Jonathon knew it was time for Conrad to go. He had to arrange for the trip. The easiest way for night-folk to move from point to point over land is to sublimate, but Conrad is too new and he cannot do that. Plus it's not like he's traveling for pleasure. 'Papa' could do it. He could transport him. That one could send his molecules anywhere, or at least anywhere within the orbit of Jupiter. They know he can go that far from his visits to the creatures under the ice of Europa. But Jonathon felt sorry for the drab, young vampire. Look, he forgot his vows every once in a while too. Not now so much, though in earlier times he did... the years in Restoration London and all... when he was in Old Muscovy... Byzantium. They all do... Slaughter not the innocent.... Conrad did that. He did it four times. He killed simple, decent people and left their families to mourn. He had to learn. Still, maybe The Vampire Revels isn't the place. They'd make a big show out of it. They'd torture him. Some of those bastards are the biggest hypocrites on Earth. He'd cry. He'd plead. Silver City Jack was the leader up there. Jonathon didn't know too much about him. started out as a prospector. Went out west with The FortyNiners . Bounced around when the gold ran out. Did time in Nevada.. a few other places. I don't know how he got up to British Columbia. Most train lines went from east to west, especially in the early days. They just wanted to get folks out there. Once they were out there, who cared? Maybe he went vampire with some native tribe and migrated up? Jonathon spent time with the Indians, but he was already a vampire for centuries when that happened. They called him 'the windego.' 'Papa' occupied his chair in the den. You know how Abraham Lincoln sits in The Lincoln Memorial? Like that... a big club chair. He rarely moves. He rarely does anything. Just sat there staring at late night reruns of Press Your Luck. That's why we all say - No whammies No whammies no whammies... It gets in your head. you know? Jonathon got up from the kitchen island and went into the den. He stood in front of 'Papa's' chair. In a still, small voice he said - You know our problem. You know everything. But you sit there. You just sit there... and you sit. Once in a while you rise, of course when no one's looking... then you slip back in and sit. What do you do when you go out? Do you kill? Edith says you kill. She says you feed. She's a mortal and she knows. Look, do you want to know the truth? We know too, Sarah and I, but we don't like to think about it. My God, the world's beginning to change. Children are speaking in tongues. That's a sign. That means something. And I want it to be so....... 'Papa' just sits there... Jonathon just stands there. Then he says - Help us. Help me make it mean something. I don't want us all to fly off into chaos. Not now. Not this time. Can't you do something? Can't you scare him? That's all he needs. My God, Annie should never have turned him. Look what we go through because of her. 'Papa' blinked... with that he blinked. You see, Annie was his 'mistake,' Jonathon's evil, little 'half sister,' if you will... And with that blink, the universe missed a beat. Jonathon jumped back. One never knows what a twenty eight thousand year old, part time Cro-Magnon shaman, in a thirty two or thirty three year old body will do..... But two heartbeats later the former shaman rose to his feet, gently pushed Jonathon aside, left the room, crossed the black and white, marble tiled hall (dimly and tastefully lit for the evening) and climbed the stairs. Jonathon quickly fell in behind him. Dawn was still more than two hours away. He wasn't going up to retire. He was going up to Conrad's room... and Jonathon went up with him. Annie heard the footsteps and peeked out her door. They never knew if she was home, or out, or where she was. They were all used to that, but she was in the house and she loved Conrad in her own twisted way, so she ran up after them, as they ascended to the third floor. Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Where are you going? What are you gonna do?!... She knew all about Conrads ' 'transgression' and she was afraid. But no one answered her and Jonathon grabbed her shoulders and held her back, as 'Papa' walked through the door and entered the room All was quiet.... and then Conrad whimpered... <more next time> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ click MARBLE ... to see all episodes of Vampire Wonderland ... click TILES ... to join me on Twitter... please comment. please, if you visit my Twitter site, kindly read all of my pinned tweet (it's the first one at the top) and retweet it if you like it. basically it's an idea for a Downton Abbey-like series detailing the lives of an upperclass, landed, African-Creole family from their two hundred year old manor house in Jamaica.... the Dabney's of Bon Aire.... There's going to be an 'Old New York' Downton spin-off. Why not a West Indian one with 'Sir' So & So and his 'Lady' too? Such dynasties do exist... Make a good story... Take a look?
