Tomorrow's Dead: The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles (8 page)

One of Poe’s proudest moments was opening wig fitting facilities for she and Percy
had discovered two warehouses full of pretty hair that was sure to boost ex-cattle
egos.  A number of ex-slaves had suffered hair loss, a cause of depression and tattered
self-esteem among other things. 

By the following week people with a lot of time on their hands had approached Poe
to secure jobs to cure their boredom and sense of alienation.  Poe set up interviews
with Morales for those interested in learning counseling or healing arts.  Surprisingly
over 50 applicants came forward.  Maclemar welcomed candidates interested in working
with children.  Many women who’d been impregnated while drugged and had their babies
taken away volunteered as nurses and child care providers.  With the eager help of
human and vampire volunteers, Maclemar had more time on his hands for his core responsibilities.

Willing vamps and stronger ex-cattle who showed promise were taken in by Michelle’s
team for physical training to become Downtown security.  For the older folks who still
had lucid minds, Sainvire invited their help in planning political strategies and
teaching the older children games with a special emphasis on chess.

Poe, on her part, began teaching Jeet Kune Do and Muay Thai to those interested in
muscle development and bone strengthening therapy.  By the third week her class had
become so popular that she moved it outdoors to Pershing Square with almost 100 humans
and a spattering of day vamps attending. 

For those unable to leave their beds, Poe arranged for Sainvire’s vampires to read
to them and help them with bathing.  She also made delivering food to the elderly
much easier by putting Meals on Wheels into operation.  Habib and his large staff
packed three meals of fresh food for the debilitated.  She preferred ODs for this
job so they could see their lasting damage and perhaps volunteer to serve their former
victims on an ongoing basis.

Poe didn’t set out to be a reformer.  She planned activities and programs because
she thought the community would be stronger if everyone worked together.  She had
the knack for convincing people and vampires to try something they normally would
never do.  “If you don’t like it, you can kick me.  I won’t kick you back,” she’d
say.  Her ability to remember every face and name like a gamemaster served her well. 
In all, she’d met over 600 Downtown residents by her fifth week in the city.

If she weren’t a household name before, Julia Poe was now unforgettable in her superstar
achievements.  She was well regarded because of her sincerity and ability to listen. 
Her martial arts classes drew a hundred people, but her audience was double that. 
She taught with strong will, and it showed with every kick and punch which lessened
the fears of ex-victims.

In short, Julia Poe became an icon whether she wanted the tag or not.

T
HE
LAST
T
HURSDAY
OF
the month was an important community event held at the Biltmore’s grand ballroom. 
Poe was expected to give the recommendations she had promised, and her nerves were
jangled.  She never thought of herself as a public speaker, and she could never forget
she had once stuttered.  She spent most of the morning trying to mentally sort her
plans.  Percy looped her arm around Poe’s elbow while they walked to the park for
martial arts lessons.  The two had been inseparable.  Penny and Chops trailed behind
them, both creatures swaying their behinds like a couple of drunken women.

Percy had become like a little sister to Poe.  She’d never loved anyone like she did
Percy in the five weeks she’d been in the city.  Not even Piper’s cute baby antics
could steal her heart away from the little girl with sorrowful eyes.  She was resolved
to ask the girl to live with her on Catalina.  The prospect of having a friend in
the isolated island heartened her.

The students were already situated in their rows of 12 while the observers sat on
benches and fences.  She knew she’d never get used to the spectacle of teaching. 
She motioned for the Judo Club as they used to call themselves in Gilroy and approved
of their black outfits and red waist sashes to differentiate themselves from the crowd. 
Five older men, ex-boxers, coaches, and athletes participated from the club, helping
Poe with teaching basic defense stances to the near-impossible number of students. 

“Morning, class,” she said loudly to accommodate the hard of hearing.  She removed
her coat and shoulder holster and tossed them on the grass.  The machete lay glistening
on the ground.  She slipped off her wrist knives and flung them on her coat.  The
class was divided into five groups to make it easier to hear and be seen.  “It’s a
beautiful sunny California day!  Let’s do our 10-minute warm up.  Percy and the Judo
Club, do your thing.”

