Apotropaic PPE

“Kid,” Camelia barked at the intern. “Helmet on!"

“But it smells,” the intern grumbled, donning the metal hounskull helmet and closing the pointed visor.

“No rookie mistakes today,” Camelia chided. They entered the cave to begin the bat inoculations.

The rookie gawked at the thousands of sleeping bats above. One dropped from a stalactite, small furry body shifting into the pale, bloated corpse of a man swooping towards the intern.

Thankfully, the garlic stuffed in his visor deterred the vampire.

"What’d I tell you, kid?” Camelia called. "It’s the vampire vaccinator’s motto: ‘In a bascinet, then the bats can’t get.’”

Gabrielle Bleu writes luminous science fiction and fantasy. Find more of Bleu's work at gabriellebleu.com.