by P. J. Day
“What? You mean our teeth? Our ability to quickly heal? That we have no expiration date?”
“Beyond that? Anything else?” asked Milton, as he put his hand inside the bag.
“No,” I said, with slight confusion.
Milton pulled out a skull with a reddish tinge from the bag. The smell was horrifying, as there were still pieces of flesh hanging on the side of the cranium. I immediately noticed the skull’s set of sharp fangs in its mouth. I looked away, my brow crinkled in disgust. Kai’s face turned white as a ghost and quickly left the room.
“No reason to be grossed out,” Milton said to me. “He died a hero, he really did,” he proclaimed, holding up the skull as if he were performing Hamlet. “I want to show you something before Jon is put to rest.”
“That’s Jon?” I asked, gagging and almost puking out the blood I had just drunk. “How did you get his head back?”
“The rest of my men just showed up. They brought back Jon—his head, I mean—and that accountant fellow.”
“Larry?” I said. “Where is he? We need to get him home.”
“We dropped him off in Guilin City with some long-haired traveling Westerners,” Milton said. “We told him to tell them he was lost. He had such a horrified face, from what I hear. He’ll be fine.”
“How do you know?”
“Listen, Guilin City loves tourists, he’s in good hands—now hear me out, okay,” Milton said, snapping his fingers trying to get my full attention. He brought the fresh skull close to my face. I turned my head but still had my eyes fixated on the skull, magnetized by morbid curiosity. Milton placed a finger inside the skull’s nasal cavity. I fought off my aversion and focused on what Milton was trying to show as I completely faced the skull.
“See that?” he asked, pointing to a small, thin piece of fleshy cartilage inside the skull, which extended from the lower-brow area down to the middle portion of the nasal cavity. “Watch this.” Milton flipped the skull and proceeded to blow air through the foramen magnum, a hole where the skull attaches itself to the spine. I looked closely into the nasal cavity and the little piece of cartilage began flapping, vibrating like a thin piece of tracing paper against the breeze.
“What the hell?” I exclaimed, as my revulsion transformed itself into astonishment.
Milton pulled the skull away from me and gently put it back into the black tote bag, with respect and dignified reverence. “Qíyú Zài hépíng,” he said to himself, with sorrow in his eyes, carefully placing the bag on the desk.
“I have that thing in my head?” I asked.
“We all do, Mr. King.”
“What else is inside me?”
“I don’t know, I’m not a doctor or a surgeon and I don’t want to go around giving autopsies to fallen comrades either.”
“How do you know about this and what does it do?”
“We, the Jiang-Shi, are the last remaining vampire social group or, some might say, a tribe. Our camaraderie has enabled us to retain many traits that make us vampires,” he said, lowering his eyes solemnly. “Most of the remaining vampires are like you: solitary, wayward creatures.”
“So, how does that flap relate to my dreams and you?”
“We call this technique, Mènghuà,” he said, as he got up from the chair and poured himself another glass of blood. “We have discovered the ability to fine-tune hums at varying decibels, which stimulates that small flap inside your skull when dreaming.”
I sat still in my chair, completely frozen, focused on Milton’s every word as if he were a renowned college professor unveiling the cure for cancer. Milton’s revelation had made me want to learn more about who I was. Why was I a vampire? Why was I here? What makes me different from humans other than the obvious traits: the horrible, undignified, monstrous traits.
“Who taught you to do this? I mean, do you hear me back, am I humming to you without knowing it?”
Milton sat back down on the chair, holding his glass of blood, and calmly crossed his legs. “One question at a time. But first, now that I told you the greatest revelation of your long, boring life, you tell me mine.” He leaned in closely. I could smell the metallic, sweet aroma of his drink. “What’s your secret?”
The reason for my hesitation in telling Milton about Zeo was the possibility of the drug’s proliferation and the possible implication of our company getting in hot water or being exposed myself. Also, the possible consequences of addiction that might consume our willing hosts. I was practically injecting women with heroin every time I bit their necks.
“It’s called Zeopirudin or Zeopirudophine… or Zeo for short,” I said, with hesitation.
Milton’s eyebrows lifted and his eyes lit up.
“So, it’s a drug?”
“Yes, it’s currently patented, and still going through trials. It’s in the last testing stages with the FDA and the European Union—it’s an anti-coagulate, with time-released hyper-coagulation.”
I could see the thoughts of multiple possibilities racing through his head as he sat in the chair, with his eyes darting left to right, engaged in deep thought. He sat back and asked, “But the feeling of euphoria, for the host?”
“There is a version with an opiate derivative. It’s used for surgery only, and aids anesthesia,” I said, already predicting in my head what his next question would be.
“I want that one... where can I find those pills, right now?”
“I don’t know; I had some in my room.”
“Where can I get the formula?” he asked, standing up from the chair with excitement.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do!” he said, raising his voice. “How can you not know? You relayed information of the drug’s origin through your subconscious humming.”
“See, I knew it!” I stood up and confronted Milton. “We all have the ability to communicate in dreams.”
Milton downed the blood from his glass in a single swig, and said, “You tell me where the formula for Zeo is or where I can find a stash, and I’ll make sure you know everything. But, I need to ask permission first.”
