by Rashaad Bell
Chapter 21
This puppy taste like chicken…
I hopped into the passenger seat of the car. The engine roared to life and before I knew it, we were barreling off down the street. Incidentally, we ran over two mailboxes before we even reached the neighborhoods first stop sign.
"I’m almost afraid to even ask what it is you have in mind."
"I don’t know..." Connor paused. "...wanna kill some puppies?"
Now, from any other person, normally a statement like: "Let's go kill some puppies!" would be considered hyperbole, but Connor?
"You’re not serious, are you?"
"Why wouldn't I be serious? You're the one getting all midnight train to Georgia." Connor fired off.
I frowned. "I have no idea what that means."
Connor only laughed, shrugging his shoulders. "Look, Edward Jr., if you don't wanna eat people..."
"I DON’T eat people!" I hastily interjected. "I just..."
"Tomato-tomotoe. Seriously, now is the time you wanna do word association?"
"Fair enough." I agreed.
"Look, either you're Lestat or Edward. And since your Lestat is lame divided by lamer, then Edward it is."
"Who’s Lestat?"
He rolled his eyes. "I refuse to acknowledge your presence for the next six seconds."
"Come on Connor, like I'm supposed to remember every single..."
"6..."
"Oh, you were serious about that not speaking thing, huh?"
"5..."
"Why yes, I do find Pegasaures Rexes mildly attractive, however I've been told that their upkeep is extremely unmanageable." I added.
"4..."
"And no, white Michael Jackson did not make better songs then black Michael Jackson. I mean, Beat It? That’s just classic." I can do this all night.
"3..."
"But while we’re on the topic, do you really think Hannah Montana is the illegitimate child of Tony Montana, because that would explain so much."
"2..."
"Apparently, according to Aiden, Kennedy was assassinated by the U.S. Government because he was secretly a member of the Skrull Empire."
"1...."
"You’re kidding right? Kill puppies? Are you serious?" I've come to the conclusion; never expect sane dialogue from this dude. God he was infuriatingly interesting.
"Look, you're the one that wants to be on the Cullen diet plan. So unless you wanna go hunting in the forest...do you even know where a forest is?"
I went to respond, but Connor just continued his rant.
"Rhetorical. So yeah, let's kill some puppies. I mean, start small right? Baby steps. You wanna start with a horse or a deer or something? Where the hell we gonna find a horse at? A stable, that's where. A little less breaking and entering please, we're trying to keep a low profile here buddy."
I tried to interject. Epic fail.
"So that leaves deer. When was the last time you saw a deer in Oakland? The fucking zoo? Oh, I'm sure we got some in the wild, but I'd rather not spend all day tracking one down. Besides we’re here!"
The car came to a stop in front of the Humane Society for Stray Animals.
"Hey, look at me." Connor said in the most sincere voice I've ever heard. He could see the trepidation in my face, the fear about being what I am shining though. "Everything is gonna be okay. I know this is all new to you. This wasn't what you expected when you boarded the plane back in Florida. I recognize the fact that this life, the life of a Vampire is not what you wanted. I'm sorry about what happened. I wish there was a way for me to change it all back, but I can't. You were dying and I made a judgment call."
He placed his hand on my face and an instant calming effect fell over me, my fears melting away. Connor kissed me then, without warning and it was the most passionate kiss I'd ever experienced in my life. He pulled away, but I didn't want him to, I wanted it to continue, I wanted this feeling to last forever.
Connor smiled. "Damn, I've been wanting to do that since I first met you."
We held hands as we entered the shelter. He smelled like honey sickle and cherry blossom. Odd combo, yet it made me desire him all the more. Connor smiled as the sales person appeared to greet us. His scent hit me and I squeezed his hand tighter. Even though I had just fed...
Right...fed. Is that what we’re calling murder now? Feeding? Connor began squeezing my hand back, snapping me out of it.
"Anything I can help you with?" The sales clerk was just a little bit to chipper.
"How about some fucking privacy?" Connor fired back.
“Um...sure, okay." He replied, shuffling back from wherever he came from.
"Sooo..." Connor began, looking at the rows of caged animals. "See anything you, uh, like?"
Nothing seemed to faze him, from what happened at the Wolf Den to the gourmet menu in front of me.
