Tuesday, August 17, 2010

VAMPIRES IN VEGAS by Alba Arango

“…police believe the shooting is most likely gang-related. In other news…”

Gang-related. I smirked. I guess we’re kind of like a gang. We hang out together. We protect each other. Sure. I guess you could call us a gang.

“Hey, Lizzie,” Cristina said as she plopped down of the sofa next to me. “Anything good on the news?”

“Just another gang shooting.”

She laughed. “Who’s turn was it tonight? Sophie’s?”

“Yeah.”

Cristina picked up the remote and flipped to the Disney Channel. “Think the police will ever figure out that out of the 300 or so gang shootings each year, only about twenty are actually done by gang members?”

“I hope not,” I said and stole the remote, putting the news back on, “or else we’d have to move again.”


“You’d think after almost thirty years they’d start catching on. Hey, maybe we should vary the routine. You know, shoot them one night, throw them off a cliff the next. As long as they bleed.”

I frowned. Whenever Cristina started thinking creatively, it meant she was getting restless. When she gets restless, she gets careless.

“I don’t know about that,” I said, trying to sound logical. “With the amount of growth here in Vegas in the last twenty years, I think gang violence is expected. If the police see a drop in the number of shootings, they may get suspicious.”

Cristina thought about that for a moment. “That’s true,” she said and stretched on the sofa. “And I definitely don’t wanna have to leave Vegas. This is the greatest place ever.”

I had to agree with that. We’d moved to Vegas because of the explosive population growth, but never did the five of us dream that this was the perfect place for vampires. The city that never sleeps.

We each worked graveyard shifts. Sophie and Becca were blackjack dealers, Jane and I were bartenders, and Cristina was a stripper. Of course, every few years we had to change jobs and hair colors…being immortal in a world full of mortals does have its disadvantages. But overall, Vegas was transient enough that no-one seemed to notice us at all.

“I’m off to work,” she said and jumped up, doing a somersault in the air. “You?”

I shook my head. “Day off.”

She smiled, her eyes twinkling. “Don’t get bored.” She laughed and disappeared out the front door.

I smiled to myself. By ‘don’t get bored’ she actually meant don’t kill anyone for fun. I haven’t done that in over eighty years, she should give me some credit.

The back door opened and Sophie walked in carrying several Walmart bags.

“After dinner shopping?” I asked as she placed the bags on the never-used dining room table.

“I needed to buy a couple things.” She sat on the sofa. “Anything good on the news?”

“Another gang shooting.”

She sighed dramatically. “What’s this world coming to? People should really stop walking alone at night.”

“Perish forbid.”

We both laughed and finished watching the news.

1 comment:

Amber Vayle said...

Seriously, this made me laugh out loud. Funny.Funny. Funny. Stupid humans.