Tomorrow's Dead: The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles (33 page)

“Of course.  Well Michelle can’t make it tonight.  She really wanted to because she
can explain the problem more resolutely,” said Danby.  “Michelle’s in San Diego helping
rebuild and rewrite law enforcement policies with the adjunct police force there. 
Competent people were left in her stead, of course.  But a gang of leeches who escaped
Downtown after Trench died have been terrorizing people from the Westside, burning
their crops and abusing the women.  They figured that since our best fighters are
down that they can get away with trouble.  And they don’t know that the people from
West L.A. have been under Kaleb’s protection since the inception.”

Poe’s interest was piqued.  She had lived in the Westside as a child and again to
hide out and retire a few years ago.  Many folks who had escaped being cattle and
wanted to remain independent from Downtown politics lived there, but they kept their
ties and loyalties with Kaleb Sainvire.  In fact they had helped provide her with
food and protected her from Trench as a favor to the master vampire who’d always been
fair to them.  Maple as good as implied that not having Sainvire around to bother
with little city outposts was a free-for-all.

“How many leeches?” asked Poe in a disinterested voice.

“A dozen or so.  All miscreant escapees,” said Maple.

Poe didn’t want to admit it, but her heart raced at the thought of an assignment of
this sort.  Her throat was getting dry from talking to Maclemar and Sainvire.  She
needed a break, but she didn’t want to jump at the opportunity lest they keep pestering
her in the future.  In truth she needed to kill, she was so frustrated.

“I’m retired.”

Joseph raised an eyebrow.  How many times had he heard such proclamations from Poe? 
“They’ve taken some women, Poe.  You know what leeches do to women.”

Poe’s nostrils flared.  The hell with being coy.  “You want me to kill the leeches
or save them for jail?”

“We prefer the leeches alive.  We’ll punish them with jail time,” said John Danby.

“Any day vamps or vampires in the gang?”

“None as far as we know,” said Joseph.

Poe pulled at her ponytail and sighed.  “So you want me to be a cockroach exterminator?”

“For the people of the Westside,” said Maple.  “They’ve been good friends, and they’ve
asked for our help.  In fact they specifically asked for you.”

Poe bit her plump bottom lip.  That was a surprise.  She remembered baseball batting
the windshields of their emergency cars and stealing their chicken eggs.  She shrugged. 
There was nothing for it.  “Alright.  I’ll leave tomorrow.  I think I can drive.” 
She remembered driving the Welshman’s truck by pressing on the gas and brake to get
Maclemar to the hospital.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Joseph, rubbing his tummy. 

“Or I can ride a Vespa.  I can maneuver it better but how am I going to bring the
criminals back?  I think I’ll take a truck.  I just follow the Santa Monica Freeway
and exit Bundy.  I can’t get lost because it’s my old neighborhood.”  Poe was speaking
more to herself than her guests.

“Then you can take James’ truck,” offered Maple.  “You can bring two or three day
vamps with you.”

Poe’s train of thought was broken.  “I always work by myself, Maple.  I don’t want
to get anyone killed because most of the time I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Joseph smiled his signature grin.  “That’s true.  She works from the gut.  She might
shoot our own men.”

Danby cleared his throat.  “We don’t want you to get hurt.”

Poe grinned.  “Thanks for thinking of me, John.  But I gotta tell you, nothing bad
can happen to me because I’m already dead.”  She thought of the captives getting violated
repeatedly, and she itched to leave then and there. 

No one commented on her declaration professed nonchalantly.  “Three days will be enough,
do you think?” asked Maple to clear the air.

“I’ll leave tomorrow morning and bring them back in time for dinner.”

The three visitors nodded.  Poe hardly exaggerated.  If she said she was going to
bring the criminals back in less than a day, then Julia Poe would.

***

Driving was easier than she thought once she willed herself not to hit the brake and
the gas too hard.  Keeping the steering wheel steady was also a must.  She attempted
a three-point turn on the freeway but failed, slamming the right headlight on the
concrete median. 
I’ll work on that later
, she thought philosophically. 

Quillon Trench had started the freeway cleanup by stacking cars on the median and
emergency lanes.  Ed, the five-foot tall Latino with mad strength, finished the rest. 
He had cleared the road up to North Hollywood to give the farmers a wider route. 
Poe remembered a time when Sister Ann, Goss, Morales, and Megan moved one car at a
time to transport human cattle to safety. 
How much things have changed
, thought Poe.  Downtown was the pits and the most dirty and dangerous rat-infested
inferno Poe had grown up in.  She shivered at the memory.

