by Joe Humphrey
“Jesus, Caroline! What happened to you?” Charlie said as she followed Caroline down the hall to the bathroom. She stopped short of the door, which Caroline closed in her face. Then the sound of the lock turning and the shower starting.
“I can’t talk right now Charlie. Please give me some space,” Caroline said through the door. Charlie wasn’t sure, but she thought she could hear Caroline crying, which seemed wrong on multiple levels. She'd never heard Caroline cry. Charlie stood there for a moment, staring at the door, listening to the sound of the shower running. She almost fell over when Caroline wailed suddenly, and a loud crunching thump came through the door. Then another thump.
“Are you okay in there?!” Charlie called through the door.
“Leave me ALONE!” Caroline yelled through obvious tears, punctuated by another thump, then a frustrated scream. That’s when Charlie realized that Caroline was hitting the wall with something. Charlie backed away from the door and went to the living room.
- 10 -
Charlie sat on the couch, listening to Caroline shower. She’d finally stopped crying and hitting the wall, and now sounded like she was actually using the shower. After fifteen minutes, she called out to Charlie.
“Charlie, honey, could you help me please?”
Charlie hopped up and hustled to the bathroom. The door was open, and Caroline was standing, naked, in the bathtub, dripping wet. She pointed her hand at the towel on the rack.
“Be a dear and help me dry off?” She said, smiling sheepishly. Charlie’s eyes went wide when she saw Caroline’s hand. Her right hand was twisted and dripping dark blood that spattered on the white enamel of the tub. Charlie rushed in and picked up a washcloth and wrapped her hand. The fingers were bent and twisted at odd angles.
“Jesus Christ, Caroline! What did you do?”
Caroline smiled and pointed to the towel again.
“Please?” she asked, and Charlie picked up the towel and quickly began drying Caroline’s body with it. Charlie glanced around the bathroom until she found what she knew would be there: three fist-sized holes in the tile across from the shower. The last hole went directly into a stud. The wood was spattered with red. Caroline only shrugged when Charlie looked at her, her eyebrows drawn together and her mouth hanging open.
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“I know. It was stupid. I’ll need you to help me set my hand and fingers tonight.” Caroline said, matter-of-factly.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Charlie asked, looking up at Caroline as she wrapped the towel around her friend’s middle and helped her out of the tub.
“Not tonight. I’m not ready,” Caroline said, letting out a shuddering sigh. Charlie looked at Caroline for a long moment, then leaned forward and hugged her.
“Help me to the bedroom, hon,” Caroline said, stepping out of the tub. Charlie nodded and took Caroline’s good hand.
- 11 -
The bones in Caroline’s hand were going to take more than a day to heal. They were shattered, her fingers twisted in all different directions. Caroline didn’t make a sound as Charlie first pulled her fingers straight, then wrapped them with a stretchy bandage, splinted against popsicle sticks from Caroline’s craft box.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Charlie asked, already knowing the answer.
“No, I don’t think I can right now. Maybe later,” Caroline said, resting against her headboard and looking at her bandaged hand.
“Okay, that’s fine. Can you at least tell me what happened to the guy?” Charlie asked with a sigh.
“He’s dead,” Caroline said. Charlie nodded.
“Are you okay?” she asked, trying to meet Caroline’s gaze. Caroline closed her eyes and shook her head. Charlie crawled up the bed and scooted up next to Caroline, putting her head against Caroline’s chest and draping her arm across her middle. Caroline didn’t respond for a moment, but then finally reached over with her good hand and stroked Charlie’s hair.
“I love you, sweetheart,” Caroline said. Charlie looked up and met her eyes.
“I love you too,” she said, and she meant it.
CHAPTER FIVE
- 1 -
The Cadillac cruised down the highway at fifty-five miles per hour, observing the speed limit exactly. It was one of the many rules Caroline gave herself in times like these. She was hyper-aware of the fact that she was hauling an unconscious man in her trunk. Sure, he was a rapist and a massive piece of shit, but he was also technically a human being, and kidnapping him was obviously highly illegal. The last thing Caroline needed was to get pulled over and have some hillbilly cop hear him kicking in the trunk.
