CHOSEN – P.5
As soon as they walked into Laurel Vista, Shirley felt the fine hairs on her arms stand at attention. She put out her arm, keeping Laverne from walking in front of her. “What, what is it?” asked her friend.
“I don’t know yet.” Shirley stepped in front of her. Her stomach muscles tensed and she felt vaguely nauseated. “Something isn’t right….”
Lenny pushed past Squiggy and joined her slightly in front of Laverne. “Is he here?”
“Something is.” Shirley frowned. “Is this how I’m supposed to feel when there’s a…something isn’t right?”
“It’s a way of sensing the unnatural,” Lenny confirmed. His eyes darted from the left to the right and back again.
“Still, it might not be Carmine,” she said, hopefully.
He glanced down at her, his expression somber. “No, it might not be.”
She nodded, clinging to the thin strand of hope. They proceeded toward her apartment in silence, Squiggy and Laverne bringing up the rear. Their anger at Lenny was palpable, but Shirley couldn’t share it. Somehow she knew that this was all bigger than them, and she understood Lenny had no more choice in the matter than she did. It did pain her to see Laverne suffer, knowing how in her heart of hearts her friend cared for Lenny. Oh, Laverne would never utter the words out loud, but a best friend could see by the way she looked at him, how often she brushed his hand or slapped his back, the way her green eyes softened when she said his name, that the love was there. It was the same way Laverne had always seen the depths of her own love for Carmine, a love she’d thrown away and now lost forever. Her heart ached at the memory, and her revulsion for what she was likely going to have to do to what remained of her lost almost-fiancé…no. She couldn’t think about that, not now. Maybe it wouldn’t come to that, anyway.
They made it to the apartment door and Laverne pulled out her key. Something caught Shirley’s attention at the edge of her vision, making her turn around and face the door to Rhonda’s apartment. It stood slightly ajar. She took a tentative step across the hallway and pressed her palm against the door.
“What’s up?” asked Squiggy. “Is Rhonda walkin’ around naked or something?” He pushed past Shirley, flinging the door open wide. Then he froze in the doorway, as Shirley clamped one hand over her mouth, holding back a scream.
Rhonda’s body was sheathed in a clear plastic garment bag, dangling from a set of wire hangers twisted together and tethered to an exposed pipe in her ceiling. Her eyes were wide open, as was her mouth, as if she were still screaming. Blood splattered the inside of the plastic and dripped into a small pool under her feet.
“Jesus Christ in Heaven!” Squiggy exclaimed, stumbling backward into Lenny, who had come up behind him. “What did this?”
Shirley took a cautious step into the apartment, unable to tear her eyes away from Rhonda’s body. She shook her head, murmuring, “No, no. It couldn’t be him. He wouldn’t do this.”
“He might have,” said Lenny flatly. He walked into the apartment, swallowed visibly, and approached the body. A steely expression crossed his face as he lifted Rhonda until the hanger hook released the pipe, then lowered her gingerly to the floor.
Squiggy looked from Shirley to Lenny and back again. “What are you guys saying? Are you saying that Carmine did this?”
“Not Carmine,” said Lenny. “The demon walking around in his skin.”
“But why? Why Rhonda? What’d he have against her?” Laverne’s hands were clenched into fists at her sides.
Lenny shook his head, grimly tugging off the plastic
wrapped around Rhonda’s face. He reached down and very gently closed her eyes.
Shirley looked away. Her eyes fell on Carmine’s message, left in blood on the
wall of the dead blonde’s apartment: When you are alone, then we will be
together.
She stood up and walked over to the wall, staring at the words until they blurred and lost their meaning. She felt hands on her shoulders and flinched, but quickly realized that they belonged to Lenny. “It isn’t him, not really,” he whispered. “You have to forget about the man you knew and loved, because he’s gone. You’ve got to focus on getting rid of the thing that did this.”
She nodded, but was too numb to process his words. Laverne’s sobs and Squiggy’s enraged exclamations filled her ears and should have filled her heart with resolve, but she just felt empty inside. “What do I do next?” she whispered back. “How do I find him?”
