Reforming herself beside her Indian motorcycle that matched the vision, Sylvie held the clutch and clicked the bike into neutral and slowly walked the machine away from Rose’s door. Safely away from where the bike could be heard, Sylvie dipped her head into her helmet and buckled it under her chin. Key in the ignition, she turned the power and waited for all of the electronics to light up and give her the basic status. Pulling the clutch in again, she turned the key long enough to get the loud and throaty engine to roar to life.
Out of the small parking lot and turning right onto Branders Bridge Road, Sylvie gunned the heavy machine and took off down the nearly dark highway. While she could have gone the opposite direction into the bigger part of Colonial Heights, Sylvie wanted the time along the shadowy road to forget or push back the vision that interrupted what was going to be a lovely evening before going and opening the bar. Speed and the wind became her allies as she moved unfettered around the hairpin turns designed to keep people from racing.
-Clearly no vampire was consulted.-
Sylvie thought to herself, and pushed the throttle so the little needle on the expensive bike topped one hundred. Happy with her own little joke, Sylvie reached a stop sign and turned from her race track and onto a small connective side street for about a mile until she saw the familiar street sign ‘Fortune Way’. While waiting for a small line of traffic to clear so she could turn, the vampire finally focused enough to know that the scent of fruity mixed drinks and beer still lingered on her clothing. Unwilling to deal with the police on a Friday night, Sylvie headed to her home, One-Thirteen. Set back from the central part of ‘Fortune Way’, her little one story stone and cinder block ranch home had large maple trees that formed a natural driveway and took her almost to the front door. Riding through the small piles of gold-yellow leaves that had fallen with the coming of fall, Sylvie stopped the bike and shut off the engine.
Buzzing from her back pocket clued her into the exact time of the evening. Freeing the device from its location, Sylvie smiled when she saw the highlighted name ‘Veronica Brown’ with the cute title of ‘Blood Bunny’ below it. With a flick of her finger the phone came to life. “Gooood Eveeening..muhaaa.” Sylvie tried to mirror the sound of a Hollywood vampiress.
“Mistress, you are late. The rest of us are outside waiting for you to open.” Veronica’s soft and respectful voice offered.
“That was one of my best voice lines yet, and you didn’t laugh.” Sylvie unlocked her front door and went inside. “Veronica, I smell like a small brewery, so I am going to grab a shower and be right in.” Sylvie huffed, “You know, I gave all three of you a key.” Flicking on the light to her kitchen, Sylvie dropped her keys on the small island in the center of the room before opening the refrigerator to grab a bottle labeled ‘Crimson Zero’. Using the handle on a drawer, the vampiress popped the little aluminum cap and took a couple gulps of the rich liquid just as the top clattered on the floor.
“Yeah, we can get inside. But we can’t open without you, Mistress.” Veronica giggled. “The three of us need your…attention.” Veronica paused, “Besides, it's polite to wait for the owner to show up before going inside.”
“Just go inside, lock the door behind you and get set up.” She set the bottle of blood on the island beside her keys and walked into the living room in the front of the house. “You don’t have to open the door to everyone before I get there.” Sylvie laughed, “Yes, I will devote ten minutes to your personal needs. All three of you.” Knowing what was about to happen, Sylvie held the phone away from her ear as the trio started to giggle and scream with joy. “You keep right on giggling and imagining.” Sylvie tapped the red button ending the call.
Free of her boots, Sylvie tossed her leather jacket on the back of her recliner and grabbed the fake soda bottle, swigging more of the contents. Her burning throat quelled once more, Sylvie smiled and looked at the bottle a little closer. ‘Made for personal use by Twilight Tonight, LLC. Patent pending.’ Sylvie drained the remaining contents and went to her sink, using warm water and soap to clean out the bottle.
Martin Shores, Sylvie’s only ward, had taken to heart when she one time complained that the bags of blood he’d been procuring had a leftover nasty plastic taste that she wasn’t fond of. Without a hint or a vision of what was coming, Sylvie began getting little cold packs stuffed full of glass bottles that contained whole blood. Initially the mix had hints of blueberries and strawberries that made Sylvie question the mentality of her ward. When a particularly nasty tasting version of lemon-lime blood showed up, Sylvie called Martin directly and asked for no gimmicks, just the blood without the plastic taste. Bottles covered in blue and white paint with little birds on them carrying the letters in their claws, the personal name brand ‘Crimson Zero’ was formed.
