Tomorrow's Dead: The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles (32 page)

“No!” cried Poe with resentment.  “You won’t bury him.  I won’t let you.”

“You haven’t eaten in days, Poe.  You won’t even drink sodas.  I don’t want to say
it, but you’re obsessed.  You even threaten your friends.  And sister, you stink like
a four-day-old rat.”

“Shut the hell up,” Poe said snidely.  “I have a purpose, and I’m going through with
it.”

“Well eat and drink something.  No one’s drugged your food or water.  Penny’s the
proof.  That Fanta is still sealed for Pete’s sake.”

Poe wiped her nose on her sleeve once more.  She was starving.  The trays Habib had
left for her contained the most delicious food that caused her stomach to rumble,
but the voice inside her head warned her that the eggplant was laced with drugs. 
A bottled beverage wouldn’t hurt.  She needed the sugar for energy.  She was about
to pass out.  Gingerly she reached for the Fanta and the bottle opener and popped
the cap.  She drank hastily and spilled orange syrup on her already stained pimp shirt.

“Feel better?”

“Lots.”

“I love you, Poe.  You’re a sister to me.”

“I love you, too.  You’ve been a brother to me since the first,” said Poe.  Her voice
was breaking.

“Kaleb loved you.  I never saw him so happy than when he was with you.  His dream
was to abscond with you and travel the country backpacking.  He was a rugged, earthy
man, that Kaleb.  But you know he spent too much of his time correcting the wrongs
of society and saving cattle instead of pursuing a quiet life.  You were the only
one that could make him run away from his responsibilities.  But he held on and regretted
leaving you over and over to save a city and a few souls.”

“Yeah.  He left me many times and chose cattle over me.  He even left me to go back
home broken and beaten.  But I don’t care about that stuff anymore.”

“Letting you go took a lot out of him, Poe.  He didn’t sleep these past years.”

“Well he’s still sleeping to compensate for the four years of civic duty.  He’ll wake
up anytime.  He can make it up to me then.”

Joseph stood up and walked toward Poe who pointed a Beretta at him.  Her hands shook. 
They felt like rubber, and her vision dizzied her.  “He deserves to finally sleep,
Poe.  Morales needs to tend to your ribs.  In five days it will be Christmas, and
we’re going to need you there.”

“You drugged me,” accused Poe.  She dropped the gun.  Her mouth was slack as if her
gums had just been injected by Novocain.  “I hate—”  Penny growled at Joseph as he
lifted Poe in his arms.  The injured dog cried then followed the ponytailed vampire
from Sainvire’s room, her firecracker tail between her legs.

As she slept in a drug-induced state, Passionada bathed her thoroughly, changing the
bath water three times.  She manicured Poe’s nails and brushed her friend’s black
hair until it shone in the light.  Passionada’s tears flowed for her friend.  Her
heart broke at the wrongs fate had dealt her little Poe. 

The next day Poe allowed Morales in, and he bound her ribs tightly with cloth.  T-Doc
who was Poe’s oldest living friend was far from perverse at seeing the girl unclothed. 
His throat constricted at the many scars on the small woman’s body.  Every single
mangle, slash, stab, or burn was received while protecting her allies from harm. 
She deserved retirement.  Happiness.  But Sainvire was dead, and Maclemar was a memory. 
Poe was alone.  Trying not to lose his composure, he inhaled deeply.

***

Kaleb Sainvire’s body was placed in a crypt next to Maclemar and Gregory Peck as Joseph
had promised Poe.  The chamber was filled with all sorts of beings paying their respect
to the vampire who had sided with humans against tyrannical master vampires.  Even
a contingent of Christian farmers who had worked with Sainvire to supply humans with
fresh meat and vegetables attended the services.  The farmers deeply respected Sainvire’s
tenacity in freeing human cattle.

“He was our friend, and a magnificent friend Kaleb was,” said Habib, concluding his
eulogy.  “We thank him for what he’s done for us, and we will never allow his memory
to fade.  This good man will be remembered forever.”

A small figure in a hooded coat rested her shoulder against the wall of another crypt. 
Her face was tired as if she had surrendered to the viciousness of life.  Before Habib
could finish, Poe moved as quickly as she could amidst the mourners and climbed the
stairs to the cathedral above.  The statues were miniscule inside the vast church
sanctuary.  Tiny bronze angels hung on the wall.  The cross on the altar was small
in scale for such a considerable cathedral as if humanizing the man that was nailed
on the wood.  Quietly she kneeled on one of the pews until her knees hurt.  Her mind
was silent, and she had nothing to pray for.  She stood and left.

