The Vampire and the Goth Ch. 05

During their dialogue, Julius came up to the porch and asked if Thomasina should prepare for the "gentlemen" to stay for dinner, so she could prepare. The men looked at each other with smiles for a long moment. I was sure they were about to invite themselves in, but Royce sighed. "No, no, my brother has invited my wife and me to dinner at their place. Thank you, though."

After Royce left, David and I went into the house. We sat for a long time, not talking. Julius came over and sat with us.

"Is there going to be an auction tomorrow?" he asked.

I sighed and ran my hand over my face. "Yes."

"So what are we going to do?" he said.

I looked at him for a long time. "We aren't going to do anything, Julius."

Julius stood up, outraged. "What do you mean we aren't going to do anything? We're just going to let those people be sold? Like cattle?"

I sighed. "What do you expect us to do, Julius?"

"Well... SOMETHING!" he said, full of youthful outrage.

David stood up. "They'll slaughter us, boy. We'll all die, and they'll still be sold like cattle. If we live, we can keep helping people-"

Julius cut him off. "Oh, sure, let's keep helping people one or two at a time. What's the point of being strong as hell and living forever if we're just going to ignore an opportunity to stop this?"

Thomasina had walked into the room. "Boy, I know you aren't talking to your sire like that!" she said, reproachfully.

Julius immediately dropped his head. "I'm sorry. But we could really do something good here."

David had had enough. "Forget it, Julius. Just forget it."

We all sat in embarrassed silence, ashamed at our powerlessness. On a certain level, he was right, and we all knew it. But Julius dropped the subject just the same. At least for the moment.

In the middle of the night, I heard glass breaking and yelling coming from the parlor. I ran downstairs as quickly as I could and found Julius standing over David's body. He had stabbed David with a large kitchen knife, which was still stuck in his chest.

"What the hell is happening?" I asked as I pulled the knife out of David.

"You all can be as cowardly and as fraidy cat as you want, I'm going to help those people!"

"God damn it, we can't do anything but make it worse for them and get ourselves killed while we're at it!" I yelled.

David sat up while Thomasina and Gideon stood in the doorway. "No, fuck that. Look at him, you can stab him and he's back on his feet, no problem. Do you really expect me to believe a bunch of crackers can kill us?"

I looked at Thomasina and Gideon. Their eyes burned red, seething with rage. David's eyes looked the same. Julius, with the arrogance of youth, couldn't see just how much danger he was in.

"You tried to kill your sire, you stupid fuck!" Gideon yelled.

"He didn't do shit for me! This doesn't mean anything if you can't take care of your own people!"

Thomasina looked at me and looked at the knife still in my hand. "You know what you have to do, Stosh," she said, in a frighteningly calm voice.

Julius laughed. "Oh, that's right! 'Massa save us from the bad nigra!'"

David said, "I think we've heard just about enough out of you."

Thomasina touched Gideon's arm. Now they were both looking at me.

"Do it. Do it now!"

Julian turned toward me. "Oh, yes, Massa save us!" he yelled.

David and Gideon grabbed him from behind, and I took the knife and cut deeply into his neck, nearly severing it with one slice. I cut again, completely removing the head.

We watched as the waiter brought Brother Humble his check. The parking lot was still mostly empty, and there was no sign of Marcus.

David sighed, looking around the parking lot again. "You're really quiet, Stosh. What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about the last time your progeny tried to kill you," I said.

He snorted. "Well, that's love, isn't it? One day you're up, the next day you've been shot point-blank by someone you turned into a vampire."

I was trying to come up with a sarcastic response when I noticed movement in the bushes bordering the parking lot.

"Looks like we've got company, David."

We waited until Marcus emerged from the shadows, at the same time as Brother Humble and his breakfast companion came out to the parking lot.

Marcus leaped for Brother Humble. "Die, hypocrite!" He had his fangs dropped. Just as he reached Brother Humble, David tackled him and we wrestled him into the trunk of the car.

Brother Humble and the other man stood there in shock, not knowing what happened. I calmly walked over.

"Hello. I'm Reverend Stanley Smith," I said, introducing myself. "I apologize for the commotion. Brother Daniel's son has gotten a little too into vampires lately!" I laughed.

