Arania's Mexico Adventure

(NOTE: This story was written with the what if frame of mind. In this, the infamous Gecko brothers,from the movie "From Dusk Till Dawn", meet our heroine, Arania, instead of the Fuller family in the movie.)

I arrived in Texas, an hour north of the Mexican border only a couple hours before sundown. I walked into the motel office, getting a key to a room way in the back, well shaded by trees. I paused to look around as I opened the car door.

~~Not too bad, one or two meals~~ I thought to myself as I started the engine again. I headed back to the room, and turned a corner around the building. I slammed on the brakes, once again thankful for seatbelts and my enhanced reflexes.

Standing in the center of the road was a fairly attractive man. He stood there, taking a long pull from his beer bottle as he stared at me. He had short cut dark hair, dark angry eyes and the edges of a tattoo peeking out of the collar of his shirt on his neck.

He was a dangerous man, to humans at least. I smiled as he shrugged at me and turned to walk away. Something about him peaked my curiosity, so I mentally followed him to his room as I parked and got settled in my own.

I had rented a minivan with blacked out windows for my trip to Mexico, but I wanted to feel a real bed under me, and use of a phone. I stretched lazily on the bed as I waited for my shower to run hot so I could bathe. I smelled of road dirt, stale airplane air, and the remains of my meal from the previous night.

After I was clean, I sat on my bed wrapped in a thick heavy towel while I dried my hair. I opened my suitcase, the smell of home hitting me from the clothes within. I sighed softly, missing my family, but knowing they would be there when I got home, and aware that if they really needed me, I would know instantly.

I listened to a TV somewhere in one of the other rooms as I pulled out a black leather catsuit and a gold belt. ~~Ahh, makes sense now~ I heard a reporter describing a pair of bank robbers and murderers, one of whom had to be the man I nearly hit.

I slipped into the suit, zipping it up to just beneath my breasts, leaving a generous amount of cleavage showing, one hand absently brushing over my collar, and the necklaces I always wore. As I hooked the gold chain belt around my waist, letting it drape down over one hip, I heard a knock on the door. My mind reached out instinctively to see who my caller was. ~~So they have come to me~~ I thought.

"Coming," I called, trying to sound how I looked, beautiful, petite, and helpless.

I was right, opening the door to find the second thief standing there. As I listened to him give a false line about needing an ice bucket, I felt his partner hidden from view, and smelled the familiar scent of blood and gunpowder.

"No problem, you can use mine, I don't really need it." I turned away, walking to the dresser and picking it up, well aware of the sound of the gun's safety being pulled.

I turned back to face him, and saw his gun leveled at my stomach. Deep inside I smirked, but I managed to hide it from him. "Oh dear, what do you want? Take my money, just don't hurt me." I made myself sound afraid, the countless times luring men in helped me a lot.

The tattooed guy followed the first man in, shutting the door behind him. "Nope, I'm afraid we need you more than your money. You see you are going to drive us into Mexico, or you'll die, your choice."

I nodded, trying to appear meek. "Let me get my shoes and stuff."

"You have two minutes." The tattooed man was obviously in charge.

The younger brother was mentally ill, a rapist and pervert, but I could use that to keep control of the situation if I had to. The older was more businesslike and in control, but I could feel his attraction deep down.

~~Men~~ I thought as I zipped my new leather boots.

As I carried my bags to the van, I could feel their eyes on me. As I tossed them into the back, I grabbed my sunglasses and handbag before shutting the door.

"By the way," He said as we got into our seats, "I'm Seth and this is my brother Richie."

"Arania" I answered simply. Richie sat in the far back of the van, on my makeshift bed, staring at the back of my head.

"Doesn't it bother you how he's looking at you?" Seth asked quietly, his brother lost in the world inside his head.

"Look at me yourself Seth, do you honestly think that he's the first to do it?" I responded casually. "Besides, he's not my type."

"Point taken. So you're a model or something?"

"Part time, I also do some acting, been a professor, protector." I could tell that the last one confused him. "How many Seth, how many lives have you taken?"