“I don’t know if I can tell you where—”
Milton cut me off. “Who cares? They fucked you over; you’ll be part of us. The last remaining true vampires in existence. With powers you never thought possible.”
I looked at Milton with a suspicious glare. “Are you going to teach me how to communicate in dreams?” I asked.
“Everything and much more. I’ll even show you how to gather information through this technique,” he said. “I’m good at what I do and I still couldn’t get this information from your dreams, which means you are mentally stronger than most—that’s a good thing, believe me.”
“Fine. I’ll tell you the exact location where you can get barrels of this stuff, but first, what’s the hum? Can I do it to humans?”
“Humans don’t have flaps, silly. I do need to ask permission first,” Milton said
“Ask whose permission?”
Milton checked his pockets and began excitedly looking for something in his room, stepping left then stepping right. He stopped abruptly and said in an excited tone, “Wait here.”
Chapter Four
I sat in the large dining hall, which looked to be part of a small cave system.
Broken stalagmites and stalactites adorned the corners of the hall. There were eight tables spread throughout the cavernous opening with no uniformity; they all looked temporarily placed, unused and lonely. Kai and another younger-looking male Jiang-Shi stood behind me, speaking Cantonese to one another, conversing about sports, religion, politics and any other topic that I imagined they probably chatted about. They both kept a watchful eye over me, not overbearing, but with casual vigilance. Milton walked out of his room with a black leather duster and a dark gray hood, and a black mask over his mouth. He looked like a Molotov-chucking dissident.
“I’ll be back. I’m heading up to the temple,” he said. “You can have him visit with his friend
s, if he wishes.”
He quickly walked out of the hall and exited through the tunnel.
I looked up at Kai as I sat on the splintered bench and asked him, “Can I see Ted?”
Kai gave me a firm nod and asked with a strong accent, “The girl?”
I did not want to see Holly yet. I wanted to talk to Ted first to see what he and Holly had talked about while they were imprisoned in the room. Hopefully, he didn’t tell her I was a vampire. If there was anyone that had to break the news to Holly about my true identity, it would have to be me.
“No girl,” I said. “Just bring the man, please.”
Kai nodded at his companion. The other Jiang-Shi left to get Ted. As I waited, I began looking around the dining hall and noticed a few four-foot-tall jade statues placed at random spots against the walls. They didn’t look modern, or even recently produced; rather, they looked antiquated, and of some worth. The statues were of men and they looked Greek or Roman, rather than Chinese; however, their garb was of Oriental influence. The sculpted figures had their mouths opened and revealed a set of fangs. I continued to lose myself in the fascinating artwork. I asked myself, Who made them? Why do they not look Chinese? How old were they? I continued to ponder the jade curiosities. After a few minutes of contemplation, I heard a familiar voice enter the room.
“Jack!” yelled Ted, as he entered the hall, dirty and with pieces of bread stuck in his beard. “Where did that double-crossing jack-off go?”
He scanned the room quickly, looking for Milton.
“He left,” I said. “He’ll be back. You can try decking him then.”
Ted sat down next to me on the bench.
“I trusted him, you know?” he said with disappointment in his voice.
I turned my back away from the two men who weren’t watching our every move but were mindful of us. Ted gave me a bro hug and began speaking in a light murmur, looking back at Kai and his companion to see if they were listening to our conversation with calculated intent.
“We need to get the hell out of here.”
“I know, but you’re not going to believe what Milton revealed to me.”
“What? That he could talk to you in your dreams?”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Duh, how do you think we rescued your ass?”
“Okay, then tell me how everything went down,” I asked in a low voice.
“Okay, so I show up at the café and I notice a small, petite woman sitting in the back of café with a 49ers hat, like you said.”
“Jenny?”
“Yeah, at first, I didn’t know who she was, then she took off her hat and I was like, Holy shit, you’re that girl—dude—whatever who was at the club last night.”
“Okay, go on,” I said, as I took a quick peek over my shoulder.
“Anyway, so I asked, Is this a shakedown?” Ted paused and took a small breath. “She’s like, No. I know your friend is a vampire.”
“Let me guess; you told her I was. You didn’t protect my identity?”
“Really? You took a large bite from her neck. You were either one of two things that night: A vampire or some psycho who belonged in a mental institution. Why would a fine chap like me hang out with crazies?”
“Okay, keep going.”
“She then tells me how she knows of vampires in southern China, and how they come to the club you and I went to, and that she wanted to pay me and for you to bite her one more time, and to reveal why your bites are so addictive, and then wanted to know how she healed so quickly.”
“So, you were smart and didn’t say a word, right?” I asked, with doubt in my voice.
“She offered me $50,000 for a meeting with you.”
I closed my eyes, shook my head, and paused without saying a word. My best friend and confidant had sold me out for a mere $50,000.
“My trust is only worth $50,000?” I asked, clearly disappointed.
“Look, there was something in it for you, too.”
“What?”
“Safety, protection while you were in China and, of course, $50,000,” said Ted, while giving me a cheesy grin, expecting my approval.
