Chapter 12.

12.

“Hold on, nobody talk!” Jamie exclaimed in her usual dramatic style while her gaze fixated intensely on Suri. “How old are you?” She asked Suri but went on before she could answer, “Because you look way too young for my big brother and it’s kinda creeping me out right now.” She made an eww face.

“I’m not too young for him! In any case, he’s too young for me!”

“Really? Then, are you, like, addicted to botox or something? ‘Cause you have, like, zero wrinkles on your face… you must be loaded. And you’re fit… you probably live in the gym, or have a personal gym of your own you can use all day- Oh, my God! Do you own a gym? Because your loaded? Are you really rich? This is awesome! I have a new big sister! Welcome to the family!” 

Jamie clapped her hands and hugged a stunted Suri, who didn’t know what to say. It was the first time she had ever been called old, and she didn’t like it. Not one bit. She turned her body around, or as much as she could manage with Jamie hanging on to her like her favorite stuffed animal, to bestow her Death Glare on James.

James had been checking his body for the bullet wound he knew he had suffered, the evidence being in all the blood covering the front of his shirt, but found none. He felt fine. It was too weird, he should have been feeling at least a bit nauseous from the teleporting… The vampire had teleported them back home, he had been hurt, bent over the floor from the pain… then… nothing… then he was standing up grabbing his shirt. He was sure some kind of paranormal shit had just gone down and he didn’t know what it was, dammit, he did not like having his memory toyed with, let alone his body. He looked up to find the witch girl glaring at him while his sister hugged the life out of her. What the hell?

“Jamie, let go of her, she’s not a squishy toy.”

Jamie didn’t seem to hear him, keeping a tight grasp on Suri, she eventually loosened her hold but managed to keep Suri’s hands clasped with hers. “I’m so happy for you two! So, when’s the wedding?” She gazed at her brother but lost all train of thought, her face paling with horror at the sight of his bloody shirt. “Wha-?” She shakily pointed at the big stain, then met James’ eyes and immediately passed out.

Suri grabbed Jamie’s unconscious body while James ran to them and helped get his sister on his bed.

“What happened to her?” Suri asked.

James was beyond angry. Jamie had just experienced a watered down version of the vampire attack, and her repressed feelings of mind-numbing fear had overwhelmed her. He didn’t know what to do now, what a mess. He lovingly arranged a pillow under Jamie’ head and went about looking for his address book to call their psychiatrist, he just remembered that she had said if Jamie suffered a relapse to call her as soon as possible. Will Jamie have to go on medication again? It was probable. He supposed he’ll have to come up with a  reasonable explanation for the blood, even if he didn’t know what happened exactly himself. Nothing good ever came out of getting tangled with the supernatural. Nothing!

Suri watched James go on in his bedroom, tending to his sister, completely forgetting she was there. Boy had some serious problems here… it was sad. She felt like a peeping tom just standing there doing nothing, so she grabbed the bag they had used for the Alien heist, and just teleported out.

************

Jime laid spread out on top of  jack’ hood, gazing out at the stars above her. The cool breeze caressing her hair as the sounds of the night played their music undisturbed. Her dreams, all her wishes, actual happiness was at the tip of her fingers, she was closer and closer to the All-Delivering Potion. After all these centuries… she would be free to look at the sun, get a nice tan, and just be free. Of everything and everyone she hated. They could kiss her ass. It meant too much, the sun. Humans thought their ‘winter depression’ was bad? Try feeling that for eternity; Jime longed to feel the warmth of the sun’s rays on her skin, to watch how everything changed colors around her (she was sure, with her vampire vision, it would be mesmerizing); to eat real food, she was so tired of the liquid diet; to witness how human life went about the day, with everything buzzing and moving, it would be a riot! She had missed so many thing dropping dead every day! 

But more than all that, it was what the sun represented for her that she desperately wanted.

If she could walk in the day… she would not be the night’s puppet any more. And by night she meant the King of all vampires. Hell, maybe that potion would reverse her vampirism and make her human again! That would be…

Jimena had never wanted to be a vampire, back in the day. She was just another illiterate woman from thousands. Her family lived a peaceful farming life in the Spanish countryside, while the rest of Al-Andalus became a beacon of learning and culture under the Moor influence and the Christian kingdoms warred for power. Now that she thought about it, well, there is just no comparison… medieval times were filthy, even if you had your own small river right next to your house… Jimena always gave thanks for indoor plumbing, she loved that modern luxury. But anyway, back in the day, she was so innocent, she never suspected what cruelty humankind could show… but never even dreamed of what the supernatural would be able to do. Her father had been an astute man, if the Moors came, they were Muslim, if the Christians came, they were Christians; he always said God was one and the same anyway, might as well go with the flow and protect their family by any means. But he never guessed that human religion wasn’t something of importance when it came to vampires.

