Path of the Vampire forum

Her rings clinked against the top of the glass display case. One. Two. Three. Her pinky finger remained bare; the ring on her thumb never made contact. It was a cold, rainy day in October, and sales were down. Not for the quarter, not for the month or the week, but for the day. They’d had ten appointments scheduled for the day: Five of the people cancelled and walk-ins had been limited to two. Sadie didn’t want to go in that day, but she had no other choice. Two of the appointments had been hers, and the two walk-ins had been hers as well. Three bellybutton piercings and a nipple piercing. Though she preferred tongue piercings and surface piercings -- a specialty of hers -- she encouraged people to embrace any type of piercing, as was expected in the job description. But those thoughts only circled around and around so many times, leading right back to her current disposition. Sadie, leaning over the glass display case, tapped her fingers once more. Her friend, Tyler, kept glaring at her, until he eventually placed his hand beneath hers, blocking her rings from coming into contact with the glass.

“If you’re that bored, maybe you should ask Perry to go home,” the man suggested, referring to their boss, a tattoo-covered girl by the name of Perry Ross. Sadie considered the option, but she ultimately sighed and shook her head. “Late on the rent payment again?”

“Behind by thirteen days. If I don’t make it up this week, the old lady’s evicting me. She’s sweet, but she’s got a mean streak like you wouldn’t believe,” Sadie finally supplied. The woman stood up straight, raised her hands above her head, and cracked her back. The series of pops had Tyler scowling, but he remained quiet. “Sorry,” she apologized, though she didn’t mean it, “I know you hate it.” And he did. He’d asked her numerous times to stop, but she continued, if only just to piss him off.

“If you’re so bored, why don’t you help me sketch some of these tattoos. Mad drawing skills, right?” Tyler asked, right out of the blue. Sadie detected the sarcasm in his words, but she still nodded. She followed him back to his room. The two of them passed by the open door of Perry’s room, where the woman was working on a three-part session for a hulking guy named Ryan. He’d wanted his entire back covered and shaded. Sadie didn’t even want to think about how much the guy was sinking into such a display. Tattooing wasn’t her thing.

“How much do you think that costs?” Sadie jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, right in the direction of Perry’s open room. Tyler shrugged his shoulders, but he wiggled his hand back and forth. A decent price, his gesture signified. Perry knew the guy, so she could have been giving him a discount. Then again, he could have been charged several hundred dollars, maybe even a grand. Perry’s prices varied. She set the bar. “What do you need help with, my pet?” Sadie teased him, but he didn’t rise to the bait. It almost disappointed her.

“If tomorrow’s clients actually show up, I’ve got a tattoo of a grandmother I’m working on drawing. Then a dog. I need help with a beehive and a lotus blossom.” He walked over to his printer and grabbed several sheets of paper that had printed out. Some of them were obviously for future appointments, but he took out four pages for the next day’s appointments. “Here,” Tyler said, offering her two pages.

“Why would you take the grandmother? She’s going to look like ****. Just let Perry do it,” Sadie groaned.

“Excuse you. I’ll make that old bitty look like a damn Victoria’s Secret model,” Tyler sassed, snapping his fingers in a Z formation. The both of them laughed. “I took the grandmother because Perry’s going out of town tomorrow, remember? They’re having that expo in Toronto and she wants to get there early. I think Ryan might be going too. Who knows. I don’t keep track of her every move.” He sounded defensive then and Sadie couldn’t stop the ****-eating grin that former on her lipstick-covered lips. Pink lips parted to reveal the white teeth behind them.

“I bet you do,” Sadie said in a sing-song voice. Even as she gathered the paper to begin sketching, she kept that smile on her face. Tyler held up a single finger, his middle finger, and then got to work on the image of the grandmother. “Let me pierce your nipples.” Sadie reached across the desk between them and tried groping at one of his nipples, but he slapped her hand away.

“The **** is wrong with you? No,” Tyler said, his voice carrying out of the room and down the hall. Both of them heard Perry stop tattooing, the room going silent. They remained silent then, waiting until Perry’s work resumed. Sadie stuck her tongue out and Tyler reached over to try and grasp Sadie’s pierced tongue. Sadie retracted her tongue and snapped her mouth shut. Tyler just grinned.

“Shithead,” Sadie announced.