Lenny hesitated. “You don’t. He’ll come back. The only difference is, this time you’ll be waiting.”
***
Carmine yawned and stretched, sensing that night had returned. He rose from his resting place, a small crypt in a graveyard not far from the Laurel Vista apartments. He’d driven past the place a thousand times since moving to Burbank, on his way to deliver a telegram or going to a nightclub gig. Go figure he’d wind up a tenant.
He shoved open the door and strolled out into the night, feeling the gentle breeze against his face. He tried to picture the look on Shirley’s face when she’d found Rhonda’s body and chuckled. Too bad he hadn’t rigged up a camera to capture that special moment. Now the only question was; who was next?
He vaulted over a gravestone and lighted on top of a larger monument, crouching as he contemplated. “Squiggy’d be easy, but would she really care? Nah, probably not. Maybe Lenny, a little. Oo, Frank would be good! She’s always considered him a second father…” He paused and a slow smile curved the edges of his mouth. “Wait a minute. Why dance around the body when the heart’s exposed?”
Satisfied, he sprang from the top of the monument, landing tidily on the other side of the iron fence. He executed a perfect spin on one toe, and continued on in the direction of his best girl’s home.
***
“Lenny, we’ve been at this all day!” Shirley groaned, catching the bat he swung at her head with her right hand and shoving him back across the room with her left.
He stumbled to a halt before hitting the door. “I know,” he replied, stooping to pick up a butcher’s knife. “But you have to be as prepared as possible. We don’t know when Carmine’s going to,” and he paused to hurl the knife at Shirley’s face. “Strike next!”
She slapped it out of the way and somersaulted toward him, grabbing the front of his shirt and yanking him into a forward roll over her head. He lay flat on his back struggling to catch his breath as she landed on his chest, a long wooden cooking spoon jammed under his rib cage. “I understand that, but I’m not going to be in any sort of shape to fight if I’m too tired to lift my arms!” she complained.
Lenny sighed, reached up, and redirected the spoon to the center of his chest. “All right. Maybe a short break. But we’re right back at it in a half hour.”
“Make it a whole hour, and I’ll buy the pizza,” she offered, standing up and extending one small hand down toward him.
He grasped it with a sigh. “Fine. One hour it is.”
They sat down next to each other on the sofa. He wiped the perspiration from his brow, marveling at how, despite her protests, Shirley scarcely seemed out of breath. He’d heard of a Slayer’s stamina and strength his whole life, but seeing it in action was a thing to behold.
If only he’d had the luxury of time to take his father up on returning to England for a refresher! Instead, he’d had to content himself with a hurried conversation, followed by a massive information dump over the telephone, during which he’d frantically taken notes and tried to envision every move described. He only hoped that he was getting it all right, not to mention teaching it properly. It was worse than cramming for a test in high school; if he screwed up now, he and his study partner faced a lot worse than a failing grade.
At least Shirley seemed to be able to get past his years of deception and focus on the danger at hand. Laverne continued to shun him, occasionally shooting a scowl in his direction as she watched him train with Shirley from the kitchen. Squiggy wasn’t much better. He’d taken a perch atop the girls’ living room furniture, which was piled into one corner of the apartment to make room for the training session. Squiggy’s dark eyes were filled with such pain, a lot of it from Rhonda but a good portion still due to his betrayal, that it made Lenny’s heart ache every time he glanced in his buddy’s direction. All of his subsequent attempts to take Squiggy aside and talk to him, or even to offer him comfort after Rhonda’s body had been taken away, had been rebuked, and Lenny feared that the damage to their friendship was indeed permanent.
A rap at the door returned Lenny’s attention to the here and now. Squiggy slid off his perch and hurried to the door. “Oh, good, pizza’s here. I’m starvin’!”
“That was faster than usual,” said Shirley, stretching and rising to her feet. “Laverne, do you want any?”
Laverne leaned in from the kitchen. “No, thanks. I’ll grab something in here.”
Squiggy yanked open the door, saying at the same time, “Come on in, my good….”
Lenny looked up as his friend’s voice trailed off into an odd squeak. He leapt to his feet as he saw Carmine take a step into the apartment. “Thanks for the invite,” he said, his hand wrapped around Squiggy’s throat. The little guy hung in his grip, feet dangling a couple of inches off the floor.
