by Bones Monroe
“Sit. There are things you need to hear,” the lady commanded. Although soft, the tone was steely and brooked no disagreement. She pointed her walking stick at an empty stool.
Ben sat obediently in a corner of her dim porch and watched her settle into a ragged, comfortable looking couch.
“Are your eyes used to the gloom yet? My eyes aren’t what they used to be. The light bothers me. I hope you don’t mind,” she said in a much friendlier tone.
“I saw your little challenge out there,” she said without waiting for Ben to answer. “I like to watch what goes on here. I’ve been here much longer than most. Saw you puffed up like a proud rooster.” She cackled a bit before continuing.
“But he—”
“Tut,” she raised her hand to stop. “Don’t go looking for trouble around here. We exanimates aren’t that bad once you get to know us. Granted, we got a few bad apples but not all of us are anti-human,” she said.
Ben feigned outrage. “I never said slackjaws—” he stammered uncomfortably realizing what he had just said.
“I’ve been called worse in my long years. What were you going to say? ‘You love the undead?’ or ‘Your best friends are slackjaws?’” she said in a slightly mocking tone.
Ben sat in silence. He thought about just walking away from this crazy lady. But he lived here now. Who knows what she was capable of? He had to think of Grace. Keep his head low and mouth shut. Things he was notoriously bad at.
As he shifted his weight on the stool, the lady said, “Don’t run. I know where you live and this is my neighborhood. We’re just chatting. No harm in that, is there?”
She may have meant it innocently, but to Ben, it sounded ominous.
“I’m Lamia. You can think of me of the welcome ambassador to North Wellon. I’ve seen this place through its many ups and downs.”
“I’m Ben. I just moved in here with my daughter, Grace.”
“Single father?” Lamia asked.
“Not that it’s any of your business but yes. She’s gone,” Ben replied testily. As soon as he said it, he regretted it. “That didn’t come out the way I intended. It’s just that moving here is a big change and well, talking about Mara, my wife, it’s tough. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
Lamia merely nodded.
“Were those kids in a gang?” Ben asked. “Do I have to worry about them?”
“Those three think they are a gang, but they are harmless. Don’t worry about them. I’ll tell them to leave you alone.”
“You can do that? Are you a mob boss or something like that? Will I owe you a favor you’ll come cash in at the worst possible time?”
“Ben, you watch too many movies. Although I like the way you think, no, I am not a mob boss. I am the matriarch. I look after our residents. Help where I can. Mostly I try to keep the peace.”
“Keep the peace? Gangs?” Ben asked. “Are they causing problems?”
She shook her head, “The humans are the problem.”
Ben jerked his head back when he heard that. He laughed nervously. “You’re joking, right? Humans aren’t the problem. I read last night that there was a huge rush. Dozens died. The exanimate ambushed the humans.”
Ben readied himself for a spirited argument. She’s one of these crazy ex-animate activists.
“Mhmmm, and that was in retribution for an attack a few weeks before, but that’s beside the point. It’s not whose gang is more powerful. It’s that CURE raids are becoming more of a problem. I have contacts in the organization. I try to meet with them to keep the tensions at a manageable simmer but it boils over frequently. I fear when that happens. Each side will not react appropriately. It will be pandemonium.”
“But CURE are the good guys. They keep us safe!” Ben protested.
“From whom?”
“From…uhhhh…”
“Us? Safe from the inhumans?” Lamia said waving her hands indicating the neighborhood they were in.
Ben looked down in embarrassment. “This place does have a certain … reputation,” he muttered. “CURE just keeps things safe.”
“Don’t be saying that around here. Those aren’t good people. Center for Undead Relocation and Enforcement. We’ve already been relocated. What are they enforcing? For what reason? Why raids where we unlive?” she asked bitterly.
Ben shrugged. “I don’t know. You must do something to merit their actions. They have their reasons. We had to come here because things got tough, but we’ll be out soon. We aren’t like you.”
