Dead Surround - The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles (20 page)

Rono/DEAD SURROUND

him to hide any evidence. Her heart pounded painfully. No wonder she had been pining for him all these months. He was the real thing. He lived his truth, and she loved him for it.

“Are we still going to San Jose?” asked Michelle who was a little shaken by the vampire deathmatch.

Sainvire ran normalized fingernails through his short black hair. “Nothing’s changed, Michelle.

We’re getting the supplies Megan needs, and nothing’s going to stop us tonight.”

Poe had seen Sainvire fight before, but this time it was like watching a movie. Rumor was that he and Dali used to be friends. Without thinking, Poe placed her hand on Sainvire’s broken right shoulder. She was surprised when his cold fingers briefly squeezed her own before letting go.

The ride to San Jose was surprisingly without incident after Dali. Michelle, the chattiest of the three, kept her mouth shut and so did Poe out of deference to Sainvire who had the weight of the world in his hands. He had changed the course of vampire rule, and he would suffer for it until Trench, master vampires, and Council members from other cities finally caught up with him.

They parked the car two blocks from Good Samaritan Hospital in a spot hidden by overgrown trees with gigantic roots that had uplifted concrete.

From the information Sainvire’s advance team had gathered, the hospital was located in an area least populated by leeches, halfdeads, and vampires.

Placing the hood of his jacket on his head, Sainvire looked like any other leech scouring the streets of San Jose for contraband. Black hooded jacket and brown Dickies weren’t exactly the usual 176

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ensemble for a master vampire. He put his arms on either side of the women.

“We’ve got to make this look normal,” he explained.

“A guy with two hot chicks, normal? Why not?”

said Michelle. She wound her arm about his waist.

“Put your hood on, Poe. They’ll recognize your scar.

The moon’s pretty bright.”

Poe did as she was told and likewise put her arm around Sainvire’s hips. She felt strength in the vampire’s wiry body. She trembled in the warm night. Old feelings were hard to suppress. They walked toward the hospital as a happy-go-lucky trio by all appearances, and they met no one along the way.

Like wilted fiesta flyers, Sainvire’s mug covered street lamps, houses, and every conceivable nook. He was the most wanted vampire in town. Not far from his photographs were wanted posters of Poe, accurately drawn by a former police sketch artist with the exception of two glaringly exaggerated details.

“Shit. Look at my scar. It looks like a goddamn banana millipede. And my lips! C’mon, they aren’t that puffy!” complained Poe.

“Face it, Poe,” Michelle chuckled quietly. “You have porn lips.”

Once inside the doors the women took out their flashlights and their lists.

“Pharmacy’s to the right according to the sign,”

said Michelle. “Let’s go.”

The hospital was stark black but for the illumination of flashlights. Poe’s imagination ran away with her. All those movies about hospitals and ghosts.

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Like Sainvire said, there are no ghosts. Only
vampires.

The small pharmacy had been looted. Practically every prescription medication had been taken, most likely by leeches that were legendary for their drug addiction. These wretched people looked after humans and drew their blood for vampires in exchange for their freedom.

“All out of pain killers,” said Poe. She bit her lower lip.

“Grab the sutures and medical instruments,”

instructed the vampire. “We’ll figure out another way to make Megan comfortable.”

Michelle filled her pack with gauze, antibacterial fluids, and liniments she’d never heard of.

“I’ll look around,” said Sainvire, and he disappeared down the cold hallway. Unlike the women he didn’t need night vision goggles.

“You better not go anywhere, Poe,” said Michelle. “This place is creepy. Japanese horror film creepy.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m sticking to you like glue.”

Poe looked at the crevice between two shelves hoping for a find. She nearly jumped with joy. Two half-filled plastic I.V. containers plopped in the corner. She fished out the plastic bags and showed them to Michelle.

“Hope this stuff’s still good,” said Poe, stuffing them in her pack.

“I don’t know if those things expire. Hopefully not.”

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The women squealed at the sound of a knock on the semi-open door. Wearing night goggles stood two leeches who had come to raid the pharmacy.

“Well hey there, ladies,” said a bean pole with

‘Player’ written on his shirt. “Hope you left some good stuff for us.”