Now Downtown was clean, and the rats mostly pushed out of the city.  There were beauty
salons, tailor shops, dance classes, and karaoke contests.  Shandra, the ample-breasted
vampire, was even able to launch a dead/alive dance club that became a Downtown mainstay. 
She’d been promising the exotic dancer a visit, but she hadn’t quite gotten around
to it.

Driving on the freeway reminded her of her parents and brother and sister.  It had
been a while since she’d seen their faces clearly.  By the time she exited on Bundy
Drive she was actually excited.  She made a couple turns, found Sawtelle Boulevard,
and stopped in front of a burnt Spanish-style house that used to be her home.  She
shook her head. 
Don’t go in there.  It’ll kill you.  Nothing to salvage anyway
.

They found her sitting in Maclemar’s truck.  Men and women in their sixties or older
surrounded her vehicle.  Some wore glasses, but they all squinted at her.  Everyone
looked healthy living 10 minutes from the beach and eating fresh produce.  However,
she didn’t recall the West L.A. community being so old.

“Hello, Poe.  The name’s Rick.  I don’t know if you remember me?” said a balding man
with wisps of hair.

“Sure.  Of course,” said Poe in a white lie.  She opened the door and let herself
out.  She shook hands with the 10 prefects of the area.  By the third introduction
she gave up memorizing their names and got straight to the point.

“Thanks for letting me steal your chicken eggs,” said Poe.  “And your tomatoes.”

“No biggie.  Sainvire told us not to let you starve.  He was a good man, and he cared
dearly for you and humanity in general.”

Poe cleared her throat.  “That he does.  So how many leeches do I get to hunt down?”

“Nine by our count,” said a sturdy woman with white hair.  Poe wondered if they had
younger community members.  Molesting them would have been a violent act of desperation. 
But then again, leeches raped the sleeping.  They lacked compunction.  And just like
that, Poe was angry.

“When do they attack?”

“Anytime,” said another oldie.  “They stole a piglet and some vegetables.  They trampled
Ginny’s garden.”  Poe ran her gaze at the rows of cottages on the street and remembered
her family.

“Where do they hole up?”

“The Rec Center at Stoner Park.  They filled the pool with water and have been living
the life eating our chicken and pigs and swimming all day.”

“Sorry for being so blunt, but I was told some women were assaulted.”

Rick ran his fingers through his balding head.  “They took three of our women.  One
is my wife. 

“Sorry about that.  I know how traumatic it is to be taken against your will,” said
Poe.  She startled herself for her little confession.  “I’ll get them back for you. 
But, um, I was wondering if you have any young people here?”

“Eight young ones in their forties, but that’s about it.  We’re aging, and we just
want to spend the last of our days in peace.”

“We would’ve taken up arms,” said a woman named Clare.  “But we’re all practically
blind.  Eat your carrots, Poe, to keep your eyes sharp.”

Poe nodded.  She would make it a priority.  Without her eyesight she would be as helpless
as these folks.

She knew Stoner Park.  Her family used to walk there from their house.  Her parents
played tennis while she and her brother and sister played handball.  She was supposed
to take swimming lessons there, but it was cancelled because of the Gray Armageddon. 

Memories hurt, so she shook them away.  She parked the pickup as close as she could
to the Rec Center with the front right wheel on the sidewalk. 
Gotta work on parking.  Very important.
 

Roasting meat permeated the fresh Westside air.  They were 10 minutes from the ocean
after all.  Her mouth watered despite the fact that she was vegetarian.  The fuckers
were having luaus without realizing that the people they were inconveniencing were
friends of Kaleb Sainvire.  Her hand twitched.  She wanted so badly to go psycho killer
on these leeches.  She had to remind herself that Danby, Maple, and Joseph wanted
them alive. 
They ought to go to prison for a long motherfucking time
, thought Poe. 
Or I could gut them like the pig they’re never going to eat.

Poe had left her favorite guns in San Francisco, so she had to go to the armory for
a refit.  She chose her favorite combination of Glock 17 and Beretta with shoulder
holsters.  She filled her pockets with clips and carried her homemade machete in a
hip sheathe.  The item that most pleased her was an unused Rambo knife so similar
to her birthday gift from Sister Ann that she got teary-eyed.

