A/N: Okay, hopefully I'm back on my game again. There's a little bit of housecleaning I have to do first, but I'm giving you a Mick/Josef scene at the end to make up for my last chapter. Oh, and this one is super-sized as well. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Enjoy the show!
PS: I've posted two chapters in the last few days, so if you haven't read Ch. 8, you might want to go back and check it out before proceeding, so you know what the heck is going on.
Chapter 9
MICK
I used my cell phone to call a lawyer friend of mine back in LA—also a vampire-- to ask his advice. His name was Alistair Martin, a Texan who'd been turned in the 1800's by the pretty senorita who was now his wife. He laughed when I explained our situation—leaving out, of course, the minor point that Josef was human now.
"So, Josef got his ass thrown in a Mexican jail? Don't that beat all. Why doesn't he just bite the guards and break out?"
Now there was an unanswerable question. "Well, it's complicated by the fact that our human girlfriends were arrested too. We can't get them out safely, or run the risk of making our uh—true selves known to the authorities down here. Any other suggestions?"
"Money is the only thing that'll save you guys, I'm afraid. Good thing Josef has enough to buy the whole country if he wanted to."
"You mean pay off the police?" I asked.
"That'll do it. Don't let on just exactly how much Josef is worth, or they'll drain you dry. Of course, you still have that option with them…"
"I really don't, tempting as it is. Hey, thanks, man. When we get back to LA, you'll have to come for a poker night. And I'd love for you to meet my Beth."
"Human, you say? She must be somethin' special for you to be with a human. Except for the occasional freshie, I've never known you to have a live one on the line."
I chuckled, feeling a stab of fear at the same time. My Beth was in a Mexican jail.
"She's special, alright. Thanks again." We disconnected, and I headed back toward the ship at a full run. I knew just where Josef kept his cash hidden in his room; I just hope he'd brought a lot.
BETH
I leaned my head against the bars of our cage, trying not to inhale the smells of alcohol, sweat, and vomit emanating from my cellmates behind me. It was like every bad movie I'd ever seen that included a Mexican jail scene, and I was equal parts scared and disgusted. No, I take it back—I was definitely more frightened than anything else, for the usual outcome of those movies was that the captives were never heard from again. I'd overcome my shock enough for the reality of our situation to sink in, and the only thing that kept me from falling into hysterics was the idea that Mick was still out there, and I knew he wouldn't rest until we were free.
I walked back over to Simone and Josef, huddled on the floor in a corner, Josef's head in her lap. He'd lapsed in and out of consciousness, his face swollen where the security guys had belted him in his lame attempt at rescuing us. At least his nose had stopped bleeding. Simone had torn off the bottom half of her flowered t-shirt and fashioned a makeshift sling for his broken arm, but he still lay in pain, moaning pitifully every once in awhile. How the mighty hath fallen, I thought uncharitably. I know that it was the damn security guards and the Mexican police who'd put us here, but I also blamed Josef for his stubbornness about turning Simone in the first place. Yeah, my bitterness went back a ways, to the point when he'd bummed some of Mick's precious cure to avoid giving Simone what she'd wanted most in the world—a lifetime with Josef Kostan, billionaire vampire extraordinaire. I gave an unfeminine snort of derision.
Simone looked up at me, her eye makeup in streaks now down her face, still beautiful, but even more terrified than I was. She'd tried to reason with the police, using all her lawyerly skills of persuasion, promising them anything they'd wanted once we were freed, begging them for a doctor to see to Josef. They wouldn't give her access to a phone so she could call the American consulate, and, of course, the bar security had already taken her cell phone and wallet, so she didn't have a way to bribe them. We were stuck in this holding pen like pigs awaiting slaughter, alongside prostitutes, druggies, and drunken American college students. God knows we couldn't depend on Josef right now.
"You think Mick will find a way to get us out of here," she whispered, stroking Josef's matted and bloodied hair.
I smiled as brightly as I could, hoping to reassure her—and myself—that everything would be just fine.
"Of course, he will. Mick won't let us down. He'd kill all of them if he thought he could get away with it. We've only been in here an hour; try not to worry."
She nodded, and her attention went back to Josef, who was awake again. I looked away as she leaned down and kissed him tenderly. I knew in the back of my mind that I was being unfair in blaming him, but the anger had built up in me so much that I had to focus all of it on someone, and Josef seemed the most likely candidate at the time. Sure, I'd gotten myself--and Simone, for that matter--into some deep trouble in the past, but we were totally blameless this time.
We'd just been minding our own business in the bar, had used the bathroom and come out, only to be accosted by security on some bogus charge we'd been doing drugs. This must be a scam they'd used frequently, and I was certain they just would have taken our stuff and let us go, had Josef not attempted to play hero. He had gotten one good punch into the guy's gut, I'll give him that, but the wheelchair had prevented him from doing much damage to the guards. No, all the damage was reserved for himself, when one punch to the face had knocked him and the wheelchair off the boardwalk, and landed us in this hell hole. Had he been a vampire, he'd have made quick work of the guards, and we'd have been able to hightail it out of there, none the worse for wear.