"More than ten, cops mostly."

I nodded, and chuckled a little darkly. "I probably have three times as many under my belt in the past year alone. There's more to me than meets the eye, but it will have to wait, we're at the border." I tossed them each an inducer, "Put those on, and use your minds, imagine yourself as looking any way you want except for your own faces."

Fifteen minutes and some mental manipulation later, we were well inside Mexico. After Seth gave me further directions, we drove in silence for a while.

"I suppose I should tell you what I meant, least what I am allowed to tell you. I am from Los Angeles, good place if you're in my lines of work of course, but I was born and raised there. I've had some training, and have done some antiterrorist work for the government." At the mention of the government, the gun he held turned on me again, his eyes narrow. "Oh relax, I won't turn you in, for two reasons. One, I like you, and you're not my department anyway, and two, I am not bulletproof."

The gun went back down, and Seth looked at me. "Nobody is."

Of course, the knowledge of the fact that while I am not bulletproof, the bullets wouldn't do anything but hurt and go away wouldn't help me any. Richie was quiet, imagining me doing things to him, and him doing things to me. He too didn't know that what he wanted to do wouldn't really kill me, but boy would it hurt in the meanwhile, not to mention when I woke up I'd probably drain him, but that was neither here nor there.

The silence fell in the van again, as I kept driving. Seth wasn't sure what to make of me, while his brother sure knew what he wanted to do with me.

Finally we got to the bar he had directed me to, a huge gaudy sign out front reading "Titty Twister". Flames roared up on either side of the entrance with an announcer shouting into a microphone about the women inside.

"Real classy." I muttered to myself as I was told to get out and we went inside. It hit me like a hammer the moment we walked through the door. The place was a huge lair for vampires, but none like I had ever seen before. Their smell had traces of Nosferatu, the stench of that clan almost making me sneeze. The bartender was a hulking man covered in tattoos, and when I walked up there with Seth when he ordered, he gave me a long look before giving my companion the whiskey he wanted. I couldn't tell if he knew what I was or not, but for now that would be good. If anything happened, then I would have that element of surprise.

We sat at a table, Richie and Seth facing each other, and Seth started pouring shots. I drank mine like he wanted, the alcohol of course not having any real effect on me. The women were all beautiful, surprising from what I smelled on them. I sat there, my body on autopilot and trying to think of where I had read about this kind of creature before.

As they announced a dancer called Santanico Pandemonium, I realized that I had read of them in a book in Mira's library a while back. Evidently they were a rare offshoot of the Nosferatu clan. One of them had gotten tangled with a Mayan priest of some god, and the magic had altered the features of the vampire enough he could blend in with normals when he was not hungry, but when he was hit with the smell of blood, he showed his true self. The bad side of the spell was that his vampirism took on the curse of spreading with merely a bite instead of the normal way. I realized that it could be trouble if they all got into a feeding frenzy.

She was beautiful, long dark hair, enchanting dark eyes. She was the leader of this nest. She stood confidently on the stage, a long cape draping behind her. She wore an elaborate feathered headdress, and looked around the room slowly, her eyes finally settling on Richie. She held her gaze as she whipped her cape around her, then dropped it to the floor, revealing a beautiful albino python wrapped around her shoulders and arms.

Her body gyrated to the music, the snake twining and sliding over her stomach before a pair of women walked behind her, carefully taking it from her. She walked across the tables and chairs until she reached ours. As she got close I could see the gold snake armband on her right arm, as well as the dangle clipped to the top of her outfit. It was shaped like a Mayan pyramid and moved with her. She bent and picked up the bottle of whiskey from in front of Richie. Tilting it so it poured down her body, she pressed her foot to his chin, and he eagerly lapped the liquid from her body. Her hips swayed back and forth as she drank from the whiskey then again she bent over, kissing him, letting the alcohol flow from her mouth to his.

