by Matt Kincade
Still, no one spoke. David paused to light a shaky cigarette, and Saul followed suit. Simultaneously they sucked in loud rasping drags and exhaled smoke. "Go on," Saul prompted.
David nodded his head, but didn't say anything yet. He examined the tip of his cig and shook some ashes onto the floor. He rubbed them in with his shoe. "Well, I followed her. I try to tell her I'm sorry, to wait for a second. But she wasn't listening. She just storms through the place, door after door, and I don't even know where I'm going, but I follow her. I don't want to just grab her, you know, I feel like I've done enough. All of a sudden, we get back to the... what do you call it? The church part of the church, with the benches."
"The nave," said Saul.
"Oh. Anyway, we come in through a side door, and Angeline turns left, running up through the benches, towards the big crucifix on the wall with the statue of Jesus on it. She throws herself down on the step and just breaks down, sobbing, beating the floor, begging Jesus to take her back, she's sorry, take her back. She's got bloody tears smeared all over her face and her forearms, and it's getting all over her white dress. I walked up and stood behind her, and when she stopped talking and started crying again, I said, Angeline, talk to me. I'm sorry, but this isn't going to help. She turned her head, and looked at me with so much hate in her eyes, I thought I'd just die on the spot. She said, 'Well what is going to help, David?' I didn't know what to say to her, I felt like such an ass. I tried to say something, like, give it some time. It's not that bad. I just kept mumbling, and she kept crying at the foot of this cross."
I asked "Where-"
Saul interrupted me. "Let him finish."
David ran one hand through his hair, and with the other he flicked more cigarette ash. "Then, when I thought things couldn't get worse, her dad comes in. Just walks right in the front door. He looked like he ran in to get something he forgot, a pen or glasses or something, but right away he sees Angeline, then me. 'Angie!' he yells, and starts running down the aisle towards his daughter. Angeline sees him and her jaw just drops like a foot. She gets to her feet. I don't know what the hell to do, so I just stand there. He's asking her where she's been and who I am and stuff, and all of a sudden he notices the blood on her. He walks slower, looking at me. 'Come away,' he says. 'Come away from that boy. Come to your father.' Angeline stands there, and she lets her dad reach her. He hugged her close, and like in a trance, she wrapped her arms around him, with her staring over his shoulder at me.
"Then she fucking bit him on the neck. Not just a little, pretty bite, either. She took a chunk out of him, right through his collar." Nadia winced. Saul didn't blink. "He screamed and started spraying blood. You know, like you would expect. She latched on to his neck and started drinking. I don't know which one of them looked more surprised. The worst part was, her eyes were wide open the whole time, and she was terrified. She knew what she was doing, and she couldn't stop. After she drinks enough she pulls her teeth out and lets go. Her dad drops to the floor. She screams, staring down at the blood on her hands, then down at her dad, who's gurgling and twitching on the floor. About this time, the, uh, church people, the parishioners, were starting to come inside to see what the noise was about. They huddled back around the door.
"I took a step towards Angeline, and she stepped back. She said, 'Don't touch me, you, fucking thing. You evil thing. I hate you. God, I hate you. Just leave me alone!' She ran towards the door and all the people bumped into each other to get out of her way. Of course, I followed her. Like a dog. I ran past the parishioners and followed Angeline down the street, into the dark.
"After we got away from the church I yelled out to her, and then she actually did stop. She turns around, real slow and deliberate, with her hands bunched up at her sides. She just stands there. She was still gorgeous, barefoot in the middle of the street, in this short white dress with blood splattered all over it, and her hair all messed up. She glared at me and said, "What, are you deaf? Are you stupid? I said go away! You stupid little boy. Just leave me alone! Go home! Go back to your coffin!' Then she picked up a rock off the curb strip and threw it at me. I said, please, don't, and she threw another one, and she spat at me. She said, 'I hate you, you piece of shit.' Then she ran away, and I didn't follow her. That was the last time I saw her."
