Chapter Text
VAMPIRES- THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!
the heading to the flyer on the board was the most tempting thing a bored thirteen year old could see
Checking the coast is clear with a Quick Look over your shoulder you ripped it off the board as your mom gossiped with the lady scanning her stuff at the till. Overly cautious as if reading this fake ass warning was something forbidden. God would shudder at you even humouring the idea of this shit. The typed out writing was small, clearly made to fit as much info on one piece of a4 as possible. You deserved a forbidden treat like this, getting to read somewhere other than bible study or school.
A light skim of some bogus flyer. One ‘fake ass warning’. And you were never the same.
GIZMO’S
you could see the paint chipped sign of where you work as you hopped off the cramped bus. A clear sign summer had hit- People your age who clearly didn’t have to worry about money like you dressed up and off to hit the town, or more likely; the boardwalk. The bell above the shop door gave its best attempt at a ring alerting the singular person in the store. Jen-your coworker- looking up from the magazine she was reading annoyed.
“Took you long enough” she spoke as she rolled the thing up and stuffed it in her bag. “I was meant to be off shift like five minutes ago” asshole.
”oh boo hoo, the bus was late. They barely run at night” You reply, going to the back to punch in.
Jen rolled her eyes “yeah well don’t do it again, I’d rather leave this shithole as soon as i can” that makes two of us
You took Jens place behind the checkout after she left the store, giving her a halfhearted goodbye, that was last face you’d probably talk to for the next twelve hours
To put it lightly Gizmos was one of the easiest and shittiest jobs you’ve managed getting yet. There was barely any real job to do seen as you were lucky to even see one customer walk in a week, the other guys working here have a bet on how its still running- highest winner so far is a cover up for the owners pot business coming graciously from your mind- the place sells anything and everything. Old used items piled high on the small shelf space making it almost impossible to actually grab something without the rest coming down with it.
Another pro is that it was the closest place to your flat that would hire someone with a criminal record no questions asked, The one glaring mark on your life making it impossible to truly start anew. Not at Gizmo’s, one look and you were given the job. Gaz- the owner who you only saw on your first day- took one look at you and said you had the vibes he was looking for in a worker. Whatever that means.
A piece of wood crudely shaped into a stake, flask of holy water stolen from the church. Your first hunt was ready
you held your breath as you pushed open the window of miss O’Conner’s house. You wouldn’t be noticed missing for at least 30 more minutes, now was your chance. You’d be doing the community a service, be praised a hero for this.
though you were scared shitless trying to sneak through her lair, you pushed forward, wincing at every creaky floorboard you stepped on. Glad it was still daytime out so she wouldn’t be awake. You were sure of her true nature by now, never spotting her outside her home during the day
you had finally found her. Laying asleep on her bed; curtains drawn closed to keep out the light. You approached where the old woman slept and raised your stake, plunging it down into her chest in one fellow swoop pushing forward even as the skin resisted.
No ash appeared, the old lady choking up blood.
Santa Carla was big enough and dangerous enough that people knew not to ask questions. Keep your head down and things will look up, and that’s exactly what you were gonna do. New city new you baby.
Your favourite thing to do at work was browse and take. The place was so overcrowded that pocketing a cool shirt or trinket wouldn’t be noticed. The music bin was by far your favourite. Getting to discover new music or finally find physical copies of albums you love instead of having to borrow them. Ass up in the bin trying to grab something real good you didn’t notice the rare appearance of a customer until you heard whistling behind you.
“Wooaah mama, you for sale too?”
What.
