Chapter 24
Fog crept over the tracks from the river as they approached Susie's street without incident. Susie remained silent in her angry determination to rid her former house of the bodies of her daughters' would-be abusers. Ruthie and Amy moved along peeking out from under their hoods always wary of being noticed and recognized by townspeople. Tonight they were even more careful as Susie accompanied them with no cloak and hood yet of her own to hide within. They shielded Susie from her neighbors again the same as their earlier visit to the house.
Once inside the apartment, they spoke freely.
"How do you suggest we dispose of these filthy corpses?" Susie asked her companions as she angrily kicked the landlady's head.
"I'd rather not carry them to the river," Amy looked at Ruthie, "just look at the size of that woman."
"Since there are two of them," Ruthie said, "we can make it look like they killed each other."
"Fine," Susie readily agreed.
"Or," added Ruthie, "I can find a stray dog and set up another false animal attack."
"I much prefer your first suggestion, Ruthie," Amy said, "It's more original and will cause less suspicion. Besides, we would have to move the bodies outside to suggest an animal attack. No one would keep a crazed animal in their house."
"Look at those injuries!" Ruthie exclaimed as she lifted the man's arm from where it was draped over his crushed head, "Are the authorities going to believe a woman did this?"
"A woman did do it," Susie said as she laid the bodies side-by-side as though they fell fighting instead of being thrown against the walls.
"Do you have a heavy object, Susie?" Amy asked, "That we can rest near the bodies to give the appearance that the woman used a weapon to crush the man's head that way?"
"Yes," Susie quickly went to the other room and returned with a cast iron skillet that she set on the floor by the landlady's lifeless hand.
"I believe that will suffice," Amy said happily, "Now we need to get you a hooded cloak of your own, Susie."
"It's getting late," Ruthie announced, "we better hurry."
Arriving at a row of dark deserted shops a block or two away, Amy demonstrated to Susie how to vaporize and direct herself under doors or through keyholes to gain entrance through locked doors. Susie's demeanor was reduced to quiet mimicry as she followed Amy's lead without comment. Even as an immortal being Susie had been through such a range of extreme loss and gain in one short night that she seemed almost unable to mentally absorb anymore.
After choosing a highly polished deeply padded coffin, Susie learned the technique of reducing its size for ease of transport. Another shop was selected for the acquisition of a fine hooded cloak that Amy and Ruthie helped Susie to put on and they led her back to the twin-spired church where the lair awaited them.
Amy laid out Susie's new coffin in the dark dusty room along with the other two and helped Susie to rest. Without speaking or even acknowledging her two sires, Susie expressionless with exhaustion, pulled the lid closed on her first night as a vampire.
The next night sunset shown cold and gray in the late autumn sky that held clouds of black waste from several smoking mills of the small city mixed with smoke from the fires of the waterfront boatyards that were heating tar for sealer. Some workers were able to leave work at sunset while others, depending on their jobs, worked well into the night by the artificial light of oil lamps and candles and were given only a short time off for a meal. Sailors in port frequented the establishments in the commercial area near the docks while city residents patronized the neighborhood taverns or churches of their choice.
Only the wind could be heard in the church basement as Amy rose from her coffin and lit a candle on the table. She scowled at the sound of the wind whistling through the chimneys and wood-framed windows in the lower level of the building when she imagined the damage her hair would suffer outside. Dismissing the thought of her hair for now, she hummed to herself as she chose a dress and cloak for the evening. Ruthie rose and dressed before sitting down to her evening Bible reading.
"We should take Susan shopping for a new dress tonight, Ruthie," Amy suggested, "she will feel much better in a new dress."
"If that's what she wants to do," Ruthie assented without looking up from her studies.
Both vampires looked up with a start as Susie's coffin began to thump and bump on the ground and muffled wails escaped from inside.
Ruthie rushed to Susie's coffin and quickly raised the lid to find Susie wide-eyed and hysterically returning her gaze. Susie's dark hair flew free from her bun, her teeth were bared and her hands flew and waved as though she were fighting off an invisible assailant. Her moans turned into howls as Amy rushed to Ruthie's side to help pull her from the coffin.
"Susie, Susie!" Amy and Ruthie held Susie by the arms and pulled her to her feet.
