by Calinda B
“Hey, what are you doing?” Cecil tried to grab the blade.
“Back away, dawg-man. I’m the one with the knife. You already set yours down.” She swished the cutlass back and forth like a tiny sword to get him to back off. Then she grabbed a notepad and scribbled, D, I promise, swear, give my word that no harm shall befall Sultana. I owe you twice as much as before. Love, Chia, your landlady. “Let’s go,” she said.
“Why the rush?” Cecil said, taking her knife and putting it next to the other one, out of harm’s way.
“Please. You call this rushing? I call it making do. My whole upper body feels battered.” She shuffled to the door, headed outside and stepped toward the SUV. “I’m merely inspired and I intend to change things.”
Hung rushed over to her. He stood between her and the Jeep. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“To town. To do something I should have done a long time ago.” She turned to look at the shifters. “Hold tight, everyone. I have a plan for the long run and a plan for your immediate needs. We’ll get this taken care of.”
“I’m going with you.” Hung opened the driver’s door.
“Right. Not a chance. You’ll get us both shot. There’s a bounty on your head, remember? You’re on guard duty here. Make sure none of the shifters get out of hand.”
“Is this your idea, mutt?” Hung gave Cecil an icy stare.
“No way. I tried to talk her out of it. I don’t even know what she’s doing but I wanted her to stay put.”
“Come on, woman, go back in the house.”
“No, dear.” She smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes at him. “This is important.”
He glared at her, giving her a look that conveyed his total displeasure about her idea. “Come on, Chia. You’re in no shape to go anywhere.”
“And yet I’m going. I’m done with indecision.” At least when it comes to practical matters.
“What’s your goddamned rush?” Hung looked like a bomb about to detonate.
“This.” Chia fished in her pocket, pulling out the letter from the Office of Red Mountainbear. She fluttered it in front of his face. “Bribery.”
He snatched it from her grasp.
As swiftly as she could, which wasn’t fast at all, she moved to the passenger side of the Jeep while Hung read.
Cecil climbed in the driver’s seat.
“Turn on the truck. Let’s go!”
“Wait!” Hung roared. “You are not going to leave me on babysitter duty. Cecil and I have a plan.”
“Yeah? Well, you’re not in charge of this town. I am. Now go, Cecil. Get. Go on.”
Hung bellowed, “Goddamn it, woman, if you give the land rights to Red Mountainbear he’ll shoot every one of the shifters, including me. You’re making a huge mistake.”
“I thought you could take care of yourself. That’s how you always boast. Bye, bye,” she said, gingerly lifting her hand in farewell.
The Jeep lurched along the road, with Cecil turning to and fro to avoid hitting any of the shifters.
In the dark, with her shoulder aching, the drive seemed to take forever. Chia kept peering out the truck window, trying to identify familiar landmarks. Everything seemed bewilderingly unfamiliar. Thirty minutes into the drive she knew why. “You know how I squeezed a few drops of my blood onto the chocolate with a note for D’Raynged?” she asked Cecil.
“Yeah, what was that? I thought you were acting crazy.”
“I might have been. I think I overdosed. I’m not feeling like myself over here.”
Cecil slammed on the brakes causing the Jeep to jerk and slide to a stop.
“Ow! Damn, dawg-man, watch it with the sudden stops.” Chia lifted her hand to softly touch her shoulder but paused, looking at the space where her hand was supposed to be. Instead, she found herself looking at shimmering, psychedelic, colorful lines of energy, pulsing with light. She let out a laugh. “Oh, shit, did I give D too much blood, or what?”
“What’s going on, lil’ Summer?”
“I, uh. I have a strange connection with my roommate.” She turned to look at Cecil and nearly wept with joy as she gazed at him. He glowed with pure, clear, colorful light, like a puppy at play. Looking at him, she saw vistas of fields and mountains, wind ruffling his fur like a spirited hand. She saw jubilation rippling through him. The guy didn’t need to follow a normal plan of “get a job, buy a house, and find stability.” He lived life the way he saw fit and it was perfect. “My God, you’re beautiful.”
