The wind howled down the inner city ally blowing the trash around. It was a place of neglect and ruin with many of the buildings being nothing but burnt out

shells or long ago abandoned to the mould and rats. A stray dog stood atop a dumpster and howled.

“Shut up ya mangy mongrel!” yelled the hobo from inside the dumpster. He emerged from his warm trash bed and threw an empty beer bottle at the dog.

Satisfied as the dog jumped down with a yelp he settled back pulling a sheet of newspaper over his face. Not a minute later he was once more disturbed by a

trio of young brash voices. “Flipping tarnation! Can’t a man get any sleep around here?!”

Thinking better then to show his old grey head, He peered out of his spy hole made by the rust and a spoon the year before. “Wonder what those lads are up

to?” he muttered. There was nothing for them down here apart from thrown out bread and other tasty treats to be found in the dumpsters. He would fight

with his broken bottle if necessary, but he didn’t think the lads looked like they were after dumpster finds; they looked far too well dressed and fed for that.

He decided to lay low and just listen, he knew his old arthritic hands would be no match against the three of them.

“I really don’t think this is a good

idea” said Michael. He could feel

moisture beginning to gather on

his nose behind his glasses; a sure

sign of impending doom.

Trent sneered at the shivering

blond boy. “It’s perfectly safe

whatever the sign says. I was here

two weeks ago and it hasn’t

changed a bit.”

“Oww-owww!”

“What’s that?!”

“A dog idiot” said the other boy,

firmly pushing Michael towards

the opening in the dirty brick wall.

The old hobo stifled a chuckle as

he watched the three of them

climb through the crack. Stupid

kids, if they weren’t careful they

might just get more than they

bargained for.

Trent flicked his torch around the old storage room. He knew it contained nothing but rubbish and empty boxes, what interested him lay much further away.

“Man this place is creepy” said Nolan eyeing some very large cobwebs.

“Want to chicken out do you?”

“Of course not!” Nolan decided to keep his thoughts to himself. He wanted to impress Trent with how cool he was, not appear like a frightened little kid; Michael did a good enough job of that.

“This way” said Trent shinning the torch on another crack.

While all the doors were either locked or jammed shut, most of the areas could be accessed via cracks in the walls.

The boys climbed over the rubble into a damp hallway. First went Trent with the torch, followed reluctantly by Michael and bringing up the rear to make sure Michael didn’t do a runner was Nolan.

The sound of their feet on the floor and water dripping from some unknown source were the only sounds.

“This place use to make coffins and tomb stones” said Trent casually.

“Co-coffins?” stammered Michael. He wondered if girls were worth joining a club that involved condemned buildings and coffins.

The boys emerged into one of the

front rooms. “Did I forget to mention

the initiation involves opening a

coffin?” said Trent shinning the torch

into Michael’s face.

Trent grinned as Michael’s face

blanched. Watching him squirm was

a lot of fun.

A faint scratching sound to his right

made Michael jump and grab Nolan’s

sleeve. “What was that?!”

"You big baby!” scoffed Trent. “It’s

just a rat! There are probably

hundreds of them in here, so you

better get used to it!"

Nolan gave a nervous chuckle. He was

glad it hadn’t been him grabbing

someone sleeve. While he tried to

appear cool in front of Trent, the

place was seriously giving him the

creeps.

You better decide right now what you

are going to do Michael. Either you go

on with us or you can leave now and

we will stuff you into a locker at

school. Take your pick.”

Michael’s thoughts were in turmoil,

he knew the reputation that Trent

had and was in no doubt that he

would end up naked in a locker,

which would probably be opened up

in front of a group of girls. Trent had

already done it to two other boys in

his chess club. The thought of his

naked white body being pointed and

laughed at by the school’s popular

girls made him go paler still.

“Well?” said Nolan taking up what he

hoped was a tough stance next to

Trent. He knew if he could pull this

off, his standing in the club would

rise.

Michael swallowed nervously and

tried to act brave, although the way

his teeth chattered together didn’t

fool anyone. “Why would you ever

th-think such a th-thing, of course

I’m c-oming.” Seeing Trent smile was

not reassuring.

“Good. Pass the initiation, ditch

that stupid cardigan and you can

call yourself a Bunyip.”

“But my Gran knitted it.”

“Aww isn’t that sweet, don’t you

think Nolan? Said Trent

sarcastically. “His Gran knitted it.”

“Oh very sweet, brings tears to my

eyes it does.”

Trent rolled his eyes and prodded

Michael forward with the torch.

