Chapter 19: Saturday, Saturday / part 2

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Mary Thistle exclaimed in rapid succession. “What—what happened—how? You look fantastic. My God, is it really you?” She finished with a mix of astonishment and disbelief in her voice.

“It’s the new me,” Lola bragged with a wide smile while posing outside Mary’s front door.

“This can’t be true,” Mary continued to speak in an amazed tone. “You could pass for twenty-five.”

Lola’s spirit was buoyed even more by Mary’s observation. She gleefully twirled about laughing as she spun.

“Can I come in?” Lola asked after stopping to give her old friend another pose.

Too stunned to speak, Mary nodded in the affirmative. After noting Mary’s nod of approval Lola skipped through the doorway. Smiling and giggling as she went, Lola danced her way to the center of Mary’s living room. It was half past 10am Saturday.

“Is this a prank?” Mary asked while following behind. “Are you some long-lost daughter that Lola never told me about.”

Mary had begun to doubt what she initially accepted. She was expecting Lola’s arrival. She had spoken to Lola earlier that morning on the telephone and was told that she was coming. Mary had no reason to be surprised by the sight of Lola at her front door. What was shocking to her was Lola’s exceptionally youthful appearance. Her first thought was that Lola had lost weight and had undergone some expensive facial reconditioning. It was this woman’s movements that made her doubt herself. Mary could not reconcile the spritely dance of this woman with someone Lola’s age. Mary also had a concern about her clothing. A man’s suit was not clothing that Lola would normally choose to wear.

“It’s me, Mary,” Lola assured as she did a turnabout with her arms stretched out. “It’s really me.”

“I don’t understand,” Mary complained with a confused look. “What happened to you?”

“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies,” Lola returned with a sly smile.

Mary knew from long experience with Lola that when she said those words, she did not want to speak anymore on the subject and likely would not if pressed. Mary also knew that Lola had difficulty keeping secrets, and that if this was truly Lola, she would likely spill the truth later during a casual conversation about something else. And if she was not Lola that too would be exposed by what she did not know about her history. Mary elected to go with her story and wait for the truth of who this woman is to reveal itself in one way or another.

“Okay—Lola,” Mary greeted with a frown. “Please have a seat,” she offered with a gesture toward the sofa. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Water, please,” Lola requested as she continued to move about the room.

Lola was feeling too energized to sit. The short walk from the bus stop in the morning sun did weather her a little, but her hunger, to a large extent, had not returned.

“Water, that’s a new one,” Mary suspiciously stated.

“Yeah,” Lola cheerfully agreed. “Do remember how I use to love to drink champagne in the morning? I’m a different person inside and out.”

Mary did remember Lola’s fondness for champagne at all hours of the day. The fact that this young woman knew of this proclivity was not enough to put down her concerns about her identity, but it was a strike in her favor.

“Speaking of different,” Lola quickly spoke before Mary could leave the room. “I need clothes. Do you have something that I can wear?”

“Is that Tony’s suit you’re wearing?” Mary questioned with surprise that it fit her so well.

“Jerry’s” Lola corrected. “Tony’s clothes were way too big.”

“So, where are your clothes?” Mary asked with a frown that reflected her extreme interest in the subject.

“Dorchester,” Lola returned with a smile.

Lola knew where the conversation was going, and she had an eagerness to get there.

“So, Tony brought you here without any clothes?” Mary asked dubiously.

“He brought me here in the trunk of his car,” Lola stated melodramatically. “I thought I was going to die,” she finished with a mix of amazed and amused in her manner.

“He kidnapped you?” Mary questioned with shock.

“No—yes—no,” Lola fumbled out indecisively.

“Which is it?” Mary asked in a commanding tone.

“Well, I guess he did,” Lola mused. “But I’m glad he did,” she continued with smile. “He made me what I am,” she finished with a twirl.

“And what are you?” Mary asked with a confused look and a shrug of her shoulders.

Lola gave the question a moment of thought from behind a devious smile before answering with a giggle.

“I can’t tell you.”

