The Vampire and the Goth Ch. 12

I put my arms around Elizabeth and pulled her to me firmly. "Yes, it's true. This isn't how I wanted you to find out, but if this is what you want, okay."

Elizabeth looked deeply into my eyes. "This is what you want, too, right Stosh?"

I sighed and smiled at her. "Yes, it's what I want. It may be selfish, but I can't imagine not having you in my life. And I do mean my life, not a human lifespan."

Elizabeth kissed me deeply and put her forehead to mine.

"I can't imagine not having you in my life either. Even if you weren't a vampire. I love you, Stanislav... Sha - shuh - mmm - sky? Fuck. I really have to figure out how to say your name," she said, with a giggle.

I put my hand on her face. "At least you got the first name right. That's progress!" I kissed her again, and sat back, smiling at her.

"I can't wait to tell Emily!" She jumped up and ran for her cell phone, forgetting to close the bedroom door. Even lying in bed, I could hear her girlish giggles as she told her best friend that she was going to become a vampire.

I dropped back in the bed hard, with a knot in my stomach, confused and amazed at my decision. I knew that Elizabeth wanted to be made into a vampire - in fact, she was absolutely thrilled. But it still made me feel like a selfish prick, and the cognitive dissonance of giving her what she wanted for my own selfish purposes was making my head spin. I decided to take a shower, get some coffee, and then deal with reality.

When I came down the hall, I found everyone exactly where I thought they would be - David was on the couch with my laptop, Angus was next to him flipping through TV channels, Elizabeth was babbling happily to her sister, Laura, who was sitting at the dining room table, texting with a grim look on her face.

Angus smiled at me. "Hey, Mr. Bridegroom, do you get the Beeb on this thing? I'm trying to watch the Gers."

I shot him a confused look. "The Gers?"

He kept playing with the remote and said, "You know, the Light Blues. One half of the Old Firm. The Glasgow Rangers."

His explanation left me even more confused. David laughed at the look on my face.

"My sentiments exactly. I think it's their soccer team - "

He grunted as Angus elbowed him in the ribs.

"Sorry, sorry, FOOTBALL team. Damn, your elbow's sharp!"

I laughed. "Serves you right, smartass!"

David frowned at me, still rubbing his side.

I looked at Angus. "I'm sorry, I don't watch a lot of TV. I probably do get the BBC, but I'm not sure how to find it."

"You do know that your game finished hours ago, right?" David asked Angus, with a smile on his face.

"You know I don't really care, right?" He asked, smarting right back and then kissing him on the cheek.

"It's a good thing you're so cute, kilt boy."

Angus stuck his tongue out at David, who smiled back. Then, he gave a disinterested grunt and then went back to channel surfing for his game, just like any other man obsessed with football and deprived of his team.

I walked over to the dining room table, and Elizabeth jumped up and put her arms around me, giving me a huge kiss.

"Emily and Alex want to meet at The Redrum Room tonight to celebrate with us. It's Emily's first time out in public as a vampire!"

I leaned back and looked down at her beautiful, happy face, my heart skipping a beat as I realized I was going to be with her for the rest of my life.

I smiled. "It's going to be a special night for her and Alex. I'm glad we can share it with them."

Elizabeth kissed me again, face beaming with happiness. But over her shoulder, I could see Laura frowning into her phone.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

Laura sighed. "We're having a text argument over when she's going to move out."

Elizabeth turned around and put her arms around her sister's neck and shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Sissy."

"Me too," Laura said, her voice cracking with tears. I wasn't sure what to say, so I put my hand on her shoulder."

Suddenly I heard Angus shouting from the living room. "Hey, is it okay if Dmitri meets us there?"

I must have looked confused because Elizabeth laughed at the look on my face.

"Uhm... sure, if he wants," I said.

"Good, because I already invited him!"

"Indoor voices, sweetie. We're vampires, we can hear you just fine," David said, rubbing his ears.

"Well I know you can hear me, but what about Elizabeth and her sister?"

Laura and Elizabeth looked at each other and started to laugh.

"You're not that far away. We can hear you fine. And anyway, I'm not going out tonight. I don't feel like it," Laura said.

I looked at her with sympathy. There's nothing worse than being around a happy couple when your relationship isn't working.

Suddenly, Angus was in the dining room with us.

