It was 11:37 p.m. and Nell Houston was just waking up for the day.

It’s not that he minded working the graveyard shift at the cemetery. It gave him a chance to make sure his friends graves weren’t robbed or desecrated, those who had risen and those who hadn’t. It also gave him a chance to hang out with his old buddies, shoot the breeze and haunt teenagers who thought cemeteries were a great place to make-out.

He laughed to himself, stretched and then shook his head. One good thing about being a vampire, you don’t have to watch what you eat or exercise. Well, that was the good thing about being dead really. You could goof off all day, sleep all day and hang out all night without worry of consequences of girlfriends, boyfriends, wives, husbands or parents yelling at you that you were wasting your life.

He glanced at the dimly lit clock, 11:41 p.m.

“Might as well get up,” he muttered, standing he opened the curtains and sighed. “Ahh. Glorious night. Beautiful sky, a few stars to light the way and a sliver of a moon. Perfect.”

He dusted off his jeans, grabbed his thermos and lunch bag from the fridge and headed out the door for work. He knew it was useless to carry the lunch bag and thermos but it helped him appear more normal. He didn’t need it getting out that there was a vampire alive, well undead rather, walking around and breathing, rather existing in the neighborhood.

Nell headed up the street, speaking to the humans who acknowledged him and the undead who did as well. He offered the newly dead, that wandering around lost and confused, what he hoped was a warm smile. But when you’re a vampire and every time you smile your eyes glow and fangs extend, there wasn’t much warmth behind it.

He hated being a vampire sometimes. Those who knew of his existence, and weren’t seeking to make money off of him or use him to scare other humans or as an object for show and tell, always had a fear in the back of their mind where they weren’t quite sure if he was looking at them as friend or food.

Losing human friends came with the territory of being a member of the undead community. Few humans know how to handle being friends with the undead and then there was the tiny fact that most vampires had the ability to read thoughts. He paused in his steps and thinking, well that wasn’t really a hindrance. It came in handy and had gotten him out of a tight spot or two or twenty. He smiled, licked his lips, another thing he hated about being a vampire, no matter how much lip balm he used, his lips were constantly chapped. He sighed, he needed to feed and soon.

Nell continued down the street towards the cemetery, thinking, quietly humming the last song he had heard before he had been killed.

Why couldn’t I have been more hip when I was alive, why oh why did I have to be listening to the dirty dancing soundtrack and why in heaven and earth did that damn Patrick Swayze song have to be playing. That’s sure something they never told you in school. The last song you listen too, the song that’s playing when you die will be forever stuck in your head.

Forever.

Nell got to the cemetery gates, pushing through them with little effort and headed for the guards office.

“Vince.” He called, “Sorry I’m a little late.”

“No problem. It’s been a dead night.” Vince laughed at his own joke.

Nell nodded, laughing too as he always did, even though he didn’t think the joke was funny or friendly in any way. But he paused, counting to ten. He doesn’t know you’re a vampire. He just thinks you’re weird and is waiting for you to come on to him. He chuckled again, putting his bag lunch and thermos into the refrigerator in the corner. Coming on to Vince was not in his plans, that night or ever, he had been the ladies man while he had been alive but now that he was dead, undead, whatever. Some women got pleasure in being with a vampire, wanting to know if the rumors and movies were true, and of course he obliged.

Just 'cause he was an undead man, he was still a man, and like every other man, dead, undead or otherwise he had needs too.

He made a mental note to call that nurse he had met a few nights ago, Diane. He nodded, smiled deeply, she would come in handy. Grabbing his flashlight, he watched Vince to his car before he started on his patrol. He stopped by his old pal Ruben’s grave first.

“Hey Rube.” Nell called. “How’s it going tonight? Any takers on that poker game for Thursday?”

“A few.” Ruben hissed. He’d been a boxer and hadn’t been as fortunate as Nell, he was called forth and brought back by an amateur who couldn’t send him back properly so he was forced to live out eternity as a ghoul.

“Okay. Well let me know who later and I’ll set up the menu. Any problems tonight?” Nell asked, leaning against a tree.

“No. The usual. That other guard, the human, Vince sure is a perve. Was getting off watching a couple of kids in the car and then made it on Granny Stein’s grave.” Ruben laugh hissed. “It took three zomb’s and two vamp’s to stop her from going after him.”

“Thanks.” Nell said, heading towards Granny Stein’s grave, shaking his head. Same ole stuff, different night, different decade he thought angrily, one day people will learn to respect the dead and undead, but that wasn’t a day Nell was willing to hold his breath waiting for. He laughed at his own joke and continued on his way.