Dead Surround - The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles
Page 29
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
Five down in the kitchen, thought Poe as she stood up. Sainvire took some bullets in the arms, and darkish liquid oozed from his wounds. “Okay there, handsome?”
“Yes,” he said bravely. “Give it a minute or two and the holes will fuse. I hope,” he added to be funny which irritated Poe to the core.
“Jerk,” she said with a clenched jaw.
Sainvire handed Poe a commercial-grade iron skillet that weighed shy of twenty pounds. “Put that over your heart, alright?”
“Are you kidding me? I need both my hands for shooting. This thing is heavy as heck.”
“Just until we reach the escalators, Julia. Then you can toss it at somebody’s head,” he said in exasperation.
“So now you call me Julia when you’re annoyed with me?” she said. Her given name used to evoke passion and longing when Sainvire spoke it.
The vampire didn’t answer but proceeded in front of her, his Jericho 941F in hand. Both looked wildly for snipers within the well lit performance hall. Whereas cold steel hugged the building outside of the famous landmark, the inside was effused with earthy décor and warm unpolished marble cut into rectangular tile that added resonance to the acoustics of the hall. The lobby area seemed empty enough, but both Sainvire and Poe stayed alert.
“Take the escalator, Poe. I’ll check things out ahead of you,” said the vampire. He looked dead serious. He soared to the second floor, and his fangs lengthened on their own accord.
Even holding the dreadfully heavy skillet against her chest, Poe did as Sainvire instructed. She 333
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
remembered going up and down the very same escalator in stiletto heels, and color drained from her face. Trench’s home was her horror house, malignant and sticky with nightmare. Images of Trench giving her tender pleasures and having him stand by while vampires feasted on her brought blood cursing back into her veins. Tonight, Trench will die.
Sainvire met her at the top of the staircase. “I circled the building, Poe. Nothing.”
Afraid Sainvire correctly judged the second floor to be empty, she headed for her old room. Her findings confirmed the truth. Still unconvinced she entered Trench’s boudoir and felt tremors in her stomach. “Leave me the fuck alone,” she told the walls as indecent images flooded her brain.
Sainvire put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Let’s check the concert chamber, Poe.”
Poe sniffed and squared her shoulders. “I’m dropping this frying pan once we’re in, entiendes?”
Sainvire’s lower lip quivered, suppressing a laugh. “Sí.”
They took the winding side stairs upward to reach the highest balcony doors. Both agreed wordlessly that it was better that way. They would have sight advantage at the very least if they were at the highest rung. The curvature of the auditorium was funneled, perhaps even cone-shaped.
“Take the next door, Poe, and I’ll take this one.
I’ll open it once I hear your hand on the knob.”
Poe nodded and went her way.
The concert space was lit, though nearly half the light bulbs had burned out. Poe and Sainvire entered the upper tier at the same time, thanks to Sainvire’s ultra-sensitive hearing. Poe crouched low and 334
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
surveyed the room. Great Ali, point them out to me, she prayed in hope that her hero and her instincts would lead her to the enemy.
Poe heard the sound of Santa Ana winds against cloth, and she saw a whish of black fly toward the west side of the hall. It was Sainvire, she realized, plucking from the side balcony a female vamp armed with a cross-bow. Without compunction Sainvire cracked her head and stabbed her in the heart with his finely honed nail.
“To your right, Poe,” he yelled. The girl was too busy watching the killing to realize a gorgeous, leaping model vamp was speeding her way. The calm that always came at violent times blanketed Poe. She raised her Berretta and shot the vampire in the head twice. The beautiful blonde fell back, mouth open, on seat B-28.
Three more vamps burst their way out of the wall acoustic panels and blasted indiscriminately at Poe and Sainvire. From the corner of her eye Poe saw Sainvire shoot a flying vamp, but the bullet only grazed his ear. Concentrate, Poe, she said to herself while watching the vamps zigzag to her balcony.
Exhaling, she aimed and fired at the heavy-set halfdead and followed by piercing the androgynous vampire in leather-studded clothes twice in the chest.
She looked down to witness Sainvire slicing his nemesis’ neck. Poe cringed. Violence was not her way anymore, she realized. The hall was eerily still.
Poe caught Sainvire’s eyes and smiled.
“Is that all?”
“I think so,” said Sainvire. He looked strangely at Poe.
“That was kind of easy.”
335
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
“Yeah. Too easy,” he said. “Poe, do you realize you’re still holding that frying pan?”
Poe’s right hand was indeed still holding the pan over her chest like she was about to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The vampire hunter giggled and dropped the pan. “Stupid m—”
She imagined hearing the shot coming from far away. But what really tested her ear was when the steel-tip bullet that had been dipped in garlic oil hit her in the chest and punctured her Kevlar.
Ouch, Poe thought. She fell on a wooden bench.
