The vampire hunter cast the door to the motel room open and stared out into the night.
As small a city as this was, and as low to the ground as the buildings were compared to those he'd seen in the portal, light was still everywhere.
Street lamps cast their incandescent yellow glow onto the cracked, gray roads, while vapors of humidity swirled through the air,
scarcely visible under the light.
Automobiles puttered sleepily through those streets, creating a low, persistent hum that was audible even from inside the room.
"This world is strange and unfamiliar," he muttered. "Too much is different."
"Poor, old-fashioned little Voss," Vladira teased, grabbing his hand and raising it to her cheek. "So resistant to change."
He yanked his hand away as it touched her cool skin, making her growl.
"My connection to you is the most intolerable change of all," he said. "I cannot wait to burn you to ashes and piss on them."
"In this day and age, I gather they call the latter part a golden shower. I'm not into it, personally, but if it's something you'd like to try, Darling—"
"Cease calling me that at once," he muttered.
"Oh, I think I shan't," Vladira giggled noisily.
"I rather enjoy watching you glow and gleam with fluster."
Ignoring her, he stepped outdoors, letting the outside world's less stagnant air slap him in the face like a cold burst of water.
He cast a look back at the drab motel room abandoned as it had been, it possessed a stink he only noticed once he'd been removed from it. "Another thing to consider is cleaning that room."
"I'll have my devoted minion do it while we're out," Vladira said. "Wait for me, darling."
Alaric scowled as she walked away, but his expression changed to one of pursed lips and scrutinizing eyes when he caught a glimpse of her swaying hips. "Should I go with you?"
She turned back around and pointed at him. "You should not! Nor should you ever speak to—to another—" Her voice trailed off.
"Never mind."
She disappeared into the door leading to the Weekend Inn's lobby, and Alaric found himself standing awkwardly waiting for her to reappear. As he waited, his eyes darted around.
There was the gas station—the Pump N'
Go, just across this narrow stretch of road, less than fifty paces from where he stood. It was a safe distance from the motel. It would not pose any danger to him nor his abominable partner if one remained in the motel and one ventured there alone.
He almost retched at the treacherous thought that named Countess Vladira his partner.
"Whoa, man, nice outfit!" some young passerby called out with his arm around a scantily clad wench. "What is that? A Halloween costume? Are you wearing a muscle suit?"
Alaric turned his attention to the young lad.
He was roughly his height, so fairly tall—six feet and four inches, as the people of this time and place would say. But Alaric was slightly taller, and twice as wide due to his
impressive bulk.
The lad's hair was reddish in hue, but it seemed an unnatural color. The young woman was certainly pretty—too pretty for the noisy man she was with, he dared estimate.
She had dark, curly hair, and perhaps an
overabundance of makeup. Still, she had a pleasant shape to her figure and a sharp jawline that he found attractive. She was dressed all in black— a mini skirt and a strapless top that showed off an indecent portion of her flesh.
"I wear no costume for purposes of vanity, my lad," Alaric laughed.
"Mayhap you can tell me where I can square away some apparel such as yours?"
The red-haired boy cocked his head and traded amused looks with his woman. "Bro. Did you just say 'mayhap'?"
"I apologize if my manner of speaking is antiquarian. I have only arrived here a short time ago—please, young man, what is the name of this settlement?"
"Uhh. Wapa Lake, Wisconsin, man, just next to Fresco City. I'm Jack, by the way, and this is my girlfriend, Carol. Are…you okay? You hit your head or something?"
Alaric couldn't help but smirk at the question. "Many times on my way to defeat my adversary. Ah! There is the foul creature of whom I speak now." He gestured quickly as Vladira emerged from the inn's lobby,
jumping and waving excitedly at him with a big grin.
"Hello, Darling! Did you make some new human friends?! Oh, how cute!"
"Ignore her," Alaric grunted, getting sniggers from the young couple in front of him.
"Alaric, introduce me already," the vampiress cooed as she sauntered up to join them.
"Who are these people?" Her grin faded the second she made eye contact with the dark-haired woman, then seemed to notice the
plunging neckline of her tank top—which only irritated her further.
"Vladira, Bitch of Perdition, meet Jack and his lover, Carol. They are citizens of this humble settlement—I have discovered its name. It is known as Wapa Lake."
"Wa…Pa Lake," Vladira tried it out. "Pleasure to meet you two," she said, then squinted at the woman, "unless it isn't."
"Are you two…foreign?" Jack asked, chuckling. "Your accents are wild, man."
The woman, Carol, giggled, causing her cleavage to jiggle enticingly. Alaric took notice out of his peripheral vision, but was not boorish enough to stare.
The clothing of this time and place were not modest in the least—a shocking amount of the wench's legs were exposed as well.
He wondered idly how anything got done when beauties walked around in such scant
attire, though he realized it was likely his own personal hangup.
"We are indeed not from this place," Alaric said, maintaining eye contact at all costs. He jerked away out of instinct when Vladira's arm looped around his bicep, but when she refused to let go, he just…let it happen.
"And they're, like, the hottest couple I've ever seen—both dressed up crazily, too." That was the woman.
Alaric winced as they referred to him and the Vampire Queen as a couple. "Though it may seem confusing, we are no couple. And I'm afraid we must cut this short, but I wanted to ask—"
"What did you just say, woman?" Vladira hissed, her face flickering with intensity that she failed to mask with a smile.