I made a face. "I’m not sure. They all look so...cute."
"Well, what about that one?" He asked, pointing to a small little fluffy one.
I shook my head. "No, that reminds me of the little Maltese we owned when I was child."
"You hear that Cujo?" Connor announced, leaning close to the bars. "Nostalgia just saved your ass."
I strolled a little bit further down, paused then pointed. "What about this guy?" It was a baby pit bull. All black, strong, muscled. I wanted him. Connor frowned almost immediately.
“How about we try something a little smaller first?” He advised.
“Why?”
“I don’t like Pit Bulls.” He stated. “I had a…bad experience once.”
“Fair enough.” I said, putting my arm around his waist. It was because of Connor I was still alive. Again. “What would I do without you?”
The pupils in his eyes sparked a bright blue flame for just the tiniest millisecond before reverting back to normal. I’d forgotten that without Connor suppressing the flammable molecules in my blood stream, I’d be a funeral pyre by now.
“You think I’ll be able to do that?” I asked. “Control fire on my own the way you do?”
“Definitely.” He said. “I saw the safe house apartment building that burned down. There’s no way you would have survived that without controlling the inferno at some point.”
“And how does that work again exactly?”
“I talk to fire. It talks back. Your body tells me it wants to burn. I tell it not to because I like your face. Your body says okay. That’s how it works. Don’t look a fire horse in the mouth Madison.”
“You say the oddest things.” I admitted.
“It’s why all the cute Vampire girls like me.” He squeezed my hand. “How about that one?” Connor pointed towards a cage a little further down.
“The hot dog looking one?” I shrugged. “Looks good to me.”
Connor crinkled his nose. “Well that’s just crass.”
“What? No, I didn’t mean it like, looks good to me yum-yum, I mean…”
“I know what you mean Madison; I’m just messing with you.”
“I know.”
“I know you do.”
It wasn’t long before we were back at the safe house amongst the multitude of crates that lined the first floor.
“What’s in all the boxes Connor?” There were so many of them…everywhere.
“Stuff that belonged to the ash of a corpse upstairs.”
“Like this house?”
“Yes.”
“Did you really kill the owner of this home?”
“If I see something I want that I can’t have, it’s oxymoronic, because there is nothing in this world that I can’t have. If someone stands in the way of that, then someone dies.” He was very blunt about his murderous outlook on life. “I’m just a good person that does bad things.”
“Wouldn’t that make you a bad person who does bad things?” Oddly enough I was cool with the way he lead his life. It didn’t bother me in the least.
Why is that?
He opened t
he cage door. “Everybody knows Prince Charming doesn’t come, Sleeping Beauty is dead and happily ever after doesn’t exist.”
“Cynical much?”
Connor laughed. “Not anymore. Now come on Vampy McVamperton, let’s do the damn thing.”
I thought it would be awkward doing this in front of him, that is, until I remembered exactly how we met in that alley. All the trepidation flowed out of me as my mind clicked into Vampire mood.
Poor little thing. It was as if it couldn’t even tell what was happening, it didn’t even recognize that I wasn’t human. Poor little puppy. He was just so cute. The dog began to bark cheerfully. I picked up the little hot dog-dog and bit into his throat, my teeth puncturing its neck as its hot blood began to fill my mouth, running down my throat with increasing speed.
In the background I could faintly hear Connor chanting over and over: “Kill the Gelfling! Kill it!”
The blood…it wasn’t the same as…something is wrong. I could tell almost immediately. Oh yes, something was horribly amiss. I threw the dog from me with such force that it dented the refrigerator door when it struck it. I doubled over in pain then fell to the ground, vomiting up blood uncontrollably. More blood then I had just taken in. Connor tried to come close but I shoved him away.
“What’s wrong?” He was frantic, out of his depth. I could tell he didn’t know what to do.
I tried to speak, tried to vocalize coherent words but I couldn’t. I wasn’t able to talk. I’d never felt pain like this before. Never! It felt like…like I was dying. Really dying and this time I had no choice. Connor tried to console me, inching closer, but the growl my body produced, so viciously volatile, it froze him dead in his tracks
“Shit!” Connor cried out. “Shitshitshitshitshit!” He began to back away. “Dog blood bad! Dog blood bad!” He was frantic; my body was withering away, drying out. I let off another scream, horrible sounding, talons scrapping against chalkboards. Pain. God the pain.