Saul stood up, apparently deep in thought. I didn't know what to say. I think I might have said I'm sorry, or something, but I'm not sure. Nadia took one of David's hands in her own, which David didn't really respond to. He just kind of stared at the wall, and so did I. Saul walked out of the room, and came back a few minutes later. He said to David, "It was unwise to have left her alone."
David looked incredulously at Saul. "What the fuck should I have done? Followed her down the street while she threw rocks at me? Tie her up?"
"Yes, if you had to."
You could tell that steamed David. "So I'm supposed to kidnap her because she doesn't want to be around me? Come on."
"David, I'm not sure you understand what the stakes are. What if she attacks someone else in her condition? She doesn't know any of the rules. She could expose us all. She probably already has. We need to try to find her. Right now." He walked towards the elevator, and we followed him.
"But she doesn't even know where we live."
"It means nothing. If she attracts vampire hunters, they will root us out eventually. Once they get a scent they won't give up."
As the elevator started to descend I said, "But they're just humans, right? why should we be afraid of humans?"
Saul sighed. "There aren't enough of us for a war. I'm weary of war, besides. It is horror beyond your imagining. You want nothing to do with vampire hunters. Especially in these times. One hunter with a cellular phone can have ten or twenty friends within a week. And if one disappears, the others will poke about on general principle." We had reached the garage, and he pulled up the elevator door. "If we see any sign of hunters, we leave town."
Chapter Seven
We never did find Angeline that night. We drove the van up and down most of the back alleys of the city. We checked laundromats and bus stops and convenience stores, but we didn't see her. We slid by the church in time to see the minister's corpse loaded into a coroner's van, while cops pushed the bystanders back. The whole place was strung up with yellow crime scene tape like it was Christmas garland. David didn't look.
You'd think a pretty girl in a bloodstained white dress wouldn't be hard to find, but you'd be wrong.
Finally, with dawn creeping into the sky, we got back home. Saul said, "Nothing to do now but wait. Try to get some sleep." He paused for a moment, and added, "It's probably for nothing, but all of you pack a bag. Pack light. Clothes, cash, mementos you can carry." He went into his room.
Me and Nadia and David agreed we should smoke pot. Lots of it. Nadia seemed to have taken over the job of consoling David. Girls are like that. I didn't mind, because I didn't know what to say to him even if I did feel terrible for him. David didn't seem to mind either, but he was still distant. It was kind of ironic that Nadia was finally paying attention to him, and he didn't care anymore. I guess maybe he was pretty stoned. Or maybe he already knew what was going to happen.
***
We all tried to get some sleep, but I know I didn't have any luck. Mostly we just sat around, watching TV but not really watching TV, you know what I mean? Oh, yeah, me and Nadia both packed bags, but David didn't. I asked him why, and he just said, "I dunno."
After a while I went to see if Saul was up. He was laying on his bed and reading a book of poetry. I think it was Yeats. Saul always tried to get me to read some, but poetry sucks. "Hey, Saul," I said.
"Hello, Paul," he answered. I noticed that Saul had a duffel packed, with his sword, wrapped in silk, balanced on top. "What happens if this doesn't work out? Where do we go then?"
Saul laid the book down on his chest. "South, I think, to begin with. Eventually, perhaps California. I haven't been to California in quite some time. I have some pro
perties there. Where would you want to go? It's all the same, really, so long as it isn't here."
To tell the truth, leaving Chicago terrified me. "Well, I'm sure it'll all blow over, but I guess California works," I said.
"How is David?"
"Despondent. He really looks like shit. I hope that girl turns up tonight and stops freaking out."
Saul stared at me for a few long moments. "Don't get your hopes up."
After that, I couldn't really think of anything else to say, and Saul started reading his book again, so I went back to my room.
