Tomorrow's Dead: The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles (4 page)

Maclemar reloaded his heavy gun and shot to kill. His aim was better than Poe remembered. 
Growling in her quiet way, Penny attacked any dog that went near Poe. 

“Don’t overdo it, Pen.  Only six left,” said Poe.  A Doberman in better shape than
the others leapt at Poe.  The aggressor bit her wrist as she tried to protect her
face.  Poe raised her left arm and shot the dog in the mouth.  She was furious at
the inhumanity of the person who had starved, debarked, and deafened these dogs. 
“I’m gonna get you, you son of a bitch!” Poe yelled in the parking garage, her words
echoing.  “You hurt and starved these dogs, I’ll fucking crucify you!”

She allowed the last of the dogs to move in and shot them in the face until the final
German Shepard fell to its death.  Poe scanned the desecrated bodies lying dead in
the garage and felt rage she hadn’t experienced since Quillon Trench.

“You okay, love?” asked Maclemar who was suddenly beside her. 

“Yeah.”

“You got bit.  Better have Morales give you rabies shots,” he said worriedly.

“I’ve already been needle-poked.  I’ll be fine.  Besides, my coat is pretty thick.

Maclemar inspected his motorcycle and learned the enemy had siphoned petrol from his
motorcycle.  “The bastards left us without gas so the poor dogs could eat us.”

Poe’s full lips became a line.  She inspected the garage while Maclemar siphoned gasoline
from a luxury sedan.  Penny followed her like a bodyguard, turning her head from side
to side and sniffing at the air.  Behind a blue van she came across the first cage
where a third of the dogs had been starved and abused.  She soon found the other two
cages in the nooks of the garage.  Poe wanted to cry. 
I left my island for this carnage?

Maclemar hollered for them to get back.  The Ducati was ready.

Surprisingly Penny sat still like a trooper in front of Maclemar, who drove 20 miles
an hour, swerving left and right to avoid collision with stranded automobiles.  He
took the Harbor Freeway for a smoother ride.  Trench had begun a project to clear
freeways before Poe shot him dead, and the improvement may have been the best accomplishment
in his miserable life as a vampire.  Poe, on the other hand, was more accustomed to
Vespa scooters than motorcycles which made her want to urinate on the leather seats. 
She hugged Maclemar’s waist like her life depended on it.

The sight of the Downtown cityscape from the freeway made her heart beat faster. 
The jungle she condemned as a grave place of suffering looked gorgeous even with a
slight drizzle of rain.  Buildings stood proudly for her eyes to view.  Dread tightly
held her heart, but hope and the promise of a new direction excited her.  She was
going to see Piper, Michelle, and other lifelong friends.

Her musings were cut short when a large motorhome parked horizontally across the freeway
blocked Maclemar’s ride.  “Poe, get your guns ready,” he barked, slowing the bike
down as he drove around the vehicle.  Poe reached for her Blackhawk and said, “Please
be careful with Penny.”

“I will, love.  There’s a flare gun in my jacket pocket.  I want you to point toward
Downtown.”

Poe took the gun with her left hand and fired.  The girl was ambidextrous and had
been viciously accurate in her prime.

Maclemar stopped the motorcycle and lifted Penny to the ground.  Above them were three
vampires who landed softly in front of them. 
I thought I killed most of the flying vamps
, Poe thought.  The door to the camper opened and another three stepped out.  The
six vampires, four women and two men, each wore a drab gray tunic with a 10-inch red
cross emblazoned on the front. 
What is this, the Crusades?

“Are you Julia Poe?” asked a startlingly thin platinum blonde with a hungry expression. 
She was one of the three that could fly.

“Yeah, that’s me,” answered Poe.  Her .45 lay against her thigh.  “You guys in search
of the Holy Grail or something?”

“Only you, Julia Poe,” said a hefty black vampire that was hiding out in the camper.

Poe’s mind was surprisingly clear after defeating Sally and Bette on the island. 
She didn’t feel any fear. 
The old me would’ve been proud
, she thought.  “So what’s up?”

“You need to come with us,” said the blonde.

“And if I don’t?  Will you send some more starved dogs after me?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, but we will be forced to take you and Maclemar
against your will.”

Maclemar scoffed.  “Don’t worry, sharren.  These are the new self-proclaimed vampire
police I was telling you about.  They’re a bunch of bullies, but they won’t harm a
human hair.”

“I guess it’s a different rule on my island, eh?  I’m fair game,” said Poe while locking
eyes with every single one.

