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The next morning Edith, the housekeeper, found a dead body laying out on the sidewalk, right by the front steps. Though resting on its stomach, the head stared up at the sky and the neck didn't seem at all twisted. The man looked made that way. The police were already out there... no yellow tape... no chalk outline... just a few whispers, a body bag and an unmarked car. These cops belonged to a special unit, the paranormal unit... and they did their job very well. Within a few minutes the body was gone, safe in the trunk of a navy blue sedan. His black, nineteenth century suit turned out to be the real deal. The nosy, young couple across the street didn't notice a thing. That's how it was. In an old city, like Philadelphia, the constabulary had to be prepared for anything and ordinary officers never knew a thing
Later, when the vampires awoke during the last, purple twinge of dusk, Doctor Franklin was there waiting for them. He put down his fork (Edith put out a good feed), wiped his mouth and said - Good morning, my friends. I see you've been challenged?.... Jonathon and the others already knew. They had an 'intercom' system, to use an old term. Edith already told them...... A 'snappy Jack, the backward looking man, it means 'watch yourself.' I know - said Jonathon. I expected it..... Edith handed him a chilled lemon-water and he sat down. Sarah had a green tea. Little Annie had weak iced coffee in a Flintstones jelly glass. Conrad, always the weird one, whined - No, I don't want it! when offered his cup. Vampires are a very individualistic breed.
Although he tried to hide it, Jonathon was very concerned. Pig Blood Annie was a canker sore on the paranormal world. They all knew that. She killed babies. She burned churches (all types). She threw hula dancers off the decks of cruise ships and whistled for the sharks. Born-witches, especially bad ones, can be quite spontaneous and unimaginably evil. Ebenezer of Rock Meadow once turned thirty one hundred homesteaders into mice, which the owls tore apart for dinner. A trapper passing through said he heard the tiny screams.
Franklin said - What do you think she'll do next, boy?.... Jonathon just shrugged.... Conrad said - Oh, who are we kidding? Anything she wants. She'll do anything she wants. Oh, my God! Didn't you ever see the movie, Freaks? [ Google -Todd Browning's Freaks... you won't sleep] You wanna end up like that? Well, do you?! ..... Little Annie said - I LOVE that movie!.... Edith mumbled - You would... Little Annie hissed at her. Edith flashed a hex sign to shut her up. She ain't no born-witch, but just plain witchy-women can do plenty.
Then they heard someone, or something, jiggling the skylight two stories up. The frantic sound echoed down the stairwell. The lights flickered and went out. Little Annie whispered - Eww, what's that shitty smell?..... Conrad moaned - Oh, God. I'm gonna be rooster-boy...
Doctor Franklin whipped an ornate, baroque tuning fork out of his sweatpants pocket ( you know how he always wears Kelly green, Eagles sweat suits?), held it above his head and brought it down against the granite breakfast bar, bathing all in a weak, green electric hum. He yelled - Quick, everyone, form a chain. Hold hands!.... They did. A heartbeat later, just as their (mostly Jonathon's, actually) sworn enemy, the virago, born-witch, crashed through the skylight and stomped down the stairs, they snaked through the ether, passing through walls, buses and automobiles, as they streaked toward the medieval castle-close forming the open-air heart of City Hall, skimming just above street level and invisible to all manner of creatures.
Then they stopped, hovering over the large, inlaid, bronze, compass rose marking the one-time heart of Center City Philadelphia. Few pedestrians passed through after dark. They had the eerily, authentic dimly lit, gray, shadowy space to themselves.
Doctor Franklin said - Form a circle... Conrad grabbed hold.... Doctor Franklin yelled - No, not me, Conrad! Let go! I have to do something!..... Then he broke away. Jonathon linked up with nerdy vampire. The doctor stepped down onto the smooth, stone and bronze paving, moved to the 'sweet spot' at the center, kneeled down ('harmonics' preserved him very well) and rapped his tuning fork on the bronze bulls eye... A strange chord, inaudible to others, filled the ears of his companions, as he screamed - Now! Now! Reach toward the heavens! Reach!... The circle began to rotate, like a carousel going ever faster, till the unusual assortment of vampires and their Jersey Pines, witchy-woman housekeeper dissolved into a translucent green globe, that crackled a bit before it almost instantaneously winked out of sight.
After a few harrowing, inter-dimensional
seconds, they stepped down onto the streets of 'Baby Philadelphia.' Doctor Franklin, dressed in sumptuous eighteenth century attire and reclining on the seat of a fine, lacquered brougham, was already there to greet them. They climbed in. The coachman cracked his whip and four matched chestnuts sped them through the narrow thoroughfares of an idealized version of Old Philadelphia....
Pig Blood Annie screamed in frustration, as Billy cowered in the cellar with the ghost of the little boy who didn't quite survive his bout of polio....
<more next time>
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