Mark looked up as the windchimes hanging from the door signaled the arrival of a customer.  The streetlight shining through the square front windows cast harsh shadows on the pale features and black clothes of the young man entering as the door slowly shut behind him.

     "Hi, can I help you find anything in particular?"  Mark asked.

     "Is there still a recording studio here?"  The young man looked puzzled as he gazed around the bookstore.

     "Yeah, it's in the back, but the owner's not here right now."

     Julie walked out of the office behind Mark and handed him a yellow sheet of paper.

     "This will give you information about rates and equipment."   "She's usually here on Tuesdays, Thursdays, evenings and weekends, but you can call her at the number on the flyer to set up an appointment."  Julie said.

     When the man turned to leave, Mark and Julie looked at each other and grinned.  People in black with pale faces weren't exactly the norm, but with a major university, known for its art and music schools, across the street, they weren't exactly a cause for alarm either.

     The windchimes slowly settled into silence as the door closed behind the man.  Mark looked down at Julie.

     "I vant to drink your blood," he said, opening his mouth in classic vampire fashion.

     "You're a sic man," she said, laughing.  "PIBs are an entirely different kind of character though.  Wait till Randi hears about this one, she'll die.  Who knows, maybe he'll book during Halloween week.  It'd be great for business to have him hanging around about then."

     Mark laughed and returned to pricing comics as the door chimes signaled the entrance of another customer.  The man who entered the store this time was easily as tall as Mark's 6'6", but he was almost as pale as the young man who'd just left, but he was dressed normally.

     "Can I help you find something?" Mark asked.

     "There was a young man in here just now," he said.  "Do you know his name?"

     "No, that was the first time we'd ever seen him."

     "Ok, thanks."  The man replied already halfway back out the door."

     From the office, Julie asked "What was that all about?"

     "I don't know, it seems to be a day for weirdos."

     "Some days are like that.  Is there a full moon tonight?"

     "Probably."

     "Maybe the second guy was a cop."  Julie said.

     "Could be, but he was nearly as pale as the first guy."

     "Probably a former art student who just hasn't quite recovered."

     "Well, I guess it's time for me to go."  Mark said as he gathered up his own art supplies.

     "Ok, we'll see you tomorrow."

     Shortly after Mark left, Jason, Julie's partner in the bookstore came in.

     "Well, how'd we do today?" he asked.

     "You're lookin' at it," she replied.

     "Friday's during summer are the pits."

     "Yeah, if comics didn't come, there'd be no point in opening on Friday, but since someone's got to be here anyway"  she let the sentence trail off.

     "Oh, we did have a strange one in looking for the studio.  Looked like Dracula himself.  We didn't think much about it until a guy came in right behind him and asked Mark if he knew the guy's name.  Don't let me forget to tell Randi.  She might want to think twice about this one."

     "It's probably nothing.  You know how people are around here."

     "Too true."

     No sooner had Julie finished this statement than Randi burst through the door.

     "Hey, what's happenin'" she said.

     "Same ol' same ol'"  Julie replied.  "Except for the Dracula clone who wants to book studio time, and the guy following him."

     "Do what?"

     "Seriously" Julie said and gave Randi a synopsis of the story she'd just told Jason. 

     "No shit?"

     "No shit."

     "Well, we haven't had any excitement in a while.  It could be interesting."

     "Just be careful.  There are some fairly strange people around here."

     "True, but then if we weren't fairly strange ourselves we probably wouldn't have our businesses here."

     "Good point."

     Randi went back to the studio, and Julie and Jason had begun the business of closing the store for the day when the studio phone rang.  When Randi hadn't picked up on the third ring, Jason answered.

     "Black Cat Productions" he said.  After listening for a minute, he turned to Julie  "See where Randi is, she's wanted on the phone."

     Randi came out of the bathroom as Julie started toward the back.

     "Phone for you" Julie said.

     "Thank's" Randi said as she unlocked the studio door.

     Julie returned to the front and continued counting down the register.  Jason waited for Randi to pick up the phone then returned to putting up the last of the books that had come in that day.

     About five minutes later, Randi came back out front.

     "Just got a gig.  This guy had the neatest accent."

     Julie looked at her.  "What kind of accent?" she asked.

     "I'm not really sure.  It sounded kind of French, but like there was something else mixed in with it."

     "Sounds like the guy who was here this afternoon."

     "Cool."

     Julie laughed.  "You're gonna get in over your head one of these days."

     "Probably" Randi replied.

