Chapter 2
Chapter two
Cora
She’d only been awake for an hour and already had a chunk of vampire flesh in her mouth. Bits of gore and bright red blood were splattered across the white shirt she should have known better than to wear.
It was going to be a shit day.
“Cut!” Cora screamed, then grabbed a towel off the table next to her.
“I am so sorry,” Rick cried, rushing over to her. “I swear it wasn’t supposed to explode like that. If he yanked the heart out properly, then it should have just been a little spray.”
Wiping streaks of red corn syrup off her face, Cora reminded herself that she didn’t have the funds to alienate her crew.
If Rick wasn’t the cheapest special effects guy around, she never would have hired him to begin with.
And by cheapest, she actually meant free and desperate for credits to put on his resume.
Though, in all fairness, his shoddy construction was only half the reason she currently looked like an extra in a Tarantino film.
Ignoring the bits of fake blood and flesh still coating her long auburn hair, Cora strode over to the mess that used to be the prop dummy.
“Dammit,” she muttered under her breath when she saw just how ruined it was. They simply didn’t have the budget for another one.
“What happened?” she barked, whirling on the group of nervous people standing behind her.
“It was my fault,” Jake offered, stepping forward. “I was just so into my character that I felt like I should grab my victim and hold her. You know, romance her a little before the big death scene. I think I just hugged a little too hard and triggered the mechanism.”
Do not murder the actors, Cora thought, rubbing her forehead. Murder is bad. Murder will not help get this film made.
She gave Jake a death glare in lieu of her preferred response that came with a prison sentence.
“Please tell me you took some time and read all the way through the script before we started filming,” she fumed.
“Because this is only day two, and I’m getting a disturbing feeling that you have no idea who your character is supposed to be. ”
Jake shifted awkwardly, giving Cora an ashamed look. “I mean, I mostly read it. I skimmed the important bits.”
Anger colored her cheeks, and she fought to hold back the scream that tried to claw up her throat. “The. Important. Bits?” she seethed through gritted teeth. “And what exactly did you determine were the important bits?”
Jake ran a hand through his dark wavy hair. “You know, the character stuff. I felt like I was really understanding the role of Drake. Tortured vampire, looking for the love of his life, forced to kill the only girl he ever wanted. You know, the important bits.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Cora raged at the dipshit in front of her.
The only reason she had cast him was because the number of muscular, attractive men willing to commit to a two-week film shoot for free was depressingly low.
He had initially seemed semi-competent, but now she was starting to realize that had been an overly generous assessment.
“It’s a horror film!” Cora screamed. “Key word being ‘horror.’ This isn’t some damn sparkly vampire romance story. The vampire is the bad guy. He kills people. He enjoys it. He doesn’t fall in love with them for fuck’s sake!”
Cora collapsed into her director's chair and massaged the back of her neck where she carried far too much tension lately. She made a huge mistake casting Jake, and now it was going to cost her hundreds of dollars that she didn’t have.
She debated shouting at the pretty idiot to get the hell off her set, but re-casting the role of Drake would set them back days.
“Everybody take ten,” she called out. “I need a second. And somebody tell Jinx I want to see her ASAP.”
An assortment of hushed murmurs reached her ears, and she knew at least a few of them were comments on her mood swings.
They’d increased in frequency and intensity over the past year which was not a good sign.
Not that dwelling on them would help. Thinking about how they’d gotten worse only made her more anxious about getting the film wrapped.
She didn’t know how much time she had left.
At twenty-five, Cora should have felt like the rest of her generation—like she was immortal and had all the time in the world. Sadly, she’d long since accepted that was not the case.
A pert nose and vibrant green eyes framed by an untamed mess of blonde waves suddenly popped up in her field of view, startling her to the point that she nearly rocketed up and smacked into said pert nose.
“Dammit, Jinx, you know it’s not a good idea to surprise me. I almost head-butted you.”
Jinnifer, or Jinx as everyone called her because she was quite possibly the unluckiest person to ever live, just laughed.
“Wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last time,” she replied, pulling up a chair to face Cora head on.
Plucking a chunk of bloody rubber off Cora’s shoulder, Jinx gave it a squeeze only for it to squirt from her fingers and fall into her shirt.