I want to tell you a few things. The reason I picked Billy to run this blog thing for us is because I'd already seen some of his material. This is Jonathon speaking, in case you cannot tell. Vampire's have a certain rhythm and cadence to their speech. It comes natural when we're not 'affecting' something else. We just see things our own way. That's how it is. Well, Billy had this script. He still does. It's about a family of Philadelphia night-folk a lot like us. That's what surprised me. He didn't know me back then. He didn't know any of us. I don't think he'd actually seen a real vampire either. Oh, not all the characters were like us, but some were. No, I have to go back. The strange, little, cozy, all night book shop, PHILADELPHIA AFTER DARK was around then. He was obviously familiar with that place. Sarah says she thinks she remembers him coming in a few times. He'd look around, wander through the tight, maze-like aisles. Usually bought a paperback. Maybe he picked up on something? I used to go in there too. Energy smears out into the ether when we pass by... not just night-folk... mortal folk... everybody. He sent it to a production company in Los Angeles... Sent it to a lot of production companies, talent and literary agencies too. One of those production companies had a gentleman with family in Philadelphia. He used to come back for a lot of holidays. I got to know him from a dark, little, club-like bar-restaurant on Sixteenth Street, The Happy Rooster they called it. He'd have a big bowl of gourmet chili at the bar. I'd drink my chilled vodka. We talked. One night he had this manuscript. He looked at it, was flipping the pages... went back... looked some more. I asked him what it was. He said it was a script all about modern day vampires in Philadelphia... I wanted to know if it was any good. Can you imagine? It was surreal. He had no idea I was a vampire. Sometimes movie people, behind the scenes types, are the most unobservant people you'd ever want to meet. Everything's all mapped out. They know who they want to know. They think what they always think. I hate when they're interviewed and talk about how they love the thrill of discovering a unique, new talent. What they don't tell you, is more often than not, that new talent is somebody's son, or niece, or bed partner. No, no, no, they do not tell you that. But it's a small industry and how many 'new, unique talents' do they need? Oh, outsiders can apply, but you know the rest.... He was lost in the thing, the script, I mean, so I asked him again. Without even looking up, he said - Oh, I guess there's a certain amount of ability and talent here, but 'talent' they all got, or at least some of them. Cousins they don't..... As you know, vampires see a lot, though Hollywood was new to me. I asked him to explain. He scraped up the last of the chili (the place was famous for it) spooned it into his mouth, swallowed and said - I got a guy across the street... not here... in L.A.. His kid went to camp with my kid. Went to U.S.C. film school with him, everything. I see them all over town. Guy runs a hedge fund, a good one. One I want in on. You know, they don't just take anybody. A lot of old Academy members are in it. In West L.A. that's like high society. And his kid has a script too, vampires, magic, everything. Just like this one. So I got to ask myself... what could I get out of this one and what could I get out of that one? You know how it is? You do favors for people who can do you even bigger favors back. And this is by a kid in Philadelphia too...It's a shame... Three months later, Billy got his script back in a big manila envelope with a form letter that guaranteed it was completely unexamined for lack of proper industry recommendations. Basically, in Hollywood, that means 'who's your daddy?' ... Or maybe who does your daddy know? Funny thing is every other agency, or production company sent it back the same way... some with letters from the legal department saying - Do not contact us. If we hear of interesting parties, WE contact them. They do NOT contact us. Sad thing is, it's a good script. I've read it twice. I've tried to help, but who do I know in California? Know a few night-folk in London, but they're not film industry types. A few acquaintances from THE HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN house on Hoxton Street might know a bit. Film folk often show up at strange places like that, the 'mystery' and all. Upright vampires, that's what PHILADELPHIA AFTER DARK is about. I cry when I read the final scene. It's that kind of play, or screenplay, I mean. Always imagine the score from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD when I read it. Maybe we'll post a few scenes here? Before I stop, pleased know that Conrad is going to this year's Vampire Revels and it won't be easy for him. How many things in Vampire Wonderland ever are? Please listen to the music up above. I, Jonathon ben Macabi, or Tomas de Macabea, hope you like it. <more next time> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ click SCREENPLAY ... to see all episodes of Vampire Wonderland... click OSCARS ... to join me on Twitter... please post a comment. thank you.
