Queen's Gambit
Page 24
“Oh, no dear, he’s not.”
June walks into her bedroom and grabs her phone. She sends her dad a text.
Eddy pulls a bottle of from the fridge and sets it on the counter. He looks at his mom, who silently smiles back. He looks at his dad, who stares in the direction of the powered-off television. Interesting... “I’m gonna grab my bag and then head out.”
Charlie takes a slug from his “health tonic” and sucks the liquid through his teeth, making a squeegee noise.
Yikes. Gotta get the bag and get out of here.
Inside the bedroom, Kimmy and Minnie play. Eddy gives Minnie a hug and grabs his bag. When he walks back out, June is waiting for him.
Sadie takes a sip of water and clears her throat. “Have fun you two.” She grins at them.
“Thanks, Mom. Later, Dad.”
Charlie doesn’t respond.
They leave, and they walk down the hall without talking. When the elevator doors close, June exhales. “Jeez! That was so incredibly awkward.”
“It was...kinda awkward, yeah. Dad’s not happy about something.”
June shakes her head. “No, there’s more going on; your mom was a ball of nerves too.”
“Really? I didn’t notice anything.”
They reach the lobby and June gets as response from Skip.
Meet me in the courtyard.
She sighs and shows Eddy.
In the courtyard, they find Skip standing with Katlyn. They both have drinks. “June, this is Katlyn. She runs the kid’s programs here at the hotel.”
Katlyn extends her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, June.”
“You too. Dad, uh, so what do you think about me going out? The squires wanted to thank Eddy for what he did.”
Skip takes a sip of his drink to buy himself time. He doesn’t buy himself enough though; June and Eddy stand waiting and looking at him while he swallows.
Katlyn takes a step toward Eddy. “I’d like to add my gratitude, Eddy, it sounds like you were a real hero today. Thank you.”
He darts his eyes to June, feeling awkward, then nods. “I really can’t take credit, lots of people helped today. I’m just glad we didn’t get blown up.”
June nods. “Yeah, that would have been a lot worse.”
Skip grumbles.
“I’ll say!” Katlyn places her free arm through Skip’s.
He smiles at her and pulls his arm away. “Just give me one second. June?” He walks a few steps away, and she follows. He leans his head down and whispers, “I actually think you should go out tonight. But don’t think that I’m not still upset; you’re not out of the woods yet.”
“Thank you, Daddy, I love you.”
He hugs her. “I love you too.” As they walk back, Skip keeps his arm around his daughter’s shoulders. “Eddy, don’t make me regret this.”
“No way! Thanks, Skip!”
“Mmm-hmm.” Skip pulls his arm off June, then she and Eddy walk out. Skip holds his elbow out, welcoming Katlyn to take it.
She does. “You know, we vampires have really good hearing.” She hugs his arm close. “You sound like a good dad.”
His eyes water. “These days, that’s all I ever want to be.”
Eddy and June meet up with Sky and Jambavan just outside the front doors of the hotel. Sky leaps in the air. “BURRITOS!”
They laugh.
Eddy clears his throat. “So where’re we going?”
Jambavan points to the northwest, past a tall monument comprising of three curved spires sticking up over the horizon. “Up the Pike.”
In the suite’s kitchen, Charlie mixes another drink of vodka and substitute blood. He takes a sip and checks the label on the alcohol. 151 proof? What is this, the middle ages?
Sadie motions to the drink as he sits back down next to her. “Can I have a sip?”
“It’s a little weak. They don’t sell grain alcohol in the stores here. Apparently, the great state of Virginia doesn’t want vampires to get buzzed.”
She picks up the glass and takes a sip. She makes a face. “Lame.” Then, she takes a big swig.
“So, if I go along with this stupidity, do you really think Mary’s plan will work?”
“It could be a way out for you, but it’ll still be up to the Council to vote on.”
Charlie takes a huge gulp of the beverage and then lets out a great sigh. He looks at his wife. “Do you trust her?”
Sadie snuffs. “You may not like her much, but Mary has always been true to her word.”