Fishing the gross bit out of her bra, she gave Cora a curious look.
“What happened here? I thought the victim’s heart was just supposed to spurt a little when Drake ripped it from her chest? ”
Cora lifted her heavy head so Jinx could see her mouth when she responded.
Contrary to popular belief, lip-reading was far from accurate, but the little device nestled in her best friend’s left ear could usually fill in most of the blanks.
“That’s what was supposed to happen,” she replied.
“But our leading man decided my film should be a love story, and he wanted to cuddle the victim first. It triggered the explosion that Rick apparently calibrated incorrectly and destroyed the dummy. I’m not exactly surrounded by geniuses on this set. ”
“Well, you are now,” Jinx said, leaning in to give Cora a hug.
Cora tried to pull away before the fake blood got all over her pseudo sister slash assistant director, but it was impossible to fight off a Jinx hug. She made up for being a walking disaster by also being the most empathetic person you’d ever met.
Allowing herself to simply be held for a moment, Cora considered her lack of options. “I don’t know what to do,” she confessed once Jinx released her from the tight grip. “Can you help?”
Jinx put her hands on either side of Cora’s face, squishing her cheeks just a little. “Do you even have to ask?”
No, she didn’t. Ever since making decisions had become more and more difficult for Cora, Jinx was always there to walk her through the possibilities until they reached a logical conclusion.
“Okay,” Cora said, straightening in her chair, her foul mood easing a bit in the glow of Jinx’s eternal optimism. “So, what do we do?”
“Well,” Jinx mused, tapping her chin with her finger. “The way I see it, you have three options. Option one: Bag the film.”
Cora winced. “Obviously that’s not going to happen.”
“Obviously,” Jinx agreed. “Option two: Start over from scratch. Cast a new lead vampire, preferably one who knows how to read a script.”
Groaning, Cora slid out of the chair and walked over to the remains of the fake body.
Scanning it from top to bottom, she highly doubted it could be saved in any way.
She kicked the useless prop, then turned back to Jinx.
“It was hard enough to find Jake. Half the actors who auditioned used awful fake Transylvanian accents and said shit like ‘bleh bleh bleh, I vant to suck your blood.’ Frankly, I was embarrassed for most of them.”
“Okay, okay,” Jinx replied, throwing up her hands. “Then you have option three: Keep Jake, but go talk to your dad and ask for financial help to hire an acting coach for him. And maybe buy some extra prop dummies while you’re at it.”
Cora picked up a chunk of the destroyed prop heart and looked over at Jinx. “I would rather eat this entire thing than speak to my father.”
Hopping out of her chair, Jinx snatched the hunk of corn-syrup coated silicone and tossed it on the floor. Per Jinx’s usual luck, it promptly bounced back up and nailed her in the crotch, leaving a blood stain in a rather unfortunate area.
Completely oblivious, or possibly past the point of caring, Jinx ignored it and said, “I’m sorry, Cor. I wish I had better options for you, but that’s it. I know this film means everything to you, so if you won’t talk to your dad, then you need to find a new Drake and start over.”
“With what money?” Cora wailed, her dreams slipping through her fingers.
“Hmm…” Jinx grabbed a Red Vine from the bucket on their snack table and chewed on it for a second. “I got it! What if you try casting for an actor who is also an investor? See if you can find someone who is willing to basically become a partner in the film?”
Cora gave her self-proclaimed sister a rather dubious look. “I had the slimmest of pickings when I was casting for a free role. You think I’ll do better if I ask them to pay me?”
Jinx shoved the rest of the sticky red treat in her mouth and shrugged. “Worth a shot. Maybe someone will see it as a decent investment opportunity.”
Cora chewed on her lower lip for a long moment, running the idea through her head. Her gut told her it was implausible that anyone would volunteer, let alone anyone with money, but… stranger things had happened in Hollywood. And Jinx was right. She was out of options.
“Okay,” she huffed out, resigned. “Place the ad for Tuesday afternoon at that old factory we used before. I think I still have the keys. It’s likely nobody will show up, but I guess it’s worth a shot. Who knows, maybe the perfect vampire will come walking through my door.”