Chapter 27: Lights and Dates

  The arcade was a noisy affair with so many glowing machines playing their own audio it became a thunderous roar. Loud clacks of plastic hockey pucks hitting against handheld bumpers pierced through the roar. People laughed and talked over the noise. All I could do was hold my ears as we passed by a grouping of machines.

  The arcade smelled weird. Like too many mortals packed into one location with the heater cranked up too high. It was fairly dark, which Dinner assured me was the point. I discovered why when I allowed my eyes to take in as much light as they could. Trampled crimson carpet as far as I could see with machines in dire need of repairs. And stumbling people either drunk or high as they carried, and spilled, their amber drinks. It was a disgusting mess of a place, but it was the only one in Encinar and that meant people were there. The other nearest arcade was San Francisco and that was too far tonight.

  The racing game Dinner played was set on various mountain tracks and required a key card to keep your vehicle information. I watched closely as they raced a person in an adjacent machine. The two people raced downhill as they bantered back and forth about it. Each game had its own audio going and the revving engines were almost overpowering all the other noise.

  I couldn't touch the machine or it might go dead, so all I could do was observe with my hands in my coat pockets until we found a game that didn't care about my little weakness to technology. Other people waiting in line placed their own automobile cards up on top of the machine. They shouted excitedly for the race with one or two jumping for joy as the other person steadily pulled away from Dinner and crossed the finish line two car lengths ahead.

  I sighed, because I didn't quite see the point of racing virtually when I saw Dinner drive quite well in the flesh. They, Mabel, were quite good at driving in my opinion.

  Dinner opened their wallet where they kept their I.D, along with credit cards and two other game cards. They held a hundred credits out toward the other driver. “Double or nothing?” Dinner grinned.

  The other man looked from Mabel’s money to the screen for a moment and then shook his head. “Maybe later. Let someone else drive.”

  Dinner nodded firmly, grabbed the card from the game and climbed out. I let a small smile creep over my face to hide my distaste for the place, because I was the fool that wanted to see clearly and saw how nasty the carpet was. It never would have flown in my day.

  I need to ‘lighten up’ as Eva would say.

  I really needed to just relax and let the moment flow, but how? How do I allow the moment to flow through me when my partner’s fate is left in the hands of two people I only knew for a couple minutes? I should have stayed and watched, but if it truly did take all night then I’d be doing nothing.

  Mabel led me over to a mech pilot game with enclosed controls almost identical to their machine’s, but stuffed inside a box. A game attendant stood outside the booth in a light yellow shirt and black pants.

  She waved as we approached and said, “Hello! Care to try your luck?”

  “What module are you running?” Dinner asked as they looked up at the machine’s generic name.

  “Rocklin Arena,” the attendant replied. “If you give me a minute I can load up the Philadelphia Siege, Waterloo, the Battle of Bridgeport, Ardennes, First and Second Battle of Ypres, Mojave Wasteland, or the Storming of Nassau.”

  “Do you have the Tokyo Throwdown or the Laos Barrel Shoot?”

  “The what?” the attendant blinked a few times, echoing my own thoughts.

  Dinner shook their head slightly. “Right, this is a corporate toy, not a merc sim. The arena’s fine. What mechs do you have?”

  The woman listed off far too many for me to understand until Dinner noticed my glazed over eyes as I stared at the mech design on the wall.

  Dinner giggled, adding, “Hey, Sandra. Wanna try?”

  I shrugged. “If the machine doesn't shut off.”

  “Oh!” The woman gasped, eyes widening. “You're a vampire! Wear this.” She held a black wristband out for me to take. “It's a temporary attunement bracelet we give to all vampires in case they struggle with technology.”

  I pulled the wristband over my arm and allowed it to snap against the skin. Then glanced over at Dinner. “I’ll take Ypres.”

  “That's the second hardest module,” the woman said. “There's almost no cover.”

  “What about Philadelphia?”

  The woman smiled nervously at me, fuscia eyes darting off to the side at Dinner before looking at me again. “Well, Rocklin Arena is the only one new players are allowed to run. It's a tutorial area. Unless you have a mech sheet already.”

  “I do not.”

  “Then I’m sorry,” she said as she bowed her head. “But you’ll have to fight in the arena.”