Poe was dressed in a black t-shirt and black Adidas jogging pants.  The scars on her
arms and face showed clearer in the daylight.  She bent down to double-knot her Converse,
an old tick she could never get rid of, and was startled when people began to scream
and scramble away from the green. 

An enormous Paul Bunyan standing at six-foot-eight pushed the crowd of students out
of his way.  She’d never seen the muscular bearded man with fuming eyes before, and
her nose twitched.  His red flannel shirt made Poe wonder whether the man had an axe
behind his back.

“How can I help you, mister?” Poe asked as he finally reached her.  Her neck ached
already from looking up at the man.

“All this karate bullshit and stories about you kicking vampire ass and humans bigger
than you makes me real angry.  Well here I am.  Do your worse so I can show what a
fraud you are.  You’re nothing but Sainvire’s bitch.”

Poe’s nostrils flared. 
Fuck me sideways
, she thought, trying to curb her filth mouth at least out loud.  The big dummy disparaged
her in front of her class, and she had no choice but to fight.  “You’re a dick, and
I’m gonna kick your head in.  I’m nobody’s stooge, and truth be told, I don’t even
want to get embroiled in Downtown politics.”

A dirty fighter, Poe rained a volley of punches into Bunyan’s kidneys until the old
calluses on her fists began boiling.  She kicked him in the groin three times.  Not
a sound escaped from his lips.  Her eyes traveled to his and discovered his serene
countenance.  The man was a halfdead who hadn’t quite turned into a vampire but arrived
at some vampiric powers.

“You’re a halfdead!” Poe cried.  “Foul.”

“Go on.  Beat me up.  I won’t touch you.  I want to show these folks here that you’re
no superhero.”

Poe sighed and began slugging the man as viciously as she could, even punching him
in the neck and kicking him without reservation on his sides.  The halfdead clutched
at his throat but didn’t alter his quiet stance. 

“You tired yet, girl?  Can you see she’s only a puny human?  She’s a propaganda piece
doctored by Sainvire.  See how weak Julia Poe is,” he said in a deep voice.  That
was when she noticed a tiny white cross on the man’s sleeve.  He was a Tunic.

The audience cringed and yelled at Poe to give up before the halfdead unleashed his
punishment.  The reaction angered Poe even more.

“With Jeet Kune Do, you can do anything.  Even the dirtiest tricks,” shouted Poe and
jumped on the halfdead’s back.  An arm wrapped around the man’s neck as if to choke,
and the giant man laughed.

“What?  You’re gonna choke me to death?  You want a piggy ride, vampire killer?”

“Actually,” said Poe breathing heavily.  “I’m interested in your nose.  With her index
finger and middle finger, she invaded his nostrils and yanked back until the flesh
ripped up to his eyelids.  The big man finally cried out and shook Poe from his back. 
The girl broke her fall by rolling on the grass.  Part of his face was still in her
hand.  She tossed it to the crowd who stepped back as if the bubonic plague exploded
from a rotten rodent.

The halfdead was on his knees and covering his face with his hand.  He could feel
the shell of his nose, and he cursed like an Alaskan fisherman.  He stood up and lunged
at her but she slipped through his legs.  She kicked the back of his knees until the
man fell on the grass.  Poe approached him and said out loud.  “Whatever you need
to survive, do it,” she lectured as if still in teaching mode.  Without batting an
eyelash, Poe brought her Converse to the back of Bunyan’s head over and over again
until his neck cracked and his head exploded.

“Class dismissed,” Poe said, facing the shocked students.  She bent down and slid
knives on her wrists in case there were more of them. 

“What the—” said an instructor named John Kang.  “Look out, Poe!”

Three flying vampires wearing ski masks descended on the lawn.  From what she could
tell, two men and a woman came to disrupt her already scattershot class.

“Class is not quite over.  Go home, Julia Poe, or we’ll kill you.  You are weakening
Downtown,” the woman with a grim voice said.

Déjà vu
, thought Poe.  Only this time the vamps were carrying pistols aimed at her.  “If
you’re going to kill me then you could at least show your face, lady,” Poe said harshly. 

“I would but we’re instructed not to,” answered the woman wearing faded blue jeans.

