Tomorrow's Dead: The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles, page 7
Poe laid a hand on the girl’s shoulder as they spotted Perla sitting in a red vinyl booth with Sally. “Keep behind me, Perce. I’m not relenting this time.”
The girl nodded. Recognizing Sally as an enemy, Penny made a throaty growl.
“What can we do for you, Julia Poe?” asked Sally sarcastically. Her smug look withered when Poe brought down her warped machete on the table, cracking wood.
“I’ve come to report that the three clumsy dead you sent to kill me are really dead or dying as we speak. And your Paul Bunyan halfdead disciple is pulped.”
Perla frowned with concern, setting down her mug of Plasmacore. “It can’t be. We don’t do things like that here.”
“Sure about that, Perla? Sally and her ugly friend tried to off me on my island. You had nothing to do with that?”
“They were sent to convey a message, that’s all,” said Perla, narrowing her eyes at Sally. “Whatever you think of our group, you know that I could never hurt you nor order anyone to kill you.”
Poe’s dimples appeared as she pondered Perla’s answer. She knew in her gut that Perla wasn’t capable of hurting her. No matter what had been said and done, Perla was still protective of Poe.
“I believe you, Perla. But somebody sent mercenaries after me.” She bore her large brown eyes at Sally. “You have an inkling, Sally, of who that could be? A Brawny Man that had a white cross on his sleeve? Three flying vamps? For some odd reason you guys have a knack for flying.”
Sally sat up straight and hissed. “The halfdead acted on his own, but I haven’t done anything behind Perla’s back. She’s the leader of the Tunics.” Again Poe believed the vampire, but she couldn’t resist bumping Sally’s mug of Plasmacore with the edge of her machete. The clear liquid spilled all over the front of Sally’s jeans. She grinned as the vampire scrambled for some napkins.
“Oops,” said Poe in feigned surprise.
“You bitch!”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Poe bowed, smiling. “I believe you, Perla, because I know from our brief history together you’re basically a good person. I believe Sally, too. But if you tell me you have nothing to do with the nabbing of five leeches and a Nazi vamp known as Syrus you were hunting weeks ago, then I’d say you are lying.”
Perla’s pale face turned even more pallid. She was not resistant to the sun. “That will be everyone’s business tonight, Julia. These issues will be resolved at the assembly. Other than that, I have nothing more to say to you.”
“Fair enough,” said Poe. “I’m not Tunic police. I’m not security like Michelle. Can’t wait to see what little drama you’ll be conjuring up tonight. In the meantime, my parting words to you are to leave me the fuck alone or I will blow up your goddamn building. Then you really will be down and out.”
When they left the hotel bar, Sainvire was waiting for them. He was leaning against a street sign, his hands crossed against his chest. He looked like he was cold despite the warm coat and the fact that he was dead.
“Percy, can you take the animals home? I need to speak to Poe alone.”
“Yes, sir,” the girl answered in her 10-year-old child’s voice. “C’mon guys.” She lightly slapped Penny’s rear end when the dog wouldn’t budge. When the crew rounded off 6th Street toward home, Sainvire scooped Poe into his arms and flew in the air.
“What the hell! Put me down, Sainvire,” Poe gritted. “What’s wrong with you?”
“You’ve been taking too many risks in my opinion,” he said steadily. He headed for the Central Library and lowered both of them through the roof hole that used to be topped with a tiled pyramid. The once-impressive landmark had been Sainvire’s home until the Council desecrated it. “And this isn’t your fault.”
He lowered her to the marble floor of the children’s wing. They walked silently to his old bedroom that used to contain impressive Art Deco furniture but now only contained a mattress and a thick blanket on the ground. This must be his fortress of solitude.
“This is the first incident, Kaleb. I’m surprised nothing more has happened to me,” said Poe, throwing the ugly machete on the floor.
“Did you make that thing yourself?” asked Sainvire, his eyes staring at the malformed sword.
“Yeah.”
“Figures,” he said. He laughed without mirth. “As long as it works then it’s fine by me.” He took a step toward Poe and stared into her eyes. “I’m mucking this up, Poe. I don’t want you hurt.”
