Worlds Collide

Chapter 7: California

Clouse

 I’m not going to lie when I say that California may be beautiful, but it is not my favorite place and it’s overrated. Depending on where you are in the state you can either run into really nice and humble people, laid back, beach bum people, rich wannabes, wealthy nice and humble people, or the absolute assholes. Zach and I were headed to the heart of Los Angeles and we were going to be dealing with wannabes and assholes.

 Zach and I got off of my private jet around midnight. Four stereotypical SUVs pulled up and out came the maggots of the Los Angeles coven that thought their s**t didn’t stink unless they were personally dealing with Zach and me. I loathed them. Bunch of stuck-up snobs. Zach nudged me because my face was giving away my true feelings towards them. I slapped a smile on my face. As much as I didn’t like these fools, I still needed to be here and any cooperation without delay was welcomed.

 “Your highness. It is an honor to receive you tonight. Please, allow us to escort you to the mansion. We have brought a variety of donors for you to fulfill your appetite.” The liaison said with a cool demeanor. He was so arrogant and coy in his tone that Zach grabbed me by the elbow before I even took a step in their direction. “Uh…is there a problem sir?” The liaison bowed his head to Zach.

 “No. We appreciate the offer from your Coven Master; however, we have other plans and will not be going to the mansion. I have made other arrangements while on the way over. Give our regards. I’m sure your Master will understand.” Zach flashed his all-knowing smile at the liaison, tipped his hat at everyone and we went in the other direction. As we turned around two things happened. As if in slow motion four other SUVs showed up on the tar mat. One of the High Lords stepped out to greet us. Zach nodded in acknowledgment then he flinched, threw me to the ground as silver and ultraviolet light bullets began to fly. Once I hit the ground with him I knew he had been hit and without hesitation, I covered my friend and sped off into the night on foot and with him over my shoulder. “f**k! Clouse! Put me down! It burns!”

 I sat Zach down on the grass which I could only assume the immediate surroundings were an open park. I ripped away from where he was trying to grab at. I extended one of my claws, shoved the pieces of ripped cloth into his mouth, and began digging for the bullet. He groaned in pain and tried to hold still. I almost had it and then I was able to pull it out of him. It took a couple of minutes which I’m sure felt like more than that to him.

 “What’s up cuz? You know what side of town you in?” A man walked up wearing all blue. Not soon after he was accompanied by a half dozen more men.

 “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” I snapped my head in his direction and made sure they all saw my fangs. I didn’t have time for little boys trying to discover their manhood right now.

 “Oh s**t! My bad.” The instigator extended his arms back to back up his accomplices. “Our apologies. No disrespect. We uh…we didn’t realize. Peace be with you my brotha.” I kept up the face until they ran out of sight. I rolled my eyes. Zach was laughing and coughing blood.

“Ya know, yous lucky yous a vampire sir. Them lil hooligans woulda smoked you and yo buddy heeah. Ah, s**t he bleedin. Bess pours some vodka on it.” A homeless man had walked up when all of the shenanigans were going on. He poured some of his alcohol on Zach’s wound. Zach yelped.

“s**t! Ouch, man! Heeeeyyy brotha I really need to feed. Vodka won’t help. Where can I get something fresh if you know what I mean?” Zach was able to smile at the man despite the pain. “I got the coin if you got the donor.” The old man wasn’t fazed by what Zach said.

“Hey man, I wish I could help, but uh, if you need some blood then you got to be headin to the blood bank just up the street and to the right. Can’t miss it.” He shrugged and started to walk off.

“Excuse me, sir,” I called out to the vagabond.

“Yea. Whatchu want now?” He glared at me trying to look tough, but I could smell his fear. I tossed him a gold coin. He caught it. Bit it and then his eyes got wide. “Thank you, but what this fo?”

“Thanks for your help.” I nodded to him. He returned the gesture. I picked up Zach bridal style and quickly made our way to the blood bank. The old man hadn’t steered us wrong. I laid Zach down against the wall, picked the lock with ease, ran in to turn off the alarm, came back out, picked up my friend, and fed him. Hell, I even fed. Ten packs later we were right as rain again. We exited the building and headed to Echo Park.