He doesn't care anymore. It's like he's riding a wave. Wherever it breaks, it breaks. This is the moment. Vampires get like that. In Byzantine times there was Stavros of Cyprus. They drowned him in molten lead. When the Black Death came through, Joachim of York tried it. Some say the British royal family still has him imprisoned in a lead-lined cell deep beneath a castle in Scotland. Look, I didn't refer to 'lead' twice due to lack of imagination. Lead is vampire krypton. This isn't fiction, you know. We pretend it is, because we have to. Some of you know that. Some of you, especially among the Philadelphia people, have SEEN vampires out on the street. We tell you where. Our locales are real. They've seen what you post on line, the photographs and all. Once two girls showed up at the townhouse. How they got up on the roof, I can't tell you. Maybe they parachuted down? God knows. When Jonathon sublimated up through the house, they almost died. When he hugged them to stifle their cries, they swooned. Edith helped him get them inside through the skylight and after some wine and a keep sake, he kissed them. They giggled and left. At first they asked for autographed pictures. He told them his manager was Scooter Braun and they'd have to contact him, sine the residence was, due to written agreement, a no photo zone. The taller one said she would, because she already knew his link from Justin Bieber's tweets. The little one asked him if my site (it's me, Billy) was really his. He told her it wasn't, which actually is the truth. I was sitting right there, in the kitchen, with them, but they didn't know it was me. Had the black baseball cap on and everything. Think they thought I was a whacky neighbor, or something. Do vampires have whacky neighbors? I don't know. But I do know Jonathon made a phone call. Sometimes he uses store-bought throwaways. This call was on one of those. I think it was to Canada. He mentioned Whistler. I heard him say it. That's a ski resort in The Canadian Rockies. Must have something to do with The Vampire Revels. Told whoever it was about Conrad. Apparently they weren't surprised. I don't even want to think about his punishment. He'll cry. He'll sniffle. He'll tremble. But he killed four innocent people. Vampires, at least the ones we know, don't do that. Then Jonathon prepared to leave the house. Sarah asked if he wanted her to go with him. He told her he didn't. When he was ready, when his 'Jonathon vampire suit,' as we call it, was just so... the black, leather bootkins, black jeans, white shirt, black sweater, black scarf, gloves, knit cap, trim quilted, leather coat (did I mention that it's black?), he put a few tiny, sealed, glass vials (formerly used for perfume samples) in his coat pocket and left. The air was frigid, Polar Vortex and all that. No wind. No people. Just cold. Taxis seemed frozen in place. A few coffee shops and bars were open. Hardly anybody walking around. February in the city. A few blocks down he passed two sullen whores in tiny skirts and short, rabbit jackets. How do they do that? - he thought... Not the sex part, but the outfits. Had to be freezing. That was skin between the jackets and those skirts. Yeah, they had scarves and gloves, but still. Pimp dressed them both alike. Probably dressed all of them alike. That way cops could spot them. Know who they belonged to. Know who's been paying and who's not paying. A lot of pimps do that. You know how racing stables have 'silks?' You know how they have 'colors?'