Deep lines marked his face. “And you’re freaking me out. What’s the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I believe I’m seeing your essence. You know that old movie, The Matrix?”
Cecil’s face furrowed into a frown. “Yeah, what about it?”
“I keep seeing it on TV. Neo keeps staring at me. It’s like he has a message for me.”
“You’re crazy. It’s Matrix month on the movie channel.”
“No, no, no. Neo…he keeps staring at me. I think it’s the partial truth.”
“What do you mean by partial?”
“Imagine the special effects multiplied by a hundred. The world is a beautiful and terrible place, dawg-man. I’m witnessing the beauty right now, and man, oh, man is it beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
“And you’re not making any sense.”
“Doesn’t matter. Drive.”
Cecil stared at her a few seconds longer, his head cocked, and a funny expression on his face.
Chia laughed. “Go, dawg-man. I’m fine.” She felt immortal, like a gazillion bucks instead of D’Raynged and his million bucks appearance. Her shoulder didn’t even hurt. Maybe I’m healed. Thank you, D’Raynged! She gazed in wonder at the world around her, in its fluid, throbbing, mind-blowing glory.
Lines of energy in a full spectrum of hues intertwined all around her. Even though darkness loomed, it didn’t matter to her sense of sight. She could see as clear as on a sunny day—even more so since she saw the essence of life vibrating all around her. Animals were color bursts. Their murmurs, yips, and vocalizations created a tapestry of sound. She felt in awe of the beauty of life.
When they reached the edge of Charming, the town pulsated in full nighttime swing. Noise and ruckus came from the bars and restaurants on either side of the road. Vibrant air glowed everywhere. Even the vacant buildings glimmered in muted hues. “Take the roundabout way to my office,” she told Cecil. “Park around back.”
They parked and Chia slowly emerged from the truck, tripping-out hard on the vamp’s blood. She giggled as she unlocked the door. As they entered, she heard voices as loud as if they were shouting. “Shhh,” she said to Cecil. Her own whispered voice sounded like a hurricane. “Great, first visual enhancement, now auditory.”
“What are you talking about?”
“High on vamp, remember? Let’s quietly make our way through the building.” She tiptoed as stealthily as she could, hoping her footfalls didn’t sound as loud to the people in the building as they did to her.
In her ears, she stomped along the wooden floors with cans on her feet. They crept down the hall toward the voices. A light shone underneath one of the doors. Dag nab it! They’re in my office. She waved Cecil behind her and kept up her stealth maneuver, hoping she could ghost walk as good as Hung could.
“I think we’ll knock this wall down. I’m going to need a bigger office.”
It’s Red! Is this a convenient coincidence, or what? She started to laugh at the absurdity of the moment. “I’ve never met the man and now he’s in my office?”
Cecil clapped his large hand around her mouth. “Quiet,” he hissed in her ear. “You’re acting like a lunatic.”
“Yeah, same here. I’ll need something fine, too.”
And Dick! I thought he was in critical care in Anchorage. Cecil’s hand felt scrumptious against her mouth. With her vamp high, even touch had a different, more intense sensation. She arched her back like a cat and wiggled her rump at him.
“Jesus, lil’ Summer, this is hardly the time or place.” Cecil’s voice sounded strangled, as if caught between pulling her into a closet and dealing with the situation at hand.
“About that. I don’t think I’m going to need you. You can keep your job. It will look better that way.” Red spoke with the confidence of an arrogant man.
“What? No fucking way. You promised I’d be your vice-manager or whatever your second in command will be called.” Dick, his underling, sounded pissed.
“You forget you’re supposed to be critically injured. Good thing you have a twin who got shot up pretty bad in a barroom brawl.”
“I am injured. The bitch got me in the leg.”
“She missed your dick, didn’t she? Count your blessings.”
“Goddamn it, you’re a fucking liar.”
“No, I merely manipulate facts. Put a spin on things. Let’s check on the other room. I’d like a big bar in my new office so I can entertain.”
“If I’m not getting a new office, you’re not getting a new office.”