Whatever Jimena had thought life was all about was crushed in her face when the King kidnapped her and made her his. His property.

Her family never knew what happened to her.

Jime brushed clean her tear-streaked face with the back of her hand. It wasn’t good to remember the past. She should stop now. Must forget. Damn that creep Zeus for bringing it up in her mind. Better to concentrate on the now, on the good things. It had been a hellish nightmare the first centuries of her vampire existence, BUT she had managed to learn, to accommodate, and to make things work for her advantage. She had managed to run away and become a woman vamp of her own. She had come to love the independence, the power, she wielded. She was now one of the oldest most powerful ones out there, she was respected, even feared. Becoming a vampire had not been all bad since then. In many respects, it was awesome.

Suri appeared then, bag in hand, and furiously walked to where jack was. She looked on Jime, tapping her foot on the floor, her hands on her hips. Jime looked at Suri and burst out laughing.

“What?”

“You bailed on me! I can’t believe you!”

“Sooooo… are you James’ girlfriend now?” Jime wagged her brows.

Suri thrust her arms down “Apparently! Jamie got it in her head that I’m rich too, and older than James.” The surly tone of Suri’s voice was a thing of beauty.

“Oh, sweet karma, how I love thee,” Jime singsonged. “You’re old?”

“Whatever.” Suri embraced jack with a slump, “I’m tired now… and I don’t feel like talking shit about Jamie and James… they have their issues.”

“All right.” Jime jumped off jack’s hood and opened the driver side door. “It will be daylight soon, let’s go find a Hotel and check in, you can rest and sleep all day while I’m dead and then we’ll go by the list again and refine what to do next.”

They climbed on jack and burned rubber on the asphalt, after Suri re-did all the spells she had cast on the car before. Jime knew she had to say something to Suri, she had had a very good point bringing up the fact that she had better chances of defending herself if she knew all there is to know, but it was so difficult to talk about the past, and talking about it made Jime remember, when she had spent so much time willing her mind to forget. It was a trick Suri’s grandmother had taught her actually, to keep herself from going mad.

Bracing herself, Jime inhaled deeply and said, “Anne Rice.”

Suri turned her head from looking at the road lights fly by, startled, “What?”

“You were wrong, the Sookie Stackhouse book author reference you made? Charlaine Harris doesn’t have any ultimate Queen of all vampires in her books. If there ever was a Queen, it was Anne Rice’s Akasha, Queen of the Damned. Now, there was someone who kicked ass, I would have followed her gladly. I wish- I… I wish there really was a queen of all vamps instead of-” She swallowed, “The actual King we do have…”

Suri waited for Jime to continue, this level of vulnerability she was hearing in her aunt’s voice was something she never thought could be… it made her pay attention.

“O.k., ok, that Reina comment Zeus said?... La Reina was my nickname, at one point in time… I was the queen, but not of all vampires, just… the murdering ones.” Jime chanced a somewhat fearful glance at her niece, waiting to see how she would react to that. 

Suri worked to keep her face blank, so Jime took that as a good sign and went on.

“You see… right after I was turned… I sort of… succumbed to the bloodlust. Going to that dark place helped me live through the things I was-” She cleaned her throat, “Subjected to. I got so good at it that the King made me his head lackey. My team and I did all his dirty work, for centuries.” She inhaled and exhaled, “It’s not something I want to relive or talk about, Suri.”

Suri frowned and went back to watching the road. Soon after they found a Hotel in the next big town and parked jack there. Jime pulled the shadows to cover them while they opened the trunk so she could climb in.

“Uhm, dearest wonderful understanding niece of mine…”

“What do you want now.”

“Could you, maybe, be so kind as to magic 1 lt. of blood for me? Blood donation plastic bags will do nicely, don’t want to ruin the upholstery.”

 “Didn’t you have enough with those thugs at the Diner? I thought you didn’t need to feed often now.”

“Yes, you’re right, but what with the James incident and all… Could you also make it diabetics blood? I feel like having something sweet.”

Suri snapped her fingers and the bags appeared inside the trunk.

