THERAPIST OF THE DAMNED- THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES

Chapter 4

    The banks parking lot was quite large which matched perfectly with the over grown structure of the bank itself. The steadfast bricks that made up its walls seemed to go on for miles as you looked up at them all interlacing with one another in perfect harmony. Even the shadows that each brick cast seemed to convey a level of distinct professionalism.

 The giant black doors at the entrance had two golden metal letters of J and W for the handles, a friendly reminder who's bank this really belonged to.

 With my backpack around one shoulder I grabbed the top of the W and swung the door open to the right. The highly polished black and white marbled floors which tapped along with every step I took announcing my presence to about ten pairs of eyes looking up at me.

 I nodded and smiled my way through them until finally approaching a very lovely, but perhaps a bit absent minded, red headed bank teller named Lacey. Whose name tag was on upside down. I tried to stop the innate smile that was acouring but it was too late, so I decided to go with it. She looked on at me with bright green eyes and smiled back,

 "Hello sir,  welcome to John Wellford's how may I assist you today?" 

" Well,  I will be making a final withdrawal of funds and closing my account today, of which I informed the bank a few days ago per policy so they could get the funds ready for me." 

"Very well sir if you can just take a seat in the waiting area and someone will be right with you." 

"Sure,  just one more thing." 

"Yes Sir," 

I then reached my hand over my chest and pointed at the same spot where her name tag would be.  At first she looked puzzled but then glanced down at her shirt.  After which her cheeks began turning a very delightful and delicious shade of red as she quickly fiddled with the name tag to fix it.

 "I'll take my seat now." I said as I slowly turned away my eyes lingering on her face. Her sweet voice then lofted behind me as she squeaked out a thank you. My lips then widening with a hungry smile at the sound.

 The waiting area was very intense, the black leather chairs seemed to be standing to attention with how high the backs of them were. The rug they were placed on though was amusing with its sharp angled lines swirling together in different hues of black red and blue.

 It didn't take long for me to hear the energetic tone of a man's voice behind me call my name. I stood up to greet a very robust man on the short side with brown thinning hair who was either very pleased to see me or maybe just had way too much coffee by the relentless rapid hand shake I was given. By the way he was caring on I thought I would have to detach his arm from the socket to get him to stop.

 "Hello sir,  it's a pleasure to meet you my name is Chris", he said in between the shaking. He then clapped me on the back and directed me to an open office door behind him. After stepping into his office he went around to sit at his desk while grabbing a few wrapped mints from a plastic bowl at the corner of it.

 "Would you like one?"  he asks while holding one out for the taking. 

 "Sure why not?" I said as he dropped it into my hand.

 " Well now, he started in Lacey has informed me that you would like to withdraw all funds from your account and close it today is that correct?"

"Yes, and I did call a few days ago to confirm everything so the funds would be ready."

"Yes, we did receive your call and everything should be fine it's just...

"Well sir to be frank with you it's a lot of money to be taking out all at once in cash."

May I ask why you are closing your account with us after years of you being a loyal customer?" 

"Well to tell you the truth,  I have decided not to stay here anymore and will be moving on to hopefully a better place."

"That's understandable sir,  and I would just like to say thank you for being such a valuable customer of ours you will be missed."

 "Now with that being said we will just be needing your driver's license and social security card to double check through our systems and then I will take you back personally to help get your funds in order."

"No problem" I replied while taking out my black leather wallet from my side pocket. 

 "Here you are one license and social card."

 While waiting for him to return my mind among other senses began to wonder back to Lacey and those red cheeks of hers.  

Dam,  I needed to refocus so I decided since I couldn't have what I wanted in my mouth the mint would have to do,  as I unwrapped it and popped it on my tongue. 

The taste and feel of it in my mouth was a mild distraction at best, basically like giving an avid smoker a nicotine patch. 

By the time I was sucking on nothing but air in my mouth, while picturing sweet Miss Lacey laying on the desk in front of me, Chris had finally returned.

 "Everything checks out sir, here are your cards back you can follow me this way."

 I stood and followed him waving  goodbye to the image of Lacey on the desk as she winked at me. He lead me back out to the main room and then down a hallway. At the end of the hallway was a huge stainless steel door with a numbered keypad. 

He made quick use of the keypad trying to type what he considered to be fast the numbered code of 714038. The keypad beeped and then flashed a little green light. Chris turned the handle and let us in, the outer door then clicked shut behind me. 

The inner room was filled with brushed metal,  boxed units stacked one on top of the other in various heights all the way to the ceiling. 

There was a metal slab of a table in the center of it all. With a large black duffel bag on top of it. Chris walked up to the bag and picked it up.

 "Here you are sir all yours you can count it if you like but that might take you awhile he said with a half smile." 

"Thank you that won't be necessary,  but I would like to inspect the contents before going." I said while moving closer to the bag.

 "Of course sir,  I'll give you a few moments" Chris said while sliding out of the way.

 I stepped in front of the bag and unzipped it expecting to see cash but all I saw was a large pile of white printer paper. 

Without a second blink my instincts went on high alert my eyes bolted up only to see the image of Chris inject a needle into my neck.

 Everything started to go blurry I tried to grab a hold of the table to steady my self but it was too late the pain now rushing through me as my head smacked the floor. 

The last thing I saw before the blackness took over was a pair of golden yellow eyes, followed by an evil Hiss.