I was coming home from getting Diablo some dog food when I saw one of the guys from when we were ambushed. Well, I wasn’t ambushed, and John’s men were but semantics were beside the point. He was two blocks from my house and taking his sweet time looking around. Either he was trying to be sneaky and doing a horrible job or he was sending a message to me on behalf of his boss to let me know they were looking for me. He wasn’t dressed as some gangster thug from the projects; he was in jeans and a Washington Nationals tee shirt. He didn’t look different than anyone else in the neighborhood.
He was looking around at the houses for an address that he couldn’t find. If I hadn’t seen his face so clearly before he turned and ran off that night, I might not have thought anything about him being on my block.
My first instinct was to kill him but I was tired of killing people so I settled on watching him for the time being.
I knew that I couldn’t have these guys coming to look for me at Andrew’s house. Andrew and Anne had nothing to do with it and I was bringing danger to their doorstep. I leapt to the roof of a condo building that was a block away from where he was so that I would be able to see him without him knowing. He lingered around for a bit and started walking up my block. When he got to my house he walked through our short yard and knocked on the door. I started to move closer but if he pulled a gun out and started shooting at whomever answered the door, I wouldn’t be able to save them.
Then my fangs came out. I didn’t know if it meant that there was another vampire around or if it was due to my nerves.
Anne came to the door but didn’t open it. They had two doors to get to the outside and she didn’t open either of them.
“Can I help you?” Anne shouted through the double doors. She was looked out the long, thin window that was next to the door.
“I think that I have the wrong house,” he said. “Sorry.” Then he turned around and walked off.
Anne watched him go, peeking through the curtains from the living room.
They knew where I lived. The game was up. I leapt off of the roof and followed him. He was heading north towards Kingman Park. He wasn’t aware that I was following him but I was paranoid that he was leading me into a trap.
I was livid at my own stupidity. Charlie had led them right to me and now I was putting my friends in danger. Just because I had been through a change didn’t mean that I had to screw up everyone else’s lives.
The time for following him was over. I had to do something. I snuck up behind him and grabbed him by the back of his neck. Over the last few months I was much stronger than I had ever been so my hand was like a vise grip. I was squeezing hard enough to make his head look up a little bit. He was trying to look tough while his hand was moving slowly down towards whatever he had in his pockets so I punched him in the stomach. He doubled over and threw up, almost getting puke on my shoes.
I picked him back up so that we could keep walking. While he was wiping his mouth I went through his pockets, and pulled out his .22 caliber Saturday Night Special that he was carrying even though it was a Wednesday. I tossed it into the bushes. I found his wallet and Metro Card and took them.
As I held him by his neck we started walking down the street. To a casual onlooker, it wouldn’t have looked like I was hurting him at all.
“I know who sent you and why so I’m going to make this short,” I said.
I pulled out his driver’s license and looked at his name and address.
“Cecil Robinson of 1721 43rd Street Southeast, the next time I see you,” I said, “I’m going to kill everyone who lives at this address.”
And then I stomped my foot down as hard as I could on top of his foot. I heard it break. He cried out in pain and his legs went weak but I continued to hold him up by the back of his neck.
“And I’m going to kill everyone you have ever met if I ever see you again.” Even as I said it I knew it was an empty threat because I wasn’t going to murder his second grade teacher but I wanted to get my point across.
Then I turned and kneed him in the balls. He doubled over so hard that I had to let him fall to the ground.
“If you think this is bad,” I said, “Wait until you find out what I’m going to do to you next time.”
He was on the ground doubled over, trying to hold his nuts and his foot at the same time. I kicked him in the face, not very hard, and his blood spattered everywhere. I pulled my kick because I knew that if I didn’t, I could kick him hard enough to kill him. He wasn’t quite unconscious but he was woozy, and trying to say something. His phone vibrated. I answered it.
“Come get Cecil. He’s south of Kingman Park on 17th,” I said. Then I hung up.
CHapter 16
I was sitting at home watching The Wonder Years when my brother called. We didn’t talk that much. It isn’t that we had a problem with each other but we didn’t need to talk. We were different people.
“Hey James,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Hey Tubby,” Jimmy said. “You need to come home. Soon.”
“I’m great,” I said. “Thanks for asking.”
It didn’t take long to remember why I only talked to him a few times a year, over e-mail.
“Don’t be a whiny bitch,” he said. “I’m being serious. Mom is sick and it’s time for you to come home.”
“I know she is sick.” Then I thought about it. “How sick is she?”
“Like months to live sick.” His usually confident voice began to waver a bit.
“Jesus. Okay. I need a little time to conjure up some money.”
“Take out some credit cards and max them out,” he said. “I don’t give a shit. Get up here. Don’t plan on coming home for a week or something. We need you here until…”
“I know,” I said. “I’ll make it happen.”
After he told me what to do the tone turned a little more conversational. Eventually he asked me how I was doing.
I needed money to get home and to pay rent because even though I didn’t have a lease or a signed document I wanted to pay for an additional month to Andrew because I was leaving on short notice.