... Pimps too. And God help the girl who tries to imitate somebody else's colors. She gone be partly dead, if she's lucky, or all-the-way dead if she's not. Secret dead, too. No one knows who she was. No one knows where she went. That is just how it is. They whispered and giggled as he went by. Then one said - Hey, you. You want a date?..... Jonathon smiled to himself. He knew it'd go down like that. He backtracked and said - With you?.... She went - Yeah, with me... Then she struck a pose..... Jonathon leaned in close and whispered - You're sick. You have a disease. I know. I can tell. I can smell it. I'm a vampire..... She went - F*ck you, you crazy bastid..... He just stood there. Didn't move. Kept his ground. Vampires blink, but they can stop blinking when they want to.... Sick girl flinched a little, but she kept her ground too. Went 'F*ck you,' again, but this time you could barely hear it... Jonathon smiled, just enough to let her see his fangs.... The other one came in close. She saw them too. The first one whispered - Are they real? Can I touch them?..... He nodded. She took off a glove, raised her hand and explored, just inside his lips. Then she gulped and said - Not dental work? Not caps?.... Jonathon shook his head.... Nobody moved. The first one whispered - What are you gonna do? Are you gonna kill us? You don't scare me. I'm sick anyway..... I know - whispered the vampire. That's why I stopped..... The girl moaned and cried a little. Her friend moved away. All was quiet, save for little clicks when the traffic light changed.... Jonathon said - I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to save you.... He took a vial out of his pocket and held it up to catch the light from the streetlamp.... She whispered - What's that?..... Your future - said the vampire.... He held it out. She took it.... He whispered - Open it. Drink it.... The other one said - How do we know it ain't poison?..... Jonathon went - I'm a vampire, a ten centuries old vampire. Why in the name of Barnabas Collins (figured they'd know that) do you think I'd bother with poison?.... The second one shrugged.... Jonathon turned toward the sick one and said - Take it. Open it. Drink it.... She hesitated.... He said - Just put it on your tongue. It'll sink right in. I promise.... She looked into his eyes and knew he was telling the truth. Five heartbeats later it was done. Then he slipped her two, gold Kruger Rand (South African coins worth more than $1,200 dollars each) and left. She'd live and she had enough money to clean herself up and get home. Eight blocks away he played a similar scene in a coffee shop. Gave a vial to an old cashier on borrowed time... Bad lungs...Nobody else was around. Just her, some waitress reading OK magazine and the cook in the back. But this woman knew him. Even knew his name from when he ducked in there for hot tea. She was leary at first. But he ran through the same lines as before. Showed her the fangs and everything.... Old woman goes - Jesus Christ, Jon, when the hell'd you become a friggin' vampire?..... He goes - 'Till,' trust me. Take it. You want to see that new grandbaby you got coming, don't you?.... She gives him a look. How'd he know that??..... He mouths - Take it. I'm a friend..... She does... He leaves.... But now the jig is up. She knows his name and she knows what he is... Soon other people will too. But that's all right. That's what he wanted. That's what he planned all along. Guess this really IS the 'moment.' *************************************** And don't ask me how I can write all this when I wasn't there. Well, you know how Vulcans meld minds? Vampires got tricks like that too. So don't bother me. <more next time> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ click JEKYLL ... to see all Vampire Wonderland episodes... click HYDE ... to join me on Twitter... please leave comments. thank you.
