Now Vampires? Part 2

  The security system dinged as Jess went through the side door to their van. Jess knew

how to handle vampires and she had her Bible, but Brandon still worried. It was getting dark

already and it would be full dark before she got back. 

His anxiety ridden thoughts were interrupted by a happy shriek which came from his youngest daughter Rebekah. She was grinning like a little elf or maybe a goblin with red hair and dimples from her high chair.

“Okay,” Brandon said, pushing himself back from the table. “Let’s get bath toys.”

Gwen and Abby ran to get toys while he got Rebe, which was short for Rebekah out of her seat and cleaned her off. In less than ten minutes, all three little girls were playing up a storm amongst tiny mountains of bubbles in the tub and giggling as they fed their bath baby dolls soapy water and pretended it was medicine.

“Drink your medicine baby,” Abby said in her baby voice.

Brandon was just getting Rebe out of the tub when the security system dinged as the back door opened. Rebe was giggling and whining by turns as Brandon put her in a fresh diaper and a clean pair of pajamas.

Jess came into the nursery.

“Everything went well,” Jess said.

“Any vampires?” Brandon asked.

“I saw a couple, but on the highway and they stayed off the road,” Jess answered.

The evening moved on as usual. The children picked up, and then got disciplined for not picking up. They had their night time chocolate milk. They brushed teeth, and they read bedtime stories. Before Brandon knew it, it was time for bed, and Brandon was dreading it. Work in the morning. 

His alarm went off and per Jess’s request he turned on the light and she groaned. It was five in the morning. 

“It’s time to get up,” Brandon said.

“I’ll do it later,” Jess answered and she pulled the covers up over her head.

“You asked me to do this,” Brandon said.

“Ugh!” Jess answered.

Brandon went to go make coffee and a few minutes later he heard Jess in the shower. Brandon smiled and was pleasantly surprised to find that when he was ready to get in the shower that she was out of the shower and ready to drink her own cup of coffee. 

“When are you coming home?” Jess asked.

“Well, I have to be there until two thirty, so I’ll be home a little later than that,” Brandon said.

He got ready and put his bag on. He couldn’t take the pistol into the school, so he always placed it in a locked box firmly attached to the inside of his car. This was acceptable under state law. He wondered how long that was going to last. 

It was a short drive to the middle school where Brandon taught. It was only about a ten minute drive, but Brandon left an hour before it was light outside. Later in the year it would be dawn, but for about half the year he would be driving to school in the dark. Brandon scanned the driveway quickly, but didn’t waste too much time, but made a bee line right for his car. Once he slipped in the drive seat he locked the door. Not only was it dark, but it was foggy, and he could only really see about 25 yards in front of him. Enough to drive easily, but foggy enough to be extra creepy. He said a short prayer and then started driving to work. 

He kept his head on a swivel, but he didn’t see any vampires. One more light to go and he spotted one. She was young. Vampires in movies were supposed to be young and live forever or something like that, but vampires didn’t really seem to live that long. Something usually made them burst into flames. The vampires was about five foot three, and she looked sad. Brandon thought she was supposed to be enticing in her fishnet stockings, short jean shorts and her ruby red corset, which was worn under a puffy white winter coat, which was open at the front. It looked out of place in the 60 degree southern winter. Brandon had to look away but the vampire felt his gaze and she started sprinting over to his car so fast he thought she would run right into the car, but she stopped short and tried the door handle. It was locked. The light changed and Brandon sped off towards his school. It was still dark when he got there, and he parked as close to the door as he could, locked his pistol up in a special box he kept in the car and sprinted toward the door. He heard a faint high pitched cackle on the wind. It was just one vampire, but there could be many. Sometimes he heard them walking around on the roof early in the morning. 

Brandon banged on the big steel door to the school and pulled on it, but it was locked and he saw no one around.

“Hey sailor,” a voice said behind him.

It was the vampire.

“I’m starving,” It said.

Brandon panicked for a moment as he fumbled for the Bible in his bag. He watched the vampire run at him as if in slow motion. Its mouth wide revealing long wicked fangs, which dripped drool, poison or both. He wasn’t going to make it, but his mouth seemed to move on its own. 

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the lord and his anointed…”

The vampire screeched and clutched its ears and fell back a few steps. It gave Brandon the time he needed to get his Bible out. He just opened it and started reading out loud. The vampire screamed again and then ran. It left behind the faint smell of burnt hair. Brandon let out a sigh of relief and then the grounds keeper opened the door for him.

“Mornin boss,” the grounds keeper said.

He was younger than Brandon and wore dreads and was pretty cool for a school grounds keeper.

“Good morning,” Brandon said and he put his Bible away.

Scripture was the only real weapon against a vampire. You could recite scripture, but it was easier to read it. Quoting a single line of scripture never seemed to cut it for very long, but hearing a sustained reading always did the trick for most people. He had heard that John MacAurther had preached a sermon so powerfully to a vampire that the vampire just burst into flames on the spot. 

Brandon felt drained as he walked to his classroom. Vampires, even if they didn’t bite you, left you feeling drained of energy. If they did bite you, they did drain you, and if you survived you turned into a vampire. It’s what people said at least.

As soon as he made it into the building he was safe. 

It was a slow day. He wrote lesson plans. He cleaned up his room and got it ready for the next day. He talked to the principal, who always seemed genuinely happy to be at school, and then he left for some professional development. It was boring, but he took notes, and he wrote in his notebook. When it ended he went back to school and prepared for the next day. He went home and didn’t think at all about vampires for the rest of the night. 

Now Vampires? Part 3