The Fremont Street Experience

[holiday_pirner]

The bustle of crowds propelled Holly forward. If they hadn't, she would have gawked all night. It was disorienting; if one didn't know better, you couldn't tell if you were indoors or out. Brightly dressed people tried to hand her bits of things, flyers, coupons, invitations. The brunette had taken one out of politeness before catching on it was for an escort service.

The street was alive with possibility, and that's what Holly enjoyed about it. It was like Picadilly Circus on uppers. Neon steroids.

Holly paused at a kiosk selling souvenir jewelry. A pair of earrings caught her eye; they were fashioned into black dice with little crystal studs. The man behind the counter sprang up. "Good deal on those. Buy one, get one half off. Can't go wrong."

She poked the cardboard backing, watching the die shake back and forth. They were the sort of thing she'd wear and tell people it was for a laugh, even though she really liked them. Guilty pleasure, her father had called it. "Yeah, they're cool, I guess." Holly gave a noncommittal shrug. "I'll take them."

The man grinned triumphantly and began ringing her up. Holly reached into her jacket pocket for her billfold and felt nothing. She paled. "Oh, balls."


[Thread open to Daniel.]

Comments

[daniel_stacy]

“Allow me.”

The man swept in from nowhere. His wallet moved seamlessly from the pocket of his jeans to his fingertips, as fast as if he were a gunslinger in a Sergio Lyone spaghetti western. Pow… Blondie saves the damsel in distress without a sweat. “Please,” said Daniel. His eyes looked an electric shade of blue under the lights.

The street vendor hesitated.

“I got it.” Daniel produced a tightly rolled bill and stared at the man in the kiosk. A corner of his mouth twitched. The two men had been in this situation before: a young woman eyed a novelty, contemplated the price, and the vampire chose that moment to slide into the picture.

After a couple of tense seconds, the vendor took the money. “You take care now,” he said to the girl.

Daniel smiled. “Let me guess, your other jacket? I hate it when that happens.”

[holiday_pirner]

While the vendor handed her the earrings, Holly hardly had time to marvel at the new man's swiftness. She let out a clipped laugh, then stashed the jewelry where her money should have been.

"Thanks, though you didn't have to." The brunette tucked a piece of hair back that a passing tour bus had whipped up. Her hair had been her last item of business before leaving the hotel, so she had done them up in quick braids.

"Quite sure it was this one, actually," Holly answered wryly. How could she have been so stupid? She knew about pick-pocketers, she had spent the better part of four years living in London. At least they had left her Benson & Hedges. Small mercies.

The brunette supposed there were worse things than an admittedly handsome stranger buying her novelty jewelry. "Does this happen a lot in America? I feel like this is a movie moment."

[daniel_stacy]

“No,” scoffed Daniel. He put a hand in his pocket and rocked on his heels. “You see, in a movie, I’d be the pick-pocket. I would’ve stolen your wallet just to create an opening to introduce myself. Later on, say… two months down the line, we’d be dating and naturally you’d be crazy about me, right? Hang on, don’t say no!” He held up a finger.

“So one day, you’d be looking for something in my apartment. I don’t know, a… a box of matches.” He gestured widely. “You’d discover the wallet in a kitchen drawer and realize I was a common criminal. We’d break up but eventually I’d win you back with a grand gesture. Maybe I found out you liked penguins so I borrowed some from the zoo and trained them to line up outside your door and each penguin would have a letter spelling out ‘I’m sorry’.”

Daniel noticed a crowd of people headed up the sidewalk. He tugged on his ear and moved out of their way. “But don’t worry. I’m not that smart.”

[holiday_pirner]

She ducked her head to laugh, then shook her head, still smiling. Holly pulled out a cigarette to give her fingers something to do. "That would be ingenious, except I fucking hate birds. And penguins count."

The brunette watched two girls totter by, unsteady in their high heels and visibly wasted. They were holding on to each other and laughing. "What are friends for, right?," Holly remarked, nodding toward them.

"So," she continued, lighting her smoke and watching the tip burn red, "what do you want in return? Call me curious."

