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| BEHIND THE ORANGE CURTAIN | |||||||||||||||
| THE CONTINUING SAGA OF SYLVIA THE VAMPIRE | |||||||||||||||
| By Ronald C. Tobin | |||||||||||||||
| E-Mail: [email protected] | |||||||||||||||
| Friday, 8 June 2001: A relatively quiet late spring day here in Greater Los Angeles. Off to a late start this evening, sun stays around so blasted long this time of year! I don't have it as bad as my friend Kate up there in Toronto. This time of year, she's faced with SIXTEEN hours of daylight. Get close to fourteen here. That's bad enough, thank you. | |||||||||||||||
| Anyway, this is still Sylvia, and yes indeed, I am still a vampire. I once read a stupid tale where if one were to kill the vampire that made you into one, you would become mortal again. I assure you, that is not true. If someone killed Tom, I might find it amusing (he TRICKED me into becoming a vampire. Not cool, totally against the rules), but I would still be a vampire. Only one way to stop being one - cease to exist. No other option. Too bad, so sad, bye-bye! | |||||||||||||||
| It's about 9PM and I'm traveling down the famous Interstate 5. Traffic's not too bad - unlike the infamous California Highway 91, where traffic is still crawling out of Orange County and into the wilds of Corona and beyond. Yes, I'm finally venturing behind the Orange Curtain, but not to visit my family. You might call this a semi-social command performance. That is to say, I COULD have declined this invitation, but under the present circumstances it would be less than prudent to do so. So, off to the little nightclub next to the Holiday Inn on Beach Blvd in Buena Park (near where the 91 and the 5 collide) I go. | |||||||||||||||
| I guess this requires an explanation. A lot has happened among the Vamphyri since I lost my temper and offed my brother Vincent. Ever since late February things have been getting stranger, and more dangerous. This weirdness has its roots in a bizarre event that took place in San Francisco back on New Year's Eve 2000. | |||||||||||||||
| After being accosted by a couple groups of roving Emerald and Ruby Order 'hit squads' (best description I can come up with, sorry) and having to actually destroy this practically newly-minted Sapphire freak (the kid had only been a vampire a week. Took me about a minute to tear him to shreds and set the remains on fire), I moved into the Los Angeles Order Ruby Motherhouse near the Farmers' Market. That was in late March, and I'm still there. I am slowly getting used to interacting with my 'own kind' on a daily basis. | |||||||||||||||
| Yes, I'm an Order Ruby Vampire. We are supposedly the best of the breed. Tom is a jerk and not highly regarded by his peers. Tonight I'm wearing a short black dress, but I have my Order ring on, a big old ruby set in a platinum-like metal. Supposedly all of these rings were made in ancient Atlantis, but I don't know about that. I'm also wearing a ruby choker and ruby earrings. Yeah, it's overkill, but what the hell? I want to make a good impression, show I'm part of the team - at least until things settle down. | |||||||||||||||
| I'm off the freeway now, heading for the Holiday Inn on Beach. I'm so close to Knott's I can smell the place - and it's not a pleasant odor, I can tell you that. Anyway, I've been told I'm meeting with Brenda Scott, a fellow Order Ruby vampire who will be turning 250 years old in 2003; and one Oscar Nordman, an Order Emerald vampire who has reached the age of 87. Brenda, I'm told, has connections with an ancient Roman vampire named Aurea, who in turn has connections with some of the very oldest of our kind. Oh, good, I've made it! I'll just park this car and get inside, see and be seen. | |||||||||||||||
| Damn! This place is just packed with mortals! What a meat market! After I meet with Brenda and Oscar, I?m sure I can score a couple pints here before I head back to LA. Anyway, I see the two of them seated at a table way in the back. They know I'm here, and I sensed their presence out on the parking lot. None of us are trying to mask our presence, which we certainly could do. | |||||||||||||||
| Oscar smiled and rose as I approached the table. Brenda simply nodded, with a rather serious expression on her face. Hers was a face made for laughter, so the scowl looked darker and more ominous. A true gentleman, Oscar pulled out my chair and bid me be seated. I just love chivalry. | |||||||||||||||
| After exchanging mild pleasantries, Brenda looked at me and said, "Shall we get down to the business at hand? I'm sure you are curious as to why I asked you to come to this club in dull old Orange County, and I'm sure you would like to know just what the hell has been going on the past few months. Am I right about this?" | |||||||||||||||
| "Yes you are," I replied. "Why this club, for instance? Plenty of better ones in Hollywood and Van Nuys, or even Encino for that matter." | |||||||||||||||
| Brenda let out a sigh and said, "I always used to like this club. Yes, it's tacky and all, but it has been fun. It is also a Vamphyri Point of Interest, if you will. Back in 1988, this is where I first laid eyes on Victor Trent." Her lip trembled as she uttered the name. "Poor soul would have been better off if I had not. Alas, cruel fate!" | |||||||||||||||
| This struck me as a very weird attitude. Something about this Trent character has really wounded Brenda to the quick. "I have heard the name Victor Trent in passing, several years back," I stated. "Wasn't he the mortal who vaporized that old Sapphire vampire named Carlos, and just with the power of his mind?" | |||||||||||||||
| Brenda dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief and nodded silently. | |||||||||||||||