“Come on Granny’s boy, the coffin

is this way.”

The boys went down a long hallway

passing a few doors until they came

to another large crack in the wall.

“We’re here.”

Nolan felt a chill run down his back

and it had nothing to do with the

cold.

“Could we maybe take a

raincheck on this? I just

remembered I have to go visit

my Gran!”

“Get in there” growled Trent

pushing Michael through the

opening and towards the coffin.

Trent wondered why they had

even bothered bringing this

snivelling coward. He would

have a lot of fun come Monday

morning when he shoved him

into a locker.

“Is it supposed to look like that?

Asked Nolan, staring in

fascinated horror at the coffin in

front of them.

“Like what?”

“Like that fog and fire...”

“Big deal, its cold and some fog formed, and they have some fake flames. Who cares?”

“They don’t look fake to me...”

“I...I can’t do this!” Yelled

Michael turning to run.

He was quickly grabbed by Trent

and Nolan. Wriggling wasn’t a bit

of good as the other two boys

were far stronger than him.

Nolan easily pinned him to the

floor. “So what now?”

“I knew he’d do a runner; where

did you stash that rope?”

“Right jacket pocket.” said Nolan

tightly holding Michael down.

Trent fished out the rope

grinning.

“I’ve thought of a place even

better than a school locker to

stash this one.”

With his hands tied behind his

back and Nolan holding him from

behind, Michael could do nothing

but squirm and stare in terror as

Trent went up to the coffin and

bent down to lift the lid.

Turning back with a grin Trent

said “You thought lifting the lid on

a coffin was bad; just wait until

you’ve spent the night in one!”

“You can’t do that to him!” burst

out Nolan.

“Shut it Nolan! Unless you want

to join him?”

“No; it’s just I was just reading

this book about vampires and_”

“Pht vampires! Give me a break! I

suppose you’re going to say you

believe in werewolves next.”

Nolan just shook his head and

shrugged. He wasn’t really sure

what he believed in, but he had a

very bad feeling about the coffin.

At the same time he knew how

crazy Trent could act and didn’t

want to be on his bad side for no

reason at all. How embarrassing

would it be if the coffin contained

nothing but dust?

Turning back with a satisfied smirk, Trent hefted the lid. It took quite a bit of force to crack it open, but once there it seemed to almost fly out of his hands.

What happened next was the thing of their worst nightmares. With a roar Nic came up out of his coffin at the boy. Last time the kid had poked around the

warehouse Nic had hidden behind some boxes until he had left. This time he wasn’t hiding. He was tired, angry and hungry. Very, very hungry.

“All I wanted was to be left alone to hibernate, but you couldn’t leave it, could you? Now you’re going to pay.”

Trent stood rooted to the spot in terror as the vampire climbed out of the coffin with his hands raised like claws towards his face. He must be dreaming,

because vampires weren’t real; they were like werewolves, witches and aliens, just things people made up to scare little kids.

“Feels good tying up nerds to terrify does it? I’ll show you the meaning of the word terrify boy!”

In the blink of an eye and far swifter then he could ever run, Nic grabbed Trent and sunk his fangs into his neck to feed.

It wasn’t Nic’s habit to feed off humans, but while his anger burned at being woken up, his hunger drove him to be satisfied.

After some minutes Nic withdraw and Trent lay deathly still on the floor. The other boys had run as soon as they had seen Nic grab hold of Trent. It would be

a night none of them would ever forget.

Nic sighed and got dressed; his plan to hibernate for 100 years was obviously not going to work.

Nic made his way out of the warehouse and took in some deep breaths of the cold night air. While his hunger was satisfied, his head

was pounding from being brought out of hibernation in such an abrupt manner.

“Need a beer? Cause I could sure go for one.”

“You’re still here? Rasped out Nic. “I was hoping you were long dead old man.”

“Well now, you had best be making it a pint of stout than” replied Fergus with just the

hint of an accent.

Nic tried to grin but grimaced and held his pounding head instead.

“Although looking at you, I think you be needing a stiff coffee more than a pint.”

“So long as we are away from here.”

The old hobo cocked his head to the approaching siren. ”Coppers?”

“Ambo’s.”

“You’re a softy.”

“Shut up.”

Nic sat in the booth at Barry’s diner and closed his eyes. The flickering signs advertising beer and greasy fries did not help his sore eyes. He tried to recall

what had happened the night he had been turned into a vampire, but his memories were hazy at best. All he knew was he had walked along drinking from a

bottle of whisky. He had just wanted to get the heck away from everything, but women in particular, they were nothing but trouble. His face clouded as he

thought about the three main ones in his life.

