The Vampire Joy by Alisa Freund (fox in socks read aloud .txt) 📕

the boss and what she says goes, but I promise after the ball you can come in and I will make you look like a vixen.” He said smiling. Joy realized she liked this man. He wasn’t fake he was genuinely happy and friendly so she smiled back at him.
He worked on her hair for an hour and her makeup for another hour when she looked at herself she looked almost the exact same. Her hair was still long and blong but the ends were cut and layered. It was let down with baby’s breath sprinkled around. Her makeup was light but it looked like she was glowing.
“great work Stefan.” Joy said beaming him a huge smile. She thought she was going too end up looking like a porcelain doll but this was perfect.
“very adequate work Stefan. I presume to see you at the ball tonight?” she said. Joy looked puzzled.
“you assume correctly ma’am. I will be in attendance with Samuel.” He said smiling at her.
“wait, you aren’t a vampire are you?” joy asked baffled. He was tall and tanned and showed no signs of being a vampire.
“you’re right my dear, I am not. But my significant other, Samuel, is.” He said smiling down at her.
“so why didn’t you turn?” she asked as if it were a simple decision.
“simple, I declined because I love life and I want to live a long and healthy one. I want to grow old and die eventually.” He said it so enthusiastically that joy thought he might be insane. Who wants to die she thought to herself but figured its best to keep her comments to herself. So she just nodded in understanding. He gave her a sly look and said, “I can’t wait to hear your decision tonight.” He quickly looked at his watch in realization, “speaking of which, I have to get ready. I’ll see you lady’s again shortly.” He gave a long bow and Sabrina nodded then he looked up directly at joy.
“oh.” She said in realized he was bowing to her as well and gave him a nod in recognition. Once he got that nod he stood and strode off. Once he was in the back room joy looked up at Sabrina and asked, “why did he bow to me?”
“because he is mortal my dear.” She said matter of factly but joy was still confused.
“yes I know but so am I.” she said pointing out the obvious.
“but he knows after tonight you won’t be so he is showing you respect. Honestly I would have gotten rather upset if he hadn’t.” joy understood now and gave a nod.
The left the salon and headed home. “are you hungry my dear?” Sabrina asked as they drove. Joy hadn’t realized but she was and gave a nod. “where would you like to eat?”
Joy thought about this for awhile and said, “voodoo is right around the corner how about we go in for a bite.”
“voodoo?” she asked like she had a bad taste in her mouth.
“how long have you lived here? and you’ve never heard of voodoo?” joy asked with a smirk.
“well there is a first time for everything.” She said turning the car and parking in front of the shop.
They entered the shop where joy went straight up to the counter. Sabrina was struck silent by the place she walked over to the counter slowly and looked inside the display case. “can I get a no name and whatever Neaterbocks you might have.” Joy said to the guy behind the register. He was a young man with curly dark hair that barely protruded out the bottom.
“these donuts are downright pornographic she said pointing to one shaped in a penis that had the word ”tasty” written on the top. Joy tried to contain her laughter but it billowed over and the man behind the register joined in.
“and a classic voodoo for my… mom.” She said knowing that the man wouldn’t believe it if she said friend. He nodded and grabbed the donuts. They sat at a table next to the window.
Sabrina looked down at her donut shaped like a man with a stake through his heart. She picked it up and showed it to joy saying, “don’t you find this in the least bit ironic.” Joy laughed never noticing the placement of the pretzel and started eating her no name. Sabrina nibbled on her man ha;f heartedly then asked, “what are all those for?” pointing to her bag of discard donuts.
“Theyre for Emilio. They are his favorite.” She said smiling. “he says their like a grab bag. He likes not knowing what he’s going to eat.”
“you seem to know a lot about my little Emilio.” Sabrina said.
“well he has been my best friend for four years. But I didn’t know one major thing about him.” She said motioning her fingers into fangs biting her neck.
“you must realize that the action was for your own protection.” Sabrina said looking out the window, “if something were to happen to you I would never hear the end of it.”
Joy was about to ask from who but Sabrina stood and said, “shall we take our leave then?” joy nodded and walked with Sabrina back to her car.
Once they arrived at the mansion Adrian and Emilio were already ready to go. It was barely twilight outside but they were anxious. Joy handed the bag to Emilio and he smiled. “thanks. Your dresses were delivered only moments ago and they are waiting in your respective rooms.” Both men were dress in black suits with white undershirts. It was a black tie event so everyone would be dressed in black and white.
