Serenity, Nevada (14/16)
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14.
Kaylee had never been so afraid in her life. Not ever.
When the biker gang had come crashing through the doors and windows, that big cargo truck screeching over the lawn to block off the stairs outside, she’d thought that was the most scared she’d ever be. But she’d also thought that Mal and Jayne and Zoe would handle it, and it’d be horrible, but it’d be okay.
Nothing was okay.
Simon squeezed her hand, not looking at her but still looking at the … monsters, hanging onto Jayne, through a crack in the tablecloths. She couldn’t count how many there were, they were moving around and they all looked alike because their faces were wrong.
“It’s going to be okay,” Simon whispered, both of them with their backs pressed against the wall under the salsa buffet. “They can’t stay here forever. And the Sheriff will think of something.”
Kaylee didn’t say what she was thinking, which was if Mal was gonna think of something, he better do it awful fast.
There were two dead bodies on the marble floor, and she couldn’t look and see who they were, although she was terrified that she knew them.
She’d been havin’ such a good time, she and Simon had been dancing, and he’d laughed at her joke about the jackelopes, and then they-
Don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think don’t scream just breathe, real quiet, so they don’t hear you and come over here and look under this table...
“Where is she?”
That girl standing in the center of the atrium-- if she was a girl and not a monster-- she reminded Kaylee of some of the meaner cheerleaders in high school, not real smart but real sharp. Stuck-up and bossy and impatient. She’d been stompin’ around since she came in with the truck, and she’d thrown Sheridan VanMeter straight into the wall. He wasn’t moving, neither. She was getting more and more upset, too.
“I want the Slayer! You promised me, Lyle! You said she’d be here once we got started!”
“Harmony, sugar-pie….”
“Don’t sugar-pie me, Lyle Gorch! I don’t see a Slayer! Everyone was supposed to be here! It’s my party.” The blonde’s lower lip quivered, and Kaylee thought she was gonna bust into tears right then and there. And what did she have to cry about, anyway? “It’s my party to crown me Queen of Serenity and the desert and that magic vortex, and the main guest of honor isn’t here to be killed! How is that fair?” She picked up a big vase that had the pretty morning glories Inara must’ve ordered in it, and threw it down the stairs from the landing, hitting one of the other monsters in the head. “Fix it!”
“Right.” Lyle, the boss cowboy monster, heaved a big sigh, then reached out for one of the waiters. “Where do we find the Slayer?” He shook the waiter ‘til his teeth rattled, then smiled, and it was all Kaylee could do not to whimper. “If folks don’t start telling my sugar pie what she wants to know, folks will be sufferin’. You can count on that.”
“Excuse me.” Kaylee squeezed Simon’s fingers as Inara spoke up, thinking No, Inara, no, don’t say nothing! Don’t make them look at you! “I’d like to be of assistance, but I’m afraid we need some clarification.” She was standing on the stairs now, carefully arranging her wrap over her shoulders, her voice real steady. “We’re not acquainted with this-Slayer? That you’re looking for. If you could give us some more information, perhaps we can come to some accommodation.” Her voice almost died off as Lyle stalked over to her, but the blonde Harmony girl waved him off, clip-clopping down the stairs in her high heels until she stood even with Inara.
Posed like that, Harmony looked like one of those streetwalkers from Vegas, with Inara looking like a real lady. Kaylee felt awful proud of her even as she got more scared.
“Who are you? And where did you get that dress?” Harmony reached out to trace the straps on Inara’s evening dress, and her face melted into looking like a girl’s, not a monster’s. “That’s Vera Wang, isn’t it?”
“You have a wonderful eye for designers,” Inara complimented her, and Kaylee fought the urge to giggle, afraid it might come out all crazy-sounding and attract attention. “Yes, it is. Last year’s, I’m afraid, but it’s one of my favorites.” She paused, then said, “I’m Inara Serra. Mayor of Serenity. We haven’t been properly introduced, Harmony, is it?”
