Chapter Two

“Ravenna, have you found your escort yet?” My uncle asked me two days before the cursed ball. Go figure that Vampyres would hold a ball on a Sunday.

“Rocko’s gonna take me.” I replied as I carefully stacked crates of my guns outside of my newly inherited house.“How exactly do you plan to manage that? The boy has not been able to leave his Van since your unfortunate mishap five years ago.” Drac laughed as he stood there not helping me move any of the crates from my garage to the front lawn.

“You’ll see Uncle Drac, oh and by the way, your makeup’s running.” Being that it was about six in the morning my dear uncle decided to put on some serious sun block just so he could come and harass me during daylight hours. Damned bloodless Vampyre.

He put a hand into his pocket and pulled out the offending sun block and slathered it all over himself. “I do wish that you would refrain from calling me that, it is very disrespectful. It is not bad enough that you insist on attending these damned Hunters Conventions, but do you really have to sell them the guns they use to kill us?”

“Look Uncle Drac, it’s nothing personal, I sell the guns because I rather like the life style that I currently live. And I’ll stop calling you ‘Drac’, when you stop calling me ‘Ravenna’. Would it kill you to shorten it even slightly?” I asked him as I stacked the last crate. “Rocko should be here any minute, and you’ll see my genius plan for that stupid ball.”

Just as I said the words, Rocko’s black van, license plate CHAOTIC 1, came barreling around the quite suburban corner. He was gunning it so fast that when he slammed on the brakes he over shot my driveway by a good four houses. “Speak of the Devil…” I muttered to my self.

He put the Van in reverse and pulled back to the edge of my drive way then opened the rear doors. “Sorry I’m late Rae, I got caught in traffic on the 401, it’s packed tighter then a tin of sardines.” He called as he rolled down the ramp protruding from the back of his Van.

My uncle’s eyes when wide when he saw Rocko moving around. “When did you do this?”

“I finished the wheels yesterday.” I told him as Rocko and I started to load my crates into his Van, “It took me six months just to get the wiring around a Chaos Chip to adapt to the leather seat. Then I had to find wheels that could lock into place so he could still drive… I think it turned out pretty well considering it’s only a temporary fix.”

“So you will be escorting Ravenna to the Ball night after next?” Drac asked looking a little put out.

“Yeah, I guess so. Got more crates then last week Rae, what’s the occasion?”

“More Hunters want exact replicas of the Red Dragon’s weapons, only six of these are full of guns; the other six have axes, swords, Silver Bombs, Chaos Bombs. And I have some fresh Blood Charms in this one.” I told him as we loaded the last of the crates, I picked up a large silver briefcase that I kept my ownership contracts in and waited for Drac to nod and leave. “I don’t think he’s entirely impressed that you’re my date Rock.”

“With a body like yours Rae, he shouldn’t be. He knows I’m not going to let him marry you off to just anyone. Do you still have the booth at the back of the Convention Center?”

“Yeah, Arty and I have a signed agreement that I always get that booth. Are you staying this time? Or am I on my own? I don’t think I’ll run into any trouble, it’s only week three of the Hunters Con.”

“I can’t stay this time, besides there’s a souped up Rolls Royce waiting for me to try it out back at Drac’s castle.” He said with a wink. “Apparently I have a hot date on Sunday, and I know she likes to travel in style.”

“You know I think I’ve changed my mind, I think I would rather go with a Lackey…” You’d never guess that Rocko was my twin Brother, but there used to be a reason for that, until our father died that is. As I climbed into the Van after him and shut the back doors, Rocko hitched himself back into the Drivers spot and slammed his foot on the accelerator.