Chapter 6

When I woke up the next morning, I was still grinning. I'd just had one terrific night, of uncommitted, recreational fking with Nathan! Then I'd had one hunk of a vampire guy stick his fangs in me, and then nibble and suck me out, good and rough; or "ruff-ruff-ruff!" They were both better stickers than Larry had been.

No. I thought, I shouldn't think that way about Larry. When I send him an e-mail, I'm obviously not gonna be telling him that. He and I did have a committed, long lasting, true love relationship that would have continued if I hadn't moved away. The night before we left, he and I gave each other a good-bye fk, expressing our true love.

What I'd done at the fang-bang had nothing to do with love. I was having a lot of fun being a Hellmouth Gal, doing my part in helping keep the Truce, and it was the most exciting time I'd ever had in my life!

It was also the scariest, and I was never gonna do it again!

I got up. It was Sunday morning. Mom and I would be going to Church. While skimpy, sexy garments and even naked boobs were acceptable all over Sangreville, I was sure that wouldn't be so in any local house of worship. I would attend fully clothed, from neck to knees.

When I sat down at the breakfast table, with a satisfied smile still on my lips, Mom told me, "I'd like you to try to stay away from your cousins Paula and Diana. They've been having a definitely bad influence on you."

"Bad influence? Mom. You've told me that when you were in High School, you fkd a few boys just for fun yourself, and you let one of them keep your bra as a souvenir."

"But that was when we were alone, in a private place. I never walked around in public with my breasts naked, and I never got nibbled by a vampire."

"But you weren't living on a hellmouth Mom."

She sighed. "I understand that, but I don't want you to use 'living on the hell-mouth' as an excuse for doing things that you know just aren't right. I still don't want you spending too much time with your cousins."

Okay. I wasn't gonna argue. I'd still spend time with them. I just wouldn't tell my mother about it.

So we attended worship at a local Church that morning. I recognized some of my classmates, who were also fully clothed. One of them was Loretta. I waved at her. She scowled and looked away from me.

Well, I thought, I did fk her boyfriend. But she was fking another girl's boyfriend at the same time. I supposed that meant that nobody really got away with being a totally slutty, skanky bimbo. At least not get away totally.

The worship service began. I joined in the hymns, the prayers, the collection of tithes and offerings, and the Bible reading. That was the time when I'd usually waited to see if God was speaking to me. Today, He was speaking a reprimand.

The Pastor preached. "With the signing of the Truce, we the Citizens of Sangreville, both the living and undead, have made a treaty with Hell! I don't know how many of our young people, some of whom I'm sure are sitting here with us this morning, attended a fang bang last night!

“I'm also sure that there may have been one or more 'accidents'! The death and destruction have not been eliminated! There seems to be one deadly 'accident' every weekend. There is no way to stop that from continuing. However, that need not be so for any individual, who will follow the Word of the Lord!"

He now read from the Bible, which was open on the pulpit before him. He read Ephesians 6: 10-19.

"Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

"Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel."

That afternoon we were back in the apartment. I was in my room when Mom got a phone call.

I was seated at my desk, where I'd turned on my laptop computer, and logged on to the Sangreville High Students' websites. While I'd thought that Greenfields High's "No Longer a Virgin." website was embarrassing, what I found on Sangreville's "Fang-Bangs" site was far beyond that.

The one I'd attended on Saturday night was being shown on video, for the whole world to see. There had actually been a hidden camera in Roxanna's basement, taping all of us naked, drunk and fking, and then getting bit by vampires. The vamps were invisible on the tape, so all it showed was what looked like us living guests, doing sexual stuff with nobody, and getting nibbled and sipped by nobody. It was all just too weird.

Then I noticed something I'd hardly paid attention to during the fang-bang. On the wall a poster of the idol of the Goddess Vampirania was displayed. It was a copy of the same poster I'd seen at the Dark Arts R Us; the one that had overwhelmed me with nauseating fear. This time, I didn't feel like throwing up.

There was also a moment when Roxanna came up close to the shelf where the tiny camera had been hidden in plain sight. I clearly saw that she'd worn the necklace, with the miniature idol of Vampirania dangling between her naked boobs.