“I just don’t like politics, and she’s queen of the Council.”
“I know, and now she’s trying to make me the princess.”
Charlie smiles. “What would that make me?”
Sadie chuckles. “It makes you my knight in shining armor.”
“Oh good.” Charlie finishes the drink. “I was afraid it’d make me a prince or something wimpy.”
She pokes him in the boob.
“Hey, that hurt!”
Sadie feigns sympathy. “Oh, poor baby.” She motions with her head. “Get in the bedroom, and I’ll kiss it and make it all better.”
Charlie blurts out a laugh. “Minnie and Kimmy are in there, and they DO NOT want to see that.”
“I forgot.” She sighs. “Should I go and let Kimmy head out?”
Charlie shakes his head. “No, not yet. She informed me that we bought her services for the night. ‘It’s policy.’ Let’s have another pathetically weak drink, and then we’ll let her go.”
“Good plan.” She grabs the empty glass and stands to mix a fresh drink.
“Oh, and I forgot, we need to do some painting tonight with Minnie, I promised.”
“You’re such a good daddy.” She fills the glass halfway with alcohol, then fills it the rest of the way with the remnants of another bottle. She returns to the couch and raises the glass in a toast. “Here’s to navigating the politics of the oldest and most historically corrupt bureaucracy in the history of the world while trying to survive a zombie apocalypse.” She takes a sip and hands the drink to Charlie.
“Here-here!” He takes a big sip and puts his arm around his wife.
At a cozy corner booth in the hotel’s restaurant, Skip sits beside Katlyn on the plush, velvet cushion. A buzz of activity energizes everyone under the warm, dim lights. In honor of not being blown up, the restaurant gives everyone dining with them a complimentary glass of champagne. He raises his. “To new friends.”
Katlyn smiles and repeats the toast. She can distinctly smell the effervescence; pear with vanilla undertones, and as she brings the glass toward her lips, she closes her eyes. She takes a sip, allows the flavors and bubbles to flow over her tongue, and she rolls her head from side to side. Her blonde hair bobs, dancing against her cheek and neck. “Oh my, so delicious!”
Skip nods. Absolutely.
Jambavan and Sky lead the way up the hill, and Eddy and June follow behind. June points ahead to the monument made from three metal spires that curve into the air. “What is that?”
Sky checks to see what she’s pointing at. “Oh, that’s the Air Force Memorial. It’s supposed to look like smoke coming out of the tailpipes of jet-fighters in formation.”
Jambavan clears his throat. “No, that’s not quite right. They represent three of the four contrails that form from the exhaust of jets performing a bomb-burst maneuver.”
Sky punches him in the arm. “That’s what I said!”
Eddy laughs. “Are contrails different from exhaust?”
Jambavan turns around and walks backward. “The clouds that form behind jets are called condensation trails, or contrails for short. They’re actually ice and water droplets that condense along with particulates from the exhaust.”
Eddy nods and pulls the edges of his lips down. “Oh, okay.”
Sky turns and leans over to look. “Oooh, that is cool. Where’d ya get it?”
Eddy pats the leather bag slung around his shoulder and thigh. Sophia. “It belonged to a friend of mine. I think she made it herself.”
June frowns. Eddy? What’s wrong?
Eddy clears his throat. “My friend’s name was Sophia—she died. I’m putting it to good use for her.”
June puts her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure you are.”
Sky looks Eddy in the eye. “Was this recent?”
Eddy nods. “Yeah, it was a couple days ago.”
“Want to talk about it?”
He takes a deep breath and allows himself to imagine Sophia’s face, smiling at him. “How far until the burrito place?”
Jambavan tips his head side to side. “Twenty minutes or so.”
Eddy starts walking. “I’ll try to fit it all in by the time we get there.”
They start walking alongside him as he begins to tell the story. June reaches over and takes his hand.