That thought reverberated in my mind. I wanted Josef to be a vampire. Moreover, I was grateful that Mick was a vampire, knowing that if the proper channels wouldn't work, he'd snap the necks of anyone standing in his way. Oh my God. I want Mick to be a vampire. At that moment, I swore to myself that I would never pressure him to use the cure again. I glanced back at Josef. As a human, Mick might have been a little tougher than Josef. Okay , a lot tougher, but the point is he would have had all the human limitations as Josef, and we'd all be stuck in a Mexican prison for the rest of our lives. I couldn't wait to tell him my new epiphany, how I finally understood his reluctance to use the cure, no matter how much he wanted the benefits that came with being human.
Then, like a knight in shining armor, Mick appeared with a guard, and the bars of our cell were opened. I rushed into his waiting arms, holding him as tightly as I could.
"Oh, Mick. Thank God." He kissed the top of my head gently, then pulled back to look at me, wiping at the tears I hadn't even known I'd shed.
"Are you okay?" he asked me in that rich voice I loved so much.
"Yeah, now that you're here." I wanted to hug him again, but he was disentangling my arms so he could go help Simone get Josef to his feet. We tried to ignore the catcalls the prostitutes directed at Mick, and the cussing and begging coming from the other prisoners toward the guard, as we walked out of the building as quickly as we could.
Out in the street, a cab waited for us, and Mick helped us in to the back seat. I glanced in vain at the wrist that once held my diamond watch, lost forever in the Mexican penal system, and asked Mick the time. It seemed like we'd been off the ship for days, but Mick confirmed it had only been hours. It was nine o'clock. We could still make it back to the ship before it sailed. I laughed in relief, reaching to the front passenger seat where Mick sat next to the driver. He took my hand and squeezed it, and the light of his smile was visible even in the dankness of the dirty taxi.
MICK
While Beth showered in our cabin back on the ship, I made my way to the onboard medical center. Josef lay in a hospital bed, his sunburned face bright against the bleached pillowcase. His arm had been re-set and encased in a cast—I couldn't bear to relive in my mind the sounds of his agonized screams—and his nose was black and blue, his left eye swollen shut, a lovely shade of purple. Simone, still bedraggled from her traumatic experience, sat at his bedside, holding his good hand in her own.
"How's the patient?" I asked as cheerfully as I could manage.
"Does the term Mack Truck mean anything to you?" asked the patient in question. "Hey, you should see the other guy."
I laughed. "I did see the other guy. You, my friend, got the worst end by far, I'm afraid." I looked at Simone.
"I'm here now. Why don't you go back to your cabin and clean up? I know that's the first thing Beth wanted to do. I'm sure you'd feel better."
"I don't want to leave him," she said, her eyes fastened on Josef's.
"Go," Josef encouraged her. "I'm fine. I got my bodyguard here to protect me now. Besides, you look like hell." That's my buddy, always knowing just the right thing to say. But Simone didn't take offense; she was used to his blunt ways.
"Look who's talking, asshole," she said affectionately. She leaned over and kissed the jerk, then turned to me and planted one on my own surprised mouth. Her hand caressed my cheek, and she looked tearfully into my eyes.
"Thanks, Mick. For everything. I'm so grateful you were there."
"Yeah. Me too." She smiled at us both and left the room. I took her place in the vacated chair.
"How much did it cost me to get us out of there," asked Josef morosely.
"Twenty-five thousand," I said, watching him wince. I think the loss of money hurt him more than his broken arm.
"I wonder if I can write that off," he said, only half-kidding. He suddenly turned completely serious. "Thanks, man. You are so far ahead of me on the balance sheet, I doubt I'll ever be able to repay you."
"Oh, I'm not even close to being done yet," I said, my frustration overwhelming me. "The minute we touch American soil, I'm turning your ass back. I don't think I can take any more of Human Josef. This was probably the worst idea you've ever had, and if I could kick my own ass for letting you talk me into it, I would."
"What about our one-month deal?" Josef pointed out.
"You've gotta be shittin' me. No way can I survive three more weeks of this. If I could do it right now, I would, believe me."
"No."
"I guess I could wait until late tonight, sneak in here and—"
"I said no, Mick."
"Huh?" was my shocked reply. "You don't want me to turn you?" I lowered my voice as a nurse walked by to see to a neighboring patient.
"No. You were right. I need to see this through. I said before you gave me the cure that I needed to prove something to myself. At the time, I was just bullshitting you to get you to give it to me, but I realized while lying in that shithole that it was true."
