Jill and the Basketball Fan

Jill was trying to look on the bright side, which was kind of an odd way of thinking about the fact that she had been changed into a vampire.

Still, she loved playing basketball, and now that she was a vampire she could run faster and jump higher then any other girl on the New Paltz basketball team. When the other girls saw her dribbling the ball at superhuman speeds or--even better--jumping at the hoop from almost clear across the court to slam the ball in, they would cheer and wonder why Jill didn't try to play professionally.

There was a downside, namely that every basketball court Jill had ever seen was flooded with bright lights. Granted these weren't as uncomfortable as sunlight, but when a vampire had to handle a ball dressed in nothing but the shorts and sleeveless shirt which made up a uniform, the lights caused a rather uncomfortable disadvantage.

Still, Jill told herself that being a vampire was a good thing, and she still told herself this as basketball practice ended for the day, and she took a quick shower, changed back into her regular clothes, and left the gym.

It was while she was at the door of the gym that a voice called, "Hey Jill!"

She saw a boy named Patrick following her out of the gym. Patrick was a tall boy with long hair that he usually wore in a ponytail. A little bit eccentric, but definitely handsome. Jill only knew him because he was the president of the Vampslayers club. Jill had joined that club only half seriously. Now, she took it seriously.

"Hello, Patrick," she said, "What were you doing in there? Working out?" Somehow, she couldn't imagine Patrick being involved with an organized sport

"Yeah. Actually, I was. But then I heard the basketball practice going on in the next room, so I decided to watch it for a while. You are amazing."

"Thanks. I didn't know you were a basketball fan."

Patrick smiled. "Any sport where girls with athletic bodies dress in shorts and T's is okay by me."

Jill rolled her eyes. "You are such a. . ." she groped for the right word. . ."you are such a man."

"You say that like it's an insult," said Patrick.

"Why wouldn't it be?" retorted Jill, but she laughed. "So where are you off to now?"

"I'm gonna grab a quick bite at the food court. Then I'm heading home. Want to come?"

"Sure." Jill was actually feeling very hungry, although not for anything that she could get at the food court.

At the food court, she decided on a chicken sandwich, while Patrick bought a hamburger which he proceeded to drown with ketchup. "You're going to kill it," said Jill with a laugh. "You should just order a bun with ketchup on it."

"I need my protein," said Patrick. "And this is the only way that I can eat gray meat. I wish I could make real hamburgers, red and juicy."

"Yuck!" said Jill. " 'Juicy' means 'bloody.' "

"Oh, you're one of those people," Patrick. "Actually," he said, "I probably could make hamburgers now. You know, I just moved off campus. I've got my own apartment with my own bathroom and my own kitchen. But I haven't really gotten used to the idea of cooking for myself yet. "

Jill was interested. Food issues aside, living in an apartment definitely sounded better then living in a dorm. "That must be nice," she said. "Being able to have some beer or some wine without having those nosy R.A.s come sneaking around and bother you."

"You have no idea! It's real nice. You should come visit me there sometime."

"Sure. Just not for dinner." They both laughed.

Then Patrick got serious. "Jill," he asked, "What do you think of me?"

"What kind of a question is that?"

"Let me put it another way. Do you think I'm crazy?"

"Why would I?"

"Come on. I would think that would be obvious. I started a frickin' vampire slayer club on this campus! Most people don't believe in vampires."

The truth was that Jill had never thought of it that way. When she had first signed up for the Vampslayers club, she had seen it as more of a joke then anything else. Later, she had begun to wonder what would make someone pursue a "joke" as sincerely and relentlessly as Patrick seemed to be pursuing it. She had kept going to the meetings because even though she didn't really believe in vampires, she figured it couldn't hurt to see. Now, of course, she knew better. "Well, enough people believe in vampires to keep the club going."

"But most of them are not taking me seriously," said Patrick.

"I don't know about that," said Jill. "I mean, with vampires, there's serious and then there's serious. The difference between the two gets a little bit too muddled. Anyway, I believe in vampires." I wish I could tell you why, she thought.

Patrick sighed. "Do you know why I believe in vampires?"

Jill had never thought to wonder about that. "Why?"

He looked at the table. "I'm not sure I should tell you. It's kind of personal."