You attempted to stand back up flailing to get your feet on the ground again as whoever was behind you grabbed your waist to help you keep your balance
“Cool it babe, jumped up like you saw a ghost or something” the man snickered to himself as he spoke. Keeping his hands on your waist for a second longer than socially acceptable
Turning around you were faced by someone around your age smiling at you, blonde wild hair, clearly a druggie. The usual. Basic around these parts, people trying to stick out with their style. -you weren’t complaining about the mesh shirt though, that gave you a good view of his chest-You placed your bets on him being a poser. Along with the creep he’d already established himself to be
Stoner guys face slowly dropped from the grin he’d been wearing the longer you stood analysing him, shit, you’re meant to be doing your job or something aren’t you
“Welcome to Giz-“ Stoner guy stopped your pre planned spiel before you could even start it “you seriously gonna give me a corporate response instead of some real action? Not even a thank you for pulling your ass out from there?” Oh. He was one of those customers
Blondies smile seemed to come back as you gritted out the most forced thank you you’ve given to date. He clearly didn’t care if you meant it or not, just wanted to make you say it, asshole.
You went back to your throne behind the checkout- a cracked leather spinny chair that had definitely seen some shit- leaving the guy to do his own thing. Wishing he’d leave already so you could go back to browsing yourself.
Trying to make it at your age with nothing to your name except a record was harder than you thought it’d be, fresh out of Juvy free from doctors visits where they tried to shove every reason they could on you doing such an out of character act like that, the newest one was a psychotic episode. You didn’t argue with this.
Looking back at your younger selfs actions you find it stupid you ever got into that situation, yeah, i killed my old ass neighbour because i thought she was a vampire. Yes i know the whole thing with vampires is that they have eternal youth or something. Egg on my face. Ha ha.
you couldn’t stay anywhere near where you grew up, too many people would know about what happened, word gets around. Plus you were all but legally estranged from your parents at this point -ruining their reputation and making them the parents of that kid that went wacko kind of does that- so off to a new state it was.
You’d had enough change for a one way ticket straight to Santa Carla, it was the furthest place the bus station in your town could take you. Rent there was cheap too, what with the whole murder capital of the world title it held, not many looking to really stay there.
Getting a job as quick as you had was luck more than anything, the shitty apartment you lived in too. The place had Mold and god knows what else in it but hey, it was home. And the owner was the only one who hadn’t asked for cash up front.
Maybe in a few years you’d really start living but for now your goal was just make money and survive. Worry about experiencing the world later.
It seemed like forever before the blonde finally came up to the counter, seemingly talking to himself the whole time he shopped ensuring you wouldn’t be able to forget his presence. He carried with him a whole stack of cassettes, maybe he was a music guy after all.
Your eyes caught on the cassette at the top, the new Ratt album. Shit. You were looking for that one, assholes gone and took it. He seemed to notice you staring at it
“you a fan or something?”
“You could say that.” You replied trying to keep the conversation as short as possible, just being around this guy felt tiring.
“I dig chicks with good music, you trying to impress me?” He leaned against the counter smirking at myou, you couldn’t tell if this was him actually attempting to flirt or just trying to annoy, if it was flirting well, he was terrible at it.
You didn’t bother to reply to that one, focused on shoving the cassettes in a plastic bag. It seemed like he was ready to give another attempt at getting under your skin when his demeanour suddenly changed, looking away from you for a second annoyed.
He looked back at you giving another grin
”I gotta cut this short but hey, me and my buds are having a little get together, you down to come or what? I’ll even let you listen to my tapes” he wiggled the Ratt album in front of your face, trying to give you a reason for coming.
”I’ll find my own copy to listen to, thanks.” Shutting down any attempts he had at making you go to his little ‘get together’.
he clutched his chest at your comment as he made it to the door.
”ouch, you wound me girl, ill be seeing you around” great. Someone actively looking for you, just what you needed when trying to keep your head down here.
Looking out the window you saw Blondie cross the street and meet up with some other blonde haired guy with curls, both of them turning back and catching you staring, now they’re gonna think you’re the creep, great. The shorter blonde elbowed the other and they both started snickering to themselves as they walked away. You hadn’t noticed until he left that he had underpaid you by almost half. Fucker, so much for a mundane shift.