Joy went into her room to find an all white dress laying on her bed. It was long, white princess ball gown. Embroidered on the bodes was a red lotus. Joy racked her brain and remembered that the lotus was a sign of rebirth. She thought it was very suiting since she, as well, was going to be reborn in red.
She diligently put on the dress and admired herself in the mirror. Phillip better be getting a huge paycheck for doing all of this in one day, she thought and skipped down the stairs to the grand hall. Sabrina was already standing there waiting in a very elegant black evening gown. She arched an eyebrow and said, “red lotus? I told him all white.” Then she rolled her eyes and sighed, “but it looks amazing with it. Shall we go then?”
Adrian and Emilio were still standing there with mouths wide open. Joy liked the attention but at the same time wished to be invisible. “you look amazing.” Emilio stammered.
“absolutely delicious.” Adrian said and everyone looked at him with shock. He added, “it was only meant as a compliment I assure you.” It seem as though the room itself did a sigh of relief. Emilio and Adrian acted like gentlemen escorting the ladies out to the car and opening the door for them. The ride was spent in sheer excitement for all of them except Sabrina who had no expression whatsoever.
They pulled up a building that joy recognized, “this is the crystal ballroom.” She said pointing to the building. Emilio smiled and nodded at her. “but isn’t this a highly visible place. Wont somebody notice a thousand vampires piling in?” she said in a hushed tone.
“what are you talking about? This is a formal family reunion.” Emilio said with a wink. Joy smiled back at him and he escorted her into the building. There was a squire next to the door holding a staff. Emilio whispered something into his ear.
He banged his staff against the ground three times and said, “ladies and gentlemen our esteemed guest miss joy Marie carter has arrived and her escort Mr. Emilio Jacob Simerelli.” Joy looked around at the thousands of vampires bowing down to her. She looked over at Emilio who had a huge smile on his face fangs and all.
“hypothetically huh?” she whispered to him and he shrugged his shoulders innocently. Joy nodded to the room and they went about their conversations. Emilio kept escorting her until they were well into the room. Everyone was dressed in mostly black. Joy felt out of place and started picking at her hands, “joy!” a girls voice said excitedly through the crowd. Joy looked up to see the girl. She looked familiar but joy couldn’t put her finger on who it was. Then she remembered her birthday.
“Helena?” she asked curiously.
“ah! You remembered me!” she said cheerfully. “but my real name is Gretchen. Come with me,” she said tugging on joys hand, “I want you to meet my troupe.”
Joy followed leaving Emilio behind but he gave a look that said, “go ill be fine.”
Gretchen introduced her to each member of the troupe individually. There were eight in total three women and five men they all bowed to her and she nodded at each of them curtly. Most of them were night stalkers but they were all nice and funny. They talked for awhile laughing until a voice sounded over the speakers, “welcome all of you damned souls to our family reunion.” Everyone laughed and cheered.
This was such a warm casual group that it surprised joy to think of David or Sabrina being at an event like this. The mc continued his speech, “as you know this tradition has been going on for thousands of years and some of you have been here since the beginning,” only a hand full of vampires cheered at that. Then the mc said in a hushed tone, “old farts.” And everyone laughed. Once the mc got everyone’s attention again he said, “and now in tradition we shall start with the Lezgi.” Gretchen’s eyes lit up and there were excited murmurs from everyone.
Joy wasn’t as excited everyone else. The Lezgi was one of the most difficult dances she had learn of course with the super fast reflexes vampires possessed it would be a piece of cake for them. Gretchen grabbed joys hand and once again she was ushered to the middle of the dance floor with everyone else. It was one of the only dances that everyone was required to join in.
The drums started playing in a fast beat rhythm. The Legzi was a Slovak dance that required a lot of foot work but it was so upbeat that everyone was laughing and having fun including joy. After the dance she was out of breath and trying her hardest not to sweat. She walked over to one of the buffet tables in the corner. Most of the glass were filled with blood but she managed to find a small group of glasses with water.
She took one of the glasses and chugged it down. It felt great running down her dry throat. She looked over to the dance floor where a tall male vampire was doing his solo routine he had on a council patch. He was performing a tap dance that was so fast she could barely see his feet but she could hear the beat. It was a fast and had an upbeat melody. He smiled the entire time.
She realized that everyone here was so happy because they were only allowed to be themselves once a year. Here they didn’t have to worry about being killed for being misunderstood. They could show their fangs without fear. They could move as fast as they wanted without being considered a freak.
Joy found herself smiling at their glee. Once his dance was over the mc announced that the next dance was the waltz. Joy thought about sitting out for it but a hand reached out in front of her. Adrian was standing over her, “may I have this dance.”
Joy smiled back