Whaling City Vampires: Love Beyond Death

  Chapter 23

  Susie led her new companions to her rented rooms which like all the others on the street opened out onto the rocky dirt road where men passed on their way to night shifts and taverns while women called from windows to the passing men and to one another as squabbling and crying children begged for attention in the rooms behind the windows. Many of the voices came from recent immigrants speaking several foreign languages and it seemed as though there was a local tavern catering to each language spoken. Animals skulked along the edges of buildings roaming the trash-strewn alleys for what passed for food. Amy and Ruthie were well acquainted with the alleys of this area having been their former hunting ground for blood.

  Their faces hidden in their hoods, Ruthie and Amy kept Susie from being recognized by keeping her behind them and toward the run down walls of the buildings. Reaching a building pinned tightly between two others, Susie stopped and, still hiding behind Amy and Ruthie, peeked into the front window. Two steps to the left brought Susie to the heavy front door where she tested her newly acquired strength by forcing it open.

  Puzzled by Susie's sudden aggressive behavior, Amy and Ruthie exchanged surprised glances as the door slammed shut behind Susie.

  "Why did she enter so forcibly when she could have turned to vapor and been discreet?" Amy remarked, "or simply walked inside of her own house."

  "I don't know," Ruthie replied, "maybe because of what she saw when she peeked into the window."

  From inside the house babies cried, a little girl screamed and loud thuds could be heard, though not the thuds of children being harmed. While the wild thudding ensued the children's cries never wavered or lost strength as they would have if they were being thrown or beaten.

  After a quarter of an hour or so the thudding ceased after growing louder and closer to the front of the house and two or three thuds landed on the front door as though someone was attempting to escape.

  "What is going on in there?" Ruthie wondered aloud, "She isn't beating her babies is she?"

  "Those last thuds were close to the door and the children's cries haven't moved closer," Amy hoped her logical guess was true, but still couldn't find a clue as to what was actually happening.

  Eventually after the loud thuds ceased, the girls' screams ceased also subsiding into soft sobs.

  "Should we go inside and see if Susie is all right?" Ruthie asked when no sound at all could be heard from inside.

  "No," Amy replied, "let's wait for Susie to invite us."

  Just then the front door opened slowly and Susie beckoned for Amy and Ruthie to enter quickly. Upon entering the dark musty rooms Susie closed and locked the door. The little girls seemed inconsolable as they sat huddled and whimpering on the only bed in the apartment. Susie was shaken and close to tears herself as Ruthie and Amy looked around trying to find the cause of so much upset.

  "Look," Susie's trembling hand pointed to something on the floor behind them.

  The vampires all looked at two mangled bodies on the floor.

  "Susie!" Amy asked in astonishment, "what happened? We heard the banging as we waited outside. Now I see what caused it."

  "That is my landlady," Susie replied angrily, "and the man is a stranger."

  Susie sat on the edge of the bed and put her arms around her children, "my landlady was about to prostitute my children! We got here just in time."

  "Oh, Susie!" Amy exclaimed in disgust and astonishment.

  "Oh, good Lord!" Ruthie groaned, "thank God we did get here in time."

  "Well, she got what she deserved," Susie said, "but how will I protect my children? I can't leave them alone again. I wish I knew someone who could take them in."

  "Take them in!" Amy said in sudden realization, "I know who can help us."

  "Who," Ruthie asked, "your family?"

  "No," Amy replied, "they would send them to an orphanage. The Quakers will take them in and protect them!"

  "The Quakers?" Susie asked.

  "Yes!" Ruthie agreed, "they help runaway slaves, they'll help motherless children too."

  "Motherless?" Susie said, "I suppose they are motherless now, aren't they?"

  "Mother," the oldest daughter said, "I'm afraid. What's happening? Who are they?"

  "These are some friends, Mary," Susie muttered, "they're going to help us," Susie searched for words, "I'm sick and I'm not able to live with you anymore."

  "Sick?" Mary asked worriedly, "Like our father was?"

  "No," Susie started to say, then thought again, "yes, like your father was. That's why we have to get you to people who can take care of you."

  "Mother," Mary hugged her little sisters, "you hurt those people. You're so strong. I think you killed them."

  "Try to forget about that," Susie said sternly, "They were bad people who wanted to hurt you and your sisters."

  Susie scanned the dark room for the thin coats, which doubled as blankets for the bed while Ruthie and Amy remained close by witnessing the awkward scene. She found the coats on the floor and handed them to Mary, "Help me get these coats on your sisters and put yours on as well."

