Andrew searched through the masses of games, looking for his favorites. He was a big fan of light gun shooters, and found them in a darker wing of the arcade.
The sound of exasperated sighing caught his attention. He looked to his left, at the pigtailed blond teenage girl in the No Doubt tank top, and noticed the video game she was playing. Sega’s Vampire Night, a shooter pitting the player against demonic vampires.
He approached, and in proper video game etiquette, watched silently off to the side of the cabinet. The girl was very good, picking off monsters left and right. She had already made it to the fourth stage, and showed no signs of slowing down. Her own score rapidly approached the high score.
“Nice shooting,” he said between action scenes.
“Gracias,” the girl replied.
“Mind if I gun with you?”
“Go for it. I could use all the help I can get.”
“Thanks,” Andrew said, grasping the revolver-shaped orange gun in the Player 2 holster and slotting his card. “Name’s Andrew.”
“Lila. Charmed.” She continued blasting away.
The pair exterminated countless undead, as they chatted about their favorite games. They found much in common. Andrew was almost sad the game ended as soon as it did. Lila continued on, finally succumbing to the end boss.
“Whew. Killer run ‘n gun.” She wiped sweat from her brow.
An initial screen appeared, prompting Player 1 for their initials as the new high score.
She raised the tip of the gun perpendicular with her mouth and blew across the barrel, like a gunslinger who just won a duel. “The best,” she smiled, and triggered her initials in. She aimed and fired at “END.” As she did so, a jolt of electricity rolled up the cord connecting the light gun, grounding into Lila’s hand.
“Ouch!” She let go of the gun, clanging it against the cabinet. She gripped her hand and leaned her head against the marquee. Her body went nearly slack, and she slumped against the cabinet face.
“You okay?” Andrew reached toward her, taking her wrist. He froze in terror when he saw Lila’s eyes.
They had changed radically, from a subtle blue to an eerily glowing red. Her pupils had thinned themselves into vertical slits. She shuddered and moaned as her body shook.
It was then Andrew realized what he didn’t feel when he touched Lila’s wrist.
A pulse.
Andrew backed away, his eyes locked in amazement at the scene. Lila’s ears extended themselves into long, exaggerated points before segmenting into membraned ridges, like a cross between and elf and a bat. Her skin paled to a deathly white as she dug her curving black fingernails into the wooden game cabinet. She let her jaw go slack, opening her mouth to reveal four tapering eyeteeth. Her shoulder blades bulged around the straps of her tank top, parting her skin seamlessly as two massive leathery wings unfurled.
She raised herself to a proper posture, drilling a hole through Andrew with her evil eyes. She resembled a cross between several of the vampire bosses. He was frozen in shock as the vampiress approached him and wrapped her wings around his body.
“Thanks for the high score,” she whispered in a sensual voice, before locking him in a deep kiss. Despite the momentary jab of pain, Andrew floated in utopia for what seemed like an eternity.
She broke the kiss and slid slowly away, a trickle of blood running from the corner of her mouth. “Keep practicing. Maybe you’ll get the high score one day.”
Andrew could only dab at the blood that pooled from his lower lip as Lila faded into a swirl of mist and floated into the haze of the smoke-filled dance room.