Sucking in San Francisco Read online

  “Well Chou Chou, I am exceedingly thankful that you are still with us,” Sebastian tells me. His eyes are serious and the look he gives me makes me feel warm.

  I smile at him and snuggle in closer.

  “Thanks Bast.”

  “Of course we are glad that the djinn played nice tonight. It makes my blood run colder just to think how close we came to losing you.” Helena shudders and pulls her wool shawl closer around her. “We wouldn’t have even known what had happened.”

  Julian bends forward in his chair, wrinkling his brow. “Now that you’re safe, I want to know what a jinni is doing unbound in San Francisco. I wonder how long he’s been here.”

  “I don’t know, but he sounded rather morose on the phone. He talked about being tired of his life. The repetitiveness, day after day. I kind of understood where he was coming from.”

  Sebastian gives me a squeeze. I couldn’t help thinking about the look on Aidan’s face right before he disappeared. It gives me a shiver and Bast tightens his grip on me, as if he thinks I’m cold. Aidan’s behavior seemed to promise another visit, another encounter. I should be terrified, but it was a wicked grin.

  If djinn are as dangerous as Julian says, did I want to see him again? I have heard of the Djinn - Vampire war. It must have been horrible. Like dog fighting.

  The days must blur together for a djinn. They’ve been around longer than vampires, much longer. I wonder if Sebastian’s pursuit of women is his way of coping to keep away the monotony of our existence. His relentless need to have someone new every night is staggering. The endless stream of women must get tiring for him, in and of itself. I wonder. I doubt that would be a conversation we would ever have.

  Julian keeps busy with his constant quest for knowledge. At the moment that includes botany and vampire science. Helena is the same way with her witchcraft and to a lesser degree botany, though she’s been a herbalist for hundreds of years, just not as obsessive as Julian. Besides she has Julian, her life mate, her second half. As she has said before, he completes her.

  “I heard tales of the use of djinn during the Crusades,” Julian says in a somber tone. He never talks about his time in the Crusades. I’ve always thought it was too painful for him to bring up. He is a pacifist at heart.

  “King Guy of Jerusalem led the Crusade of 1187. It was before my time, but the elders still talked about it. Prince Reynald was with him, a nasty vicious man. King Guy was no better.

  They led their band of Christians, a small army, and marched to the Horns of Mattin, without appropriate provisions. A djinn had been planted in King Guy’s retinue to lead them into the madness of thinking they could make the trek. Then he led them in circles in the desert,” Julian says softly. “Wandering in the desert in their armor, without water all day long. By night they were half mad with thirst. Some risked going to the river even though they knew it was a trap, heavily guarded by the Muslims. They were beheaded.”

  The fire crackles and spits up embers as a log settles. Sebastian tightens his grip around me as we listen to Julian.

  “The next morning the battle ensued with the remaining weakened soldiers. The Christians fought like men without hope and ran the battle lines crazed, weakened by heat and dehydration. The Muslims captured so many slaves that they would trade a man for a pair of shoes.

  Soon only Guy and Reynald were left in their tent. Saladin surrounded them and their Knights. Prince Reynald blasphemed Mohammed and was beheaded but Saladin would not kill a king. He put Guy in prison, releasing a mere shell of the man later.”

  We are all quiet for a moment. I wonder again how a djinn feels about what he is compelled to do. Do they all have a wicked sense of mischief? But to lead thousands of men to their death… What would they feel about that? I remember Aidan’s outrage at what he believed of my intentions. He didn’t seem malicious.

  A soft rain starts hissing against the windows and I pull a book down from the shelf and read for awhile, or at least pretend. Helena and Julian are busy discussing jinni. Helena looks over at me every once in a while and fusses about losing me. Mostly they just postulate why Aidan didn’t destroyed me outright.

  Why didn’t he destroy me? Did he sincerely mean to talk to me before he found out who I was? Was it a trap for some unsuspecting human? I didn’t want to think so. I think he must have actually been lonely. Does a jinni feel lonely? Or was this all part of his “wicked sense of humor?” Is he a good djinn or did some evil master order him to do all these horrible things to himself? He said he was free. How can he do his own bidding if he is free, how does that work? God, I love movies like that “Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.” Focus Lily. I remember Aidan’s voice. I have some experience with suicidal callers and I believe he was sincerely despondent.