“Calm down, Dick, I was only playing with you. Of course you get a new office.”
“Seriously?”
“Of course. I’m a man of my word.”
Their footfalls approached the door where Cecil and Chia stood. She shoved him into the ladies’ room across the hallway.
Cecil’s eyebrows shot up, no doubt thinking they were going to do it in there. “I still don’t think this is the time or place, but…”
“What do you think I am?” She gave him a cock-blocking stare, making him shake his head at her.
“You confuse the hell out of me, lil’ Summer. Do you want me, or don’t you?” His eyes appeared deeply wounded and perplexed.
“Welcome to my world. I confuse myself, all the time.” She giggled and glanced in the mirror, stopping when she saw her reflection. “Whoa! Look at the ghosts.”
“Yeah? So? They do that all the time with you.”
“You’re kidding.”
They appeared to be interwoven, like the shimmering, resplendent, high-backed, lacy ruff of a queen. They hadn’t accepted the newcomer ghost, however, and it sailed left and right searching for a spot to land. Finally, it coiled itself along her head like a crown.
“Nope. I always thought you were royalty. Apparently, they do, too.”
Suspicious, Chia narrowed her eyes and studied her appearance with a critical eye. “Not my choice of costume, to tell the truth.”
“Whatever.” Cecil shrugged. “It does look a little old-fashioned but it makes you look regal.” He cracked the door and peered into the hall. “They’re gone.”
When they heard the men talking from the next office over, Chia whispered, “Follow me.” She and Cecil tiptoed to her office. She carefully slid open the drawer where she’d shoved her long overdue secret project. She intended to call in a big favor. Flipping through the pages, she signed everywhere indicated, folded the papers and slid them into a large manila envelope. Her mind kept veering south, into the psychedelic vamp communion zone, as she watched paper morph into dead trees, and felt certain she walked on the bones of miners from days past. “Here.” She shoved the envelope into Cecil’s hands.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” he hissed.
“Take it to Socyone’s office. Put it inside her top desk drawer. She’ll know what to do with it.”
“What if she’s shifted? She won’t be coming to work anytime soon.”
“That’s a chance we’ll have to take. Shoo. Go.” She waved her hands at him, mesmerized with the stream of colorful light emanating from her skin.
“What are you going to do?” Cecil appeared nervous, studying her intently.
“I’m making it up as I go.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Look. You’ll be back in two minutes. What harm can I get into in two minutes?” She smiled sweetly at him.
“Whatever,” he said dubiously. He poked his head out the doorway and crept from the room.
Feeling like a badass, Chia inserted the clip, fingered her Glock and slunk from the office space. Her hallucinations increased as she proceeded. Sounds roared in her ears, like she stood inside a turbo engine room. “Maybe I’m The One, just like Neo.” She started to giggle, then caught herself, clapping her hand in front of her mouth.
“Who’s there?” Red Mountainbear called out.
“Crap,” Chia whispered.
“Here. Take her gun and deal with it, whatever it is.”
Wondering if she might be able to pull off a Neo-Matrix stunt like run up the side of a wall, she sprinted toward the end of the hall. She easily bolted up the wall, flipped in a slow motion arc in the air and landed directly in front of Dick. Whoa, how cool?
“Fuck!” he yelled. He cocked the trigger of her gun and prepared to shoot.
Okay, and now the bullets move through the air so slowly I can catch them with my fingertips.
Dick got off a wild, scared shot.
It zinged past her shoulder, scaring the bejeezus out of her. Dag nab it! Guess that scene truly was a special effect. She bounced up the wall and leaped back and forth, like a petrified spider monkey.
Cecil came racing around the corner. Seeing her zipping toward him like a pinball pinging between the walls, Dick huffing and puffing behind her shooting wildly, he grabbed his hair with his hands. “Aw, Jesus, lil’ Summer, what the hell?”
“I think I was wrong about The Matrix. Not everything was true, especially the slow motion bullets. Run!”
Cecil turned and hotfooted it, his long legs carrying him down the hall.