First up was his ever cantankerous

meddling mother. She had prevented him

bringing friends home because of her

aging experiments; well unless they

happened to be townies, but he knew

very well what happened to townies in

his house from a fairly young age. As if he

would have brought one of those home!

He knew his father was in a right pickle,

growing hair all over due to drinking one

of her potions. Well he wasn’t about to

be her next guineapig.

Then there was that stupid girl who got

her kicks from biting indiscriminate

people. Didn’t they have some kind of

code or rules about that?!

Lastly he thought about Vicki. It pained

his heart to think about her. The love of

his life had flirted with a cow mascot!

Right in front of him! She deserved his

contempt.

He or she had flirted with Vicky said the

small voice in his head, there was a

difference. “Oh shut up!”

“You all right laddy?” Asked Fergus, who

sat watching him with concern.

Nic remembered where he was and

peered at the hobo. “Yeah, just resting

my eyes.”

"The waitress placed a cup of coffee before Nic and a slice in front of Fergus.

Nic cupped his hands around the strong hot coffee. Not that the heat warmed up his cold skin, but it was familiar and comforting. He owed his life to this old

geezer and as such would always be in his debt. The hobo had found him lying in the alley at sunrise, smoke beginning to waft up from his body. The last

thing Nic remembered was a burning smell and his eyes stinging. He felt his body being dragged over something rough into a cool dark place before blacking

out. Later he learned the burning had been the sun on his skin and the cool place had been inside the warehouse bathroom. If the hobo hadn’t moved him he

would be a pile of ash now.

“How long was I asleep? A year?” asked Nic hopefully.

The old hobo shook his head silently as he took some rather fast overlarge bites of the vanilla slice in his grubby hands. Nic watched as pieces of the

crumbling pastry fell out into the hobo’s beard and some of the filling oozed out of the corners of his mouth.

Pushing the rest in, he then licked off each grime caked finger of the sweet filling. Nic wasn’t the cleanest man himself, but he couldn’t help but watch in

disgust as Fergus polished off the slice.

“Now that” said Fergus ignoring the paper serviette provided and using his sleeve instead “Was the best bit of pastry I’ve had in a long time.” He cracked a

large grin showing his yellowed gap filled mouth.

“So how long-“

“One week and two days.”

“What?!”

“Aye laddy, a whole nine days. Don’t

think your plan of forgetting her and

waiting on her to kick the bucket will

work.”

Nic stared at the old man. He hadn’t

told Fergus all of that; had he? Nic

struggled to dredge his thoughts of

that day to the surface not even

noticing the clumsy waitress who

mumbled apologies as she slopped his

coffee while refilling his cup. If he’d

been paying closer attention he would

have seen it was because she had tried

to kick the old hobo’s shoe under the

table with her own while giving him a

look that spoke volumes as to her

thoughts on his choice of words.

“I must have been really out of it

because I can’t remember telling you

any of that.” Said Nic frowning.

“Sure you did Lad...well you told me it

was a girl and you were going to sleep

her off for a hundred years. I just

figured you were waiting on her to be

long gone when you awoke.”

“Oh my that’s so sad, unrequited

love” sighed the waitress who

brought up a stool from the bar to sit

at the table with them.

Nic stared at her like she had grown

two heads. “I take it you two know

each other?”

“Oh sorry laddy; this here is Marcy.

Marcy this here is Nic.”

“How are you doing?” asked Marcy,

tucking her gum into the corner of

her check and offering her hand.

“Okay I guess.”

“Oh I don’t think so. You get turned

into a vampire, nearly die and try and

sleep off your one true love for a

hundred years. That’s just tragic.

How many sim couples in this

universe have three bolts?

“Well...”

“Exactly! The creator here isn’t

exactly bothered about finding soul

mates you know, and here you are

ready to throw a three bolt

relationship away!”

“Now hang on a minute, you

don’t know anything about me

or what she has put me

through.”

“I know you two have three

bolts and that’s worth hanging

onto. Just imagine what she is

going through; why I bet she is

out there somewhere crying her

eyes out over this whole

misunderstanding.”

Nic was rather taken aback

by this overly forward waitress

who seemed to know all about

him and his life. It also appeared

her and Fergus were playing

footsie under the table; which

given Fergus’ current state

seemed rather odd, if they were

indeed a couple.