There wasn't an edge to her voice; Holly wasn't in a cynical mood tonight, which was really something, considering her wallet had been stolen. On the bright side, her passport was safe inside her room, so she needn't bugger around with that.

[daniel_stacy]

“Wait a second, you hate penguins?” Daniel asked with disbelief. His rumbling stomach and all thoughts of wooing her into a compromising position were temporarily sidelined in favor of the topic at hand. He leaned in and admonished her. “You can’t hate penguins. They’re… sea lions with delusions of grandeur.” He laughed. “Listen, to hate a penguin is to turn your nose up at the underdog who dares to dream of a better world.”

He shook his head and put up a hand between them. “As for what I wanted, well, you can forget it now. That’s a deal breaker.”

[holiday_pirner]

She rolled her eyes upward, then nodded, turning away to exhale a plume of smoke. "It's not a specific thing against penguins.

"But you've obviously never had to walk through a gigantic flock of pigeons who have no fear of human contact." Holly shuddered a little at the very thought.

Having a conversation about penguins with a perfect stranger wasn't exactly how the brunette had planned to spend her last night in Vegas, but she was nothing if not adaptable.

Holly gestured to him with her cigarette. "All right, penguin man, we'll agree to disagree. Do you have a name, because I'll keep calling you penguin man in my head if you don't tell me."

[daniel_stacy]

“It’s Daniel,” he said. He indicated her braids. “And you’re Pippy, I presume?”

She must be a tourist, he thought. Traveling alone. That’s a little weird. Usually he had to work harder to get a girl alone. He’d buy a few rounds for her friends, wait until everyone was nice and sloppy to separate her from the pack (usually getting her on the dance floor did the trick), and then coax her outside to fool around. He wondered what ugly vampires resorted to. They probably hung out on fire escapes and dive-bombed people. Using his looks was the only game Daniel knew, the only one Deanna had taught him.

If he was honest, it was kinda limiting.

[holiday_pirner]

Daniel. That was easy to remember, and kind of nice.

"Clever, but no," she retorted, "it's Holly."

So she had taken her time these past few days in her so-called search. After all she had been through, though, Holly supposed she deserved a bit of fun.

Black might have been her favorite non-color, but that didn't mean she had to mope about all the time.

"So, are you a lone wolf type?"

[daniel_stacy]

Remember that. Holly. Holly. Holly. Holly has braids I want to tug which would be folly. Name games were as lame as a three-legged dog, but his attention span was on par with a fruit fly’s, so he had to cheat to keep track of things.

“Me? No, I love people. What’s not to love?” Hands in his pockets again, he wheeled around to take in the crowd. In his ripped jeans, AC/DC shirt, black blazer, and high tops, Daniel blended in with the tourists milling around on the sidewalk. His sire said he looked like reheated shit; he preferred to think of it as camouflage. He braced his foot against a drain pipe.

“I’m not from here, but I like it. It’s great for people-watching because they’re wasted from the minute they roll out of bed. No inhibitions.” He looked across the street. “I mean, that girl just got married dressed like Madonna. Who does that? It’s awesome.”

[holiday_pirner]

Holly watched him, laughing. He was certainly enthusiastic.

"Oh, I've heard about this. People get married in Vegas at the drop of a hat, right?"

Of course, most of the British girl's knowledge of Las Vegas, before she had arrived, came from the Elvis Presley song.

"If I had anyone left to rebel against, I'd get married here," the brunette ruminated, finishing her cigarette.

"And I'd wear the tackiest white outfit I could find."

Holly supposed she could always do it and send the photos back to her grandmother.

[daniel_stacy]

Daniel’s ears perked up. No one left to rebel against. If she’s late calling home, nobody’s going to notice. Check.

“Then I say go all out and wear Travolta’s outfit from Saturday Night fever,” he offered. “No, better yet, the skintight outfit that chick wears at the end of Ghostbusters. What’s her name…” he snapped his fingers. “Gozer! That was a girl, wasn’t it? At first I thought it was Prince.” He looked perplexed.