Caroline had tied the man up securely and gagged him, but she was still paranoid that he’d start making noise and draw attention to the car. Luckily, she didn’t anticipate needing to stop before hitting her destination. She’d gassed up the Caddy in Flagstaff, while he was still sleeping off his ketamine. That had been at 7:30. It was now getting close to 10:30 and she was about an hour outside of Vegas.
The window next to her slid down and Caroline tapped a cigarette out of her pack of Chesterfields and popped it into her mouth. The air was cold but didn’t bother her. It helped clear her head and allowed her to focus on the task ahead of her. She was nervous, but also incredibly excited. He was Untouchable, and Untouchables were priceless. She was all but certain that it would be enough to convince Salome and the council to let her back into California and their good graces.
It had been over twenty years since she’d spoken to anyone from the California vampires. She’d had to choke back tears when she heard Beau pick up the phone. She was astonished that the number she had still worked.
“Hello?” He’d said through his twisted mouth, and Caroline felt her jaw tighten and her eyes close. Beau had been her friend and colleague and was Salome’s closest confidant.
“Hello Beauregard, it’s Caroline Parker,” She said, fighting to keep the sadness out of her voice. There was a long pause on the other end.
“Caroline. What an unexpected surprise. We haven’t heard from you in decades. How are you?” he said with the air of a man who’s just heard a rattle in a desert bush.
“I’m doing well. How are you?” she said, surprised that he’d asked at all.
“Things are going splendidly here. Busy as always. Where are you, Caroline?”
Caroline had expected that question and was ready for it.
“I’m at home,” she said, suddenly cautious.
“In New Mexico?”
“No, I’ve moved,” she said.
“I see. What can I do for you, Caroline? I assume you aren’t calling to catch up with an old Frenchman?”
Caroline laughed and swallowed, trying to gather her senses.
“I have something for our benefactor. Something I think she’ll appreciate. I’d like to bring it to her,” she said.
“In person? I don’t know that she’ll be receptive to that. You can’t come here. You know this,” he said. She could hear him patting his mouth with his handkerchief. It was a sound she was familiar with, and it stirred up old memories.
“I could meet her somewhere. Our spot outside of Vegas. I don’t have to go to California.”
“What is it?” He asked.
“I have an Untouchable. I would like to give it to her in exchange for a pardon.” She said directly, not beating around the bush. In her stomach was a ball of tension that threatened to explode out of her mouth in a torrent of screaming. She clamped her jaw shut when she wasn’t speaking.
“I see,” he said. There was a long, pregnant silence. “I will, of course, relay all of this to our benefactor. I will call you back when I have more information,” he said before hanging up. Caroline stood there for a moment with the phone in her hand, listening to the empty silence, and then the dial tone.
In the car, Caroline threw her cigarette out the window and resisted the urge to push the car up to sixty.
&nb
sp; - 2 -
The pink tyrannosaurus rex glowed in the inky blackness. At night, it was like a steel and concrete cartoon stretching up into the sky. Behind it, the impossibly tall neck of a brontosaurus towered over the silhouette of the now-closed diner. Aside from the spotlights illuminating the dinosaurs, Kellie’s Diner was dark.
It had been nearly thirty years since Caroline had been this close to California, and thirty years since she’d last seen Salome and any of the California vampires. The last time had been at this same roadside attraction in 1948 when they’d unceremoniously dropped her off with the warning that she never go farther west than Las Vegas. Salome had stood under that atrocious dinosaur and held her by the shoulders, looked into her eyes, and kissed her on the forehead.
“I’m sorry it came to this. I wish things had gone differently for you, but this is what must happen. I love you, mon trésor,” she said, her eyes kind but resolute. Her expression held both pity and regret.