Life is funny. That's what I was thinking, laying on my bed and staring up at my ceiling. If I was a poet, I'd write a poem about that. I never met Angeline, but I felt like I knew her, just because David liked her so much. I really hoped she was okay. I thought it would be cool if she came and joined our club. Or clan, or coven, or whatever you want to call us. It made me feel like shit to think about her out there, caught out in the sun and burned to death, or having to crawl down a sewer grate or something.
Like I say, I really hoped she was all right. David made her sound really nice, and she mauled a minister to death, which is enough to make anyone cool in my book. So, you can understand why I was a little bit shook up, a few hours later, when I turned on the TV in my bedroom to the local news.
Chapter Eight
Early that morning, somebody found a burning skeleton in the middle of an intersection about six blocks from the church. Along with the body they found the remains of a white dress and a silver cross necklace. The police had connected it with the murder of the minister, but they didn't really know what the hell happened.
I didn't want to be the one to tell David, but I was at least glad that nobody on the news said anything about vampires, or anything like that. I was also pretty glad that David didn't ever watch the news. The segment ended and the sports guy came on. I shut off the TV. I really didn't want to be the one to tell David. I thought about it for a while, and decided to go to Saul first. So I went back to his room again, and this time he was asleep, the book laying on his chest. I walked in, and Saul opened one eye. "What?" he said.
"They found her. She fried this morning. I saw it on Channel Ten."
Saul sat up. "Damnation." He thought for a second. "We leave tonight."
"What's the big deal? They didn't say anything about vampires. They don't know what the hell happened. They'll think it was a suicide, or spontaneous combustion or something."
Saul rubbed his face. "It was a suicide, most likely. But they don't have to say anything about vampires. Consider: a man, a minister, bitten to death in the neck by his own daughter? Who then inexplicably bursts into flames, precisely at sunrise? That's the kind of story that gives a vampire hunter a hard-on. And they would know the girl was alive a day ago, so they would know other vampires must be nearby to have sired her. They are filling up their molotov cocktails and sharpening their swords even as we speak, the whore's-sons. Mark my words. They'll be here." Saul rubbed his face again, then ran his hand around to the back of his neck. "You haven't told David?"
"No," I said, "Should I?"
Saul thought about it for a couple seconds. "No. Wait until sunset."
Boy, did that day go slow. I didn't want to tell David about Angeline, but it would have been easier than not telling him. Mostly I just avoided him. I stayed in my room and tried to sleep. I hoped he would think to turn on the news so he would find out for himself, but he never did. He didn't find out until that evening.
***
Saul offered to be the one, but I felt like David should hear it from me. Saul followed me to the living room, where David and Nadia were playing Mario Kart. Nadia never played video games, which shows you how hard she was trying to cheer David up. I think maybe it also helped her take her mind off her own problems. Anyway, me and Saul sat down, and I said, "David, I'm really sorry. I've got some bad news." David paused the video game and looked at me quietly, just waiting for me to say it. I said, "She burned this morning. I saw it on the news. I'm sorry."
David put down the controller and held his head in his hands. He was taking it better than I though, so far. I think he saw it coming. In a shaky voice, he said, "Where did they find her?"
I said, "Sixty-third street. By the cigarette store."
He whispered, "Oh."
At this point Saul spoke up. "This will bring too much attention our way. We're leaving tonight."
"Where to?" asked Nadia.
Saul shrugged. "Simply away, for the time being. Eventually, maybe California."
Nadia was about to say something about California when David interrupted. "Can we go see her? I mean, where she—?"
Saul shook his head. "Too risky. They might be watching."
David said, "Come on Saul, it's not like—"
"I said no."
David's eyes narrowed, but he didn't respond.
I asked, "When do we leave?"
Saul answered, "Right now. Get your bags."
I guess that kind of surprised us, but what can you do? Like what I said before, about how things change so quick. The time comes, and you have to go. We got our bags and followed Saul to the elevator. He wore his hat and carried his silk-wrapped sword in his hand, his bag over his shoulder. Nadia had her bag and a guitar in a case. David still didn't have a bag packed. Saul said, "No bag?"