  My attention locks on Julian’s words. He says that djinn are very powerful.

  “You have to bind them, to put them under your control. An extremely dangerous situation because they will use any advantage they can get to escape their bondage, usually killing the binder.” Aidan called his past “job” slavery in its basest form.

  As I relax, my stomach clenches, reminding me I’m getting thirsty. Not thirsty for coffee, thirsty for my next meal. It’s been not quite a week and that’s about my limit. I’ll have to hit up a bar on the way home. The others can go longer, but I am younger and need nourishment more frequently. It’s a myth that we need to feed every night. It’s a myth that we need to kill our meal. We simply need a pint or so and we’re good to go until the next 3,000 miles or in my case, week - whichever comes first.

  Helena catches my eye.

  “When is the last time you fed, Lily? You’re looking a little peaked.” She’s always reading my mind. Not really, at least I don’t think really.

  “About a week ago.” I shrug, as if it’s no big deal.

  “No wonder you’re making questionable choices tonight, ma petite,” Sebastian murmurs half to himself. “You’re hungry, you’re not thinking clearly. You must eat. Let me take you out. There’s still time tonight.”

  Without waiting for my response, he has me on my feet and offers me his arm, as if I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Damn him. I am thirsty though.

  “Okay, but just to please you, I know you just want to hook up,” I say to him.

  The corners of his mouth tighten like he’s trying not to smile.

  “I am only looking out for your best interest, little one. You are just a baby and need someone older to look out for you from time to time.”

  I roll my eyes and snort, “Yeah, right.”

  I think Julian and Helena don’t buy his altruism any more than I do.

  We get into Bast’s car and he drives me the short distance to my condo in Presidio Heights so I can change into something more suitable for a night of hunting. I walk into my huge closet to find something to wear. I can hear Sebastian in the living room and know he can hear me, unfortunately, super hearing and all that.

  “Hey Bast, where are we going?”

  “You Belong to Me,” he answers back.

  “What? Are you singing or trying to seduce me?”

  “If only I could, Cherie. It’s the name of a new club I want to show you.”

  “Oh, okay. Sounds cool,” I answer.

  “The place has a 1940s motif.”

  It might be kinda fun. I just hope they still have clientele at one a.m. or I am out of luck. I slip into a black dress that sweeps across my breasts and gathers together on my left hip. A little nostalgic, in honor of our venue. Bright red lipstick and vintage black pumps (I had bought them when they were new the first time around and they now are in style again). There is nothing I can do to style my hair but run my fingers through it. The curls go where they want. I grab a little black bag and throw some money into it, open my door and find Bast waiting for me. He fills out a door so nicely. He gives me an admiring look and sighs.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

&n
bsp; “Why won’t you sleep with me?”

  “You know why, you dog,” I say as I push him in the chest good-naturedly.

  “Such harsh words, you could reform me you know?”

  His expression is serious and his eyes burn brightly. I’m a little uncomfortable and don’t know what to say so I give him a peck on the cheek and then wipe off the lipstick.

  “Reform you and deprive the world of the greatest lover of all time! You overestimate my powers. Now come on. I’m dying of thirst,” I say. His eyes hold mine for a few seconds before he smiles, “You’re probably right. Come, we must take care of you.”

  We take Sebastian’s Mercedes because the buses are hard to get this late at night. Really it’s because Sebastian loathes public transportation. It’s something I’m working on. I have to admit I like to ride in his car. The way we just glide through the night feels like flying.

  5 . AIDAN

  I’ve been haunting the streets of San Francisco for weeks. I thought at first the change of scenery would remove my melancholy. I was wrong. Nothing seemed to alleviate it. It was bone deep and I believed it had settled in forever. With nothing else to do, I’d been following a pair of witches around named Indio and Iris. They’d piqued my curiosity. Sisters, not too bright. But last night they knocked the power out for half the city so they could cause some damage when they wanted. I’m mildly interested to see what they are up to tonight, since Lilith interrupted my first plan with her delicious distractions.