“Sounds like the mob; why would I want to deal with the mob?”
“Hey, if I didn’t tell her who you were, you would have been trapped inside Guangzhou forever.”
Ted was right. Even though his actions were borderline treasonous, his lack of judgment did lead to my rescue.
“So, who are these guys and how did they find me?”
“Okay, so I held off telling her that night more than what she needed to know. Then, she asked me where you were and I said you were on a date. She asked why we were in Hong Kong and I said we were in town for business.”
“Still, though, how the hell did Milton make contact with me while I slept at the Peninsula the day before you met up with Jenny?”
“See, that I don’t know. However, they knew where you slept every night. Jenny admitted to me on the drive to Guangzhou that the Jiang-Shi have contacts all over Hong Kong and southern China. From bellhops to taxi drivers, from guys working in IT to restaurant owners and club owners; they have their pale crooked fingers everywhere.”
The Jiang-Shi sounded more and more like a powerful gang organization with special vampire powers, whose reach I could not grasp. They were straight out of a John Carpenter movie and I was, yet again, an object of desire.
“Milton mentioned something about a Luc; did Jenny tell you anything about a Luc?”
“No, that’s the first time I heard that name.”
I could tell Ted was being sincere. There was a childlike honesty in his eyes as I continued to gently interrogate him.
“So, how did you guys know I was imprisoned at Guangzhou?”
“Well, that night at the café, I played hardball.”
“What do you mean?”
“I agreed to the $50,000 but I also wanted a fun night,” Ted said, playfully jabbing me with his forearm. “You know what I mean?”
“Ah, geez.”
“While you were on your date with Holly, Jenny treated me to a nice club. Let’s just say, the surprises that night didn’t include penis.”
“Okay, but what do Milton and his crew know about Guangzhou?”
“I drank a ton that night, and eventually crashed at Jenny’s apartment in Hong Kong in the morning. I did it so I could stay as far away from the Peninsula as possible, so Alan and Rebecca wouldn’t find me or suspect I was there.”
“Smart move,” I said.
“Thanks. I wanted to call you that night, but I was busy, if you know what I mean, and I knew you would be, too.” Ted paused. His lips were very dry and he looked severely dehydrated. He turned toward Kai and asked, “Water?”
Kai ordered his fellow Jiang-Shi to get us water. He put his back toward the wall and began listening to our conversation. I winked at Ted and motioned my hand down, to indicate that we should lower our voices a little more.
Ted continued, “I woke up late the next morning and Jenny asked me to give you a call. This was around 11 a.m. Of course, you didn’t answer but I knew you had an important meeting.”
I was in the car with Alan and Rebecca by that time and I do remember leaving a text message for Ted. It was odd that I didn’t receive any of his calls that morning.
“You sure you called me? Did you get my text?” I asked Ted.
“I called you like three times that morning and no, I never received your text,” he said, looking sincerely surprised. “All I got was a busy signal and I became worried that I couldn’t get a hold of you. So, I spilled the beans as to where you were supposed to go in the evening and I told Jenny about our business with Guangzhou.”
The Jiang-Shi came into the hall with two dirty glasses of water. Ted looked at me and smirked, acknowledging the dirty glass and thanked the Jiang-Shi. With slight reluctance, he took a sip of the water and made an exaggerated look of disgust, sticking out his tongue and rolling his eyes behind his head.
He put the glass down and continued, “God, this is disgusting... as I was saying”—he took a gulp—“as soon as I told Jenny about Guangzhou Jiyin Engineering, her eyes almost burst out of her sockets.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that they told me that reaching you was a priority and that you were possibly in danger. I had no choice but to tag along. I had nowhere to go, and she gave me a $5,000 advance, too.”
“So, where’s my share?” I asked in jest.
“I don’t know; just ask Milton next time you see him,” Ted said, chuckling as the water from his drink dribbled off his reddish beard.
“Did you ever see Milton doing his thing?” I asked.
“Jenny had made contact with Milton in Guangzhou while we were still in Hong Kong. She drove us to Guangzhou that afternoon. We met up with Milton and the crew in this dingy apartment right by the market over the facility you were in. I remembered him lying down in the living room as Kai looked over him.”
“Was Milton doing anything strange?” I asked. I was hoping Ted would have remembered anything about Milton’s habits or actions before he would go into his dream tripping.
“All I remember is that he hummed and then the hum went silent, and his eyes began twitching. It was a strange hum, though. Nothing I have ever heard of before. I tried replicating it, but I couldn’t.”
Ted sat there and stared blankly into the dirty glass filled with brackish liquid, trying very hard to remember that night from moment to moment.
“I remember asking Jenny what the weird sleeping thing was that Milton was doing and she told me he was trying to reach you.”
Ted sat still and was motionless as he tried to recall more but he looked up at me with empty eyes and said, “That’s it and now we’re here.”
“Do you still have that $5,000? Maybe we can pay some smugglers to get us out of China,” I asked.
“No, I spent it on a game of Pai Gow with the Jiang-Shi that night in the apartment,” Ted said sheepishly.
“What?”
“I’m sorry, but damn, they were good. I was up $2,000 at one point,” he said.