Poe flicked her eyes on her guns and the machete.  The visitors were five feet away,
but they seemed farther because of their agile flying.  She had two knives at her
disposal, and she was hoping to down two of them long enough to retrieve her other
weapons.  “Well I’m not leaving.  I still have three more weeks, so why don’t you
start killing me already?”

“Sure.  My pleasure.”

Percy’s heavy breathing behind her snapped Poe out of her own anger.  “Hold up.  There’s
a kid behind me.”  Poe turned to look at Percy.  “Go sit by John Kang.  I don’t want
you getting hurt.”  The crowd stayed to watch.  “Okay, go,” said Poe.

The three vampires looked at each other holding their guns, apparently not used to
fighting anyone.  Poe didn’t wait for them to make up their minds.  She unsheathed
the knife at her left and let it fly to the woman’s heart.  The vampire quietly tumbled
to the ground clutching her chest.  Poe hurled her other wrist knife at the taller
of the two male vampires.  She grunted when the knife hit the man’s throat.  She quickly
rolled on the ground and picked up her machete.  The last vampire fired four shots
at Poe but missed emphatically as she zig zagged and kept low.  As the vampire launched
into the sky, Poe sprung and took hold of the creature’s leg. 

“Not so fast, assbrick!”  The vampire was no Sainvire.  He couldn’t carry passengers
or fight.  She lifted her machete and began hacking away at the man’s hip.  He screamed
at the burning pain the garlic oil brought on.  Poe’s feet touched grass as the vampire
sank lower to the ground.  Once he was down Poe kicked his leg from under him and
pushed his chest to the ground.  Forgetting her audience, Poe brought her malformed
weapon down on the vampire’s neck.  Sounds of quick inhalation and disgust filled
the air. 

Poe quickly leapt to the other vamp she’d hurt with a knife to the throat.  She straddled
him as she removed his hood and extracted the knife just below his Adam’s apple. 
“Percy, get their masks off will you?”  The vampire underneath her legs was coughing
violently.

“Any of you recognize these vamps?” asked Poe.

The bolder humans crept closer to the bodies and shook their heads.  Even Percy shook
her head.  “I’ve never seen them before.”

“You think they’re Tunics?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe.”

Within minutes, Michelle’s red Hummer followed by Jeep Wranglers thundered down the
street.  They skidded to a stop in front of the crowded park, nearly extinguishing
a shaken woman.  Sainvire’s spy must’ve run for help. 

She asked Michelle the same question.  “They’re dressed like nerds, and they’re cadaverous. 
They’re probably Tunics.  I’ll bring throat boy over to City Hall and maybe interrogate
him somehow.  Make him write out his statement.”  She smirked at her humor.  “By the
way, five leeches were arrested along with Syrus about an hour ago.  He’s the Flesh
Tailor among his many names, according to the Tunics.  He liked to stitch cattle together
and burn them with chemicals.  Hope they all get what they deserve.”

Poe glowered at her friend.  “You’re head of security.  How can you say that about
your prisoner?”

“Hey, they’re leeches.  Leeches rape, remember?  Half the kids at the nursery are
their spawn.  They friggin’ raped me, too,” Michelle said matter-of-factly.  “I disagree
with Sainvire on this matter.  I think they all ought to be executed instead of feeding
them good quality food the rest of their days.”

Poe gritted her teeth.  “You have anything to do with them getting taken?”

Michelle looked at Poe with disgust.  “I’m security.  I’m no turncoat for nobody. 
If I’d seen the culprits, I would’ve capped their asses.  You’re my friend, so I’m
going to pretend I didn’t hear accusation in your voice.”

The muscular young woman motioned for the bodies to be lifted onto a Jeep and boarded
her own Hummer. 

Poe realized she was shaking.

***

“Get back into position,” ordered Poe.  She wouldn’t take no for an answer.  “We’re
going to have our lesson today or bust.”  Slowly the humans formed lines.  Poe turned
to John Kang, the leader of the Judo Club.  “I’m gonna take off.  Can you teach this
class today?”

“Sure.  No problem, Poe.”

“Everyone.  John Kang and the Judo Club will run through grappling techniques.  I
got somewhere to go, but I want you all to pay attention.  Strengthen your body. 
These folks,” Poe nodded at John Kang, “are great teachers.  If you stick with them,
you’ll get your strength and confidence back.”