“Too late. I’m going to get hurt all my life. I figured that out a long time ago.”
“I don’t want you to get harmed on my watch again,” he said, tucking a tendril of hair behind her ear. Poe felt heat in her stomach as she stared up at the tall vampire.
“It wasn’t your fault what Trench did to me. You thought I was dead.”
“I should never have stopped looking. Three months he tortured you,” whispered Sainvire in her ear as if ashamed that the world would hear his heinous sins.
Poe brushed her hand across Sainvire’s face. She traced the shell-like exterior of his ear. “I killed him, didn’t I? And I lived even though he shot me in the heart.”
“You’re a wonder, Julia Poe. You’re wreaking havoc in our city, and I think I like it.” He dipped his head lower to be able to kiss the woman he’d cared for most, but Poe turned her head. Honestly she loved Sainvire, but his cold tongue would conjure up bitter memories of Quillon Trench.
“I need to prepare for tonight. Fly me back to the hotel?” she asked, avoiding Sainvire’s wise eyes.
“Of course.”
***
The assembly was akin to San Diego Comic-Con in her childhood days. Folks were dressed in their group uniforms like tunics emblazoned with crosses. Farmers with long hair and white linen shirts reminded Poe of the Beatles in their Maharishi kick. The 600-person capacity hall was bursting to accommodate over a thousand guests. The humans who had scarcely participated in past meetings attended in droves. Though Julia Poe would shut down the rumors, humans of all backgrounds came to the assembly to hear the mighty woman promote her ideas on how to improve city conditions. The fight at the park brought the curious for they’d witnessed the fighter Julia Poe and found her to be the real thing.
ODs or Old Dead hated for participating and partaking of slave blood during the reign of terror stood in one corner. When an assembly was called, they were expected to appear and listen silently as the past was rehashed, and they were aware their crimes on display could easily turn the crowd into a lynch mob. That evening, however, the vampire killer was in the room, and she was the same girl they had spoken to in their pubs and homes about city matters. Nothing would change, thought many, but at least they were willing to hear Julia Poe out.
Many rallied around the custodians, usually of ethnic backgrounds. Vampires had considered their blood impure, so they were relegated to cooking and cleaning for human cattle. The custodians removed and carried dead humans to the incinerators. The Downtown-based custodians cared deeply about Poe who had promised to fly them out of Downtown and kept her word. At the assembly they wore red t-shirts to distinguish themselves from the others. Danby, a black man and an ex-attorney, headed the group. He had met Julia Poe in Gilroy a couple years back and thought highly of her.
Only two Ancients remained in the city. These vampires were hundreds of years old, and they looked it. They had unmanicured walrus teeth that grew down to their chins. The Ancients had marble skin and violet eyes and were as strong as five vampires. The male called himself Kilbur while the female referred to herself as Stanza. Both vampires and humans didn’t quite know what to do with such horrendous looking beings.
The halfdead contingent wore yellow. These were humans who hadn’t quite turned but had the power of a weak vampire and were immune to sunlight. They were politically scattershot by nature. Except for the halfdeads who sided with Sainvire and his cause, they usually said nothing at the assemblies. Rufus, a loyal friend to Sainvire, headed the group. Once a foe of Poe who had yanked off his ear in a “friendly” demonstration, they had patched their differences after Rufus ate Poe’s severed earlobe in retribution.
The humans had the greatest turnout of the evening in their green shirts. Many of the women wore make-up and stylish wigs that sparked up their appearance. The usually laconic group, including those recovering from vampire bites with brittle bones and weak constitutions, was bursting with energy and excitement.
The different colored t-shirts were Joseph’s idea to distinguish each group from one another. The American Apparel warehouse was in Downtown Los Angeles, and its clothing stock made it easier to accommodate each group with style. Those like Joseph, Morales, Habib, Maclemar, Passionada, and Sainvire who preferred to be apolitical wore regular clothes or suits.
Poe dressed in Kevlar over a black long-sleeve shirt and black jeans. While pacing her messy hotel room, she sheathed her wrist knives. The meticulously furnished room had clothes strung carelessly around the bed and floor. She wasn’t usually such a slob, but she couldn’t find decent clothes to wear. She looked down and decided she must’ve double-knotted her Chucks.