Poe took a gamble.  She looked down at mute Penny standing protectively next to her
leg.  “Listen.  I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know anything about your Kool-Aid
cult because I’ve been out of the city for over a year.  But since you seem to know
about me, I’ll assume you know my reputation.  I’ve killed hundreds of vampires,”
she lied.  “I’ve rescued as many human cattle.  And I don’t like being intimidated
by you or abused dogs.  Either you get out of our way or I’m gonna have to destroy
you like I smote Bette and Sally.”

The blonde and the black woman who seemed to be the leader among the six looked at
each other.  “Sally reported you can’t shoot straight.  I’m afraid we’re going to
have to ask you to come with us.”

“Wow, this conversation is like a flushing toilet.  The dirty whirlpool never stops
going around and around.  I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me what you have
in mind for me.”

“We’re taking you to Perla,” the black woman answered.

“Perla? The scientist who invented Plasmacore, Perla?  My friend, Perla?”

The woman nodded.

Poe frowned.  Perla was once her tutor and Maple’s sweetheart.  Her invention broke
the blood dependency for vampires.  Last time she saw Perla was in Gilroy, catatonic
from a vampire bite and nursed by the mallet-armed Maple who was her life partner. 
Poe turned to Maclemar.

“Long story short, Perla went nuts after she woke up from her year-long coma, and
she’s now head of the new vampire police.  She’s recruiting ex-blood slaves to become
vampires themselves to protect humans against city undead and outside forces who want
to harm the new order of things.  And they want to punish ODs or old city vampires
for their crimes against humanity and execute human leeches that served master vampires.”

“Man.  I missed so much in so little time,” Poe said and shook her head.  She holstered
her weapon and rubbed her shoulder.  “Ladies and gents, I will certainly meet with
my friend, Perla.  But not now.  I’m tired, cold, and hungry.”

Since Poe had sheathed her weapon, the tense look in the vampires’ eyes dissipated. 
A speck in the sky arrested their attention, however.  “It’s Sainvire,” one of them
said.

Poe swallowed whatever spit was left in her mouth and gulped nervously.  The vampire
soft-landed next to Poe and Maclemar.  “Problem here, Melanie?”

The blonde shook her head.  “Just saying hello to the conquering hero.”

“That’s big of you,” said Sainvire with reserved friendliness.  His gray eyes hardly
blinked as they surveyed the sight before him.  “I believe you should be going now.”

“Can we come for you tomorrow?” asked the black vampire.

“Sure.  Maybe after lunch?” said Poe with a nod.  “And your name is?”

“Becca,” said the vampire.

Poe bent down to scratch the ears of a tense Penny.  “Don’t worry, Pen.  They won’t
hurt us.  I’m Perla’s friend.  Well, Becca and Melanie, I’ll see you both tomorrow. 
And I hope you understand I don’t like being a passenger on the back of a flying vampire. 
A car would be nice.”

She turned to Sainvire after the vampire police drove away.  It had been over a year
since she’d seen him.  She hadn’t forgotten the misshapen shoulder, the scarred upper
lip, and the intense gray eyes that seemed to penetrate her thoughts.  She’d never
loved a man or vampire like she loved Kaleb Sainvire, but he chose saving people over
loving her. 

“Hey, you,” she said with forced cheer.  “What’s up?”

“Oh, you know, bickering vamps, demanding humans, confused halfdead, a crazy city,
and screaming babies with red hair.”

“As idealistic as ever, I see.  Light-the-fire Sainvire.  Same old same old,” said
Poe a little less cheerily.  She gazed at Maclemar who was pretending to inspect his
Ducati.  “As you can see, I’m here as requested.  Your letter and Maclemar pretty
much clued me in about Downtown madness.  I figure I’ll stay two months.  Then I’m
off to my buffalo herd.  Deal?”

“Deal,” said Sainvire in his deep gravelly voice.  “Thank you.”

“One thing,” said Poe.  “Could you fly Penny to where I’m supposed to live?  I don’t
trust Maclemar to keep her splat-free.”

“Of course,” he said, reaching for the mutt who remembered the vampire.  He tucked
the 24-pound dog in his black trench coat and nodded.  “Did you want to fly with us?”

“No, sir.  I’m riding with Maclemar here.  See you in a minute.”

She watched Sainvire levitate into the air and shoot up to the sky.  The vampire looked
haggard.  He always tried to fix things, and his selflessness cost him plenty.  Poe
tucked her coat under her seat and embraced Maclemar’s waist.  She closed her eyes
as the Ducati accelerated to blinding speed and dreadfully destabilized her bladder.