When we got there we headed into the barrios. No doubt we were being watched by the local gangs, but an ally that owed a favor was within the projects and we needed to be out of sight until we could move again. We turned on Baxton Street when we were halted by one of the leaders who had a gun in either hand pointed at both of us. “You either got some cajones grandes my friends or you just plain estupidos.”

“We need to speak to Neto Garcia. He owes me a favor and I miss his mom’s cooking.” Zach said with a smirk.

“Neto huh? Chales homes. He doesn’t just give out favors to anybody especially a couple of gavachos like you.” He sneered. “It’s the dead of night. NO one is going to miss you eh?” He and Zach were having a stare down and then he fired a shot and hit Zach in his left shoulder. Then released another into Zach’s right leg. It was not Zach’s night. Thankfully he was able to push out the bullets himself this time. Zach was annoyed, stepped toward the leader, snatched up both guns, and slapped him to the ground. Zach tilted his head back and started to whistle as if he was a bird calling out to other birds. Just then he got some answers.

“Orale Carnal! It’s been forever fucker! I needed to make sure it was you. I know you can’t die and s**t. There has been some other weird s**t going on with the other paranormals that we can’t be too careful. Sorry about Manny shooting you. I just had to be sure like I said. Come on. Mama just got done making some handmade tortillas. We also have a room set up for the both of you to kick it until you can move again at dusk.” Neto had come out of the shadows and was hugging Zach. Zach turned and extended a hand to pick up Manny. Manny grabbed it and got back up.

“Lo siento Carnal. We just had to be sure you know? We had some crazy s**t pop off with some kind of paranormal thing that was trying to attack some of our kids. We had to put it down. It’s in the operating room and we still don’t know what the f**k it is.” Manny walked with us back to Neto’s compound. Once we were inside it was the warmest feeling of home and family. Neto’s mom came out to greet us.

“Aye mijo! Ven paca! Let me look at you! I’m so sorry Manny was forced to shoot you, but we had to make sure mijo. Come los dos and sientase. I made fresh tortillas, frijoles, arroz and carne. Eat! Oh and Neto told me you needed sangre so we made sure to pull some blood reserves from the local blood bank. My mija works there you know and so it was easy.” She hugged Zach and he embraced her back. She looked at him and turned him around to make sure he was okay. It has been a while since I had seen a mother be so attentive to Zach and treat him as her own. Zach was such a sucker and was soaking….no, milking all of the attention he could from this little Mexican mom. She slapped his arm. “Y quien es mijo? Quien es tu amigo? Es guapo!” She started to laugh and blush as she was obviously f*****g me with her eyes.

“MOM! Come on!” Neto whined to his mom. He was not trying to see what she was doing.

“QUE! El es guapo! Y no soy muerta!” She whacked him with one of the wooden spoons. Her action with such a small object and the tone of her voice raising had all of the grown men in the room flinching back as to not get hit because if we did then we would be sure to die from a wooden spoon.

I laughed a lot as I ate her food. She was an exceptional cook. I complimented her before she could land another hit on one of the guys with her sandal this time. She stopped in mid-swing and softened at the compliment. She went back to what she was doing before she started unleashing her little wrath on a bunch of grown men. We thanked her for the food, gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek. With me, she made sure to grab my ass. I laughed again at her candid groping and she giggled. Her son started to whine in dismay again at his mom’s feeble attempts and she started yelling at him again. Manny showed us to our room. It was cozy. We looked back at Manny.

“Maybe we can help identify the paranormal in your operating room. Want to show us where that’s at?” I asked Manny. Neto came around the corner.

“Any help is good for us. Come on. This way.” He waved his hand for us to follow him.

We followed him down into what appeared to be a basement connected to possible underground tunnels. The smell of the decaying paranormal was atrocious as we came closer to the operating room. Neto and the others put on respirators. We walked in and immediately knew what the unknown paranormal was. It was a mythical skinwalker. What it was doing in the city was an enigma.

“You have a bonafide skinwalker Neto. You have to burn it as quickly as possible. It is a cross between a necromancer and a shapeshifter. The combination of powers makes it deadly even after death.” They all nodded turned around and fired up a furnace. I was impressed. They immediately moved the dead creature into the furnace, shut and locked the door. I looked at all of them and said, “Plug your ears.” All of them did as I said. An ear-piercing scream could be heard from the flames then a burst or muffled pop could be heard. Silence followed. We nodded back to the guys and made our way back upstairs to the room.