  Dinner’s face scrunched in disgust. “Arena fighting is brutal. I’m sorry, Sandra.”

  It was fine. I filled out the information the attendant asked for, selected a starting mech form the list, with Dinner’s help on which was the most optimal and climbed inside.

  It had a well worn chair surrounded by manual controls with the lettering worn away. A smelly helmet for virtual reality augmentation, and mechanical controls. One massive screen practically wrapped around the control chair.

  I sat in the seat and slid a card into the slot next to me like instructed. Dinner pointed out where the throttle was along with how to work the controls and what did what. All outside noise was muffled to a faint rumble once the door shut.

  However, as I grabbed the joystick and flipped the power switch, the screen flickered noticeably. Followed swiftly by plunging itself into darkness.

  “I think I broke it,” I called out to no reply.

  Time ticked by as I sat in the strange chair, head cocked, keeping an ear out for Dinner or the attendant. But I heard something else. A soft whining noise that grew louder as a human voice filled the room. A message popped up on my display screen, saying, Reactor: Online.

  It went on to list sensors, weapon systems, blood injector, and sun shield just before the display flickered to life. A voice declared everything nominal as the display showed me a night time view of a ruined city flattened by war. And yet there were tall enough buildings that they could hide my one and a half story tall mech.

  “They wouldn't let me pick daytime,” Dinner said from the communication system. “You've got thermals and night vision, but they can be fooled.” They next instructed me on how to activate them in the machine while a large timer counted down from thirty seconds. “Normally,” the half-elf added, “I’d give you a crash course, but I kinda like seeing if you’d pick up on it.”

  “What's the helmet actually do?” I asked, not having put it on just yet.

  “Don't put it on if you get seasick easily,” the attendant said. “It’s a Neural Interface replica. We’ll bill you for any vomit.”

  I pulled the helmet over my head to see what the fuss was about. Immediately, my surroundings vanished. Nothing showed up on whatever the headset was supposed to show, so I removed it and set it on the hook.

  With twenty seconds to go, an announcer echoed through the communications system, “Today’s fight is sponsored by the Fenrir Corporation. We have parts from Rare to Legendary and even a few Old World items in stock. Come visit our storage facility down in Angeles for deals too hot to list here.”

  My fingers flexed against the throttle as I watched the countdown ahead of me. I kept part of my attention on a map showing the arena with my mech being on the southwest corner to start with. The map and screen flickered again, going dim as if something was pulling the power away. It took a moment for it to come back on.

  I don't know if it was considered normal, but the wristband itched each time the power dimmed. I had a feeling that whatever was causing the issue with technology, likely Mother Moon herself, was more powerful than they were anticipating. Perhaps I should have worn a second bracelet.

  Because as I made the virtual mech stride forward into the battle, I experienced intermittent power failures and sensor disruptions that were not explained by any of the controls. At least, as far as I could see. I even had to ask Dinner and the Attendant if the amount was normal and the collective answer was, “No.”

  “It should only shut down like that when overheating,” Dinner said as missiles slammed into the virtual mech, shaking the whole room with a rumble.

  My system temperature was normal, except whenever I fired all the weapons at once. Then it spiked into the red and yelled at me about imminent shutdown. I tried to fight, but with the periodic blackouts and not truly understanding the machine, I struggled to get more than one kill. Only due to not noticing there was a torso indicator at the bottom of the HUD to tell me which way I was facing in relation to the legs. The arms and torso were independent of the legs.

  It was as if the machine tried to mimic a human when it looked more like a chicken with laser guns and rockets. However, it was fast enough I could dart between the buildings and pop out of cover before retreating.

  The whole time they had an over enthusiastic announcer giving a near play-by-play of my actions and the enemy actions whenever I was hit. It was distracting enough I tried to shut down the comms and found I couldn't. It wasn't even the attendant doing it. The damned arena was programmed for it to happen regardless.

  I was blown up fairly quickly because I couldn't pay attention to the coolant system and the reactor shut down multiple times in the middle of shooting. All of the warnings and information was too much for me.

  Dinner spoke over the comms system as I waited for the next round. “So next time, use the emergency override and you’ll have three minutes before the reactor melts down.”

  “That isn't possible,” the attendant replied.