Eddy leaves out a few details as he tells the squires the story of Sophia, her bag, and the zombie hunt he took part in on Sunday. He doesn’t mention that June was bit by a zombie while she was a human, nor that turning her to a vampire was the event that turned the other parents against them. Instead, he plays up the fact that the other parents suspected something of Eddy and his dad, because the other kids had seen the two of them perform—what seemed like to them—superhuman feats of strength and speed. He describes how he was accidentally shot by one of the parents with a shotgun and that his dad cut out all the pellets.
He untucks and lifts his shirt to show them the pattern of scars on his chest, right as they approach the burrito joint. “And that’s how I got the nickname Leo because the scars look like the constellation.”
Sky reaches out and traces one of the thin scar-lines that connect the bigger, gnarlier scars from the bullet holes. “Your Dad cut these, aye?”
Eddy nods.
Sky squeezes her exhale through her lips, blowing her cheeks out like a pufferfish. “And I thought my scars were badass.”
Jambavan rolls his eyes.
Eddy laughs. “Uh, are you alright, June?” She faces him, but it’s almost like she’s looking through him and not at him.
“Victoria shot Sophia?”
“Yeah.” He says in an exhale.
“I’m so sorry, Eddy.” She steps closer to him and leans her head on his shoulder.
He looks at her black hair against his shirt, then glances up. He notices Sky looking at Jambavan while biting her lips and sending her eyebrows into orbit.
Eddy puts his arm around June and smiles. “I’ll tell you guys more about Sophia later; she told me some wild stories.” With his other hand, he points to a shack that sits oddly in the center of a parking lot. “But first, let’s try some of these, quote, epic burritos.”
Just next door to the burrito joint, they sit at a park table and devour their meals. Sky slaps the top of the table with each word, “SO. DAMN. TASTY.”
Eddy takes another bite, nodding in agreement while he chews. There’s a party in my mouth, and no one else is invited.
June wipes a tiny drop of guacamole from her lip. “All I can say is WOW.”
Jambavan raises his fist and holds it out for Sky. “Mission accomplished.” She hits the top of his fist with the bottom of hers.
As June returns her napkin to the table, Eddy notices the bracelet on her wrist. “Oh, yeah. Sophia also told me that she made these.” He points to the bracelet.
June balances the huge burrito wrapped in foil on its end, just long enough to slip the bracelet off and hand it to Eddy, then she grabs her food back up for another bite.
“The beads are actually filled with dried hemoglobin. Each one is a pint’s worth.” Eddy passes the bracelet to Jambavan.
He gently lifts the bracelet out of Eddy’s palm. “That’s amazing.” He passes it to Sky. “Do they really work?”
Eddy had just taken a bite. He nods and speaks with a mouth full of food. He tries to not be too rude, so he places a hand over his mouth. “Dey maik yo mouf re-ull dry.”
Sky holds them up to the light. “Did she say how she makes them?”
Eddy swallows. “No, but she was traveling really light. I doubt you need a big lab or special machinery to do it. I’m sure someone could figure it out.”
Sky hands it back to June.
Jambavan sighs. “It would be a shame if the secret died with her.” He quivers. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“It’s alright.” Eddy glances down at the bag again, then he looks back up with a face of alarm and excitement. “Although, she definitely did have some secrets.” He moves his food to his side. “Clear a spot in the center.”
Eddy opens the leather satchel and pulls out the small, velvet bag. He opens it, removes the ring, and sets the ring on the bag, where everyone can see. “She had this ring with her—on the hunt—in that bag.”
June points to the symbol on its face. “That’s the same symbol as the drink bottles.”
Eddy nods and speaks quietly, “The symbol is for Infinite Vampire, a cooperative organization of vampires.”
Sky reaches to grab it, then recoils her hand. “May I?”
“Go ahead.”
She picks it up and turns it over in the light. “This looks antique. Is it made of rose gold?”
Eddy shrugs. “I don’t know what it’s made of, but it is old; I think the whole thing was hand carved.”
Sky turns the ring over and then squints while looking at its interior side. “Is that writing?”