Lamia looked at him disapprovingly. “You need to open your mind. See things from a bigger perspective. You might be animate, but you are here now. When CURE comes, they won’t care about your beating heart. When you’re here, you’re one of us.”
Ben waved his hands, rejecting Lamia’s statement. “No, no, no way. We’re keeping our head down, working, and staying out of trouble.”
“If that’s so, then don’t go looking for trouble with people. No more challenges like that little stunt you pulled.”
Ben defended himself. “But I need to make a reputation for myself. That nobody can push me around.”
“Reputation of an idiot,” Lamia snarked. “I can stop those kids from hurting you, but I can’t stop them from talking. Listen, new guy, you got a lot to learn. Remember, most of us are already dead; you can’t hurt us. But you and your daughter, you’re the fragile ones.”
The words bit into Ben deeply. She was right. Outside of North Wellon, the undead and non-humans were strictly managed by CURE. Here things were different. He would have to revisit his attitude and behavior if he and Grace would make it out alive. Ben retreated into silence thinking maybe this move was much worse than he expected.
He bid farewell to Lamia. By now, Grace should be home. Today was her first day at school, he wanted to see how she fared.
Chapter 10
Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Ben’s eyes widened in terror when he stepped up to the front door of their new apartment. The Welcome mat was still there. He and Grace had a fight about that. Ben thought their neighbors would steal it in a heartbeat, but Grace insisted on having it. He relented; it was the least of his worries.
Someone had pried off the silver crucifix he nailed onto the door as soon as they moved in. The theft left deep gashes on the door where the tool used to pry off the crucifix gouged into the wood.
There goes the deposit, Ben thought. More troubling was their new home was now open for the taking. Without that crucifix to provide protection from vampires, Ben shuddered to think of the consequences. He yanked open the door and rushed inside to check up on Grace. If anything happened to her, he would hunt down whoever was responsible.
Grace had survived her first day at school, despite her apprehension at starting a brand-new school in the middle of the school year with absolutely no friends.
To her surprise, she discovered she was the only living and breathing human student. Her schoolmates were either undead or some type of inhuman. Grace was nothing special, and that made her most special of all. But not in a good way, all the other kids openly stared, pointed bony fingers at her and snickered behind her back.
A clique of girls made a few snide remarks about her warm blood. They insinuated that grace thought she was better than them since she was still living.
Grace kept to herself as she walked through the parking lot. Just as she expected, she hadn’t made one friend and the day made her miss Ingrid and Glenn. So this was what her life would be like in North Wellon? Sucking worse than before. She heard a rumbling nearby, and her eye lit up when she saw Zach pull up in a beat-up old car. A young boy pulled open the door and jumped in the passenger seat.
At last: someone she knew. She ambled up to the car before he drove off. Zach recognized her from the night before and introduced her to his little brother. On an impulse, she invited him over to watch TV. The day finally perked up when he said, “Okay, sure. I’ll drop off little bro at home and be right over.”
&
nbsp; Grace and Zach sat facing beside each other watching TV. They were rapt with attention, as the police in the reality TV show were about to storm into a dilapidated home where a suspected flakka lab was operating. The CURE team assumed their position on either side of the front door. After one officer used a battering ram to bust open the door, the rest of the officers rushed in screaming for everyone to drop their weapons. The bright light of the cameras caught the perps by surprise, but they stood there placidly.
One of the cops, an Officer Keys, fired one shot.
Grace and Zach watched the bullet enter the body. The suspect flinched and looked down at the wound with curiosity. He shrugged and put up his hands.
The cops quickly cuffed the perps, took them outside and called in the hazardous materials team.
“Glad we could get more of this filth off the street,” Officer Keys said. “Flakka is literally killing kids out here. Every lab we take down is a life we save.”
The officer pointed at the handcuffed suspects, sitting in a row on the curb.
