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.]

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[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."