***

Under orders from Morales, Percy brought Poe in for a bandage check Christmas Eve. 
T-Doc seemed nervous.  Poe was quiet and docile and would not speak unless prodded. 
“Here’s some acetaminophen for pain.  Take six every four hours.  The amount is excessive
because they expired 14 years ago.”

Poe pushed the bottle of pills away.  “I don’t need it.  Thanks.”  She stepped down
with an impassive face as if she never had broken ribs. 

“Don’t be silly, Poe.  Broken and bruised ribs hurt like hell.  Nearly worse than
knee surgery.  We’ll have the tree lighting ceremony at midnight.  I don’t want you
in pain.”

“Don’t worry about it, Morales.  I’m good,” she said, stumbling.  Percy was there
to catch her elbow.

“Damn it, Poe!  I know it’s a miserable time, but you have to take care of your health.” 
Morales, handsome, bowlegged, and reeking of too much aftershave, cared enough to
end her pain.  But there was no medicine to take away the spike hammered in her soul.

When they left Morales’ office, Poe asked, “Did you get it?”

“Yeah.  Here,” said Percy slyly while handing her a stethoscope.  “Merry Christmas!”

Poe smirked.  “Yeah.  Thanks for your present to me.  Best present ever.”  She parted
ways with Percy and took Penny along with her.  The two friends hobbled together in
the cold like rickety old veterans.  They headed for the cathedral and descended to
the mausoleum.  Poe located Sainvire’s crypt and sat down carefully as she swallowed
the pain on her side.  With the stethoscope she listened to the marble slab.  After
half an hour of listening Poe put the stethoscope Percy filched under Morales’ nose
in her pocket and left for home.

The two visited Poe’s old war bunker in Little Tokyo and sorted through her possessions. 
Maclemar had brought the good DVDs to Catalina.  Still she found an unscratched copy
of
The Iron Giant
, a duplicate
Harold and Maude
, and the cheesy ’80s version of
Flash Gordon
.  She also picked up a few Fellini and Bergman films.  She left a sack of children’s
flicks behind because she couldn’t lift them just yet.  She remembered her box of
trinkets with real jewelry she had snagged from the Jewelry District and stuffed them
in her small pack.  The rest of the films were dirty in nature, so she left them. 
She realized how ridiculous and ignorant she had been and how right everyone was in
laughing at her for believing porn was just bad production.

Dirty movies, cuss mouth, stubborn jerk.  If she hadn’t insisted on flying to San
Francisco, Sainvire wouldn’t have followed her to score bullets in the head.  Poe
studied her posters of Bruce Lee and Jim Kelly.  She loved those posters, but they
were part of the past.  The most recent years had changed her for better or worse. 
She needed to find her niche.  She needed to stay away from politics and grow up. 
Now that Sainvire was supposedly dead she crossed her fingers that the city would
be administered successfully and the ties with San Diego and San Francisco would be
diplomatic.

That afternoon Poe handed Percy her Christmas presents.  DVDs and jewelry.  All unwrapped. 
“You’re a good kid, Percy.  Happy holidays.”  She kissed the top of the girl’s head
then went to her room and slept, lightly hugging Penny to her. 

She missed Christmas.  She slept through carols and the sound of children laughing. 
Percy spent Christmas with Joseph, Morales, and baby Piper.  She was too entranced
by the lights and excitement to worry about Poe.  She kneeled in front of the fir
tree in the middle of Pershing Square and patted her pig.  “Let next year be a peaceful
year even without Sainvire,” she whispered to Chops.  She’d prayed the sentiments
of most Downtown inhabitants who were afraid their nice life would end in the absence
of their protector.

T
HEY
LET
HER
ALONE
to grieve so she could hopefully return to the old tree-kicking Poe who was afraid
of nothing.  The vampire hunter walked from her apartment to the crypts everyday as
if she was floating in a fog of disbelief.  She didn’t hear the greetings of people
or the sight of children kicking football in the streets, some merrily learning to
ride scooters and skateboards.  She’d been approached by the Council to become an
ambassador for the City of Los Angeles but she merely shook her head and declined. 
She was obsolete.  She didn’t even wear guns anymore.

