Urban Vampire

Chapter 10

He led me down a corridor whose walls were lined with paintings of beaches and natives with children frolicking in the sunshine.

The corridor led to a thick wooden door. The door opened to a long, stone stairwell like the one in the Council house. Thinking about that made me wary.

Tony led the way but he kept looking back at me as if he thought I was going to chicken out. Hell, at this late hour I had no choice but to trust him.

We got to the bottom of the stairs. The temperature was much cooler, and it was definitely underground. I didn't feel as if I was in a cellar, though. The space was very comfortable.

The stairs ended in a spacious room that had the feel of 1001 Arabian Nights. There were satin cushions and settees. Silks hung from the ceiling and walls. Colorful pendant lights provided splashes of brightness. The stone floor was covered in expensive throw rugs that at first glance appeared haphazard but were artful.

"Wow ..." I said, my mouth hanging open. "This ... is ... wow."

A fireplace was burning against the far wall, a plasma TV suspended above it. I wanted to sink into the satin cushions and let my naked feet glide across the cool fabric with the heat of the fireplace to warm me.

Tony was watching me intently.

I gave him an embarrassed smile. "It's great."

He nodded. "I'll show you to the bedroom."

Another door with an intricately carved arch led to another room that was just as large. My eyes grew wide. This room had a ceiling of gold that glowed like the sun but not quite as bright. It arched like the ceiling at the museum of natural history and it was beautiful. The floor was covered in wall-to-wall carpet of the plushest white wool. The center of the room held a bed covered in white fur. Pillows of the palest satins were piled high on it. Fabric of the most delicate material draped the bed from invisible hooks in the ceiling.

I inhaled the fragrance of fresh flowers. There were vases of gardenias on the white dressing table, on the bedside table, and on the floor in the corner. It was so white and pristine that I could barely move.

"Tony ..." I whispered.

He took a step away from me. "You'll find a bathroom through the next door." With barely a glance in my direction he appeared to dismiss me. "If you need anything, just pick up the phone and dial nine. Mei Wah is at your service." He turned and walked out of the room, speaking over his shoulder. "We'll talk again tomorrow." Then he was gone.

I was a little disappointed at his abrupt departure. I had warmed up to him, or the image of the cool zoot suit wearing club owner. Okay, and yes I was attracted to the big bad Vampire. But one minute he was all smiles and courtesy, and the next he seemed bored with it all.

I dismissed him, too, and spent the next few minutes exploring my new quarters. It was definitely no crypt. I couldn't resist taking a quick bath in the spa-like tub. The surfaces were made of marble and glass. Gardenias decorated every available space. Even the fear of falling asleep in the tub didn't prevent me from stripping out of my clothes and luxuriating in the Jacuzzi tub. But somewhere deep inside I could feel the dawn approaching. It felt like a heaviness weighing at my limbs, the same feeling I got whenever I drank too much.

I off, thinking that it would serve me right if I woke up the next day floating facedown in the tub and wrinkled like a prune. I pulled on my gown and sank between the sheets where I spent my remaining conscious moments in another pity party.

My mama was going to be calling me soon if she hadn't already because we never went longer than a week without talking to each other.

Thinking about Mama made my eyes sting. Damnit! Why is it that when things get hard your Mama is the first person you think of? I wanted her right now, not because she was the person who had given birth to me but because my mother is a strong woman who had raised my brother, sister and me singlehandedly after my dad's death. She moved us to the projects when there was no other choice and had worked long and hard to see that we had what we needed in order to have a life like the one that we had been forced to leave behind.

We tried to make it in the 'burbs, but Daddy had no life insurance. When it was all said and done, we had to give up our house. We lived with Grandma for a while, but with public assistance we were able to get our own place. I was young enough to be happy that I had my own room. I had a hard time understanding why everyone else in the family thought having our own place was a bad thing. I'm not going to lie. I love my grandmother, but I did not like living with that old stern lady who made us eat stewed vegetables every single day until they made us puke.

Yes, I noticed that we didn't have a nice yard and that people were always hanging outside, but there were plenty of kids to play with. At the age of nine I adapted well to my lively surroundings. I preferred the 'hood to the 'burbs. I knew who and what to avoid, and school was only a place to hang out because, for the most part, the teachers didn't care whether or not we did our work as long as we kept quiet and didn't cause trouble.

You didn't have to put on airs when you lived in the ghetto because everybody knew that everybody else is just as broke or they'd live up on the hill and not down in the projects. I learned how to fight. I learned how to run. I even learned how to steal from the corner store. But when my mother threatened to send me to a private school if I didn't keep an A average, I also learned how to read, write, and speak properly.

Unlike my dumb, dumb brother, I was proud to be smart. People would say, "Listen to that baby girl spill some knowledge."

I liked being the one people turned to when they needed someone to use semi-correct grammar or to write out a résumé.

My brother Terrence ended up getting into trouble and going to jail over something stupid, and my sister Jeannette married some knucklehead and started having a bunch of babies. But I listened to my mama and recognized that she didn't need me to add to her stress. She worked hard to give us what we had, and I decided long ago that I would never follow in the footsteps of Terrence and Jeannette.

How disappointed she would be to know that I am now dead.