  Mary obeyed her mother, but remained confused and frightened, "why do we have to go? I can care for the girls myself."

  "You're not safe here, Mary," Susie explained, "more people would find you alone and try to hurt you if you don't starve to death first." Susie picked up the baby and took the four year old by the hand as they turned toward the door, "My friends know some nice people who will give you a good home and you'll have a much better life than you would here."

  Susie led the children toward the door glancing worriedly at Amy and Ruthie as she passed, "get the door, Mary."

  Mary opened the door while Amy and Ruthie closed the gap behind the family to block the view inside to any passersby.

  "We can't leave these," Ruthie whispered to Amy, referring to the corpses.

  "We'll take care of them later," Amy whispered back.

  Amy and Ruthie led the way north to the Quaker's house that they had seen the runaway slaves enter. Ruthie carried the three year old while Susie carried Mary and the middle daughter. Very little was said during the emotionally difficult trip. Ruthie gazed down at the baby who slept peacefully from the motion of Ruthie's' smooth and gentle gait. She felt the warm weight of the helpless tot and was sad she could never have a child of her own. The thought reminded her of Michael and that if she were still human they could be together and have a family, but there was no chance of that happening. In fact, if she were still human and alive she never would have met Michael and could only dread the possibility of being impregnated by her former master.

  While Ruthie tried to push her sadness from her mind and enjoy the feel of the warm sleeping baby in her arms, Amy divided her thoughts between Susie's need to make her children safe by abandoning them and the problem of disposing of the bodies in Susie's apartment without being seen. Each step took them closer and closer to the inevitable scene where Susie must say goodbye to her children forever.

  Susie followed her new vampire sisters through the dark streets carrying her children for the last time. With her new strength the children were no longer a burden on her back and arms and she felt that she could carry them forever. Not knowing exactly where the Quaker family lived, Susie hoped it was a long distance. Once they arrived she would be saying goodbye to her children forever, but there was no other safe alternative. She hoped with all of her heart that this was indeed safe and that her girls would be better off with a new family than if she had never become a vampire and was able to remain living with them.

  Keeping to the shadows of the trees Amy and Ruthie led Susie to the familiar house and stood behind the tree where they had first seen the slave hunters and revisited many times in the hopes of ridding the world of even more of the evil slave hunters.

  "These people protect runaway slaves, Susie," Ruthie said, "They'll surely help three little white girls."

  Susie set Mary and the tot down and took her infant from Ruth
ie to hold one last time while the two older children clung to her skirt. After a few moments Susie sadly handed the baby to Mary, "You have to take care of your sisters for now. We'll wait until you're inside safe. Go take your sisters and knock on the door."

  "Why, Momma," Mary cried, "Why do we have to go?"

  "It's really me that's going, Mary," Susie became agitated with the difficult situation, "you can't live without an adult to protect you. This nice family will make sure you're safe and fed. I'm not able to do that anymore."

  "I'm hungry!" announced the toddler.

  "There you go, Janey, these nice people will give you something to eat," Susie hugged and kissed her children while tears streamed down Mary's face, "go ahead, Mary, give your sisters and yourself a chance to eat."

  "All right, Mother," Mary agreed reluctantly as she turned and left the shadows and brought her little sisters to the front door. A moment later the door opened to a warmly lit home and the three little girls were welcomed inside and the door closed behind them.

  "Well," Amy said, "they should be well taken care of now. We need to do something about the bodies in your house, Susie."

  The mention of the bodies renewed Susie's anger and brought her thoughts away from the empty front stoop where she saw her children for the last time, "I know what I'd like to do to those bodies. I'd like to tear them to pieces and burn them."

  "Good Lord!" Ruthie exclaimed, "You already killed them. Isn't that enough?"

  "You didn't see what they were about to do to my children," Susie turned to Ruthie with rage in her eyes.

  "I can imagine," Ruthie said, "people can be very cruel to children."

  "Yes," Amy said to Susie, "Ruthie was a victim of child cruelty herself."

  "Some people think money can buy anything, even the use of an innocent person for their own pleasure."

  "It makes me absolutely ill to think of what some deranged people consider pleasure," Amy remarked.

  "I'd rather not talk about it anymore," Susie said as she followed Amy and Ruthie back toward town, "let's get rid of those bodies. It's much too painful looking at the house where my children are lost to me now."

  "We'll follow the tracks back to town in case anyone saw us come this way," Amy lead the way, "we don't want anyone becoming suspicious."