OV: The Original Vampire (Book #1) (6 page)

They started to walk down the mountain and up another. They were very close to Storm King. Josie was apprehensive about living full-time in the woods, but something drew her that was bigger than herself.

As they walked, they noticed the moon was brighter and noticed all the trees were gone. Giant stumps lined the landscape and broken branches and twigs covered the ground like dead soldiers. It was heart-breaking. Vinnie knelt down and picked up a handful of sawdust.

“They were here not too long ago.”

“Bastards, I had to deal with them every day at the café.” Josie said.

“There’s something I have to tell you Josie, but it must be kept a secret.”

“Of course.”

“Some of my friends are sick to death of this. They live close to the highway and they hear the logging trucks go by every five minutes full of trees. Some of them have gone to the extreme and. . .”

“And, what?”

“Have jumped out in front of the trucks.”

“What, did they die?”

“Decapitated, the police found a head two hundred feet down from the accident.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

Vinnie threw the sawdust down and climbed up one of the last trees standing.

“These trees will never fall down again!” He yelled.

In the horizon, the lightness evolved into morning, as they look for shelter to sleep away the day. They found a clump of ivy that had draped over an old electric pole and crawl in. Vinnie checks for raccoons and other animals. Josie is quiet. She’s still absorbing the feelings of murder, intense sex, and a peculiar homesickness. They cuddle and pretend it’s a room in a four star hotel. But, Josie is secretly confused about Vinnie’s motives. Their talking slows, until sleep took them away into dream.

Josie is riding in an old Buick with her dad. It’s back in a time when half the roads on the Peninsula were dirt. He’s got a beer in a cup holder between their seats. He looks over at her while he drives and smiles. It’s sunny, as Josie loves her father like no other.

He tells her stories that intrigue her and jokes that amuse her. She is captivated and only seven years old. They drive past a park, as Josie gets excited, “Let’s go Daddy! Let’s go to the park Daddy!!” She says. He gets out and holds her hand to the
swingset. He pushes her higher and higher until her toes touch the sky. He then sees a man across the way. They wave to each other. The man across the way indicates he is drinking. Josie’s dad pushes her one last time and says he’ll be back. He walks away with the man.

Josie swings by herself, but she is not strong enough to keep the swing moving. Eventually, she can’t swing by herself and sits there. Ten minutes pass, then thirty, then an hour passes, as Josie feels complete horror. Each tear that drops from her eyes is left uncared for on the ground. The fear
is so great that she is frozen staring ahead and clutching the chains of the swing. It’s getting cold, as things that were meant to be fun in the park turn lifeless. Shadows begin to creep in.

“Hey, Honey.”

Josie looks up and sees her father smiling awkwardly.  The air of his breath is toxic with a bitter, rotten apple smell. He picks her up as she cries on his shoulder. His love stinks of stale cigarettes, as he casually states, “It’s alright.”

On the car ride home, he puts his hand on her knees, as he swerves from one edge of the road to the other. He begins to rub her knees. “You smell good.” He says.

Josie awakes screaming. Vinnie grabs her to comfort her, as she elbows him in the face. “
si sta andando a morire, Motherfucker!” She screams.

He tries to grab her hands, as she knees him in the face and climbs on top of him. The ivy cave is dark and
humid, as she punches what she believes are red snake eyes.

“Josie, No!”

There’s a flash of white light, like a photo being shot, as Josie freezes. There is a strong odor of rotten apples in the cave, as her tears pelt Vinnie’s chest.

“What happened to you Josie, are you alright?”

“I’m okay.” She says weakly, as she gains consciousness.

“You said something in Italian, I think.” He said.

“Oh, that’s nice.” as she rubs her eyes.

She is miles away from Vinnie in her mind. The battle with her father is eternal, even if he’s dead.

Vinnie feels empty. He needs something. While Josie is repositioning herself on her makeshift bed, Vinnie watches her flesh bend and twist. Her breasts grace the floor as she lies on her stomach. Her long brown hair flows like waves in a painting against her back.

“Are you okay now?” as Vinnie places his hand on her shoulder. Her skin is soft and cool.

“Leave me alone.” She said.

“It’s
just. . .I need you.” Vinnie said.

He realizes that there’s 5 pints of warm, rich red elixir flowing through her and the secretions of her body are just as sweet. In fact, she is completely edible. He glides a hand down her back and over the protruding mound of flesh. He begins to kiss the side of her torso, as he feels permission to crawl over and straddle her to give better kisses.

“Get off of me now!” she barked.

“I’m sorry. I’m just very compelled by you.” He said. Then, he spills the truth: “I just need some blood.”

“Men always
need
something from me. At the café creepy fat men, even here in pristine nature, a man always fucking needs something!” She starts to cry.

Vinnie is afraid to touch her now, as he consoles her. He doesn’t know what to do. He tries the Serenity Prayer.

“Oh, shut up.” She said.

He goes back to sitting quietly still. An hour passes before she lets go.

“My dad was a bastard, a selfish bastard.” She said. “One time, he came home drunk and found my bunny out of its cage. He killed it in front of me. I couldn’t get the sound out of my head.”

“Oh my God.”
Vinnie said, as he sat and listened.

“He then graduated his violence onto me. He was a selfish little boy when he drank and wanted to be my first.”

Vinnie wasn’t prepared for that statement, as he rolled up his clothes and went outside. He was feeling vulnerable, paranoid, and empty without her blood. There was nothing worse than being addicted to something he couldn’t have, as he began a vicious cycle all over again. The Draksblood was now dust at the bottom of a bag, as Vinnie needed something. He cut his thumb and sucked on it. He had lost all composure in the midst of his withdrawals.

