by Jason Tucker
He wondered how long it would take Mr. Golden to call the police or go back up to look for his wife. Joey hoped he had time to make it to Del’s before the police started looking to arrest him for a murder that - this time - he didn’t commit.
The LAPD didn’t take kindly to someone killing sweet little old ladies and he didn’t think that they would believe him when he told them a monster in the guise of a little girl had actually torn the woman apart. The way Joey figured, by the time the evening news was on the cops and media would already have pegged him as the next Dahmer or Bundy.
Del’s place was only about twenty minutes away if traffic wasn’t too bad. He could spend some time there waiting for the search to cool down.
He just hoped Del would have him.
Chapter Ten
Del’s Parts and Pieces, established in 1985, was a strange place.
Del Whitman’s little stronghold sat like an angry scab on the outskirts of the city. The walls were high, topped with razor wire and more lighting than Joey thought was necessary. Given that it was daylight, the spotlights that shone into the junkyard’s interior weren’t on but they had an ominous presence. Joey imagined it would be almost blinding at night if Del actually kept them on all the time. In addition to the spotlights were a number of other lamps that looked different, like UV lights. The place had more protection than some prisons.
It was also a good place to disappear for a little while.
Joey hoped Del would accept him into the place, hide him for a while at least.
“I thought that you’d be out of this glorious City of Angels by now,” Del said as a way of greeting Joey when he opened the door to the small house near the entrance of the junkyard. Del was small in stature with a barrel chest and close cropped salt and pepper hair. His eyes had an edge to them, a hardness borne from someone who had murdered. Most people might not see it, but Joey could. The difference between Del and Joey was that Del had killed for his country while Joey killed for cash. They both worked for Presidents, except all the ones Joey ever knew were green. “Smart fellow like you should’ve been out of this town a month ago.”
“I was thinking about Albuquerque. Of course, here I am instead,” Joey said with a smile. “I’m really not that smart.”
Del nodded. “True enough.”
“You gonna invite me inside?”
“I haven’t decided that yet,” Del said. “I don’t know how healthy that would be for me.”
“I don’t bite,” Joey said, wondering if the news about Mrs. Golden’s murder had already gotten out. It hadn’t been more than half an hour and the LAPD didn’t work that quickly.
“Funny choice of words there,” Del said, crossing his arms.
“How do you mean?”
“You said you don’t bite. That might just mean maybe you met someone recently that does.”
“You could say that,” Joey said, shifting his weight and squinting against the sun. “You know her?”
“Maybe I know a bit about her. What do you know?” Del asked.
“Enough of this remedial spy school bullshit,” Joey said. “Now let me inside before I can’t un-squint my damn eyes. I don’t want to walk around with a permanent Clint Eastwood scowl.”
Del laughed. “Nothing wrong with Mr. Eastwood… except Bridges of Madison County and that whole talking to the chair thing. What the hell was Dirty Harry thinking? Now, let’s get your car in the yard and you park it around back and out of sight. Then get on in here and tell me what’s happened. Maybe we can get things sorted before the whole world goes to hell.”
The inside of Del’s home looked much the same as it had the last time Joey had been there and that had been well over a year ago. Just as in the junkyard, everything in the home had its place and it was clean. However, he did notice a few strange things here and there. A crucifix, a Star of David, and some gloves of garlic. If Joey didn’t know any better….
The interior of the small home was what some might call quaint, but Joey knew that it was just an illusion, making it seem as though Del lived a normal life selling bits and pieces of rare cars and the odd antique treasure from his junkyard to make a living.
At the rear of the house hidden beneath the floorboards was a hatch the led down beneath the junkyard. This was where Del did most of his business running weapons. It was an old style bunker turned into living quarters with a bathroom, storage rooms and even a small workshop. The bunker was large and took up nearly as much space below as the junkyard did above. Heavy doors at two ends of the bunker opened into tunnels leading into the storm drains. That was how Del moved his merchandise.
More than fifteen hundred miles of pipes and tunnels existed beneath Los Angeles in the storm drain system. Joey figured Del had probably memorized or mapped a large chunk of them by now, at least the ones that were close to the junkyard and that could be of use.
Del didn’t say much until they had settled into the bunker and were sitting in plush, out of style furniture and sipping coffee.
“You look like ass,” Del said.
“You know how to make a fellow feel pretty and special.”
“So what happened?”
Joey told Del everything that had happened since he’d met with Vincent the night before, from locking Vincent into the unit to waking up with Mrs. Golden strewn about his apartment. When he finished, he let out a little laugh. “Ridiculous, isn’t it?”
“I’m sure you’ve noticed my new lights and the new religious decorations I have in my home. I got those as soon as I realized this whole thing was going to be a mess. Rachelle came over here asking about UV lights and little coffins. She had the crazy eyes going too. I thought she’d lost her mind,” Del said. He took a sip of his coffee. “Don’t know what the hell you did to piss that woman off.”