A knock sounded, and Poe nearly threw up her dinner. She hadn’t memorized her crib sheet because she realized she was bad at committing anything other than names and maps to memory. She opened the door and found a grinning Maclemar wearing a dapper James Bond suit that was fitted nicely over his respectable physique. Downtown Los Angeles once had a suit district, fabric district, and even a bead district, so suits weren’t too hard to come by. “Ready, my star?”
“Heck no!” Poe turned back to pick up her shoulder holster holding two Colt .45s. Mumbling angrily, she secured it.
“Ach, sharren. A tornado blasted through your room, did it?”
“Shut it, Maclemar! I’m in dire straits. I can’t memorize what I’m supposed to recommend tonight.”
“Wing it then. You’re good at that.” The man began to massage her shoulders.
“Piece of shit. That feels good. Wish you could massage me while I’m at the podium.” To which Maclemar said, “Easily done, beauty.” Maclemar had become a great friend to her. She was aware of his feelings toward her, and his attention made her feel nice. She’d be going back to Catalina in a few weeks, and he’d be the only person to visit her. “Make sure to use neutral words like folks, beings, community. We want the entire t-shirt rainbow to buy in.”
“Good idea. You truly look handsome, Maclemar,” she said, tugging his black tie. “Take me out on a date after I get pelted by eggs?”
“It would be my pleasure. We’ll eat omelets for dinner. ” He walked her down to the hall.
A Tunic who sounded awfully like Sally was speaking. “We’re wasting our rations and manpower on leeches that raped us, prepared our blood for vampires, and burned our bodies with their cigarettes and drug paraphernalia. Our platform tonight is to finally set a date of execution for these inhuman bastards.” The crowd cheered. Killing leeches was a popular platform.
Poe, who was hiding behind the red velvet curtains, surveyed the crowd before her. Many of the humans, including Michelle who was standing at the other end of the stage, were applauding. Michelle abhorred leeches, and Poe still believed that her friend had helped Sally bust out the prisoners. She sighed, thinking about her lack of speaking skills, and wondered what happened to the five leeches and the vampire that Sally and her Tunics had kidnapped.
Morales, looking dapper as always was the moderator of the evening. He wore a designer suit just like Maclemar. Only the best for Morales, Poe thought. “Okay, Sally. You’ll have time to talk some more about the execution of leeches if Perla grants you her minutes. In the meantime, it’s time to hear from the woman I personally saw shoot down Council members and their minions with an old clunker rifle. For those of you who escaped using the subway tunnels four years ago, you wouldn’t have made it without the help and protection of this woman. And how can we forget about the time our friend defeated the city’s master vampires, rescued custodians, and laid her life on the line to give us the chance to start over in peace?”
The crowd roared, screaming Poe’s name. By the curtains, Poe couldn’t harness a smile. “This is like a frikkin’ concert with my horrible voice at center stage.”
“Good luck, Poe,” said Michelle. It was the first time her protégé talked to her since the leeches were kidnapped.
“Thanks, Michelle.”
“I’ll be down in the crowd to keep an eye if someone wants to harm you.”
“Appreciate it.” The woman was still cold to her.
Something chilly rested on her hand. Sainvire had done his appear-out-of-nowhere trick. “You okay, Poe?”
“I don’t know. My mind’s a jumble. I’ve got a couple of weeks anyhow, and I’m out of here.” Poe squeezed his hand. “You know, you’re very manipulative, right? Getting me to leave my island. Getting me to speak.”
“I don’t mean to be. You’re just very important to all of us.”
“Why don’t you marry me then so you can have access to my brainwaves and charisma?” taunted Poe.
Sainvire narrowed his eyes. “Would you consider marrying me?”
Poe shook her head. “Hell no! You’ll get me to hawk Plasmacore for you all over the country until I lose my arm, my leg, and my nose.”
“You think I’m only using you?”
Poe shrugged. “Yeah. With this politics thing. If you really loved me, you’ve have left me alone. It must be nice to have someone to puppet around all the time. And the world knows generals make the worst politicians.”