The two men looked at each other and nervously laughed along with me. David walked over.

"Brother Daniel! I was just trying to explain how your son has gotten so off-track."

David immediately ran with the story. "Yes, it's a shame, really. He started to read that lady writer, Abby Wright? You know, the one who writes all about vampires in New Orleans?"

"Anne Rice," Brother Humble volunteered.

"THAT'S the one! Anyway, now he thinks he is one. Vampire, that is. He has fake teeth and everything."

Brother Humble looked at the other man. "Aren't you also having problems with that stuff in your congregation?"

The other man seemed to consider the thought. "Yes, we are. So many of those movies and TV shows make unholy creatures out to look like heroes. It's enough to make the kids not want to concentrate on the Good Book. By the way, I'm Reverend Cooper from Narrow Path ministries,"

I smiled. David leaned over and shook his hand. "I'm Daniel Freeman, and you've just met my son, Martin."

Marcus was screaming and kicking in my trunk and making enough of a ruckus that it could be clearly heard by us.

Brother Humble looked concerned. "It sounds like he's a real handful!"

I did my best to give a hearty, suburban dad laugh. "Yes, it will be a good day when we can turn all that energy back to Jesus!"

"Praise Christ!" David exclaimed. The two ministers and I immediately repeated him.

We stood there in awkward silence for a moment, listening to Marcus yell, "I'M A GODDAMNED VAMPIRE!"

Brother Humble and Reverend Cooper giggled uncomfortably. "Wow, he really is lost, isn't he?" Reverend Cooper said.

I smiled. "He may be lost, but he will be found."

The men smiled and nodded their heads in agreement.

"You fellows sure have your work cut out you. Let's have a quick prayer."

The gentlemen put their hands on our shoulders and bowed their heads. David and I did the same. The whole time we "prayed", Marcus kept screaming from the trunk about how we were useless titty babies who didn't deserve to be vampires. The scene was surreal.

After the prayer, the ministers gave us their cards and asked us to keep them abreast on Marcus' exorcism. We managed to keep a straight face long enough to get into the car and drive away.

"You sure slipped into that religious crap quick, Stosh. Maybe you should go into the evangelist business?"

I laughed.

"So where are we going now?"

"Back to your place. I have silver chains in my car. They should take the fight right out of him."

I drove back to my apartment as quickly as I could without attracting police attention, while Marcus kept screaming and kicking in the trunk. The message indicator on my phone began to ding. Repeatedly.

"Jesus, Stosh, what's going on with your phone?"

"Hell if I know."

David let out an exasperated gasp of breath.

"Don't lie. It's that human I met the other night, isn't it?"

I didn't say anything, but I couldn't keep the grin off my face.

"Look at you, all lovesick and shit!"

I laughed. "Aw... I wouldn't say I'm lovesick..." I said, as I pulled into the parking spot next to David's car.

David's grin was almost as big as mine. He laughed delightedly as he leaped out of the car.

David opened his car trunk and emerged with heavy silver chains. I went to the back and I stood next to him, ready to open the trunk.

"One... two... three!"

I opened the trunk and we quickly wrapped Marcus up in silver chains. I could hear his skin sizzle as they burned him. Then, David shoved a balled up pair of socks into his mouth and slammed the trunk closed. I headed back to the driver's side door.

"No, no man. I got this," David said.

"What do you mean?"

"Listen, let's not fuck with moving Nasty Boy. You take my car, I'll take yours and go deal with him myself."

My eyes narrowed. "David, let me help you."

He laughed. "No, you've done enough. Go see what your woman wants and I'll deal with this shit stain personally. It's about time I straighten out my own messes."

"David," I started, but he had already taken the keys from my hand and given me the keys to his car.

"Look at it this way -- what woman won't be more impressed by a Mercedes than a Toyota?"

I shook my head. "Jeez, this is too much!"

"Well, it's not a permanent swap, brother. But you did give me the clothes off your back, and you didn't say shit about my lousy taste in men. So, I owe you."

"Okay."

"Damn right, okay."

He got into the car.

"I'm on my way to the Florida state line. I'll call you when I'm on my way back."

I watched him drive away, as my phone started to ring in my pocket.