Mary was angered by Lola’s reply and gave her a pout of irritation.

“Is this some kind of a game?” Mary asked angrily. “You can’t be Lola Keener. Lola Keener is older than I am. Who are you?”

Lola gave Mary’s strident query a large smile. She then began untucking her shirt on the left side.

“Salome, it’s me—Jezebel,” Lola softly declared while exposing an artistic tattoo and calligraph of the word Jezebel.

Mary was dazed by what she saw and heard. The tattoo was a perfect match for the one that she knew to be on Lola’s left pelvis. Even the name, Salome, was the nickname that Mary had tattooed onto her left pelvis more than twenty years ago. The tattoos were done to signify their sisterly bond. She and Lola had them ingrained on the same night by the same artist while they were intoxicated on drugs and alcohol.

“How is this real?” Mary asked with a bewildered shake of her head. “How did you do this?”

“It’s a secret for now,” Lola gently proclaimed as she stepped forward and took Mary’s hands into hers. “But I will tell you when I can. Okay?”

Mary accepted Lola’s words with an amazed expression and followed that with a nod of her head a moment later.

“So, how about some clothes,” Lola suggested in an upbeat tone. “Do you have something I can wear instead of this?” She asked while stepping back to display herself.

Mary gave Lola a quick look over before answering.

“Yeah, I have clothes but nothing in your size,” Mary said with dismay. “I threw out or gave away all of my clothing from when I was skinny a few years back.”

“Don’t you have something that can be taken up?” Lola asked hopefully.

“I have something better,” Mary responded with an impish smile. “I have a credit card.”

“That’ll work,” Lola concurred with a smile. “And I will pay you back as soon as I have some money of my own. I promise,” she vigorously assured.

“Please, if you’re back with Tony, then I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” Mary responded offhandedly.

Mary was sure of more than that. As Lola’s best friend when she and Tony were first together, she enjoyed significant financial benefits. She recalled Tony dispensing money like it was candy being doled out to children. Despite Lola’s displeasure with her first relationship with Tony, Mary had no doubts about things returning to the way things were. With the possible return to a surplus of money in her checking account as a motivator, Mary promptly changed her attire and drove Lola to the closest Nordstrom department store.

Mary and Lola were not planning to do a substantial amount of shopping. Their goal was to get a few outfits and necessities to sustain Lola until she could go shopping on Tony’s credit card. Once during their outing, a salesclerk inquired of Mary if Lola was her daughter. The question was immensely entertaining to Lola, but Mary was not so amused. The question hurt because they were the same age. Mary desperately wanted answers to Lola’s new look, but she concealed her curiosity knowing that badgering Lola would make her more resistant. Mary and Lola were in the store for just over an hour when they both concluded they brought their spree to a close.

“Wait. Do you need a phone?” Mary inquired as they were passing a cellphone kiosk.

“Yeah,” Lola agreed after a moment of thought. “Just something I can use for personal calls—a prepaid phone is fine.”

Lola had just finished that statement when she noticed Mary giving her a curious look.

“What’s wrong?” Lola asked with a frown.

“You look different,” Mary explained as she continued to examine Lola’s face. “You look older.”

“I do?” Lola quickly queried back.

Lola turned and looked for a nearby mirror. When she got to a makeup mirror, Lola was quick to see the lines and discolorations that were just barely starting to show.

“Are you okay?” Mary asked with concern.

“Yeah,” Lola responded without hesitation. “I must be hungry,” she whispered to herself.

“We can stop at a restaurant on the way back home,” Mary offered with a perplexed expression.

“No,” Lola sharply returned. “That won’t be necessary. Let’s just get the cellphone and go.”

Lola’s reaction, more than her appearance, raised Mary’s suspicion that something was wrong with her longtime friend. Lola’s haste to leave the store seemed odd after her eagerness to get there. After purchasing the prepaid cellphone and entering the parking lot, Lola began walking with long strides and at a rapid pace. Mary hurried to match her pace so that she could inquire about her suspicion.

