Sirens On an Old Blue Car
As much as Thea enjoyed partaking in bloodshed and doing what she felt was her vampiric duty, there was something to be said for kicking it old-school and breaking into a place of business after-hours and raiding the cash register.
There were certain advantages of thieving when one was undead. She supposed she didn't have to be particularly sneaky, because on the off-chance the authorities caught up with her, she could more than likely use her strength to overpower them. No way the cops were properly equipped to deal with vampires, right? Then again, there was something to be said for the old stand-bys. Black gloves. Ski cap. Dark, nondescript clothing. Though she no longer needed such human precautions, Thea felt as if she needed them in order to commence with the stealing. Maybe it was just a comfort thing.
Whatever it was, it worked. Hitting one of the local bookstores netted the vampire a cool $674 and a copy of the latest Fantasy Baseball magazine. Thea might've been undead, but she still wanted to know which of her beloved Cubbies were going to produce in the coming season. She counted the bills in her hand as she walked along one of Chicago's copious sidewalks, stopping only when a sight caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, smiling at the familiar figure sitting atop a car parked along the sidewalk. "Hey, you."
The car was a 1964 Rambler Classic 770. Turquoise body, white trim and soft top, chrome polished until it almost hurt to look. It was a real beauty. Rose liked cars. She had never owned an automobile of her own, but she loved her daddy's and her old husband's, and now she loved this one. The engine hadn't been dead long, so wherever the owner was, they were close. Rose let the heat from the hood raise the temperature of her thighs.
"Well, hey there," she said, recognizing the thief right off and smiling, cocking her head full of curls to the side. "You're from the museum, right?" Rose's tongue lingered on her white teeth as she said, "Thea." They hadn't been able to talk long, as the night at the museum went sour before the speeches even got rolling, but she remembered liking the girl. She scooted over and patted the surface beside her. "Take a load off and we'll catch up."
Joining the other vampire -- Rose, was it? -- on the hood, Thea smiled and removed the ski cap from her head. Her long black hair spilled over her shoulders, and Thea ran her hand through the locks to untangle them. Now that the job was done, the neophyte wanted to look presentable again. Though she had to admit, she liked the way her black outfit clung to her shape. Thea pocketed the money and laid the book beside her to her right before turning her attention back to Rose.
"Yep," she said. "Sorry to say, I missed the fun, though."
Not to mention left the place empty-handed. The thought still irritated Thea, knowing she'd been sent there to steal something, only for it to already be gone by the time she got there. If she hadn't been so busy enjoying the finer comforts of being a vampire -- oh, did she love the bloodshed and general mayhem -- Thea might've had half a mind to find out who beat her to that item and get it back before removing their spleen.
She might still yet. "Nice ride," she said, looking at the frame below her. "This yours?"
"No, but it sure is a good dream," Rose said. She looked over her shoulder at the windshield with a look of rapt fascination. Could she afford a car? Probably. Would she handle well the inevitable headaches of owning one? Fat chance. Rose wasn't the type to keep up with maintenance and inspections and bills, might possibly even neglect to gas the tank up. Letting go of the fantasy, she lent her baby blues back to Thea.
"Eternal Bliss," she said. "That's what you said I should call my chat line." Digging into her beaded clutch, Rose produced a business card and gave it to the other brunette. "Guess it was good advice!" As they sat there, the vampires made an interesting pair. Both were dark-haired and pale-skinned, both blue-eyed and curvy, but absolute opposites in dress and temperament. Rose's ankles were crossed, the hem of her pencil skirt reaching past her knees.
Sitting Indian-style, Thea took the business card and studied it. A knowing smile played across her lips, the recollection filling her mind of the night Rose first told her of the service she was setting up and that she'd needed a name. Thea hadn't actually thought much of the name she offered, chalking it up to a play-on-words she'd cooked up in the moment on the spot, but apparently it struck the right chord and was perfect for what the service was. Thea then remembered she'd offered her services, pocketing the card and glancing the other vampire's way.
"So, it's up and running, huh? Congrats," she offered, leaning back on her palms. With the gloves still on, there was no chance of leaving smudge marks on the hood. "My offer still stands. if you need it." Though truth be told, was Thea capable of earning a (somewhat) honest living? It would be an interesting challenge, she knew that much.
