2. The wind howled down the inner city ally blowing the trash around. It was a place of neglect and ruin with many of the buildings being nothing but burnt out
shells or long ago abandoned to the mould and rats. A stray dog stood atop a dumpster and howled.
“Shut up ya mangy mongrel!” yelled the hobo from inside the dumpster. He emerged from his warm trash bed and threw an empty beer bottle at the dog.
Satisfied as the dog jumped down with a yelp he settled back pulling a sheet of newspaper over his face. Not a minute later he was once more disturbed by a
trio of young brash voices. “Flipping tarnation! Can’t a man get any sleep around here?!”

3. Thinking better then to show his old grey head, He peered out of his spy hole made by the rust and a spoon the year before. “Wonder what those lads are up
to?” he muttered. There was nothing for them down here apart from thrown out bread and other tasty treats to be found in the dumpsters. He would fight
with his broken bottle if necessary, but he didn’t think the lads looked like they were after dumpster finds; they looked far too well dressed and fed for that.
He decided to lay low and just listen, he knew his old arthritic hands would be no match against the three of them.

4. “I really don’t think this is a good
idea” said Michael. He could feel
moisture beginning to gather on
his nose behind his glasses; a sure
sign of impending doom.
Trent sneered at the shivering
blond boy. “It’s perfectly safe
whatever the sign says. I was here
two weeks ago and it hasn’t
changed a bit.”
“Oww-owww!”
“What’s that?!”
“A dog idiot” said the other boy,
firmly pushing Michael towards
the opening in the dirty brick wall.
The old hobo stifled a chuckle as
he watched the three of them
climb through the crack. Stupid
kids, if they weren’t careful they
might just get more than they
bargained for.

5. Trent flicked his torch around the old storage room. He knew it contained nothing but rubbish and empty boxes, what interested him lay much further away.
“Man this place is creepy” said Nolan eyeing some very large cobwebs.
“Want to chicken out do you?”
“Of course not!” Nolan decided to keep his thoughts to himself. He wanted to impress Trent with how cool he was, not appear like a frightened little kid;
Michael did a good enough job of that.

6. “This way” said Trent shinning the
torch on another crack.
While all the doors were either
locked or jammed shut, most of the
areas could be accessed via cracks in
the walls.
The boys climbed over the rubble
into a damp hallway. First went
Trent with the torch, followed
reluctantly by Michael and bringing
up the rear to make sure Michael
didn’t do a runner was Nolan.
The sound of their feet on the floor
and water dripping from some
unknown source were the only
sounds.
“This place use to make coffins and
tomb stones” said Trent casually.
“Co-coffins?” stammered Michael.
He wondered if girls were worth
joining a club that involved
condemned buildings and coffins.

7. The boys emerged into one of the
front rooms. “Did I forget to mention
the initiation involves opening a
coffin?” said Trent shinning the torch
into Michael’s face.
Trent grinned as Michael’s face
blanched. Watching him squirm was
a lot of fun.
A faint scratching sound to his right
made Michael jump and grab Nolan’s
sleeve. “What was that?!”
"You big baby!” scoffed Trent. “It’s
just a rat! There are probably
hundreds of them in here, so you
better get used to it!"
Nolan gave a nervous chuckle. He was
glad it hadn’t been him grabbing
someone sleeve. While he tried to
appear cool in front of Trent, the
place was seriously giving him the
creeps.
You better decide right now what you
are going to do Michael. Either you go
on with us or you can leave now and
we will stuff you into a locker at
school. Take your pick.”

8. Michael’s thoughts were in turmoil,
he knew the reputation that Trent
had and was in no doubt that he
would end up naked in a locker,
which would probably be opened up
in front of a group of girls. Trent had
already done it to two other boys in
his chess club. The thought of his
naked white body being pointed and
laughed at by the school’s popular
girls made him go paler still.
“Well?” said Nolan taking up what he
hoped was a tough stance next to
Trent. He knew if he could pull this
off, his standing in the club would
rise.
Michael swallowed nervously and
tried to act brave, although the way
his teeth chattered together didn’t
fool anyone. “Why would you ever
th-think such a th-thing, of course
I’m c-oming.” Seeing Trent smile was
not reassuring.

9. “Good. Pass the initiation, ditch
that stupid cardigan and you can
call yourself a Bunyip.”
“But my Gran knitted it.”
“Aww isn’t that sweet, don’t you
think Nolan? Said Trent
sarcastically. “His Gran knitted it.”
“Oh very sweet, brings tears to my
eyes it does.”
Trent rolled his eyes and prodded
Michael forward with the torch.
“Come on Granny’s boy, the coffin
is this way.”
The boys went down a long hallway
passing a few doors until they came
to another large crack in the wall.
“We’re here.”
Nolan felt a chill run down his back
and it had nothing to do with the
cold.

