“This here’s your place,” he said, nodding to the door beside him.
“Thanks.” Selah said. She walked up and Cholly stepped aside.
“You’re gonna be all right,” he said.
“Yeah? I don’t know about that.” She tried to smile bravely up at him, but the compassion in his large eyes nearly undid her tenuous self-control.
“Sure you will. There are rules here, different from what you know, but there are rules everywhere. You just got to adapt. We live pretty good, things considering. We’re doing better than last year, and we did better last year than the year before. Soon you’ll find a way to contribute, and you’ll help us grow. You’ll make friends. You’re gonna be all right.”
Selah studied his wide, honest face, and then shook her head. “Thanks. I don’t know if I believe you, but it’s nice for you to say.”
He smiled ruefully, and then patted her shoulder. “Be easy on Mama. She’s all worked up ‘bout your being here.”
Selah put her hand on the door handle and then stopped. “She’s worked up? She doesn’t seem to even care.”
Cholly shrugged and stepped back. “She cares. She’s just used to showing it by telling people what to do. You’ll see.”
Selah opened the door and stepped inside. Mama B was waiting for her in a large armchair, facing the door with her hands laced over her stomach.
“All right,” said Mama B, “let’s hear it.”
“Hear what?”
“How upset you are. How unfair life is. How much you blame me for getting deported to Miami. Go on now, get it off your chest.”
Selah blinked. Her grandmother’s face was hard. There she sat, larger than life, chin raised, waiting, and suddenly Selah didn’t know what to say.
“No?” asked Mama B. “I can see the fire in your eyes, girl. We both know that if I’d stayed with you and your daddy in Brooklyn, you wouldn’t be here right now. But here you are, and I bet you’re mad. I don’t blame you. So come on now. Speak your piece.”
Selah shook her head. “What? No. You got it all wrong.”
It was Mama B’s turn to look surprised. “What do you mean, got it all wrong? You saying you’re happy to be here?”
“No, not that, but just that I don’t blame you for it.” Selah did her best to ride the old anger as it surfaced. Mama B had never gotten along with her dad, but when Selah’s mother had died in a car accident during the War, it had been Mama B’s confidence and calm and all-enveloping love that had held them all together. For a time at least. After the War ended, the arguments had started up again, and Mama B had finally left them both to help the people trapped in Miami. Selah had been fourteen at the time, and it just hadn’t made sense: why would somebody quit their family for a bunch of strangers?
Selah took a deep breath and buried those memories. “I’m here because I chose to be here. I asked to be deported and be put in your custody. I wanted to come.”
“Did you, now,” said Mama B. She took a moment to process that, and Selah watched her move preconceptions and assumptions around in her mind. “I’m missing some pieces of this story. Why don’t we start from the beginning. You’re saying you wanted to come?”
Selah moved forward and sat in a wooden chair across from Mama B. Her grandma was watching her with sharp scrutiny, mouth pursed, leaning forward and intent. Selah tried to marshal her thoughts. “You know how you always said dad’s stories would never change the world? Well, I think you were wrong. He was working on an investigation before he disappeared. A big one. He told me that it went pretty deep, and would cause a lot of trouble when he published it. Then he disappeared—but he left his Omni behind in a place he knew only I’d find it. So I read his files. He was investigating this new drug called Blood Dust. You heard of it?”
Selah struggled for calm as she spoke. To not let the pain claw its way out of the box in which it was tightly hidden. Mama B shook her head, and then Selah realized she wasn’t answering her question but rather responding to the pain in Selah’s eyes.
“Oh baby. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Mama B rose and walked over to envelop her in a hug. “Can you forgive me? I’m a foolish old woman. Here I thought you were going to show up a spoiled young girl, mad at the world and mad at me.” Mama B pulled back and studied Selah’s face. “Instead I find you all grown up. And you’re telling me you came down here on purpose?” She hugged Selah tightly once more. It was too much. Selah tried to hold back the tears, but Mama B’s embrace brought back memories, old memories of home and better days, which combined with fear and exhaustion wore down the last of her defenses. Selah felt her eyes burn, and she pressed her face hard against Mama B’s shoulder. She clenched her jaw and willed herself not to cry, but her father’s face came to her and with it all the misery of the past two months. She bit down on her sobs, but still her shoulders shook each time one fought to escape her chest.
Mama B held her for as long as she cried, and then wiped her face and kissed her forehead. “You’re with me now,” she said, voice stern and loving at the same time. “I’m going to take care of you. We’re family. We’re all we got. Now tell me what you were saying about your daddy. What have you learned?”
Selah wiped her face with her sleeve and then nodded. “I think he’s alive. I think somebody took him, arrested him maybe for what he was going to publish. But nobody will say anything. I can’t get anybody to admit anything. He’s just missing, but I think he saw it coming. Like I said, he left me his Omni, and I read his notes. You heard about Blood Dust?”
Mama returned to her armchair and nodded. “Yes, a little. The new drug. The vampires here in Miami don’t like it. Anybody caught using it gets killed.”
“Really?” That was news. “They don’t allow it?”