  I really should stay away from the witches. Knocking out the power was only collateral damage from them trying to summon a jinni. I shouldn’t be anywhere near them. But then, I do have a death wish. I also want to be there to try and kill them if they mess up. Can’t help it. I need to do whatever I can to help the poor soul they are going to try and bind.

  Tracking their essence is easy after following them these past days. They have a thick, spicy quality to them. Most witches do. It has something to do with the use of magick, with them being unnaturally magickal creatures. But their energy is dangerous and unpalatable for me. They make enough trouble in their wake to create a smorgasbord.

  Suddenly, so many things to think about and Lilith is at the top of that list.

  I locate Indio and Iris in their car. I am vapor. I can hear everything.

  “I hope Sebastian will be at the club tonight. It’s late but he might have to close,” Indio simpers.

  “You are much too interested in that blood sucker,” Iris says.

  “Take that back! He’s gorgeous and really smart. I’d love to get my hands on him. I’ve heard he’s amazing in bed.” Indio sighs.

  “God, is that all you can think about? What about the stakings?”

  “I’m wondering if there will be more stakings, what do you think?” Iris asks her sister.

  “Oh I think there will be.” They both laugh as they pull up to valet parking on Union Street.

  I become a beetle and hitch a ride on Iris’s dress. This way I can see and hear. We go into a posh club and the girls waste no time ordering drinks at the bar. The walls are decorated with stars from the 1940s. The whole place evokes memories of that decade. It makes me flash to memories of my own. I was bound by a warlock who was in Hitler’s SS in World War II.

  It was the last time I was bound. Barely survived it. The warlock used me to experiment on camp prisoners. I wasn’t in captivity long but he didn’t let me feed on anything but misery, pain and his anger. It left me as tortured and broken as my victims, but while I’m immortal, many of them died. When the Allies arrived, he panicked. He summoned me to help him escape, but he was distracted and I was able to kill him. I drifted away as vapor and it took me decades to recuperate.

  I give myself a shake to lose the memory. I try to relive the happier times from the forties. The times I spent in America. Jazz and Big Bands. The girls get a table and sip their drinks.

  I enjoy the music until I hear Indio’s small squeal. I look up and almost fall off of Iris’s shoulder. In comes Lilith with another vampire. She looks beautiful. The man is striking if you go for that suave, polished type. He is altogether too close to her. What’s their relationship? They talk a minute and then Lilith strides off towards the bar and sits next to a drunk loser.

  Indio seethes at seeing Lilith with the man. This must be the man she was talking about in the car. Sebastian. He walks over to a table and talks to a few people before slowly making his way over to this table. Indio squirms and then calms herself just as he gets to us. I keep my eyes on Lilith.

  Lilith is letting the drunk look at her in a most uncomely way. She gets a drink and they talk. Now she is going outside with him! A victim, one more dead body for the monsters? Is this where I see the real bloodsucker? I pop outside and spot them in the doorway of a shop. He is trying to grab her. My stomach roils. She positions herself so she can bite him but doesn’t, she wipes his neck down with something that looks like - could it actually be a handi-wipe? I didn’t know they still made those. Now she bites him. I’ll let her feed only so long. Then I will stop her. Before I can stop her she is done and wiping her mouth. She even wipes his neck off for him before she gently leads him back inside. This is unexpected. Disturbing on many levels.

  I assume a beetle shape and rest on the back of the velvet couch. Lilith walks over to Sebastian. Indio and Iris give her dirty looks. Sebastian has eyes only for Lilith. I really don’t like this guy. Asshole.

  Everyone makes small talk until Lilith says she wants to go. Sebastian takes her hand and they leave.

  “Who is that red headed bitch?” Indio wonders.

  “I don’t know but we should find out since she seems to be a favorite of Sebastian’s,” Iris says.

  “Favorite my ass, she’s just the flavor of the night. He’ll be done with her tomorrow. Where did she go with that guy at the bar?”