She didn’t know why she lashed out at Sainvire. Perhaps she’d been thinking about her role in Sainvire’s plan. Maybe she was still pissed that he never visited her in Catalina. And maybe she was tired of creatures attempting to murder or threaten her while Sainvire would clap her back and say he was sorry and he loved her.
The pain in Sainvire’s eyes nearly made feel her guilty. Fortunately Joseph grabbed her arm and led her to where the curtain was parted.
“Here she is, the Small Giant, the Sureshot Wonder, and our very own hero, Julia Poe!” Poe accepted the podium and frowned at Morales, who sounded like an over-the-top boxing announcer.
The vampire killer lowered the microphone and cleared her throat. She reached inside her right pocket then her left while silence reigned in the hall.
“Shit,” she cursed. “Must’ve dropped my speech.” The crowd laughed. Just what I didn’t want to happen. She looked around the expectant faces and the colorful shirts and shook her head. “I’m no speechmaker anyway. I can do a lot of things, but they don’t make much sense these days.” She glanced at Morales who smiled kindly at her. His shiny white teeth lifted her spirits.
“I was left alone here in Downtown at age eight. I won’t bore you with the details, but everyone I loved was lost. Like most of you at that time, I was on my own. I survived by hiding, killing, and later by stealing cattle with Sister Ann and Goss. They are also gone now. Then I met Sainvire, Joseph, Maple, and Perla.” Poe searched for Perla among the Tunics and found her. Their eyes met. “When Morales here says I single-handedly did this and did that, he exaggerates. I couldn’t have taken on Trench and the Vampire Council without the help of vampires, halfdead, and humans. We all did our part, starting with Sainvire asking Perla to come up with a new food source to end the blood bath, to end human slavery,” she said in her husky tone. Her ears were red and burning.
Poe looked around the crowd. “Did you know this about Sainvire?” She watched heads turn in the negative. “Sainvire is an idealist. His friends know this. Perla is a gifted scientist who deserves a statue somewhere for creating Plasmacore. If you haven’t heard of her, she’s the head of the Tunics. She also taught me a little something about guns.
“Maple was as central to the destruction of the reign of vampires. She was human. Dying, actually, from the Gray Armageddon. Then her partner asked Sainvire to turn her. And I’m glad this vampire did because Maple’s dignity, clear head, and mallet arms saved a bunch of you sitting here today.” Poe purposely omitted Perla’s name.
Poe cleared her throat. “Then there’s Joseph with his amazing speed who pledged to save humanity along with his friend Sainvire. These two vampires tried to make a difference, and they lost their friends and loved ones in the process. Joseph, he’s probably going to kill me for this because he’s very private,” she said. “He lost his wife, a human. Megan. She was dying from childbirth complications. He asked if he could turn her and allow her to live forever, but Megan declined. Joseph honored his wife’s wishes and watched her die a human death.”
Poe was disoriented suddenly. She was supposed to only speak about her list, not be a storyteller. “I’m sorry if I seem like I’m going nowhere, but please indulge me with one more person. He is standing here to my right.” Looking somber, Morales blinked at her.
“When I first met Sam Morales or T-Doc to all of you, I thought he was a handsome man with a very playful nature. Later I thought he was a pervert who wore too much cologne. And still does, by the way.” The crowd guffawed and cheered. “I met him and Megan when they would pick up humans I broke out from Downtown blood banks. They took care of placing these people in real farms in the Central Valley. This guy, a real estate agent, became a ballistics expert, a bombmaker, a dentist, a doctor, and a father. I’m sure he learned even more when I was away.”
Her hands shook suddenly. “You see, these are some of the people that helped retake this city. They are vampires, humans, halfdead, and what have you. This goes to show that all humans and undead aren’t all bad. My biggest wish is for the people of Los Angeles to pull together and create a Downtown we can all be proud of. Start from scratch. I think we can start by writing up our own stories for our city history. Our stories are all-powerful, and our children will benefit from them. Our Central Library is getting repaired with the help of some of you, so we’ll soon have our history intact again. We should do a census just in case you have relatives in other cities, but that’s another bale of hay. Anyway, here I go now without my list. I hope I don’t forget anything.
