Chapter Ten
Suspend Your Disbelief
Spike stayed on the floor of the bathroom for ten minutes, not moving until he got his heartbeat under control. He looked down at his hands.
“Okay, I’m not invisible. I can see me. There’s obviously something wrong with the mirror, that’s the problem,” he muttered.
He remembered the mirror in the bedroom. He rushed out of the bathroom, not bothering to cover his nakedness, and stood in front of it. Nothing; absolutely nothing. His mind reeled. He pinched himself – hard – but he didn’t wake up.
“Is this real?”
He decided to go to Rich and see if he was just losing his mind or whether the mirrors had been messed with in his room. As he dressed he kept glancing at the mirror. Once his clothes were on him, they disappeared too, even though he’d been able to see his t-shirt in the mirror when it was on the bed.
“This is way weird.”
Moments later he was banging on Rich’s door, not thinking that it probably would have been easier to call him on the phone. Spike just didn’t want to spend a second longer alone in his room.
“Rich, come on, wake up. It’s me,” he yelled, not caring if he ended up waking the whole floor.
“I’m coming,” Spike heard Rich mutter as the door handle moved and it started to open.
As soon as it was wide enough he went in, half tripping over his own feet and falling against Rich.
“Christ, what’s the matter?” asked Rich, steadying his friend.
“You can see me, can’t you?”
“Wot? ‘Course I can bleedin’ see you.”
“Has Joey or any of you messed with the mirrors in my room?” asked Spike, eyes wild.
“Wot?”
Spike grabbed his arm, “Have you? ‘Cause I’ve got to say it’s not funny, it’s bleedin’ freaking me out.”
“Spike, look. Just sit down.” Rich guided him to a chair. “Take a deep breath and start again.”
Tara peeped around the bedroom door and glanced at Rich who slightly shook his head, so she disappeared back inside. Spike was visibly trembling as he sat there.
“Spike, mate, have you taken anything?” He held up his hand to stop Spike’s angry retort before it started. “I don’t mean by choice. Has anybody had the chance to slip anything into you?”
Spike shook his head. “No, not unless it was at your party.”
Rich thought of who had been there and knew none of them messed with drugs, unless Pete’s date was the culprit. “Wot about that mark on your arm? Do you still have no idea how it got there?”
Again Spike shook his head, and then he remembered why he’d wanted to look in the mirror in the first place. He turned his neck towards Rich. “I woke up with this.”
Rich peered at it; it certainly looked similar to the already healing mark on his arm.
“It was when I wanted to look in the mirrors to see it that I realised somebody must have messed with them.” He shuddered at the memory.
“Why do yer keep going on about mirrors?”
Spike glanced at Rich. “’Cause I can’t see myself in them. I went to look at this thing on my neck, and it was like I wasn’t there-- and don’t bleeding laugh; it wasn’t funny.”
“I’m not laughing, Spike,” replied Rich honestly. He couldn’t remember seeing him so freaked out.
“There’s an easy way to settle this. Come on, let’s ‘ave a look in my bathroom mirror.”
They walked to the bathroom and Rich stood in front of it. He grinned at his reflection. “See, nothing wrong with it. Come on, don’t be shy.”
Spike took a deep breath and stood next to him. Even before he looked up, he knew from Rich’s sharp intake of breath that it was the same here; that he had no reflection.
“Wot the fuck?” exclaimed Rich.
Spike nudged him and Rich’s reflection jolted sideways by an unseen force.
“Oh, Christ, mate,” said Spike. “Am I dead? Am I a ghost?”
“No, you’re a vampire.”
Tara’s voice was quiet but it still startled both men. They spun around.
“What?”
“Wot?”
“I…I think that we need to sit down first,” said Tara with a small smile. “Before Spike falls down.”
Rich returned his attention to his friend who looked a bit green. Spike and Rich sat on the couch, and Tara sat in an armchair opposite them. They stared at her, eyes wide with shock.
“This is no time for joking, Tee, Spike’s really stressing out,” said Rich.
“I’m not joking, Rich. How could you think that I am?” replied Tara.
“But they’re not real,” whispered Spike. He turned to Rich, “Someone must have drugged us or something if Tara’s going on about vampires.”
“I’m not drugged and neither are you,” said Tara in the strongest voice either Rich or Spike had ever heard her use.
“But…vampires? For Christ’s sake, they’re myths at best,” Rich managed to utter.
“In this dimension, yes,” said Tara calmly.
“Dimension? Wot do yer mean ‘dimension’?” blurted Rich.
“Look, pet, have you been watching too many fantasy films lately, or am I really asleep and this is one weird dream?” said Spike.
“I’m not delusional,” said Tara firmly. “I’m a witch.”
