Vampire Miami (5 page)

Maria Elena searched her face, and then nodded.
“OK.”

At that point a second car rolled up, tires
crunching the loose gravel of the street, and the group of guys
dispersed, three of them getting into the new ride, the other two
guys into the front of the parked car.

“Come on,” said Maria Elena. “Let’s go, then.
Angelo!” The guy she had been holding looked over from where he was
about to get into the driver’s seat. Broad shouldered, muscled
across the chest and wearing a tight fitting shirt, Angelo exuded a
sullen charisma like a great cat but recently aroused from
sleep.

“
Que quieres
?”

“Don’t you talk to me that way. I’m bringing my
friend, Selah.”

Angelo eyed her up and down, and then shrugged
and got into the car. Selah followed Maria Elena into the back of
the Cadillac and closed her door firmly behind her. She couldn’t
resist. She pulled out her Omni and recorded a quick shot of her
face: “Going to South Beach. And so it begins!” She pushed it to
her Garden, then slipped the Omni away and smiled self-consciously
at Maria Elena. The car rumbled to life, and Maria Elena’s friend
accelerated smoothly down the street, weaving slowly through the
stationary vehicles.

“Isn’t it—isn’t it dangerous to be out at
night?”

Maria Elena snorted. “Out here? In Allapattah?
Sure. If you’re by yourself and don’t know what you’re doing.
That’s why we move in a group. All of us armed. Plus we got ID’s.
Even if a vampire came out here to the boonies, we’d probably be
fine. And why would they come, when all the action is downtown and
on the Beach?”

Selah tried to think of a reason. “The movies—I
mean, the documentaries made it look like they were always out …
hunting.”

Maria Elena laughed again. “The movies? C’mon.
They don’t
have
to hunt. I mean, sure, some vampire might
decide to go out hunting for the hell of it, you know, like going
on safari, but nobody I know has gotten hurt. There are too many
people volunteering.” A wry look. “I mean, I wouldn’t go out
walking by myself, but in a group like ours? No problem.”

“Oh,” said Selah, confused. It seemed so obvious
when Maria Elena put it that way. She looked out the window. A dark
ghost town rolled by. Black alleys between gray buildings. There
was no moon that she could see, and everything seemed silent and
still.

She turned back to the other girl. “What are
credits? You mean, like money?”

“Kind of.” Maria Elena leaned back in her seat.
The two guys up front were talking in Spanish. “You know how
anybody can buy their way out of Miami for a hundred grand?” Selah
nodded. Not that there had been any rich people left in Miami when
the Wall went up, but who hadn’t seen all the donation drives and
charities that had sprung up to raise funds for those still trapped
inside? “Well,” said Maria Elena, “there’s no money in Miami. We
don’t work for dollars. We work for credits. The vampires are
smart, see, they got it all figured out. You work a job, you get
credit. You give blood, you get more credit. You rat on a friend
who’s thinking of escaping, you get a ton of credits. You work long
enough, you get enough credits, you can buy your freedom.” Maria
Elena looked out the window. “Or somebody else’s freedom.”

“Oh,” said Selah. She studied her new friend’s
face. Was she a new friend? Selah wasn’t sure. She hoped so.

The Cadillac pulled onto a larger avenue,
following it for a short time before moving alongside an overpass
for a couple of blocks. As they merged onto the overpass, ahead of
them Selah could see the glittering Intercoastal waters, smooth
under the night sky, and their bridge spearing out across it.
Looking out the window, she saw the towers of downtown come into
view, lit bright by electricity, spearing into the night like
incandescent columns of living steel and glass.

“Beautiful, right?” asked Maria Elena softly,
following Selah’s gaze. “But we’re not going there. That’s where
all the business happens. No entertainment. Lawyers and accountants
and media types.”

“What do the vampires want lawyers for? Why do
they even want money? Why give you guys credits?” Selah felt dizzy.
She couldn’t wrap her head around all this, this strange and
complex world she was falling into.

Maria Elena groaned theatrically and clasped her
head. “
Dios mio
, you going to ask questions all night?
Basta
, no more questions. Listen up, I’m going to tell you a
couple of important things now that you need to know.”

Selah slipped her hand into her pocket and
activated her Omni’s recording mode. Nodded seriously. The car
descended the far side of the bridge’s hump, and once again ran
nearly level with the water. The headlights revealed the empty
lanes, cars pushed onto the grassy shoulders so as to leave a
straight shot forward.