10. “Could we maybe take a
raincheck on this? I just
remembered I have to go visit
my Gran!”
“Get in there” growled Trent
pushing Michael through the
opening and towards the coffin.
Trent wondered why they had
even bothered bringing this
snivelling coward. He would
have a lot of fun come Monday
morning when he shoved him
into a locker.
“Is it supposed to look like that?
Asked Nolan, staring in
fascinated horror at the coffin in
front of them.
“Like what?”

11. “Like that fog and fire...”
“Big deal, its cold and some fog formed, and they have some fake flames. Who cares?”
“They don’t look fake to me...”

12. “I...I can’t do this!” Yelled
Michael turning to run.
He was quickly grabbed by Trent
and Nolan. Wriggling wasn’t a bit
of good as the other two boys
were far stronger than him.
Nolan easily pinned him to the
floor. “So what now?”
“I knew he’d do a runner; where
did you stash that rope?”
“Right jacket pocket.” said Nolan
tightly holding Michael down.
Trent fished out the rope
grinning.
“I’ve thought of a place even
better than a school locker to
stash this one.”
With his hands tied behind his
back and Nolan holding him from
behind, Michael could do nothing
but squirm and stare in terror as
Trent went up to the coffin and
bent down to lift the lid.

13. Turning back with a grin Trent
said “You thought lifting the lid on
a coffin was bad; just wait until
you’ve spent the night in one!”
“You can’t do that to him!” burst
out Nolan.
“Shut it Nolan! Unless you want
to join him?”
“No; it’s just I was just reading
this book about vampires and_”
“Pht vampires! Give me a break! I
suppose you’re going to say you
believe in werewolves next.”
Nolan just shook his head and
shrugged. He wasn’t really sure
what he believed in, but he had a
very bad feeling about the coffin.
At the same time he knew how
crazy Trent could act and didn’t
want to be on his bad side for no
reason at all. How embarrassing
would it be if the coffin contained
nothing but dust?

14. Turning back with a satisfied smirk, Trent hefted the lid. It took quite a bit of force to crack it open, but once there it seemed to almost fly out of his hands.

15. What happened next was the thing of their worst nightmares. With a roar Nic came up out of his coffin at the boy. Last time the kid had poked around the
warehouse Nic had hidden behind some boxes until he had left. This time he wasn’t hiding. He was tired, angry and hungry. Very, very hungry.

16. “All I wanted was to be left alone to hibernate, but you couldn’t leave it, could you? Now you’re going to pay.”
Trent stood rooted to the spot in terror as the vampire climbed out of the coffin with his hands raised like claws towards his face. He must be dreaming,
because vampires weren’t real; they were like werewolves, witches and aliens, just things people made up to scare little kids.

17. “Feels good tying up nerds to terrify does it? I’ll show you the meaning of the word terrify boy!”

18. In the blink of an eye and far swifter then he could ever run, Nic grabbed Trent and sunk his fangs into his neck to feed.
It wasn’t Nic’s habit to feed off humans, but while his anger burned at being woken up, his hunger drove him to be satisfied.

19. After some minutes Nic withdraw and Trent lay deathly still on the floor. The other boys had run as soon as they had seen Nic grab hold of Trent. It would be
a night none of them would ever forget.
Nic sighed and got dressed; his plan to hibernate for 100 years was obviously not going to work.

20. Nic made his way out of the warehouse and
took in some deep breaths of the cold night
air. While his hunger was satisfied, his head
was pounding from being brought out of
hibernation in such an abrupt manner.
“Need a beer? Cause I could sure go for
one.”
“You’re still here? Rasped out Nic. “I was
hoping you were long dead old man.”
“Well now, you had best be making it a pint
of stout than” replied Fergus with just the
hint of an accent.
Nic tried to grin but grimaced and held his
pounding head instead.
“Although looking at you, I think you be
needing a stiff coffee more than a pint.”
“So long as we are away from here.”
The old hobo cocked his head to the
approaching siren. ”Coppers?”
“Ambo’s.”
“You’re a softy.”
“Shut up.”

21. Nic sat in the booth at Barry’s diner and closed his eyes. The flickering signs advertising beer and greasy fries did not help his sore eyes. He tried to recall
what had happened the night he had been turned into a vampire, but his memories were hazy at best. All he knew was he had walked along drinking from a
bottle of whisky. He had just wanted to get the heck away from everything, but women in particular, they were nothing but trouble. His face clouded as he
thought about the three main ones in his life.