A CONTINUATION OF CONRAD'S TALE... after the violent night... He sat there trembling. Jonathon and Sarah hovered over him. No one said a word. Edith busied herself with a seek-and-find puzzle book in a corner. The lights were low... just a couple recessed, or 'high-hat,' or 'pot-light' (depending on what city you're in) shafts coming down from the ceiling. The kitchen was done when they moved into this particular townhouse. Everything was brought up to date, though save for it and the den/family room, every other space remained true to the original era of the place. Jonathon liked it that way. He liked everything to be a certain way, nothing more so than night-folk morals. Once a month... not a calendar month, a lunar month... once every four weeks they 'cull' a victim. And that victim is preordained via their 'divine' visions. No blood orgies. No gore. No cheap, diabolical excess. But Conrad broke that rule. Last night he killed four people, a poor, good natured, big-boned girl buying valentine's gifts for her father, two hardworking cleaning women and a newspaper vendor on the cold, damp street. Their spirit scents still swirled about him. Vampires hate spirit scents, for they indicate a 'noxious' kill and reverent night-folk never do that. Jonathon glared at the fidgeting 'bad boy' and said - I should destroy you. I should pick you up, sublimate high into the sky and drop you out over the sea.... three miles down to the hard, unyielding surface. Maybe I will. I'll take you out into the icy dark. It's snowing out there, sleeting too. Do you know that? You hate the cold. We all know that. Young vampires usually do. But I don't. I'll find a storm... There's always one someplace... and let you go, plummeting down toward the mountainous waves. Sailors have been known to die from the sight of them. You'll fall into a trough, cut through the surface. Judging from your weight, you might go down eighty, or ninety feet... encased in water cold as death. You'll gasp and breathe in, inflating your lungs with frigid, salt water brine. They might burst. Who knows? Vampires don't need lungs, well, except maybe to push air over our vocal chords. Takes a long time to get back to the surface. You won't drown, but you'll feel like it. And you'll tremble much worse than you are now, since your human memories are still so fresh..... Wait a minute... Wait a minute... Wait a minute... I forgot something. The integrity of your body might rupture, due to the force of the fall. Three miles is a long way to tumble, especially in the dark. Abdomen explodes. Neck snaps. BOOM... No more vampire... No more Conrad.... The miscreant goes --- I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I couldn't help it. It was the first time! The first time! Oh, God! Oh, God! I wish I was dead! Jonathon says - Really? Conrad sniffs and goes --- Stop it! Stop it! I don't know! I don't know! Leave me alone! .... Then he cries.... Sarah puts her hands on his shoulders and says - The girl in the department store was an innocent soul. It was only she and her father. Oh, there were a few acquaintances and work friends, but as far as family, just them. One of the cleaning woman helped her daughter care for a handicapped child and the other one lived all alone. Do you want me to tell you about the man? You know I'm telling the truth? We have 'familiars' everywhere. We know. Should I go on? No! No! No! - said Conrad. Jonathon, can we give them money? They families, I mean. I don't have money, but you do? Please! I'll make it up to you. Please! Jonathon said - Well, if I do that, we can give something to the girl's father. We can give some to the surviving daughter with the sick child. But the other two were all alone. Conrad sobs... Jonathon quietly ads - Now do you know why we take those vows? Now do you know why we're not animals? Conrad dabs his eyes and nods.... He says - I want to make up for it. I want to do something..... Then he just sits there and sniffs. Jonathon thinks, then says - I think you will do something. There's someone I want you to meet... W-who? - says Conrad. You'll find out. You're going to The Vampire Revels - says Jonathon. A-are you all going? - asks Conrad. I don't know yet - says Jonathon. But you are.... Conrad just nods and cries some more. Edith, her head buried in that puzzle book, mumbles - Not with them plaid shirts and khaki pants he ain't. Jonathon says - I will channel funds to the survivors and you will make amends. Don't worry about that. Right now you think you're sorry for what you've done. But you're not. You're ashamed and maybe guilty, but you're not sorry.... Yes, I am - whispers Conrad. No, you're not - says Jonathon. But you will be... <more next time> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ click COFFEE ... to see all episodes of Vampire Wonderland... click TEA ... to join me on Twitter... please leave comments. thank you.
