Melabeth Forgive Me, For I Am Sin! (7 page)

Wondering about what he was learning, I inquired,
“What do you mean? What are they teaching you?”

He
held up his pointer finger, signaling to give him one minute while he organized his thoughts. He began, “How best to summarize. I know, they are teaching us how to survive as a vampire in a human world. And the number one thing you have to do is learn how to manage money. It’s not like you would think, being vampire is a unique issue when it comes to owning anything. Humans live much shorter lives, but in that life they spend much of it on the collection of wealth or materiel items. If they're not earning it, they're stealing it, or waiting for someone else to die so they can have it. Vampires live long lives and the collection of wealth or material possessions, attract attention from humans. Have you ever known anyone wealthy?”

“My grandparents,
both my mother and father came from money. I grew up as a poor hippie."

He went on, “W
ell, I don’t know how much experience you have with people and with wealth, but others notice. They notice them age, and they also pay attention to who will benefit from their death. It would be hard, if not impossible to keep inheriting your own money. There are three basic ways we make it in this world. One, use your mind powers to take what others have; let’s face it who needs wealth when you have power.”

I made a big lower lip,
“What if you have no mind powers?”

Michael laughed at me, “N
o worries, there’s still two more ways to survive. Second, live wild like an animal and just kill the people in their houses, but don’t stay too long, someone is bound to notice the smell. You have to keep moving, but you can have whatever you can take.”

I put my finger to my lip, “Hmm, I can do that, but it might get old. I bet it would feel like you were always stealing your life. I also bet it is a good way to be put on a hunter
's list.”

Michael agreed, “I believe
you're right, but then again what
you're
doing, could put you on some hunter's list.”

I gave Michael a sharp look, “D
on’t start.”

Michael gave me a chuckle, “
Of course there’s my favorite way of surviving. The Alice way, there’s lots of rich families and businesses that will hire vampires for various reasons. The pay is good, if not great, depending on what job you take. All the groups that hire our kind also know how to get us I.D.’s, houses, and even blood. Didn’t you ever wonder how Alice keeps the fridge stocked with fresh blood?”

This made me wonder, “So
, Alice works for someone, who?”

Michael continued
, “Long ago before this was even a country, Alice was involved in shipping. She was involved with pirates in the seventeen hundreds. One of these pirates became rich and opened a shipping business. Alice had started off working for him, and then his son and the son after that. After a long time the family business became incorporated; and Alice worked for the corporation. With the help of Ezra, Alice trains vampires that work around the globe in service of this international shipping company. In fact Alice works directly for members of Congress. You will find that little girl is more powerful than most could imagine. This is why no one has really come against you and David.”

I had never known that, or even came close to guessing. I had known that Alice was powerful, but I had assumed it was because of her power.
Now I realize she was much more. I should know better than to read a book by its cover. I asked Michael, “What is the name of the company she works for?”

Michael answered with, “I don’t know, I don’t know if she works for just one company anymore. There is more of a need for global security across international waters. I do believe that Alice is in service to most all U.S. shipping com
panies, in one form or another.”

“Do you work for her as well?” I asked.

Michael said with pride, “Yes, in fact that’s how I was caught on fire.  Ezra and I were on a mission for Alice. You never know when she might need me or Ezra to go abroad and deal with issues.”

Before I asked anymore questions about the family business, we came to a stop in front of a little building. There in neon lights were the words
Ed's Tattoos
. We had walked for awhile now and gotten some distance from the strip. In fact this side of Vegas was somewhat run down and scary looking. The only people on the street looked haggard and hard up. Three black men, dressed like thugs, passed by me and Michael giving us a hard looks. They acted as if this was their neighborhood.

I couldn’t help myself, I started to sing, “Because I’m bad, I’m bad-Come On You Know- I’m Bad, I’m Bad- You Know It.” I always had a thing for Michael Jackson, but lord behold my new friends didn’t take the same appreciation to music.

The three men stopped and turned around.

Michael shook his head back and forth, “Come on Melabeth, really… you could just let them pass.”

I smiled big, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, and I love to sing.” I felt my teeth get longer as I became excited about my future meal.

Before Michael could say another word
, one of the men walked up to me and looked me straight into the eyes. He said with a deep voice, “Girl, you can sing, damn, I haven’t heard anything that pretty since Whitney Houston.”

One of
the men behind him joined in, “She sure sings like an angel, she sure does, yes indeed.”

I covered my mouth as I said, "T
hank you." The three men went on for a little bit and gave me a chance to get control of myself. These men were really nice.

After talking with them for a minute, one of the men told me that I should try out down the street at this lounge. The other two men thought that I should go to some blue’s mus
ic bar. I kind of like the idea. I had never thought of pursuing a carrier as a singer.

After a few more minutes of going back and forth
, the men took their leave, I waved them off, “See you guys later… and thanks.”

I turned to look at Michael
, who was just staring at me, “What?” he didn’t answer. “They were nice. Don’t you think so?”

Michael cracked a grin, “D
isappointed?”

I could feel the mischievous grin spread across my face, “I was a little bit
hungry, who would have guessed… nice guys.”

Michael took my hand, “Y
ou’re about to meet my oldest friend. Try your hardest not to start a fight, so what I am saying is, don’t be yourself.”

“He
y,” I tried to sound indigent, but I wasn’t really pulling it off.

The tattoo parlor was much nicer on the inside than the out. Michael introduced me
to his buddy Ed. Ed was a forty-five year old vampire that had a tattoo on every inch of skin. He was also a black vampire and one of the most talented artists that I have ever laid my eyes upon.