Nothing but silence followed for the next thirty minutes. They didn’t notice when Perry ceased her motions, didn’t notice when Perry wished Ryan a good night. Perry stuck her head into the room, her blonde hair hair hanging over one shoulder -- the other half of her head had been shaved. She stood there for a few minutes and then cleared her throat. Tyler and Sadie continued with their final touches and then glanced up at their boss. She wasn’t a bad boss, not in any sense of the word, but she ran a strict ship and they had to learn how to take her word as law. Tyler waved a hand, but Sadie stuck out her tongue. Perry flashed a brilliant smile, leaning in the doorway as if she were the ******* queen. Sadie had dated Perry, briefly, and she’d thought the blonde was a queen, until she figured out that Perry liked to shop around. The two somehow made their workplace relationship work, so whatever happened in their private lives had been shoved aside, swept under the imaginary rug.

“You guys can head home. I’ll lock up,” Perry offered.

“Nah, tonight is my night,” Sadie said, making eye contact with her exhausted boss. It really wasn’t her night. The night belonged to Kevin, but Kevin had called in. Apparently, he’d caught the flu. No one really missed him. They all wanted him gone, since he called in so many times a month, but Perry liked his work. The man was practically a god when it came to customer relations, and his tattoos looked like angels had swept in just to do them. No one could deny the guy’s talent.

“I could do it,” Tyler quickly stepped up, but Perry merely arched a brow at him. “Fine, but I’ve got tomorrow.”

The three of them took time cleaning up their stations, the final sweep of the day, and then they packed up and prepared their belongings for tomorrow’s first appointments. Sadie had two septum piercings. Tyler had the grandmother piece he had to fit on a man’s upper arm. And Perry, Perry had to leave for Toronto. As Tyler poked his head into Sadie’s room, she snapped a single black glove in his direction. The glove smacked him right in the face and she howled with laughter. He picked up the glove and tossed it into the trash bag sitting by the door. “Real mature. Twenty-three and you act like you’re four,” he complained.

“And with the body of a goddess,” Perry added, poking her head into the room.

“Thanks, muffin,” Sadie winked.

“Let’s get the **** out of here. Go, go,” Tyler huffed, grabbing one of Perry’s hands. He tugged her out of the doorway, but he poked his head back in and narrowed his eyes. Tyler really liked Perry. The poor ********.

Without the other two around, the shop fell into an uncomfortable silence. Sadie had to collect all the trash, make sure that all of the instruments were cleaned, and then wipe down the front counter. Everything else had already been done. Each person handled their own respective rooms. Sadie just made sure everything passed inspection. When she finally left, she turned out all of the lights, made sure the front door was locked and the security system was set. The panel by the door alerted her that she had a minute or two before the security system armed itself, and she used those moments to slip out the backdoor.

The night was cold. She should have worn a jacket, at least a sweater, but the day had been decent enough to skip one. As she trekked through the alley and circled around into the small parking lot, someone reached out and grabbed her elbow. A hand went over her mouth. Sadie looked down and caught side of the shiny shoes. Dress shoes, as if the person had money. Men’s dress shoes, judging by the size and shape and overall style. Sadie lifted her right foot and slammed her sneaker down on the man’s right foot. He cussed and swung out, hitting her in the side of the head. She heard a sudden ringing in her ears, and then her head knocked against the side of the building. Sliding down toward the ground, her backpack scraping against the bricks of the building, she found herself staring up at a man with a sickening grin on his face. He had a diamond tooth. That much stood out. Who had diamond teeth?

“Now listen here, princess. I’m looking for a man named Ferris, Tyler Ferris. He owes us some money. Be a good little girl and tell us where we can find him?” The man stooped down in front of Sadie and she felt her eyes burn with unshed tears. As he reached out to touch her face, she spit in his. His gentle hand turned violent and he slapped her across the face instead. She spit out blood. “Jimmy. Get the rope. Let’s take this one home, huh?” The man turned away for just a second and that’s all it took. Sadie bent her knee and sent it upward, kneeing the man right in the nuts.

“My name isn’t princess, gangster scumbag,” Sadie spat, kneeing him once more. She struggled to stand, but she did so, and then she made a mad dash for her car. The hood was up, the battery disconnected and thrown across the lot. All four tires had been slashed.

Sadie watched “Jimmy” take a few steps back. The man then turned and walked toward a black BMW. Jimmy had any ugly scar from his right temple down toward the right corner of his mouth, as if he had succeeded in winning, or possibly losing, a knife fight. The ring leader, having recovered from the defensive attack, grabbed Sadie by her dark locks and proceeded to drag her along the rough, cracked asphalt toward the BMW. The vehicle's tinted windows hid two or three other men from view, as far as Sadie thought. She thought she caught glimpses of shadows, outlines of heads. “Let go of me!” Sadie cried out, her hands going toward her hair as if to fight off the man's hold and untangle her hair from his fingers. Instead, the man gave a particularly rough tug and the base of Sadie's spine connected hard with the pavement. She let out a hiss of pain and her hands immediately went to cradle her injury, but they dragged along the ground, rocks cutting into the flesh on her palms. “I'll tell you whatever you want,” she lied, knowing she'd never betray her best friend. “Don't take me,” she pleaded, “please don't take me.”