Jambavan holds out his hand, and she gently presses the ring into his palm so it can’t be dropped. He inspects the inside then looks at Eddy with shock on his face. “Leo, that’s—”
Eddy nods, “I know.” He turns to June. “You know that saying, ‘Life in the blood—death in the blood’?”
She nods. That’s what Charlie said to me when he turned me.
Eddy reaches his hand out and Jambavan gives him the ring. He holds it sideways so June can see the inside of the band. “These symbols are ancient Sumerian, and guess what it reads?”
She picks it up and looks closely at the tiny little carvings. “Really? Whoa. How old is it?”
Eddy shrugs. “I don’t know. Old though.”
A quake erupts in Sky’s body. Her eyes dart to the ring and then close.
Jambavan leans over. “What happened?”
She opens her eyes and sighs. “You know, there’s this crazy old legend, and this ring reminds me of it in a big, scary way.”
Jambavan puts his hand on her shoulder. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head. “I’m sure it’s nothing, or that ring was made to look like the one in the legend, but it’s kind of freaking me out.”
Eddy rolls the ring in his hand, then he puts it back in the velvet pouch. He returns the pouch to the satchel, then he picks up his burrito. “Well, we’ve got a decent walk back, if you want to tell us.”
“Yeah, alright, lad.” She picks her burrito back up and mauls a huge bite from it.
On the walk back to the hotel, when they cross under a bridge, they leave behind them a lot of the traffic and noise of “The Pike,” as Jambavan calls it. The ring has been on Eddy’s mind, and he decides it’s the time to bring it back up. “Sky, do you want to tell us about that legend?”
She rubs her neck. “I suppose. It’s one of those old fairy tales, but this one always scared the crap outta me. This old lady used to babysit me when I was little and my...knight was on missions. She was my nanna, and I’m pret
ty sure she was evil, because she’d tell me the story every night she stayed with me, even after I told her I didn’t like it.”
“Only if you want, no pressure.” Eddy smiles over at her.
She looks at her feet as she walks. “Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there lived a man who had abilities far beyond what any other mortal possessed. He could fly, he could dance on water, and he could vanish into thin air and reappear at will. He was a god, the god of life itself.”
Eddy and June hold hands as they listen and walk.
“He lived peacefully in a village where some worshiped him, but over time, others grew jealous of his powers. A group of men used dark magic to capture him, strip him, bind him, cut him, then bleed him dry. They drank his blood, and they felt the power grow within them. They didn’t kill the god of life—because, he was a god—but now, with his powers, they started a battle with him. Many innocent villagers were killed. It rained blood down on the survivors and turned the rivers red.”
Jambavan interjects with a hand motion. “Wait, I’ve heard this before, but why does that remind you of the ring?”
“Let me finish! Jeez.” She frowns. “Where was I? Right; rivers ran red with the blood spilled from the great battle. The men who drank the god’s blood underestimated his power, and he tore them limb from limb, eating their flesh for strength and giving the rest to the wolves.”
June grimaces, remembering the torn apart zombie-bodies in the aftermath of Eddy’s hunt that past weekend. She glances at Eddy’s face for reassurance, but she doesn’t see his face the way it is right now—instead she sees him the way he looked when he was smashing the skull of the zombie that bit her ankle. He looked like he was possessed then. She shakes the image out of her mind.
“Angry at the villagers for having deceived him and for helping the men who tried to steal his powers, he cursed them.” An image of her old nanna tormenting her gives her a shiver, and Sky tries to hide it with a cough. “Excuse me.” She swallows.
“He said, ‘You all wanted my blood, and now you shall forever seek it. You will forever crave the living blood of your neighbor, of your children, of your spouse. You will chase life in the blood. You will never quench your thirst for it, you will not grow old and find release from this curse in age and death. No, you will wander throughout time, with guilt and shame as your companions. The evil—’” Her voice cracks, and she clears her throat. “‘The evil you carried out this night shall forever haunt you. And whenever you try and hide your shame from others and enjoy this world’s warmth of life, the life that grows from the sun, I will send you smoldering back into the shadows. For eternity, you are cursed.’”