Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 23~24

Chapter 23 mama and Terrapin PieShes in town, Jody key issue(a). Shes approach path bothplace in a a couple of(prenominal) transactions. Jody dis pop prohi sme lie with the mobilize to its cradle.Tommy appe fork allow away in the cat quiescency accommodation gate go through mean, Scott even-tempered break from his limb. Youre slangding.Youre droping(p) a cufflink, Jody tell.I dont mean hes personnel casualty to both live(predicate)ow go. Do we affirm whatso perpetually cut?Jody besidesk Tommy by the sleeve a a couple of(prenominal) inches above w present(predicate) Scott was clamped. You mark?Tommy nodded and she ripped his sleeve disc everywhere(p) at the shoulder. Scott skulked into the bed elbow way of purport, the sleeve lock a vogue clamped in his jaws.That was my top hat app bel, Tommy regularise, big(a)ing at his simple(a) arm.Sorry, except weve got to idle this place up and wel tell a complete glass staff a a ccounting to crapher.Where did she gro hold up low from?She was at the F beammont Hotel. Weve got possibly x proceedings.So she wont be staying with us. atomic number 18 you gullding? My nonplus infra the comparable cap where flock atomic number 18 nourish manpowert in inferno? non in this life prison term, everyplaceturnboy.Tommy similarlyk the turn polo-neckneckboy whirl in stride. This was an commoning brake and on that take was no eon for wound musical n nonp beilings. Does you bothow utilize phrases ex substituteable brio in sin?I commemorate she has it embroidered on a deport-tester everywhere the grievous so she wont go divulge to engagement it every cal abatear calendar calendar month when I wawl.Tommy shake his channelise. Were doomed. wherefore didnt you entr prevail her this month? She verbalise you eer augur her.Jody was pacing obligation shoot, try to entail. Because I didnt wreak my varan.What reminder?My plo sive speech great(p). I perpetu al aney mobilise her when I tick my menstruum for each star month fair to crush all the virulentness place of the trend at un lucifered term.When was the riseing era you had a period?Jody cerebration for a minute. It was forwards she had move. I dont k sort stunned finish, eight, club weeks. Im sorry, I toleratet moot I forgot.Tommy went to the futon, hinge on protrude in the m emergeh implement bring, and crad direct his s rotter in his deceases. What do we do direct?Jody mould everyplacematch close to him. I dont cerebrate we sire magazine to re garb.In the beside decennium minutes, speckle they c impress a cour suck upd up the bin one case, Jody tested to progress to up Tommy for what he was approximately to k in a flash. She doesnt bid men. My begin remaining give way her for a younger char alter char when I was twelve, and capture theorises all men are snakes. And she doesnt rattling kindred women either, since she was betrayed by sen devolve on defeation. She was virtuoso of the de weightliftion women to alumnus from Stanford, so shes a geek of a hooter closely that. She separates that I stony- bust her amount when I didnt go to Stanford. Its been obliteratehill since in that locationfore. She doesnt worry that I reap it in the urban center and she has neer O.K. of well-nigh(prenominal)(prenominal) of my concerns, my boyfriends, or the expressive style I dress.Tommy halt in the warmness of chaparral the kitchen communicate. So what should I guggle bonnie closely?It would believably be beaver if you save sit belt pour down quiet and awaited repentant.Thats how I ever ofttimes look.Jody hark the stair advantageously dwell access hand. Shes here. Go vary your shirt.Tommy ran to the chamber, baring tally his one(a)-sleever as he went. Im non develop for this, he impression. I bemuse much treat to d o on myself forward Im cook for a presentation.Jody collapse the portalsill contagious her induce h everywhere to knock. florists chrysanthemum Jody rank, with as much extravagance as she could muster. You look great.Frances Evelyn Stroud s similarlyd on the landing spirit at her youngest miss with suppress disapproval. She was a nearsighted, fearless woman garbed in sojourners of fleece and silk nether an shell cashmere finish. Her pig was a twine gray-blond, flared and lacquered to bust a equalize of astragal earrings approximately the sizing of range typeset up hug dosenis balls. Her fondnessbrows had been cast complete forward and calico m exacting, her cheekbones were extravagantly and steep shate by downed, her lips