Jimmy had the trunk open on the BMW. He had his face buried in there, obviously searching through the contents for a length of rope. The leader, however, had grown impatient. Instead of waiting for Jimmy, he’d dragged Sadie to the back of the car and dropped her, rather roughly, onto the ground. Her head bounced off the pavement and she saw stars. The pain reverberated through her entire body and then centered on her skull. Warm blood leaked down the side of her face. “I can’t find it, Frankie,” Jimmy said, finally raising his head from within the trunk. “We must have used the last on that Wilford guy,” Jimmy frowned, ready to close the trunk.

“Why don’t you give her my home address to, you putz?” Frankie reached out and slapped the back of Jimmy’s head. The man had ducked though, so Frankie’s hand only skimmed the top of Jimmy’s head. Frankie shoved some things aside and produced a length of rope. Jimmy ducked his head, clearly embarrassed, and stepped away from the trunk. “Now tie her up and let’s get the **** out of here.” Frankie tossed the rope to his lackey. Around that time, Sadie recovered from the sudden drop and began to scoot away from the approaching gangster lackey. Her back ached. Her hands throbbed. But she refused to give up and let them take her, not alive. Sadie grabbed some of the loose dirt and rocks and threw them up into Jimmy’s face. Some of the dirt got into Jimmy’s eyes and he yelled out a string of profanities.

Around that time, several things happened. The doors on the BMW opened, and two other men emerged from the backseat, each holding a gold-plated handgun. Frankie drew his own pistol. And a girl, no older than twenty, came racing down the alley. The sound of a gun clattering against the pavement the only warning of her quick approach. Her clothing was torn on her knees and near the bottom hem of her shirt, as if she’d just thrown herself over a dividing fence. The girl attracted the attention of the two gangsters and they immediately pointed their guns at her. Jimmy still struggled to regain his eyesight. Frankie, however, had been temporarily distracted. Sadie scrambled to her feet, dizzy as she was, and thrust her palm right at Frankie’s nose. The man fell to his knees, cradling his seemingly broken nose -- Sadie certainly didn’t remain there to see if she’d succeeded or not. She dove over the hood of the BMW and tore open the driver’s side door.

Jimmy had fallen to his knees. Frankie had both hands cradling his face, trying to simultaneously pinch the bridge of his nose and collect the blood flowing down over his mouth and chin. The two other gangsters finally turned their eyes away from the sprinting girl. She’d jumped over the chainlink fence, her shirt once again caught on the top. When she’d cleared the lot, Sadie found herself in another predicament. A woman emerged from the side of the alley. The girl had been running from someone or something, and Sadie knew right then that the girl had been escaping said woman. Jimmy, even on his knees, had attracted the woman’s attention. In horror, Sadie watched as the newcomer sent claws right through the back of Jimmy’s neck, right at the base of Jimmy’s skull. The two gangsters near the vehicle, Thing One and Thing Two, immediately opened fire.

Bullets dug into the woman’s flesh, but she moved onward as if she were a freight train. The woman seemed indestructible, practically immortal, and Sadie noticed the way the woman seemed focused on her. Frankie finally joined the fray, shouting at his remaining two thugs not to run away, to open fire and take the woman down. He looked a mess, but he had guts. He had a spine that Sadie lacked, for she whipped the car door open and struggled to get inside. Her legs wouldn’t cooperate. Her arms couldn’t move fast enough. She had no keys. Frankie, most likely, held the keys. She lacked the talent to hotwire the vehicle. Realizing she had no chance of a getaway, realizing she would only trap herself within the vehicle, unarmed and all too vulnerable, Sadie threw herself out of the car and scrambled to her feet. She took off running toward the chainlink fence. She tried following in the other girl’s footsteps. She tried. She tried.

“Lou, get that *****! Don’t let her get away. She’s the ticket to my ******* money!” Frankie yelled, his voice muffled slightly by the injury to his nose. Every word must have hurt him even more, but he carried on. “Darrell, keep firing. This must be one of them vampires! She’s like a woman on fire. Aim for her head. No, Darrell, I said her head, you dumb ****! Head shots!”