Tomorrow's Dead: The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles, page 13
Sainvire nodded. He knew what she was thinking. “I carry a large flask with me at all times,” he said. He tapped on the breast pocket of his black coat.
A bullet zinged past Poe’s ear, dinging a millimeter of cartilage. Sainvire was on his feet in a blink and pulled Poe behind a thick neo-classical column. He snuck his head out quickly and saw a contingent of leech ragamuffins and daywalkers with rifles, shotguns, and pistols. The army of 20 was ready for a fight. These combatants didn’t want punishment from their houses for non-action. Although they had been too fearful of the helicopters to take any serious offensive action, capturing or killing Poe and Sainvire would compensate for their earlier cowardice.
“You alright, Poe?” Sainvire asked with concern. “I can smell blood.”
“Just a nick. Lucky me.” Poe felt a tingling behind her neck like a warning call. She rotated toward the entrance to the courthouse and noticed four halfdead sneaking around to shoot them in the back. They were the ones she had generously let loose. That’s what happens when you’re too nice, she thought grimly. They stab you in the back. Poe acted quickly and shot two in the heart and the other two in the face.
“I’ll fly above and draw their fire. They’re close enough for you to take shots from behind this column.”
“Nix the flying. You’ll get hit,” said Poe, clutching the vampire’s lapel. “And are you wearing Kevlar under there? Last time you almost ate it for being stupid enough not to suit up.”
Sainvire smiled and kissed her forehead. “I wear a vest whenever there’s a raid, my love. Don’t worry about me.” Poe’s legs weakened from the way the vampire looked at her. Her inappropriate feelings ended when a volley of bullets pinged the column she was hiding behind. Without another word Sainvire zoomed into the sky and drew fire. “Good luck, my Sainvire,” Poe found herself saying.
With two Blackhawk Colt .45s in her hands, ambidextrous Poe began shooting the halfdead and leeches that raised their guns at Sainvire, splicing faces, necks, and foreheads. She automatically assumed that the enemy wore Kevlar as well, and she didn’t want to take any chances. She sprinted out from her cover to the overgrown gardens and accurately shot left and right.
Sainvire landed on the ground with his sharp-as-death nails elongated 12 inches. Poe who’d succeeded in killing leeches paused to look around for more annoyances but found none. Her eyes found Sainvire surrounded by halfdead and sunspots who had a difficult time shooting the vampire because of his speed and hacking ability. A quick-moving fanger rushed at him with a mallet and lost his head with the flick of a nail. When only one halfdead was left, Sainvire retracted his claws. “I’m not going to kill you, man. Stand up.”
The halfdead with bleached hair did as he was told. “You tell whoever is next in charge that we’re coming for the human slaves soon. If they don’t want another disaster on their hands, they’ll make it easy for us to evacuate the rest of the humans. You have the recipe for Plasmacore. Start making it. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” answered the petrified creature.
“Another thing. Tell them we know about their collaboration with Peter Nesbitt. If they continue to work with the chief San Francisco vampire, we will decimate your city. Keep yourselves alive and free. Drink Plasmacore and stay out of trouble, alright?” It occurred to Sainvire that he sounded like a commercial.
“Yes, sir. Sainvire, sir.”
Sainvire turned and said, “Poe, we have to go.”
She was chewing her lower lip in concentration. Peter Nesbitt was her enemy, and now she knew the bastard was allied with San Diego. The son of a bitch had advised Trench to kill her.
“Um, okay. Let’s fly now. I’m over this city. Plus you never know who else is lurking around.”
Sainvire nodded and cupped his hand behind Poe’s neck. “You’re right. We can never be too careful. He picked her up from behind her knees and zoomed into the sky. He had instructed Joseph to leave without them. Perhaps it was selfish of him, but he wanted to spend some time with Julia Poe before she was forever lost to him.
***
“Is it alright to fly lower now?” asked Poe after 30 minutes of flight. The pressure in her ear couldn’t be swallowed away even if she did have gum. “I’m freezing to death. It’s pretty though. The blue sea and all.”