“Christ’s sake, Inara…” Mal was muttering from the floor over by the entrance, where one of the monsters had his boot on the Sheriff’s chest. “Don’t be nice to ‘em!”
“Hush, Mal. Let me handle this.” Inara didn’t even look over at him. Jayne was still growling with two of the monsters keeping him from moving. Kaylee wondered where Zoe was, but didn’t dare peek out from under the table any further. “What do you want? And, forgive me. But-what are you?”
“I’m Harmony Kendall, and we’re vampires,” the girls said, easy as anything, like everyone shoulda known. “We’re taking over. If we like you, maybe we’ll make you like us, but if we don’t, we’re going to kill you.” Someone over by the other wall was crying now, and Kaylee had to squinch her eyes shut not to start herself. “Do you want to live forever?”
That shoulda sounded all kinds of impressive, but mostly it sounded silly. Kaylee had liked Interview with a Vampire, but she never, ever, not in a million years wanted it to be true.
“Not particularly.” Inara’s voice was finally sounding kinda strained. “Tell me more about this Slayer. Is she… like you?”
“No, not even. She wishes.” Harmony made a face, and tossed her hair. “Okay, so, she’s this lame freak who’s supposed to be killing us, can you believe that? She’s a hyper-violent lamer who hangs out with old British guys, the pervs. And she always tries to spoil things for us.”
Bring on the Slay-girl! Kaylee thought. She could hear Simon swallowing hard next to her.
“We just want to deal with her first before we take over. That way, everything goes quicker. But she’s not here! So typical.” Harmony rolled her eyes. “The Slayer at my high school? Was this total Cinderella who never had a date. I should’ve known your Slayer wouldn’t be any cooler.”
“High school,” Inara echoed, sounding all interested. “So, this Slayer is young? About your age? Or, the age when you became immortal.”
“I’m twenty-two, but I’m never going to look older than eighteen,” Harmony said in a gossipy tone. Some of the other vampires were shuffling around, looking restless now. “But yeah, the Slayer’s a girl. Young, my age. She’ll be a jockette with no social life. Do you know anyone like that?” Then she laughed, sounding genuinely amused. “Well, you wouldn’t. You’re awesome.” She turned and stepped down the stairs, looking around the room. “Okay! So. Tell me who the biggest dork girl in this little podunk town is, and then call her and tell her that Harmony Kendall is calling her out!”
Total, ringing silence. Simon’s fingers tightened on Kaylee’s, and when she looked over at him, he was mouthing a name. River.
Oh, no! No one would say that, would they? They wouldn’t make that up and say it was her just ‘cause she was strange and they were scared-
“ANSWER my WOMAN!” Lyle Gorch roared, and Kaylee pressed herself even closer against Simon, and felt the tears dripping down her face. Gorch threw the waiter at the other buffet table, and the poor man crashed into it and turned it over, and, and, pretty soon they’d have all kinds of worse trouble-
Whang! Whizzzz!
“GODDAMNIT! Who’s shooting at us?”
Zoe, Kaylee mouthed to Simon, and he nodded, face twisted up in fear.
“Go get that damn deputy down from the gallery!”
Three-four vampires rushed for the stairs, and Inara held out a hand to Harmony, pleading, “We don’t know who she is! Honestly, Miss Kendall, this is the first we’ve ever heard of her, you can’t expect us to tell you what we don’t know!”
“This big’un knows. He was with her at the bar, where they were fighting us,” growled one of the vampires holding Jayne up. He groaned, and Kaylee started shaking with fear. They couldn’t hurt Jayne, they wouldn’t, oh, God, please, don’t let this be happening...
“Where is she?” Gorch asked, tromping over to Jayne, and reaching out for his arm. “Where’s the girl?”
“Dunno and don’ care,” Jayne slurred. “You’re crazy.”
A crack as Lyle’s fist met Jayne’s face, and Simon flinched next to Kaylee.
“Where is she? Where?” Another punch. “What’s her name!?”