“You don’t have to do this,” Caroline said, desperately fighting the tears that were stinging her eyes. Salome only nodded.
“I do, you know this. What happens here is kindness. You know what the alternative is,” she said, stepping away from Caroline, towards her black Rolls Royce, where Beau stood, holding the door open.
Caroline was able to hold it together until the car pulled out and back onto the highway, leaving her alone in the glow of the dinosaurs. That’s when her face contorted and she fell back against the door of her car.
It was surreal pulling into the same parking lot and seeing what amounted to the same cars parked the same way as they had been that night. The vehicles were all newer models, of course, but she still instantly recognized the Rolls Royce sitting between two Lincoln Town Cars, and Beau standing next to the Rolls.
She parked the Cadillac across from the three cars, forming a makeshift ring, with Beau and two other vampires she didn’t recognize standing in the middle. Caroline gripped the wheel of the Caddy, the leather of her gloves squeaking. After a long moment, she stepped out of the car and walked to the middle of the ring, greeting Beau. She couldn't help but look for other people she recognized from her time in California. Victoria climbed out of one of the town cars, dressed nicer than the mechanic's coveralls she tended to wear thirty years ago. She eyeballed Caroline with obvious suspicion.
“Hello, Beau,” Caroline said, stepping up to greet him. He took her hand in both of his and brought it up to his scarred mouth. His face, along with the rest of his body, was badly burned. There had been a time, many years ago when Caroline had trouble looking past his disfigured face, but not that night. That night she was filled with a sense of longing and love for the life she’d had when he was a constant reassuring presence.
“Hello, Caroline. You look well,” he said, the words falling awkwardly from his mouth. Caroline knew this was a lie. She didn’t look well at all and hadn’t looked like herself for a long time. Physically, perhaps, she looked similar, but the confidence and sense of purpose had drained from her life long ago and left her a miserable, listless mess.
“Thank you, you look great. That’s a nice suit,” she said, feeling stupid and vulnerable. Where was Salome? Of course, she was in the Rolls Royce. She hadn’t even gotten out of the car to greet her. Is that where they were? Is that as much as she cared about seeing her?
“Let’s see this Untouchable you’ve told me about,” Beau said, looking at the Cadillac.
“Of course.”
A thousand thoughts were racing through her head as they walked to the car. Not the least of which was what she’d have to do with Charlie once they brought her back into the California fold. The girl would have to go, of course. Caroline had considered the idea of driving Charlie somewhere out east and letting her loose, like a dog on the side of a country road, but quickly dismissed this thought. It was ridiculous. No, Charlie had to disappear. She was heretical and if Salome discovered her existence, they’d do worse than banish her. They’d put her in the box, or, even worse, up on a pole to take in the sunrise.
It wouldn’t be difficult to get rid of Charlie. The girl slept more than anyone Caroline had ever met, and she could easily wrap her up, take her out to the desert and burn her without much trouble. She probably wouldn’t even wake up before Caroline dropped the match onto the gasoline-soaked blanket she was wrapped in.
Thinking about this made Caroline sad, and she didn’t like to consider the task ahead of her, but at the same time, she desperately wanted her old life back. She was willing to do what it took to get that.
That was if her gift was enough of a prize to exchange for her life. Caroline thought he just might be. Salome loved Untouchables and had been known to pay tens of thousands of dollars for them. Especially a young, healthy specimen like this one.
Caroline gave the Rolls another careful look and turned to her own car. The keys jangled in her hand as she approached the trunk. Her stomach was in knots as she put the key in and lifted the lid.
- 3 -
The first thing they noticed when Caroline opened the trunk was the smell. The stink of human shit and vomit wafted up into their faces. The next thing was the fact that the man was dead.
“Oh, dear…” Beau said as they stared at the man's corpse.
“No!” Caroline shouted as she reached in and shook Ted's limp body by the shoulder. He rolled over. His mouth was caked with puke. His eyes, half-lidded, stared at nothing.
