OV: The Original Vampire (Book #1) (22 page)

“What’s wrong with him?” Vinnie pointed at him. Bud slightly swayed besides her.

“He’s perpetually drunk, darling.”

“Where’s this calling me ‘darling’ coming from?”

“Oh, the glitz and ritz of the city, I suppose, or rather, I have no self-identity.”

“Stop being dramatic.”
Vinnie tightened his mouth.

“Oh baby, I mean, I’m sorry I made you worry.” She said, as she leaned over and kissed Bud on the cheek. He almost fell over.

“Let’s get serious. What are we going to do with him?”

“I don’t know. Isn’t the city a great place to decompose?”

“That’s funny. That’s your father you’re talking about.”

“Well then, let’s tie him to a tree and skip through the park.”

“What has gotten into you?” Vinnie’s eyebrows slanted.

Josie turned around and guided Bud to sit down by the base of a tree. “I have to go to work now. Will you watch him?”

“What?! Work?”

“Yeah, I got a little cardboard table over by the lake. I’m going to do readings for the public. We need money darling.”

“We don’t need money, we’re from the woods. What happened to nature?” He held up his hands up to indicate the trees.

“The trees can wait. Some have waited a thousand years, like a ‘Thousand Days in Sodom.’” She laughed.

“That’s so literary of you.” Vinnie looked to the city. There was a new distance between them.

“Believe me, I love the trees, you can make me a cozy tree fort anytime, but Bud needs help and I’m going.” Josie walked away while Bud sat like an invalid under the tree.

Josie grabbed the cardboard box and walked to the lake. She sat it down and grabbed her Tarot cards from her knapsack. She began to shuffle the deck. She felt the rough edges of the cards rush through her fingers.

A dirty man sat on the cement wall next to her. He stank more than Josie ever did being in the wild, but his stink was bitter and toxic, like the smell of alcohol burning away flesh. “Hey, what’s your name?” He asked.

“Josie.” She sounded unsure.

“What you
doin’?”

“Tarot.”

“Oh, that fortune telling shit, right?”

“Sort of.”

“I’ll tell you my fortune without reading one card: Shithole. That’s my fortune, lady.”

“Everybody has a story.” She shuffled.

“When I was young I walked these streets with a chip on my shoulder. These streets age you quicker than a dog. Then, I found God, but he left when I wasn’t hungry anymore.” The man laughed.

“What happened to you?” Josie looked over at him. He stood up quickly.

“What did you just say?!”

“I’m actually not a Psychic. I’m your daughter from another life.” She said ‘life’ holding her teeth on her bottom lip.

“Lady, you’re cracked.” He sat back down and took a bottle out and broke the seal. He gulped once and resumed, “These streets age you like a dog.”

Josie crossed her legs, “Like a Corgi or a German Shepard?” She asked
, as she laid her cards down gently and looked like a Librarian tilting her nose down at him.

“Have a good day.” The man got up and walked away.

Then a blue-haired woman approached. She seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. She blocked the sun. Josie looked up, “Can I help you?”

“Yes. Read me.” The woman said sternly.

“Okay.” Josie paused. A vision flashed through her mind of a fat, pale man tied to a chair with a gag in his mouth.

“You’re in the sex industry.” Josie said, as she slapped down the first card.

“Not exactly.
Try again.”

Josie slapped another card down. “Pain is your pleasure.”

“Now we’re working.” The lady said, as she took off her black leather trench coat and knelt down. Her high heels teetered on the cement, like two mini black tornadoes. “Tell me something I don’t know.” The woman challenged Josie.

Josie looked through a row of cards she laid down. “
Mmm. Still waters run deep. You’re a Cancer, actually really sensitive to your surroundings. Is that why you like hurting men?”

“Men are transitory, just like fads. A girl who drips honey is worth gold. That’s what I’m digging for.”

Josie felt her nipples harden. “Oh, so not just pain, but you delight in the female?” Josie stopped reading her cards and began, “I guess in a biblical sense I bit the apple once, but I prefer strawberries.”

“
Mmm, strawberries! I made a boy bleed with a strawberry a long time ago.” The Dominatrix opened her legs a little wider in her squatting posture. Her sex was shaved and tan, only a little dark line shaved where men and women had visited with tongues and phallic flesh. Josie couldn’t help but look. She felt a dormant part of her brain electrify with new amorous thoughts. The Dom noticed, “Do you need easing, sweetheart? I would shatter your inhibitions and set you free.”