“Just a… girl in a bar.” Jayne sounded like he was getting punch-drunk, and Kaylee squeezed her eyes shut.
“Honey, let me do this.” More clip-clopping of high heels, and then Harmony said, “Right. Now, you want to be on the winning team, right? We’re powerful. And we’re strong. And you’re going to die if you don’t tell us. So I’m going to make you a vampire if you don’t speak up right now.”
“No. No! Mal! Make ‘em stop! I don’t wanna be a bloodsucker!”
“Jayne…”
“Well, lookee what we got here.”
Kaylee screamed as their table was pushed sideways, and one of the monsters reached for her-all yellow eyes and bad teeth and she’d never think of Lestat as sexy again, not looking at him.
“Kaylee! No!” Simon was grabbing one arm, and the vampire had the other, dragging her out from where she was crouched, and Simon with her, hanging onto her ankle. “Let go of her!”
That Harmony girl looked over at them, annoyed, then blinked, smiling. “Ooo. I think I found her!”
“No! What? I’m not a monster-killer!” Kaylee protested, panicking completely. “It’s not me! You got the wrong girl!”
And then everyone was yellin’ at once, Inara and Mal and Jayne, Lyle Gorch and a couple of his men unhappy that Harmony was taking credit for finding Kaylee, and then Simon rushed the vampire, and got slapped to the floor.
“Leave! Him! Alone!” she yelled, slapping at the monster, kicking and trying to bite him. “You don’t hurt him! Simon!”
The vampire pulled her closer and she closed her eyes, crying, and heard Harmony saying in disgust, “Oh, God, what a wimp, I guess that’s not her. Kill her so we can look some more.”
She thought the pounding was her heart as she was about to die, and she struggled even more as the vamp’s arm tightened around her, but then-
Whup whup whup whup whup whup whup whuppa whuppa whuppa whup whup
--Kaylee realized it wasn’t her heartbeat, right before she got thrown into something and saw stars before she collapsed to the floor.
14.
Kaylee had never been so afraid in her life. Not ever.
When the biker gang had come crashing through the doors and windows, that big cargo truck screeching over the lawn to block off the stairs outside, she’d thought that was the most scared she’d ever be. But she’d also thought that Mal and Jayne and Zoe would handle it, and it’d be horrible, but it’d be okay.
Nothing was okay.
Simon squeezed her hand, not looking at her but still looking at the … monsters, hanging onto Jayne, through a crack in the tablecloths. She couldn’t count how many there were, they were moving around and they all looked alike because their faces were wrong.
“It’s going to be okay,” Simon whispered, both of them with their backs pressed against the wall under the salsa buffet. “They can’t stay here forever. And the Sheriff will think of something.”
Kaylee didn’t say what she was thinking, which was if Mal was gonna think of something, he better do it awful fast.
There were two dead bodies on the marble floor, and she couldn’t look and see who they were, although she was terrified that she knew them.
She’d been havin’ such a good time, she and Simon had been dancing, and he’d laughed at her joke about the jackelopes, and then they-
Don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think don’t scream just breathe, real quiet, so they don’t hear you and come over here and look under this table...
“Where is she?”
That girl standing in the center of the atrium-- if she was a girl and not a monster-- she reminded Kaylee of some of the meaner cheerleaders in high school, not real smart but real sharp. Stuck-up and bossy and impatient. She’d been stompin’ around since she came in with the truck, and she’d thrown Sheridan VanMeter straight into the wall. He wasn’t moving, neither. She was getting more and more upset, too.
“I want the Slayer! You promised me, Lyle! You said she’d be here once we got started!”
“Harmony, sugar-pie….”