“OK. Let’s see. First, don’t make eye contact
with nobody. You don’t want any attention. You’re not ready for
attention. Second, stay close to me. You leave my sight, I can’t
help you. What else. You don’t have an ID, but if anybody asks, we
can just say you’re new and will get one soon.”

“I have my passport.”

“Not your passport. ID. You’ll need to get one
from Downtown tomorrow. That shows that you’re in the vampire
system, can receive and spend credits, and it acts like a safe
pass. Most vampires won’t mess with anybody who’s carrying one.”
Maria Elena considered. “Most times. Third, watch out for people
with blue ID’s. They’re security. They answer only to the vampires,
and the vampires don’t really give a crap what they do as long as
things run smooth. If they stop you for not having an ID, you let
me talk.”

“OK. Is that likely?”

Maria Elena shrugged. “Maybe? But I can get you
out of it. Security’s mostly worried about keeping street trash out
of the nice parts of town. Since you look clean and civilized, they
probably will look right past you.”

“Oh. So the people living on the streets back
where we came from…?”

Maria Elena nodded. “Yep. They’re out there
because if they try to get close to where it’s nice? They don’t
make it back.”

Selah felt uncomfortable. “So, what do those
people do? I mean, they’re not part of this vampire society,
they’re not building communities like Mama B—do they just, what? Do
nothing?”

Maria Elena sighed and shook her head. “I know.
It’s hard. Most of them were like kids or teenagers when the Wall
went up. Never went to school, never did nothing but live on the
street. As for what they do? Make it from one day to the next. Hit
up the food trucks, get all the free aid they can get, make
families, I don’t know. Half of them are starving, or addicted to
something, or looking to not get killed. It’s crazy. The one’s who
want to live differently try to get into a building community like
the Palisades, but most of them don’t last. Inside a month, they’re
back out on the streets. It ain’t fair, but then again, that’s
Miami for you.”

They drove on. Looking back, Selah could see the
dark line that was the land, the scintillating black waters mostly
behind them now. She knew that the Beach was a long spit of land
that hugged the shore, separated by the Intercoastal, most of it
dark and silent now, but for the southern tip, the heart of South
Beach.

The driver spoke in Spanish, and Maria Elena
responded. Selah leaned back, tuning them out. She felt tired and
yet antsy, alert but unable to focus her thoughts. She allowed her
eyes to relax, and watched as the bridge merged with land once
more. They swung to the right and drove through a dark and shadowed
boulevard lined with palm trees.

She thought of Mama B. Would she be worried?
Knowing that Selah was out alone in the dark? She hoped so, and
then she felt bad. Thought of Mama B’s words, how unfair they’d
been. Stopped at the word
unfair
. Chewed it over, and
decided to never say it again.

The two guys in the front laughed loudly, and
she shrank back into her seat. Where were they taking her? What was
she doing? She should’ve stayed at the Palisades. She felt a moment
of panic as she thought about their destination: South Beach.
Vampire paradise, where they played and partied their nights away,
trapped as they were in Miami.
Like tigers in a cage
, Brad
Dancer had said in
Nowhere to Run
.

They started to pass islands of illumination.
Large houses set back from the street with light pouring out of
their windows. Suddenly, they left the darkness behind and were out
under lit streetlights. Five minutes later they crossed a small
bridge, took a left down a narrow street, drove five, six blocks,
and pulled over. The second car that had been following them
continued on, honking twice as it drove by.

Maria Elena said something in a sardonic tone in
Spanish; the guy in the passenger seat replied in a droll voice and
laughed. Maria Elena shoved the back of his headrest in mock anger
and pushed open her door. “Come on, Selah,” she said. “Let’s leave
these idiots already.” She got out, and Selah did the same.

The guys climbed out, still laughing, and the
three of them said goodbye to each other, Selah standing awkwardly
to one side. The guys were going in a different direction. They
both worked in the kitchen of a steak joint, Maria Elena explained
as they walked away. They would all meet back at the car in six
hours and head home.

Maria Elena took the lead. Selah followed, not
sure she wanted to go. Curiosity wrestled with thrilling fear. She
could hear music in the distance. Raucous, upbeat, driving into the
night air, pulsing insistently and with undeniable rhythm. The
sound drew them in, closer with each step, thumping and bruising
the night.