Connor became graveyard composed. “I got this. You need blood. Real blood. People blood, not this animal bullshit. I got this. I got this.”
He spun and darted off, gone faster than an Alzheimer’s memory. I was alone. I was dying. An immortal dying. It’s almost poetic.
Never take life to seriously, it’s not like anybody gets out alive anyway.
Funny I should think about that. Where’s the white light? Where’s the whole life flashing before my eyes? The trumpets? The horns? I feel jipped.
Stupid dog.
Where are my angels? Hell, where are my demons if I didn’t rate…wait…there’s my angel right there. Connor came running back in, sweat pouring down that angelically carved face of his and I thought to myself that after seeing him one last time, I was at peace, I could die now.
“In here, she’s in here!” Connor screamed.
What is he doing?
“She just collapsed! I think she’s having a seizer!” He was talking to someone. Who is he talking to? “My cell isn’t working, the batteries dead. Oh God, please…please! You’ve got to help her!”
A woman, much older than him, somewhere around her mid-forties came in after him. “If she really is having a seizer then I can…”
Connor had his hand over her mouth before she could complete her sentence. “They say the eyes are the windows to the soul.” Connor whispered in her ear. He had a butterfly knife in his free hand. “Too bad death was your peeping Tom.”
He slit her throat clean.
Connor threw the body towards me. The fatal wound across her throat was gurgling up blood. I was on her in a second. She wasn’t dead, not yet at least. She attempted to struggle, to scream, but the more she put up a fight, the closer to death she came. I could feel myself getting stronger as her blood filled my body, coating my organs with its mysterious rejuvenating effects.
I pushed the corpse away from me in disdain. Vampire or no, I still had not come to terms with the taking of a life to extend my own. “Jesus Connor, what the fuck?”
“What?” He seemed perfectly calm. “To melodramatic? Yes? No? I told you I got this.”
“Apparently. Who was that woman?” I was covered in blood. Again. If I was going to live forever as a Vampire, dry cleaning was going to be a bitch.
“Who, her? Mrs. Juicy-Juice there? Found her mowing the lawn across the street. Never much cared for the prick, always checking out my ass.” Connor bent down close to the dead woman. “Can’t check out my ass now, can you bitch?”
Connor looked up and found me staring at him intently. “Yeah, I know, I’m such a fucking gentleman.” The woman’s body began to burn white-hot, a heat wave floating above her before Mrs. Juicy-Juice turned completely black, her body crumbling into a pile of ash before my eyes. Before long, even that was burned away.
“You…you just killed that woman!” I protested.
“Well, technical no, you killed her. I might have baked the cake, but you blew out the candles and took the first bite.”
“Connor!”
“Okay, okay, I’m just arguing semantics with you at this point. I killed her. But if it ever comes down to either you or random douchebag #3 then I’m going to choose you every time.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Is that…normal? What happened to me just now?”
Connor shook his head. “No, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Are we, I mean Vampires, are we not able to drink animal blood at all or is it just me?"
“I’ve lived off animals before, did it years at a time once.” Connor said. “I know Vampires who only drink the stuff, they refuse to even touch human blood at all, but this? What just happened right now, I don’t know…”
“Allergies maybe?” I asked. “Could I just be allergic to the stuff?”
He seemed to be contemplating the idea in his head. “Yeah, I got nothing.”
“Well, let’s not do that again.” I said.
“Agreed.” Connor popped open one of the crates, rummaging through its contents. He tossed a bundle of clothes in my direction. Grey blazer pants and a white button down. Black shoes and socks. Everything Prada.
“Prada? Really?”
“Just because you buy your clothing from a Mexican selling oranges at the freeway off ramp doesn’t mean the rest of civilized society has to Madison.”
“Whatever.” Connor turned his back as I stripped down, replacing my current blood soaked garments with the expensive apparel. For them being men’s clothing, they fit moderately well.
I inspected the logo on one of the crates closest to me. “CornerStone Devolvement. What type of…”
The doorbell rang.
“Expecting company?” I asked warily.
“No.”
Something was off, I could feel it.
The doorbell rang again.