“Put him down!” yelled Lenny, as Shirley took a step forward, then hesitated.
“Or what?” Carmine glanced at Squiggy’s purpling face and rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. He’s not what I’m after, anyway.” He let go of the struggling man’s neck, letting him drop to the ground in a heap. Lenny hurried to his buddy’s side, making sure that he was still breathing.
“Carmine. My God, it is you.” Shirley reached for him, but then let her hand drop back to her side. “I knew it…but seeing you…it wasn’t real before.”
He walked over to her, caressing her cheek with his fingertips. Lenny saw her stiffen and shrink back. “Hiya, Angel Face,” said Carmine cheerily. “Tear out anyone’s heart lately? ‘Cause I sure have, and now I understand why you enjoyed it so much.” He strolled past her and leaned too casually against the upended sofa. “Redecorating?”
“I…why are you doing this?” Shirley asked. Lenny gave Squiggy a reassuring pat and stood up, desperately wishing that the stash of weapons his father were shipping to him had already arrived.
“Doing what? Oh, the Rhonda thing. Yeah, that just kind of came to me, spur of the moment, you understand.” He glanced over his shoulder at the archway to the kitchen. “Hey, Laverne. You’re looking good.”
“So are you, for a corpse.” She stared at him with wide green eyes.
Carmine chuckled. “Geeze, I was really hoping you guys would be more surprised by this! You act like you see vampires every day.”
“Almost,” croaked Squiggy, sitting up and rubbing his neck. “Lately, anyway.”
Carmine shrugged. “Whatever.” His eyes fell upon Shirley again, and Lenny was struck by how different they were. Still dark brown, still Carmine’s, but utterly devoid of the warmth and humanity they’d always held. He might have been looking at a rock on the ground for all the affection they now contained, not at the girl he’d loved practically since childhood. That look swept away the last of Lenny’s reservations about how to handle this thing in Carmine’s body – there was no question that his friend was dead and gone.
Unfortunately, Shirley didn’t seem to be seeing the same thing. She took a tiny step toward Carmine. “Don’t do this,” she pleaded. “I know things are different, I know I hurt you so terribly, but I still care about you.”
“Oh, oh you do?” Carmine’s eyes widened, his expression a mimic of shock. “No kidding? Wow, well, that just changes everything, doesn’t it? Look at that, my heart’s beating again.” He slipped his hand under his black tee shirt and made it beat up and down. “Shirley cares about me. All is right with the world!”
He slid his hand back out and in the same motion, seized Shirley’s wrist hard enough to make her cry out. Lenny’s eyes fell on the large knife and the wooden spoon lying on the floor. He took a cautious step toward them, brushing each item behind him with his toe as unobtrusively as possible.
“Carmine, I don’t mean…I love you!” Shirley blurted. “I’m sorry, I’m so unbelievably sorry that I hurt you! It broke my heart when I heard that you…I love you, don’t you understand?”
Carmine blinked, an odd look crossing his face. Then his features hardened and he pulled Shirley closer, until his face was hovering just above hers. “Way too little, far too late!” he hissed. “News flash, Angel Face, my feelings for you are as dead as the rest of me! There’s only one thing left that I feel and it’s no where near love!” His face changed, the area around his eyes contorting into a wolfish visage, eyes glowing. He opened his mouth, exposing razor-like fangs. “It would be so easy to take you right here, right now,” he crooned, as Shirley cried out and turned her face away. “Too easy, in fact!”
As Lenny crouched behind an easy chair, scooping up the knife and wooden spoon, he saw Shirley swing at Carmine, her right fist catching him in the side of the head. He flew to the left side of the room and slamming against the wall, where he slumped, blinking rapidly, for a few moments. “Well, well, well,” he said, rubbing his jaw and regarding Shirley with veiled eyes. “Where did that come from?”
“You’re not the only one who’s undergone a change lately,” said Shirley, crouching into the defensive stance Lenny had taught her earlier that day. He felt a surge of pride, even as he hurriedly whittled at the tip of the long spoon.