Susie shook herself free and fell to her knees on the rocky dirt floor reaching her hands to the ceiling, howling uncontrollably as though to the heavens.
"Good lord," Ruthie said to Amy, "somebody is going to hear her and find us all."
"Let's hope that no unscheduled activities are being held upstairs today. The church should be deserted."
"We've got to get her to be quiet," Ruthie knelt down facing Susie and tried to console the tormented vampire by rubbing her arms and making shushing soothing noises. Finally she began to sing a hymn and Susie's howls subsided to sobs as she lowered her hands to her face.
"Imagine!" Amy remarked as Ruthie lifted Susie to her feet and led her to a seat at the table, "a vampire having a nightmare."
Eventually Susie's sobs diminished and Ruthie's singing died out and the three of them sat silently at the table as the wind blew and the flame slightly flickered. Susie's hands still covered her face as her elbows rested on the tabletop. Amy and Ruthie watched her expectantly waiting for her hands to drop to reveal whatever expression her face wore.
After several minutes passed and Susie's position remained unchanged, Amy gave Ruthie a questioning look and resumed brushing and arranging her hair. Ruthie's concerned eyes moved from Amy's face to Susie and then rested on her open Bible to study patiently until Susie composed herself enough to reveal the reason for her torment to her companions.
Eventually, Amy was ready to leave the lair for the night and still Susie sat motionless with her hands covering her face. Ruthie was prepared to leave as well, but patiently prayed and studied her Bible while waiting for Susie.
"Are you all right, Susie?" Amy asked cautiously, hoping Susie wouldn't relapse into her howling fit in response.
Susie's hands moved slightly as Amy and Ruthie watched questioningly.
Gradually, Susie lowered her hands to the table and looked at Amy and then at Ruthie, her face solemn and still.
"Are you all right?" Amy repeated.
Susie looked up at Amy and replied, "I've had a lot to try to understand about what happened to me. Last night doesn't seem real. I'm not even sure if I remember everything that happened. It's all very hard to understand and accept," she looked at Ruthie and back to Amy, "I don't know if I'm all right, to be honest. The two of you seem to have adjusted to this situation, so I think I will too."
"Well," Amy seemed relieved, "I think you will too. It is a lot to get accustomed to, but you will, I'm sure. We'll do all we can to help you too, won't we Ruthie."
"Of course we will," Ruthie patted Susie's hand, "it took me a while to get used to being a sinner and I don't know if I'm completely used to it yet. I've accepted it, but I still don't like it."
Amy gave Ruthie a quick disapproving look, "We're supposed to be encouraging her, Ruthie."
"Oh, that's right, I'm sorry. Just remember how strong you are now. You don't have to worry about being a victim ever again. You can live forever and never have to be told what to do by anyone again. Also, you don't have to worry about going hungry or being cold anymore."
"Yes," Amy encouraged, "that's right, Susie."
"I have
too much confusion right now," Susie rose from the table, "I can't think about all that right now."
"That's fine, Susie," Amy replied, "why don't we all go out and take a walk."
To Amy's relief and delight, Susie agreed to leave the lair. Amy's need for blood was causing her anxiety and Ruthie was ready to go out hunting as well. Neither of them knew what Susie was thinking, but her need for blood must have been as strong as theirs whether she recognized it yet or not.
As they walked toward the river Susie asked, "Are my children all right?"
"Oh yes, Susie," Amy assured her, "I'm sure they are."
"Warm and fed," Ruthie added, "those are some good people we left them with."
"That will always be something I painfully regret," Susie sighed, "having to give up my poor children. I'll never forget the look on Mary's face when I made her walk up to that door last night."
"Have faith in the Lord, Susie," Ruthie nodded under her hood, "he'll be sure to watch over them."
"I don't have any faith in anything anymore," Susie glided along beside her companions. Her hood covering her disheveled hair and shading her stony face, "least of all the Lord. He never seemed to watch over us in the past."
"I have to have faith in something," Ruthie replied, "I can't just go on killing and stealing forever with nothing to hope for. If someone someday ends my life, I hope to walk with Jesus in the kingdom of God. I probably won't, being the heathen that I am, but at least I can have hope and faith and try to repent."
