"How much?" asked Toda. She sat in the living room of her two-story villa. She plucks at the paper flowers tied in her hair. "That's not very much. You aren't trying to trick me are you?"
The man on the phone disagreed. "I'm not. She's only a couple hundred and fifty dollars."
"Freshly made?" she asked. "I don't want another vacant. My sons are horrible."
"I'll throw in a werewolf. This one is trained."
A werewolf? She smirked, "Alright. One hundred and fifty dollars for a vampire. What's the age?"
"Eight." He says. "Race?" Toda questions. "She's mixed. Half white and half Spanish. We actually just made this one. Through the ritual. She's a … new product."
"New product?" Toda raised a brow. She leaned over the round table in front of the couch. She pulled a piece of paper to her. She searched for a pen, none around, she got up from the couch and traveled to the kitchen. To the left side wall, a pen basket. She took a pen and went back to the couch.
"She's mixed? I don't want a half breed. No wonder you selling her for one hundred and fifty dollars."
"New plan. She's a test subject. We named her and everything but…"
"But what? Toda wrote on the piece of paper, $150 ½ vamp. "You said she was mixed."
"The ritual allows for a vampire and Iarius discovered something."
"He's always finding something." She crossed her legs across the couch. "She's got a drip of witch in her."
"Whaat?" Toda snickered. "Is Iarius trading Lordy in?"
"No. Remember their daughter Penelope died. So, he wanted to rebuild his little girl. Just a drop of her mother's blood."
"Interesting."
"Let me clarify, Vampires don't make witches. Witches are practioners. You learn some magic and get a few tattoos. It's easy."
"Why?" she wrote on the paper again, practice = witches. "All you have to do is practice? Does it come from a book?"
"Olisha's book, the Divine Diary. But can't nobody get it."
"Why's that?" again she wrote, Witch book with a question mark behind it. "I'm already telling you too much. I shouldn't be involved with a worshipper. You still sell in Mexico."
"Of course, Zhaire. I'm still trying to be a church goer."
"A Hole?" he made clear. "You got to be careful making those. Olisha made one, you see what that got her."
"You mean, you. How was your time in the cult?"
Over the phone, Zhaire twiddled with a pen. He leaned back in his leather chair. His skin the shade of light-medium almond. A straight big nose with a piercing in the left nostril. His eyes a mint green tone. "Shitty. Why you ask?"
"I want to know. I'm trying to make a Hole."
"Since you being nosey with my life. I never asked why you want a Hole in mexico."
"It's shitty here. But I love it. Aren't you from the ghetto?"
"The slums of Virginia. It's not the same as the spirit realm." His eyes widen, "You aren't trying to take over Mexico, are you?"
"I had an idea…" Toda smiled. "America is talking about putting up a wall. They want to keep my people out."
"You don't like Americans anyway. Is it all race motivated?"
If Toda sat down and thought. She didn't know. "No. It's not. I just want to try it out."
Zhaire chuckled over the phone. "You retarded."
"You know… you sound sexy over the phone Zhaire."
"Bitch I'm married." Toda pulled the phone away from her ear and pouted. "One hundred and fifty dollars for the little bitch. I'll drop her off at your house on Thursday." The phone made an audible click. Toda threw the phone on the sofa. She glimpsed at the paper, "that's not a lot."
½ vamp for $150 and there is such a thing as a Witch book. It didn't matter if she found out the rest or not. What was important was she was getting a werewolf and a vampire witch. "Tomas! Paleyo! Ven abajo!" she called. Two boys wearing short blue jeans and shirtless came down the steps. Their backs covered in welts, scars across their face, eyes absent of color.
They stood behind the couch, as they opened their mouths, a white smoke escaped. "Yes, ma'am?" their voices ghastly. "You're getting a sister. How do you feel about that?"
They opened their mouths again, the smoke thicker. She shook her head, "What did I do?"