“So, you were the one that made the box and the timer. I thought I recognized your handiwork. What I don’t get is the purpose of the whole thing. Wouldn’t it just be easier to gun me down or kill me in my sleep? Why in the hell would Rachelle try death by little girl? Granted, she’s a twisted little thing. I’m talking about Rachelle.”
“You’ve seen the girl. You know as well as I do that she isn’t human, at least not anymore. It took me a bit to accept it, but when it’s staring you in the face and you see the damn fangs, you get on board pretty quick. I didn’t know she was going to use the creature against you. I suppose if I’d have thought about it, I would’ve been able to puzzle it out.”
“Yeah, well, you gotta do what you gotta do. I get that,” Joey said.
Del had his ear to the criminal underworld, always trying to find a way to make some cash. Joey couldn’t fault him for that, not after all the things he’d done. Times were rough on everyone, and Joey doubted Del would’ve balked at making the coffin for the creature even if he did know it was supposed to be a trap. As long as the money was right. Sure, he could be pissed at Del, could even kill him, but what would that do? Right now, Joey needed a friend and he needed information. With Robens dead, friends were running low. Del would have to do.
Joey continued. “I just don’t understand Rachelle’s weapon of choice here. I also don’t understand the creature’s rationale. If the thing had actually gotten out of the coffin when the timer went off, killed Robens and then escaped, why would it still come after me? What’s the deal here?”
“Well, I am sorry the whole mess involved you,” Del said. “You know I always liked you. You are better to talk to than any of the other folks that Rachelle sends around when she needs something.”
“I am a mighty conversationalist,” Joey said. “Now, what can you tell me about this creature and why it might have a hard on for me?”
“Aren’t you gonna skip town? Leaving is the smart thing to do. I’ll help you get out.”
“I can’t do that quite yet,” Joey said, even though he knew that leaving would be the smart thing to do.
“Why the hell can’t you?”
Joey sighed. “B
ecause of Rachelle and that monster of hers, an old woman is dead. Robens is dead. I bet that little dirtbag Vincent is probably dead by now too.”
“Skinny bastard deserved it. He was setting you up.”
“Yeah,” Joey said, nodding. “That’s why I left him there. But Rachelle made him do it. He was looking out for himself and I can’t blame him for that any more than I can blame you for making that coffin and timer.”
“Hell of a time to develop a conscience, kid,” Del said.
“Tell me about it,” Joey said, leaning back in his chair. “So let’s have everything you know. Tell me about Rachelle’s monster.”
Chapter Eleven
“Before you can do anything else, you have to get your head around what this thing really is. If you want to stay alive then you are going to have to put rationality and your comfortable reality aside,” Del said.
“Hit me with your best shot.”
“It’s a vampire. An honest to goodness bloodsucker.”
“I’ve seen her up close,” Joey said, shrugging. “Extremely close. When you have something this messed up all covered in blood and stinking of rot staring at you in the face, then you don’t have much of a choice but to believe.”
“I suppose you don’t,” Del said.
Joey finished his coffee in a single gulp. He wished that Del wasn’t a teetotaler so he could’ve made it Irish. A little booze might make the news that a vampire was hunting him go down a little easier. “Of course, I could just be losing my mind. Maybe I’m actually sitting in a ditch somewhere with my head bashed in and all of this is just some hallucination.”
“No such luck, my friend,” Del said. “I’ve seen enough oddities in my life to know that the world isn’t as cut, dry and rational as some folks would like. But I’ve never seen anything like this. I thought Rachelle had lost her mind when she came here bragging about it. She was happy as a kid in Christmas with the thing.”
“How did she find the vampire?”
“She wasn’t exactly forthcoming about that. Something about a deal in Louisiana from what I gathered. Although, I’ve heard rumors that someone sold the vampire to her. For all I know Rachelle’s old man might’ve known about these things. He was odd enough. I don’t know how Rachelle came into possession of the girl, but I know they weren’t overly kind to her once they had her.”
“How do you mean?”
“Kept her chained, kept UV lights around her, made life miserable. As miserable as it can be for a monster,” Del said. “I almost felt bad when they were telling me all this. Then I saw the creature. At first, I thought it might actually be some poor kid. I was about a fraction of a second from popping Carlos. Then I saw her face change and heard her growl, and I knew Rachelle was telling the truth. That’s why I agreed to work with them.”
“The good old timer coffin,” Joey said.
“That’s right,” Del said.
“But why the timer? I could see you wanting to build something that might contain the monster, but why would you have a timer to open the thing? Why not force it into the box and then bury that shit or dump it in the ocean?”
“The box was a trap that would open at a certain time. I was getting paid,” Del said. He didn’t even bother to sprinkle any sugar on it. “That’s all there is to it, man.”
Joey nodded. “I get it. Doesn’t mean it sits too well with me right now.”
“Hell, me neither. Rachelle also needed me to provide more security for her house. UV does something to the vampire. Acts like the sun or something. They had me rig up a bunch of huge UV lights, not dissimilar to the ones that I have out in my yard now.”
“I was wondering about your armada of lights.”