"No, you're coming out with us. We're celebrating with your sister and you don't want to mope around here for too long," Angus said, with an air of authority around his words.

Laura looked at him for a minute and bristled, then she turned to her sister. "Bitsy I'm happy for you, but I just don't - "

"Angus is right. It will do you some good to get out and meet new people."

Laura looked at me for help. I gently smiled at her and then said, "They have a point."

Laura looked at Angus and Elizabeth, then dropped her shoulders. "Fuck. Okay."

The bar was very busy when we arrived, but even so, Emily ran over and grabbed Elizabeth with a happy squeal. The two women were hugging each other, almost jumping up and down with joy. Emily dropped her fangs for Elizabeth to examine, which made me tense up, remembering my first night as a vampire. Suddenly, her boyfriend, Alex, was standing next to me.

"She's not hungry and I'm watching her. I won't let her lose control."

I nodded at him. Alex gave me a warm smile as he patted my back.

"I'm glad you've decided to sire her. Congratulations."

I smiled back at him. "Thank you for pushing me in the right direction."

"Any time."

We walked over to the booth Emily and Alex had been sitting at and watched as Emily and Elizabeth continued to talk to each other. Eventually, Laura joined them as Ben and Angus brought them drinks. Elizabeth introduced everybody to Emily who smiled and hugged them all in turn. Laura looked brittle and reluctant at first, but Emily's happy energy soon won her over. Angus scanned the room looking for Dmitri, who said he'd meet us there, while David kept his arm around his waist in a possessive gesture.

"Who's the wolf with David?" Alex asked.

"That's Angus. He's from Scotland. He's David's mate."

Alex looked at me with raised eyebrows. "What?"

I nodded. "It's true. At least, Angus thinks it's true. David doesn't know what's going on yet, he just knows that he doesn't want to let Angus out of his sight."

Alex grinned and then gave Angus a suggestive wink and a beckoning wave. "Well, here comes Wolfie. Let's see how David reacts."

"Alex don't fuck with him," I said in a tired voice, but it was already too late. Angus was smiling, walking toward us and David was immediately steaming. Alex laughed.

"Stosh! What are you doing all the way over here?"

"I'm just watching the girls," I said.

Alex stood up and ushed Angus into the booth. "Hi, I'm Alex," he said. "I've just recently met Stosh but I've known David for a while now."

Angus introduced himself and took a seat as he gave me a questioning look.

"Alex sired Emily. He knows David and loves pissing him off. He wasn't really flirting with you," I said, helpfully.

Angus turned to look at David and laughed as Alex sat closer to him.

"I hope you don't mind me getting into your personal space. David knows I'm not interested in guys, but he's so cute when he gets upset."

Angus laughed. "Here, let me help!" Angus put his hand on top of Alex's and smelled his neck, a wolf gesture that looks more intimate than it really is. David's outrage was obvious. And hilarious.

"Maybe he'll figure out a few things," Angus said with a wink.

David angrily stalked over to us, much to the amusement of Emily, Elizabeth, and Laura.

"Excuse me," he said, in a cold tone. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just making friends," Angus said, with an innocent face. "You said you wanted me to meet more people."

"I didn't mean like this," he said.

As David argued with Angus and Alex laughed, I noticed a woman approaching Elizabeth. Somehow, I realized she was the same woman I'd been chasing the other night through the graveyard. As she came closer to Elizabeth, I squeezed the glass in my hand so hard that it shattered.

" - Stosh?" Alex asked.

I didn't hear the question, but I didn't care. I wanted to know who was approaching Elizabeth and why.

"There's a woman stalking our girls," I said.

"What?" Alex was completely confused, but David knew immediately what I was talking about.

"That's the woman from the other night that you chased in the graveyard, isn't it?"

Angus chimed in. "She's the one Dima thought might be a slayer."

When Angus said the word "slayer", Alex and David jumped into action. We've all lived long enough to have encountered humans who wanted to destroy vampires, and we knew that whether or not they got very far with it, they can cause a lot of chaos. Certainly, two humans and a freshly sired vampire wouldn't be able to defend themselves. We were all moving quickly through the thick crowd when the fire alarm sounded.

