Supernaturally Yours Episode 12: Paranoid Vampire

Supernaturally Yours Episode 12

Franz’s shift ended at 4 a.m. Bob Butts asked Franz how his first shift was. Franz lied and said that it was a great first day, but the truth was he was plagued with thoughts of Josslyn. How had she found him? He was sure that he had eliminated any trail he might have left, not that he had a history of erasing trails. Franz was more sure that he had done the best he could, but it wasn’t good enough. Now, he had Josslyn and Large Marvin to worry about. Perfect.

What am I going to do? Can I really pack it all up and move back to New York? No… I can’t go back to the way I was. Franz thought about his time in New York City and remembered what it felt like to be a blood trafficker. He thought about the cruel things he had to do acquire the blood. He was ruthless, he was mean, he was a killer. The memories caused him to be sick to his stomach. He wanted to throw up and spew the memories out with the bile. He knew that wasn’t possible.

After promising Bob that he’d come back tomorrow night, he left the store. The sky was still dark, just the way Franz had planned it. He had bargained with Bob to let him end his shift two hours early so that he could make it home before the sun came up. Bob was just thrilled to have someone who actually wanted to work that he acquiesced to all of Franz’s demands, which were very few.

Franz walked to his car in the mostly empty parking lot. He looked around for any sign of Josslyn. Would she be waiting for him to get off work to pester him some more? He supposed she had said what she came to say and left. There was no need to hang around.

Franz unlocked the car and he got inside. He ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. He hated how shook up he was by Josslyn’s sudden appearance. He tried to think of ways he could stand up to her and tell her he wasn’t moving to New York. But I could move again, couldn’t I? This time, I’ll move overseas. Franz briefly entertained the idea of living in Spain or the Czech Republic. He had lots of money so he could live like a king. Then, Franz started to despair. He was living in a modest one bedroom apartment in a small town in California and Josslyn was still able to find him. If he lived extravagantly in Spain, he would only make himself a bigger target. Franz wondered if there was a hole in a mountain he could hide in.

“This is ridiculous!” Franz said, hitting his steering wheel. “I will not cower!” He was angry with himself for even suggesting living in the mountains like Maria Von Trapp. He resolved himself to stand up to Josslyn and if he had to, Large Marvin, and tell them to leave him alone. He just hoped that he wouldn’t end up with a stake in his heart.

Franz started the car and backed out of his parking space. He put the car in drive and rode out of the parking lot. He was thinking about what he’d say to Josslyn tomorrow. He imagined himself wearing a tuxedo sipping on a martini (that was shaken, not stirred) in a hip night club of some kind. He was talking to some attractive young woman who was drawn in by his sheer sexual magnetism. Just as he was about to deliver a witty punchline to a well told joke, Josslyn entered wearing a sequined red dress that shaped her well. She gave him an icy, yet inviting stare. Franz held his finger to his lips and told the woman to wait for him back at the room he had rented just above the club. He slipped her the key and sent the woman on her way. Then he moseyed his way across the club over to Josslyn. He gave her a wicked smile and said, “What’s up?”

“You seem to be enjoying yourself,” she said.

“Just having a bit of fun, Joss,” Franz said, raising an eyebrow. “Just like we used to.”

“Spare me the walk down Memory Lane,” she scoffed. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I’m incredibly well hung,” Franz joked.

Josslyn would roll her eyes and fold her arms, a cigarette dangling between her fingers. “No, I meant what’s it going to be?”

“I’m stayin’ here, sweetheart.” He gave her a wink. “So you and Large Marvin can sit on this and swivel.” Franz held up his middle finger and whistled.

Franz looked at his watch and realized that the woman he sent up to his room was probably bored. He found that women didn’t like to be kept waiting. He pulled out sunglasses and put them on as he made his way out of the night club. He heard Josslyn shouting that he wasn’t going to get away with it. He flashed her the rebellious middle finger just before the front door closed behind him. He would spend the rest of the night making love to the beautiful woman upstairs. He didn’t remember her name- Tammy? Tawny? It didn’t matter. She’d know what his name was by the end of the night.