"I won't waste my energy on hoping for heaven if I happen to have my head removed," Amy announced, "I look forward only to being reunited with Robert so we may all live happy ever after, forever on this earth."
"Then you do have hope and faith in the future," Susie observed without feeling, "your dreams may or may not come true, but you both have hope for the future. Maybe I will have that too someday."
"I'm certain you will," Amy said happily as they drew near the riverbank.
"Someone smells delicious," Susie murmured tensely as they approached a wharf where a few men prepared to make their way home.
Amy laughed quietly at Susie's remark as they passed the wharf while Ruthie remained silent, if not alarmed, by Susie's provocative attitude. Even though their faces and physiques were hidden by their cloaks and hoods, the men's eyes followed the vampires' movements with interest. Women weren't often seen along the dark dangerous riverbank, especially unescorted by men.
"How do you continue to get away with murder?" Susie asked, "This city is small. Do the murders go unsolved or do you cast suspicion on innocent people by planting evidence like we did last night?"
"Oh, no, Susie," Amy answered emphatically while Ruthie gasped in horror, "we never attempt to blame innocent people for our crimes. In fact, Ruthie and I have an agreement, as you know, that we only prey on sinners and abusers. We try to avoid hurting or killing innocent people."
"So," Susie considered, "in a sense you see yourselves as heroes who rid the city of criminals and evil."
"No," Ruthie said, "not at all. Jesus loves everyone and forgives sinners. That's why I hate to even feed on people who take pleasure in causing others pain and sorrow."
"But you do feed off them," Susie argued, "I witnessed it last night."
"Yes," Ruthie admitted sadly, "I try to resist and feed only on river rats and other animals, but there are times when the urge is irresistible."
"I rather like being called a hero," Amy said gaily "I could fancy myself as such."
"Now, Amy," Ruthie cautioned, "thinking that way can only bring us trouble."
"Well, that's exactly what we've been doing," Amy defended herself, "ridding the city of undesirables. We've talked of it in the past."
"Maybe so," Ruthie acknowledged, "but the fact is we're murderers and sinners."
"Yes, we would be what you say, if we were human," Amy pointed out, "but we no longer are. Their rules do not apply."
Ruthie sighed in defeat as she recognized the same old debate that never ended.
"It seems you've had this discussion before," Susie observed as they entered the darkened shipyard of the workers whom they had passed moments ago.
"Yes, it's quit tiresome for both of us," Amy acknowledged, "I doubt that we'll ever agree on the subject."
"But neither of you have answered my question, "Susie urged, "how have you been getting away with murder?"
"One example," Amy replied, "is your husband. I drained him so slowly that it appeared as though he died of an illness."
"Yes," Susie agreed, "but you don't kill everyone in that manner."
"No," Amy went on remembering that she and Ruthie had already explained this to Susie but explained it again since Susie was still recovering from the shock of becoming a vampire, losing her children and rescuing them from certain unspeakable abuse, "often times we make the death appear as an animal attack by killing and placing a dead dog or other local animal near the body."
"Yes!" Susie exclaimed, "now I remember several of those 'animal attacks' in my neighborhood. The authorities advised us to keep our children indoors for safety."
"Oh," Amy replied, "that wasn't necessary. We would never have hurt innocent children."
"But an animal would," Ruthie pointed out, "Our ploy worked, Amy."
"Oh, yes," Amy giggled at her mistake, "so it would."
"Last night we simply dumped the bodies in the river," Susie added.
"Of course," Amy explained, "prostitutes, drifters and other types of disrespected or strange people can be treated more loosely. They have no value to society and their deaths aren't investigated or even questioned as carefully as a more prominent person."
"Did Robert teach you this?" Susie asked.
"Of course," Amy replied proudly, "he taught me everything I know."
"Where is he now, then?" Susie asked.
Amy relayed the entire story of Robert just as she did for Ruthie, including her unshakable faith in Robert's return. Ruthie, having heard the same story countless times before, wandered the desolate shipyard in search of rats, leaving her two companions to continue the discussion, each enrapt in their role as orator and listener. After draining several rats of their blood, Ruthie returned to the others as Amy described the evening she suffered the loss of Robert and soon after the gain of Ruthie.