A massive parking building loomed up before
them, and Maria Elena looked at her watch and cursed. Picked up the
speed, and ran into an alley. Selah followed her down it and then
out into a broad pedestrian boulevard that was all lights and
crowded people.

“Lincoln Road,” said Maria Elena over her
shoulder. “Hurry up, I’m going to be late.”

Selah wanted to grab onto the hem of Maria
Elena’s dress so that she could be pulled behind and gawk at the
people around her. Though half the restaurants were shuttered, the
other half were open, tables spilling out across the broad
pavement, sheltered under great parasols and bustling with clients.
Music blasted from each doorway, through which Selah could see bars
and tables and lurid lights and people talking and drinking, dining
and wining.

“This is just like on TV,” Selah said, unable to
control herself. And it was. She’d seen reporters interviewing
people about their quality of life under the vampire yoke. One of
“Business Mogul” episodes this season had been set in Miami, with
the young hopefuls put in charge of two opposing restaurants and
tasked with outdoing each other in sales.

Yet somehow she’d never believed it was real.
Had believed only in the version of
Nowhere to Run
, the
apocalyptic vision of a depraved and degenerate city, abandoned by
the government and prowled by vicious monsters. Not this. Despite
the interviews that had started early last year with a few key
vampires, despite the TV shows, the reports of famous starlets
being flown in for outrageous parties. Despite all the fanfare that
had been starting up.

But here it was. They crossed a street. There
was a Starbucks. Selah stared at it as if she’d never seen one
before. People inside on their Omnis. Working, or checking their
Gardens, or whatever one did at night here on Lincoln Road.

Though there were differences. Not everything
was normal. Selah noted the white IDs that everybody had pinned to
their clothing or wore around their necks on simple red cords.
Picture IDs with printed information in simple, clear letters. Plus
the energy felt off. People laughed too loudly, too often. Eyes
were always sliding aside to see who was watching. More than one
person was sunk in misery, sitting alone in some corner, hunched
and staring out at the world like a hunted animal. Groups of men
walked by dressed in black, guns holstered at their hips, their IDs
blue. Too much she didn’t understand. Too much to absorb.

They left Lincoln Road, and Maria Elena picked
up speed again. Selah was burning with questions now, but couldn’t
find a way to ask. Realized then that she hadn’t seen a vampire
yet. At least, she didn’t think she had. In the films—and
documentaries and online videos and everything else—they looked
just like humans. Pale, of course, with flat black eyes and
unnatural movements, but still mostly human. Maybe she’d already
walked by a vampire and not realized it. Selah looked around and
saw Maria Elena talking to a massive man who stood outside a door
through which pounded and pulsed the most powerful music.

Selah looked up. Magnum. This was it. They were
still early, it appeared—there wasn’t much of a line. Maria Elena
gestured to Selah, and then reached out and took her by the wrist
and pulled her in through the door, right under the bouncer’s
disapproving glare, and into the black hallway beyond.

“I’ve got to get right on,” yelled Maria Elena
into her ear. “Stay inside the club. Don’t talk to anybody. Don’t
drink anything. Don’t get any attention, and I’ll find you when I’m
done, OK? Any questions or problems, come find me. I’ll be right
here!”

Selah felt panic well up within her. Maria Elena
laughed, leaned in and kissed her cheek. “You’ll be fine! Just
watch and stay out of the way. Now go!” She gave Selah a push, took
off her jacket, threw it behind a black curtain, and marched back
outside to the front.

Well
, thought Selah, turning to face the
interior of the club.
Ain’t that the shit
. She looked down
at herself. She was still in her traveling clothes. Hands flew up
to her hair. Of course it was a mess. First destination: bathroom.
She hadn’t even brought her purse with her. Painfully
self-conscious, she stepped into the next room. Large and dark, lit
by fitful blue lighting, the room seemed to serve as a nexus for
what looked like three vast rooms beyond, each connected to the
other through this central spot. The room straight ahead was lit in
glacial blues and featured a bar as long as a train car. The room
to the left looked vast, with steps leading down to a dance floor.
The one to the right was the smallest and lit in marsh greens.
Unsure, she watched people move by, and then locked in on a couple
of women as they opened a previously unnoticed door and stepped
into what was clearly a restroom.