Jill wasn't sure how to answer that. Her first impulse was to shrug it off and mind her own business, but something told her that he really wanted to share this with her, and besides, she definitely was curious. She reached across the table and took his hand in hers. It felt warm and soft. "You can tell me," she said.

Patrick must have liked the way her hand felt too because he smiled and nodded. "When I was eight years old, my family decided that I could spend a week with my grandparents. The funny thing was that I didn't really want to. It wasn't that I didn't like my grandparents. They were always doting on me. Still are for that matter." He smiled at the thought. "But, at that age, I was very attached to my Mom, and I didn't want to be separated from her. Still, I was too polite a kid to protest, and I couldn't get out of it, so I spent the week sort of sucking it up and pretending to be happy. Nevertheless, I was so excited when the week finally ended, and my grandparents drove me home.

"We got to the door, and I was all set to go running into the house and hug my Mom. But when we got there, the door was locked so my grandma rang the doorbell. There was no answer, which was strange because my grandparents had told them when we'd be coming. Then my grandpa noticed that the window was wide open which seemed kind of unusual too. I remembered that my parents kept an extra key in the flowerpot in the backyard, so I told my grandma about it. We found the key and went into the house. The whole place was dead quiet. My grandparents started calling my parent's names, but nobody answered.

"Then we went upstairs and I was the first to enter my parent's bedroom. And what I saw made me cry out. When my grandma saw it, she tried to hold me back, but I ran right up to the bed and saw my two motionless white figures. They were my parents stripped naked, but both of them had skin which was snow white. Later, when my grandparents called the ambulance, the medics said that they had both died the previous night and that curiously neither had any blood left in their bodies."

Patrick took another bite of his hamburger. "I've been living with my grandparents ever since. The police still officially consider it an unsolved case. I don't remember exactly when I had my suspicions, but somewhere along the line, I figured out my own theory that I wouldn't share with my grandparents. A vampire did it."

Jill felt terrible. She couldn't imagine going through something like that when one was only eight years old. She stood up and walked to the other side of the table. "Want a hug?"

Patrick didn't bother to answer. He just moved in and hugged her.

"Anyway," said Patrick when the hug was over, “I feel like I should do something about it, so I started this club for vampire slayers. I don’t know that it makes much sense.”

“No. It makes a lot of sense,” said Jill. Unfortunately, it was also a problem since she was a vampire.

* * *

Later that evening, Jill stopped by the Residence Hall where Alicia, the vampire who had changed Jill into a vampire, lived with her roommate, Sally, who was also a member of the vampslayers’ club.

After each of the girls had allowed Jill to peck her on the check, Jill asked, “Can you two keep a secret?”

“Well,” said Sally, “I know that two people in this room are vampires, and I haven’t told anyone yet, so what do you think?”

“Besides,” said Alicia, “If you know something that I don’t know, Jill, I can find out by entering your mind. Vampires have the ability to do that to each other, remember?”

“Oh right,” said Jill. “Well, it’s just that Patrick just told me something very personal, and I’m not sure he’d want me spreading it around.”

“Then, why’d he tell you?” asked Sally.

“Well, maybe it’s because he really likes me, if you know what I mean. He is kind of cute.”

“Oh,” said Sally rolling her eyes, “well that’s possible, but what did he tell you?”

Jill told them all about Patrick’s reason for starting the vampslayer club.

Alicia frowned and spoke first. “You know, I always wondered what the point of that club was. It’s kind of sad, but I don’t know where it leaves us.” Then, in a somewhat less serious voice, “of course it could be a problem for you, young lady. What kind of a relationship could someone like that have with a vampire?”

Jill was not deterred. “He needs us, Alicia. You and I should come out of the closet with him.”

“Are you crazy?” asked Sally. “He’ll kill you for sure.”

“More likely, we’ll have to kill him,” corrected Alicia.

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” said Jill. “If he meets us, he’ll see that not all vampires go around killing the parents of little children. He’ll realize that some vampires can be nice people like us.”

“When did you get to be such a sweetheart?” laughed Sally. “I, mean back when you were a mortal, you got me drunk, seduced me with lesbian sexual favors, and tried to blackmail me.”