“Eh don’t mind us. And no we’re

not a couple! I can see ya cogs

working there boy so take them

thoughts elsewhere. I’m old

enough to be her father and she

ain’t my type anyhow.”

Macy snorted, her laughter ringing

out through the empty diner.

“Me with him?! Oh my! I’d have to

be darn far gone and desperate to

take on him.”

“Hang on, I’m a right good catch I

am. I was feather weight champion

in the army. The ladies thought my

physique very fine they did.”

Marcy laughed again at Fergus’

affronted face. “And pigs might fly

Fergus. Anyways we’re here to help

Nic, not argue over what a fine

specimen of a man you are.”

“How about we do both” growled

Fergus, which only made Marcy

laugh harder.

“It’s all very nice of you to take

this interest in my life, but I can

handle things just fine on my

own.” snapped Nic. The two of

them were getting on his last

nerve. While he might owe

Fergus his life he owned nothing

but ten dollars to the annoying

waitress. He should pay the bill

and go.

Marcy just smiled and patted his

hand like he was a silly

misguided child.

“So you’ve made some plans

than?”

Nic frowned and rubbed the still

pounding spot between his

eyes. “Of course; I have places

to go and things that need

seeing to.” He lied.

“Before you head out could you do me a wee favour?” asked the hobo, showing

his yellow gapped teeth again.

“Anything Fergus, just quit smiling at me, okay?”

Fergus grinned showing even more of his bad teeth. “I need you to give this letter

to the blond barmaid at the Crypt O’ Nightclub. Would mean a lot to me it

would.”

Nic eyed the rather pink letter, but managed to contain the chuckle at the

back of his throat. Fergus appeared to be quite the ladies man for a grimy old

hobo.

“Sure, but why don’t you give it to her yourself?”

“Come now lad, look at me. Do you think they even let me in the door?”

“You have a point.”

Nic’s was very curious to what the letter contained, but he slid it into his inside coat pocket. It was a small favour to a

man who saved his life.

“Make sure you go tomorrow night, she’s only there on Wednesdays.”

“It’s as good as done Fergus.”

“Good lad. Now it’s getting close on 5am,

you best be heading back to that coffin of

yours.”

Fergus and Marcy watched Nic walk back across the road towards the old warehouse.

“Well this is going just as I had hoped” said Fergus.

“Almost too easy, he bought every word we said. Let’s hope he doesn’t do anything stupid like disappear on us.”

“Nah he owes me one, just wish I could see it all go down. Yes siree, there will be some fireworks at the Crypt O’ tomorrow.”

The next evening Nic set out for the Crypt O’ Nightclub. He took pride in keeping a fit well toned body and lying in a coffin for a week would have done

nothing for his muscles. Breaking into a jog, Nic found he could move rather effortlessly now he was a vampire, it almost felt like he was floating. Not hearing

his footfalls he looked down to realize his feet had gone and in fact so had his body.

Not that he was given much time to contemplate exactly what he had turned into because an air current knocked him sidewise and he landed with a thud

onto somebody’s windscreen. His own startled eyes looked into a pair of equally startled brown ones. Rather pretty brown ones he managed to notice. Not

that he minded losing his pants in front of a pretty woman, but being helpless and furry wasn’t quite what he was into. He would have given her a cheeky

grin, but she was already applying the brakes with some force and he found himself once more tumbling through the air, this time onto the road.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” yelled the woman jumping out of her car in a panic.

“It’s nothing” said Nic getting up off the road.

“But I hit you with my car! I should take you to a hospital.”

Nic felt the grazes become less raw after only a couple of seconds. Maybe there were some advantageous to being a vampire. “Really, I’m fine.”

“But I...”

“As you can see, I am not hurt at all” said Nic, taking the lady by surprise when he kissed her hand. “Thank you for your concern.”

“Oh my” she breathed weakly, staring first at her hand and then after him as he disappeared quickly up the road.

Nic arrived at the Crypt O’ in good time and made his way to the bar. The hurried blond barmaid was easy to spot as she was the only one tending bar.

Although it was still early people were already lining up for drinks and tables; while others were dancing to the thumping beat of the latest top ten sim hits.

“Excuse me.” He said loudly over the sound of the music.

“I’ll be right with you sir.”

She turned around pushing the hair out of her eyes and his heart nearly missed a beat.

She had changed her hair, but it was her. “Vicki” he said flatly.

“Nic!” she squealed and ran around the bar. She would have hugged him, but something in his face stoped her. “Nic?”