“It’s about time for a break anyway.” Sainvire was following the coast and had forgotten how the weather could impact a small woman like Poe. As he lowered them carefully to the city of Carlsbad, rain assaulted the earth and lashed at the two revolutionaries. He flew them to the nearest abandoned house and pushed the door open. Poe pulled off her hood and tapped her feet. She’d been wearing her Chucks instead of boots, and her freezing toes were paying the price.
“You hear any pests in the house?” asked Poe. Her teeth were chattering.
“Just rats. No enemy combatants.” He removed his coat and draped it over Poe’s shoulders.
“Thanks. Sure you don’t need it?” she asked facetiously.
“Nope. Your shoes are sopping wet.” He kneeled and tried to untie Poe’s shoelaces. “I see you’re still insane about double-knotting your laces,” he said, feeling like a clumsy oaf with his large fingers.
“I can’t shake that obsession. But you’ve got to admit I’m way better now than when we first met. I lost my stutter, and I’m calmer.”
Sainvire pulled the Converse from her feet and peeled off her sodden socks. “You’ve changed a lot, Julia Poe. You’ve grown into a confident young woman with an intense strategic mind and supernatural aim.”
Poe shrugged sadly. She watched Sainvire wipe her feet with an old pillow covering from the couch. “I was pretty broken, you know. I’ve just started to recover.”
“I know. And I’m sorry I had a part in Trench taking you.”
“Don’t blame yourself. Trench was to blame, and he’s dead now. I killed him. Instant therapy for me,” she exaggerated. She had stayed in Catalina Island for a year and a half in solitude to escape intrigue and reality.
“Like you said before, I have a knack for blaming myself for everything. Your pain was the hardest. I was glad you and Maclemar found happiness at least.”
Poe stared at Sainvire’s even hands massaging her chilly feet. “We were really happy. I felt normal for once. There’s nothing like someone loving you back. I hope Maclemar is sitting up on his hospital bed asking for me just about now.”
“I hope so, too. James is a top-notch human being.”
Poe cleared her throat, catching the vampire’s gaze. “Are you really glad Maclemar and I are together?”
Sainvire studied Poe’s little pale feet for a long time before he could answer her question. “I’m glad for your happiness, and if you were to be with a man, Maclemar is a perfect choice. But you broke my heart. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. I imagined us living together and helping the city become more peaceful and self-sufficient. But you’ve lived with violence most of your life, and you don’t deserve any more intrigue. Plus I can never give you children. Even the coldness of my skin is pitiful compared to Maclemar’s warm body.”
For the first time Poe realized how lonely a life Sainvire had chosen. How agonizing it must have been to see her with another man. But then again, he could’ve had her anytime. “If you had chosen me, I’d have loved you for the rest of my days.”
“I know.” He wrapped her feet in the pillow case. “We have good people working with us now. Would you ever consider living with me somewhere? Malibu perhaps. Or the desert?”
She sniffed. “I would. But I have Maclemar now. It’s too late. But I do love you still.”
A rush of tears burst from her. Maclemar was on his death bed, and she was professing her love for another man. Sainvire was at her side handing her a handkerchief. Poe almost laughed at the old-fashioned cloth. He held her on the dusty couch while she cried her grief away. After the hanky was soaked through and her eyes dry, Poe kissed Sainvire’s plump lower lip and cheek.
“I would make love with you at this moment, but if something were to happen to Maclemar, I’d never forgive myself. Or you.”
“I understand,” he said in his practical voice. “I’ll find you some dry socks. We should head home before the storm gets worse.”
CHAPTER 9
POE STAYED UNDER THE hot shower to stop her shivering. The melancholy that hovered over her spirit the moment Sainvire let go of her at the hotel threshold nearly debilitated her. She loved two good men, and she wanted to have both of them in her arms.
She was assigned a room, her old one. She hadn’t seen Percy, Penny, or Chops since they had brought Maclemar in. Can’t see them now. I’m a mess. Poe studied her reflection in the bathroom mirror and shuddered. How can Maclemar and Sainvire think I’m attractive? The five-inch caterpillar scar that ran diagonally from forehead to cheek was nasty in her opinion. Her ear was mangled, and her eyes looked haunted. What do you guys see in me?