“Cool,” said Carmine, straightening. “This is going to be more fun than I thought.”
He was across the room before Lenny’s eyes could register the movement. But it wasn’t Shirley he dove at.
It was Laverne.
She had been standing uncertainly in the archway of the kitchen, watching the action with an incredulous look on her face. When Carmine landed in front of her with an otherworldly snarl, she screamed and stumbled backward, but he snatched her by the hair and yanked her easily into the room. Spinning around so that she was between him and Shirley, he bared his fangs and pulled back her head until her throat was exposed.
Time stood still for Lenny, his heart in his throat. With both the knife and the now-sharpened spoon in his hand, he slowly stood up and moved cautiously toward the trio in the middle of the room.
“No!” Shirley cried. “What are you doing? It isn’t her you want, it’s me!”
“Aw, come on, Shirl. Jealous?” Carmine smiled and the effect was chilling.
“No…please….” sobbed Laverne. “We were friends!”
“Sorry, Laverne. But just plain old killing your chum there, that’s just not satisfying enough.” He leaned closer, whispering loudly in Laverne’s ear. “Now watching her suffer and mourn everyone she ever loved and then killing her? That’s irresistible!”
Lenny watched in horror as Carmine descended, open-mouthed, at Laverne’s neck. At the same time his instincts kicked in and he lobbed the butcher’s knife at the vampire’s back.
Carmine jerked and stiffened as the blade struck home. He released Laverne and took a step back, staring down at the tip of metal sticking through his sternum. “Ow!” he complained, turning to glare balefully at Lenny. “That hurts!”
“Run, Laverne!” cried Lenny, dashing forward to get between her and Carmine. “Go!”
She fled toward the door. Lenny tossed the wooden spoon at Shirley, who caught it easily in mid-air. She held it uncertainly, the sharpened tip aimed at Carmine’s chest. “Shirl, finish him off!” Lenny yelled.
Carmine reached around and tried to yank the knife out of his back, but couldn’t quite reach. His features blurred and shifted, until he looked normal again. He turned his dark eyes to Shirley, his expression sorrowful and pained. “Shirley, don’t. It’s me, the Big Ragoo. You love me, Shirley. You don’t want to lose me forever, do you?”
She took a step toward him, raising the sharpened length of wood. “I already have,” she said softly.
Carmine punched the center of his chest, dislodging the tip of the knife. He thrust his fingers into the hole, wincing, until he managed to shove the blade out of his torso. It fell, clattering on the wooden floor. Stretching his blood-soaked hands out to Shirley, he said, “Look, I was confused, that’s all. Hey, it isn’t every day I die and come back to life. You can help me, Shirley, remind me who I am.” He took a step toward her.
Lenny watched, his pulse throbbing in his ears, as Shirley lowered the sharpened spoon and took another tentative step closer to Carmine. “Is that really possible?” she asked, a tear coursing down her cheek. “Is there something left of you, Carmine?”
“No!” shouted Lenny, jumping between them and putting his hands on Shirley’s shoulders, thrusting her backward. “It’s a trick, Shirl! His soul is gone, it’s a trick…!”
Something punched him in the back, followed by a searing pain that ran from the center of his body and radiated out to his limbs. He tried to inhale but his breath caught in his throat. As the strength drained out of him, Lenny looked down and saw the tip of the butcher knife glinting up at him from the middle of his solar plexus.
He felt himself being spun around and suddenly there was more pain, accompanied by a tearing sound. He faced Carmine, who held up the bloody knife and gave him a hard shake. “See? Told you it hurt!”
The
vampire released his shirt to let him sink to his knees. The last thing Lenny
heard was Laverne’s agonized scream, before he toppled forward into darkness.
***
Laverne scrambled to Lenny’s side, scarcely able to see through the veil of her own tears. “Lenny! Lenny, say something!” she cried, tugging him onto her lap. She pressed her hand against the jagged hole just above his stomach, trying in vain to slow the steady flow of blood. She looked up at the monster with Carmine’s face and screamed, “How could you do this? Why? Why?”