She thought back to the basement. She reminded herself to remove the candles and blankets. What did she do to get vacant? They were fine when they first came. Toda didn't tell Zhaire, she may have added something to her puppets. She could have just told him to see empty bodies. Though her first project was still in development, the second one was in the basement with the rest of her crime.
Toda was getting greedy, this she knew. And she didn't care. What concerned her most was that... she wasn't achieving her idea. What did Toda want?
"Did you clean my body?" she questioned the two. They nodded, "Did you go Pastos de Marion? If not, I need you to get me three more bodies."
They opened their mouths, a waterfall of fog came out. "Let... us... live."
"No. I need you to do as I say."
"Fuck you." they breathed. "Go on. Do as your told," she shooed them away, twiddling her fingers.
___________
When Tomas and Paleyo returned, they dragged back three bodies and a skeleton. Toda wrapped herself in a fur see-through gown. Showing her wrinkled thighs, shaggy waist, and peeling stomach. She lifted her flesh onto her cheeks. "Speak to me."
Paleyo opened his jaw, the white wisp slithered out. "Fuck you."
"That's not what I asked."
They positioned up stairs. Within the room, a vampire hanging from the mantelpiece of a dead fireplace. She turned to the hanging vamp. "How do I take the spell off."
The vampire snarled, cracks in it's deep dark flesh. His pink eyes glowing as he spoke in Spanish. "Mujer estúpida. Tu vanidad es una enfermedad." they struggled in the shackles that bound them. "I'll never take the curse off."
"That's all you had to say." she narrowed her eyes. "I have three dead bodies and a useless skeleton--I don't even know why you brought that."
Paleyo's head cocked his mouth to the side, the white snake stretching from his lips. "The marrow is still good."
"I'm not black... ¿Por qué querría ser uno de esos tribus desnudos? No soy un animal." Toda waved of the boys and went to look at the three dead bodies. She grimaced and saw at the two again, "What are you the three fucking stooges? I don't want to be a man."
"Deberías haberlo dicho..." said Tomas. "No creo que esto vaya a funcionar."
"I don't care what you think..." she sneered. Toda put to fingers to her temple. "No podrías pensar sin mi."
Her head swiveled again to the vampire. "Are you Mexican?"
The ink colored vamp sniggered, "Nah... where is Curi?"
"Buried" she stepped towards him. "You know about my sister?"
"Why are you doing this?"
She blinked, "I'm sick. It's not fair. She's always gotten what she wants but I remained bedridden." she bent her knees to the vamp. "Having a heart attack in your sleep is terrible."
"So...?"
"That shit hurt." she lifted on her knees. "My parents were poor. We didn't have anything and my father drowned going fishing. Somebody pushed him."
"Is this about your father?" Toda shook her head. "Nope. I just wanna... do shit. My sister was trying to be nice and resurrect me."
"You should be thankful then."
"Thankful..." she smiled. "I'll rename the new vampire that. Thankful, Agradecida. Isn't that a nice name?"
"Your sister wanted to give you another chance but take her body and ruin it all." he pulled at the chains. "Mujer verde. Esta habitación es verde. Tu cabello es verde. Tus ojos, labios y piel."
"So what?" she walks past Tomas and Paleyo. She stands in front of a vanity mirror and picks up a doll with a skeleton facepaint. "Dia de Los Muertos is tomorrow. It's my favorite day."
"Ironic as hell, your supposed to honor the dead not belittle it."
"I am." she plucks at the pigtails on the doll. "It's my birthday."
The black vampire flashed his teeth. "Fake woman!"
"I know...." she hugged the doll. "I don't care. I'm having fun."
___________
In the middle of the night, Toda towed the vampires body to the basement. She strapped him to a table. Toda pulled another table next to him. She placed a corkscrew on the table, a glass jug, and a funnel.
She pulled out her phone from the nook of her breast.
Th1ristDaY: You sleep?
Unb0thered: What?
Unb0thered: I told you not to call me this late.
Th1ristDaY: Are you Drunk?
Unb0thered: I had a teaspoon earlier. My wife's on her period.
Th1ristDaY: 🤮
Th1ristDaY: Disgusting
Th1ristDaY: Tell me who this is.