As she stood once more, she removed the headdress, and swung her hair back and forth, her rear moving with the music, the men around us staring openly. Even I had to admit she was skilled, but I wasn't won over. The whole place broke into loud applause and cheers as she finished.

"Now that's what I call a fucking show!" Seth hollered, whistling and cheering just as loud as the others.

The dancer was still standing on the table when I smelled it, and my eyes widened. I looked at Richie, his hand was flowing blood freely from the palm of one of his hands. The Dancer smelled it as well, and before I could do anything but shout a warning to Richie, she had launched herself at his throat and the pair of women by the door shifted, locking the door to keep their prey from escaping. Seth was fighting off a pair of women who wanted his blood when I was hit from behind, the announcer from outside having grabbed me. I threw him over the bar and leapt after him.

"Nice try asshole, ever hear of the Toreador?" His eyes widened, evidently they hadn't left behind all their history when they became what they are. "Well, the muse is a bitch, and I'm her agent." I shoved the wooden heel of my boot through his chest, piercing his heart. I only expected it to stop him long enough for me to tear his head off, but he dissolved, leaving my foot covered in slime and ooze.

I hopped back onto the bar, looking around in time to see Seth pinned to the floor with Santanico over him. I had to laugh as I heard the last thing he said to her before shooting down the chandelier and it ran through her chest. When the vampires were down, I saw only myself, Seth and two other men still standing.

Seth walked over to where Richie's still body lay, and threw the chairs off of him. I bit my tongue as he spoke to his dead brother, and knew what was going to happen. I just stood back as his brother rose, and Seth was forced to kill him as the others held his arms.

As the others walked towards me, I waited, looking down at my boot. "Damn, these were 500 dollar Giovanni's too. Slime never comes out of leather."

They all looked at me like I was nuts, but before I could say anything, I heard the rhythmic fluttering of bats' wings from outside. "We better barricade ourselves in. There's more out there who want in." I picked up a table, causing their eyes to widen as I stacked it against one of the windows. "Now's not the time, just help me get this boarded up or you'll end up vampire chow."

Those words prompted them to get moving, and before long the place was as secure as we could make it. I stood in the center of the bare floor, looking around and almost was surprised by the hands of a legless victim grabbing my leg and trying to bite me. "I'm sorry." I muttered as I shoved the heel to the already ruined boot through his heart.

The others had started staking the men who had been attacked, having seen what would become of them. When they were done we gathered around the bar, and I sat on it next to the glass that Seth was filling.

"That won't do you any good." I stated, watching as he downed two drinks in quick succession. The others just watched.

"I was just attacked by fucking vampires, my brother was bitten, and I had to kill him. I think getting drunk sure as hell can't make matters any worse."

"On the contrary, you see our barricades will only hold so long, and then the others will break in here. When that happens, either you're sober and able to help me fight, or you'll be drained and become one of them." I shrugged, letting that sink in.

The short man spoke up finally. "You keep saying we'll be bitten, but you leave yourself out of it, why?"

Seth looked up at me. "Not to mention the table, how the hell did you pick that up by yourself?"

The black man with us merely watched, nodding his agreement to the questions, not having anything to add to it.

"The vampires tonight, they're not normal ones. Usually a stake through the heart doesn't cause a vampire to melt, and it takes more than just a single bite to change a human into one. These are some bizarre offshoot of a normal branch, altered by magic." I chose to tell them what they were dealing with first. "I won't say they won't attack me, but they'd want normal human blood first. The three of you probably won't satisfy their hunger, and then they'd come after me, since they probably know that I am not like you by now. I can safely say their bites won't do anything to me, it only changes humans."

"You're not human? Then what the hell are you?" The black man finally spoke up, shocked.

"You're right, I am not human. I am a vampire as well, but a normal one." Seth backed away from me, raising the leg of a chair as a stake, and holding it threateningly towards me. "Put it down, if I was going to bite any of you I would have already, I have had plenty of chances. I am a normal one, if I bit you, you wouldn't change, you'd just feel really good. It takes a lot of exchanging of blood for a normal vamp to change someone."