[holiday_pirner]

"Oh,no," she cried, covering her eyes. "I didn't need that mental image."

Holly recovered quickly. "I'm serious, I'd want the whole Vegas experience. Married by Elvis, with a...a showgirl maid of honor."

The immediate annulment afterward was a given.

[daniel_stacy]

“The real Vegas Experience…”

Daniel settled himself beside Holly. He lifted his hands in the air and boxed them off.

“Picture this: Instead of rings, you exchange poker chips. Instead of signing a marriage certificate, you sign away your life savings. Instead of kissing at the end, you snort a line of coke and Neil Diamond sings Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon.”
He glanced at her. “I like it. But I’m a free spirited guy. ”

[holiday_pirner]

"That's beautiful. I think you have a real career as a wedding planner ahead of you."

Holly was acutely aware of his presence next to her. When he lifted his hands, the sleeve of his blazer brushed against her arm. The brunette had always been impulsive; that's what almost every authority figure she had met had called her.

"This is my last night here," she blurted out. "I'm going to this place called Searchlight tomorrow. If you ever feel like a road trip, well, at least you'd sort of know someone there."

[daniel_stacy]

Daniel stared at her a few seconds longer than he meant to.

Do you see her pulse? The flutter at the side of her neck? Bite it. Invite her for a drink, tell her there’s a shortcut, and rip her pretty throat out in an alley. Do it.
His inner voice always sounded like Deanna to him. He was hungry again, that deep, gnawing need for blood that chewed its way up into his chest cavity, too. Holly didn’t smell like a girl to hang out with. She smelled like dinner. Daniel had no conscience to speak of, no feelings of guilt. If he ate her, he wouldn’t regret it later. He’d forget about it in a week.

But he could eat anybody tonight. He might as well enjoy Holly’s company before he murdered her.

“That town with the trailers? I know it.” He tilted his head. “Where are you staying?”

[holiday_pirner]

"That's a good question," Holly admitted, averting her own gaze momentarily. "I thought I would just rent a car, pop in a mix tape, and roll into town."

Beyond that, the details hadn't quite been hammered out yet. As long as she kept living moment to moment, there really wasn't a need to plan anything. Or so she told herself.

"I like it enough here, but the lights are always on, and...sometimes darkness can be nice."

[daniel_stacy]

I like it with the lights on. Daniel was glad he managed to squelch that outburst.

"You should've been a vampire," he said instead, in an equally stupid outburst. "I mean, they're always nocturnal in the movies. That would solve half your problems, most places, anyway." He smiled and looked up at the tall buildings that surrounded them. "The only time it's dark here is 5 a.m. right before the sun comes up. It's a bummer, though. You put all the people to bed and realize Vegas is kind of..."

Soulless.

"... Like a cardboard cut-out?" He wrinkled his nose. "Like when you walk in the castle in Disney World and it's not really a castle. Does that make sense?"

[holiday_pirner]

Holly's head snapped up at mention of that word, then shook herself a little. Don't be a headcase, she chided herself. "Sorry, but I don't think blood could ever taste good. It's all coppery. I'll settle for blackout curtains."

That was one good thing about her hotel room. Vegas knew how to treat their party-goers.

She looked up at him and tilted her head. "Your eyes are really blue. It's kind of distracting, really."

[daniel_stacy]

“Well, yeah, but if you were a vampire, your taste buds would change. Theoretically. Maybe Barnabus Collins used to like spaghetti with meatballs.” Daniel offered this idea with a pensive look. After all, he used to scarf down pizza subs with crushed potato chips sprinkled on top.

Oh please, groaned his inner Deanna. Just stake yourself.

He smiled when she mentioned his eyes. “And so is your upper lip. A regular one is shaped like an ‘m’, see?” He drew an outline against his mouth. “But yours is a zig-zag. The ‘m’ goes back up at the corners. Makes you look like you’ve got an inside joke.”

[holiday_pirner]

"What? It does not." Holly tried to discreetly feel her own lip, and failed. Still, it made her smile, too. And maybe flush a little. There was a difference between that and blushing, she had always insisted. Under no circumstances did she ever blush.