  “That's a Royce Mark Five reactor. I’ve run them… right. Corporate toy, not an actual chassis. You have thirty seconds of override, Sandra. Use it well.”

  I nodded slowly and looked for the button, finding it fairly easy as it was labeled and surrounded by yellow stripes. I made a mental note where it was and prepared myself for another match.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  After three harrowing rounds of dodging fire from a team of mechs trying to kill me in the team deathmatch, it was finally over. I had exactly three kills under my belt and a massive repair bill that ate into my funds. We didn't win. Because apparently the player is supposed to do the bulk of the work, but you cannot because they were programmed to focus on you rather than your team if my assumptions were correct.

  I climbed out of the machine and fluffed my hair a bit before smoothing it to make it more presentable. Then gave the attendant the wristband back and said, “Your wristband didn't work.”

  She set it inside a white box and pushed a button, causing the device to vibrate. “I don't know why. It normally works on vampires.”

  I shrugged and motioned for Dinner to lead on. They smiled, took my hand and headed toward a less noisy location before they spoke.

  “I think you did good,” Mabel said with a nod as they let my hand go.

  I folded my arms across my chest and frowned. “They focused me down every time.”

  “Yeah. They kinda do that when you're in an actual fight. Easier to just delete one mech and move to the next than to, like, have everyone spread out wasting shots. We do that in actual combat.”

  “It's understandable, but annoying. Now where do you want to go?”

  Mabel gave a sly grin before they threw their hands to their side in a shrug. “Well, wanna see my spaceship?”

  “Might as well.” I gestured for her to lead the way.

  *** ***

  I was thinking it was an actual ship docked on the water out by what was left of the bay, much like an old sailing ship, but no. Dinner drove me to the Aerodrome where a planetary shuttle waited to take us into the black beyond the clouds. The Encinar Aerodrome was fairly noisy and busy with flights coming and going, people being dropped off or picked up, but we skipped all of that by going through the private pilot’s entrance.

  From the outside, the shuttle machine was as big as a house, if not larger. Its wings stretched almost as wide. I didn't see any windows, but I did see empty external hardpoints under the wings for weapons. Dinner’s company logo was painted on the tail and wings with identification numbers. The rear ramp was open and a woman in a well-cut uniform stood next to it, waiting for Dinner to drive their car into the back.

  I frowned as I looked toward Dinner. They slowed their old car to a stop at the base of the ramp and glanced at me. “Hm?” they hummed.

  “There you are!” a voice called out as the woman approached the car, waving. Her hair was absolutely non-existent, allowing me to see the tattoos on her neck and the cybernetic augmentations that were her ears and glowing eyes. It had to be Mike, because her smile reminded me of the way Amelia would smile at me.

  She took Dinner’s hand as they held it out and kissed the top of it, nodding firmly at her. Then her eyes went to me right as Dinner gestured with their other hand. “Hey, Mike, this is Sandra.” They then gestured toward the bald muscular woman. “Sandra, this is Mike. My partner and personal shuttle pilot. We go everywhere together.”

  “Not everywhere,” Mike said as she crouched down so she could look through the window at me with her glowing eyes. “So you’re the vampire my girl has been raving about?” She bobbed her head from side to side for a moment. “Not bad. Can you change your eye color?”

  “No?” I scratched one of my ears, adding, “Mother Moon gifted me these eyes when she blessed me.”

  “Really? I can change my eye color just by thinking about it.” She demonstrated by changing them from blue to red, to pink, and then solid white.

  Mabel chuckled. “That’s because you can change more than that. I’ve never seen Sandra have anything but purple.”

  Mike rolled her eyes. She patted Dinner’s hand, squeezing it for a moment and smiling at me. “Ever had fae blood?”

  “No.”

  “Do you want to? I heard changeling blood is quite the trip. You’ll be hallucinating and hearing voices for a solid three days.”

  Changeling was something I hadn’t ever heard of before, so I asked what it was and Mike demonstrated by completely changing her appearance to mimic mine! From my silvered hair to my wrinkled skin, to my purple eyes and fangs. Mike looked like a damned mirror that could talk and move on its own. She stared at her withered hand, slowly flexing the fingers with a small frown.

  “What?” Dinner asked.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever looked this old before.” Mike giggled in my own voice.

