there were so many. How could there be that many?”

“We aren’t a rare species,” he chuckled. “Besides you had to have noticed there weren’t just vampires in there.”

I did. Not wanting to stare, I only got glimpses, but I was positive there were multiple creatures that didn’t look human at all. Vampires, demons, shifters, and even fairies could pass as people. The ones I saw in there had sharp talons coming out of their face and appendages. No way they could just walk around in public unseen. That would have to be a discussion for another time.

We’d made our way to the end of the hall to another closed door. This one would require more than brute strength to get in. There were cameras in both corners of the ceiling with a speaker between them, and it spoke.”

“What do you want?” It asked very unfriendly.

“It’s Norman. I would like to speak with Barrett about being granted temporary asylum for feeding.”

“Who’s she?” And I could feel the rude finger pointing through the camera in my direction.

“My guest for the evening.”

“No humans may en–,” Another voice from somewhere further back in the room cut off the first. “Oh let them in, Norman is always welcome.”

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