Bad Influence

Eddy makes his return to the sub shop. There he sees Vivian and her mother arguing.

Eddy speaks up. “Is there a problem here?”

Vivian’s mother tilts her gaze back at him. He feels the hunger of a true monster leering down upon him. “Stars above… this man-thing can’t be that worm, can it? No, he’s too tall.”

He feels almost compelled by her gaze, but he also feels a subconscious smack from Pixel that keeps his wits about him.

Vivian grumbles. “Eddy… you remember my mother…”

Eddy nods and crosses his arms. “Right, right. I forgot how bitter about the world she was.”

The woman huffs. “Believe me, only one good thing has ever come from this world for me.” Eddy looks over at Vivian.

The sun slowly sets, and Vivian’s mother closes her parasol. She looks back to Vivian. “Fine. You are an adult, you can live with the consequences of your own choices.”

She strides to the door, eying up Eddy on her way out like a wolf would a sheep. “Don’t come crawling to me when you regret your decision.” She leaves.

Eddy shudders.

Vivian sighs. “God, she’s being annoying… why’s she so persistent all of a sudden?”

“Home troubles?”

“I guess… she says her old boss is back and that I need to go home.”

Eddy’s concern shows through his usually pristine and eternal customer service facade. “Old boss, huh?” Eddy has a suspicion and browses through all of the ‘episodes’ that Pixel has been feeding him.

“Yeah… it’s stupid. First my necklace breaks, then this? And it’s like… stuck.”

“Stuck… how?”

She undoes her shirt a bit to show him the red teardrop gem. It occupies the same space his Star does.

“Uh oh… uh, Viv… have you… heard any voices?”

“No… why?”

Eddy takes a deep breath. He pulls at his still damaged and bloodied work shirt to reveal his gem to her. “This… is why. There’s a voice in it. Do you remember anything about those girls in the frilly outfits and the incident with Halflight Towers?”

“I mean… vaguely? We were in diapers when it happened, Eddy…”

“This is related to it. This star is how those girls used their powers.” He finds what he was looking for in Pixel’s ‘episodes’, and his suspicions are confirmed. “Your mother is the Vampire Seductress.”

“Seriously? Her?”

“She looks exactly the same as she did back then.”

“Okay, I get it based on the looks, she’s pretty, and yeah she looks like a vampire I guess, but you expect me to believe any of that?”

“Viv, I have never lied to you. Why would I start now?”

“I…” she blushes a bit, but shakes it off. “Well, first off, vampires aren’t real.”

“Then explain the way she looks! Does she have fangs?”

“Well, yeah…. But I have teeth like that, too, you know!”

“Yeah… your her daughter, Viv.”

“Okay, bad example… alright, how about this, I can eat garlic, I go out in the sun all the time, I don’t crave blood, I cross the river to get here…”

“And does your mother go outside in the sun?”

“Not… often…”

“And her eyes, people don’t have eyes that glow red, Viv.”

“It… she says it’s a condition…”

“What condition!?”

“I don’t know, I never thought about it!”

“Viv, this is serious.” Eddy taps his gem. “I got this today, it’s stuck in my chest, and now the evil enchantress that was stuck behind it is free. I hear a voice that comes from this thing, it tells me how to do my new job to help those girls get back to work after fifteen years.” He points to Vivian’s chest. “And if mine does that, I can’t help being worried that yours also does that.”

“Eddy, you realize how crazy this all sounds, right?”

He steps closer to her. “Vivian… I have never lied to you. Ever.”

She gets flustered and looks away. “A-alright, I get it… if I start hearing voices, you’ll be the first to know, okay?” She looks him over. “I can’t believe you went out delivering orders like that.”

Her gem swirls with dark colors once more. Her hands come up and rest against his chest. They gently tug at his shirt. “You should… get changed.”

Eddy looks down at himself. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, completely slipped my mind.”