“Poe!” cried Sainvire. She vaguely heard. At the stage appeared a score of vampires who prevented Sainvire from reaching Poe. Fueled by the need to see her, the vampire fought eight dead with the speed of Joseph, the accuracy of Poe, and the desperation of a man whose lover had just been shot. Within a minute all eight undead and halfdead were on the stage at his feet. Those he killed weren’t clothed in designer clothes, Trench’s signature bodyguard swag.
They were off the streets and lacking any tangible powers. Trench must’ve been hurting to hire these half-starved vamps. Before Sainvire could take flight, the familiar sardonic voice of Quillon Trench stopped him.
“Funny, isn’t it, Kaleb?” Trench said. A white and black scarf covered most of his face. He walked out to the stage. “Who would’ve thought that I could transform a guttersnipe like her into a lady?”
“Fuck you, Trench. Poe doesn’t need dressing,”
said Sainvire. His eyes blazed with hatred. “She’s the best out of all of us.”
“She is that. It was no surprise, I suppose, that I fell in love with her like you did.”
336
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
“Having her tortured by other men in front of you is not love, asshole,” growled Kaleb. “It’s called a fetish.”
Trench snorted. “Whatever you say, Kaleb.
Either way, I’m done. She killed most of my people, and those I sent to investigate the beach areas haven’t returned. Even the custodians are gone.”
“I’m going to kill you now, Quillon, because you’re on Poe’s time right now,” he said. His nails lengthened twelve inches.
Quillon laughed. “I can’t fight you. I have very weak powers. I’m just a brain with plans. Besides, without beautiful people and the love of sweet Poe around me, what else is there but the apocalypse?”
He raised his arms and nodded for Sainvire to finish him.
Sainvire felt rage for the man who’d altered Poe forever. As he raised his sharp nails to tear Quillon limb from limb, a shot rang out and the master vampire called Trench fell truly dead on the concert hall stage with a bullet between the eyes.
Perplexed, Sainvire looked up to where Poe had lay. The girl had shot Trench to a permanent death.
By the time Sainvire reached her, the Beretta had fallen between the balcony seats.
Poe’s eyes were glazed with pain. “Did I get him?” Poe asked weakly.
“Dead center, love,” Sainvire answered. He withheld desperation from his voice. For the first time in decades his hand shook. He gently tugged
open the Kevlar and pulled it off her shoulders.
“Good. Said I was gonna kill him. Kaleb. I can barely breathe,” Poe said, gasping. “Think I’m done for.”
337
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
“Don’t say that,” said Sainvire with acid.
“You’re not leaving me, young lady.” He had the urge to cry despite the fact that vampires could not shed tears. He lifted her black shirt soaked with blood and studied the wound above her left breast. The back of the bullet was visible. The shooter had fired from the stage. Sainvire bit his lower lip. He prayed that the bullet was of a low caliber. Otherwise he wouldn’t have known what do.
“How bad?” she asked tiredly.
“Just a scrape, Poe. Just a scrape.” Sainvire removed his coat and black button-down shirt.
“Why are you naked?” asked Poe in dazed. Even when dizzy, Poe could see the vampire’s muscular build.
“I’m going to use my shirt as a bandage. You shouldn’t talk, Poe. Conserve your strength,” he answered, concealing any hint of panic. As if sweat beaded his forehead, Sainvire wiped his brow with his arms. With his index finger and thumb he extracted the bullet. Blood poured out of the tiny wound like a tipped bottle of wine. The vampire stoppered the flow with his shirt, keeping firm pressure until the blood stilled.
Poe, looking ashen, had fainted. “You have to live, Poe,” he said quietly. “Our lives wouldn’t be the same without you.”
Sainvire stepped outside of Disney Hall half-naked and carrying Poe in his arms. The girl was wrapped up in her lover’s clothes. The vampire cursed.
Outside stood fifty vampires. “Look. I don’t have 338
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
time for this,” he said, his hard voice carrying. “I promise I’ll come back next week so you can hack me to pieces.”
A bearded undead, apparently the spokesperson of the group, stepped forward. “That’s not our intention, Mr. Sainvire.”
“Then what do you want?” asked Sainvire curtly.
“Some of us have put guards outside the cattle farms to guard them from idiots who don’t think long-term. Most everyone has tried Plasmacore at least once in this town and found it not so bad.”
“So what do you want me to do?” asked Sainvire.
“Maybe you can tell us what to do. Be our master again? Without authority, we’ll fall to pieces.
You know that from Machiavelli and Plato, right?”
Sainvire stared at the vampire that summed up the stereotypical professor and nodded. “I’m not going to be anyone’s master. I can come back or send someone here to help you organize, but my hands are full. Keep the cattle protected. Tell anyone who defies that order that Kaleb Sainvire will personally skewer them like rats if even one human is hurt. And if anybody tries to leave Downtown, I will come after them myself. Alright with you? What’s your name?”