| "Yes, Sylvia, that is the Victor Trent we are speaking of," Oscar said quietly. "I am, however, somewhat surprised that you do not know more about him. He was, after all, something of a celebrity among us for about twelve years." | |||||||||||||||
| "Oh, well, that is easily explained," I said. "Until things started getting downright dangerous in late February, I was an independent. I had as little to do with Order politics as I could. Even now, at the Motherhouse, I only hear people speak of this Trent in hushed tones, and they often shut up if I come into the room. Can you tell me why they do that? It's a bit rude." | |||||||||||||||
| "We are in very troubled times, honored sister," Brenda said. "The fragile peace that has existed between the Orders has been shattered. The Old Atlanteans have chosen to exit this plane, take another turn on the karmic wheel. Yes, Kristano Pa Anovas is no more. After over 50,000 years! Now, Maurana is leading the Order, and she is frightened. We all are." Brenda took my hand and looked me in the eye. "No one has been intentionally rude, Sylvia. We just needed to know if you could be trusted, or if in fact you had been a rogue and not a legitimate independent. You passed the test, and that is why you are here now. | |||||||||||||||
| That statement really surprised me. That was just the first of many - of that I was quite certain. Then, I felt a profound flux in the psychic energy around us. Someone - or something - old and powerful had just entered the club. | |||||||||||||||
| "I see that Aurea has decided to join us this evening," Brenda said. "That is truly good. She has not made many public appearances since the incident on New Year's Eve." | |||||||||||||||
| "She has a lot on her mind, and she's not cloaking it at all," Oscar stated. "She needs to get back in control, not keep mourning on and on." | |||||||||||||||
| By that point, Aurea was standing right next to Oscar. "Point taken, good sir," she said softly. Bidding Oscar remain seated, she sat down in the chair between Brenda and me. I must admit it was a bit unnerving. I had never been even in the same room with a vampire over 2000 years old, and now here was this woman. I could just feel the power. Her eyes, however, showed the pain, great pain of great loss. In a way, quite moving, and rather perplexing. | |||||||||||||||
| Aurea locked eyes with me and it felt like she was staring into the depths of my soul. After a few seconds, she smiled and said, "Forgive my intrusiveness, and my lack of tact. As you have been told, I am Aurea, full name Aurea Octavia Bodellini. I was blood sister to Victor Trent and to Kristano Pa Anovas, both of whom have departed this plane in recent weeks. Victor, very violently and against his will. Kristano, very quietly and a supreme act of will." She turned to Brenda and said, "I trust that you have been letting Ms. Patterson, I mean Sylvia, know about what has been going on and why she was summoned here?" | |||||||||||||||
| "We had really just started on that when you arrived," Brenda replied. "What brings you here tonight? Have there been any breakthroughs? Anyone else of note chosen to self-terminate? Has Victor's true sister, Patricia Ann, snapped out of her catatonia? Some new hope? Some new despair? Anything?" | |||||||||||||||
| "Well, I came here tonight because I get the impression that Sylvia here has the potential to become one of the more powerful members of Order Ruby, given the time and the chance," Aurea stated. | |||||||||||||||
| I blushed at the perceived compliment. "I am humbled and honored by your words, elder." | |||||||||||||||
| Aurea looked at me again, like she was sizing me up. "Please, dear, call me Aurea. We are all friends here, or at least allies. I do sense great power in you. We'll have to get your past lives examined once the situation calms down. It would not shock me to discover that you have been a vampire before. All the better if that proves to be true." | |||||||||||||||
| "Well, shall I continue to fill Sylvia in on what has happened, or do you wish to do this?" Brenda asked Aurea. "You may as well, you know the details more intimately than do I. After all, you were there in San Francisco on New Year's Eve when we lost Victor." | |||||||||||||||
| "I agree with Brenda on this," Oscar said. " I have heard Brenda tell the story, but I would consider it a high honor to hear it directly from you." | |||||||||||||||
| Aurea mulled this over for a few moments, then said, "Telling the story is like pouring salt into still open wounds. My heart breaks when I dwell on it. Still, you folks are right and besides, another reason I came here tonight was to tell Sylvia of these sad events. It will take awhile, so I suggest we break for about fifteen minutes to feed - I can tell Sylvia is hungry - and then we can gather back here and I will tell all." | |||||||||||||||
| Everyone agreed with this course of action. I just headed out to the dance floor, found a couple of lonely guys, and took a pint from each of them. Oscar went outside and drained some hapless would be car thief. Brenda and Aurea just sat and talked. | |||||||||||||||
| Precisely fifteen minutes later we were all back in our seats. "I hereby swear that the information I am about to divulge is accurate and true, based on my own knowledge and that of other eyewitnesses. | |||||||||||||||
| Main point: my blood brothers, Victor Trent and Kristano Pa Anovas, are no longer here among us. I will now tell how this happened, and why it is important for you, Sylvia, to know of this." | |||||||||||||||
| And so it begins... [This installment originally appeared in the March/April 2002 THOUGHT] | |||||||||||||||
| RETURN TO SHORT STORY HOMEPAGE | |||||||||||||||
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