Tomorrow's Dead: The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles (18 page)

The children had never experienced the bright lights or other Christmas traditions
and were confused but in awe.  The teachers brought out Christmas books to illuminate
questions and focused on love, giving, and sharing.  Explaining Santa Claus was a
tedious pursuit so movie nights were set up for the children and whomever wanted to
brush up on their holiday lingo. 
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
,
A Charlie Brown Christmas
, and miscellaneous other holiday productions saved from the library were played every
night until the kids became excited.  A few adults with first-rate vocal chords taught
Christmas songs to eager children.

Sainvire came up with the idea of a gift exchange between adults and children where
the adult could make or find something for the child and the child could draw masterpieces
for the adult.  Michelle and Percy gathered toys from the Toy District by the truck
full in case adults didn’t have the cojones to wander off and look for gifts for the
little ones.

Broadway, Spring Street, Main Street, and the perpendicular numbered streets were
adorned with lights and blinking trumpets.  Older kids were allowed to babysit little
ones and roam around Pershing Square where Joseph and Jenna were trying to reinstate
a skating rink for the children.  With cooperation, Downtown Los Angeles began the
Christmas season early, and hope was truly in the air. 

With the help of Sainvire, Poe and Percy moved into a three-bedroom loft on Spring
Street in the heart of a bubbling, revitalized neighborhood.  The view of Downtown
from their living room was divine, and the girls were extremely satisfied.  Everywhere
they went, passersby asked Poe to sample foods that hadn’t existed in the city for
20 years.  Percy happily obliged, but Poe usually declined.  She was still in mourning,
and the thought of Maclemar missing the festivities made her sick.

Sainvire was as excited as the next, but the lingering problem of Peter Nesbitt haunted
him.  He’d sent scouts every week to make sure no invasion was forthcoming.  Rufus
and his air patrol busily trained interested parties to pilot helicopters and airplanes. 
Cessnas and choppers were retooled in the event of an invasion.  Maple and her team
took care of armaments, producing explosives and bullets in the warehouse district
to buffer against an accidental explosion. 

The Tunics helped as needed and tenderly cared for the sick.  As a peace offering,
Perla had asked forgiveness from Maple who waved away her apology.  She also had a
long talk with her friend, Kaleb Sainvire, who similarly didn’t want to hear open
contrition from the woman who invented Plasmacore.

All in all the city was thriving.  Even the farmers delighted in being invited to
the Christmas festivities.  They brought extra treats with each trainload of supplies,
carved toys for the children, and made molasses candies and honey sticks.

And then there was Poe.  Public Enemy Number Two seemed dazed and floating in a cloud
of continuous grief the days after Maclemar was buried in the mausoleum of the Cathedral
of our Lady of Angels.  The girl had insisted that Maclemar’s fingers be stitched
on before burial in the crypt next to Gregory Peck.  She had a ready smile for Percy
and the animals, but it was obvious she wasn’t all there.  Poe had given Percy her
surname and acted the good sister, but when walking alone the vampire hunter was a
mess.  As hard as Morales and Joseph tried, Poe refused to participate in the early
decoration of the city though it was her idea in the first place. 

“We need to have some sort of air raid alarm,” said Poe to the Los Angeles Council,
her only contribution to the meeting.  “If Nesbitt invades full force, he could destroy
our air strips and planes in one crack.”

“How would you do this, Poe?” asked Romulo.

Poe nodded at Sainvire who answered, “There are several civil defense sirens around
the city that were never uprooted after the Cold War.  Maclemar said before that he
and his mechanics could try repairing them, and we could set up a detection system. 
I think this is a great idea.  We can sleep better with raid alarms on our streets.”

The Council easily approved the measures as well as the other practical ideas submitted
to them by old-timers and newcomers alike like a school house for the children, school
buses for emergencies, home placements for children, and an application process for
humans and non-humans who wanted to adopt.  The hospital was reaching its limits with
the catatonic ex-cattle, and Morales had begun to ask city residents to take in a
human roommate per household.  Surprisingly many took to the task, especially ODs
who wanted to make amends.

Within weeks over 20 children had been placed with their new guardians.  The more
controversial was the granting of guardianship to Kilbur and Stanza who had cultivated
a rapport with a 13-year-old girl.  The girl named Melinda told the Council that she
wanted to live with the Ancients, and she squealed they approved her wish.