Eddy steps into the back room to get a spare uniform polo. He strips off the damaged and reddened one.

Vivian’s gem continues to swirl as she stares holes into what remains of his uniform. She scans up and down his figure, tracing every detail of his lean musculature into her mind.

Eddy slips into a fresh shirt, slightly smaller than the other one since they are out of his size. It hugs tighter to his torso. He turns to Vivian and catches her full on staring at him. He sees her biting her lip. “Uh… Viv?”

She snaps back to reality. “Hm? Sorry, what?”

“You… good?”

“Yeah, yeah, fine. You good?”

“Yeah…”

Vivian steps awkwardly back out to the front, and several things click in his mind.

Sometimes people don’t appreciate what’s right in front of them.

He feels like an idiot for not picking up the signals all these years.

Eddy steps out to join her.

Vivian wipes down all the work surfaces, trying to keep focused.

Eddy smiles to her. He stands next to her. “How many years have we known each other now?” He queried.

She jolts a bit. “Geez, uh… we’ve known each other since we were babies…” She looks away from him, still blushing. “Too many!”

Eddy chuckles. “What, sick of me by now?”

Vivian’s gem swirls. She speaks under her breath. “I can’t get enough of you…”

“What was that?”

“Uh, can’t get… the… Au Jus! The Au Jus sauce, it’s um… heavy, yeah! The container is heavy…”

He pats her shoulder as he passes by to change out the trays. She jumps again.

As he changes out the trays, he takes some product to assemble a trash sandwich.

Vivian’s gem continues swirling. She swallows a bit and throws her arm over his shoulder. “E-Enjoy that sandwich while you can, you’re mine for the rest of the night for all that running around you did today!”

Eddy smirks. “Admit it, you just want me to keep you company.”

“Maybe… or maybe I’m looking for my next meal!” She muses playfully.

“Oh please… the only thing I have to worry about from you is your love bites.”

Vivian stammers a bit and struggles to snap back. “Y-you wanna say that again!?”

Eddy locks an arm over her shoulder in return. “With gusto! LOVE BITES!”

She jabbers for a second as her gem swirls her mind. “L-love bites?? Love bites!? I’ll show you a love bites!!”

She tugs at his collar to expose his neck more, then opens her mouth wide to reveal a monstrous vampiric bear trap of a maw primed to snap his head off.

Both of them freeze as they hear the back door open. Eddy snaps a quick pic of Vivian’s mouth as they lean over to check the back.

It’s their regional manager. She staggers into the building with her cup of coffee. Her shoulder-length greasy brown hair isn’t clipped up as it usually was, but the black pools of despair she has for tired eyes are as glazed over with exhaustion as always.

She mutters as she closes the door behind her. “…nother day at the…” she pauses as if rebooting.

Eddy watches her, still not moving. “Didn’t think we’d be expecting you today, boss.”

The manager stands silently for another second. “…grind… oh, hey.”

“Are you… okay?”

She goes to sit at the desk. “I’m fine… I’ve got coffee…” she immediately passes out.

Eddy and Vivian remain motionless until she starts snoring. Eddy pulls away from Vivian and steps over to the desk. He takes hold of the manager’s wrist, lifts her hand up, and lets her go. Her hand drops straight back to the desk.

“I still don’t understand this woman.”

Vivian steps over with him. “So… we basically have the shop to ourselves… we could do some stuff.”

“A few things come to mind, but I don’t know if you’ll go for them.”

“You don’t know what I’d go for…”

“Oh really? And what if we got cozy?”

Vivian’s face reddens again. “There’s no way you would do that!”

He pulls his phone up and shows her the picture of her teeth. “I absolutely would, even if this is what I’m dealing with.”

She turns redder. “Y-you wouldn’t, no balls!”

He pulls her close. Their gems clink together. “I have NEVER lied to you.”

Vivian’s gem swirls as he leans in. She practically pounces on Eddy.

No more sandwiches were sold that night.