The investigations and recriminations would go on for years about what happened on the night of the Redrum Room fire. A common theory speculated that it was a poorly timed insurance scheme by the owners. Others thought it was a domestic terror incident aimed at the Goth community, or perhaps a dirty trick by local developers who were seeking to destroy the bar so they could more easily gentrify the surrounding area. Conspiracy theories are fun and have a certain deranged appeal, especially when the truth is so boring - the true culprit was the failing electrical wiring behind the bar.

While the truth behind the catalyst for the Redrum Room fire is boring, the experience was not. The electrical fire started in an area with a lot of alcohol - a recipe for disaster in and of itself. As the fire grew, every bottle became an accidental Molotov cocktail. The exploding bottles from the bar sent hot glass shards and flaming liquid everywhere and the smokey air made it difficult to see. This alone was bad enough, but the fact that the club lacked many modern safety features, such as emergency lighting, working exit doors and an effective sprinkler system made everything much worse, as did the fact that the club's bouncers paid no attention to the maximum number of people allowed inside.

The lights went out as bottles from the bar began to explode. People were screaming and running in a blind panic. My only thought was to get to Elizabeth, but with all of the chaos, I soon lost track of her and everybody else. I realized I didn't know where anyone was, so I did the only thing I could do - I started grabbing people and removing them from the building. As soon as I had one load clear, I'd go in for another. Alex, David, and Angus were doing the same thing, as were other non-humans that I didn't know who were also there that night. Later, during the investigations, some of the survivors of the fire had strange stories about being carried to safety by an enormous dog or a man with ice-cold skin who ran faster than any human. Those stories were rightly written off as trauma-based delusions.

The fire had fully engulfed the building by the time I realized I didn't see Elizabeth. I immediately panicked and started to run back into the fire when Angus tackled me, still partially shifted into a werewolf.

"She's not in there," he said loudly.

"SKĄD WIESZ?" I yelled.

Angus looked at me in confusion. "What?" Then he turned to David. "What did he say?"

David ignored Angus. "Szukaliśmy jej. Nikt z nas jej nie widział," he said, in a very patient voice. Then, he turned to Angus. "He asked how you know Elizabeth isn't in there and I told him we looked for her."

I was almost in a blind panic, searching for Elizabeth. I saw Laura with an oxygen mask over her face sitting on the pavement, being attended to by an EMT. Emily was sitting on the ground next to her and crying. I grabbed Emily by the shoulders, pulled her to her feet, and started to shake her.

"Co się stało z Elżbietą?"

Alex pried my hands from Emily's shoulders and put her behind him. Once she was safe from me, he said, "Stanislav, przestań. Przerażasz ją. Mówić po angielsku. Proszę."

Emily looked at me in shock, completely confused.

Angus came over. "I don't speak Polish, but I think he just wants to know where his mate is. I think he's too upset to speak English at the moment. Right, Stosh?"

I put my hand up to my forehead. "Masz rację, Angusa. I'm sorry."

I looked around and didn't see Elizabeth anywhere. Meanwhile, Alex was comforting Emily and David was trying to calm Angus, whose hair and teeth hadn't fully receded yet.

I felt someone pulling on my pants leg. I looked down and saw Elizabeth's sister, Laura. She slipped off her oxygen mask.

"Some woman grabbed Elizabeth just before the fire broke out. I heard her yelling at the woman to leave her alone. I tried to follow them, but the smoke was just too much."

Laura was crying, tears leaving tracks in the soot on her face as an EMT grabbed Laura's shoulder. He and forced the mask back over Laura's face, but I could still hear her, and there was no mistaking the resolute look in her eye.

"Stosh, bring my sister back to me."

While the EMTs began to load injured people in the ambulances, I stood there in shock, wondering what I should do next. Suddenly, Dmiti was there, hugging me tightly.

"I'm so glad you made it out! I pulled into the parking lot and the building just kind of burst into flames!"

I could tell that Dmitri had been crying. Angus came over and hugged Dmitri tightly.

"Where's Elizabeth?"

"I don't know. I thought she was in the building, but Laura said she was pulled out by that woman from the graveyard," I said. "I don't know how I'm going to find her." My voice sounded as shaky as I felt.

"Fuck this shit," David said. "You, me, Dmitri, and Angus are going to circle the building. The cops and firemen have the parking lot blocked, so they couldn't have driven away. That means they're on foot, and if they're on foot, Angus and Dmitri can catch their scent. Alex is going to stay here and make sure that his girl doesn't lose control."