Women who had given birth two to four years before they woke from their slumber could
choose a baby or toddler without red tape as long as they passed a battery of psychological
tests.

Quite a few laws, basically more stringent versions of existing California regulations,
were passed regarding child protection.  If Downtown residents abused any child or
sleeping ex-blood slave, the arm of the law would hunt them down.

Poe attended biweekly Council meetings and was nearly always agreeable with the results. 
The city was shaping into a wonderful community, and she couldn’t imagine being anywhere
else.  Like the old crew, Sainvire would stand before the committee and introduce
ideas for city betterment.  She’d watch him with her heart pounding.  The vampire
was immensely powerful.  He could’ve built an empire to please himself.  Instead he
stood in line like everyone else to submit ideas.  Such humility destroyed her.  She
was in awe of the man.  And her love for him after Maclemar’s violent death disgusted
her.

***

Events were proceeding too flawlessly.  Something horrendous was bound to happen,
and the City Guardians found it in the form of a freckled San Diego vampire escapee
by the name of Charles.  He was the vamp who divulged the location of the two orphanages
to the Guardians.  He was now and always had been, according to a woman he worked
with in San Diego, a spy for Peter Nesbitt.

“And why do you come forward now?” asked Sainvire in the small conference room on
the third floor of the Biltmore.  “If you know these things, you must be a spy yourself.”

Victoria, a chubby vampire with a calming face nodded.  “We’re from San Francisco
originally.  When Nesbitt last visited San Diego in June he left us there and instructed
us to try to make our way to Los Angeles by any possible means.  When you dropped
those flyers, we found our chance.”

“Why are you telling us this?” asked Poe.  She didn’t want trouble.  She wanted the
children to have a memorable Christmas.  In fact she wanted a wonderful Christmas
for herself.  Maclemar would’ve wanted it so.

“Nesbitt said you people were demented and rabid rebels and you deserved to be exterminated
for stealing cattle.  He despised you two especially,” she pointed at Poe and Sainvire. 
“You killed his apprentice, Trench.  Since I’ve been here, I’ve been impressed by
the community you’ve built.  I was rooting for your society because I miss the old
world.  This whole Christmas thing and the smiling faces of children made me question
my loyalty to the ironfisted rule of the San Francisco Council.  Most vampires if
they were honest with themselves hate milking human blood to survive, but we didn’t
know there was another way.  Whoever talked about Plasmacore in public would’ve been
tortured.  Despite that, vampires have started making their own food, Plasmacore,
and they feel the difference.  Sick blood from cattle starves vampires.

“Believe it or not, there’s an underground movement in San Francisco started by ex-hippies
to only drink your concoction.  I don’t know if you’ve heard, but in Santa Cruz Plasmacore
is the only thing they drink now.  They call themselves the Core.  They nurse liberated
humans, bring them back to health, and later fold them into their dissident society
when they awake.  Their numbers are growing everyday.  Peter Nesbitt’s threats to
his people are eroding these days as human cattle die or are stolen away. 

“As for me, I’m telling you about Charles because I want to be part of your city. 
I’m tired of working for a vampire without any morals.  He believes he’s above everyone
because he came from old blood.  Nobody cares.  I mean, look at you, Sainvire.  You
have powers never seen before, and a lowly whore turned you.”

“Yes.  He’s a son of a bitch alright,” said Joseph, ribbing his friend who shook his
head in offense.  “So where’s Charles now?”

“Charles meets Nesbitt’s people every Thursday at the old Greyhound terminal on 7
th
and Alameda.  He tells them the new rulings your new council passes, especially rulings
about the air raid watch.  Unlike your camp, only a handful of Nesbitt’s people can
fly because most of them had been destroyed by Miss Poe two years back.  If they’re
going to fly through the city, they want a quiet affair.”

“How many choppers do they have?” asked Michelle, looking fierce in a cleavage-popping
top and tight red pants.

“I think about eight or nine.  They haven’t trained as many flyers as you guys.”

“Any guns mounted on them?” pursued the head of security.

“I think all of them have mounted fire power.”

“What time are they meeting?” asked Jenna who was carefully doodling on a pad of paper.