Rose closed her purse and kept it on her lap. "I've been thinking of bringing on a few more," she said. She had hired a couple of undead guys and gals to work the lines. There was a young, female vamp with a load of quirky bedroom kinks, an older cougar-type who was bored out of her gourd, a Dracula-wannabe with a European accent, and a pushy male from Long Island who used to be an investment banker. Why they wanted to spend hours of time working for a sex chat operation, she wasn't sure, but guessed it was titillating to them. "We're open four nights a week," Rose said. "Thursday through Sunday." She lifted her shoulders. "Everybody's gotta start somewhere. There's four of them now, used to be five, but I stopped taking calls."
"Sounds like it could be fun," Thea mused, glancing over her shoulder when she heard a siren fire up somewhere in the city. She wasn't terribly concerned -- years of running from the cops before she was turned -- and Thea knew she could bolt with little trouble if she needed.
Taking a moment, Thea considered unlife as a phone sex call girl. It had its obvious benefits -- ones that were apparently heightened as a member of the undead -- but more than anything, the vampire liked the idea of tackling something she'd never done before. Always adventurous even when she was human, Thea found that aspect of her personality magnified now that she was a vampire. As long as the sun was down, and there were no Slayers in sight, she felt like she could do whatever she wanted.
There was a sense of empowerment that came with that, and if she completely honest with herself, Thea found it intoxicating. "Strictly human clientele?" she asked. "Or do we get vamps and demons, too?"
Rose smiled and unhooked her ankles, long enough to cross them the other way. "We get anybody that can dial a phone," she said, then relented to add, "Mostly human. They're awfully curious, but wouldn't you be?" Rose looked off towards a stoplight, watching it flip from red to green. She got a secretive tone to her voice, lowering it to almost a whisper. "The chance to hit it off with a real undead type, no consequences?" A shake of her head.
"Of course, that's the catch." Sensing that her companion was a reckless sort, perhaps because she'd been strolling down the sidewalk in mugger's gear with a wad of cash in hand, Rose decided she should stick in a caveat. "It's tempting to coax an address out of 'em, but that's no good, doll. The cops would chase the call back to me in a hot minute. Besides, a dead caller's just cutting into profits."
"Makes sense," Thea agreed. To this point, she'd kept her sex and her murder separate. The vampire heard of those within her kind who would use the allure of sex to snare their prey, possibly even fornicating with them before the feeding began. Thea couldn't bring herself to be that forward in her hunting; sure, she wasn't above using excess cleavage to lure in a horny frat boy.
But Thea would bite the kid without showing off the goods. Maybe she was just impatient that way. Then again, the allure was obvious. Thea was curious, and she was already undead.
"So, what do you do?" she asked. "If a customer asks to meet?"
"We don't." Rose laughed, a bubbling, feminine crescendo of humor. "A girl's gotta know how to be coy. You don't think regular phone sex operators show up on your doorstep, do you?" She leaned over and adjusted the strap of her shoe, which was pressing into the soft flesh inside her ankle. "Besides. If they really wanted to meet a vampire for kicks, they wouldn't stay home on the telephone, would they? They'd come out and play."
A car passed the women. The windows were rolled down and a Led Zeppelin song carried on the air.
"Have you got anyone who'd get their feathers ruffled about it?" Rose asked. She nudged Thea's shoulder with her own. "A jealous honey?"
Thea allowed herself a small chuckle, watching the car pass into the night. Anyone who owned a car and called as much attention to it as those people did deserved to have it swiped, but the vampire didn't really need a car. She'd long ago rid herself of the car she stole her first full night as a vampire -- not really wanting to burden herself with possibly parading around Chicago in a "hot" vehicle -- but given current circumstances, Thea was happy to be without a ride. She could get everywhere she needed to be on foot, and she didn't figure a car much for stalking anyway.
Regarding Rose once more, she shook her head. "Not sure if she's a honey," the vampire mused, thinking of Grace. "But I know she wouldn't be jealous."