     "When's he coming in?" Jason asked.

     "Tomorrow night at nine."

     "Well, at least it ought to liven up a dull Saturday." Julie said as she and Jason started toward the door.  "Seizure."

     "Seizure." Randi replied.

*********************************

     Julie, and Jason stayed late at the stordio the next evening.  Randi had called the night before and asked them to help her set up for the gig.

     The set up completed, Jason and Julie had returned to the front and were working in the store.

     At exactly nine o'clock the tall young man from the previous evening walked through the door of the bookstore.

     "Hi," Julie said, "Randi's in the back.  Go on through."

     "Thank you" he said.

     As the young man walked back toward the studio, Jason looked up from his measuring for new shelves.  Julie noticed a puzzled

look cross his face, but he then returned to measuring without saying anything. 

     After the man had passed through to the studio Julie asked

     "What are you trying to figure out?" 

     "What?" Jason said.

     "You just looked puzzled.  I wondered if it was anything in particular."

     "Oh, it's not much really.  I just didn't notice any reflection when he walked by the glass on the comic rack.  The way the light hits it, people usually have a fairly obvious reflection.  It just took me a minute to figure out what was different when I looked up at him."

     Julie laughed.  "Maybe he really is a vampire."

     "Yeah, right.  Vampires in Denton.  Maybe you should write a story."

     "Maybe I will.  It's a pretty neat idea."

     Jason chuckled and went back to his work.  Julie returned to the office to finish the paperwork for the week.

     Randi finished the session with the man at about the same time Jason and Julie were getting ready to close.  After the man left, Randi called out from the studio.

     "Hey, come listen, this dude is really hip and happenin."

     Jason and Julie went back to the studio to listen.

     Randi cued up the tape and hit play.

     Nothing happened.

     Randi checked the tape machine to make sure everything was working properly.  It was.  The tape, however, was blank.  Randi freaked.

      "It has to be there;I just finished recording it;There's no way it could have been erased;Everything's working;I can't believe this;What am I gonna do;I'll tell him it was an equipment problem;maybe he'll do it over;go out and talk into the mic, so I can see if this is recording;I'm gonna have to try to get him to do it over;oh God."

     "Calm down" Julie said.  It's probably a minor glitch.  You can get it all straightened out, and everything will be ok."

     "How? How can I straighten it out? I don't even know what's wrong."

     Julie walked out of the control room into the studio section.  "Ok, try recording now" she said into the mic.

     Julie rattled off a few test, test, tests after Randi hit the record button.  "Think that ought to do it?" she asked.

     "It should" Randi replied.  "Now let's try playing it back."

     When she hit play, Julie's voice came out clearly.

     "Everything's working now" Randi said.  "Why didn't the session come out?"

     "Good question" Jason said.  "Maybe for the same reason he didn't have a reflection in the comic rack."  He joked.

     "Yeah right" Julie said.  "Vampires in Denton. I believe those were your exact words."

     Jason chuckled.

     Randi looked horrified.

     "Don't get so excited" Julie said.  "There has to be a perfectly logical explanation."

     "What?"

     "Well I don't know. You're the engineer.  Think of something."

     "Thanks."

     "Would you really rather think you just recorded a vampire?"

     "Uh, no.  You're right.  There's a perfectly logical explanation."

     "Like I said."

     "Yeah, Yeah, I know."

     "Well, we're going to step next door.  Come over when you get ready."

     "Ok.  I'm going to work on this a while longer before I start drinking."

     "Later."

     "Seizure."

     Jason and Julie left Randi staring at the board trying to come up with the perfectly logical explanation.

                          CHAPTER II

     Jason and Julie stepped into the cool darkness of the bar, walked up the two steps to the horseshoe shaped bar, sat down, and ordered drinks amid greetings to and from the other regulars. "What do you reckon really happened to the tape?"  Jason asked.

     Julie thought about the question for a minute before she answered.

     "Randi didn't push the record button I guess.  You know how spaced she gets sometimes, and there is something weird about that guy.  I don't think he's a vampire, but he does give off some really bizarre vibes."

     Julie looked up as Beverly left her stool on the opposite side of the bar and walked over to where Jason and Julie sat. 

     "Have you heard what happened to Pete?"

     "He got arrested again?" Jason said.

     "No, this is really bad.  The cops found him out by the old missle base.  He's dead."

     "You're not serious.  What happened?"

     "No one seems to know for sure, but rumor has it he had almost no blood in him."

© 2000

Sandi Brackeen