  All I could do was stare slack jawed at her near-perfect mimicry of me, minus the clothing. In all my years I never encountered a person who could change their appearance and voice to replicate that of another. It was, well, very weird and made me feel awkward to hear my own voice spoken back to me.

  Slowly, I gently nudged Dinner’s arm and whispered, “Can I go home? I don’t know how I like this.”

  Dinner glanced at me, opened her mouth, closed it, and then nodded. “If that’s what you want.” They then patted Mike’s hand and said, “I don’t think that was very funny, Mike. She, like, just woke up last week and has been through hella shit since.”

  “She asked what a changeling was! What’d you want me to do, turn into Nathan?” Mike shrugged.

  “You could’ve turned into me if you wanted to make an impression. Call you later?”

  Mike nodded, shifting her appearance back to the basic orange-haired human before leaning in to kiss Mabel on the cheek. “Be safe, silly.”

  Two Dinners was not something I could handle or even comprehend. Just how identical were changelings? Could they shift everything or just their outside appearance? All I could do was cover my eyes and sigh softly through my nose as Dinner fired their car up.

  *** ***

  And so Dinner… Well, Mabel drove away from the Aerodrome and headed back toward my apartment. They told me their name earlier, but it was hard to think of them as something other than Dinner. And not the meal. As much as I wondered what their blood, and Mike’s ‘fae’ blood actually tasted like, I couldn't bite them unless they wanted me to. Otherwise I would feel like shit about it. It was similar to how Amelia and I came to an agreement of no biting unless she said I could.

  I don't know why I was like that, aside from Roberto teaching me when I was working as his retainer. He always made me find blood sacks who were ‘odd’ and checked them to be sure they had no diseases and were okay with being fed from. That was probably the man’s biggest downfall and mine by extension. But I could control that and drink from anyone.

  Roberto could not. He had to have a mortal’s consent. It was a strange compulsion of his to where I once saw him drink from an unwilling mortal to see if he could. The man threw up afterward.

  It was getting late as we drove along the highway with Dinner humming to a beat on the radio. The half-elf kept it fairly quiet and would skip certain songs as soon as they got a few notes in, only keeping the music on instrumental ones with smooth melodies. Even without words the songs felt like I went on a trip through the mind with each one.

  I closed my eyes and listened to the music, letting it flow into my chest and mind. Dark and shadowed memories floated to the surface before swirling around again.

  An image of my sire and I sitting on a rock overlooking a small island bay with the sun still giving a purple glow to the sky. She had awakened only minutes before. I didn't want to see her in my memories after what she has done to me, but I couldn't help but be reminded of her. The music reminded me of waves crashing against the rocks with a steady roar, the smell of fresh salty air dancing through my hair and now pointed ears.

  We held hands and talked, but the emotions were not there. I only recall her holding my chin with one hand as she scratched my cheek and jaw. She leaned in, whispering something lost to time, and then tilted my head to the side so she could bite into my exposed neck.

  My sire didn't care much for keeping me armored. She instead used me in a different way. Rather than fight, she would have me take the place of a maid or a serving girl in a tavern to get information anyway I could. From getting them drunk to taking them to a secluded area. I did it all. And I was not pleased with the work. That was better suited to mortal servants, not me. I was a vampire’s retainer. Someone who had people working under them, not what my sire had me doing.

  If there was one thing I missed about those early days before I became a vampire, it was being bitten. Words cannot describe the joy one feels when a vampire bites into them and begins to feed.

  “Hey,” Dinner began, smashing through the memory and bringing me back to the present. “Can I ask you something?”

  I smiled at them and said, “You just did.”

  They rolled their eyes as they reached for the shifter and slid it into a lower gear, so they could slow down for the exit ahead. “Okay, but, like… nevermind.” Dinner went quiet and stared out the window.

  “I have heard everything you can ask.” I folded my arms across my chest. They likely wanted to be turned into a vampire and found the question too awkward. However, Dinner might make for a poor vampire. That pain they are dealing with would follow them into eternity.

  “What did you think of Mike?” The half-elf yawned.

  “Odd.”

  “She’s like that when you first meet her. Hella open about being a changeling. Most aren’t, but like, I guess being a merc helps.”

  “Does she always change into other people?”