“Hey, Larry, these ladies are fine. And young!”

said his goateed companion with a beer gut. “Haven’t seen girl leeches in years. Where you from?”

Both packed rifles slung across their shoulders.

Leeches were fond of shooting at random things to stave off boredom.

“Thanks, boys. Don’t stop with the compliments.

We’re actually from down south a ways. Looking for some scintillating pick-me-ups for our ward,” said a quick-thinking Michelle. “They got shit here, but we’ve got kush you might die for. Chita and I are more than willing to share.” She inched her hand behind her back where a .45 was lodged.

“Hell yeah, leech girl!” yelled Larry. “Me and Bogart are gonna get you and Chita all fucked up in all different ways for your generosity.”

“You said it, bro. I get the hot curly-haired one.

You get the hooded one,” said Bogart.

“Um, hold it, guys,” said Poe. “What’s the news this side of town, eh? Anything exciting happening?

Any new plots hatching?”

Michelle ribbed her on the arm. The girl was being too obvious. “What my friend wants to know is any new developments with the main event? You know, the search for Sainvire and his people?”

“Oh sure. Most of our vamps have joined with Newbitt’s crew. Rumor is Sainvire’s real close.”

“How close?”

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“Like tomorrow close. Newbitt’s coming down from SF himself. And Trench, who knows? That guy always misses the big fights. Remember how he didn’t even bother stopping the mass cattle stealing in L.A. ’cause he was too busy nursing his burns. The guy’s a wuss.”

“Yeah, that little bitch with the scar doused him with garlic water and shot him in the chest. She’s one mean hellion and as ugly as my dead toenail,” added Larry. “Now come here, baby, and let me see your face.”

Poe looked at Michelle and shrugged. She went toward Larry who had called her the b-word.

Obediently she stood in front of him and waited for the unveiling.

Michelle sashayed over to Bogart.

“This is like Christmas,” laughed Larry, rubbing his hands together like Mr. Burns from
The
Simpsons
. He pulled down Poe’s hood and yelped.

“The fuck! It’s her!”

Poe smiled and pressed her wrist knife against his throat. Michelle pulled out her piece before Bogart could whip out his rifle.

“Now now, boys. Don’t make any noise because Julia Poe here, Public Enemy Number Two, will not appreciate it. You don’t want to eat your own testicle sandwich, do you?”

Real fear gripped the glue-addled minds of the men.

“Any more of you coming?” Poe asked.

“There’s only us. W-we snuck out hoping to find the good stuff here. Somebody stole our stash, and we’re desperate.”

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“Oh that’s too bad,” said Michelle, and she rested the barrel of her silencer on Bogart’s head.

“Do you have any idea how much I hate leeches, Bogart?”

“N-no.”

“I hate you all. I promised myself that when I got my senses again I would kill every single leech I encounter. And here you two are.”

Bogart shook his head. “Please, miss. I’m a good leech. I never torture or rape anybody. Really. I just smoke out.”

“Whatever,” Michelle said before pulling the trigger. Bogart slipped on the floor like soggy pasta, his brain Pollocking the walls. “You just serve vampires who make cattle out of your brothers and sisters.”

“Geez, Michelle,” was all Poe could say. She’d killed before, but watching somebody else do it at close range unnerved her. Larry was crying, and he embarrassingly peed his pants.

Sainvire chose this time to make an appearance.

He looked at the body on the floor impassively. On his hand was a tank of old school laughing gas, nitrous oxide.

“Slice his throat, Poe. So we can get out of here.”

Poe shuddered. “No. I can’t. Not like this.” She looked at Sainvire for help, but he just shrugged.

“If you let him go, he’ll rape, beat, and continue to serve a corrupt system,” he said. “You know this, Poe.”

“I won’t. I’ll run away. Just let me go,”

blubbered Mac.

“You kill him,” said Poe. She sheathed her wrist knife. “I don’t want another nightmare to add to my 181

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thousands.” She pushed Sainvire out of the way and headed for the front entrance.

She’d sliced so many leech throats before this night. But she couldn’t do it. Maybe if Larry and Bogart had threatened her with guns or assaulted her, she could have killed in cold blood. No problem.