“And it just gets better and better,” said Rich.
“Damn it,” Tara yelled, “Can you both just listen for a moment?”
Rich and Spike nodded.
“I know this will sound a bit odd.” She glanced at Spike as he made a disparaging noise. “But Spike, you’re in real danger if you don’t pay attention to me.”
“Wo - -?”
She silenced Rich with a hard stare. “Rich, what does my internet shop sell?”
“Um…er…herbs and candles?” he said tentatively.
“That’s right, but they’re ingredients for use in spells and enchantments. It’s a real growth industry,” she said with a smile. “I’m a witch and I advise my clients in how to use them wisely.”
Rich stood up and started to pace up and down. “I can’t believe that I’m hearing this. Wot kind of spells do yer do?”
Tara glanced at Rich. “Mostly healing spells and potions. I can help people find lost things, that sort of thing. And, no Rich, I don’t do love spells so I haven’t used one on you,” she said crossly.
“God, Tee, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that,” said Rich, going over to her. “I seem to recall that you took a bit of convincing to date me.” He gave her a hug and sat down on the arm of the chair that she was sitting on. “But I’m sorry if I find this all a bit strange. It’s not every day that your girlfriend tells you that she’s a witch.”
“Why am I in danger?” asked Spike, finally finding his tongue. “What was it you said about vampires and dimensions?”
“Okay, now you’re both going to have to suspend your disbelief while I go through this. I know that it seems kooky but it is real. There are things going on in the universe that most people never even know about.” She looked at each of them in turn, and she saw that they were ready to listen.
“The world we live in is one of countless realities that exist. The different dimensions can be similar to ours or they can be totally different, where demons rule and humans don’t exist. Some can be almost the same as ours but with the addition of things that don’t exist here, like the reality where vampires do exist. One thing that often happens in different but very similar dimensions is that the lives of the people in them can run parallel to each other. For example, somewhere there will be another Tara, Rich and Spike. It seems that if you’re linked to people in one reality then you are linked to them in alternate ones too, even though the dynamic might be different.”
“I don’t get wot yer mean, Tee,” said Rich.
“Things like in another dimension you and I may be friends or brother and sister, or you may be gay.”
“A gay Rich; that I’d like to see,” said Spike with a little chuckle. Rich’s womanising ways were legendary before he met Tara.
“Hey,” protested Rich.
Tara smiled at them both, pleased to see they seemed a little calmer.
“Getting back to Spike’s problem, I think that in another dimension that your equivalent must be a vampire.”
“Why do you think that?” asked Spike.
“Because of what’s happening. Since vampires don’t exist here, one must have passed through from another dimension where they do exist, and they’re trying to turn you. Probably because the ‘vampire you’ is dead and someone is looking to take you back as a replacement.”
Rich could sit still no longer. “Look Tee, I’m sorry but that just sounds too bloody bizarre to me.”
“It is bizarre, Rich,” agreed Tara. “But that doesn’t make it untrue.”
“So what’s going to happen to me?” asked Spike quietly, hating the fact that his voice wavered a bit.
“I’m not really sure how it works when they’re not in their home dimension. Normally what happens is a vampire drains its victim almost to the point of death and then they get the victim to drink some of their own blood before they drain them completely,” said Tara.
“We’ve all seen the films. Tee,” said Rich, earning a sharp look from Tara.
“Shut up, Rich. You’re not helping,” said Spike, staring at Tara. He touched the wound on his neck. “So you think that this is a bite then?”
She nodded.
“But I’m not dead, am I? I still have a pulse, and I don’t have fangs and I’m not a bat and…”
He stopped when Rich and Tara burst out laughing.
“This is so not fucking funny,” he yelled.
“A bat,” gasped Rich as he laughed.
Spike glared at him and then found that he was laughing too, albeit a little hysterically.
“So will he turn into a bat?” asked Rich when they’d finally stopped laughing.
“No,” said Tara, shaking her head. “That’s just a myth.”
“Thank God for that,” sighed Spike.
“The thing that we need to find out, is how this turning works and how to stop it,” said Tara.
“And how do we do that, pet?” asked Spike.
“You’ll have to leave that to me, but I promise you that if it can be done then I’ll find the way.
“I’m not sure that I’m liking the sound of that ‘if’,” said Spike.
tbc
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Banner By dawnofmeAuthor's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to Carol and dawnofme for their beta work - two great ladies :)--------------------Thanks so much for all the reviews I really do appreciate it :) Cordyk - I hope you've forgiven me for being so sneaky? Grovel!
Chapter End Notes:
Please take the time to leave a review it really makes my day (yes I have no life!! LOL) and fuels the muse :) There's one of my favourite lines in this chapter - I wonder if you spotted it and liked it too :)