Robbing a jewelry store was the only answer that I could come up with. I had thought about doing it before but I didn’t because it was a dangerous proposition. Desperate times call for desperate measures. There would be lots of cameras and witnesses so I would have to be smart about it. I wasn’t quite sure how I would sell the jewelry that I was going to steal but I figured that John might be able to help me find a way.
My plan was to walk over to Georgetown and find a jewelry store that would be open late enough after the sunset for me to get there. When the time was right I would pull a face mask on, run in and rob the place. I couldn’t use the Metro there or back because of the cameras so I would have to walk.
Walking back I would go through the residential areas because they provide for more options for cover than walking on the Mall or through downtown with the all office buildings that had security in the street level lobbies.
There was a jewelry store on Wisconsin Avenue that was open until 8:00 and the sun sets in September around 7:00, so I had to move pretty quickly to make it up there in time. I wanted to wait around for a few more months because then I would have more time, but I needed to get to Alaska as soon as possible.
I put on a jogging outfit and trekked to Georgetown. I ran pretty fast but not fast enough to cause people to notice me.
As I got closer, I checked my watch and it said 7:37. I put my hand in my pocket to make sure that my red bandanna was still in there. Originally I wanted to get a Ronald Reagan or Hillary Clinton mask but that seemed cliché so I decided to go old school, like Billy the Kid (in a track suit, Jersey style) or at least something along those lines. I came around the corner from the jewelry store and I started getting nervous. I knew physically that I was safe but mentally I still needed to psych myself up. I didn’t have a getaway plan but I wasn’t worried about the police. It isn’t as if they would start sho
oting at me in Georgetown, there were too many people around. Rich people.
I put the bandanna over my head and sprinted into the store. There were a few employees in the store and I ran right at a lady who appeared to be in her 60s wearing a pinkish business suit. I looked her in the eyes and with one downward punch I broke open the case with the Rolexes in them. Like a dumbass I didn’t remember to bring a bag or anything else to carry them in, so I unceremoniously dropped them into my pocket. There was a case of necklaces next to them so I busted it open and grabbed them as well. I was only able to get four of them before I needed to leave. When I stuffed them into my warm-up pants pockets I felt them get tangled. Even though I knew I should’ve been more focused, I thought to myself about what a pain the ass it was going to be to untangle them later.
As I turned to leave I heard the magnetic clips on top of the door shut and then the alarm went off. They had locked me in. Whichever employee was responsible for hitting the security alarm had unknowingly locked everyone in with a monster who was perfectly willing and capable of killing everyone in the store. I just wanted to leave. I didn’t know why the employee was trying to be a hero. The employees wouldn’t be responsible for paying for the merchandise because the business insurance would cover it.
I punched the glass door right in the center. It cracked a little but so did my hand, which hurt a lot more than I thought it would. I could feel my bones mending as I tried to shake the pain away. I glared at the older lady. I didn’t think she was responsible because since I was there she hadn’t moved a muscle. Out of everyone in the store, she seemed the least heroic and the most likely to have a heart attack, but I had to be pissed at someone.
A few steps from the door, I picked up some speed and slammed into the entrance with my shoulder. It bulged out but didn’t break all the way through. My bandanna started to slip so I pulled it up over my nose. A crowd was beginning to form outside.
I backed up again and gave myself a little more room. I took a few steps and busted through the window. My momentum carried me out over the sidewalk and I plowed shoulder first into a parked car, cracking the passenger side window and putting a huge dent in the door. The force of the crash caused my bandanna to fall down around my neck. I pulled it up and then picked myself up off the ground. The crowd looked at me like I was an alien coming out of a spaceship. A teenage girl was raising her phone to take a picture of me, so I plowed past her and took the phone in the process. I knew the jewelry store had cameras but there was no reason to add to the footage.
I started jogging down the street but my pants were bulging at the pockets and every step caused the jewelry to bash into my thighs. I heard sirens and I knew I needed to find a place to hide out for a bit and change. I found a boutique men’s suit shop and strolled into it as casually as I could.
“May I help you sir?” said an older guy behind the counter wearing a blue three-piece suit and stylish black-framed glasses.
“Uh,” I said. “I need a suit, quickly.”
“Quickly?” He was looking at something on the counter, and when he responded he looked at me over the top of his glasses.
“Yeah, uh, my girlfriend’s parents are in town and I have to go meet them. I totally forgot about it and now I’m running late.”
“I see. Over here please.” He waved me over to stand on top of a carpet-covered box that had three mirrors surrounding it.
“What are you looking for?” he asked as he measured me.
“The works.”
A police car flew past the store with its siren wailing. The guy looked up from his measurements and looked me. Then he went back to measuring me.
He outfitted me with a three-piece suit that resembled his with a black tie and a black pair of shoes.
“Can I leave my running gear here and come back for it?” I said. “I’m very late and I don’t have time to go home.”
“I’m closing soon, but if you can pick them up tomorrow that would be fine.”