Perhaps it was the bald man she had disemboweled in the forest without mercy that got her so shook. Killing like that took its toll.

The drive back to Gilroy was dead silent in the eerie darkness of night. Each questioned their own motives, and they fortified their stances on the cause.

No matter their excuses, their humanity was shaken that night.

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“WHAT DID JOSEPH DECIDE?” Sainvire asked, surprisingly calm. He had found the time to shave and make himself presentable to the imminent yet fickle birth of his newest family member.

“He’s talking it over with Megan,” Poe answered as she finished off a bowl of oatmeal and honey in Habib’s kitchen. She hadn’t eaten since they had returned from San Jose.
And from the sound of it,
she’s going to need all the strength and energy to
survive the long night ahead
.

“What about Miriam? Is she ready for this?”

Sainvire inquired. Though the woman seemed competent enough, the midwife’s age and frailty bothered the master vampire. She’d had a minor stroke two days prior. If anything were to happen to the old lady, no one was qualified to take over.

“She’s inside with them, reading medical books and some natural birth and herbal encyclopedias.

Really hairy situation,” said Morales. He rubbed his sleepless eyes with his fist. The sperm donor via turkey baster sympathized greatly with Joseph who had become a good friend the past two years. Megan he’d known the longest, and the thought of losing her tore at his insides. Whatever family was conjoined in this post-apocalyptic madness, he wanted to keep.

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“She should operate soon while the baby’s heartbeat is strong,” Sainvire said more to himself.

“Can you hear the baby’s heartbeat from here?”

asked a surprised Poe.

“If I concentrate enough,” he said grimly. “Julia, are you assisting with the operation?”

Poe shook her head. “No. Megan said I make her nervous. Miriam thinks I’m a klutz just because I dropped a couple of things accidentally.”

“Joseph and I will be helping Miriam,” Morales said to Sainvire. “Michelle and John Danby will be coming later to lend a hand.”

Poe raised an eyebrow but lowered it right away.

She had nothing but respect for the young woman driven to defeat those who wanted to make a slave out of her. The Thai boxing lessons had been coming along smoothly until the evacuation had begun.

Michelle had a sponge for a mind and a rock for a body.
But she executed a man inches away from me
that night, and she’s going help deliver Megan’s
baby?

“So Poe and I won’t be needed this evening?”

“No. Habib’s got a cauldron bubbling to last the entire night. Why don’t you guys take a walk or something so I can sneak a quick nap before they call me in?” said Morales.

The two got the hint and left the kitchen reeking of alcohol and herbs. Before Poe could take a step downstairs, Sainvire placed a hand on her elbow and led her up the attic stairs.

A voice stopped her progress. “Poe.” She looked down to see Jenna beckoning her downstairs. The undead threw Sainvire a cold look.

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“I’ll be waiting right here,” said Sainvire from the third step of the attic ladder.

Jenna led her to a sitting room decorated with floral wallpaper and motioned for Poe to take a seat.

She obeyed, but when the vampire kept standing, Poe clamped shut her jaw. Jenna’s arms folded like an impatient school teacher.

“I’m sorry we haven’t talked these past days, Poe,” Jenna began. “I’ve been busy getting busloads of people organized and transported to their new homes. I’ve heard so much about you. In fact you’re all I’ve heard about these past years from Morales, Megan, Joseph, Maple, and so on. The only one who doesn’t talk about you is Kaleb. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

Poe placed her palms flat on the couch. “No, I don’t. He doesn’t talk about a lot of things. He’s practically mute. Besides, why would he talk about me? I only knew him a week back then.”

“Apparently you made quite an impression,” she said. Her lips thinned as she spoke. “He was looking after you these past years through his people in West L.A.”

Poe didn’t like getting interrogated. “He was friends with Sister Ann and Goss, my mentors. He promised them he’d watch over me if something happened to them. I’m sure you know they died.

Really, Jenna, I don’t know what this whole thing is about, but I don’t appreciate all the questions.”

“Oh I think you do,” she said, staring down at Poe’s dark eyes. “He hasn’t taken his eyes off of you since you showed up.”

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