22. First up was his ever cantankerous
meddling mother. She had prevented him
bringing friends home because of her
aging experiments; well unless they
happened to be townies, but he knew
very well what happened to townies in
his house from a fairly young age. As if he
would have brought one of those home!
He knew his father was in a right pickle,
growing hair all over due to drinking one
of her potions. Well he wasn’t about to
be her next guineapig.
Then there was that stupid girl who got
her kicks from biting indiscriminate
people. Didn’t they have some kind of
code or rules about that?!
Lastly he thought about Vicki. It pained
his heart to think about her. The love of
his life had flirted with a cow mascot!
Right in front of him! She deserved his
contempt.
He or she had flirted with Vicky said the
small voice in his head, there was a
difference. “Oh shut up!”
“You all right laddy?” Asked Fergus, who
sat watching him with concern.
Nic remembered where he was and
peered at the hobo. “Yeah, just resting
my eyes.”

23. "The waitress placed a cup of coffee before Nic and a slice in front of Fergus.
Nic cupped his hands around the strong hot coffee. Not that the heat warmed up his cold skin, but it was familiar and comforting. He owed his life to this old
geezer and as such would always be in his debt. The hobo had found him lying in the alley at sunrise, smoke beginning to waft up from his body. The last
thing Nic remembered was a burning smell and his eyes stinging. He felt his body being dragged over something rough into a cool dark place before blacking
out. Later he learned the burning had been the sun on his skin and the cool place had been inside the warehouse bathroom. If the hobo hadn’t moved him he
would be a pile of ash now.

24. “How long was I asleep? A year?” asked Nic hopefully.
The old hobo shook his head silently as he took some rather fast overlarge bites of the vanilla slice in his grubby hands. Nic watched as pieces of the
crumbling pastry fell out into the hobo’s beard and some of the filling oozed out of the corners of his mouth.

25. Pushing the rest in, he then licked off each grime caked finger of the sweet filling. Nic wasn’t the cleanest man himself, but he couldn’t help but watch in
disgust as Fergus polished off the slice.
“Now that” said Fergus ignoring the paper serviette provided and using his sleeve instead “Was the best bit of pastry I’ve had in a long time.” He cracked a
large grin showing his yellowed gap filled mouth.

26. “So how long-“
“One week and two days.”
“What?!”
“Aye laddy, a whole nine days. Don’t
think your plan of forgetting her and
waiting on her to kick the bucket will
work.”
Nic stared at the old man. He hadn’t
told Fergus all of that; had he? Nic
struggled to dredge his thoughts of
that day to the surface not even
noticing the clumsy waitress who
mumbled apologies as she slopped his
coffee while refilling his cup. If he’d
been paying closer attention he would
have seen it was because she had tried
to kick the old hobo’s shoe under the
table with her own while giving him a
look that spoke volumes as to her
thoughts on his choice of words.
“I must have been really out of it
because I can’t remember telling you
any of that.” Said Nic frowning.
“Sure you did Lad...well you told me it
was a girl and you were going to sleep
her off for a hundred years. I just
figured you were waiting on her to be
long gone when you awoke.”

27. “Oh my that’s so sad, unrequited
love” sighed the waitress who
brought up a stool from the bar to sit
at the table with them.
Nic stared at her like she had grown
two heads. “I take it you two know
each other?”
“Oh sorry laddy; this here is Marcy.
Marcy this here is Nic.”
“How are you doing?” asked Marcy,
tucking her gum into the corner of
her check and offering her hand.
“Okay I guess.”
“Oh I don’t think so. You get turned
into a vampire, nearly die and try and
sleep off your one true love for a
hundred years. That’s just tragic.
How many sim couples in this
universe have three bolts?
“Well...”
“Exactly! The creator here isn’t
exactly bothered about finding soul
mates you know, and here you are
ready to throw a three bolt
relationship away!”

28. “Now hang on a minute, you
don’t know anything about me
or what she has put me
through.”
“I know you two have three
bolts and that’s worth hanging
onto. Just imagine what she is
going through; why I bet she is
out there somewhere crying her
eyes out over this whole
misunderstanding.”
Nic was rather taken aback
by this overly forward waitress
who seemed to know all about
him and his life. It also appeared
her and Fergus were playing
footsie under the table; which
given Fergus’ current state
seemed rather odd, if they were
indeed a couple.
“Eh don’t mind us. And no we’re
not a couple! I can see ya cogs
working there boy so take them
thoughts elsewhere. I’m old
enough to be her father and she
ain’t my type anyhow.”