I smiled faintly at the memories that brought up. Seth had settled some, he saw my point. I sniffed the air and looked for the short man. "He's bitten...where did he go?" That was when I saw the clawed and disfigured hands grabbing the black guy's shoulders. He sunk his fangs into his neck, and as I saw the bigger man throw him through the air, the body flying through a window. I heard Seth yell so I grabbed him and headed to the back, kicking open the door in our way and running through, dragging him as we went.

We found ourselves in the back room, a place filled with boxes and boxes of stuff.

"They must have been feeding off truckers and bikers for a long time. This must be all the stolen cargo." Seth smiled. "Let's do some improvising."

I smiled, and grabbed his arm, "Don't hit me for this," as I pulled him to me and kissed him.

"For luck," I said and released him, closing the zipper on my suit the rest of the way to my throat and starting to load up on anything that could be used as a weapon. There was a coffin shaped box with a cross on it, and I carefully kicked the lid off, not looking at it. Inside was a crossbow, with about nine arrows. I picked it up, easily cocking it.

Seth in the meanwhile had altered a jackhammer into an industrial sized stake. I put my sunglasses on, my body could tell that it was getting near dawn, and I wanted to be ready.

We were finally ready, and I opened the door, putting myself between him and the creatures we faced. They backed off as I advanced, wanting him and not me, for now at least. I cocked the arrow into the bow, and raised it to chest level on the vamps facing me.

"Let's party." I muttered as we got back out into the main bar. I fired off all nine arrows in rapid succession, hitting with each one. I glanced over my shoulder for a split second, to see Seth holding his own for the moment. I turned back to face our former ally.

The big man grinned evilly at me, his face hideous and twisted. I just smiled back and punched him in the chest, fist ripping through bone and flesh to grip his heart.

"Night night." I crushed the muscle in my hand, ripping it out and stomping on it with my heel. His form melted into a puddle of ooze on the floor. I looked over to see Seth pinned to the floor by a giant mutant rat creature. I shrieked, voice piercing the air, and shattering the remaining glasses behind the bar. This distracted the creature, and it started towards me. I shuddered and backed into the bar. That was when Seth rammed his stake through the beast's chest, killing it. I smiled gratefully at him.

"How much ammo you got left?" I asked, putting my back to his so we couldn't be snuck up on. The remaining vampires circled around us.

"Only a couple bullets." That was when the sun decided to give us a break. The holes in the walls let in thin beams of sunlight, and I instinctively flinched as one hit my arm, before remembering I had my glasses on.

"More holes, shoot more holes." The smell of burning vampire flesh filled the air as he did as asked and more light flooded the room.

There was a loud pounding on the front door and a man's voice calling Seth's name.

We shouted together when we heard him. "Break the door, bust it open!"

It took a lot of banging before the door slammed open and we launched ourselves out of the door into the morning sun. Hissing and smoking followed us, before loud explosions rocked the air. I stood behind Seth as he confronted the man who told them to meet him in this twisted place.

A few short minutes later, Seth had gotten the money he owed this guy down to a lot less, with some help he didn't know about. As he paid the man, I waited, leaning against his car.

"You're going on to El Ray then." I asked as he walked over.

"Yup."

"I'm sorry about Richie." I looked at him, but he was looking down at his briefcase, counting his money. He was covered in soot and blood, his jacket clinging to his skin.

"So am I."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything, but would you have believed me when we met?"

"Nope, I wouldn't have." I didn't want to pry into his mind, not this time.

"Want some company for a day or two?" I offered.

"I would ask you if you knew what this place was like, but I doubt that anything like that matters. If you want to follow, not like I could stop you could I?"

"Honestly, no, but I won't force my presence on you." I stood. "I like you Seth, I was telling you the truth there."

"Let's go Seth" The man was waiting by his car.

He managed a thin smile as he looked at me. "Look, if you want to, come on, I won't stop you, but I won't make any promises either." With that he climbed into his car.

I followed, I wanted to.