"That's an amazing story," Susie remarked as she considered all the elements, "so Robert is the only vampire you ever knew until Ruthie's and my conversion?"
"Yes," Amy answered, "he was the one and only."
"What are you thinking?" Ruthie asked Susie, "that more vampires are living in the world somewhere?"
"If not," Susie queried, "then how did Robert become what he is? He couldn't have been born that way."
"His family is in Virginia," Amy inserted.
"Are they his blood family," Susie asked, "or his vampire family?"
"Or was that just the story he told you and your family?" Ruthie asked.
"To be honest, after his mysterious disappearance I don't know what to believe anymore," Amy said,
"I'm sorry, Amy," Ruthie sympathized with Amy even though she never fully trusted Robert's story. She didn't trust white men, vampire or not. In fact, Robert being a sinning murdering vampire caused her to trust in him even less than a live white man.
"There isn't anything for you to apologize for, Ruthie," Amy said, "I still have the utmost faith in Robert's love for me."
"You once told me you found his story to be untrue, that's all", Ruthie replied.
Amy sighed, "That's true, Ruthie," Amy looked at Susie who took the whole scene in with great interest, "We should find our dinner, Susie. It will calm my nerves."
"Who will be our prey tonight?" Susie asked as they strolled along the tracks away from the deserted shipyard toward a cove filled with boats smaller than the freight and whaler ships of the larger wharves. This section of town was darker and quieter than the commercial district even though factories and shipyards
did business there as well. Sawdust and bits of wood mixed into the dirt along the tracks behind a large lumberyard. Freshly sawn wood could be seen and smelled under the smoky haze from the factories.
"I don't smell any blood here," Susie announced.
"No," Amy agreed, "neither do I-only some rodents and maybe a few cats."
"Maybe we can save a life tonight," Ruthie suggested, "I bet there are plenty of cats for the two of you."
"I'm going to find a human, Ruthie," Amy replied stubbornly. She knew Ruthie was trying to manipulate her into settling for animal blood to avoid another murder. "We'll have to try another place. We should turn back toward the city."
Retracing their route toward the city center, Susie asked, "Just how much strength do we have?"
"How do you mean, Susie?" Amy asked as her skirts swept along the tracks.
"I know we can carry human bodies without any difficulty, but can we move objects as well?"
Amy and Ruthie gave each other a puzzled look and Amy replied, "Why would we care to? We've rearranged some heavy furniture in our lairs, but that's all we've attempted. Moving heavy things isn't fit for ladies."
"The two of you have never tested your limits?" Susie asked in amazement, "you could have strength and abilities you aren't aware of."
"We have to remain hidden and unnoticed," Amy replied, "We can't do anything that could draw attention to us and become known and hunted and ultimately killed."
"Therefore, you'll spend all of eternity cowering in basements and attics in fear of being found when you could possibly have more strength and power than you've ever dreamt of?"
"Strength and power are not in my vocabulary," Ruthie panicked at Susie's attitude, "we are nothing but murdering sinners and don't deserve any strength and power."
"Ruthie," Susie sighed in exasperation, "stop thinking like a slave."
"Susie!" Amy scolded, "Ruthie knows she is not a slave and that was a very rude remark."
"She may know she's not a slave, but she still thinks like one," Susie explained, "she follows you like you're her mistress and lives her life expecting to be punished."
"That's not true," Ruthie spoke up, "there have been many times Amy has been dead wrong about things and I've told her so and she has followed my advice or changed her mind and agreed with me. We've done things my way plenty of times. You've only known us one day. You don't know."
"That's right," Amy agreed, "we make compromises and respect each other's opinions."
"That's not the way I see it," Susie insisted.
"Let's find dinner, Susie," Amy stepped ahead to lead the trio.
A man's loud and hardy laugh came from further up the tracks near the wharves. As they cautiously moved closer to the laughing man, incoherent words were heard between the laughs suggesting the man was not only happy, but drunk as well. Soon the man came into view but he didn't see the three stalkers moving stealthily toward him through the foggy shadows.
"Is he with another or is he talking to himself?" Amy whispered to her companions.
"We're not close enough to tell," Ruthie replied.