29. Macy snorted, her laughter ringing
out through the empty diner.
“Me with him?! Oh my! I’d have to
be darn far gone and desperate to
take on him.”
“Hang on, I’m a right good catch I
am. I was feather weight champion
in the army. The ladies thought my
physique very fine they did.”
Marcy laughed again at Fergus’
affronted face. “And pigs might fly
Fergus. Anyways we’re here to help
Nic, not argue over what a fine
specimen of a man you are.”
“How about we do both” growled
Fergus, which only made Marcy
laugh harder.

30. “It’s all very nice of you to take
this interest in my life, but I can
handle things just fine on my
own.” snapped Nic. The two of
them were getting on his last
nerve. While he might owe
Fergus his life he owned nothing
but ten dollars to the annoying
waitress. He should pay the bill
and go.
Marcy just smiled and patted his
hand like he was a silly
misguided child.
“So you’ve made some plans
than?”
Nic frowned and rubbed the still
pounding spot between his
eyes. “Of course; I have places
to go and things that need
seeing to.” He lied.

31. “Before you head out could you do me a
wee favour?” asked the hobo, showing
his yellow gapped teeth again.
“Anything Fergus, just quit smiling at me,
okay?”
Fergus grinned showing even more of his
bad teeth. “I need you to give this letter
to the blond barmaid at the Crypt O’
Nightclub. Would mean a lot to me it
would.”
Nic eyed the rather pink letter, but
managed to contain the chuckle at the
back of his throat. Fergus appeared to be
quite the ladies man for a grimy old
hobo.
“Sure, but why don’t you give it to her
yourself?”
“Come now lad, look at me. Do you think
they even let me in the door?”
“You have a point.”
Nic’s was very curious to what the letter
contained, but he slid it into his inside
coat pocket. It was a small favour to a
man who saved his life.
“Make sure you go tomorrow night, she’s
only there on Wednesdays.”
“It’s as good as done Fergus.”
“Good lad. Now it’s getting close on 5am,
you best be heading back to that coffin of
yours.”

32. Fergus and Marcy watched Nic walk back across the road towards the old warehouse.
“Well this is going just as I had hoped” said Fergus.
“Almost too easy, he bought every word we said. Let’s hope he doesn’t do anything stupid like disappear on us.”
“Nah he owes me one, just wish I could see it all go down. Yes siree, there will be some fireworks at the Crypt O’ tomorrow.”

33. The next evening Nic set out for the Crypt O’ Nightclub. He took pride in keeping a fit well toned body and lying in a coffin for a week would have done
nothing for his muscles. Breaking into a jog, Nic found he could move rather effortlessly now he was a vampire, it almost felt like he was floating. Not hearing
his footfalls he looked down to realize his feet had gone and in fact so had his body.

34. Not that he was given much time to contemplate exactly what he had turned into because an air current knocked him sidewise and he landed with a thud
onto somebody’s windscreen. His own startled eyes looked into a pair of equally startled brown ones. Rather pretty brown ones he managed to notice. Not
that he minded losing his pants in front of a pretty woman, but being helpless and furry wasn’t quite what he was into. He would have given her a cheeky
grin, but she was already applying the brakes with some force and he found himself once more tumbling through the air, this time onto the road.

35. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” yelled the woman jumping out of her car in a panic.
“It’s nothing” said Nic getting up off the road.
“But I hit you with my car! I should take you to a hospital.”
Nic felt the grazes become less raw after only a couple of seconds. Maybe there were some advantageous to being a vampire. “Really, I’m fine.”

36. “But I...”
“As you can see, I am not hurt at all” said Nic, taking the lady by surprise when he kissed her hand. “Thank you for your concern.”
“Oh my” she breathed weakly, staring first at her hand and then after him as he disappeared quickly up the road.

37. Nic arrived at the Crypt O’ in good time and made his way to the bar. The hurried blond barmaid was easy to spot as she was the only one tending bar.
Although it was still early people were already lining up for drinks and tables; while others were dancing to the thumping beat of the latest top ten sim hits.
“Excuse me.” He said loudly over the sound of the music.
“I’ll be right with you sir.”

38. She turned around pushing the hair out of her eyes and his heart nearly missed a beat.
She had changed her hair, but it was her. “Vicki” he said flatly.
“Nic!” she squealed and ran around the bar. She would have hugged him, but something in his face stoped her. “Nic?”
Nic swore under his breath. “This was a set up” he growled angrily.

