Charlie straightened, heart sinking as a wave of customers poured in.
Of course.
Anyone who'd ever worked in retail knew that customersalwayscame in droves.
The Orpheum must have just let out. Charlie had forgotten about the indie rock concert tonight.
"Hey, the red slushie machine's empty!" A teen in a backwards cap pointed accusingly at the machine.
A woman in a sequined top slapped a coupon for energy drinks onto the counter. "This says buy one, get one free!"
Charlie looked at it. "Ma'am, that expired in February."
"So? Your store, your rules. Honor it." Her pupils were dilated, her breath sweet with alcohol.
Would her blood be sweet too?
Charlie's fangs threatened to emerge. He pressed his tongue against them, willing them to stay hidden.
There were too many beating hearts in this store.
A balding man waved his hand in front of Charlie's face. "Hello? Earth to zombie boy. I need twenty in Powerball tickets."
"Sorry. What numbers would you like?"
"I don't know. Good ones. The winning ones." The man laughed at his own joke.
Charlie started punching random numbers into the lottery terminal while another customer complained about the price of energy drinks. A line had formed. Someone knocked over a rack of chips.
Just gotta survive the night. Fake it 'til you make it. Or fake it 'til you faint.
One of those two things was going to happen, anyway.
"I said the slushie machine is empty!" the teen with the cap complained again.
Right.
At least that gave Charlie an excuse to abandon the register for a minute.
Pushing through the crowd, he made his way to the back of the store. The teen was shaking an empty cup at the machine. "Dude, I've been waiting like forever."
"Sorry, I'll fix it right away." Charlie knelt down and opened the machine's rear panel. Inside, bags of brightly colored syrups hung like IV drips. The cherry one—the red one—wasn't empty, but it seemed jammed.
"Yo, can I get cigarettes too?" someone shouted from across the store.
"Be right there!" Charlie called back, fumbling with the connector of the syrup bag. He had to get it loose to fix it.
"What's taking so long?" the teen demanded.
Charlie gave the bag a firm tug, the same way he had done countless times in the past.
Except that he was a vampire now. And vampires were stronger than regular humans, even Charlie, and so Charlie had one moment to think 'oh fuck,' before he saw the bag spring loose, rupturing and spraying streams of bright red.
Next to Charlie, the teen jumped back with a shriek.
Both he and Charlie were covered in sticky syrup.
"What the hell, dude?!" the teen demanded. "This was brand new!"