Franz drove through the town streets as he got caught up in the world of his own imagination. He was so enraptured by his daydream that he failed to stop at a stop sign and drove through the intersection. He heard the sound of a car honking and he immediately honked back, not fully realizing what was happening. When he finally stopped the car, another car drove inches from his front bumper. It honked at him angrily. Franz collected himself and tried to catch his breath.

“Holy shit,” Franz said between breaths. “That was really close.”

A bright light shone from behind Franz’s car. Franz looked in the rear view mirror and saw that the light belonged to the car behind him. He tilted the mirror so that the light didn’t blind him. When Franz was ready, he drove through the intersection with a promise to pay better attention to the road and not his daydreams.

At first, Franz didn’t pay too much attention to the car behind him. This changed when he turned onto the street where his apartment was located. The car was following him very closely, almost right up his tailpipe. The driver flashed their brights. Franz pondered what the car wanted from him. Franz merged into right hand lane in the chance that the person wanted to pass him. The mysterious car only merged into right lane behind him.

When this happened, Franz immediately thought that this was Large Marvin’s men chasing him. Josslyn gave him the impression that he had some time to think about this, but that was obviously a lie.

He pressed his foot on the accelerator and sped down the road. He raced through the green lights in the hope that they would yellow just after he passed through. The next light he approached turned yellow. Franz continued through the intersection, The light turned red. “Ha! Take that!” Franz said.

This celebration was short lived. The car behind him didn’t stop at the light. The breezed through the light with no thought of consequences.

“Oh, come on!” Franz hit his steering wheel. “Where’s a cop when you need one?”

Franz was running out of options. He could only go so fast before he either crashed or got pulled over by the police. Maybe getting the police involved would scare Large Marvin’s men off. Then Franz thought that Large Marvin’s men wouldn’t be afraid of the police.

Franz took a deep breath and decided that there was no running away from this problem. He turned on his right blinker and pulled into a shopping plaza. It was ill lit and empty. Franz was beginning to regret this decision. He turned his car off and waited. The black car pulled into the parking lot and parked right next to Franz. He fought the urge to get out of the car and run. He just sat still and waited for someone to get out of the car.

Franz didn’t have to wait very long. The passenger side door opened and a tall man with slicked back, black hair into a ponytail and wearing a long, black trenchcoat got out of the car. He was wearing sunglasses. Franz wondered if the man was a vampire… otherwise, why else would he be wearing Ray Bans?

The man tapped on Franz’s window and made the gesture that he wished Franz to lower the window. Franz checked the man for a gun. He could only see the man from the midsection up. The gun could be well obscured. Franz forgot the fact that guns wouldn’t do much in the way of killing him now that he was a vampire, but there was still the inconvenience of being shot.

Because Franz had power windows, he turned the car back on to roll down the window. The man leaned his head into the space and grinned.

“Hello, sir,” the man said, his breath stinking of a freshly smoked cigarette. “You’re probably wondering why we pulled you over.”

“You’re one of Large Marvin’s goons, aren’t you?” Franz asked angrily. “Come to whack me off, have you? Well, have at it! Get it over with!”

The man winced when he heard the phrase ‘whack me off’. He took his sunglasses off and looked at Franz earnestly. “Uh, I’m not here to whack you off. I’m just here to tell you that your brake lights are out. We almost hit you back there and we thought you were an asshole until we saw that your lights are out. Sorry to freak you out.”

Franz felt embarrassed and relieved at the same time. He wasn’t going to be snuffed out- or at least not now. He wished that he had sunglasses to hide his shame.

“Oh… thank you very much,” Franz said. “I’ll make sure I get them checked out.”

The man put his sunglasses on and got back into his car. Franz could hear him tell the driver that Franz had thought he was going to get whacked off. The car door closed before Franz could hear the riotous laughter. Their car started and drove out of the parking lot.

Franz continued to sit in the parking lot. He wished that he could have melted into the car seat, that was how embarrassed he felt. His paranoia knew no bounds. He had a right to be paranoid, right? Large Marvin was not to be trifled with. He had less at than 24 hours to make a plan. His first step was to not get arrested for not having brake lights. He raised the windows and drove out of the parking lot, just hoping to get home before the cops pulled him over.