It was dark now, as they took off and headed up the last mountain home. Out of breath halfway up a steep incline, Josie gasps, “Why does this happen to me? I find someone beautiful and turn it into white trash?”

“It’s not white trash. It’s feelings surfacing, and it’s not your fault.” Vinnie was finally showing some guts. Their love mattered enough for him to care.

They arrived to the mossy plateau of Storm King. They were awarded the panoramic view of the Peninsula. The trees were giant and a thousand years old. No loggers were coming there. Constellations of stars mapped out the sky, as Vinnie took control.

“Lie down on your back. I want to show you something. . .Listen.”

“Listen to what?” she asked.

“Your breathing.”

“Yeah?”

“Just listen to your breathing.”

The trees begin to wave and rustling in the forest became active, as Josie concentrates.

“Now, allow your thoughts to come in, then out like waves on a beach.” He said. “If you feel like you’re engaging in your thoughts go back to concentrating on your breath.” Vinnie’s voice is smooth as silk. They’ve been through a lot and their skin is decorated with fresh cuts, white scars, and Josie’s skin is a luxurious coco brown from the sun.

“Now, I want you to introduce a specific thought to replace the mind chatter.” He said. “Think of ‘I am’, and replace the chatter with it. Whenever the chatter comes back, say to yourself, ‘I am’.”

Josie breathed deeper and deeper. Suddenly, the forest was still and so quiet, you could hear a tugboat out in the sound thirty miles away.

“I am, huh?” Josie said, as she stirred from stillness.

“Did it work?” Vinnie asked.

“You know, yeah, I haven’t felt that calm in a long time.”

“Okay, let’s try something harder.” Vinnie said. “I want you to sit Indian-style on a soft place to sit, like the moss or grass. Close your eyes and get comfortable. Okay, now start swaying gently.

Let the swaying motion take you away, like you’re traveling through a sunny vineyard in your favorite car.”

“I don’t particularly like cars.” Josie said.

“Okay, then any type of travel where you feel you are going away on vacation. Close your eyes tight and focus on the center. When you see little white pixels on your eyelids, follow them.” He said.

“Wow!” She said five minutes later.

“What’s happening?” He asked.

“The dots turned into a spiral of red and blue. I kept staring in the middle of it like you said, and it
grew into a landscape.” She said.

Moments later, He asked: “Now, what?”

“The landscape is changing. It’s almost like a movie, and I can control it.”

“Okay. Okay Josie, I’m going to sit down beside you and do the same thing. Don’t be startled if I speak once in a while. Pretend I’m sort of a guide.”

“Okay.”

The trees waved again, as both Josie and Vinnie swayed back and forth. Not only was Josie experiencing something completely new, Vinnie was also flooded with memories of the past. He was bombarded with the insecurity of high school, how girls had shunned him and boys had hit him. He had just as many issues as Josie, just a different flavor.

They swayed back and forth together in a mesmerizing motion. Josie’s breathing became louder.

“No.” Josie spoke out loud. It broke their concentration
, but resumed after Vinnie made sure she was okay. Josie went deeper into a trance, as Vinnie felt her presence disappear. She was floating through space until landing in her backyard as a child. She loved playing in the yard. Her parents had a row of giant red roses that Josie would play around. She would pluck the biggest rose and put it behind her ear and play Princess. All the girls in the neighborhood wanted to play with her and be her.

The picture frames of her past sped up to sharp and bright images of violence, her dad being drunk hitting her mom, an older boy molesting her at the public swimming pool: Boys were pigs and men were evil was the message of the flashback.

Then, the memories softened, the light changed behind her eyelids as she was now with Daira. They played all night, playing fortress with the blankets and dress-up with their Barbies. The memories were so sweet Josie could taste the cookies her mom baked. But, the lightness of the sweet memories faded to black and stunk like abuse and degradation, and the leader of the darkness was her father.

“Go to bed now!” The flashback of dad became all too real, as Josie screamed back: “No, I won’t!”

Vinnie awoke startled from his hypnotic state by grabbing her hand.

“Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer, she had questions for her father and she knew it would be easy to jump back to where she left off.

The spiral behind her eyelids began again, as she focused on the center until her body landed back in the past.

“Go to bed!”

“Okay Daddy.” Josie had changer her answer this time and fate altered slightly towards the positive. But, her father had power and knew it and wouldn’t let Josie off with just, “Okay, Daddy.” He came into her room and sat on the bed. The whiskey on his breath burned her sensitive eyes.

“Your Uncle Sammy said you misbehaved the other day, do you remember that? Were you a bad girl?” He pulled her by the ankles down towards him, which covered her face with blankets.

“Go to hell you bastard!” Josie screamed out loud. Vinnie was shocked out of the trance again.

“Keep fighting him Josie.” Vinnie said, as Josie was panting, sweating and beginning to cry.

“Don’t let him control you.” He said, as she closed her eyes and tried to control her emotions and breathing.

She walked back to her father through a dark tunnel. His nose was bleeding and he was crying.

“I’m so sorry Josie.”

“I hate to see you cry dad.”

“I’m worthless to the family.”

“No you’re not dad.”

“Oh well, I tried.” He laughed, as the tunnel disappeared and he was watching football in the living room.

This transition of imagery sunk Josie’s heart. Her dad didn’t give a shit. “Oh well, I tried,” burned through her a thousand times stronger than her first boyfriend hanging up on her. Having her eyes closed made her defenseless, like not having an ego to defend her pride.

She was traveling forward now, and seeing many contorted faces of her dad. Like melting plastic with a flame, she saw his eyes, nose, and mouth melt downwards into an evil grin and drip away, until there was nothing left but frayed wires and broken glass.