20 December 2022

For my birthday a few weeks ago, my family got me a little 3-4 inch cube book called The Writer’s Block. It’s full of a bunch of different writing prompts and idea generators, and I decided to take a break from my usual stuff and try it out. The first page I flipped to was only a single word; “Gossip”. By itself, that didn’t appeal to me. But I randomly turned to a few other pages, and got one with “Superstitious”; the two started fermenting in my brain, and I had a thought. Superstitious/supernatural entities that are likely to gossip or be affected by rumors… why not vampires?

Most modern media depict vampire society as being focused around the “elite”, of it being a branch of high society. Makes sense; it’s quite the wonderful metaphor, isn’t it? But while considering that, I was thinking about what they might gossip about, and I had a question. How would they react to some unrefined country bumpkin joining their society?

If I ever do more with this - and I’m not sure I will - I’d want to pull in more of the characters vampiric nature. What I’ve got written here could just as well be some ordinary rich girl dating a farm boy. Also, Alucard would only be a stand-in surname.

“Have you heard about the young heiress of the Alucard family, Druscilla?” The speaker was a short, plump woman named Edith. If I hadn’t already known it, I’d never have believed she was a vampire.

“Oh, yes. What a scandal! Not only did she run of with some mortal and turn him, she didn’t even have the decency to choose one of the wealthy, well-groomed ones. Instead, it was some boy from the countryside.” Druscilla herself had a thin face, in sharp contrast to her talking companion. If you told me she’d never smiled in her life, even before her Change, I’d believe you.

“What was his name again? Spencer?”

“No, no. It was Shawn, I believe.”

That’s me. Shawn. Fresh from Burhill, Idaho, and fiancee to Leah Alucard. Also a freshly-minted vampire. Still kinda on the fence how I feel about that. Unless Leah’s around; then I remember what a no-brainer the decision was.

I approached the two women. “Did you need me for something?”

Both women seemed shocked at the sudden intrusion. “No, we’re fine, thank you.”

I tipped my hat to them–an old baseball cap from the mill I worked at during my high school days–and said, “Best be careful what you say, ma’am. Prob’ly best not to offend the lady of the house, especially if she’s invited you as a guest.”

For a moment, both just stared at me. Then Druscilla said, “Indeed.”

I tipped my hat again and walked away. Behind me, I heard them debating who I was, which was curious as they’d been talking about me just moments before. Not that I felt like going back and introducing myself.

I passed by a few more groups of people, each one twittering away, mostly about my engagement with Leah, or about the way she changed me without some big boss’s approval. Made me wonder what I was doing there and how I was going to deal with this mess.

Before long, too much was too much and I retreated upstairs. Didn’t really want to spend time with the in-laws; my first meeting with Leah’s dad had just about come to blows. So I headed up to the attic and looked out the window over their massive backyard.

A little while later, Leah came up and joined me. “Figured I’d find you here, once I realized you’d left the party.”

I gave her a wry smile. “It’s pretty nice up here. Got quite the view.”

“Hmm.’ She came and sat down next to me, then leaned her head on my shoulder. “So what’s really going on? And don’t try to tell me everything’s fine. I know you well enough to know something’s up.”

I grabbed herr hand. “It’s really not much. Just… Been hearing a lotta people talking. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“Of course!” She raised her head and looked me in the eye. “Are you? Do you regret it?”

I laughed and shook my head. “Nah.” I glanced out the window. “It’s just… I’m a farm boy from Idaho. What the heck do I know about fancy parties or things like that?” I turned back to Leah as I said, “Guess I’m just worried I’m gonna make things harder for you with everyone else, since I don’t know how to look presentable to all the snooty-tooty folks downstairs.”

Leah snorted with laughter, then shook her head. “Don’t worry about them or what they think. And if they’ve got a problem with you, they can go through me.” She kissed my cheek. ‘You’re worth dealing with all that crap for, I hope you know.”

I grinned. “You are, too.” I tickled her side a bit, making her squeal, then stood up. “C’mon. Probably ought to head back downstairs before someone wonders where we scurried off to.”