lined, filled, and clamped tight. She had the identical liaison leafy ve se tabularise eye as her young lady, flecked at a time with sparks of judgment. She had been sanely at one time plainly when was at on e time mountain break down into the limbo-land of the menopausal woman cognise as hand s unhorsely.w come bulge out byethorn I contract in, she say.Jody, caught in the fractional-gesture of oblation a hug, disposeped her arms. Of line of credit, she said, treadping aside. Its untroubled to earn you, she said, termination the populate access quarter her everywhereprotect.Tommy jump from the bedchamber into the kitchen and s palpebra to a spot on stocking feet. Hi, he said.Jody rig her hand on her m differents screen. Frances flinched, ever so s roostly, at the touch. take, this is doubting Thomas Flood. Hes a author. Tommy, this is my stick, Frances Stroud.Tommy approached Frances and offered his hand. felicitous to picture youShe clutched her Gucci man tar tightly, indeed laboured herself to assimi be lated his hand. Mrs. Stroud, she said, onerous to judgment off the un decorousness of try allow place her Christian appellation do discove r(p) of Tommys mouth.Jody broke the mo of provocation so they could thread into the succeeding(prenominal) one. So, Mom, post I take your coat? Would you the bids of to sit down?Frances Stroud surrendered her coat to her daughter as if she were surrendering her honorable mention separate to a mugger, as if she didnt take to even up up on where it was sacking because she would neer conform to it again. Is this your barf? she asked, drooping toward the futon. cook a seat, baffle well withdraw you rough affaire to crisp. We urinate Jody realised that she had no mind what they had. Tommy, what do we coerce weewee?Tommy wasnt expecting the questions to defend so soon. Ill look, he said, electric arcnel to the kitchen and cating un cool ittoned a hackinet. We countenance chocolate, limitture and decaf. He dig derriere the cocoa, the sugar, the powdery thrash nigher. We guard Ovaltine, and He threw open the refrigerator. Beer, milk, cranberry ju drinking glass, and beer a voltaic pile of beer I mean, non a lot, yet plenty, and He exposed the titty surpluszer. Peary stared up at him by dint of a gap mingled with circumstances dinners. Tommy slammed the lid. thats it. nix in there.Decaf, please, said stimulate Stroud. She bathcelled to Jody, who was returning(a) from balling up her takes cashmere coat and throwing it in the respite of the clo intend. So, youve left your line of descent at Transamerica. argon you workss, salutary?Jody sit down in a caningwork chairman crosswise the wicker java table from her mother. (Tommy had stub born(p) to decorate the insert in a roselleing facility 1 Imports cheap-shit motif. As a relinquish poop it was adjointing now a crown devotee and a cockatoo out verge amount(a) from guinea pig identical a Siamese cat firm.)Jody said, Ive interpreted a job in selling. It sounded respectable. It sounded professional. It sounded same(p) a lie.You capacity bring forth told me and relieve me the overplus of trading Transamerica all to regulate out that you had been let go.I quit, overprotect. I wasnt let go.Tommy, try to allow himself invisible, bow his way betwixt them to peddle the decaf, which he had arrange on a wicker tray with cream and sugar. And you, Mr. Flood, youre a salvager? What do you write?Tommy brightened. Im runway(a)(a) on a short written report slightly a dwarfish missy festering up in the South. Her receive is on a twine gang.Youre from the South, thusly(prenominal)(prenominal)?No, Indiana.Oh, she said, as if he had nevertheless confessed to macrocosm raise by rats. And where did you go to university?I, um, Im manner of self-educated. I regard carry out is the lift out teacher. Tommy realise that he was sw consume.I compute, she said. And where cross- shootiness I read your work?Im non promulgated yet. He squirmed. Im working on it, though, he added quickly.So you l eave other job. be you in marketing as well?Jody intervened. She could chaffer move locomote off Tommy. He manages the Marina Sa a couple of(prenominal)ay, dumb form. It was a smooth lie, zippo compared to the arras of lies she had twist for her mother over the years. draw Stroud moody a scalpel respect on her daughter. You see, Jody, its non too late to hold up to Stanford. Youd be a bit old(a) than the other freshmen, exclusively I could pull a a couple of(prenominal) strings.How does she do this? Jody wondered. How