“Not that I’ve heard. Doesn’t stop fools from using it though. Why?”
Selah rubbed at her eyes one last time then dropped her hands in her lap. “It’s what he was investigating. Most of his notes were missing, but there was stuff there about the government or the military being involved. It’s why he got taken.”
“So wait. What’s his investigation got to do with your being here?”
“Well.” Selah straightened her back. “Blood Dust is supposed to be connected to the vampires somehow. If I can learn what they want to hide so bad, maybe I can blackmail them into freeing him.” This was it. The idea that had sustained her through her darkest days.
“Selah. Hold up. Are you telling me you’ve exiled yourself for life so as to follow some investigation that got your father arrested? That you came down to Miami in the hope of learning—what—government secrets that will free your father?” Mama B shook her head. “Honey, what have you done? There’s no leaving Miami. And just what were you planning to do? Walk around asking people on the street if they know military secrets? Where Blood Dust comes from? Ask the vampires to help?”
“Well, no—I’m not sure. I was going to figure it out when I got here.” Didn’t her grandmother understand? “I’ve got to find a way. What else could I do? Just give up on dad? Whatever it takes, I’m going to get him back.”
“Honey, you don’t know a thing about how this city works. You don’t know how it runs. You go around asking about Dust you’re going to get yourself killed.” Selah knew that tone. It had ended all arguments when she was fourteen.
Selah felt a spark of anger. “I don’t have a choice. I’m here now, aren’t I? I’m committed. One way or another, I’m going to find out what happened to my dad.”
Mama B sat forward. “Selah. You are not going to walk around this city asking about Dust. You’re a brave girl, but this isn’t Brooklyn. Do you think your father would have wanted you to die for him?”
Selah felt the spark blaze and rose to her feet. “You lost the right to tell me what to do when you walked out on us.”
Instead of matching her anger, Mama B sat back. “Girl, it is more dangerous than you can possibly understand outside these walls. There are
people out on those streets that will kill you for what’s between your legs, or for what’s flowing in your veins, or for no good reason at all. I admire your motivation to help your father, but getting killed won’t change a thing. Listen to me. You need to first get wise. Get street smart. Learn your way around. Then, maybe, you can start asking questions. Not now.”
“I am not going to wait.” Selah felt blank refusal rise up within her like a tidal wave, and curled her hands into fists. “Right now, dad could be hurt, or dying. You think I’m going to take my time?”
“Yes, I do. You’re under my roof now, and while you’re here you’ll do what you’re told. If you don’t, you’ll wind up dead. It’s that simple.”
Selah didn’t know how to respond. Several times she opened her mouth to say something, to shatter that infuriating calm, but in her mind all her words sounded whiny and infantile. Nothing seemed sufficient. Worse, under the fury and fear, Selah suspected her grandmother was right. She was out of her depth. Had this all been a huge mistake? Her whole plan? The thought made her feel dizzy. Panicked. She couldn’t accept that. She simply couldn’t.
Selah turned and ran out the door. Then she froze. The music stopped, and people down the hall quickly looked away, pretending to be doing something else. She stepped to the balcony and looked down. Even the goats seemed to be staring up at her. A wave of claustrophobia washed over her, and all she could think to do was run, to get away.
Looking down, she saw Maria Elena striding along the side of the courtyard just before she ducked out of sight into the stairwell. Without thinking Selah ran down the corridor and back into the stairwell, tumbling down the steps, down to the ground floor. Maria Elena was gone. Where? Looking around desperately, she saw an emergency exit door. Her grandmother’s words hung in her mind, churning up her pain and anger, her fear and embarrassment, but she had to get out, and Maria Elena was her only chance. Running forward she yanked the heavy deadbolts back, kicked the crash bar, and threw open the door. People began to yell, to chase after her, but she escaped their hands and was gone, running down the dark street and into the Miami night.
Chapter Three
Selah ran. Where was Maria Elena? Had she already made it down the block? Not wanting to lose her, Selah sprinted over the broken asphalt, arms pumping. She resisted the urge to call out, to yell the other girl’s name. Had a car already picked her up? Down the block she ran, across the street. Right through the intersection, all the buildings around her dark. Panic coursed through her, terror, and she looked around desperately for Maria Elena. She ran with great long strides, sprinting as hard as she could. No matter that she would only be able to go a short distance like this. No matter that a stitch was already burning in her side. Running felt great. Running felt wonderful.
Three blocks, four. She was running now just to keep going, not wanting to admit that she had missed the other girl, that she was out here alone. A broader street, a bus moldering on sunken tires right in the middle of the intersection. She slowed, ran around it. A few lights on behind shutters in the building to her left, the sound of music. On down the avenue, slowing even more, sweat beading her brow, her breath coming in gasps now. Into the next intersection, slowing as she reached its middle, stopping.
The sky to the east was dark, a deep, leaden blue, the sky to the west still smudged the color of drying blood. The clouds were epic, but already fading to grays, the last of the color leaching out of them. She stood still, trying to control her breath. Straightened and looked back the way she’d come, picturing Mama B striding down the street right after her. But there was nothing there, just the distant silhouette of the anchored bus.