Hiding behind a large shed one-wharf width away from the man, the three vampires studied the man and his surroundings. He was a large bearded older man relieving himself at the river's edge as he laughed and spoke to himself.
"Is he speaking English?" Ruthie asked, "I can't understand a word he says."
"Neither can I," Amy said.
"I think he's simply babbling," Susie suggested, "my drunken husband would act that way at times."
By this time the man had finished relieving himself and staggered and swayed toward the train tracks.
"He must be returning to the main street," Amy said, "we will follow him to the alley he will attempt to travel."
"Attempt?" Susie asked.
"We will certainly overtake him before he's halfway through," Amy stepped out from behind the shed and followed the bearded drunk, who began to sing as he walked.
"He's drawing attention to himself. Don't get too close," Ruthie warned as the man tripped and fell on the tracks.
His singing stopped as he struggled to get back on his feet.
"Pathetic old drunk," Susie muttered in disgust, "He probably has a long suffering wife at home."
"Why would any girl marry a man like that?" Amy asked in disbelief.
"Maybe he wasn't always like that," Ruthie said.
"Ruthie, you always think the best of people," Amy remarked.
"Not of slave hunters," Ruthie responded.
"Look," Susie said, "he's up and moving again."
"I hope the fall took away his mood for singing," Amy said as they slowly followed at a distance.
The area along the tracks was deserted, but the girls kept their senses sharp for the scent, sound and sight of anyone who might be lurking in the foggy darkness.
Amy and Susie became excited and thrilled with the hunt as their prey stumbled toward the back entrance of an alley just as they had hoped. As he set foot into the alley, in the direction of the main road, the vampires quickened their step but Ruthie remained a few steps behind to guard the rear by watching for any potential witnesses. She had already satisfied her hunger with the lumberyard rats and wanted no direct part in another murder.
Once in the alley, Amy and Susie caught the old drunk by coming up on either side of him and attacking together. Susie, having been half a step ahead of Amy, caught sight of the man's surprised expression, which increased to horror when he saw her sharp white teeth glisten in the dark. His expression increased the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of the conquest for Susie as she sunk her teeth into his neck while Amy punctured his neck from the opposite side. The two vampires drained the old man, quickly ravaging his neck during the vicious attack.
As the lifeless body slumped to the dirt in the trash-strewn alley, Ruthie made her way through it to look down at the corpse, "Good Lord," she shook her head in sympathy, "there's no animal wild enough around here that can do that much damage."
"We'll have to dump him off the end of a pier," Amy said.
"But look at his neck," Ruthie said, "it's torn apart. When his body washes up to shore, people will see his neck and know he didn't drown."
"All right then," Susie said, "we'll just have to cut his head off so no one will see his neck. We'll tear the damaged skin off completely."
"What!" Ruthie and Amy both looked at Susie in shock and disgust.
"Cut his head off?" Amy asked, "the idea is repulsive, Susie. What would we use for a tool if we did?"
"Amy!" Ruthie exclaimed, "Would you even consider doing such a horrible thing?"
"How do you suggest we dispose of the body without casting suspicion, Ruthie?" Amy asked.
"The train will arrive soon," Ruthie suggested, "let's lay him in its path."
"Fine," Amy agreed, "but not here. We'll carry him down river where there is less chance of witnesses. We will have to wait and watch to be sure the train comes and does its job."
"Don't I get to give an opinion on this subject?" Susie asked, "Maybe we have the strength to tear off his head with our own hands. Or perhaps simply tear the skin away from his neck."
Amy caught her breath in surprise and disbelief while Ruthie trembled in fear and revulsion. They both stared wide-eyed at their new companion until Amy regained the ability to speak, "What will the townspeople think when they discover his mutilated body? How could you even entertain such a gruesome thought? When you kissed your babies farewell did all the human feeling leave you entirely?"
"How dare you judge me!" Susie angered in self-defense, "you are the one who made it necessary for me to abandon my children. How do you know how I feel at all? This filthy fat old drunk is our victim and he's now dead. What matters how we hide our attack on his body as long as no one sees any evidence of vampirism?"