She wasn't sure what made her say it. Maybe sharing the news would make her feel a little less lonely. Holly would have made a terrible member of whatever secret society Julianna had eluded to.

"Vampires are real."

[daniel_stacy]

Daniel’s face froze.

"Wh—" He blinked and leaned closer. “What?”

Ah shit.

“You serious?”

Lucky for him, his shock face could easily pass for...

Well, shock.

[holiday_pirner]

Holly smiled nervously. "I know it sounds insane. And I probably sound insane." She watched his reaction closely. At least he wasn't running away from her.

"That's kind of why I'm going to Searchlight. Well, it's related."

She wasn't going to try to hunt down vampires or anything. Holly might have been reckless, but she wasn't stupid.

"I swear, I'm not a nutter."

[daniel_stacy]

“Ah, no, I didn’t uh…” He scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t think that. You just surprised me, is all.”

What now, Prince Charming?

“I guess it’s not impossible. So if you think there are vampires in Searchlight,” he said, trying to get himself back on track, “Why are you going? Seems kind of dangerous.”

This, my friend, is the definition of irony. This right here.

[holiday_pirner]

She played with her Zippo, watching the lights reflect off the metal. "It's complicated," Holly answered vaguely. "Kind of personal mission...thing. I don't think I'm supposed to talk about it." At least, that's how Julianna had made it seem.

"I probably shouldn't have told you about the vampires either, but you said you're out at night a lot and it would be a shame if you got eaten."

Talk about awkward. Holly usually didn't do awkward.

[daniel_stacy]

I could’ve used this advice ten months ago, he reflected.

However, ten months prior, Daniel had been a fraternity man blowing another in a long series of shots: first an athletic scholarship, then the trust fund, then the promise of college graduation, and finally his shot at an actual life, and all on a commandeering redhead.

Man, he hated redheads.

Point was, ten months ago, he was a doucher who would’ve laughed in Holly’s face. And no, he didn’t have any real regrets, except how the transformation came about. When Deanna bit him, he had yelled like a pussy.

“Yeah. That would be a shame. It’s uh, it’s good to know. Thank you.” He gave her his best grateful look and nodded.

Then he hedged, “Maybe they’re not all bad.”

Ha! What am I talking about? Five minutes ago, I wanted to eat her. I still do. He touched his stomach absentmindedly.

[holiday_pirner]

She met his gaze and smiled sardonically. "If they weren't all bad, then there wouldn't be people who had to fight them." Shit. Oh, well.

Holly nodded toward him. "You okay? You look a bit peaky or something. If you want to sit somewhere, we could go to..." The brunette looked around them.

"Well, anywhere."

[daniel_stacy]

“I’m just hungry. Uhh…” Daniel squinted and looked around. He plucked at his t-shirt. Now that she pointed it out, he was acutely aware of his need to feed. It was like being five years old and ordered not to speak for two minutes. Suddenly two minutes was an eternity and there was just so much to say.

Well hell. How important was it that Holly arrive in Searchlight in one piece? Was he ready to relinquish her company to stave off blood pangs? She was interesting, not ditzy like the girls he generally found attractive, and at least a nine out of ten; he hadn’t seen her ass yet and he considered himself an Ass Man.

Ass Man. Damn, is that starting already?

“There’s a sushi place,” he said off the top of his head. Then he panicked. What if she didn’t like sushi and decided not to accompany him? “Well, I mean, they sell other stuff, too, um. Beef. Nachos. Surf ‘n turf.”

Dude. What the fuck?

[holiday_pirner]

"I love sushi. But you'll have to lead the way, because I have no idea where anything is." Holly looked around them. The jewelry vendor was back on his stool inside the kiosk, reading a tabloid magazine.

She looped her arm around his, not thinking twice about it. After all, how could anything bad happen with all these people around, and with all the lights on?

"Okay, penguin man. Let's go."

[daniel_stacy]

Wow. That went better than he expected.

“Okay!”