“Don’t sugar-pie me, Lyle Gorch! I don’t see a Slayer! Everyone was supposed to be here! It’s my party.” The blonde’s lower lip quivered, and Kaylee thought she was gonna bust into tears right then and there. And what did she have to cry about, anyway? “It’s my party to crown me Queen of Serenity and the desert and that magic vortex, and the main guest of honor isn’t here to be killed! How is that fair?” She picked up a big vase that had the pretty morning glories Inara must’ve ordered in it, and threw it down the stairs from the landing, hitting one of the other monsters in the head. “Fix it!”
“Right.” Lyle, the boss cowboy monster, heaved a big sigh, then reached out for one of the waiters. “Where do we find the Slayer?” He shook the waiter ‘til his teeth rattled, then smiled, and it was all Kaylee could do not to whimper. “If folks don’t start telling my sugar pie what she wants to know, folks will be sufferin’. You can count on that.”
“Excuse me.” Kaylee squeezed Simon’s fingers as Inara spoke up, thinking No, Inara, no, don’t say nothing! Don’t make them look at you! “I’d like to be of assistance, but I’m afraid we need some clarification.” She was standing on the stairs now, carefully arranging her wrap over her shoulders, her voice real steady. “We’re not acquainted with this-Slayer? That you’re looking for. If you could give us some more information, perhaps we can come to some accommodation.” Her voice almost died off as Lyle stalked over to her, but the blonde Harmony girl waved him off, clip-clopping down the stairs in her high heels until she stood even with Inara.
Posed like that, Harmony looked like one of those streetwalkers from Vegas, with Inara looking like a real lady. Kaylee felt awful proud of her even as she got more scared.
“Who are you? And where did you get that dress?” Harmony reached out to trace the straps on Inara’s evening dress, and her face melted into looking like a girl’s, not a monster’s. “That’s Vera Wang, isn’t it?”
“You have a wonderful eye for designers,” Inara complimented her, and Kaylee fought the urge to giggle, afraid it might come out all crazy-sounding and attract attention. “Yes, it is. Last year’s, I’m afraid, but it’s one of my favorites.” She paused, then said, “I’m Inara Serra. Mayor of Serenity. We haven’t been properly introduced, Harmony, is it?”
“Christ’s sake, Inara…” Mal was muttering from the floor over by the entrance, where one of the monsters had his boot on the Sheriff’s chest. “Don’t be nice to ‘em!”
“Hush, Mal. Let me handle this.” Inara didn’t even look over at him. Jayne was still growling with two of the monsters keeping him from moving. Kaylee wondered where Zoe was, but didn’t dare peek out from under the table any further. “What do you want? And, forgive me. But-what are you?”
“I’m Harmony Kendall, and we’re vampires,” the girls said, easy as anything, like everyone shoulda known. “We’re taking over. If we like you, maybe we’ll make you like us, but if we don’t, we’re going to kill you.” Someone over by the other wall was crying now, and Kaylee had to squinch her eyes shut not to start herself. “Do you want to live forever?”
That shoulda sounded all kinds of impressive, but mostly it sounded silly. Kaylee had liked Interview with a Vampire, but she never, ever, not in a million years wanted it to be true.
“Not particularly.” Inara’s voice was finally sounding kinda strained. “Tell me more about this Slayer. Is she… like you?”
“No, not even. She wishes.” Harmony made a face, and tossed her hair. “Okay, so, she’s this lame freak who’s supposed to be killing us, can you believe that? She’s a hyper-violent lamer who hangs out with old British guys, the pervs. And she always tries to spoil things for us.”
Bring on the Slay-girl! Kaylee thought. She could hear Simon swallowing hard next to her.
“We just want to deal with her first before we take over. That way, everything goes quicker. But she’s not here! So typical.” Harmony rolled her eyes. “The Slayer at my high school? Was this total Cinderella who never had a date. I should’ve known your Slayer wouldn’t be any cooler.”
“High school,” Inara echoed, sounding all interested. “So, this Slayer is young? About your age? Or, the age when you became immortal.”