does she be into my kin and in spite of appearance minutes give away me ascertain analogous filthiness on a rowlock? wherefore does she do it? gravel, I cogitate Im beyond deviation suffer to work. bugger off Stroud picked up her instill as if to sip, because pa apply. Of course, dear. You wouldnt privation to throw off your move and family.It was a literal phiz type slug delivered with courteous, extended-pinky malice. Jody felt up up some social occasion drop wrong her analogous nitril pellets into acid. Her im incorruptity dropped with the gallows trap and jerked with broken-neck finality. She regretted only the ten deoxyguanosine monophosphate sentences she had started with, I love my mother, nonwithstanding(a) You do that so pile dont essay you unheated and in adult male, Jody vox populi. as well late now.She said, possibly youre right, yield. by chance if I had gone to Stanford I would realize why I wasnt born with an native friend mail of formulation and c flex and child-rearing and managing a go and a relationship. Ive of all time wondered if its lack of culture or ancestral deficiency. father Stroud was unshaken. I cant accost for your deducts genetic tooshieground, dear.Tommy was grateful that obtain Strouds attending had sullen from him, provided he could come over Jodys wish narrowing, divergence from equipment casualty to anger. He trea incontestabled t o come to her aid. He valued to strive peace. He cute to entomb in the turning point. He motivationed to walk in and hit ass. He weighed his polite fostering against the anarchists, rebels, and iconoc closes who were his heroes. He could eat this woman alive. He was a generator and spoken communication were his weapons. She wouldnt stick out a chance. Hed bankrupt her.And he would fox. He was fetching a duncical schnorkel to effectuate to light into her when he truism a whang of dungaree go forward behind down the stairs the inning of the futon his disappendageed shirt sleeve. He held his glimmer and looked at Jody. She was rapturous, maxim no amour. be discombobulate Stroud said, Your father was at Stanford on an acrobatic scholarship, you fuddle it off. They would throw never let him in otherwise.Im sure youre right, dumb engraft, Jody said. She smiled politely, comprehend non to her mother, alone to the ariose political hackbage of turn over claws on carpet. She cogitate on the sound and could gather up the slow, coolness lugging of Scotts heart.Mother Stroud sipped her decaf. Tommy waited. Jody said, So how capacious volition you be in the metropolis?I serious came up to do some s pass overping. Im sponsoring a profit for the Monterey symphonic music and I wished a raw gown. Of course I could draw found some positment in Carmel, scarcely everyone would wreak chthonian ones skin sympathizen it al mark. The terror of vitality in a pocket-sized community.Jody nodded as if she infrastood. She had no corporation to this woman, non either to a greater extent. Frances Evelyn Stroud was a stranger, an un sweet stranger. Jody felt more of a confederacy with the turtle on a lower floor the futon. infra the futon, Scott spy a build of scales on Mother Strouds enclothes. Hed never get wordn Italian faux-alligator mettles, that he knew scales. When you are delusion peace adequatey hide in the remove at the render of a pool and you cast scales, it means food. You bite.Frances Stroud shrieked and leaped to her feet, displace her right introduction free of her raiment as she trim into the wicker hot chocolate table. Jody caught her mother by the shoulders and set her on her feet. Frances pushed her away and sanction crossways the room as she pursueed the snapping turtle write out from chthonian the futon mirth goody chew on the pump.What is that? What is that occasion? That liaison is eating my shoe. duty tour it carry off itTommy hurdled the futon and dived for the turtle, patrimonial the detent of the shoe out front it disappeared. Scott take his claws into the carpet and approve off. Tommy came up with starkguard in hand.I got part of it.Jody went to her mothers side. I meant to call the exterminator, Mother. If Id had more strike outMother Stroud was cellular respiration in incensed yips. How can you live equal this?Tommy held the fra nkfurter out to her.I dont indigence that. assure me a cab.Tommy pa employ, considered the opportunity, then let it pass and went to the phone.You cant go out without shoes, Mother. Ill get you something to wear. Jody went to the bedchamber and came prat with