Alright! Here's the second mini-vampire story concocted by Chris Langley and myself, starting with a line used in Long in the Tooth. Here you are, "Pearly Whites in Shadowy Nights".
Pearly Whites in Shadowy Nights
‘And some of us just want to take advantage…’
They wait, licking their lips, awaiting the buffet before them. Frank & Joanna have been together for a couple of years now, but he just turned her about a year ago. They like to go out on dates and then feed together. Like tonight… Tonight’s not an uncommon night. The lovers sit and watch from Frank’s father’s minivan.
The drive-in’s playing a double feature horror show: The Thing That Walked and Bloodsuckers from Mars! And the lot is full of potential. The smell fills the air & their fangs grow without their trying. They’re taking a break from their late night make out session, taking in the sights and sounds of the night.
“I’m hungry.” Joanna says rubbing her stomach.
“Well just wait.” Frank calls the shots. “Give it time.”
“How much time, baby? I’m starving.”
“Starving? Did I not take you to the park earlier?” Frank rolls his eyes. She rolls hers to mock him.
“Just. Wait. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.”
“Is that why you haven’t told your dad about us? Because the wait will be worth it?”
He sigh, drops his hands, and stares at her.
“My father would stroke out if I told him I was a vampire.”
“Oh, so now you’re ashamed? Whatever happened to ‘trust me, baby, you’ll love it; we’ll live forever’? It was good enough to turn me but not good enough to tell anyone?”
“Can we not do this now? I’m trying to watch the movie & our possible sustenance. Plus if the next movie’s as bad as this one our dinner might be taking a hike. So please, don’t do this shit to me right now.”
“Alright, I’m sorry. I’m just thirsty. That’s all.” She lets out.
“I know, babe. I’m tryin’!”
They continue the waiting and watching. Frank, though young, can feel their pulses in the airwaves. For every heartbeat, the hairs on his arms raise. The pulses ring clear like a bell across the drive-in lot. She, Joanna, sits there, tapping her long pink fingernails and snapping her gum. She doesn’t understand that it’s an art. The girl will learn sometime. She’ll have to – or die. Frank’s eyes are bloodshot; so much to the point to where the veins are bulging from the eyeballs. He inhales deeply before turning to the young lady.
“It’s time.” He insists.
The high scare point of the movie comes on; predictable to some (like Frank) but scary none-the-less. The audience screams almost in unison as the heart rate and, therefore blood flow, rises at that moment.
“Finally.” The overly eager Joanna begins climbing out of the window to the hood, which she does in one fluid motion. He stands in front of the vehicle while she’s crouching on the hood behind him. Their fangs extend. She grabs his shoulders & leaps over him to the edge of the bluff. He soon joins her.
“Hungry?” Frank asks.
She replies, “Starving.”
And so they jump from their view point of dinner and glide down to the lot. Jo lands softly on the roof of some carpooling high schoolers closer to them, while Frank clears across the lot to the other side. Giving each other only one glance, they waste no more time and make what was simply a drive-in movie their feeding ground. Frank jumps in a couple’s car crushing their larynxes before they could scream. He bites the girl while holding the guy down single handedly. When the young bloodsucker is done feeding on the girl, he goes for her date. Joanna slides down to get her footing on the ground, effortlessly like a snake. She taps her nails on the window and the giddy group of high school boys notices a beautiful young lady outside and immediately rolls down the window.
“Got room for one more?” She asks as the top two buttons of her shirt come undone.
They let her in and no sound is heard from the car and it never leaves the lot. Both Frank & Joanna enjoy their buffet with no car between them knowing a thing. They move from vehicle to vehicle feasting on the blood of every poor soul who thought it was a good idea to go see a movie tonight. The two go for obvious veins in the neck, wrist, and other, yet, keeping it relatively clean. He kept stressing this upon his girlfriend before the night started. As someone once told Frank, “You get sloppy, you get dead.” While this isn’t their first date, it is their first time feeding together on such a large scale. Not too much into the second movie, seventeen cars sit with dried up corpses inside. Like pale legged raisins with a look of shock and horror forever embedded in their faces. More than seventeen families unaware.
After all the damage is done they meet in the middle… in the back of a pickup truck. She’s lying in the back looking up at the stars.
“This seat taken?” Frank asks approaching the truck.
“Oh by all means.” Jo replies shoving the lying dead body out of the way.
He lies down next to her, “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna need a drink though. The aftertaste is kind of blah.”
“Yup. We’ll get one before we leave.” Frank responds.
At the concessions stand: Ralph, the overnight employee adjusting his hairpiece, has taken quite the liking to Miss Joanna. After giving them their large sodas, “That’ll be seven fifty.”
“Here’s a ten. Keep the change.” Joanna says with a wink.
“Uh, thanks.” Ralph gulps clearing his watered mouth whilst staring Jo up and down. “So, uh, ya likin’ the movies tonight?”
Frank’s to the side rolling his eyes. He can’t believe what he’s hearing.
Joanna replies laughingly, “Bloody good shows. But I’ve got to tell you, I’ve seen scarier.”
“I bet you have.” Laughs Ralph while watching Joanna work her straw with her tongue.
Joanna asks “Are you the only one workin’ tonight?”
“Yeah this dead end drive-in can’t afford to hire many people and the others had the night off. But I brought my brother Lenny to help me out tonight.”
“Lenny?” Frank inquires.
“Yeah, my younger brother Lenny but I think he’s out there seeing some friends or something.”
“I see.”
“Hey…” She says in a breathy voice.
“What?” Ralph straightens and becomes serious.
“Do you wanna see something really scary?”
“C’mon Joanna, we’re leaving.” Frank finally breaks his temporary silence. “Ralphie boy, we’ll see you later.” Sp the two disappear into the shadowy night…
…And when the second film finishes, Ralph’s night job gets a whole lot worse.
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