“They always meet at eight, but Charles shows up early to scout around first.”

Sainvire rose from his chair and said, “We thank you for telling us about this, Victoria. 
If we confirm what you said, we’ll consider you a part of our city because you care
enough to stop Nesbitt.  However, may I ask you one thing?”

“Of course,” said the vampire spy. 

“Why did you help us locate the orphanages in San Diego?”

“Charles suggested it so we would be beyond reproach.”

“Thank you, Victoria.  If you could please excuse us, we need time for discussion.”

All eyes were on the awkward vampire as she left the conference room.  The meeting
participants consisted of Sainvire, Poe, Jenna, Ed, Rufus, Joseph, Maple, Perla, and
Danby.

“My instincts may be turned about, but I believe the young lady was telling the truth,”
said Danby, the ex-custodian. 

Jenna sat up and tossed her doodle pad to Rufus.  “Feel the same here, John.  But
I think one of us should leave now to eavesdrop on Charles.  You have 15 minutes until
contact, Kaleb, so I suggest you skedaddle while we talk some more.  Don’t do anything
to him.  We might need him to send false signals.”

“Alright.  I’m off.  Anyone want to come along?  I’ve just had my supper, and I can
fly at least two.”  Every head shook their head with smirks on their faces. 

Poe raised her hand like a schoolgirl.  “I want to see this jackass in action.”  She
cracked her neck and shoulders in preparation of the flight.  “C’mon, Sainvire.  Let’s
jump out the window.”  And they did.

She’d never experienced anything as exhilarating and frightening as flying with Kaleb
Sainvire.  Not only did flying make her feel like she was a real superhero, but she
got the chance to be truly alone with the extremely busy head of the Guardians of
the City.  Nothing had pumped her blood since Maclemar left her.  He was her anchor. 
She often slipped into grief coma unless she was working to fight the enemy or keeping
close to Kaleb Sainvire.  Poe hugged him tighter until her lips brushed his cold neck. 
She didn’t know how it slipped out, but she spoke her thoughts out loud.

“I love you too, Poe,” said Sainvire.  He kissed the top of her head.

“I didn’t mean to say that,” she said, guiltily thinking of Maclemar.

“I know.  But thank you just the same.  And sadly we have to postpone our talk.  I
see Charles pacing and having a conversation with himself.”

Sainvire lowered them onto the flat roof of the Greyhound building, a safe distance
from Charles but in range of Sainvire’s sensitive ears.  Poe was on her stomach watching
the pathetic pantomime of the spy.  She shivered at the cold breeze that slapped her
face.  Sainvire, on his side, stared at Poe.  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. 
He reached out to caress her cheek.  “If I could reset time, I’d live with you in
your old bunker with Penny and your diverse collection of movies.”

Poe pinched the vampire’s nose and shook her head.  “You were an idiot.”

“I know it.”  Sainvire’s face turned serious.  “I’m really sorry about Maclemar. 
He was a stellar man.  He loved you with his life.”

Poe looked away, tears forming in her eyes.  She hated people seeing her cry.  “I’m
sorry, too.  I miss him so much.  Especially his sense of humor and his cooking.”

Sainvire didn’t stop looking at Charles, and within moments two men wearing fatigues
shook hands with him. 

Poe couldn’t hear a thing.  Her eyes oscillated between Sainvire and the three vampires
below.  The meeting took no more than ten minutes, and the two watched Charles walk
back toward the Downtown center.  They went on their way themselves.

“What did they say?”

“They’re planning to disrupt our Christmas celebration to lower morale.  That’s basically
it.  They can’t really hurt the children.  They’re marked for future blood supply. 
Our spy only gave the date, but the planning is up to Nesbitt.”

“Assholes!” said Poe.  Her fury turned to annoyance when Sainvire started laughing. 
“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.  Your anger is something to behold.  It energizes you.”

“I guess so if it starts a laughing fest!”  She tried to turn away in exasperation,
but he didn’t let her.  He rolled her to her back and draped one long leg over her
lower body, pinning her.  “I want you back, Julia Poe,” he said in his gravelly voice. 
“I want you so badly that I want to gouge my eyes out so I won’t see you anymore,”
he gritted.  His lips hovered too closely to her mouth.