A Vision of Nothing
Posted on Wed Oct 16th, 2024 @ 4:33am by Liza Behn
Mission:
Wasted
Location: Liza’s House
Timeline: August 18, 2024 - 6:49PM
Liza frowned at her nearly empty fridge. There was never much in it- a couple bottles of blood as well as some drinks for human guests- but it was exceptionally bare now. She would have to go shopping.
But that would have to wait for nightfall. While she was well old enough to withstand the indirect light of dusk, she didn’t like going out unless she had to until it was full dark. Call it a holdover from her younger years if you liked, but it’s the way she preferred to do it.
She scowled at the two bottles of blood and chose one. Popping it open, she sat at the kitchen table and opened her laptop. She had three showings tonight, all to the same person. A vampire ready to purchase a first time home. One of the dancers from Dragula, if she remembered correctly. But she didn’t have to meet him until 2AM, so until then, she intended to work on advertising and answering emails.
She hadn’t gotten very far when her doorbell rang. She blinked. She hadn’t been expecting anyone. Going to the door, she peered through the window and saw a cloaked figure, his face just barely visible behind the heavy hood. “Father,” she muttered, slightly irritated. But she opened the door all the same.
The Baron Richmond swept into the house almost frantically. “Daughter!” he exclaimed, almost as if he were surprised to find her here. He threw his hood off and took her by the shoulders, looking her over quickly. “Are you all right?” he asked her desperately.
Confused, Liza pushed the door shut before answering. “I’m fine,” she said slowly. “Why are you so… extra?”
He breathed a sigh of relief before removing his cloak and hanging it on a hook next to the door. “There is darkness, my daughter,” he replied. “When I sensed it, I feared the worst.”
“You could have called,” she reminded him. “You really have to get over your fear of phones.”
“My dear Liza,” he said with the air of someone speaking to an infant. “Did you really think I would allow my favorite daughter to face such darkness alone?”
“I’m your only daughter,” she reminded him.
“Yes!” he replied as if this were the most obvious fact in the universe. “That is why you are my favorite!”
Liza rolled her eyes.
”Don’t roll your eyes at me, young lady!” he scolded.
”I am nearly 200 years old!” she reminded him. “You can’t keep treating me like a younglling.”
”And I am over 800 years old!” he retorted. “To me, you are little more than a baby.”
”You know what?” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “We can’t argue about this right now. You said darkness? What darkness?”
”I had one of my visions,” he told her. “The darkness consumed you and when it passed, nothing was left. I feared I was already too late. But you are still here. The darkness has not yet come.”
Liza just stared at him for a long moment. “I had a dream,” she told him. “Nothing came and it ate up everything.”
”Daughter!” he gasped, again grasping her shoulders and this time looking deeply into her eyes. “You have precognition, too!”
”It was one dream!” she countered. “One! That’s not proof of precognition.”
”You predicted the future many times as a youngling,” he reminded her. “You predicted that you would see Gershwin debut a new piece. You predicted that you would meet- well, that awful rock star you used to love. You predicted that automobiles would be commonplace. I know you did not realize what you were saying at the time, but those are the early signs of a precognitive mind! There are countless examples! You never once definitely said that something would happen without it also coming to pass!”
Liza still didn’t believe him. He had said these things many times, but she hadn’t taken him seriously. However, his own visions had never been incorrect. She put far more stock in them than in any dream or erroneous prediction she had ever made.
”We should call Gideon,” she said. “He’ll know what to do.”
”Gideon?” he repeated as if tasting the name. “Who is Gideon? Is he one of your lovers?”
”He’s the Havildar-Major,” she replied with another roll of her eyes as she turned to find her phone.
“Gideon?” he said again. “You are on a first name basis with the Havildar-Major?”
”He’s also a friend,” she replied, finally locating her phone. “He might know something. And if not, he’ll want to know.”
”A friend?” he said incredulously. “You slept with him, didn’t you?”
”Stop it,” she warned, tapping Gideon’s name in her phone and putting the phone to her ear.
”You did!” he said. “You slept with him!”
”Only once!” she defended. Truthfully, it had been only a single day that she had spent with him, but they hadn’t gotten out of bed once. That counted as once, right? “Voicemail,” she said as Gideon’s outgoing message played. “Don’t threaten him. I’m serious.”
”Why would I threaten him?” he asked, feigning innocence. “What purpose could that possibly serve?”
Liza rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Gideon, it’s Liza,” she said into the phone. “The Baron is here. He’s had a vision. Something may be up. Please call me.” She ended the call.
”What, that’s it?” he asked. “That’s all you could say?”
”He’ll call back when he gets the message,” she told him.
”Message?” he asked. “I don’t understand how these things work.”
”It’s not difficult,” she told him. “Gideon’s older than you and he worked it out.”
”Oh, yes, Gideon is so wonderful!” he replied, flopping onto her sofa. “Gideon is the Havildar-Major! Gideon uses telephones! He can do anything!”
”Stop!” she told him. “You’re acting like a jealous lover.”
”Don’t be absurd,” he replied off-handedly.
”Then stop it,” she said, crossing to the living room to sit next to him. “He’s not a threat. If anything, he’s the safest person in the whole city. Well, the safest Vampire, anyway.”
”I suppose it could be worse,” he replied, rubbing his temples. “You could be with that horrible rock star again.”
”You mean Harvey Cullen?” she teased.
“Do not speak his name in my presence!” hissed the Baron.
Liza stifled a cackle. “If it’s any consolation, he was definitely a mistake,” she told him.
”Well, at least you admit it,” he replied.
”I’ve got a bottle of blood in my fridge, if you’re hungry,” she told him. “Or we could go ‘hunting’ in a bit. Downtown has lots of willing victims.’
”I’d better take that bottle,’ he said. “I haven’t fed in two nights. I don’t want to accidentally drain someone.”
”Stay here, I’ll get it,” she told him, pulling herself off the sofa once more. She returned in short order with the freshly opened bottle from her fridge as well as her own half drunk bottle which had been sitting on the kitchen table.
”Thank you,” he said absently, and he took a long pull from the bottle, downing half of it in one go. “I shouldn’t have let myself get so hungry. But the vision… I was so worried.”
Liza was touched. She knew he really did care for her, even if he was insufferable sometimes. “Thank you,” she told him. “For coming at once. I really do appreciate it, even if I tease you about it.”
In one motion, he sat up, hooked an arm around her neck and kissed the top of her head forcefully with a loud “mmmmmmmwaaa!”. “That’s my girl!” he laughed.
”Stop!” she protested, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. “You’re embarrassing me!”
“There’s nobody else here to see!” he laughed, ruffling her hair.
”That doesn’t make it less embarrassing!” she protested.
The Baron only laughed.