“Okay, thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”
The outfit cost me a thousand dollars for the suit and another thousand for the silence fee. I wanted to question him about the silence fee but when I started to open my mouth he pointed at the security camera directly behind him. I had maxed out the remaining credit on my emergency card.
When I left the store, I felt like I had been robbed a bit but also like I was king of the world. The jewelry didn’t make as much of a bulge in my pockets because I was able to split it up to more pockets. I put on a big, gold Rolex. It weighed quite a bit and I considered keeping it for myself, but getting the money for it was more important.
I went up to U Street to people watch. They would duck in and out of bars, and generally be ridiculously happy to see friends that they had seen a week before. I was jealous of them. Not angry jealous, sad jealous. I had lost most of my friends in DC. I didn’t lose them all at once, they faded away, one by one. My friends back home didn’t really know that that I had went through a change so there wasn’t a growing chasm like there was in DC. I guess my friends in DC thought I was ignoring them or something else and had moved on. One of the hardest things to get used to while living in DC is that the city is very transient. People come for internships and get some experience to put on their resume and then go home or somewhere more affordable.
Walking down the street, a few blocks from my house, I noticed two men sitting in a black SUV. My first thought was that they were waiting for someone, but their lights were off and they weren’t talking. A few weeks before I had seen the other guy wandering around a few blocks from my house and I started being extra cautious coming home. I tried to chalk it up to paranoia but the feeling that they were coming for me wouldn’t go away. Some part of me knew that they were looking for me.
They had known where I lived for a while, and it was only a matter of time before they came after me. I was okay standing up for myself but I didn’t want anything to happen to my friends. If they knew I was a vampire, all they would have to do is wait until the daylight hours and I wouldn’t have a way to protect myself.
They were parked under an elm tree and the glow from the streetlight didn’t penetrate their tinted windows.
In the month that had passed since Cecil came to my house, I had grown stronger. I didn’t have a tingle in my fangs so I knew that they weren’t vamps. I needed to make a strong statement and get these guys off my back.
After a running start, I jumped into the tree they were parked under. Unfortunately it didn’t help my position much. The SUV didn’t have a sunroof to jump through and even if I did and I went headfirst I would crash into the console between the seats.
I jumped out of the tree and landed on the driver’s side. I punched through the window and landed a solid punch to the driver but the force was diminished because the glass was laminated.
The guy on the passenger side picked up a high-intensity halogen spotlight and shined it in my face. I was blinded and I could smell my skin starting to smoke. I started to open the door when the driver unexpectedly opened the door and hit me in the chest with it. He caused me stumble backward into the street. As I was getting my eyesight back, I heard the horn of a car and the squealing of the brakes.
A car coming down the street hit the open driver side door and then hit me. I was glued to the door by force and for a few moments I was holding onto the door while on top of some woman’s hood. I remember noticing how wide her eyes were and for a moment I thought her eyes would pop out of her head. Then she slammed on her brakes and I didn’t care about her eyes any more. The door and I went our separate ways while airborne. I would love to say that I was able to land on my feet with some vampy awesomeness but instead I tumbled down the street like I was doing the world’s fastest demonstration of the Stop, Drop, and Roll.
I picked myself up off the street. The SUV was going in reverse without the driver’s side door. I waited a few moments as the painful process of my bones healing started. My skin started to
tickle in a bad way as it scabbed over then healed. One of my legs was dangling limp but it mended itself along with my ribs and my shoulder. I couldn’t believe that motherfucker caused me to get hit by a car.
They were perpendicular to the street because they were trying to turn around and go the other way. In the process, they bashed a car that was parked behind them while they were backing up.
They weren’t going to get away that easy. My leg and shoulder had healed enough to be able to jump onto their car, so I did. I landed on their windshield and I saw the spotlight go on my legs. Fortunately my pants were still covering a majority of my legs so there was only sharp pain from the light coming into the small pinhole tears in my jeans.
I had enough of that fucking light. I reached around through the passenger side window and scratched at the guy’s face until I got my hand on the spotlight. The car lurched forward and we were starting to pick up speed. The driver cut sharp on a corner in an effort to launch me off of his car. Once again I was airborne. I had the spotlight in my hand and I accidentally shined it in my face, temporarily blinding myself as I rolled down the street.
I got up and broke the spotlight on the pavement in the street. I was going to chase after them but I was exhausted. They understood that I wasn’t happy with them stalking me.
I thought to myself that the next time they come after me, they had better do a better job. I had no doubt in my mind that they would.
Chapter 17
I told Andrew and Anne that I was going to move home because my mom was sick. Anne generously offered to let me keep my place at a reduced rate but I declined.
I was starting to experience time on a different level than mortals. Everything for us moved faster including time and I didn’t want to make any commitments. Instead of living day to day we lived month to month mainly because of our feeding habits. Also we didn’t have to be anywhere. It was like the way that summer flew by when I was little ,but now every day had the same freedom. When you’re immortal months and even years can pass without noticing.
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