Emily stood up with an angry look on her face. "His 'girl' is perfectly in control and wants to find her friend!"

As she said this, Emily's fangs dropped, and she covered her mouth with a surprised look on her face. Alex put his arm around her shoulders.

"This is too much stress for someone that was just sired. The best thing we can do is stay here. I'll make sure you and Elizabeth's sister are safe and we'll let the guys find your friend."

Alex was using a calm, soothing voice, but the command was there. Emily pulled her fangs back in and sat down on the ground next to Laura, who grabbed her hand. Alex stepped behind Emily and Laura as he folded his arms across his chest and we turned to head out.

Getting past the firemen and ambulances wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be - they were overwhelmed with the survivors and the fire. Even so, as I rounded the back of the building, I could smell human flesh burning and I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't know whether I should be afraid that Elizabeth was still in there or scared of what her captor might be doing to her. I tried not to think about it, focusing instead on finding her.

The club was in a converted warehouse in an industrial area of the city that was being gentrified. The area was a strange mix of broken-down manufacturing and storage facilities, new development, and empty lots thick with trees, shrubs, and vines. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large wolf with his nose on the ground. He looked over at me and barked once, waging his tail.

I came over to where the wolf was and realized it was Dmitri. He shifted back to his human form. "It was hard to smell anything back there with all of those people and that smoke, but I think I've found something." Dmitri shifted to his wolf form again and started walking slowly, snuffling among the litter, vines, and construction trash. After a few steps, Dmitri turned his head towards me and gestured for me to follow him.

"Okay, you lead the way," I said.

We found ourselves walking close to an empty factory bordered by railroad tracks which had been abandoned long ago. Dmitri continued to walk slowly, carefully sniffing along our path, as we headed closer to the crumbling shell of the factory. Suddenly, he stopped, his ears perking up as he gave a small whine.

I stood still and listened very carefully... and heard the sound of my family name, spoken very slowly, in a woman's voice.

"Szymanksi."

"Shuh-man-ski."

Immediately, I recognized Elizabeth's voice. I felt overwhelming relief that she wasn't in the burning building, but who was she was talking to? I didn't pay attention to the vines or trash as I ran towards the sound of her voice with Dmitri, still in wolf form, right behind me.

We ran into the building and I saw her. She was sitting on a set of concrete stairs in the dark, talking with another woman.

And laughing.

"Stosh won't know whether to shit or go blind when I say his name correctly!"

The other woman laughed with her.

"I can't believe he still goes by Stosh and not Stan. Way to blend in, bro."

"Yeah, but the name kind of suits him. He's a little brooding, you know?" Elizabeth said with a laugh.

"Oh yeah. Our other brother is the same way, too."

I stepped into the open room.

"Oh hey, Stosh! Nice to see you!"

Elizabeth jumped up and hugged me tightly. The woman she'd been talking with gave me a big smile.

"Stosh," she said. "I'm glad you're here."

The woman looked vaguely familiar, beyond the fact that I remembered her from the cemetery. I put a protective arm around Elizabeth.

"You don't remember me, do you?" she said.

"I chased you through a graveyard the other night."

She laughed. "You sure did. You might have caught me if it hadn't been for those stoner kids."

I was furious. "You abducted my girlfriend."

She smiled. "Well, not exactly. I got her out before the fire started."

"Did you start it?" Dmitri, who was now in his human form, asked.

She laughed. "No, I didn't. But I thought I smelled something burning and figured it would be better if we got away someplace safe."

Elizabeth squeezed me tighter.

"Szymanski," Elizabeth said, smiling up at me.

"What?" I was confused, and a little irritated.

"It's your name. Stanislav Szymanski. See? I learned to say it right."

She had said my name right. But I had no idea why it mattered at the moment.

"Yes, good job. But what the hell is going on here?"

The woman and Elizabeth smiled at each other.

"Are you going to say it?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, no. You can do the honors."

Elizabeth smiled. "Stanislav Szymanski, I'd like to introduce you to Julia Szymanski."

"What?" I said, still confused.

The woman stepped forward with a big smile. "You probably remember me by my original name... Jadwiga."

Jadwiga.

My baby sister, Jadwiga, someone I hadn't seen in almost six hundred years.

I staggered, feeling the world shift under my feet, and passed out.