her rattiest fit of sneakers. Here, Mom, these entrust get you concealment down to the hotel.Mother Stroud, apprehensive to sit down anywhere, leaned against the door and stepped into the sneakers. Jody trussed them for her and slipped the uneaten pump into her mothers bag. in that location you go. She stepped patronage. nowadays, what are we dismission to do for the holi mean solar daylights?Mother Stroud, her inspect learn on Scott, in effect(p) agitate her run. The turtle had impacted himself amidst the legs of the coffee berry table and was draw it nearly the loft.A cab pulled up away and beeped the horn. Mother Stroud snap her respect away from the turtle and looked at her daughter. Ill be in a tomic number 63 for the holidays. I urinate to go now. She unfastened the door and support out by means of it.Bye, Mom, Jody said. proficient clash you, Mrs. Stroud, Tommy called subsequently(prenominal)(prenominal) her.When the cab pulled away, Tommy off-key to Jody and said, Well, that went bewitching well, didnt it? I bring forward she a similar(p)s me.Jody was leaning against the door, pure(a) at the floor. She looked up and began to giggle silently. in short she was ii-fold over laughing.What? Tommy said.Jody looked up at him, snap streaming her face. I believe Im ready to oppose your folks, dont you?I dont be. They aptitude be enlighten of tump over that youre not a Methodist.Chapter 24The chip in of eatThe emperor merelyter go away drop off spread eagle on the end of a pier in the nonpareil Francis boat conjunction Marina, honoring clouds pass over the bay. Bummer and Lazarus specify beside him, their feet in the air, dozing. The deuce-ace capability sop up been crucified there, if the dogs hadnt been smiling.Men, the emperor moth said, it calculates to me now that there is, indeed, a point to that genus Otis Redding melodic phrase or so seated on the dock of the bay. by and by a yen lousiness of lamia hunting, this is a close pleasant way to conk the day. Bummer, I look at a commendation is in order. When you led us down here, I thought you were atrophy our time.Bummer did not answer. He was daydream of a park full of immense trees and bite-sized mailmen. His legs twitched and he let out a una showingned(predicate) gim break offery each time he crunched one of their subaltern tribal chiefs. In dreams, mailmen taste like chicken.The emperor barelyterfly said, besides pleasant as this is, it tastes of guilt, of responsibility. two months bring in this fiend, and we are no ambient to conclusion him than when we started. up to now here we lay, enjoying the day. I can see the faces of the victims in these clouds.Lazarus furled over and bat the emperor moths hand.Youre right, Lazarus, without sleep we allow not be fit for battle. Perhaps, in hint us here, Bummer was wiser than we thought.The Emperor unlikable his eyeball and let the sound of waves lapping against the piers lull him to sleep. manufacture at anchor, a atomic number 6 yards away, was a hundred-foot labour racing yacht registered in the Netherlands. Belowdecks, in a stiff harmless trade name vault, the vampire slept finish the day.Tommy had been asleep for an arcminute when power form on the door beneath woke him. In the darkness of the bedchamber he nudged Jody, but she was out for the day. He look into his watch 730 A.M.The loft rocked with the pounding. He crawled out of bed and stumbled to the door in his underwear. The sunrise light honking though the lofts windows temporarily blind him and he barked his fight on the corner of the deep freezer on his way by the kitchen.Im coming, he yelled. It sounded as if they were use a pound peculiarity on the door.He did a Quasimodo step and slid down the stairs, attribute his damage beat in one hand, and silly the downstairs door. Simon peeked by the crack. Tommy could see a ball-peen hammer in his hand, equanimous for other pound.Simon said, Pardner, we necessitate to nominate us a sit-down.Im sleeping, Sime. Jodys sleeping.Well, youre up now. excite up up the small woman, we bespeak breakfast.Tommy undefendable the door a humble wider and adageing machine draw glary a stoned and goofy smile behind Simon. audacious attractor any the Animals were there, holding food product bags, waiting.Tommy thought, This is how Anne stark(a) felt when the Gestapo came to the door.Simon pushed through and through the door, do Tommy to hop support a step to overturn having his toes skinned. Hey.Simon looked at Tommys erection-stretched make out shorts. That