Down, boy.

“It’s a block east.” He pointed through an archway between two buildings. It led off the crowded street into an area that was less populated, though not deserted. Daniel considered it a test of his willpower. If he got to the other side without taking a hunk out of Holly’s neck, he had potential for this whole ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’ thing. He ignored the obvious problem: the restaurant did not sell nachos.

To a human nose, the narrow street smelled faintly of garbage. Daniel’s heightened senses picked up the specifics wafting from a dumpster: old lettuce, sour milk, an empty bottle of steak sauce, a tin of cat food, none of it mouth-watering. Had there been red meat, he might have been in trouble.

Pssh, I’ve got this. What’s that, fifty yards away? No problem. Maybe I can slip away from the table and drain a person on the wait staff… Where do I stuff the corpse?

Half-attentive, Daniel asked, “So what part of England are you from?”

[holiday_pirner]

Ah ha, she thought, this is where the realness begins. The heels of her most well-loved boots made a light clomping sound against the concrete. It was sort of pleasant, in a way, or maybe she was just weird.

"The boring part," Holly answered dryly. "But I went to school in London. Caught the tail end of the whole punk thing. It was exciting, and I barely got my work done."

For some reason, it always annoyed her when the words spilled out of her. Holly needed to rein it in. Turn it back around to him.

"What about you? Do you live near here?" Did people actually live in Las Vegas? She supposed they would have to.

[daniel_stacy]

“Yeah. Over um…” he jabbed his finger in a vaguely westward direction. In actuality, he lived several miles east. “I’m not from here. Whoops, I already said that.” He chuckled. “I grew up in California but I followed a girl out here. Well, she’s a woman, we’re talking way too old for me. Mrs. Robinson old. That didn’t work out exactly like I planned.”

A few steps later, he added, “You know, that happens to me a lot.”

An orange-toned light hung near the corner of the last building. As they neared it, Daniel’s face lit up, along with its buckled forehead and ragged fangs. He carried on, oblivious.

“I must be a complete sucker.”

[holiday_pirner]

"There are more ridiculous reasons to move somewhere," Holly pointed out. "Sometimes we just can't help ourselves."

She turned to him with a sympathetic look, and when she saw his face thrown into stark relief, her lighter clattered to the floor.

Holly knew she should run, but her body seemed rooted in the type of nightmare that wouldn't allow her to. It had to be some sort of joke, maybe on a cosmic level.

"Your face."

[daniel_stacy]

“Huh?”

With his smile stuck on, Daniel stopped walking, lest he drag her by their interlocked arms. When he caught her panic-stricken expression, he realized the culprit, but found himself feeling along the bridge of his nose and poking his fangs with his tongue to confirm it.

“Mmm,” he smacked his lips, “Damn. You know, I actually liked you. Well, I guess the jig is up.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t going to bite you, but I might have to if you scream because I don’t feel like dealing with an angry mob.”

[holiday_pirner]

Holly backed away from him, trying to will her heart not to beat so loudly; it probably sounded like a dinner bell to Daniel. She turned to look toward the street, then back at him.

"You know," she began bitterly, clenching her fists, "it wasn't enough for you to be funny and nice. I had to hit the trifecta."

Her brain couldn't settle on fight or flight, and turned to nausea instead. She steadied herself against a brick wall. Don't you dare pass out.

[daniel_stacy]

“What, good-looking?” he asked.

Daniel watched her clutch at the wall. She was right; he could hear Holly’s heart shudder-thumping in its ribcage. Also her breathing, her fingernails scratching into the gritty surface of those bricks. He also smelt her salty skin, the shampoo in her hair, the soap in her clothes. The world practically clamored around a vampire’s senses all night, every night. You got used to it. It was just harder to ignore sometimes, and most of the undead didn’t bother trying.

Eat her, the demon said. If not her, somebody.

He ignored it, just to be a pain in the ass.

“Look, I said I wasn’t going to bite you.” He jerked forward, then stopped himself. Was she about to hurl? He realized he still had his game face on and shook it away. He wasn’t sure why he did that, like a dog flinging water off its coat.