I tried to wrap my brain around what he was telling me, but all my synapses obviously weren't firing correctly. "Let me get this straight—after all you've been through. Correction—after all you've put us through—you want to continue this nightmare for God knows how much longer just so you can prove something to yourself. You need to see a shrink, man. Or maybe I do--"
He was actually laughing at my disbelief. "I know it sounds crazy, but listen to me, Mick. I was turned into a vampire when I was twenty-five, not old enough yet to even know who I was as a human. This experience, as painful as it's been, has been a real wake-up call for me. Underneath that vampire persona I've built for myself, I'm a weak little man. I've needed something like this to toughen me up."
"Toughen you up? Josef, you are the coldest, toughest bastard I know. You think this foray into humanity, where you've experienced nothing but pain and suffering, is going to make you a stronger vampire? I'm not getting the connection here. I want you back, Josef—the real Josef. I needed you in that bar. This human weakness of yours could have cost me all of the people I love. I've had enough of this misguided experiment."
"I thought you, of all people, would understand," he was saying, still smiling comically beneath the rainbow of colors that was his face. "I've scared you, and I'm sorry about that. I've caused a lot of trouble—mainly to myself, I might add. And I'm not saying I want to stay human. Believe me, I'm so tempted to let you turn me, I can even feel it in my numb fingers. All I'm saying is if I throw in the towel now, I'll have lost an opportunity to gain a better understanding of myself. I know it all sounds new-agey and weird, but if I don't see this through, I'll always have this niggling doubt about myself that I'd never had before as a vampire. I'll always wonder whether I could have hacked it."
I let his words sink in. I had never come to terms myself with being a vampire. I still thought of myself as a human thrust unwillingly inside a monster's body. It was apparently the exact reverse for Josef. He'd never come to terms with his human self, had dived right in to being a powerful vampire, loving every minute of it. And watching Josef undergo his less than successful human transformation, it had driven home a lesson I was just now realizing: being a vampire wasn't all that bad. While I'd never get over what I'd be missing as a human, namely, a normal life with Beth, I could finally accept the merit in who I was as a vampire. The strength. The fearlessness. Yes, and even the immortality. There had to be a compromise out there somewhere. Yeah, this would require some more thought…
"Hey, Mick. Wake up! Ailing patient here," Josef was saying. I guess I'd been lost in thought too long to be polite.
"Oh. Sorry. I think I do understand what you're saying, Josef. Whatever you want, I'm here for you, man."
He smiled. "I knew you'd see it my way. And I'll promise to be more careful. It's just that I've had a string of bad luck—"
A sharp laugh escaped me. "Bad luck? Jeez, Josef, you're a walking disaster. When we get home, I'm putting you in a Kevlar suit. I'm hiring an army of bodyguards, and every room in your house is going to be padded."
"The only body I want guarding mine is Simone's, Mick. One thing this experience has taught me, is what an extraordinary woman she is. I mean, I knew it before, but no ordinary woman would have stood by her man through all the ups and downs—" he laughed at his inadvertent reference to his recent sexual problems—" I've put her through. And right before you came in here, I told her I love her, Mick. Now, could Vampire Josef have done that?"
This was by far the biggest shocker of them all. "No, Josef. You've truly surprised me now."
"Mick, I've never told any woman that. Even Sarah. I mean, I did love her, and I think she knew that, but I never was able to spit out those three little words. What I feel for Simone—well, let's just say I finally get those moon eyes you always put on when you look at Beth."
I looked closely at Josef's face. "Yeah, that one eye of yours seems definitely moony when you say her name. Just don't go writing poetry now, or I'll bite you on the spot."
"Hey, I'll have you know I got a few tips from Willie Shakespeare—" I'd heard some name-dropping from Josef before, but this one seemed truly unbelievable.
"Shakespeare gave you writing tips?"
"What, you don't believe me? Look, Willie and I had this deal. He would teach me how to write a sonnet guaranteed to get a particular actress in my bed, and I agreed to let him model one of his characters after me."
I sat there with a deadpan expression, allowing him his little flight of fancy.
"Oh, come on, Mick. I can't believe you can't guess. Why, it's Mercutio, of course." I maintained my blank expression, knowing full well who he was talking about.
"You had to have read that play. It's only his most famous—"
"You mean Romeo's smartass best friend in Romeo and Juliet? I guess I can see the similarities, but if my memory of Freshman English serves, Shakespeare killed Mercutio off in Act III."
Josef hesitated, averting his eye a little. "We had a bit of a falling out." He suddenly brightened. "But hey, he did get in some of my best lines: 'The bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.' I said that," he finished smugly.
"Sure you did, Josef."
He looked supremely offended.
"Zounds! You wound me, Mick, you wound me. 'Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man!'" He dramatically placed his uninjured hand over his heart, closing his good eye and "dying" convincingly. That was my cue: I got up to leave.
"Mick—" he opened his eye again mischievously.
"Yeah, yeah. 'A plague on both my houses,' I got it. Night, Josef."
When I looked back over my shoulder his eye was closed again. No doubt he was attempting to perfect his famous death scene. As beaten up as he was, it really was quite convincing.
TBC