“He started it,” said Carmine, petulantly. He rolled his eyes. “Geeze, woman, quit your caterwauling. You didn’t give a damn whether he was dead or alive before, don’t start pretending it matters now.”
“It does matter! It’s all that matters….” She broke off, sobs shaking her entire body as she rocked Lenny in her arms. So much time wasted, so many hard feelings, and what did any of it mean now? She’d been so angry that he’d hidden the reality of who he was from her, but only now that she was going to be left with nothing of him did she understand why. I always knew who you were, she thought, rocking his still body. Deep inside, I knew you were a man I could respect, strong and caring, always putting everyone else first. And now that you’ve finally confessed what I sensed was inside you all along it’s too late.
“Don’t die on me, Lenny,” she whispered, bending over to press her cheek against his. “Please give me another chance.”
“Oh, Christ. You’re giving me a cavity over here.” Carmine cracked his knuckles and reached for her. “Time to put you out of my misery.”
Before his hand could do more than brush her shoulder, Shirley was between them. She punched Carmine full in the face, snapping his head back. Not waiting for him to recover, she kicked out, nailing him in the stomach and sending him crashing to his knees. Tackling him, she raised the pointed end of the wooden spoon and brought it slashing down at his chest.
He blocked her downward stroke, got his feet under Shirley’s stomach, and sent her flying backward to crash against the banister of the staircase. She gasped and slid to the floor, shaking her head hard but unable to regain her footing. Carmine stood and started toward her with a feral growl, but was intercepted again, this time by Squiggy, who was brandishing something on the end of a gold chain. Thrusting it at Carmine’s face, he cried, “Back off, demon scum!”
“Oh, puh-lease!” groaned Carmine, grabbing at the chain. Then he stiffened and Laverne saw a thin line of smoke rising from between his clenched fingers. He let out a sharp cry and sprang back, blowing at the palm of his hand.
Squiggy held the chain up again and now Laverne could see the small gold cross hanging from the end of it. “Get out of here, now, or I’ll burn ya real good!”
Carmine took a step toward him, but seemed to think better of it. “Fine!” he snarled. “No point shooting my wad all in one night.” He jabbed a finger down at Lenny. “Another one down, Shirl. You know who’s next!” With that, he swung around and disappeared out the back door.
For a full minute, they all remained frozen where they were. Then slowly, Shirley limped over to Squiggy and put her arms around him. “Thank you, Andy,” she said. “That was an incredibly brave thing you did.”
To Laverne’s surprise he shoved her away. “Yeah, unlike you, Supergirl! You had him, Shirley, and you let him sucker you. You let him do this!” He gestured to Lenny.
She turned away as though he’d slapped her. “You’re right. After all Lenny’s done for me, sacrificing his whole life to watch over me, getting ready to guide me when the time came, and I let him down. I let you all down.” She wrapped her arms around herself and walked over to the kitchen archway, staring out the open back door.
Squiggy opened his mouth as if to add something, then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he knelt across from Laverne on the floor, resting his hand on his unconscious friend’s forehead. “He’s gonna be okay, right?” he asked, looking at her like a child waking from a nightmare.
“I don’t know.” She had taken off her sweater and rolled it into a ball, then pressed it against Lenny’s back. She leaned on it with her full weight, and though the sweater quickly turned red, it seemed to at least slow his blood loss. “Squig, call an ambulance. He needs more help than we can give him.”
Squiggy nodded and stood up, but Shirley returning to the living room stopped him. “It’s all right,” she said. “I just called and they’re on their way.”
“Oh. Yeah, um, thanks,” mumbled Squiggy. He crouched down next to Lenny again, managing a thin smile. “Hey, buddy. You hang on, you hear me? ‘Cause even if you’re better than me and smarter than me and a lyin’ rat fink, you’re still my best friend, understand? You gotta stick around.”
Laverne stifled a sob, moved by Squiggy’s obvious heartache. She brushed a stray lock of blond hair from Lenny’s face, leaned over and kissed him. Putting her lips next to his ear, she whispered, “He’s right. You can’t leave us now, Len. You gotta stick around so we can figure out what happens next. Come on, Lenny, please. Give us a chance to find out if we can love each other.”