39. “Nic, what happened to you? I
don’t understand.”
“Come on Vicki, I was right there
when you flirted with that cow,
obviously the two of you had
been having an affair for awhile.”
“Oh Nic, I didn’t even know her.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel
better?! That is was a girl!”
“I meant I really didn’t know who
that cow was. She just came from
out of nowhere; I wasn’t
expecting it and I certainly didn’t
want it. Please understand I
would never cheat on you with
anyone.” begged Vicki.
“Maybe if you had pushed her
away it might have been
different, but you sure looked like
you were enjoying it to me!”

40. “Well I wasn’t!” snapped back Vicki
her own anger rising. “I didn’t know
what to do, so I probably just stood
there a moment too long and she
thought I was agreeable to it! It wasn’t
my fault!”
“You know what I think? I think that’s
just a pathetic excuse!” He refused to
look at her face, at the tears he knew
were sliding down her cheeks. He
refused to be played, like his father
had played his mother all those years
ago. He would end it right here and
now. He just needed to clear his head
which had begun to spin.
“Nic?” He heard Vicki’s worried voice
come from a long way away.
“Can I get a drink down here?”
complained another patron.
“Get your own sodding drink!”

41. Nic felt like he was walking in a
thick fog. There was a laughing cow
who he wanted to throttle but
couldn’t reach and he knew Vicki
was there and crying, but he
couldn’t find her.
“Are those paramedics coming
yet?” He heard her yell.
“Please be okay Nic, please! I can’t
lose you! I love you so much, even
if you don’t love me anymore.”
Nic felt something wet drip on his
cheek and managed to open his
eyes.
“Nic! Thank goodness you’re
awake!”
“You love me?” he rasped and tried
to get up. Already he could feel his
headache going and the cuts to his
face healing.
“Just stay still. Sorry about the
cushion but I had nothing else. I
think you might have a
concussion.”

42. Nic tried to sit up, even while Vicki
tried to push him back down.
“It’s okay, I’m a vampire.”
“I figured that, but what does that
have to do with it?”
“We heal ourselves, see I’m nearly
better already” smiled Nic weakly.
“You scared me so much!”
“What did I do?”
“You turned into a bat, flew around
in circles and slammed into the
drinks cabinet!”
“Did I break anything?”
“Yes, a bottle of wine, the owner
wasn’t impressed.”
“Hope it was a good year.”
“In this place? I doubt it.”
“Miss Night, if the patron can sit up
and talk, you can go back to work!”
snapped the red haired women on
the other side of the bar.

43. “Yes miss.”
“Hang on a minute.” said Nic
quickly recovering. “My woman
doesn’t need to work in your
crummy bar.”
“Is that so, then she can hand over
her apron and leave.”
“Nic!
“She will. She doesn’t need the likes
of you telling her what to do; she
has a well provided home with me.”
“I do?”
“Better watch yourself vampire boy
or you’ll never work in this town
again!” snarled the owner of the
club.
“The name is Nic Mobacy, and we
have no need of your money;
you’re the one who better watch
herself.”
The red haired lady narrowed her
eyes and stalked off. Another
Mobacy! It was time to fix them for
good.

44. “Am I really your woman? I
thought you wanted nothing
more to do with me?”
“I was a fool and a cow in a
fog told me so.”
“What?” Laughed Vicki. “Are
you sure you don’t have
concussion?”
“No I just have you, if you’ll
have me? I warn you now, I
tend to be rather arrogant and
fall into glass a lot.”
“Then you will need someone
to fix you up, vampire or not”
said Vicki smiling.

45. ~~~
Is that enough with the romance already? *gags a little*

46. The two simselves watched Nic and
Vicki leave hand in hand, well
satisfied they had saved their
relationship.
“I’m glad I don’t have to stay that
way” said Sawyer.
“Yeah me too, you were really on
the nose!”
“Tell me ‘Marcy’, what was all that
stuff at the diner about?”
“You tell me! I’ve never seen
anyone eat so grossly, and feather
weight champion indeed.”
“That was Fergus, not me. I was in
character.”
“You’re first great acting role. You
nearly gave the game away telling
Nic things he hadn’t even said!”
“He would have done, if he could.”
Also that line about “Not your
type” laughed Holley. “Anyone in a
skirt isn’t your type Sawyer! Come
give me a kiss!”
The End
Hope you enjoyed this somewhat different style from me and the twist at the end with Fergus and Marcy really being simselves. ;)