Like in a dream, Poe pressed the elevator button to the lobby. “It’s now or never,” she muttered. “Welshman, you better be okay or else!”
No one waited outside the OR, and she didn’t see a white coat anywhere, so she took it upon herself to sneak in the room. Her heart sank when she discovered an empty bed. Her eyes pooled with tears, and she couldn’t wipe them soon enough. Someone tapped her shoulder and Poe jumped back in alarm. It was a nurse. Without a mask on, she looked like somebody’s kind grandmother.
The woman embraced Poe and placed a comforting arm around the girl. “It’s alright to cry, Miss Poe.” The woman walked her down the hall to the sectioned areas of the sick ward. Poe looked around and found dozens of children and custodians seated. “These are the people you saved this morning. After a cursory check-up the adults will be assigned their own rooms to live. The children will attend orientation from our own little ones, and they will stay at the children’s ward for now.”
The nurse stopped before a maze of partitioned hospital beds with discreet sheets between them for privacy. “Here’s the bed you want, Miss Poe. I’ll leave you now.”
Poe shook her head. What the hell just happened? She parted the sheet to find Maclemar with three pillows propping him up as he read A Catcher in the Rye for the twentieth time. “My beauty!” Maclemar nearly shouted as he tried to sit up. He let out a growl when a bolt of electricity zapped his wounds.
“James, you caveman! You’re alive!” cried Poe. Careful not to hurt him, Poe kissed him on the forehead, cheek, and mouth. And once again she started bawling. The last time she was this emotional, Trench was whipping her back every night and spoon-feeding her blood to vampires.
“My sweetheart, I am well thanks to you and Percy bringing me to the doc.” He took her trembling hand. “The bloody y cachwr who knifed me missed my heart and lungs. I’ll be fine in a few days according to T-Doc. We can go back to Catalina in no time.”
Then she blinked twice, thwarting the fantasy she’d just woven. The man in front of her lying in sterile white sheets was as stiff as a mannequin and missing three fingers. He was ashen blue and his jewel eyes were hidden by dead lids. Maclemar was no more. The man who was willing to do anything for her was gone.
She squeezed Maclemar’s two-fingered hand as cold as a vampire’s. “I’m sorry for being selfish, James. You shouldn’t have come back to Catalina. I shouldn’t have taken you from your students or the city. Forgive me for not being able to protect you.” Poe kissed his purple lips then laughed. “You’ll need a shave, Caveman.”
Poe dipped a hand in her pocket and procured a dull gray ring and pushed it into his stiff ring finger. “I found a ring for you. I hope you like it.” Careful not to touch his bandaged shoulder, Poe pushed off her shoes and got into the small hospital bed. “Read to me, Welshman, until we both fall asleep,” she asked of the dead.
“Aye, milady,” Maclemar assented in her mind. He scratched his emerging beard and flashed his grand grin.
***
Wonderful excitement and hope captured the city, especially since 127 infants and children along with over 100 custodians had been rescued. The Los Angeles Council approved Poe’s proposal for the display of holiday decorations before Thanksgiving to lift everyone’s spirit. Sainvire had unearthed a City of Los Angeles warehouse where Christmas decorations had been locked up and asked a cross-section of the various factions to decorate Pershing Square with angels, snowflakes, and 12-foot-long candy canes. He assigned flying vampires to decorate a hundred-foot plastic Christmas tree with shiny baubles and lights. The Ancients lifted children who fastened glittering décor on the lower branches.
The children had never experienced the bright lights or other Christmas traditions and were confused but in awe. The teachers brought out Christmas books to illuminate questions and focused on love, giving, and sharing. Explaining Santa Claus was a tedious pursuit so movie nights were set up for the children and whomever wanted to brush up on their holiday lingo. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and miscellaneous other holiday productions saved from the library were played every night until the kids became excited. A few adults with first-rate vocal chords taught Christmas songs to eager children.
Sainvire came up with the idea of a gift exchange between adults and children where the adult could make or find something for the child and the child could draw masterpieces for the adult. Michelle and Percy gathered toys from the Toy District by the truck full in case adults didn’t have the cojones to wander off and look for gifts for the little ones.