First of all, we could not post on Friday or Saturday due to web difficulties. Conrad's tale will continue. But tonight we're gonna answer a few questions. People know how much we enjoy Downton Abbey. Many bemoan the fact that it ends in a month.... But does it?..... Not here anyway. We're going to add an ongoing story arc entitled LETTERS FROM DOWNTON ABBEY... just like up above. Sure, it's unauthorized, but that doesn't mean it's not authentic and organic to the whole. Maybe it will spin off into an entirely new blog? Anybody know how to give it a ROARING TWENTIES look? . The music clip really is from the London of that era... a place where Prohibition never took hold (although there were some pushing for it) and the JAZZ AGE really took off.
So the House of Crawley never dies and we don't have to wait for any planned movies, or THE GILDED AGE, an American television out growth. We'll keep faith with the family from Yorkshire right here.
Sure, we have to wait for the televised shows to end before we begin. But we're considering a lot of trajectories. Here's a few -----
Lord Grantham, the earl, develops a gambling addiction after introduction to posh, London private casinos and secretly sells a valuable family heirloom painting to cover his debts. But he quickly commissions a copy to take its place.... though the 'fever' continues to fester.
Cousin Rose and new husband, Atticus, return from NYC and summers in The Hamptons, to take their places in London's 'Smart Set,'.... write ups in The Tattler and all. The stylish, young 'modern' woman quickly scores her own weekday morning 'wireless' program ---- Breakfast With Lady Rose, where she interviews well known entertainment/media types and expounds upon music, style and film over endless pots of Earl Grey and crisp, fresh slices of English 'toasting' bread.
Not to be outdone, Edith (the middle Crawley daughter. not our vampires' Edith) with help from her Grandmother Levinsohn, publishes an American edition of her London glossy from digs in The Chrysler Building peppered with countless strolls down 'Peacock Alley' and semi-working lunches at The Algonquin's Round Table.
Meanwhile Lady Cora sneaks into 'the City' with Cousin Isobel for a 'go see' at society plastic surgeon's office. Then, over lunch at Claridge's after, she spots Rose's father in law, Lord Sindovey, exiting a boite across the way with a bright, young thing and a guilty look on his face...
Assistant cook, Daisy, and the father of her dead (and if only for an instant) husband create an extremely toothsome variety of English bacon in demand all over The North Country and the pounds (sterling) come rolling in.
Lady Mary sees her tragically dead matinee idol of a husband's ghost while tramping the moors one misty afternoon.. He gives her permission to remarry, thus we 're treated to a teary eyed second Mary-Wedding, as she unites with her suitable special someone.
The Dowager takes a turn for the worse after Isobel FINALLY marries the baron. She feels deserted and alone. Most other older women of her acquaintance are hooked up with somebody. She almost dies... angina and all, but one sunny day, while taking the air on the hospital's terrace, they wheel an attractive older gentleman right next to her. At first they barely acknowledge each other, till a butterfly lands on her hand and makes her smile. He notices and smiles too. Even eighty year olds can meet cute.
But the 'Big Slump' (British term for the Great Depression) draws near and great landed estates crumble all around.
And we haven't even gotten to Tom Branson, the Bates' the Carsons, Mrs. Patmore or Mr. Mosley yet..... Not to mention the old enough to have personalities kids (George, Sibby and Marigold)...
Loyal fans take heart.... Downton never ends...
Crawley is forever.....
<more next time>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
click SCONES ... to see all Vampire Wonderland episodes... click CLOTTED CREAM ... to join me on Twitter. please comment. thank you.