“Thank you, thank you,” Jime climbed in and settled for the day, “See you tomorro-” She was cut off by Suri closing the trunk. Well, Jime thought, she took the new information better that she expected. Her niece wasn’t aware of all the past deeds in Jime’s undead life, she would need time to reconcile them with the cleaned-up image she had of her aunt. Jime thought it was better to drop a few facts at a time, so as not to overwhelm Suri, and this was as good a start as any, she figured.

************

Suri checked in the Hotel and went to her room, she dropped her bags, looked around, and went out again. She needed to eat, she was ravenous. She had spent too much energy with their latest antics and really was in need of some food and a good sleep. She found a nice little neighbourhood restaurant right around the corner and bought food to go.

She was resting on her hotel bed with her treasure around her, watching TV. The pork barbecue, mashed potatoes and big-ass green salad were good, but the best turned out to be the cornbread and the vegetable soup. Delicious.

As usual, there was nothing good on TV. Her mind started to wander to what Jime had told her in the car. Why did it bother her that Jime had a dark past? She had figured as much on her own, she never thought her aunt was all Glinda the Good Witch, it would have been naïve, silly of her, to think that, and she was anything but. But it was one thing to suspect and another to have confirmation she supposed. Maybe what really bothered her wasn’t all the vampire violence, but the fact that she hadn’t been considered… what? Mature enough to handle it? That she had been kept in the dark? Well! It stops now! It was about time her aunt started to confide in her!

Suri’s rightful indignation was followed by another disturbing thought. Jime had suggested, somewhere along her speech, that she had been abused by the King? It had sounded something like that to her… and the way Jime was so reluctant to talk, and even remember… it was as if she was afraid somehow. But she shouldn’t be, Suri thought, her aunt was the take-no-prisoners type. NO ONE messed with her, and those who did were fools. Huh… she now realized all those skills came from that time serving the vampire King. Things were bound to be different now, as opposed to so long ago, anyway.

They’ll have to take things as they came, she figured. No sense in dwelling on the past, it couldn’t be changed. Suri loved who her aunt was now. Her past persona was a stranger to her.

**********

The next night found Jime using the bathroom while Suri talked through the door. 

“Right, so task #1, a.k.a. the Apple Heist, we’ll leave for last?”

“Yes, we’re gonna need all the help we can get for that one.” Jime answered while washing the shampoo off.

“Operation Dragon Scales is mine, #3, a.k.a. Feather Fever, will take time and research so we’ll also let that one be for now.”

“The snake feather thing, I have a pretty good idea who to ask though…”

“Ok, #4 a.k.a. Dog Fight, and #5 a.k.a. Gross, are yours.”

“Right.” Jime applied the conditioner.

“#6? Whack-a-Naga?”

“Uhm… let’s leave that one third to last, I’m guessing since we don’t know exactly what entails capturing a Naga our best bet would be convincing him to help us, instead of fight him.”

“#7 a.k.a. Hairball…?”

Jime sighed and braced herself, she could think of only one person to ask for that one. “Mountain Trolls inhabit the wild parts of Scandinavia… that’s all I know. But there is one person who knows all about Trolls… Jack.”

“Oh, Come on!” Suri exclaimed, “Not him! I swear you have some insane attraction for that loser. There’s another story you WILL have to tell me if we’re going to go his way again!” 

“I know! I will, just give me time!”

“Fine. #8 a.k.a. Glitter Panties is mine, #9 a.k.a. Zeus-is-a-big-geek is a check…” Suri grabbed a pen and checked that one. “#10 a.k.a. Farmer Chick?”

“We can do that one tonight, we just have to go do it, we’ll probably spend the hole night… and I suspect the Z-man will not be exactly watching, but ogling us, hence the bikinis.”

“Fer Christ’s sake…” Suri sighed, “#11 a.k.a. Senior Trouble?”

“Ah… let’s leave that one for last.” 

“Ok, #12 a.k.a. the Alien Heist is also a check. Two down, ten to go is not bad at all considering we were given the list yesterday.”

“You’re right. We rock like that.” Jime turned off the shower.

“And that’s my cue to go.” Suri walked back inside the room and threw herself onto the bed, bouncing.

Jime came out with some denim hot-pants, a checkered shirt knotted in the front, wellingtons and a purple straw cowboy hat on her heard. Suri chuckled at the outfit.

“You look more like you’ll be heading for the Love Parade than farming.”

“It doesn’t matter, since we’ll be in bikinis pretty soon.”

“Ugh. The things I do for you, tia.”

Suri got up, magicked herself a bikini, with overalls, cowboy boots and her hair up to showcase her neck and then both women teleported to the Underground to find a passage for rural Iowa.