[holiday_pirner]

She straightened, watching his face revert to normal.

She had pictured vampires with slicked back hair, and sharp white fangs that popped out. And maybe a cape.

"Then what do you want?" Holly realized instantly she might not want to know the answer.

Her pulse smoothed out a little, but her muscles were still tense and rigid.

"You were human once, right? I mean, that's how it works. You know how this feels."

[daniel_stacy]

“I was human last summer,” he blurted and barked a laugh. “The last thing I ever ate was a hot dog at a baseball game. Trust me, I remember nausea.” Daniel let his arms hang loose. “What I want is… okay, to eat you,” he admitted. “I mean, I really want to, you have no idea. There’s this vein in your neck that’s,” he shook a fist in the air, “Screaming at me.”

He shrugged, a ‘what can you do?’ look on his face.

“But I’m not going to.”

[holiday_pirner]

Holly regarded him curiously, despite herself. He sounded like a human. He had talked to her, joked with her.

Of course, she realized now what the whole exchange with the earrings had been. Her fingers closed around them in her pocket. They reflected her body heat back at her.

Did Daniel have body heat? Why was she pondering that?

"Don't get me wrong, I'm all for not getting eaten. But...why?"

[daniel_stacy]

He took a deep breath and blew a raspberry, looked around the alley for answers.

“For—just, I don’t know.”

Daniel wasn’t much for deep thought. He was capable of it, but didn’t like to bother with it. He scratched the nape of his neck and tried to formulate an answer that would make sense. It was true that Daniel was conscienceless; did that make him only capable of doing evil? Or was there someplace in between for vampires like him, who were choosy about the people they ate?

“There are people for eating and there are people for talking to,” he said. “Why eat somebody that I like talking to? That’s stupid. You can’t talk anymore after I eat you. I mean,” he sighed, “There are people who like being bitten. My sire has a whole harem of blood sluts. I haven’t been a vampire long enough to develop that kind of fang appeal.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Or have I?”

[holiday_pirner]

She moved away from the wall a few inches, still cautious. As if a sudden movement would bring out the fangs again.

"That's kind of like, well, when people say there are girls you marry, and then there are girls that you fuck.

"No offense," she backtracked hastily. "I'm flattered, really."

Holly bit her lower lip, then stopped immediately. Don't give him ideas.

"I, um, I wouldn't know. I just thought you were fit."

[daniel_stacy]

“I still am.” He spread his arms and looked down. He was downright lucky, actually, and he knew it. Being turned when you were in your prime was the vampire version of the genetic lottery. Try as they might, there was no getting rid of a beer gut post mortem.

Daniel liked her explanation of his diet. Holly had put things in terms his inner frat boy understood.

“And, since we’re using metaphors, I guess this makes you a cow I’d wait to buy.”

He reached out and grabbed her braids, then pulled them in succession.

Left, right, left, right.

“Yeah?” His smile was lopsided.

[holiday_pirner]

She felt her mouth trying to tug itself into a smile. "How do you make calling me a cow so...sweet?" A button on his blazer caught the light and Holly tapped it with an index finger.

"This is probably the stupidest thing I've ever done, but, what I said earlier about Searchlight. I still mean it. I'd like to see you there."

The brunette looked down to hide the smile's victory.

[daniel_stacy]

“Alright.”

Daniel opened his palm and studied the end of her braid splayed like a paintbrush, the individual hairs a cool mixture of brown and red that he bet looked killer in the sun. Not that he’d see it. There were things he missed.

“You can count on it.” Next time I’ll eat first. Probably shouldn’t say that part out loud, since it involved murder. “Holly,” he repeated, so there was no danger of forgetting it. Sometimes he behaved suspiciously like a victim of traumatic brain injury. Okay, so he had earned himself a few concussions over the years. Not a big deal.

“I’m gonna go, uh…” His finger circled the air and pointed at the street. “Run some errands,” he finished. “Some very boring errands. Who knows, I might buy some shoes. Keep yourself safe.”