  “She’s vampire, you dumbass. She was feeding,” Iris says.

  “Oh, I missed that,” Indio says. “I didn’t think Sebastian dated vampires.”

  “Well, he does tonight,” Iris says.

  I’m out of here. I’ve had enough of Thing One and Thing Two. I head back home.

  I materialize into my large, modern flat above Chinatown, another high energy place. The energy is different though, subtle, more layered. Restaurants and souvenir shops, businesses and people tightly squeezed into every square inch, beautiful architecture blending with antique stores and cable car stops, so densely populated compared to the rest of the city. Mix in the tourists whose energy tastes lazy and dull, like cheap dollar store batteries. It works if I need them in a pinch, but they leave a copper taste in my mouth. I prefer to take on human form as opposed to vapor.

  I throw myself into a black leather chair and think about Lilith. Why is Lilith working at a suicide prevention center? Does she really care? She might. She was willing to come out in the middle of the night and help me. She was sincere when she’d been ready to take me somewhere to get help. I could taste the sincerity in her energy.

  But she is vampire - creatures cold, lacking in compassion, deliberately cruel. She might be different. The things she says make me curious and her energy… it’s amazing. I’ve rarely tasted a more intoxicating energy swirl. It’s delicious. It was honest and something else I didn’t have time to place. Honesty is rare among humans, let alone supernatural creatures. Maybe she’s evolved beyond her nature? Yes, she is beautiful, but I have seen many beautiful women before.

  She is intriguing. If nothing else, figuring it all out will fill a few days.

  My luck, she will try and bind me. I have only been bound twice and that is two times too many. The pressure of captivity is unendurable. Being at someone else’s command, at their every whim, is humiliating and painful. Being bound devours my essence and degrades my being.

  Djinn were birthed out of the womb of Creation. We’ve seen the world evolve. We are evolving with her. I’ve spent eternity maturing on the energy of those around me and rolling in
the emotions of humankind. When I was bound, that comforting blanket was stripped from me.

  Thinking of that safety being taken away makes me panic a little and I recall the first time I was bound, which was in Egypt during the reign of Ramses the Great. I can still smell the incense that ran thick in the air, the smell of animal dung in the streets and unwashed bodies. My master was a priest; he was a good master, if masters can be good. He was a tiny, wrinkled man with big ideas. He fed me enough energy to keep me from illness. He only wanted to study me and have me perform minor tasks for him, which he then took credit for so he could build a power base. It was a shame he messed up and I had to kill him. Of course slavery is slavery.

  That’s why I guard my true name very carefully. You must call a djinn by invoking his true name. It is the only way to bind a jinni. Having his true name and the right mix of incantations will do it. I’ve sought out every text I could find that mentions my name and destroyed it.

  Causing mischief, disrupting nature, and traveling about the world endless times has allowed me to amuse myself at mankind’s expense. Roaming all these years, I thought this world held nothing for me personally. After tasting so much loneliness and recognizing it in myself, it really sunk in that I was a true outsider. I was arrogant and self-serving like my kind is known for being. I finally realized my predicament. I was alone. The revelation was shattering.

  Now human nature has become predictable and mundane. I am sick of wandering and seeking companionship that doesn’t exist. I don’t know the intention of my creation. I believed that a djinn had no purpose except subjugation. That’s when I started to plan for the end of my existence.

  Then, out of nowhere, a creature whose deadly nature, whose purpose is to kill - yet she saves lives. If I’m wrong, I can destroy her and go back to my original plan of trying to end my existence.

  I feel the need for music. I drift to the roof to wait for the sun to come up. I take my iPod with me (ingenious invention). My manifested body crunches the gravel of the rooftop. The air has been laundered by the rain yet the smell from the streets is foul, though bearable, from this height. I summon a chair to rest in, sit back and close my eyes. The rich music of Miles Davis floats through my mind, blocking out thoughts of suicide, vampires, human suffering and my own past indignities. I stay this way until the light filters through my eyelids. I open my eyes to reds, yellows, and pinks streaking across the San Francisco skyline like fingertips dragging across a palette of paint. I watch while I submerge myself back into the music.