What were she and Grace, now that Thea thought about it? Well ... aside from surrogate sire and childe. Were they a couple? Did vampires even believe in that sort of thing? From what Thea knew of the breed, she doubted it, and she doubted Grace was the type to be bogged down by such a human concept. Either way, strings weren't part of the equation, for which the vampire was thankful. "Hell, she might be a customer, she gets bored enough."
Rose twisted her ankle in a circle. "So then you're not in love," she surmised. She placed her palms on either side of her, splayed on the hood. "I used to be the worst for wandering eyes. I couldn't keep my hands to myself, either," she admitted, chewing on a lip that curved into a smile. "It's a matter of being satisfied or not, I think. You'll keep your eyes peeled until you are." She felt something touch her elbow and inspected it, brushing a tiny insect away. "I fell in love. It was like drifting into the orbit of a star. Sometimes you don't realize until you're caught."
Thea frowned, cocking her head to the side. Hair fell over her shoulder, blending in with her black long-sleeve. "Fell in love?" she repeated curiously. "Can we do that?"
Love was a concept that annoyed Thea even when she was human. There'd been family love, sure -- the kind she'd had for her mother and brother. She guessed there was love between friends, too -- or, there would be, had she had any friends in her human days. The life she led didn't exactly lend itself to close personal attachments. Romantic love? Just an excuse for people to buy flowers and candy. Something humans used to make themselves feel better about all the sex they insisted on having.
There was no way vampires could fall into that trap too ... right?
"Well, yeah," Rose said, wrinkling her nose as if Thea had said something silly. "Did you think love came from your soul? And where was that old thing?" She reached over and poked her fingertip into Thea's chest, where a heart rested quiet underneath. "Right here?" Her smile was beguiling. Instead of going for a scientific or spiritual explanation, because Rose was neither of those, she asked it another way. "Can you hate? If you can hate, you can love. I think it's because love isn't selfless."
No, as pretty a picture as that painted, Rose thought love was quite selfish. It wanted, didn't it? It needed and took and exhausted. It demanded things. It made people behave badly. "Don't look so disappointed!" The more delicate of the vampires opened her purse and withdrew a cigar, which she prepared for smoking.
Thea wasn't so much disappointed as confused. Not by what Rose said -- it actually made perfect sense -- but the entire conversation was turning into a wake-up call of sorts for the neophyte. She thought she was beginning to understand the vampire experience, but it appeared Thea still had much to learn. Then again, it seemed no two vampires had the exact same view of what it meant to be one of their kind. There were similarities, no doubt, but the differences were such that The would grow confused if she focused on them.
"Still kinda new to all this," she explained with a sheepish grin, waving her arm before her frame to indicate being a vampire. It did make sense; Thea had experienced a great many emotions since her turning, including hate, so it stood to reason that if the right person or vampire or whatever came around, she'd find herself in something vaguely approximating love.
Honestly, though? She hoped not.
"Still," she added with a knowing smile, "you'll never catch me at a Hallmark looking for cards."
The blunt end of Rose's cigar smoked and glowed, its scent heady and sweet on the night air. "You might surprise yourself," she said. Not that she'd ever found herself in a Hallmark store! But writing love notes in lipstick on a mirror? Rose didn't have to reach back far in her memory to identify an instance of that. "My guy's a dreamboat. If I thought it'd get his engine running, I might buy a card." Something sentimental and flowery, with foiled lettering and tissue-thin inner pages. How would Gavin feel about a card like that? On first guess, Rose would say unimpressed, but she couldn't be certain. After all, he did like the Righteous Brothers.
"Is your sweetie a vampire?" she asked. Rose brushed a fleck of ash from her skirt.
"Yeah," Thea said with a single nod, the aroma of the cigar fluttering past her nostrils momentarily. "She's kinda ... she's not my sire, but she acts like it. Not sure where my sire is; he bailed before I woke up."
Not that Thea tried all that hard to find him. From what she remembered of Leon, he hadn't been that reliable. Every time he was assigned to do something on a potential heist, he fucked it up. Even the night he turned Thea, his responsibility was just to watch over her on the roof. Make sure she was safe. What'd he do? Made her a minion of the undead. Not that Thea minded; she liked being a vampire, and so far, she'd done just fine without her sire.
"What about you?" she asked, tilting her head to point her chin at Rose. "Are man and sire one in the same?"