“Never mind that now,” said Alicia. “Jill, I’m sorry, but while your plan is very idealistic. It is also not practical. We don’t know how Patrick would react to news like that.” Then, she did a strange thing. She looked directly into Jill’s eyes. For a minute both girls stared at each other, and the expression on Jill’s face seemed to become blank. “You will not tell Patrick about being a vampire,” said Alicia evenly.

“I will not tell Patrick about being a vampire,” Jill repeated.

“Good,” said Alicia. “Now why don’t you leave us. We will talk to you later.”

With a barely perceptible nod, Jill turned and left the dorm room.

“Wow,” said Sally. “It gives me a creepy feeling whenever I see you do that.”

“Mmm,” said Alicia. “You know, I still think we should have killed her you but you insisted.”

“I know you, Alicia,” said Sally. “You don’t like killing people anymore then I do.”

“I didn’t say I liked it.”

For a minute, neither girl spoke. Then Sally broke the silence. “Alicia, can I ask you something?”

“How am I going to stop you?”

“Well, sometimes in books or movies about vampires, there’s this scene where the vampire says that being a vampire is worse than death, but I’ve never heard you say that.”

Alicia shrugged. “Have any of those vampires experienced death?”

“I guess not.”

“Neither have I. Which is why I don’t make comments like that.” Then she smiled. “That said, I can tell you that vampirism is definitely not the infinite misery those books sometimes make it out to be. I actually have quite a bit of fun.”

“As do I,” said a voice which seemed to come from the dorm window. Both girls turned to see large black bat hovering just outside. They reacted differently. Sally was cowed, but Alicia was annoyed.

“Let me in,” called out the voice.

Reluctantly, Alicia opened the window and allowed the bat to fly into the room. A minute later, a tall woman in a long black gown was standing in the room. The girls recognized her as Miss Valentina, she was one of the original brides of Dracula. She considered herself to be something of a mentor to Alicia, but Alicia refused to acknowledge this relationship. “What do you want now?” Alicia asked.

“I am just here to check on the vampire whose life I’ve saved multiple times.” Alicia hated to admit it, but that much was true. “Moreover, I see that you are attempting to mentor a vampire of your own.”

“You mean Jill?” asked Alicia. “I don’t really think I’m her mentor, but call the relationship what you like.”

“Indeed. I usually call things what I like. Anyway, I worry that a vampire who hasn’t been properly mentored will make a poor mentor herself.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.”

For the first time, Valentina seemed to get miffed. “You do not know what you are saying, my dear. A vampire who does not know what she is does not live long without proper guidance.”

At this point, Sally spoke up. “Valentina, do you want to be Jill’s mentor?”

It made both Alicia and Miss Valentina stare at her.

“Well, maybe it’s not such a terrible idea,” Sally went on. “Valentina could take Jill away. She’d get her little apprentice, and we’d never have to deal with either of them again.”

Somehow neither of the two vampires looked enthusiastic about that plan, but only Alicia gave a reason why. “Sally, remember just now, when you asked me if being a vampire was worse than death?”

“So?”

“Being mentored by Miss Valentina might be a fate worse than death.”

“How flattering!” said Miss Valentina.

“I didn’t intend it to be.”

There was a silence. It was broken when Alicia seemed to suddenly become indignant. “Of course I can enter another vampire’s mind,” she said.

“Huh?” asked Sally.

“You didn’t hear me enter Alicia’s mind, just now, Sally,” said Valentina with a laugh. “I asked her if she knew how to do it. Now,” she went on, “Since, you can do that, I suggest that at the very least you keep a mental eye on Jill. That is the very least that you owe her.”

“I would have done that without your advice,” said Alicia.

Sally wasn’t sure that was true.

* * *

Jill had been walking back to campus from town when a car pulled up and a familiar face poked his head out. “Hey,” called Patrick. “Can I give you a ride?”

“Sure,” Jill got into the shotgun seat next to Patrick.

“Doing anything special?” asked Patrick.

“No,” Jill admitted.

“How’d you like to come to my apartment for a while? We can hang out.”

Jill grinned. “I’d like that.”

So the two had ended up at Patrick’s apartment. It was a small but pleasant little studio with a kitchenette in one corner and a bathroom off to the side.
The one somewhat disconcerting thing about it was that there were crosses everywhere on the walls, on the end tables and everywhere else. If Jill didn’t know better, she would have thought that Patrick was extremely religious, but she had a feeling that she knew the real reason for those crosses.