“How long did you have him in your trunk?” Beau asked, stepping back and putting his handkerchief to his nose. Caroline let go of Ted's body and stepped back, her hands in her hair. She spoke through clamped teeth.
“For the drive here, from Flagstaff,” she managed to push out.
“Oh no, you can’t do that. You can’t leave a living person in your trunk for that long. It’s how long from Flagstaff? Three hours?”
“Four…” Caroline muttered, now covering her mouth with her hands and biting down into the meat of her palm through the leather of her glove.
“No no, that will never do. Mon cheri, the fumes. Especially in an old car such as this one,” he said, waving his hand at the Cadillac. Caroline suddenly smacked herself in the face.
“Stupid!” she screamed as she hit herself again. With a speed that seemed impossible given the stilted, twisted way he moved, Beau reached out and gripped Caroline’s wrist just below her gloved hand, restraining her from striking herself again.
“No no, we mustn’t do that,” he said, pulling her close and wrapping his arms around her. Caroline sobbed into his chest.
“I tried! I really tried! It’s been so long,” she said through guttural, choking cries.
“I know you did. I’m sorry,” he said.
Caroline looked up at the Rolls Royce in time to see the tinted rear window slide up. Beau pulled away and stepped back.
“I must go now. Please take care of yourself. Be good and have patience. Perhaps one day, in the future, things will be different. For now, though, we must go, and you must stay.”
Beau walked back to the Rolls and opened the door. Caroline stood there and, for the second time in her life, watched as Salome’s Rolls Royce pulled out of the parking lot of Kellie’s Diner and onto the westbound highway back to California.
Caroline collapsed onto the dusty ground and screamed.
- 4 -
The Cadillac rolled to a stop fifty yards from the dirt road Caroline had taken it down. She had no idea where she was, only that she’d taken a series of roads off the highway on the way back to Flagstaff. She didn’t care. A house sat, alone and possibly abandoned, on the horizon. Otherwise, she could see no sign of humanity other than the unpaved road.
She caught a glimpse of her face in the rearview mirror and immediately looked away. She looked like a mental patient. Fresh tears bit at her eyes. Her mascara had run down her face in black streaks. Her lipstick had been wiped away by the back of her hand, leaving a red smear across her cheek and on the back of her
leather glove. She stepped out of the car.
Caroline walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. The man was still dead and smelled just as bad as ever.
“Fucker!” she shouted at his body and punched him in the chest. She reached down and pulled his body out of the trunk and tossed him onto the ground. He’d been laying against the blanket that wrapped her shovel and pickaxe. She unrolled the bundle in the trunk, trying to ignore the stink that was still present.
The shovel felt natural in her hand as she brought it down, sideways, into Ted's neck. It took a chunk out of the meat there but didn’t do the job of severing his head. Two more chops and that was done, releasing his head and sending it rolling a few feet away. Caroline screamed as she brought the shovel down into his torso, beating it repeatedly.
After a few minutes, Ted was a pile of broken hunks of meat, wrapped in jeans and a t-shirt, and Caroline fell against the car, exhausted. The chore of digging him a grave was still ahead of her, but to Caroline, it seemed like an insurmountable task. She couldn’t bring herself to let go of her prize and admit that she’d fucked up so badly.
The hood of the Cadillac was warm when she climbed up onto it. She could feel it heating her back, which contrasted with the cold air and made her feel a little better. Caroline gently pulled at the fingers of her gloves, pulling them off her hands and dropping them on the hood of the car next to her. Staring up at the stars, she took the index finger of her left hand in her right hand and twisted hard. The bones splintered, and she winced, letting go of the finger, leaving it bent at an unusual angle. She took her middle finger and did the same, working her way across her hand until she got to her thumb, which bent back and dislocated. Once she’d finished mangling her hand, she went about the task of pulling her fingers into something like the position they were supposed to be in. The bones ground and shot pain through her body, but she dutifully set each finger, then repositioned her thumb, and rested her hand on her chest.