Selah felt her stomach cramp with fear, and for the first time really thought about what she’d done. She hugged herself and whipped her head from side to side, trying to look in all directions at once. Nothing, just empty streets. Where was everybody? Locked away safe, a voice said in her mind, a quiet and sensible voice she tried to ignore. Locked away safe like you should be. Not walking the streets at night.
Shivering despite the warm air, she ghosted out of the intersection and into the recessed doorway of a cigar shop. Pressed her back against the corrugated iron shutter and edged into the corner. Listened to the deep, soft darkness as it claimed Miami as its own.
The big blockbuster movie last summer had been Nowhere to Run starring Brad Dancer. He’d played a man who’d broken into Miami to rescue his girlfriend, only to find that she’d become a vampire. The last third of the movie had featured his trying to escape the city during one long, terrifying night. The movie producers had famously worked a deal with the vampires in charge of the city and been allowed to film on location. Selah had seen it once last year, and three times again in the last month. And now here she was, crouched in a dark corner just like Brad Dancer had done, but without his shotgun and suicidal bravery.
Somewhere close by a bottle shattered, and laughter spiraled into the air. Selah stiffened and pressed deeper into the corner. She should go back to the Palisades. Apologize to her grandmother, apologize to everybody, slink in and be a good granddaughter. For a moment she hung in the balance, and then she recognized a voice and her heart leaped: Maria Elena.
Selah peered out from around the doorway in the direction of the voices. Close, but not yet in sight. She stole forth and walked as quickly and quietly as she could to the street corner and peered once more around it. A car was parked to one side of the street, headlights streaming like twin white conical ghosts into the dusk. A small group of people had gathered there, talking as if they had no worries in the world. Maria Elena was amongst them, leaning against a muscled young man in a white tank and low-slung jeans. Six people, maybe, handing around a bottle and talking quietly, rifles and handguns casually displayed to deter unwanted attention.
Selah bit her lip. All her anger was long gone, and now all she felt was anxiety and a low-level fear. She stepped back and bit the inside corner of her lips. Suddenly she felt ridiculous for having chased after Maria Elena in this way. Would she be laughed off? Told to go home? She couldn’t hesitate for much longer. She had to make a move. She took a deep breath, raised her chin, only then realizing that it was the same gesture her grandmother always made. That sent a scowl across her face, and a rose of anger began to bloom in her heart once more. There, good. Anger was good. Before she could hesitate, she stepped around the corner, and said loudly, “Hey!”
The reaction from the group was immediate. Two of the guys dropped into a crouch, spinning around and pulling out guns. The other four simply turned sharply to stare at her. Maria Elena half stepped behind the guy with the white tank, and then squinted and stared. “Selah?”
“Yeah,” said Selah, moving forward, trying to not let her voice quaver. The guns were still pointed at her. “Just me. No need to be scared.”
“You know this girl?” asked one of the crouching guys, already relaxing.
“I don’t know her know her, but yeah, she just moved into my building.” Maria Elena pushed away from her guy and began to walk toward her. “Chica, what the hell do you think you’re doing out here?”
Selah shrugged. “Nothing. Checking out the city, you know.” She tried to sound cool, indifferent, but one of the guys laughed and she suddenly felt foolish.
“Check out the city?” asked Maria Elena, eyebrows raising. She grinned. “Girl, you are crazy. Checking out the city?” She burst out laughing, and then turned to look at the guys behind her. They also laughed, and suddenly Selah didn’t feel so good. Felt really young instead, and out of her depth.
“Honey, you want me to take you home? We’re not far,” said Maria Elena again. “I can get you back inside. I got Tyler wrapped around my finger.”
“No.” Selah shook her head. “What are you guys up to?”
“Us?” Maria Elena sounded surprised. “We’re getting ready to go to the Beach.”
“The Beach? Like South Beach?” Several of the guys had lost interest and were alr
eady talking amongst themselves once more.
“Yeah, South Beach. A girl’s got to work.”
Selah tried to process that. “Work? You mean for the vampires?” She’d known coming in that some people did. Whenever a reality TV show descended on Miami, whenever a celebrity flew in to party, whenever the vampires released promotional material, there were always regular people around. People working the bars, walking the streets at night, drinking, partying, driving the cars. Still, she’d never felt that they were real people. Felt as if they were props on a stage, actors who were only pretending.
“Yeah. For the evil horrible vampires. Whatever,” said Maria Elena. “What, you not going to talk to me now?”
“No,” said Selah, struggling. “I just thought, I mean, I didn’t think …”
Maria Elena relented. Moved forward and slipped an arm around Selah’s shoulders. “Look. There is a lot for you to learn about this place. It’s not all black or white. But yeah, I work on the Beach. So do these guys, and a couple more we’re waiting for.” She curled her hair back from her face and gave Selah a bitter smile. “I’m not saying it’s safe. But it’s not so bad when you know what you’re doing. If you’ve got an ID, and are part of the system. I might even take you one night, if you want. But now, let’s get you home.”
Vampire Miami Page 3