She snaps a picture of the vampire on the table.
Th1ristDaY: I've asked him several times.
Unb0thered: The fuck you asked me fo?
Unb0thered: Did I give him to you?
Th1ristDaY: I don't remember. I may have just found him.
Unb0thered: If you found a drunk in Mexico, that means someone there is making a Hole.
Th1ristDaY: I haven't even made mine! That's so unfair
Unb0thered: You are childish
Th1ristDaY: Maybe. I could be
Th1ristDaY: Childhood. 😛🦇
Th1ristDaY: Also, I'm checking to make sure I get that werewolf.
Unb0thered: It's going to cost you. I look at the materials for it.
Th1ristDaY: I thought you already had one!
Unb0thered: I was feeding him in the woods. Somebody came and stole my dog.
Th1ristDaY: Who the fuck steals a werewolf?
Unb0thered: Imps.
Th1ristDaY: I'm definitely not turning into that.
Unb0thered: You're already green. Miss stupid.
Th1ristDaY: How do you drain a vampire?
Unb0thered: You got a screw and jug? If you sell it, DOHRCC might give you 800 a jug.
Th1ristDaY: Really?
Th1ristDaY: The department is in the business?
Unb0thered: It's a form of execution. If anything, they want us out of Virginia. A long time ago they use to have vampire hunters come out during a season.
Th1ristDaY: How you know so much?
Unb0thered: 1 (4|\/|3 0|_|7 0F 4 |-|0|_3 4|\||) 1 |_|53|) 70 83 0|\|3
Th1ristDaY: Goddamn it, again with the fucking numbers.
Unb0thered: Stay out of my damn business.
Toda gritted her teeth. She smacked the vampire across the face, "Perra estupida."
the Drunken vampire snapped his teeth at her. "So, did you come from a hole?"
"No!"
"I'm surprised you can talk. Let alone speak Spanish and English." She laid her hands beside him. "THe Mexican cartel. Now this Cartel of the dead. Is that your doing?"
"Yes and no. I don't have a hole. Not yet."
"your trying to make one?" his eyes dimmed, he released against the table. "je parle aussi francais."
"A Frenchmen too? where are you from?" she asked. "Louisiane au sud profound. Deep south of Louisiana."
That's where Zhaire is from, she thought. "something going on in Louisiana? Do you know a man named Zhaire Prince?"
The Drunks body rose up and down, beating against the table, making it wobble. He bellowed, "Baise ce négro!"
"I don't understand..."
"Fuck him! It started an outbreak in Lousiana. Drunken vampires flooded the north and fled into New Orleans."
"Did Zhaire start it?"
"Of course that monstre nègre à deux faces did." he tossed and turned in the straps. "il a besoin de mourir. All because he bit some woman; he;s fucking crazy."
Toda look to the basement ceiling. Dust cascaded from above as she heard thuds uptop. "Zhaire came from a hole. Who was in charge of the hole?"
"I don't fucking know."
"Who are you?" The drunk inhaled and exhaled. "Ezio. Ezio Deloffre."
"Nice to meet you. You wanna work for me? You can be my hunter."
"Pourquoi diable je veux faire ça?" he fumed. "Well, we could make a deal. I got the means to do it. "
"What are you planning?"
"I don't know. I'm kind of just... seeing what happens." she stared him down. "Also... can I eat you?"
___________
Thursday
Toda stirred the pot of rice. The vacant sat at the table for decoration as Toda told them to do. A dozen knocks startled her, she nearly tipped over the pot. She turned off the stove and twiddled her fingers at the vacant. "Go home the door."
Tomas left his sit and stumbled towards the first door. He opened the door, his head dropped to the steps at a bundle holding a bright face infant. His spirit blew through his mouth. "She's here."
Toda smiles and jogged to the front door. On top of the baby laid a letter. For Toda de Lamonsin - Headdress. "Well, pick her up and bring her inside. Juro por dios que tengo que hacer todo." Tomas hoisted the child into his arms.