Josie blushed, “Let’s get back to your story.”

“Lets.”

Josie closed her eyes. She saw a vision of Dom being molested by her dad. “Your father was abusive.”

Dom sighed, “It all starts with Daddy.”

Josie shuffled the deck and closed her eyes again. She saw a stream of sexual predators go through Dom’s life. They didn’t seem like men, but demons with red eyes.
It startled Josie. She opened her eyes. The Dom had vanished.

Josie felt a trace of regret that she didn’t give in to a cheap thrill and part the legs further of the Dom somewhere more private. She shuffled the deck when a man with a dark face appeared before her. He seemed to have tiny eyes, like a mole, sunk in the cavities of his skull.

“Hey, you got a minute?” He whispered.

Josie felt adrenalin and fear ripple through her muscles, as she slowly looked up to meet his eyes. His energy made her nauseous.

“I got a favor to ask you.” He tried to smile.

“Yes, how can I help you?” Josie stammered.

“Yes, yes, I’m actually leaving town soon. I am having a gallery opening tonight and I want you to come. It’s in a basement though, no, no, it’s not dangerous. I’m an artist, dramatic artist. I’m Larry.” He held out a deformed hand with two protruding scars that ran parallel with the bulging veins on his hand. Josie pictured his cock having just as many bulging veins.

Josie didn’t accept his hand. She pushed back from her desk and folded her arms, “I’m not a person to go out after dark.” Josie looked away.

“I see.” He stared at her. His eyes became vacant, as he stared at her chest.

“What are you doing?” Josie had the courage to say.

“There’s a scar there.” He pointed at her chest.

She looked down, “No there’s not.”

“It’s under the skin. We can’t see it but we feel it.” He licked his white lips.

Josie felt pressure build in her head. She felt invisible walls surround her. She grabbed the bottom of the table and flipped it up towards him. She grabbed the corners of the cardboard and pushed him down with her momentum and tried wrapping the cardboard around him.

Parts of New York City were impervious to violent scenes, but Josie began trembling and barking nonsensical words. People jogging and walking their dogs looked over.

“You are all parasites!
Vermin. By-products of sin!” She spat in his face and ran down the sidewalk. The white concrete mesmerized her as she had to regain composure behind a bush. She knelt over panting and looked at the leaves on the bush. There were two bugs battling each other. Josie could see their antennas wrapping together and their pincher mouths lock.

“This is so fucked. I’m fucking trapped here!” Josie ran down the street until the adrenalin turned into numbing endorphins. The neon signs in the windows shined into her eyes like stage lights. She felt interrogated, on a stage for everybody’s amusement. She laughed for a second at the ridiculous similarities of her life to the movie
It’s A Wonderful Life. She felt a surge of anxiety and ran down the street.

She was near Times Square. The flashing billboards were beyond her comprehension. She felt like she was on a bad acid trip. The models on the billboards smiled at her. She thought she heard one whisper “loser.”

She walked down the sidewalk watching all the billboards to the left, then to the right. She thought the left side was competing with the right side. “You both lose!” She yelled up at them and ran a little when she saw people staring at her.

Suddenly, she heard her dad. His voice was as grand as a sound system at a theater. She looked up and saw pixels unlit near his right eye on a giant glowing billboard.

“Dad! Dad!”

“Pumpkin!
I’m sober. Come home.”

“Where are you Dad?!”

The screen went black and white as a wave of white noise hit her.

Josie made it back to the park. Vinnie wasn’t in the tree. She heard laughing and yelling. She walked over to the lake. Vinnie was ice skating with his friends from the Gateway. The water wasn’t iced over.

“Vinnie!”
She yelled.

“What?” He yelled back.

“I’m going insane!”

Vinnie skated over. She could see his friends darting off of the lake at blinding speed up into the trees like bats.

“Where did they come from?” She asked.

“I had strong thoughts about them and they heard it. Guess I can’t control them.”

“I’m sick Vinnie. This world is playing a serious mind game with me and I’m losing terribly.”

“Come on baby, let’s go.”

They walked to a 24 hour clinic. The fluorescent lights showed everybody’s imperfections. The nurses had purple acne and the doctor looked like a cartoon of a doctor with ultra-white teeth.

“You’re next.” The nurse tried to smile at Josie.

“I’m scared. I’m so scared.” Josie confessed once the door closed. Vinnie waited in the hallway.

After some tests, the doctor concluded, “You’re not Schizophrenic. You’re pregnant.”