TO EACH HIS OWN

Papa could get the creature. He could destroy that Johnny Jump Up thing if he wanted to. But he did not care. True, he understood what was right and what was wrong. He usually did what was right, because it was easier. That's why he reconstituted the other vampires. That's why Sarah and the little ones were cured. That's why they're not garden ornaments anymore. Doctor Franklin sent word. He wanted to speak with Papa. But he has not yet responded . You know what he's doing now? He's communing with organisms on Europa. It's a moon, a moon of Jupiter. And it has a  world-wide, ice crust covered, salt-water sea. He's there now. Well his soul is. And he's got Luna (in the spirit form) there with him. They're gliding through the Endless Ocean with the mantaray people. That's what they are. They live there. And they're almost exactly like the rays on Earth. Why shouldn't they be? Both species were shaped by the same environment. So he's drifting weightlessly through a photolumenescent realm, in the company of the Europan King and his entourage. Luna was a bit nervous. This was her first experience with royalty. And if you want me to be truthful about it, the Dowager Empress and the First Wive absolutely hated her. But since they were intrigued by the ancient Earth, blood-drinker, they put up with his new, uncouth sex partner. It's not like they had to share delicacies with her. she was, after all, only there in spirit, rather like a holigram. Good, that meant more ice worms for themselves. And she couldn't upset the courtly, royal gavottes, for the noble assemblage could pass right through her. Besides, that Earth creepy-crawly can't maintain spiritual strength forever. They'd be leaving soon.......That's what Papa did. That's how he escaped. Zebulon has seen it many times before. He cares for nothing save his own comfort and enjoyment. What? You're thinking about the other night when he gave the little ones their names? Oh, it was all quite real to him then. But (and stop me, if you've heard this before) that was then and this is now. So Jonathon was out wandering the streets . He wasn't alone. Edith went with him. They tried to sniff out the fiend. They tried to avenge the victims. Poor Aura. Poor Sylvia. Such innocent, (though not carnally) nubile girls they were. Each willing to give you the panties right off her loins. They  did not deserve that. Besides saying prayers on their behalf, Jonathon also donated a sum to an organization for the planting of 'memorial trees' in their names, in 'The Holy Land.' That wasn't difficult. A call to a 'familiar' and it was done. But now Edith started humming some Piney mantra. She felt something. She smelled it. A stench. A vile corruption eminating out of the ether. Her thousand year old Andalusian companion grabbed snatches too. But the creature was elusive, so they wandered the red brick byways and ultimately discovered nothing. Luckily no one else died. Johnny Jump Up was quiet that night. A little later, they met Sarah at Baylah's cozy, warm piano bar, where they all commiserated over pungent candles or fortifying cocktails. The music was good. Some old gent warbled his way through the combined George Gershwin/Cole Porter songbook. A few of the patrons joined in. Such a comfortablle was to end a frustrating evening. But the elves were a bit luckier, for they had been whispering through graveyards. They had been speaking with ghosts. Vampires traditionally had little truck with such entities, prefering to rely on their own enchanted capabilities. But the 'younger ones' were not so huffy. And they shared things and learned things from the often lonely dead ones.............