Officer Keys snarled, “Zombies, every last one. They get recruited by the gangs to work in the labs. They can’t get hurt, fumes don’t bother them. The only risk is a fire, but they’ll do anything for the right amount of cash. Can’t say I blame them.”
“What are we going to do with them?” Another officer asked off camera. “There’s nothing much we can do with them. We can incarcerate them but they’ll just do their time and find another lab to work in. They’re undead. Time is all they have.”
“The solution?” a third officer said off camera. “We have to go after the people funding the labs. That’s where we make the most impact.”
The show cut to a commercial.
“Wow. I have never heard of that drug,” Grace said.
Zach said, “It’s pretty bad. Makes people go crazy. Super addictive.”
“But it isn’t right. CURE always targets inhumans. Those necrotics are just trying to make an unliving. They need to pay the rent too.”
Zach shrugged. “Yeah, but what can one person do?”
Grace sensed tension in his voice so she changed the subject. “So your brother goes to this school but you go to my old school?” she asked. “How does that work?”
“Didn’t you know? Your old school is a magnet school for the inhumans and exanimates. The ones that can,” Zach made air quotes, “fit in. Anyone interested in math and stuff can apply. I got in.”
“Why doesn’t your brother go there?”
“Too young. He’ll apply next year.”
“It must be great,” Grace told Zach.
“What is?” Zach asked confusion spreading across his deathly pale face. “Going to school?”
“No, I mean, being a vampire. It’s so cool. You can fly, turn into a bat, stuff like that. Can you show me?” she asked excitedly.
Zach scowled and shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. That’s only in the movies. We aren’t monsters. Well, yeah we are, but not like that.” Zach scratched his chin, seeming to think of a way to explain it to Grace.
“Okay, think of those abilities like traits. Some people are blonde, others brunette, or balding, or have blue eyes, whatever. That’s how we are. Some vampires have those abilities, others don’t,” he explained.
Grace nodded, her eyes widening as she began to understand. “So what’s your trait?”
Just then, Ben barged into the room and screamed, “GET AWAY FROM HER YOU MONSTER!”
Grace’s mouth dropped open in shock, and she shrank back from her enraged father. Zach had the opposite reaction. His fangs grew, then he let out a barely audible growl and launched himself at Ben.
In one leap he was on Ben, who now was the one frozen in shock. Zach’s fingernails had extended into inch long talons that bit into Ben’s shoulders. Ben flailed helplessly as Zach pushed him to the floor raising one arm to tear Ben to shreds.
The talons swung down …
… and stopped in midair.
“Dude, you’re her father, right?” Zach said regaining his composure. “Don’t you know you can’t do that? You should never startle a vampire. I was about to decapitate you. That really would not be a good look for you,” he said taking a step back and helping Ben up to his feet.
“Sorry about your shirt,” he said looking at the small quarter sized blood spots that were quickly spreading. “I don’t think you’ll need stitches but put peroxide on that. I gotta go. See ya later.”
Zach left leaving the slightly bloodied Ben and Grace to deal with the vampiric aftermath.
“I can’t believe you,” Ben said in a mixture of obvious disappointment and pain. Grace handed him the peroxide. “Thanks,” he said, dabbing it on his wounds. “I won't become one of them, will I?” he asked in terror.
“No Father, you have to be bitten by them. You only have a few scratches.”
Now that the injuries were verifiably slight, Ben’s anger began to rise. “You brought a BOY home? A VAMPIRE BOY?!?! And when I wasn’t home? I can’t believe you Grace Coleman!” Ben screamed.
“WHAT? AT LEAST I DIDN’T SNEAK OUT LIKE YOU ASKED ME NOT TO! We weren’t doing ANYTHING, we were just watching TV,” she yelled back in her defense.
“Just watching TV. Yeah, yeah, that’s how it all starts. You don't understand what he had planned. Boys do not have your best interest at heart!”
“Not him,” she said, pointing to the door Zach had just exited. “He’s different.”