Eternity's an awful long time and a little bit of naughtiness can hide among all that forever. At least that's what Conrad thought. He should never have been made a vampire. Little Bastid Annie did it. She wanted a 'baby.' So now we have this forty year old 'baby' that cries over movies, goes through pleated, khaki slacks like it's nobody's business and fights with the baristas at Starbucks if they mess up his gourmet iced tea order. Vampires can tolerate clear, or mostly clear liquids. Jonathon tells him he can't kill the baristas, because Starbucks is a huge powerful thing and they got their own version of 'familiars' too, plus he doesn't want any problems. But Jonathon is in a semi-catatonic state right now, not as deep as 'Papa's.' He does get up from time to time to slowly fix himself up and silently walk around the city. Edith will yell - Conrad wants to go out. You gonna let him?.... But he doesn't answer and Conrad goes out. Sarah tries to stop him, but he goes anyway. They fight. He yells and pouts... a big, mess in khaki pants. And who knows where Annie is? She wanders in and out of here whenever she wants. Sarah says she's got her own 'familiars,' some lawyer woman on Locust Street and a guy who owns a chain of discount sneaker outlets in Jersey. She brings sneakers for Billy and real cushy walking shoes for Edith. Sometimes she brings a pair for Sarah too, but Sarah says - Don't bother. I'll get my own. Most vampirinas and vampirinos are extremely vain. You know that.
So Conrad goes out... and he kills people. Did you ever see the new tv show that just went on, the one where the girl from Ugly Betty works in a place like Walmart and her boss is this whiny guy who used to be on KIDS IN THE HALL, some SNL-like comedy show from Toronto? Well, Conrad's like her boss. People on the street think - Oh, look, here comes a nice, smiling, slightly overweight, nerdy, white guy. Let's be friends and talk to him..... Behind that FORTY YEAR OLD VIRGIN -looking smile, he still has 'vampire eyes' and even if he did have to go for remedial training, he does know how to use them.
So he walks around a big department store, the one with the ten foot tall bronze eagle statue in the atrium where everybody meets their shopping partners for lunch and all. He pretends to browse around the Middle Aged And Old Guys With No Fashion Sense Department. That's where he gets his pleated pants and plaid, button down collar shirts. He's got a whole lot of pleated pants and button down shirts. Edith says she's gonna give them to The Salvation Army. Once she called some different charity. Said she had a whole mess of pleated khaki pants and plaid shirts. Lady said - Oh, don't you have anything a little bit snazzier?.... (long pause) Edith goes - Uh, no. That's all I got... (another long pause) Lady goes - Uh, yeah, well thanks. I'll get back to you.
And now the fan of all those outfits is moving toward a good natured looking, big boned girl picking out valentine's gifts for her father...... Conrad goes - Excuse me, do you think this shirt would go with a light brown sweater?... The girl comes over to see. He moves toward some merchandise positioned near the door to a little-used stock room. He's sure it's little-used. Conrad knows the territory. He asks the girl about belts. By now they're 'friends,' right? She goes over, laughs and begins to hook up outfits. Two heartbeats later, he grabs her, opens the stock room door, throws her in and bolts it. She screams. It's dark. He punches her. She stops. Then he drags her unconscious body behind cartons of hangers and the whole life-eater dance begins. She comes too a little bit...moans... says- please.. please.. please.... Only thing is, Conrad's in the zone and to him she's just meat on a plate. Pleated pants and plaid shirts don't matter. When vampires feed, they're animals. He drains out every drop and waits for the body to ignite . Then he leans against the wall and watches the 'cold' blue flames. Odd that nothing else burns, but that's how it is. No soot stain on the ceiling, just grease on the floor.
He straightens his clothes and is about to leave. No blood on him. Vampires don't waste anything. But then the door opens. He scrunches up against the floor. Two old cleaning women come in. They can't see Conrad behind all those cartons and sit down on a little bench.....
One says - I hope that son of a bitch, Lepkey, drops dead. Other says - Me too and that 'baby' boss, John, can go with him. One says - I can't take it anymore. Other says - Me either. One says - Life stinks. It's all just a bunch of crap. You're born. You live. You get old. You die... and that's it. Other says - Who knows? Them reincarnation bastards say it's not. One says - Yeah, well, if them reincarnation bastards are right, you know what happens? Other says - What? One says - You're born again. You live again. You get old again and you die again. Other goes - What stinks in here?..... She gets up and goes behind the cartons to look.... The first one hears something.... a thud?.... a groan? She goes to investigate and sees a disheveled, nerdy looking guy, on the floor, gulping down all the blood pumping out of her friend's jugular. But before she can scream he grabs her too. Breaks her neck and leaves her lying there twitching, wide eyed and slack jawed, like a fish.... He finished her off a few heartbeats later.....