“Well, once I saw it change, I figured I might as well protect myself just in case Rachelle ever decided to turn the thing loose on me. Since the UV lights work against it, I also figured I would do some more research and figure out what else might work against the creature.”
“What did you find?”
Del turned and grabbed a stack of books that were beside his chair and passed several of them to Joey.
“Folklore, mostly. I don’t think they can turn into bats or anything, but I don’t know about the mind reading. Sounds silly, but who knows.”
“When you look into the eyes of that thing, you can almost believe that it can look into your head,” Joey said. “Maybe the mind reading is true.”
“There are also a whole lot of maybes on what it takes to put the creatures down for good,” Del said. “Bullets aren’t going to do you a whole hell of a lot of good, except to slow it a bit. Unless maybe you had a chain gun or something that would just rip it apart. Fire would probably work and maybe the stake through the heart business, but that really seems to be rooted more in folklore. I don’t imagine they’d take too kindly to having their head chopped off either. But if they are as fast as you claim this girl is, then I don’t know if anyone would even be able to get in a good lick with an axe. Suppose it’s better than nothing though.”
“Yeah, she’s fast. And that makes me wonder how Rachelle ever captured the thing in the first place unless they found her in the daytime. It’s almost as if-”
“It’s almost as if the vampire wanted to be caught, right? I’ve been wondering that too. It’s like the thing wanted to be here and hitched a ride with Rachelle.”
“Why though?” Joey said.
“I don’t know if you can get inside the head of a monster. She’s hunting you though, and it seems personal. She might’ve gotten close to Rachelle so that she could gain intelligence on you.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“You’re right. I’d like to remind you that you did get attacked by a monster last night. That’s ridiculous as well.”
“Yeah, but what did I do to deserve that much attention?” Joey said, with a false laugh in his voice. His foot tapped a quick beat on the blue throw rug in front of the chair.
“Something personal,” Del said. “The vampire said she’s going to make you suffer. She’s going to put the hurt on you in a big way. Alive or undead, people don’t get revenge bugs up their ass without a good reason. You gotta figure out what you did to her.”
Joey threw his hands up. “I’ve never seen her before. Trust me; I’d remember. What the hell could I have done?”
“Maybe you didn’t do anything to her. Maybe it was someone close to her. Hell maybe I’m completely off base.”
Del’s line of reasoning was solid enough. Joey had killed more people than he cared to remember. The vampire had told him as much last night. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. “How do I figure out what I did.”
“Search your memory. See if anything clicks.”
She was going to make her suffer. That’s what she said. He still couldn’t fathom why and he wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. He searched his memory but could come up with nothing. He shrugged.
“Did she maybe look like someone that you’ve killed?”
“What? Jesus, Del, she’s a kid. At least she looks like a kid. I never hurt a child, so it’s not like she’s some vengeful spirit come back to get me.”
“Relax. What I’m saying is maybe you killed a parent or a sibling or something. Hell, I don’t know. You came to me for help.”
“I don’t know.”
“You can’t even remember the faces of the people you killed?” Del asked. “I have the face of every man I killed during my service imprinted on my brain. I can’t get away from them.”
“Well, you’re more human than I am, I guess,” Joey said. He didn’t need Del to remind him of what kind of monster he was. The little vampire took care of that.
“Look, I’m sorry, kid,” Del said, his tone shifting and softening. “I know the business you’re in, and I know how it twists a man. I watched it nearly destroy my friend Lou, even though he was too stubborn to admit it. I was watching it do the same thing to you until you fell out with the Giovanni crew.”
&n
bsp; “Yeah,” Joey said.
“I was just hoping you’d be able to figure something out so we could square this mess away and get back to normal.”
“Our normal life of crime?”
Del laughed. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“Me too,” Joey said. “I’ll figure it out. In the meantime though, I’ve got another huge favor to ask.”
“Bigger than letting you into my place even though a shit ton of people and a monster wants to kill you?”
“A little bigger, yeah,” he said. If the vampire wanted to make him suffer, she would go after the people he knew and loved. The only person in the world that he truly loved needed his protection now, even though she probably wouldn’t accept it.
Chapter Twelve
Del sat in his pickup at the corner of East 2nd Street and North Walnut Avenue. Civic Center Park was to his right, but it was just about empty since kids were still in school. Caroline Sanders’ house was just down the street. He could see the driveway and the little walkway just beyond a small cluster of trees on the west side of North Walnut.
It was a modest house, nice and peaceful with a well-groomed front yard. It wasn’t the kind of house Del would ever want to own. It was too open, too exposed to people. Who needed that?
He took a slice of his orange and popped it into his mouth. He was glad he’d thought to bring along some fruit with him on his trip. Otherwise he’d be starving and miserable by now. He stared at the house and waited. What in the name of all that was holy, or unholy as the case may be, was he going to tell Joey’s sister. He’d only met Caroline once and it just didn’t seem right to come out and say, “Hey, lady who doesn’t really know me, there’s a good chance that a miniature vampire might come to your house to kill you because of the terrible things that your brother’s been doing. So, come with me if you want to live.”