Inside, Tomas threw her on the couch. "Tatem tie." she spoke. The infant cried, their lungs bursting with sound. "Agradecida, es mejor que te calles antes de que yo entre."
Ezio paced down the stairs. "She's here?" Ezio walked towards the couch and picked up the baby as if she were luggage. Holding her in the blanket and then with one hand. Ezio went into the kitchen and handed off Thankful with one hand. "Here." Toda smacked the infant in the face, she squirmed, her face red with the loudness of her crying. "I don't want her." she complained. "Than why did you ask for her?"
"I'm going to train her just like me. All kids take after their parents."
"I see," Ezio handled the baby by the back of the blanket. Thankful unrolled from it, crashing onto to the floor. "Jesus christ, do you know how to hold a baby?"
"I guess I forgot. I can't believe that spell worked. I fell like a new person." Ezio smiled.
"You look like a white boy," Toda went back to scrapping the bottom of the rice. "Get two tortillas out the refrigerator. Tomas," she called him, she swiped two fingers above her shoulder. "Usinicas-hahike." Tomas lifted from his toes. The white winds from his throat flowed out, "I"
"Tomas, take care of the baby. I'm cooking."
"Fuck you." responded Tomas. The vacant floated off his feet into the kitchen and held the baby properly. Ezio faced Toda who handed him the bowl of meat. "Can you get me a pepper and an onion?"
"Where?"
"Bottom draw on the right side. Actually, bring the meat back, I can just throw it in the pan." Ezio gave the bowl back to her. She threw the meat in the pan and set the temperance to low.
"What are you making?" he asked. "Nothing, I'm just throwing shit together." she tapped her chin with her index finger. "I could use some beans..."
"Is it a Mexican dish?" he asked.
"No but it could be."
"Could be?"
"I'm adopted... I told a Mexican family my name was Toda de Lamonsin."
"Oh... where did you get a name like that."
"A painting, the orphanage took us on a field trip to an art meusem." she tired the pan of meat and set the onion on the side of the counter and began chopping it. "I'm a vampire."
"You are?" Ezio lips fell. "You don't look like it."
"I ate my parents. They put me in custody in Virginia. This family from the Bronx was looking for a kid because the woman was sterile. I didn't know one was Spanish and the other was this albino." she diced the onion, swept the pieces into her hand, and dropped them in the pan. Ezio took the pepper and diced it. "What happened?"
"This was years ago. I was eleven. I don't know what's wrong with me then they told me after a test." Ezio splashed the pepper in the pan. "This is the most normal thing I've done. I ate people in prison."
"You've been to prison? For what?"
"A vampire with murderous intent. I have AIHA. It's a disorder in vamps. Blood that eats itself, it drives a vampire crazy." she stirred the pan and turn the heat up high. "I used to eat myself. They said AIHA is rare in baby vamps. It's someone who born Drunk." she turned to him. "I can taste my own blood. They reclassified it as a cannibalistic disease and mental order and I was like is it a mental illness or a disease? I think I'm ill in the head."
"What's that mean?" Ezio stood a good six feet. He bounced on top of the counter. "AIHA is Autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Anemia is common in vampires. When a vampire eats a human, these Mori cells wrap around it. However, my body doesn't do that. It plays tennis with it instead. I can't eat human blood. I have to eat a vampire and its making my skin rot." she explains. "I have to commit cannibalism. I have what they call as REDD. AIHA is a more human equal, I think."
"Why not find the cure?"
"I have reverse blood deficiency disorder and Rapture." the pan started to hiss, she shook the pan and the onions and pepper were charred. "Rapture is a rare brain effect. It's like a sciopath in vampires. I'm not suppose to do what I do."
"so, what's wrong with you?"
"I'm a sociopath..." she grinned. "I can't explain it no better. I'm doing it, because I want to."
"Don't you know--" he paused. "I know," she said. "I wanna do it, to see what happens. Zhaire's making me think but I'm still going behind his back. Are you going to let me bite you again?"