“I’m Bartholomew Hayward,” answered the pragmatic vampire. “And it’s alright by us, sir.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hayward,” said Kaleb. He levitated slowly upward then jetted as expeditiously as he could toward Venice.
339
CHAPTER 17
THE SOUND OF SURF crashing against rock intrigued her enough to open her eyes. She blinked a few times to clear her vision only to come face to face with Penny looking anxious to please. She had fallen asleep on the sand again trying to avoid the island inhabitants as much as she could. She air-kissed the dog, and at once her loyal companion licked her face with sand paper tongue and lay her head on Poe’s stomach. The dog knew better than to rest any part of her body on Poe’s chest.
Three months earlier she had woken up in a sea of smiling faces. There was Habib, Michelle, Maclemar, Joseph, Morales, and Sainvire.
“Poe, you came back to us,” said a very grateful Morales. “If I failed as T-Doc, this worthless gang of worms would’ve lynched me.”
“Good to see you, Poe. We’re all safe. Maclemar brought us all to Catalina Island single-handedly,” said her curly-haired friend.
“Aye, Sharren. No Revs here. You can relax and enjoy the panoramic view when you get up and around,” said Maclemar whose eyes looked misty.
“Thanks, Mister. I appreciate all you’ve done for me.”
340
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
Poe’s gaze rested on Sainvire who was as still and implacable as she’d ever seen him. His stubble bothered her. He said nothing.
Joseph cleared his throat and nodded at her.
“Couldn’t think about you being gone, sis. Not you.
Our superhero.”
As she gazed at the dying sun, she felt the tender love she had for her friends. However, at that moment, all she wanted was for them to leave the room and let her be. Truth was, a few months ago she would have been willing to trade her life for them. But she realized she was an ordinary girl. She was no superhero, and nothing would be the same.
Trench and his cronies had rutted on her and spooned her blood into their greedy mouths while they restrained her to the bed. There were no champions like Xena or Bruce Lee to get her out of the bind. Not even the ghosts of her parents had helped her out. Then I got shot in the chest and nearly died. Where are you, Sister Ann? Goss? Her pathetic belief that she was a godsend sure-shot was laughable now. Her chest hurt whenever she tried to overextend herself.
Poe tasted mortality, and it shook her enough to embody weakness and broken spirit. The guts and sass she’d honed since the deaths of Sister Ann and Goss were gone. How could she explain such a thing to her friends?
One of the bravest gestures in her life was to smile to reassure them that she was fine. Good old Poe was back.
Her chest hurt, but her courage pained her more. It was sorely bleeding, and she believed none of her friends or even Sainvire could help her.
341
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
She heard the soft padding of feet on sand. It was Sainvire. He kneeled next to her and studied her face.
“The last boat is leaving, Poe,” he said with a heavy heart. “Won’t you reconsider?”
Ever since Sainvire had promised to restructure Downtown, the people from Catalina Island agreed to go back if only to restore their dignity. Custodians, janitors, and ex-cattle would now have a hand in destroying the reign of the vampires for which Poe refused to be part of.
“I’ve done my part. Don’t you agree?” she said, her voice low. “I deserve my retirement, and I can’t stop thinking about Chops. Besides, the pain in my chest might foil any plans you may have of parading me around.”
Sainvire sighed, and he scratched Penny’s collarless neck. “You know I wouldn’t do that. I just want you near me. I have to be where our people are.
And we have a chance to correct the wrongs vampires have inflicted on humans. Then there’s Plasmacore.”
“Yes, Kaleb. I bear no ill will. I’ve always believed that your people come first.”
Sainvire covered his face with his hands in shame for not disputing the truth of what Poe had said. Ever since Poe had woken from her near-fatal wound, she’d pushed everyone she loved at bay. She asked for her own room. He waited for her invitation and so did Maclemar, but it never came. She insisted on her privacy. To see her so haunted, so fearful that she’d rather have isolation than the company of her friends, hurt him like nothing he’d ever experienced. The old Poe was hiding behind the pain in her chest where a bullet had nearly stolen her life. Morales said that Poe had experienced the mortal coil. The pain was in her 342
Rono/DEAD SURROUND
head, and the sooner she snapped out of it, the better she would be.
“You come first, Julia Poe,” said Sainvire as he captured smooth black hair between his fingers. “I’ll stay with you if you wish.”
Poe grinned up at him. “It would kill you to stay with me, you know that. I need to heal up. I need to sleep in the sand with Penny.” The only one in this demented world who would
never leave my side.
Sainvire stood to leave as Poe rested her head in the sand. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of Penny’s warmth on her belly. Sainvire’s dead heart was heavy. The woman he loved was defeated, and he couldn’t face the sad fact. Poe was lost to everyone, and it was as if the world lost half the moon.
“I love you, Julia Poe,” he said somberly.
Poe never responded, and Sainvire walked away with a barrel full of remorse on his broken shoulder.
THE END
343
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17