Hunger sedated, Sylvie stuck the bottle in the tiny crate beside the front door and walked to a little pad on the foyer wall. Using the touchpad, Sylvie first set the lighting so that it was a moderate level for any average person. Glancing down at her watch, Sylvie shrugged and left the other settings alone in favor of getting ready for her evening.
Given the last few months, Sylvie had gotten in the habit of inspecting her house for anything out of the ordinary. Tan and plush carpet had been laid wall to wall within her combination living room and dining room. Along the far wall, Sylvie’s oak framed cargo sofa had been turned to face where the very large LCD television hung opposite. Taking the time to fluff the four beige pillows, Sylvie didn’t detect anything unusual within the feather pillows or attached to the couch itself.
-I know this is overkill, but since the farm..-
Sylvie shook off the thought and kept inspecting the room, adjusting the frames on the wall that held the small projects that she’d completed with her neighbors and friends. Little beach scenes painted while she’d eaten dinner, photos of the actors at the mill playhouse whom she was friends with, a large print of the town hallmark; a huge cucumber tree. She lifted all of her lamps, copper candle votives and other little things to make her home look normal before she remembered the simple solution.
-Thank you, Kody.-
Sylvie laughed and with a tiny use of blood, contacts she barely thought about came to life in her vision. A quick self-test with a myriad of green checks dotted the outside ring of the lenses before stopping with a small prompt on the bottom and a single word. ‘Querry?’
Beyond the use of blood to activate the technology, Sylvie didn’t know the full range of things that her friend from Phantasmagoria had programmed. Gazing at the blinking cursor Sylvie thought about audio and within a blink of a human eye, a little microphone symbol appeared as did a tiny horn, like on any typical computer. “Um..I haven’t used this…you…um..” Sylvie sighed and felt stupid talking to herself. “I want to know if my house has anything spying on me.”
Without warning, Kody’s voice recording resounded in Sylvie’s ears, “I coded these to comply with your blood and possibly your visions, that is experimental. Since this is your first use, after having them for..” Their recording paused, “...five months, twelve days, six hours and ten minutes..You have adapted well. I tried to code it so they could answer you in plain terms.” Their voice faded out for a moment, and pulled up a small set of red grids. “Simply look around, the circuitry will blend with your enhanced vision and show you anomalies.”
“There is enough red in my life, are there other colors?” Sylvie giggled and began looking at the living room. “A soft golden yellow that pulsed if something was detected will be wonderful.” The ring of green checks swirled around the edge once more, and the red grid lines changed to match what Sylvie asked for. “Cool.”
With the aid of the electronic detection, Sylvie spun slowly in a circle and carefully scanned the living room as well as the attached dining room. Devoid of any alerts, Sylvie felt comfortable enough to walk through the doorway and back into her kitchen. Realizing that she’d left the side entrance open, she closed the door and locked it before analyzing the kitchen. Wherever she looked, the little yellow lines would mark locations and even gave her a little affirming ding for her keys on the island. “Alright, what do I call you?” Sylvie asked out loud and shook her head, still feeling silly.
“Naming preference left to the operator.” Kody’s voice once again echoed. With a half smile, Sylvie recalled with fondness her friend ‘Code’ that she’d spent time watching during her time at Phantasmagoria. Memories blended together and she focused on the one thing the tousled haired vampire did the most, build and tinker with anything they could to make it work with vampire blood. “I think keeping the name Code will be the best thing, thank you.” Watching as the swirl around the outer edge of the contacts went from green to blue, Sylvie waited until it stopped whatever process the little unit had done.
“Preference chosen, causal name Code picked and saved for future queries within the database. Resuming surveillance scan at operator's discretion.” Code’s voice chimed.
“Um..resume, or keep going?” Sylvie offered and looked up at the light fixtures. Other than the need to possibly dust and clean some of the walls, Sylvie didn’t see anything out of place with her own vision or the secondary one the contacts offered. “So the kitchen is clear?”
“Negative results for cameras, semiconductors, micro-electronic audio devices, or integrated circuits associated with the common term, spying.” Code carefully answered.