“Of course he’s different. He has no heart! Is that what you really want? A heartless heathen? You’re going to give me a heart attack with all your antics. What am I supposed to do, huh? You sneak out behind my back and now bringing boys home when I’m not here.”
Grace crossed her arms in a huff. “I don’t know and I don’t care. You need to let me live. I want a social life! I’m not a nun!” she screamed.
Ben paced the room in a rage. He spied an oddly shaped bundle in the corner clumsily covered with a dishrag.
“WHAT is this?” he said yanking the rag off.
He glared at a gleaming pile of crucifixes, bundles of garlic and wolfsbane underneath the rag.
“You took down all the wards and crucifixes I put up, that WE put up? What were you thinking? Have you gone crazy? Those were the only things that were protecting us from those monsters out there! And then you take them down and invite one into our home! Are you crazy? What has gotten into you?” Ben yelled.
“Why are you so lifeist? Who cares about their core body temperature? I don’t judge someone if they have a fever, so what do I care whether or not they’re at room temperature?” Grace stomped her foot in impotent rage at her father’s ignorance.
“You’re too young to understand. When you’re older, you’ll get it,” he said.
Grace leaned into his face as if to threaten her father. “If that’s the case, then I don’t want to get older. Maybe I’ll become one of them, and then what’ll you do?”
Ben stopped pacing and stared at Grace. “Don’t you EVER say something like that again. You have no idea what you’re talking about. Do not go against the natural order of things. Dead is dead, or at least it should be!”
A knock at the door interrupted the argument.
“Who on Earth is that?” Ben asked. “Another one of your ‘friends’ you invited over?” It was a cheap shot, but he was so enraged he didn’t care.
Ben yanked open the door and saw a tall, lanky man, bald with large, prominent ears standing there.
“Hi, sorry to interrupt. I’m Oliver Dwight. Your next-door neighbor. Just thought you’d like to know the walls here are paper-thin. You guys are talking very loud. We can hear everything,” Oliver said.
Ben hung his head. What would people think? he thought. Now he definitely had a reputation.
“I’m so, so sorry about that Oliver. It’s just that my daughter. She’s been misbehaving and—”
Oliver held up his hand to interrupt. “I completely understan
d,” he said. “And truth be told, I heard it all. You’re in a tough spot. Teenagers can be quite a handful. I think I can help. Would you mind if I came in and chatted for a bit?” Oliver asked.
“Of course, of course,” Ben said. “Come right in.” Ben’s spirits lifted. Was this the help he so desperately needed?
“Oliver, this is my daughter Grace.”
Grace greeted her new neighbor with a sullen stare and an eye roll as Oliver and her father chatted for about where they moved from and why. Ben kept his troubles vague, just telling Oliver that this was a temporary move.
“I don’t want to be a busybody,” Oliver said, “but we are tight-knit around here. We all look after each other round these parts. The first days in a new place, especially North Wellon, can be pretty nerve-wracking.”
Grace and Ben both nodded in agreement.
“I got a feeling about that. I spoke to Ms. Lamia today. She was nice,” Ben said.
Oliver’s ears perked up at her name. “Ohhh, so you met her already? She’s always on top of things. Trying to keep everything cool, calm and collected. Sometimes, she gets nosy, but I guess that’s what she has to do, huh?”
Ben shrugged noncommittally.
“Bah, never mind about that,” Oliver said, waving his hands. “That’s just neighborhood politics. You need not get involved in that. I said earlier that I might help with this young lady here.”
Grace looked at Oliver suspiciously. Who said she needed help? And who was this guy to help her?
Ben was all ears. Raising a daughter as a single parent was tough, and he wanted to hear what Oliver had to say.
“I take part in the most noble profession. One that brings joy and smiles to people of all walks of life, people of all ages and state of living. Business has been picking up lately, and I find myself in need of an assistant. Based on what I heard, your daughter here has extra time in the evenings that she could use productively.”