“Kill only when they annoy you,” she whispered to the chilly air.  She had an hour
left until sunset, perfect in her opinion.  Even leeches were afraid of rogue vamps,
and they primarily stayed indoors for protection.  She followed the scent of meat
and saw the cook outside an indoor swimming pool, basting dinner like an Iron Chef. 
He had some fat on him like most leeches because drugs and food were their only happiness. 
But drugs had aged him and jerkied his skin.

Poe took a breath.  She sprinted toward the leech as fast as she could, leapt, and
landed her right elbow on top of his head.  He never saw Poe who’d wanted to try the
Muay Thai move since she saw the movie
Ong Bak
.  The man fell with linguini legs, and Poe was there to capture his arms and bind
him with plastic cuffs.  The leech was out cold.  “That was cool,” said Poe to herself. 
Don’t be too cocky, chick.  Dying is easy during peace time.

The metal slab that served as a door to the pool building was ajar.  A voice from
within shouted, “The pig ready yet?  I’m fucking hungry!”

Poe grunted an answer and entered.  She swallowed and warned herself to stay away
from the water.  Swimming pools were her kryptonite.  “Hello, fellas.  Got the pool
heated up and everything,” she said brightly. 

“Who the hell are you?” said the smallest of the eight, clocking in about Poe’s height. 
The little worm was the leader.  Poe chuckled at the men in neon hibiscus-patterned
swimming trunks. 

“Julia Poe at your service.  I’ve come to take you Downtown.  Now if you’d just cooperate
and—”

“Watch out!” shouted one of the naked older women huddling on the floor to hide her
breasts.  Poe turned to her left to see a leech in a towel point a shotgun at her. 
Quick as Mercury, Poe dove to the ground and took out the Beretta.  She shot at the
towel leech.  Her bullet traveled faster than his trigger finger, and it lodged in
one of the shotgun muzzles.  The gun exploded in his face, perpetually ruining his
looks. 
At least he’s still alive.  I’m not gonna get in trouble for that one.

Poe scanned the pool area in search of more firepower.  Except for the short leader
who lifted his Smith and Wesson at Poe, the leeches were too shocked to even move. 
Again she aimed for the gun, and it exploded in his face.  A heated shard punctured
one of his eyes, and he screamed like a stuck pig.

“More, wiseass?” asked Poe.  Two leeches were in the water holding onto the edge of
the pool, and five leeches raised their hands in surrender.  “Good boys.”  She looked
down at the shocked women.”  I see your clothes over there, ladies.  Get dressed.”

The women tied yellow plastic cuffs on the wrists of the leeches and ignored the screaming
of the two injured leeches.  Three of the women looked as old as Poe remembered her
grandmother while the other women were younger, perhaps in their forties.  They yanked
at the cuffs as hard as they could as they embraced their anger. 

“You fucking shit!” said June with a shaking voice.  The woman was beautiful with
porcelain skin and dark eyes.  Her entire body was trembling.  “I hope you kill him,
Miss Poe!”

The vampire killer shook her head.  “I’m bringing them in, ladies.  They’ll face jail
time.”  Poe knew how they felt for she herself had been violated and had wished death
upon the perpetrator. 

“How long will they will be jailed?”

“I don’t know.  A hundred years.”

Poe handed her makeshift machete to a white-haired victim.  “Chop off a limb if you
want.”

The renegade leeches cried and pleaded.  “Can I?” asked the woman.

“Sure.  But I have a better idea,” said Poe.  She conspiratorially handed her Beretta
to the white-haired woman, and placed the Glock in the palm of June, the youngest
of the three victims.  “You can shoot their balls off, and I’ll look away.  Only the
balls.  They’ve got to make it back alive.”

And so they accepted Julia Poe’s offer, and as shots rang out and echoed in the pool
room the hysterical screaming of leeches filled the air.  For the first time Poe thought
taking the assignment was the right thing to do.

By 6:30 p.m. the boys were loaded in the back of the truck by the Westsiders.  They
were decent enough to place a blanket on the nearly naked bodies of the freezing leeches,
severely in shock for losing their dear friends in life.  An hour later she parked
the truck in front of the Biltmore Hotel where T-Doc was waiting with his staff to
care for the wounded.  She was a woman of her word.  She delivered the leeches in
less than a day alive.