  “Not really. Only when at parties, drunk, or trying to run from the cops. Oh, man, I didn’t realize how late it was.”

  Indeed it was late. Traffic was starting to choke off the highway as the Bay Area got ready for the new day. Perhaps I should have taken Dinner up on their offer of seeing their spaceship, but what was done is done.

  When we arrived at the apartment complex, Dinner walked me all the way to my front door just to make sure there wasn't anyone waiting to stake me. We talked about how the arcade went. I gave Mabel my thoughts on the place and expressed that while I didn't like the facility, I enjoyed spending the night with them, even if their main partner was an odd bird. It was a nice distraction from thinking about Amelia and whether or not the ritual would work.

  I had to rely on sorcerers to help her and I couldn't be there during the day to make sure she was fine.

  I think Dinner saw the worry on my face, because they grabbed hold of my hand again and just held it with both of theirs. We locked eyes for a moment and everything felt perfect. All I wanted to do was pull them into a hug.

  “May I?” I asked, leaving it open to see what they did.

  Dinner nodded slowly and pulled me into a hug, which I reciprocated. We held each other as tight as we could without constricting Dinner’s breathing. Dinner's grip felt like it could break my back if they wanted to. I didn't want them to let go either. I couldn't help myself from crying even if I wanted to. The whole world was shit. My own vampire family turned against me, and for what? Some plan they have in the works?

  My unlife was turning into pure chaos and I hated it more every night.

  *** ***

  I slept soundly through the day, as Dinner had an inflatable mattress in their car. Something they said they always kept; a blanket, jacket, mattress, and a change of clothes along with other essentials concerning their car.

  Most of my things had been transferred from a storage unit to the apartment during the day. Mabel was busy humming to themself as they helped me put my clothes into a few second hand dressers and the closet. The two of us went through the boxes one by one with Dinner giving their opinion on what clothes they thought looked good on me.

  Amelia’s help would have likewise been appreciated but the druids were still working on the ritual. She needed a full day of sunlight to grow while the druids cast their magic on her, but they were interrupted by the construction crew and that meant it would have to be done tomorrow. It was annoying, because Dinner was keen to meet Amelia in the flesh, having listened intently to me anytime I talked about her. And since I met her partner, it was only fitting she met mine.

  An instinct of mine would be to give Dinner some of my blood, but Mabel didn't need to be in my world. She had more pressing matters. Like the spine surgery coming up. It sounded like a disgusting process where they would temporarily transfer Mabel’s consciousness to a ‘brain in a jar’ virtual world while they cut out the problematic parts of the spine and graft in a cybernetic replacement. Even with healing magic there were some wounds that were just too hard for a healer to fix. Despite Anita’s claims.

  Mabel explained it in simple terms as they helped to button the back of a modern dress. “See, when a healer cast a spell on you in the old days they, like, had to pull some of the injury into themselves to help take the pain away. Healing potions were more prevalent, too. Now we have so many cybernetics it kinda makes old school healers obsolete.”

  “So you're saying that if I was a mortal and lost a hand a hundred years ago, a healer could grow me a new one?” I glanced back at Mabel, but they turned my head forward again by physically grabbing my head and turning it.

  “Exactly!” Mabel exclaimed.

  The black dress snugged itself against my torso with each clasp of the buttons. It was long sleeved and had a long skirt, but it was all one piece unlike my older clothes. And with no pockets to speak of! As Mabel reached the halfway point it became so tight I thought it was going to tear and so did she.

  “Hm… I think your chest has grown,” Mabel said.

  I tried to move, but the dress was too restrictive. There was a faint rip and that’s all I needed to know to stay in place. “Well, you bought it before the ‘incident’. I had smaller breasts then.” Almost none in fact. It was all padding and moving fat around with Amelia making sure it looked ‘correct’.

  The pressure around my torso released as Mabel unbuttoned the dress. It is a shame, because it was a pretty black dress with shiny sequins to catch the light. I am quite sure I would turn heads even with my rough appearance, as any half-elven vampire would. If Mike’s mimicry was anything to go by.

  Mabel helped me out of the dress and tossed it in the junk pile. We had two, obviously; one for clothes that failed to fit and one for those that worked. We went through most of my clothes that night, not leaving the apartment at all even when my nosy neighbor checked in on me.