Ruthie leaned over an ash can as though she were about to vomit. A rat passed behind the can, but Ruthie was too upset to notice. She s
traightened slowly, breathed deeply and said, "What we need to do immediately is hide the body. The train idea will work and won't make me feel any worse for my sins. Tearing a murdered man's head off with our bare hands or tearing pieces of flesh from his neck will only worsen our sins. It would add a new and hideous charge to our full list of heathen acts. The train will arrive soon. Let's work together to lay his body across the tracks with his neck on a rail."Yes, let's," Amy knelt down to lift the corpse, his head hanging backward unnaturally from the severe damage, "we'll take him where the tracks run over the cove. That way if we're lucky, the train will destroy his neck, or what's left of it, mangle his body and push it into the cove."
Ruthie removed her cloak and draped it over the dead man and followed Amy toward the tracks. Susie followed behind Ruthie, "Tell me the difference between my idea and yours. Why is it all right to put him in the path of a train to be torn apart but not all right to simply use our own hands for the job?"
"Hopefully," Amy answered over her shoulder as she walked, "the train will cover and destroy any evidence of an attack and the townspeople will assume he was crossing the cove on the tracks and was hit without causing any suspicion of murder."
"That's not the only difference, Amy," Ruthie added, "tearing apart a human body with our own hands makes the destruction very personal. It's sinful and gruesome enough to kill a person out of hunger, but to further mutilate the corpse is a new horror."
Susie was tempted to continue the debate but remaining quiet followed Amy and Ruthie through the darkness along the tracks to the cove, which was deserted and calm with only the lapping of the water against the railroad bridge pilings and the occasional howls of a neighborhood dog to break the silence of the night. Ruthie pulled her cloak off the corpse as Amy laid it on the tracks, placing his brutalized gaping neck on one rail. Just as silently as they'd arrived on the bridge they turned and retreated to hide behind a pyramid of barrels stacked several yards away at the edge of the water and waited for the midnight train to pass and destroy the evidence of their violent crime.
While waiting for the train to pass Amy dreamed of being reunited with Robert and thought how fortunate she was to have her precious companions at her side during her lonely, difficult wait. She rested loving eyes on Ruthie, watching her crouch in hiding using the time to pray for the dead man's soul and those of the vicious killers. Her dreamy eyes passed from Ruthie to Susie, her new companion who stood stiffly watching the bridge with her blank stare. Amy didn't know what Susie could be thinking, but she was thankful to have a new companion more accepting of the vampire lifestyle and condition than Ruthie. To Amy, Susie seemed more ready and willing to adapt to the fact that she needed to drink blood and kill living beings to survive.
Finally, the train came thundering into the city shaking the ground under their feet and puffing smoke into the already polluted air. Because of the noise the vampires didn't hear the impact with the body as it fell into the water in pieces, the old man's remaining bodily fluids smearing the tracks. Their eyes followed the slowing train pass toward the station before stepping out of their hiding place. The body on the tracks must not have been visible through the fog and darkness to the train engineer because the train continued without stopping to the station.
Let's make sure the tracks are clear and the body fell to the water below," Amy suggested and began walking back to the bridge.
"Yes," Ruthie followed, "we should."
"I'm sure the tracks are clear," Susie remarked, "what could have survived that?" she paused, "except maybe us."
"Good Lord, Susie," Ruthie said, "you sure get some frightening ideas."
"Delightful!" Amy exclaimed as they reached the spot on the bridge where the body had been, "he's gone and with luck the train rendered him unrecognizable."
"I should think so," Susie agreed.
"Good Lord," Ruthie shook her head in regret and they turned back in the direction of town and their lair.
"What about the man you killed in the alley behind the hotel?" Susie asked, "The man you murdered to rescue me? You left his body in the alley."
"We had to get you away from there at once," Amy explained, "we couldn't have taken him with us, could we?"
"We were very careless that night," Ruthie added, "Amy shouldn't have killed him the way she did."
"Yes," Amy agreed, "that entire situation was unplanned and came upon us all at once."
"I suppose I'll be thought of as his murderer since I've disappeared," Susie sighed.
"Ruthie often finds a newspaper to read when we return to the lair. Perhaps she will find one tonight," Amy said, "that will certainly have news of the murder."
"I'm sure I can find one tonight," Ruthie responded, then added, "Let's pray no one sees the marks on the pieces of his neck, or the authorities will be looking for us."