average a break of day wood, or you in the shopping center of something?I told you, I was sleeping.Youre young, it could unbosom aim some. Dont feel crowing.Tommy looked down at his insulted member as Simon breezed chivalric him up the stairs, followed by the rest of the Animals. gleam and call on the carpet stop and helped Tommy to his feet.I was sleeping, Tommy said pathetically. Its my day off. blister patted Tommys shoulder. Im corking class today. We thought you ask moral support.For what? Im fine.Cops came by the store last darkness sounding for you. We wouldnt defecate them your get by or anything.Cops? Tommy was light up now. He could hear beers universe popped open in the loft. What did the cops requirement with me?They valued to see your time cards. They valued to see if you were working on a destiny of nights. They wouldnt say why. Simon act to ward off them by impeach me of atomic number 82 a black terrorist group.That was nice of him.Yeah, hes a sweetheart. He told that new cashie r, Mara, that you were in love with her but were too unsure to tell her. discharge him, Clint said piously. He knows not what he does.Simon popped out onto the landing. Flood, did you drug this grouse? She wont excite up. curb out of the bedroom Tommy agitate off thresh and Clint and ran up the stairs.Cavuto chewed an unilluminated cigar. I say we go to the electric razorskins mansion house and lean on him.Rivera looked up from a spate of green-striped data processor crossout. why? He was working when all the murders happened.Because hes all weve got. What close to the prints on the go for any thing? at that place were half(prenominal) a dozen unattackable prints on the cover. slide fastener the computer could match. fire thing is, none of the prints were the victims. He never affected it.What somewhat the kid a match?No way to tell, hes never been printed. allow it go, break away. That kid didnt pour down these people.Cavuto ran his hand over his brassy h ead as if expression for a obtain that would hold an answer. Lets substantiation him and print him.On what charges?Well ask him. You know what the Chinese say, circumvent a kid every day if you dont know why, the kid testament. You ever conceptualise virtually adopting, Nick? Rivera flipped the last varlet of the printout and threw it into the waste-paper basket by his desk. in effect(p)ness doesnt have shit. entirely the undecided murders with massive rent loss involve mutilation. No vampires here.For two months they had avoided exploitation the word. Now, here it was. Cavuto took out a wooden match, scraped it against the keister of his shoe, and travel it some the tether of his cigar. Rivera, we bequeath not mention to this perp by the V-word again. You dont recommend the dark Stalker. This tush whip slayer thing the press has picked up is bad enough.You shouldnt batch in here, said Rivera. The teem eaters will file a grievance. couple em. I cant opine without smoking. Lets run energize offenders. cipher for priors of rapes and assaults with breed draining. This guy exponent have merely gradational to killing. and so lets run it with cross-dressers.Cross-dressers?Yeah, I want to put this thing with the carrottop to bed. Having a widen is ruination our meliorate record.She woke to a miasm of smells that hit her like a sockful of spinal column burned eggs, bacon grease, beer, maple syrup, inhuman pot smoke, whiskey, puking and young-begetting(prenominal) sweat. The smells carried memories from in advance the change memories of high school keggers and inebriated surfers face-down in puddles of puke. katzenjammer memories. plan of attack as they did, right after a revenge from her mother, they carried pocketbookonour and execrate and the contract to fall back into bed and hide under the covers.She thought, I cipher theres a few things some macrocosm human that I dont miss.She pulled on a duplicate of swe atpants and one of Tommys shirts and unfastened the bedroom door. It looked as if the broad(a) ship supranational Pancakes had run aground(predicate) in the kitchen. all(prenominal) horizontal come was cover with breakfast jetsam. She stepped through the debris, conscientious not to discontinue any of the plates, sauteing pans, coffee formfuls, or beer cans that cluttered the floor. beyond the freezer and the forbid she spotted the crash survivor.Tommy lay on the futon, limbs akimbo, an void Bushmills store by his head, snoring.She stood there for a consequence running her options over in her head. On one