Okay! I thought. Part of being on the Hellmouth, but...when I see Roxanna tomorrow morning...

My mother knocked on my door. "Elaine." She sounded distressed. "Will you come out here a minute?"

I quickly turned off my computer, came out of my room and went into the kitchen, where she was seated at the table, actually trembling.

"Mom? What's the matter?"

"I just got a phone call from your Aunt Josephine. She said Diana didn't get up this morning."

I laughed, "I'm not surprised."

"Elaine! Don't joke! This is serious!"

I repeated, "'Part of being a Sangreville girl' Mom."

"That's the problem. When she hadn't got up by noontime, your Aunt Josephine went into Diana's room to wake her up, and she found her dead! Killed by a vampire!"

That ended the joking.

"What! Dead?" I said, "No. That's not possible! She let a vampire guy give her a nibble and take a few sips. She was a little woozy for a few minutes, but by the time we left, she was okay. Same as me."

Mom said, "But your cousin Diana is now dead and becoming a vampire. Your Aunt Josephine pushed her lips up, and found a pair of fangs growing inside her mouth."

I said, "Well that can't be because of what happened at the fang-bang. Everyone there was very careful, keeping an eye on each other, so there wouldn't be any accidents; either sexual or vampirical."

"Then why did this happen?"

"I have no idea. I'm new here."

Mom and I sat there quietly, thinking things over for a while. I thought over what I'd been reading in the Vampires Handbook.

Then I said, "It might be that after Paula dropped me off, she and Diana went to another fang-bang where things got out of hand. I'll talk to Roxanna tomorrow, and see if she knows what happened."

The following morning, I entered 2nd Period History Class, dressed like many of the other girls, in a short skirt and tight halter-top, with a souvenir bandage on my neck. Diana was not seated at her desk. Roxanna was there, but Nathan's desk was also unoccupied.

I came over to Roxanna and said, "Did you hear about Diana? She's a vampire."

She nodded, looking very distressed. "So is Nathan."

"Not him too? What happened? We were all careful."

She shook her head. "I haven't the slightest idea."

The teacher entered the room.

During the remainder of the morning classes, everybody was talking about their two classmates who'd been safely nibbled in a non-fatal way, but had later died and were now becoming undead.

I asked a few people if they had any idea why that happened. What they all told me was, "Just an accident."

At lunchtime Nathan's girlfriend Loretta came over to my table and sat beside me.

She told me, "They weren't vamped by accident. That fang-bang we attended was not only being held to keep the Truce, it was also a ceremony of human sacrifice, to a pagan deity."

"A pagan human sacrifice?"

"Do you remember what Roxanna was wearing?"

"When we first arrived, she had a very short skirt on, and nothing above the belt. Just like the rest of us. Then once things got started, she wore nothing at all. Just like you, me and everyone else there."

"One thing she didn't remove was the necklace, with the idol of Vampirania dangling on it between her naked boobs."

"Right. I saw that on the fang-bang website. But that wasn't where my attention was focused, while the fang-bang was going on."

"She was acting as priestess of the goddess Vampirania. Vampirania used the power of the idol, to increase the deadliness of the vampire biting's, so that a male and a female would die in sacrifice to her."

I was startled. "Diana and Nathan were sacrifices?"

She nodded. "You should have kept your mouth shut outside the Dark Arts R Us."

"Me?"

"You spoke words of exorcism that challenged the Power inside the shop. That provoked the Power, and the two of them died to appease the demonic force. If you hadn't spoken those words, the sacrifices wouldn't have been necessary."

I said, "You're blaming me?"

"What I don't understand," she went on, "is why Diana and Nathan died and became undead instead of you, when you were the one who provoked them."

"I have no idea if I provoked them or not," I told her, "but whether I did or didn't, I'm never going anywhere near the Dark Arts R Us Shop ever again!"

She nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. It might keep the Dark Spirits quiet."

"And I'm not gonna be attending any more fang-bangs either."

"That's a good idea too. Might prevent any further 'accidents'."