A derisive snort was Thea's first clue to an answer. "Not even close!" she said. "My sire was an acquaintance of my husband's. Lawrence invited him to a cocktail party at our house. I decided to give him the grand tour and got his teeth for a thank you." She picked at the hem of her sweater with uncertain fingers, beginning to look for the first time like a girl instead of a woman. "I don't like him very much. His sire ..." Rose clicked her tongue. "I ran around with him for a couple of weeks. We had some fast times." But that was 1955. With the exception of a college football player she'd taken a shine to in the 1980s, and a few very temporary playboys along the way, Rose had been a loner.
"My man's a gentleman," Rose said. "He'd never hurt a gal." She genuinely liked that about him, no matter how often she hurt people herself. Gavin was stalwart, a hero like she read about in romance books; he was affectionate and a real phenom in the sack, with just enough edge to give him a bad boy appeal. Rose remembered a particularly daring evening spent between the sheets and caught herself in a fib. "Well, not unless you ask nicely."
"Aren't those the best kind?" Thea asked with a knowing smile, glancing up at the night sky. Typical Chicago sky, devoid of stars. Not that Thea particularly cared about the stars, but she figured it would nice to see them once in a while. Sure as hell beat seeing the sun at this point, that was for damn sure.
"My sire was ..." The vampire paused, pursed her lips. "A bit of a fuck-up, one might say. Hell, I'm impressed he managed to turn me without screwing up. He was a member of this crew I used to run with. We'd go on runs, steal shit. We'd give him a task, like, the simplest thing in the world -- guard the getaway car, stay on the roof with the ring leader's kid sister -- and he'd mess it all up. I never suspected he was a vampire until his fangs were already in my neck."
The vampire smirked. "Guess it was too late then, huh?"
"Sure." Rose blew smoke out of the side of her mouth and gave the other brunette a sympathetic look. Neither of them was terribly sad about their misfortune (or fortune, depending upon perspective), but still, "It would've been nice to be asked, wouldn't it?" she said, completing her thought. "It's one thing for a vamp to get fresh and have himself a drink, but bringing a girl back without asking first, and not even sticking around?" She made a sour face. "That's just rude."
Taking a life? Well, of course you didn't make a request! Ninety-nine times out of one hundred, the answer would be no. Damning someone to eternal life was something else altogether.
"We gals with absentee fathers ought to stick together," Rose said. Fishing an ink pen from her clutch, she wrote her personal number on another business card and gave it to Thea. "Tonight I'm gonna hang around and see who shows up with the keys to this car. Maybe I'll ask him for a ride home." She winked. It would be a long, winding route that ventured nowhere near her actual address. She'd flirt lightly, beg to play with the dial on his radio, tune it to the oldies station. They'd pull up to an empty curb on some boring street. She'd slide across the seat and comb her fingers into his hair. But she wouldn't let him kiss her mouth or touch her knee, either; those were for another man. She'd act like she was going in for a kiss and bite his neck instead.
"I know, right? Runnin' into a girl in this town who doesn't want me dead looks harder than it needs to be. Think I'll stick close to the few who are actually on my side." Taking the second card, Thea slid off the hood, taking special care not to let the bottoms of her shoes scrape against the surface. Just because she made a life of stealing things didn't mean the vampire didn't respect other people's property. She pocketed the card with the first one Rose gave her with a smile and a wink. "Sounds like a plan," she offered. "I think I'll prowl around a bit more, see if I can't find someone to eat."
She guessed she could've stuck around to see if the owner of the car had anyone with them, get a meal that way, but it felt wrong somehow. Rose had already staked her claim to this small area; she deserved whatever spoils came from it.
"You'll be hearing from me again," Thea winked. "The more I think about it, the more fun this phone line sounds."
"It'll be a blast." After tapping her cigar ash in the gutter, Rose lifted her fingers and waggled them. "Good luck with dinner," she said, having nothing invested in the city's human population, no reason to worry that Thea might select a favorite for her meal. She shifted her legs against the cooled off hood, relieving the tender skin that pressed too long on the edge. No matter if it took an hour or more for the owner to return, Rose thought, she'd wait it out.
Anyone that drove a car this cherry was bound to be her taste.