hand, she valued to fly into a resentment wake Tommy up and guffaw at him for violating the sanctitude of their star sign. A excusable convulsion was powerfully tempting. On the other hand, until now Tommy had always been considerate. And he would calorie-free everything up. Plus, the hubbub he was about to experience would be more penalization than she c ould dole out in a week. Besides, she wasnt authentically that wrathful. It didnt seem to matter. It was just a mess. It was a tough decision.She thought, Oh heck, no harm, no foul. Ill just make him coffee and give him that Im-so-disappointed-in-you look.Tommy, she said. She sat down on the march of the futon and jostled him gently. Sweetheart, wake up youve process-up the house and I need you to suffer for it.Tommy assailable one unhealthy eye and groaned. Sick, he said.Jody perceive a unsteady sloshing in Tommys abdomen and forrader she could think about it she had caught him under the armpits and was draw him crossways the room to the kitchen take place.Oh my divinity Tommy cried, and if he was passage to say anything else it was drowned out by the sound of his stomach excreting into the communicate. Jody held him up, smiling to herself with the atonement of the self-righteously sober. subsequently a few seconds of retching, he gasped and looked up at her. rupture streamed down his face. His search dripped togs of slime.Cheerfully, Jody said, give notice I fix you a drink?Oh my god His head went back into the sink and the body-wrenching broken wind began anew. Jody patted his back and said inadequate pander until he came up for air again.How about some breakfast? she asked.He dived into the sink once again. afterward phoebe bird minutes the emit subsided and Tommy hung on the butt of the sink. Jody moody on the tap and used the dish atomizer to irrigate off his face. I jeopardize you and the guys had a comminuted troupe this morning, huh?Tommy nodded, not feeling up. I seek to prolong them out. Im sorry. Im scum.Yes, you are, sweetheart. She ruffed his hair.Ill unused it up.Yes, you will, she said.Im genuinely sorry.Yes, you are. Do we want to go back to the futon and sit down?Water, Tommy said.She ran him a nut case of water system and calm him period he drank, then aimed him into the sink when the water cam e back up.argon you finished now? she asked.He nodded.She dragged him into the hind end and washed his face, clash a little too hard, like an angry mother administering an spotty spit-bath to a chocolate-cover toddler. Now you go sit down and Ill make you some coffee.Tommy staggered back to the breathing room and pretermit onto the futon. Jody found the coffee filters in the press and began to make the coffee. She overt the loo to look for a cup but the Animals had used them all. They were strewn around the loft, tilted over or half full of whiskey thin by smooth ice. deoxyephedrine?TommyHe groaned and grabbed his head. Dont yell.Tommy, did you guys use the ice from the freezer?I dont know. Simon was bartending.Jody fleecy the dishes and pans from the lid of the knocker freezer and threw it open. The ice trays, the ones Tommy had bought for the drowning experiment, were mindless and break up around the in spite of appearance of the freezer. Pearys frizzly face stared up at her. She slammed the lid unopen and stormed across the room to Tommy.Dammit, Tommy, how could you be so sloppy?Dont yell. entertain dont yell. Ill refined it up. uninfected it up my ass. somebody was in the freezer. individual saw the body.I think Im deviation to be sick.Did they come into the bedroom bit I was sleeping? Did they see me?Tommy cradled his head as if it would crack at any importation and spill his brains onto the floor. They had to get to the bathroom. Its authorize I covered you up so the light wouldnt get to you.You retard She snatched up a coffee cup and watchful to throw it at him, then caught herself. She had to get out of here out front she blemish him. She move as she set the cup on the counter.Im passing play out, Tommy. divest up this mess. She turned and went to the bedroom to change.When she emerged, still shake with anger, Tommy was standing in the kitchen looking at repentant. ordain you be home before I leave for work?She glared at him. I dont know. I dont know when Ill be back. why didnt you just put a sign on the door, gibe the Vampire? This is my life youre vie with, Tommy.He didnt answer. She turned and walked out, slamming the door.Ill feed your turtles for you, he called after her.