They bolted outside into the freezing air.
“This way, dawg-man!” Chia led him around the back to a small, rickety staircase.
Cecil stared at it doubtingly. “Not going up that.”
“Yes, you are,” Chia insisted, as the front door banged against the wall. She grabbed Cecil’s hand and yanked him along, pulling him to the top of the building.
Cecil’s teeth began to chatter when they reached the top.
“On your belly, now!”
“Wh-wh-what is th-th-this place?” he stammered, through his clacking teeth.
“I don’t know. It could be an old lookout. That’s the urban legend. Now, shhh.” They lay with their heads barely peeking over the edge.
Cecil’s teeth clattered noisily.
“I thought you didn’t get cold?” Chia whispered.
“N-n-not c-c-cold,” he insisted. “S-c-c-cared of heights. Already t-t-told you.”
Feeling compassion, she said, “Close your eyes. I’ve got you.” She ran her hand along his back, soothing him. “And no boners, buddy. This is for comfort.”
“B-b-but it feels so g-g-good,” he said, rolling over to gaze up at her with his puppy dog, glacier-blue eyes.
She stroked his side, intent on calming him.
His leg started twitching as if she’d been scratching his husky dog back, right in front of his tail. He bent the leg and pounded the roof with his foot.
“Jesus, Cecil!” She eyed his tented pants and slapped the side of his head. “Roll over. Stay! Quiet!”
Like a good dog, Cecil did as told. “Spoilsport. I know I could make you feel good and happy.”
“And I got your teeth to stop chattering, so shut up.” Her insides seemed to whine in protest, as if she were the girl dog who wanted the boy dog, badly.
Footsteps thundered from inside the building. Red Mountainbear burst outside. “Where are you, you fool?”
“Over here!” Dick whisper-yelled.
From their vantage point, Chia and Cecil watched as Red barreled toward Dick. “What did you see? Who is it?”
“It’s the bitch herself and her shifter dog friend.”
“What? Where did they go?”
“Not sure. They disappeared. She…she…my eyes must have been playing tricks on me because it looked like she ran up the wall.”
Red sc
offed. “You’re a bigger fool than I thought possible. Let me see the gun.”
“I’ve got this,” Dick spluttered.
“I said, let me see the goddamned gun.”
Dick passed Chia’s Smith and Wesson into Red’s huge gloved hand.
“I love that gun,” Chia whispered. “It was grandpa’s favorite. I really want it back.”
“I’ll g-g-get you a-n-n-nother one,” Cecil said, his shivers resuming.
“Oh, no. Your fear is back?”
“It never left m-m-me. Heights t-t-terrify m-m-me. I g-g-got dis-t-t-tracted. Maybe you should t-t-touch me some m-m-more.”
She tsked. “No, dawg-man, it makes you horny.”
“I’m always h-h-horny. Even when I’m s-c-c-cared. You could help me get un-scared, you know. You’ll like it.”
“Jesus Christ. Close your eyes. I need to think.”
“You go that way,” Red said to Dick.
“I’m unarmed,” he protested.
“I’ve got your back,” Red said.
Dick skulked toward the corner. Red lifted the gun and shot him in the back. “See what I mean?” He let out a maniacal laugh, worse than a hyena’s.
The injured man fell to the ground, a pool of blood seeping into the snow. He groaned.
Chia gasped.
Cecil yelped. “Ha-t-t-te g-g-guns worse than h-h-heights.”
“Now, you tell me. I’m learning all kinds of things about you.” Chia glared at him.
Red looked up. “There you are, you little bitch. Come on down and no one will get hurt.”
Chia pulled her gun from her holster, cocked it, and aimed. “I’ve got a better sight on you.”
“Going to make this fun are you?” Red called. “Tell you what. I’ll give you a head start. You climb on down and I’ll give you the lead. I’m going to shoot you, like I shot Dick, put the gun in his hand, and make it look like he did it. Unless you turn over the land and sea rights. We can put this matter to rest right here and now.”
“Yeah, right. I turn over rights to you and all my friends are dead anyway.”