Me and Michael hung out at the parlor for a couple of hours laughing and joking, Ed was full of jokes. I spent a lot of this time looking at the different drawings for tattoos.
There were some really cool pieces that I thought would look good, but they weren’t perfect.

Ed worked on
editing some of the pictures. He finished his drawing and slid it over to me, “Now, that would go all over your upper back. Then this pattern would follow down your spine and flare out into this pattern right above your ass. What do you think?”

“I’m in, that would look s
lick. How long for you to finish it, and can you add some words?” I asked all excited.

Ed smiled, “F
our hours angel, not including words. What do want it to say? Wait I know, jack pot, because that’s what a guy would be thinking if he got your shirt off.”

I laughed, and then took a piece of paper, “I want you to add
this right across the top of my back, above the pattern.”

“Right across here?” Ed pointed out on his sketch.

“Yep,” then I wrote down,
Death From Every Direction
. “What do you think about that?”

Michael spoke up, “F
igures, but I like it.” I looked over at him. He was comfortable sitting in a chair, he looked relaxed. His smile was soft and so was the way he was looking at me.

Ed broke the moment, “I love it, and now the moment I have been waiting for.” Ed s
tarted making this drum roll, “Off with the shirt.”

Ed was wild and he made me laugh. I knew he was kidding, I could take off my shirt in private and lay down on the table, but I figured what the hell. I pulled
off my dress and removed my bra. Michael's eyes widened, he did not turn away. Flipping my hair around over my chest, then I laid upon my chest so Ed could start my tattoo.

Ed was hooting and hollering, “Hell yea
h, that’s my kind of girl.” Looking over at Michael, “She’s hot and spicy, shit… I do believe this girl is too much for you my friend.”

Michael shook his head back and forth laughing at the same ti
me. Ed could make anyone laugh. “Believe me, she's too much for both of us. The words you are going to tattoo across her back are not for show, she’s an action star.”

Ed laughed and the two men went back and forth while Ed started tattooing on my back. As I lay upon the table, Michael’s eyes kept falling on me. Maybe I was just being silly, but the way he looked at me, i
t made my stomach feel funny. I also was also feeling anxious. I laid there wondering what he thought of my breasts, and maybe I shouldn’t have undressed in front of him. What if he didn’t like what I looked like? I had known that I was trying to be wild and sexy for Michael, but I've never felt sexy and comfortable at the same time.

I need to stop thinking like this, what about David? I looked over at Michael and he was positively the most beautiful man ever, with a body that commanded more study.

David who?

Michael was staring at me from his seat. He was no longer looking at Ed working on my back. His eyes were full of kindness, it made me feel comfortable enough to start to talk again. “I don’t know if me and David changed, or
if that it was more David. When I first meet him, he was kind and sensitive. Even after his family was killed there was still something about David. He was understanding, and his laugh… I had forgotten about his laugh.”

Ed was quiet.
Michael’s face had gone serious, “What was so special about his laugh?”

It took a mo
ment to find the right words, “It filled me with happiness. When he laughed I felt great joy, it was one of the first things that made me take notice of him. It was more than understandable that I didn’t hear that laugh after his family was murdered, but I still heard it on occasions.”

Michael inquired, “Do you hear it now?”

Once again I found myself searching for the answer, deep down I felt like this should be an easy question. “It’s not the same, I don’t know when it changed. Maybe it changed slowly, and I hadn’t noticed, but it’s different. Now when he laughs, it fills me with hate… I’m being silly, it’s just a laugh.”

Michael’s look didn’
t change as he asked, “Is it?” There was no judgment in the way he asked.

Ed interjected while he continued tattooing on my back, “I don’t know if this is true, but a witch once told me that you could see souls through people’s eyes. She also said that you could feel their emotions through the sound of their voice and you could know where they have been from the lines on
their hands.”

I couldn’t tell if he was joking, so I asked, “Is that true?”

Ed laughed, “Once a guy told me you could tell what someone had eaten by tasting their shit, those are the kind of things you have to take at face value.”

It was hard to hold still because he made me laugh. Once I stopped laughing
, I looked at Michael real serious, “Michael what should I do?”

Michael put his hands together, “What does your heart say?”

I lay quite for a moment listing to the buzzing of the tattoo gun. Then I answered honestly, “I cannot hear it over the sound of revenge.”

Michael sa
t back in his chair, and in a concerned voice, “That’s too bad, but if you were to ask me, and I know you didn’t. You cannot have revenge, forgive, and find peace all at the same time.”

This is where me and Michael do not see eye to eye, “What
, and let them get away with it?”

Michael just simply said, “Justice is best served cold.”

I had nothing else to say, we sat quietly as Ed worked on my tattoo.

*                     *                       *

Me and Michael were walking back from the tattoo parlor. He reached down and once again took my hand. In the past I didn’t read anything into this or I didn’t want to read anything into it. His hand was soft in mine and the same temperature. Our hands didn’t sweat, so it felt good to hold tight. It also helped he was a vampire, I didn’t have to worry about squeezing too tight. Still, when he held my hand, I mostly felt like a woman.

We didn’t say much as we walked back toward the Casino. We mostly talked about tattoos and art. I didn’t mention David, and Michael didn’t bring it back up. I couldn’t help but feel that I was betraying
David. I looked over at Michael, well at least it was with a Greek God of a man.