It was a town like any other town you might imagine, okay so maybe not quite like any other town, it was a bit strange to say the least. An outsider would have never guessed how deep the darkness of this town could get.
In the daytime all seemed normal, the police patrolled the streets, men and women went to work, and kids went to school. Busy shopper in the stores and restaurants kept the town alive and buzzing. Everyone was just as friendly as can be, but at night things were different. I know most people say that about the town they live in, but here it was true. Things became darker and more sinister when the sun went down.
If you work at night you had to wear an armband of various different color signifying your job, At least if you were human you had to. Not everyone in our town was human, at night Vampires ruled the town. This was important for two reasons. If you were out after dark without an armband you were deemed fair game for any vampire to take your life, if you had an armband and was attacked by a vampire, no matter the reason, that vampire was sentenced to death, at the next morning light. However being out after dark, wearing an armband that was not yours, or not for work related reasons, would mean prison time for the wearer. The greater punishment for that person would be having to become a feeding source for the vampires. Sure we had our problems, but what town didn’t. For the most part we lived in perfect harmony. Some of my best friends were even vampires.
Our night shift police officer were ninety percent Vampires, they would patrol the streets at night making sure everyone stayed withing the laws governed by our town. I was a postal worker and worked the early morning shift before daybreak, so I too had to were an armband, blue was the color designated for postal workers. If you worked all night in one of our factories, a green armband was worn. Red signified you were a blood donor at one of our local bars, but could only be drank from at the bar, not in the street, blood prostitution was highly illegal and carried a stiff penalty of death. Human police officers working at night simply just wore their uniforms.
Every morning on my way to work, I would go by way of the park. Now just because I wore my armband didn’t keep me from being scared from time to time, there were some vampires out there that didn’t give a rats ass about our laws and functioned under the thoughts of catch me if you can. One morning, while walking through this park, I noticed two vampire feeding on an unfortunate soul, someone had made the mistake of getting out too early, thinking they could make it to their destination. Not wanting to be noticed ,I continued walking, speeding up my pace. I had almost made it to the tree line, and into the clearing, when one of the vampires stopped me.
“Where do you think you are going” he asked me.
“I’m on my way to work,” I said a bit fearful for my life, “see I have an armband so you have to let me go.”
“I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to”
Fear gripped me and I turned to run, knowing this was the wrong thing to do. I was running back into the park, which provided little protection for me. I needed to get around more people to be safe from certain death. The vampire moved with speed I could not even see, next thing I knew he was standing back in front of me. He grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off my feet, he was about to take my life, when all at once he released me and I hit the ground. Finding my footing again I looked to see how I became free of his grasp, it was one of my vampire friends that had rescued me.
They were rolling around on the ground, locked in an awesome battle, when the police noticed the commotion and came running. They broke up the fight, ask a lot of question, and proceeded to arrest the rouge vampire. He had not drawn any blood from me and the other poor soul did not have an armband, so they could not hold him over day. Releasing him just before day break and letting him try to find shelter before the coming sun they said would be punishment enough for rough handling me. I did not share the same feelings with them, but now before walking to work by myself, one of my vampire friends would give me an escort.
I have seen this vampire since then but never had the desire to speak with him. A few months later, he was arrested and sentenced to meet the morning sun, for taking the life of a young girl wearing a red armband. Despite all the work I had, I was not going to miss this. I could have been the one to lose my life had it not been for my friend, now this vampire would pay and I wanted to watch.
Bound to a pole by silver chains, he could not break free, when the sun came up he began to scream as he burst into flames. I was happy, my nightmare was over… for now at least.
By Sunshine Raines