“I’m twenty-two, but I’m never going to look older than eighteen,” Harmony said in a gossipy tone. Some of the other vampires were shuffling around, looking restless now. “But yeah, the Slayer’s a girl. Young, my age. She’ll be a jockette with no social life. Do you know anyone like that?” Then she laughed, sounding genuinely amused. “Well, you wouldn’t. You’re awesome.” She turned and stepped down the stairs, looking around the room. “Okay! So. Tell me who the biggest dork girl in this little podunk town is, and then call her and tell her that Harmony Kendall is calling her out!”
Total, ringing silence. Simon’s fingers tightened on Kaylee’s, and when she looked over at him, he was mouthing a name. River.
Oh, no! No one would say that, would they? They wouldn’t make that up and say it was her just ‘cause she was strange and they were scared-
“ANSWER my WOMAN!” Lyle Gorch roared, and Kaylee pressed herself even closer against Simon, and felt the tears dripping down her face. Gorch threw the waiter at the other buffet table, and the poor man crashed into it and turned it over, and, and, pretty soon they’d have all kinds of worse trouble-
Whang! Whizzzz!
“GODDAMNIT! Who’s shooting at us?”
Zoe, Kaylee mouthed to Simon, and he nodded, face twisted up in fear.
“Go get that damn deputy down from the gallery!”
Three-four vampires rushed for the stairs, and Inara held out a hand to Harmony, pleading, “We don’t know who she is! Honestly, Miss Kendall, this is the first we’ve ever heard of her, you can’t expect us to tell you what we don’t know!”
“This big’un knows. He was with her at the bar, where they were fighting us,” growled one of the vampires holding Jayne up. He groaned, and Kaylee started shaking with fear. They couldn’t hurt Jayne, they wouldn’t, oh, God, please, don’t let this be happening...
“Where is she?” Gorch asked, tromping over to Jayne, and reaching out for his arm. “Where’s the girl?”
“Dunno and don’ care,” Jayne slurred. “You’re crazy.”
A crack as Lyle’s fist met Jayne’s face, and Simon flinched next to Kaylee.
“Where is she? Where?” Another punch. “What’s her name!?”
“Just a… girl in a bar.” Jayne sounded like he was getting punch-drunk, and Kaylee squeezed her eyes shut.
“Honey, let me do this.” More clip-clopping of high heels, and then Harmony said, “Right. Now, you want to be on the winning team, right? We’re powerful. And we’re strong. And you’re going to die if you don’t tell us. So I’m going to make you a vampire if you don’t speak up right now.”
“No. No! Mal! Make ‘em stop! I don’t wanna be a bloodsucker!”
“Jayne…”
“Well, lookee what we got here.”
Kaylee screamed as their table was pushed sideways, and one of the monsters reached for her-all yellow eyes and bad teeth and she’d never think of Lestat as sexy again, not looking at him.
“Kaylee! No!” Simon was grabbing one arm, and the vampire had the other, dragging her out from where she was crouched, and Simon with her, hanging onto her ankle. “Let go of her!”
That Harmony girl looked over at them, annoyed, then blinked, smiling. “Ooo. I think I found her!”
“No! What? I’m not a monster-killer!” Kaylee protested, panicking completely. “It’s not me! You got the wrong girl!”
And then everyone was yellin’ at once, Inara and Mal and Jayne, Lyle Gorch and a couple of his men unhappy that Harmony was taking credit for finding Kaylee, and then Simon rushed the vampire, and got slapped to the floor.
“Leave! Him! Alone!” she yelled, slapping at the monster, kicking and trying to bite him. “You don’t hurt him! Simon!”
The vampire pulled her closer and she closed her eyes, crying, and heard Harmony saying in disgust, “Oh, God, what a wimp, I guess that’s not her. Kill her so we can look some more.”
She thought the pounding was her heart as she was about to die, and she struggled even more as the vamp’s arm tightened around her, but then-
Whup whup whup whup whup whup whup whuppa whuppa whuppa whup whup
--Kaylee realized it wasn’t her heartbeat, right before she got thrown into something and saw stars before she collapsed to the floor.