Nic swore under his breath. “This was a set up” he growled angrily.

“Nic, what happened to you? I

don’t understand.”

“Come on Vicki, I was right there

when you flirted with that cow,

obviously the two of you had

been having an affair for awhile.”

“Oh Nic, I didn’t even know her.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel

better?! That is was a girl!”

“I meant I really didn’t know who

that cow was. She just came from

out of nowhere; I wasn’t

expecting it and I certainly didn’t

want it. Please understand I

would never cheat on you with

anyone.” begged Vicki.

“Maybe if you had pushed her

away it might have been

different, but you sure looked like

you were enjoying it to me!”

“Well I wasn’t!” snapped back Vicki

her own anger rising. “I didn’t know

what to do, so I probably just stood

there a moment too long and she

thought I was agreeable to it! It wasn’t

my fault!”

“You know what I think? I think that’s

just a pathetic excuse!” He refused to

look at her face, at the tears he knew

were sliding down her cheeks. He

refused to be played, like his father

had played his mother all those years

ago. He would end it right here and

now. He just needed to clear his head

which had begun to spin.

“Nic?” He heard Vicki’s worried voice

come from a long way away.

“Can I get a drink down here?”

complained another patron.

“Get your own sodding drink!”

Nic felt like he was walking in a

thick fog. There was a laughing cow

who he wanted to throttle but

couldn’t reach and he knew Vicki

was there and crying, but he

couldn’t find her.

“Are those paramedics coming

yet?” He heard her yell.

“Please be okay Nic, please! I can’t

lose you! I love you so much, even

if you don’t love me anymore.”

Nic felt something wet drip on his

cheek and managed to open his

eyes.

“Nic! Thank goodness you’re

awake!”

“You love me?” he rasped and tried

to get up. Already he could feel his

headache going and the cuts to his

face healing.

“Just stay still. Sorry about the

cushion but I had nothing else. I

think you might have a

concussion.”

Nic tried to sit up, even while Vicki

tried to push him back down.

“It’s okay, I’m a vampire.”

“I figured that, but what does that

have to do with it?”

“We heal ourselves, see I’m nearly

better already” smiled Nic weakly.

“You scared me so much!”

“What did I do?”

“You turned into a bat, flew around

in circles and slammed into the

drinks cabinet!”

“Did I break anything?”

“Yes, a bottle of wine, the owner

wasn’t impressed.”

“Hope it was a good year.”

“In this place? I doubt it.”

“Miss Night, if the patron can sit up

and talk, you can go back to work!”

snapped the red haired women on

the other side of the bar.

“Yes miss.”

“Hang on a minute.” said Nic

quickly recovering. “My woman

doesn’t need to work in your

crummy bar.”

“Is that so, then she can hand over

her apron and leave.”

“Nic!

“She will. She doesn’t need the likes

of you telling her what to do; she

has a well provided home with me.”

“I do?”

“Better watch yourself vampire boy

or you’ll never work in this town

again!” snarled the owner of the

club.

“The name is Nic Mobacy, and we

have no need of your money;

you’re the one who better watch

herself.”

The red haired lady narrowed her

eyes and stalked off. Another

Mobacy! It was time to fix them for

good.

“Am I really your woman? I

thought you wanted nothing

more to do with me?”

“I was a fool and a cow in a

fog told me so.”

“What?” Laughed Vicki. “Are

you sure you don’t have

concussion?”

“No I just have you, if you’ll

have me? I warn you now, I

tend to be rather arrogant and

fall into glass a lot.”

“Then you will need someone

to fix you up, vampire or not”

said Vicki smiling.

~~~

Is that enough with the romance already? *gags a little*

The End

Hope you enjoyed this somewhat different style from me and the twist at the end with Fergus and Marcy really being simselves. ;)

The two simselves watched Nic and

Vicki leave hand in hand, well

satisfied they had saved their

relationship.

“I’m glad I don’t have to stay that

way” said Sawyer.

“Yeah me too, you were really on

the nose!”

“Tell me ‘Marcy’, what was all that

stuff at the diner about?”

“You tell me! I’ve never seen

anyone eat so grossly, and feather

weight champion indeed.”

“That was Fergus, not me. I was in

character.”

“You’re first great acting role. You

nearly gave the game away telling

Nic things he hadn’t even said!”

“He would have done, if he could.”

Also that line about “Not your

type” laughed Holley. “Anyone in a

skirt isn’t your type Sawyer! Come

give me a kiss!”