A lawn chair would be waiting for her at the tombs.  Percy would prepare her lunch
and pack her a book as she spent time with the two men she’d loved in her lifetime. 
Sometimes she’d read to them, mostly American literature since Maclemar was a huge
fan, and sometimes she’d sing old songs with made-up lyrics to kill time.  Poe figured
her grating voice could wake even the dead.

On depressingly cold days, she would be extra maudlin as she snuggled a plush San
Marcos blanket about her.  She’d removed the ring Maclemar had given her and placed
it on top of his tomb.  She’d chosen her man, and it was Sainvire.

“I’m sorry, James.  I love you, but Sainvire is my life.  I’ll always be thankful
for your attention and support.  I wish you were here but in a selfish way.  I wish
you could comfort me, but here I go again using you,” she spoke to the other man she
loved lying next to Kaleb Sainvire’s resting place.  Poe often oscillated in conversation
between Maclemar and Sainvire.  “If you can just take me for a boat ride right now
I’d be incredibly happy.  Maybe I can teach Kaleb to drive a boat, and we can go fishing
one of these days.”

For three hours she sat in the wintry crypt with her cheek against Sainvire’s tomb. 
She listened for any movement with the stolen stethoscope.  This went on for over
three months with no results.  Surprisingly Poe was patient about Sainvire’s reawakening.

Some days she would be peevish and angry.  “C’mon, you bastard!  I know you’re alive. 
I know you’re only sleeping because you’re bushed from patching up the mess of the
world,” she said, her teeth rattling from the cold in late-March.  “They’ve moved
on without you.  They’ve sent cattle by boats and trucks to San Francisco and San
Diego to tide them over.  Some farmers volunteered to start farms around those cities
and teach folks willing to learn about animal husbandry and farming.  Nice of them,
yeah?  This city is doing fine without you, so quit hiding out.  Sometimes I hate
you so much.  I’m always last on your list.  I bet you wouldn’t even be so pathetic
as me as to double-check if I was asleep or dead in a tomb.” 

Her friends approached her several times to join a panel or help out around Downtown,
but she repeatedly turned them down.  Michelle asked her to work with the police force,
and Morales offered to teach her to be a physician’s assistant and eventually a doctor. 
Desperate, Joseph even egged her to babysit Piper and the other babies in the nurseries. 
Law enforcement wasn’t for her.  She’d end up beating people.  Working in the medical
field was a no go as she was naturally clumsy.  She was good at creating wounds, not
patching them up.  As for babysitting, forget about it.  She knew she’d drop babies
on the head, and everyone would hate her.

“I’ve paid my dues,” Poe would answer.  “Leave me be.”

All in all she didn’t want responsibility.  She’d done her job, and she didn’t know
why people wouldn’t respect her wishes.  Even Percy took the initiative and walked
the animals every morning and night.  She fed them on a schedule and made sure their
loft was clean.  Though disheartened most by Poe’s singular obsession with Kaleb’s
rising one day, Percy persevered and became Julia’s connection to the outside world. 
She didn’t mind taking care of the vampire killer who’d saved her life and treated
her like a sister.

And then there were those who persisted in destroying her routine.

One evening John Danby, Maple, and Joseph visited her loft.  Poe admonished herself
for thinking ill of the situation without hearing the problem beforehand.  The spacious
and uncluttered loft had powder-blue Eames furniture and space-age orange plastic
chairs as homage to Goss who loved ’50s modern décor.  The three visitors sat on the
couch while Poe lounged on a pod armchair with Penny napping by her feet.

“What can I do you for?” she asked in a patient tone.

The three glanced at each other as if asking who was going to start.  Joseph cleared
his throat.  He was the winner.  “Just wondering how you are, Poe.”

“I’m good.”

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen you at the meetings,” said Danby with a wince. 
Poe had never attended any meetings since she returned from San Francisco.  “It would
be a privilege if you came out just to observe.  The government is running more smoothly
than we expected.”

“I’m sure you guys are doing a swell job.”

“Er, well we’re thinking about asking you for help,” began Maple uncomfortably.

“Shoot,” said Poe monosyllabically.  She reached down to pet Penny who’d completely
healed from her broken ribs.  “I can’t promise anything.  I’ve done what I can.”