“Now then,” said Patrick, “get you a beer?”

“That’d be great.” While Patrick was at the refrigerator, Jill stepped into the bathroom. It was a fairly nice bathroom, if not exactly immaculate. “Cool. You’ve even got a tub in here.”

“Sure do,” Patrick called back.

Jill felt a little jealous. Even though she usually took showers, she liked to soak in a bathtub every once in a while, and since she had moved into a dormitory, she wasn’t able to do that.

She looked to the side of the tub and was a little surprised by what she saw. There was a big metal can next to the toilet. When she got close to the can, and sniffed the air near it, she realized that it contained gasoline. “Hey,” she called, “why do you keep gasoline in the-”

She turned around and was surprised to see that while she had been looking around the bathroom, Patrick had sneaked up behind her and was standing at her back. Worse, he was holding a wooden hammer in one hand and a large cross in the other. “I’ll be happy to explain that,” he said, “but first I want you to explain a few things to me. Like how is it that you’re able to jump and run like some kind of superhuman on the basketball court? Could this have something do with it?” He waved the cross under her chin, and Jill doubled over trying to fight back the nausea.

“Hmm. . . It would appear that somebody was a vampire and all along she was a member of the vampslayers.” Patrick shook his head in disbelief. “Why don’t you get into that tub?”

“I just showered this morning,” said Jill with a nervous laugh.

“Just get in the tub and lie down.”

“Do you even want me to take my clothes off first?”

“I’m not trying to rape you. I’m trying to kill you. Just get in the tub.”

Jill decided it was best to obey, so she got into the tub and lay down on her back.

“Good.” Patrick took the can of gasoline and began pouring gas into the tub. “Here’s more proof that you’re a vampire. This doesn’t burn you, does it?”

“No,” Jill admitted.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Patrick putting down the gas can, and picking up a wooden peg. “I’ll just put this through your heart.”

“Then what is the gas for?”

Patrick smiled and indicated a box of matches by the sink. As soon as you’re dead, I’ll light this entire thing on fire and that’ll take care of the rest of your remains. You see, Jill, unlike some of the crazy people in our club, I don’t want people to know that I kill vampires. I don’t want any personal glory. I just want vampires dead.”

At that moment, of all things, the doorbell rang. Patrick swore. “Of all the times for someone to stop by. You stay here.” He went to the door. When he opened it, he saw three people. One was Sally Jennings from his club. Another was her roommate, Alicia, and the third was a much older woman that he didn’t recognize.

It was Alicia who spoke, “Hello, Patrick,” she said coldly. “May we speak with Jill?”

He frowned. "What makes you think Jill is here?"

"We have ways," said the old woman. She stepped into the house. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Valentina. One of the original brides of Vlad the Impaler, the Prince of Dracul, etc. etc. I understand you don't like vampires very much."

"Really?" said Patrick. "You're all vampires? Well, then I suggest you keep away." He held up his cross.

"No, we're not all vampires," said Sally. "Just her and Alicia. I'm not." Patrick realized his mistake because Sally was pointing a crossbow directly at him. "Put down the cross, and keep your hands above your head." Patrick did so. "Good," went on Sally, "now where is Jill?"

"I'm in here," said Jill emerging from the bathroom.

Alicia ran to Jill. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but he was going to put a stake through my heart and set me on fire."

"That wasn't what I was really going to do," said" Patrick, but nobody believed him.

"He even made me lie in a bathtub with gasoline," said Jill.

Valentina and Alicia went into the bathroom. Sally followed leading Patrick in front of her. "This isn't what it looks like," said Patrick. "I was just-"

"Enought!" said Valentina. "Patrick, are you aware that vampires can not only see each other's minds, but can also in some circumstances enter and control mortal minds?"

Patrick didn't answer. At least, not verbally. Instead, he took a few steps over to the tub, and then tripped falling face downward into the tub. Before he could get up, a book of matches which had been sitting nearby fell into the tub and suddenly ignited.

The girls were stunned. "Was that an accident?" asked Jill.

"Maybe. Maybe not," said Valentina, "I suggest you all leave this place immediately.

The girls agreed.