***

The Biltmore, one of L.A.’s oldest and most ornate hotels, was an historic landmark
smack in the middle of Downtown across from Pershing Square.  Early Academy Award
ceremonies were held in the Crystal Room, one of the several grand ballrooms of the
Beaux Arts hotel.  The distinguished 11-story building housed close to 700 rooms,
enough to accommodate Sainvire’s people who wanted to stay close to the master vampire.

Since the revolutionaries peacefully took over city management, the Biltmore had served
as a hospital, nursery, school, meeting space, artillery factory, library, gym, and
24-hour cafeteria since vampire and human shifts varied throughout the day. 

Taking in the grandeur, Poe climbed half of an elegant stairway.  Maclemar led her
down a marbled hallway where gilded cherubs festooned the ceiling.  The splendor of
the hotel was almost lost to her after curious onlookers whispered their disappointment. 
Wherever she’d walk, people and vampires alike would gawk like she was a giant talking
insect.  Snippets of “I didn’t expect her to be so small” and “tiny” bothered her
for in her mind she was five-foot-eight like her mother and not a malnourished shrimp. 
And how people bantered around the words “scarred face” made her grit her precisely
flossed teeth.

She had lived a solitary life after most of humankind, including her family, perished
in the Gray Armageddon.  Poe wasn’t used to the gossip or the looks of judgment.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Welshman!  You dragged me back for this?”

“Don’t worry about them, love,” said Maclemar.  The man sounded harsh and grumpy. 
“Some people are just ungrateful and ignorant.”

“That’s alright,” Poe lied, swallowing bitterly.  “How can I stand up to an out-of-control
legend that magnifies my past adventures?”

He hugged her briefly and kissed her forehead, second nature to Maclemar.  “You’re
growing up, little one.  The real flesh and blood Poe is a damn superhero, and everyone
who encounters you knows it.”

Ed, a five-foot tall halfdead who could juggle a bulldozer with his pinky was waiting
for them.  “Poe!  Welcome back!”

“Ed!  You look so good in a tie,” said Poe as she embraced the strongest person she’d
ever met. 

“Thanks.  I hate it,” he said, tugging uncomfortably at his blue checkered tie.  “They’re
expecting you in there.”  He opened the door for her, and Poe had to blink her eyes
twice to register the familiar faces in the hall illuminated by giant chandeliers. 
The biggest was Passionada, a tremendous woman hovering over six feet tall in her
yellow heels.  She was carrying a crying baby with teeth sprouting all over the place.

“Hey, honey!  You look great!  This little bundle of tears is your goddaughter.” 
The woman thrust the ornery child into Poe’s arms.  The vampire executioner’s eyes
bulged, holding the baby at arm’s length.  She’d never in her life carried a baby,
and she was terrified.  Instead of wailing even harder, the redhead girl with light-brown
eyes stared at Poe curiously.

“Maclemar, help me,” said Poe. 

“You’re doing fine, love.  Just bring the babe closer to your chest.”

Poe was greeted by a bevy of old friends like Maple, Habib, Rufus, John Danby, Kawana,
and even the ever annoying Romulo Gutierrez.  Because of the baby she couldn’t say
her proper hellos.  Joseph walked up to her and kissed her cheek.  He squeezed her
shoulder and said, “Isn’t my little bundle of joy purty?”

“Sure,” said Poe, her nose breaking into a sweat in the cold hall.  She spied bowlegged
Sam Morales enter the hall.  The T-Doc – short for Temporary Doctor as the others
fondly called him – was all smiles.  “Julia Poe, my favorite person next to my daughter,
Piper!”  He kissed her ear, the one that was missing an earlobe.  He wiped the dots
of moisture on top of her nose for which Poe was grateful.  Morales and Joseph were
Piper’s fathers, but they were far from lovers.  Morales had donated his sperm to
Megan, the vampire Joseph’s wife, and they produced a baby together.  When Megan died,
the two friends decided to band together for the sake of the little girl.

“Guys, I think I’m gonna drop her,” said Poe tensely.  The redhead girl kept saying,
“Cayot, yuck!” over and over and was biting at Poe’s nerves.  The baby meant carrot
but couldn’t pronounce the r’s.   Everyone in the hall was enjoying Poe’s discomfort
so much that they refused to take Piper off her hands.  Sainvire, who was tucked away
by the velvet curtains, chuckled his last laugh and wound his way toward Poe.  He
swept the baby in his arms and kissed the rolls of fat on the child’s neck.  Piper
squealed like a tiny hag and began kissing Sainvire back with her saliva-sodden mouth.