Then he used their cleaning equipment to mop up the floor. After that, he changed into a new plaid, button down shirt from a not yet opened carton and left.
Killed a guy sellin' papers on the street a little later.
Somebody needs an intervention...
<more next time>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
click SHIRTS ... to see all episodes of Vampire Wonderland... click PANTS ... to join me on Twitter... please comment. thank you.
He knows now. He read the note. 'Eternity is real'.... That's what it said... three words, inscribed on a small, rolled piece of vellum. And he just sits there. 'Papa' holds down one chair, Jonathon holds down the other. Edith goes over to check him. She brings him iced vodka. He likes that. But the glass stays there for hours. She lights aroma candles. He likes green apple. You know that. He gets mad if she forgets to buy them.
Eternity means a lot to night-folk. You've heard us say the term - Not the Shepherd, but the sheepdog?...That's what we are, the reverent ones, or the noble ones, or whatever you want to call us. If humanity goes on forever, some of us will be right here with them. We're not different from humans. We're part of them, like varied castes in a bee hive. We cull the wicked... at least believers do and Jonathon is a believer.
He'd never destroy himself. He'd never just sublimate up into space and float away on the solar wind. Some do that. They reach a point and just 'disappear.' Is that a sin?... I don't know. You know what I think? We were brought into being for a reason, sort of like earthbound angels. We have a job. We have a purpose and as long as we stay true, we do it. Renegades exist. We've talked about them here... Lorenzo and Kadeema... You know. But we try not to be Lorenzos and Kadeemas. Nobody tries harder than he does.
Doctor Franklin comes by. He sits there and talks to him. Edith brings him breaded veal cutlets, mashed potatoes and lima beans. Sometimes Edith makes Harvard beets. He likes beets. When I remember, I buy them, or she buys them, or Billy buys them. But who remembers beets? I've only been 'burdened' for maybe five years and even during my mortal days I never thought about them. I can smell mortal food... taste a little bit every now and then. Always bring it up later. Mashed potatoes and gravy still gets to me, even if the toilet gets it ten minutes later.
Mister Old Bones is even more ancient than the one they call 'The Lady Renate.' She's at least 'modern,' or 'Cro Magnon,' or whatever the term is. He's been a vampire since Neanderthal times. No one knows how long. Until we found him... well, until Grigori Usipov found him in Siberia (he's that Russian, oligarch vampire we 'work with' from time to time) no one knew there were Neanderthal vampires. Now we do. Think about it, surviving in the deep, cold forests since 'forever.' There's only a few bands. They feed on wandering reindeer herders. How many 'evil' reindeer herders can there be? Usipov says they live like the elferinos and the elferinas... small, regular drinks. No one dies, but they never get a full draught. He says they sit 'round fires in deep, deep caves, chanting prayers and telling old Neanderthal creation tales. They talk to the animals, the nocturnal ones, and the stars and planets too. Usipov thinks they talk to 'beings' on those worlds... the ones around our sun and the ones around all the other suns. Maybe they have a limit? Maybe their thoughts only travel out so far?
Eternity is real....That's what the note said. Red Paints know almost everything and they didn't say it. That little girl said it. Even she didn't know what it meant.
But others like her have been turning up all over....
Wonder how the messages all fit together?
You see, Jonathon believes and all, but I don't think he always thought about 'forever.' Now he does. We all do. No more diffusing off into the ether when all this gets to be too much. We're here, locked in the flesh, till human flesh is no more...
God knows how long that will be....
<more next time>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
click FOREVER ... so see all episodes of Vampire Wonderland... click ETERNITY ... to join me on Twitter... please leave comments, or maybe retweet my pinned tweet on Twitter? thank you.
Posts