  Glenfield knocked and smiled when I opened the door.

  I smiled back, but only to make him feel better. “Yes?” I asked. A black silk robe was wrapped snugly around me to hide the fact that I was in undergarments. And I still felt underdressed for the occasion, but Mabel assured me it was fine and ‘normal’.

  Glenfield stood there with his hands behind his back and head cocked to the side. He took a deep breath and said, “Hello! How are you feeling tonight?”

  I rubbed the back of my neck, unsure of what to say, because I told the man my partner was a ghost and then ran off. Mabel came to my rescue and rested their head on my shoulder as they wrapped their arms around my waist. I tried to keep my composure at the display of affection, because again, I wasn't used to doing it.

  Mabel smiled at Glenfield and said, “Hello! You must be Glenfield, yeah?”

  “Yeah.” His eyes went from me to Mabel and back to me as he nodded slowly.

  He opened his mouth, but Mabel cut him off by saying, “I’m Sandra’s other partner. Nice to meet you, Glen!” They held a hand out for a fist bump and received a confused look in reply. So they turned it into a handshake offer, which Glenfield followed through with.

  “I thought you said your partner was a ghost?” Glenfield asked me as he shook Dinner’s hand.

  I snapped out of my stupor and nodded. “It's complicated.” Did he really think I had a ghost for a partner? That was insane.

  It was true though.

  Indeed it was true. Amelia was a ghost, but that won't be a problem anytime soon. I checked an older memory through a System menu and confirmed that yes, Amelia was a ghost and we were indeed working on getting her a new body. Just as I had a new body.

  Mabel giggled softly, pulling me from my thoughts. “Oh! Yeah. She isn't home much, so she's kinda like a ghost.”

  “Oh…” Glenfield nodded to himself. He ran a hand through his hair, eyes slowly going to the floor as his expression deflated entirely. It was the look of a man who had his heart crushed by Dinner.

  I slipped out from Mabel’s grasp and stepped into the hallway, hugging myself just in case anyone else came by to stare at the vampire in her bathrobe.

  “Thank you for the concern, Glenfield,” I said as softly as I could without whispering. “The cake was perfectly sweet, but my work partner thought perhaps it was a bit too much sugar.” I placed a hand over my breast and smiled at him. “I, however, thoroughly enjoyed it. Could you perhaps make another?”

  “Sure.” He nodded. I tried to give the man a fifty credit bill, but he shook his head. “Oh no, I couldn't!” Glenfield exclaimed, stepping back a few feet.

  “Please, it's the least I can do for the tasty treat.”

  He departed as swiftly as he could without taking the money. This left Mabel and I in an awkward position of staring at each other until Glenfield’s door closed. It felt longer than it should as the wheels in my head slowly turned with a squeaky creak. Eventually, the two of us went inside and Mabel locked the deadbolt behind us.

  They sighed softly. “What was that about?”

  “He made me a welcoming cake.” I walked into the kitchen and pointed at the half-eaten cake, which was starting to sag as blood pooled out from the cuts.

  Dinner tapped their chin for a moment, tilting their head from side to side. “Well, how was the cake?”

  “Just like I told him.” I split off another piece of cake and bit into it. The sugary mess exploded in my mouth, giving me flavors mortal food could not replicate. It was a damn sight better than the popcorn. I smiled and closed my eyes, allowing the cake to melt in my mouth, then drank the rest.

  Mabel took their phone from their pocket as an odd ringing filled the air. They placed it to their ear as they tilted their head. “Hello, thank you for calling Lieutenant Commander Ripper of the Horizon Rangers. What do you need?”

  They tapped their chin for a small moment as their eyes went to the wall, head tilting from side to side. I waited and ate the cake. Mabel rolled her eyes for a moment, nodding at something.

  “Yeah. Yeah. How many tons do you want for the job?” There was a short pause before they motioned for a pen and paper, and said, “Hold on, let me get some paper.”

  I left them to do their business and sat on the couch with my phone to watch some fancy new media. It was an animated show Mabel liked called Highway Run at Midnight. The series was about the thrill of the drive as the protagonist worked to upgrade their car for highway racing. Just to go faster as they chased the ever elusive three hundred and thirty miles an hour on public highways.