Broadway, Spring Street, Main Street, and the perpendicular numbered streets were adorned with lights and blinking trumpets. Older kids were allowed to babysit little ones and roam around Pershing Square where Joseph and Jenna were trying to reinstate a skating rink for the children. With cooperation, Downtown Los Angeles began the Christmas season early, and hope was truly in the air.
With the help of Sainvire, Poe and Percy moved into a three-bedroom loft on Spring Street in the heart of a bubbling, revitalized neighborhood. The view of Downtown from their living room was divine, and the girls were extremely satisfied. Everywhere they went, passersby asked Poe to sample foods that hadn’t existed in the city for 20 years. Percy happily obliged, but Poe usually declined. She was still in mourning, and the thought of Maclemar missing the festivities made her sick.
Sainvire was as excited as the next, but the lingering problem of Peter Nesbitt haunted him. He’d sent scouts every week to make sure no invasion was forthcoming. Rufus and his air patrol busily trained interested parties to pilot helicopters and airplanes. Cessnas and choppers were retooled in the event of an invasion. Maple and her team took care of armaments, producing explosives and bullets in the warehouse district to buffer against an accidental explosion.
The Tunics helped as needed and tenderly cared for the sick. As a peace offering, Perla had asked forgiveness from Maple who waved away her apology. She also had a long talk with her friend, Kaleb Sainvire, who similarly didn’t want to hear open contrition from the woman who invented Plasmacore.
All in all the city was thriving. Even the farmers delighted in being invited to the Christmas festivities. They brought extra treats with each trainload of supplies, carved toys for the children, and made molasses candies and honey sticks.
And then there was Poe. Public Enemy Number Two seemed dazed and floating in a cloud of continuous grief the days after Maclemar was buried in the mausoleum of the Cathedral of our Lady of Angels. The girl had insisted that Maclemar’s fingers be stitched on before burial in the crypt next to Gregory Peck. She had a ready smile for Percy and the animals, but it was obvious she wasn’t all there. Poe had given Percy her surname and acted the good sister, but when walking alone the vampire hunter was a mess. As hard as Morales and Joseph tried, Poe refused to participate in the early decoration of the city though it was her idea in the first place.
“We need to have some sort of air raid alarm,” said Poe to the Los Angeles Council, her only contribution to the meeting. “If Nesbitt invades full force, he could destroy our air strips and planes in one crack.”
“How would you do this, Poe?” asked Romulo.
Poe nodded at Sainvire who answered, “There are several civil defense sirens around the city that were never uprooted after the Cold War. Maclemar said before that he and his mechanics could try repairing them, and we could set up a detection system. I think this is a great idea. We can sleep better with raid alarms on our streets.”
The Council easily approved the measures as well as the other practical ideas submitted to them by old-timers and newcomers alike like a school house for the children, school buses for emergencies, home placements for children, and an application process for humans and non-humans who wanted to adopt. The hospital was reaching its limits with the catatonic ex-cattle, and Morales had begun to ask city residents to take in a human roommate per household. Surprisingly many took to the task, especially ODs who wanted to make amends.
Within weeks over 20 children had been placed with their new guardians. The more controversial was the granting of guardianship to Kilbur and Stanza who had cultivated a rapport with a 13-year-old girl. The girl named Melinda told the Council that she wanted to live with the Ancients, and she squealed they approved her wish.
Women who had given birth two to four years before they woke from their slumber could choose a baby or toddler without red tape as long as they passed a battery of psychological tests.
Quite a few laws, basically more stringent versions of existing California regulations, were passed regarding child protection. If Downtown residents abused any child or sleeping ex-blood slave, the arm of the law would hunt them down.
Poe attended biweekly Council meetings and was nearly always agreeable with the results. The city was shaping into a wonderful community, and she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Like the old crew, Sainvire would stand before the committee and introduce ideas for city betterment. She’d watch him with her heart pounding. The vampire was immensely powerful. He could’ve built an empire to please himself. Instead he stood in line like everyone else to submit ideas. Such humility destroyed her. She was in awe of the man. And her love for him after Maclemar’s violent death disgusted her.