David said "I'll buy new clothes." He got in the elevator with the rest of us. I guess he was convincing, because Saul turned his back on David after he opened the garage door. Saul got in the van and started the motor.
The next thing we hear is a motorcycle fire up. Saul jumped out of the van, swearing in twelve different languages, but David was already gone. That's it, I thought. He's gone. Saul's going to leave him here. Just to be a hard-ass. We're going to leave without him.
For about half a minute afterwards, Saul pressed his hand against his eyelids, just trying to get a grip on himself. Finally, he straightened up. I thought I knew Saul pretty well, but I guess I was wrong. He took a deep breath and said, "Change of plans."
I asked, "Are we going to go look for him?"
"We don't need to look for him. We know where he's going."
***
Saul was right, as always. A block down from the cigarette store, we saw David's bike. Before we reached the corner, Saul said, "Don't turn your heads. Pretend we aren't looking." I didn't know why we had to be all sly around David, but if everybody would just listen to Saul we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. David didn't even see us, anyway. He just stood there and stared at the ashy chalk outline the police had drawn on the sidewalk. As we drove by he knelt down to touch it.
I started to say, "Why do we have to—" When Saul cut me off.
"There!" he hissed, with a nod of his head to point the way. I looked and saw what he was looking at. A beat-up old car was parked at the curb, and with vampire eyes you could see that someone was slouched down low in the driver's seat. Someone with a telephoto camera, taking pictures of David.
The man with the camera looked old and sloppy, like a caricature of a police detective from a TV show. He watched David so intently, he didn't even notice Saul park across the street from him. Saul said, "I'll be back." He left the van with his door open and the motor running, and while he walked across the street he pulled a pistol from his waistband. It was the Glock from the drug dealer the other night. Saul didn't say shit to the guy in the car, he just wasted him. Shot him five or six times through the driver's window. The guy did a crazy little dance as his chest exploded. Blood sprayed on the inside of the windshield. It was so fucking loud that every dog and every car alarm in the neighborhood went off. Lights started coming on in windows all around. David's head snapped around to look at us. While David was watching, Saul reached into the bloody car and pulled out the camera. He held it up and said to David, "Go home." Then he walked back and got in the van. Since I was in the passenger seat, he tossed this bloody camera in my lap. I licked my finge
rs clean.
Nadia just sat in the back seat and didn't say anything. I asked Saul, "Did you really need to do that?"
Saul gestured at the camera. "That's how they start, the swine. Taking pictures, pawing through trash cans. Next thing you know, one fine sunny morning, they light your house on fire. This—" He held up the pistol "—might confuse them for a while. Who's to say it wasn't a robbery? Besides, firearms are so…efficient." He pushed the shifter into gear and popped the brake, then chirped the tires when he released the clutch.
Saul has been around long enough that there aren't really too many surprises for him anymore. After shooting someone on a residential street and calmly walking back to the van, he drove home like he just went out for a pack of smokes.
Home, that's a funny word. It's where you are, and it's where you're from. And sometimes it isn't anywhere at all.
***
David didn't come back for hours. I'm a little surprised he came back at all, considering. We were all waiting for him in the living room, when we heard his bike outside, then the rattle of the old elevator climbing up to our floor.
"Sorry," was the first thing he said, as he walked in. He had his hands in his pockets. He looked guiltily down at his shoes. "I just wanted to see what was…what was left of her. I didn't mean to make trouble. There was a burn on the cement, in the shape of her." He pulled something from his pocket. It was a twisted lump of metal. "Some of the silver from her necklace dripped onto the sidewalk. It was stuck there."
Saul stood up. "Well, you've cost us the day, at the very least," he rumbled. "It's too late now to get far enough to make it worth our while. David, do you see now why I didn't want you to go?" David didn't answer. "The hunters had the site staked out. They were wagering that the vampire had friends who would come to pay respects. They would have followed you back here if I hadn't intervened."