“So, is it food—some kind of new diet? Is that’s what’s behind this new look?” Mary inquired while struggling to keep up with Lola.

“Something like that—yes,” Lola confirmed while maintaining her pace.

Lola was panicked by the deterioration in her appearance. She had no idea how fast or slow the process would continue or what the result would be. In the time it took Lola to take her next three steps, Mary had lost her patience.

“Hey, come on,” Mary pleaded while grabbing Lola’s arm and pulling her to a stop. “What’s going on with you?”

“It’s a secret,” Lola returned with a dejected shake of her head. “I can’t tell you.”

“Sure, you can,” Mary countered with insistence. “I can keep a secret. The Lola I know, knows that I can keep a secret.”

Lola went into a state of confusion. She wanted to tell Mary everything, but she felt governed by Tony’s warning against exposing what they were to outsiders. The problem with that instruction was the fact that it was not Lola’s practice to regard Mary as an outsider. She paused to give her close friend’s plea a thorough consideration.

“Come on, Lola, you know me,” Mary added after noting Lola’s deliberation.

“Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone,” Lola instructed sternly.

“I promise,” Mary returned without hesitation.

“Okay then, the secret is, I’m a vampire,” Lola declared delicately.

“Excuse me,” Mary returned after a momentary stunned silence. “You’re a what?”

“I’m a vampire,” Lola restated with assertiveness. “Tony turned me three days ago.”

For several seconds Mary did not know how to respond. She immediately relegated Lola’s claim into the realm of absurdity and began reconsidering the possibility that the woman she was speaking with was not Lola. Mary could not imagine her old friend trying to convince her that she was something as silly as a vampire.

“So, you’re saying Tony is a vampire too?” Mary asked after a few seconds of thought.

“Yes!” Lola confirmed with enthusiasm. “He said he was turned by a vampire who was over two-thousand years old.”

“Two-thousand years?” Mary dubiously parroted.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Lola questioned with a smile.

“There’s no such thing as vampires,” Mary asserted with finality.

“Okay, I guess I’ll have to prove it,” Lola verbally assessed as she stepped back to consider the problem.

Mary was intrigued by the challenge and crossed her arms as she waited on the presentation of that proof.

“Give me your knife,” Lola instructed after a moment of thought.

Mary gave Lola an incredulous look.

“Come on,” Lola disputed. “I know you have a knife. You always carry a knife.”

Mary considered the request a moment longer, and then she dug into her purse and pulled out a long thin folding knife. She hesitated to consider what she was doing before handing it over to Lola.

“Come on,” Lola instructed after looking about the parking lot for eyes and cameras that might be watching.

Mary followed Lola to the space between Mary’s car and the one next to it. When Lola turned back toward her while holding the knife, Mary was momentarily frightened. She had no idea what Lola was planning to do with the blade, and the thought that she might use it on her did cross her thinking.

“Okay,” Lola started to speak while pulling up the left sleeve of the suit coat and shirt she was still wearing. “I haven’t done this before, but Tony assures me it will work,” she continued after a deep breath.”

“What are you planning on doing?” Mary asked with a shocked expression.

Lola ignored the question, took a deep breath and then quickly made a long deep cut down her arm.

“Oh my God!” Mary nearly screamed at the sight of the blood profusely discharging out of the wound.

Mary quickly unlocked and opened the door to her car while repeating her ‘oh my Gods’ several times more. After a few seconds of digging in the car’s glove compartment, Mary pulled out a handful of tissues and quickly applied them to the large amount of blood covering Lola’s left forearm. Lola watched as Mary raced to attend to the wound. Shortly into her effort, Mary noticed Lola’s mixed expression of concern and intrigue.

“Come on, I need to get you to an emergency room,” Mary asserted after applying several seconds of pressure to the wound.

“Wait,” Lola returned while resisting Mary’s tug on her arm. “Look,” she encouraged while pushing Mary’s hand and tissue away from her arm. At first Mary was resistant to Lola’s effort to stop her from applying pressure to the wound, but she gradually gave way. She soon noticed that the bleeding was subsiding and began dabbing at the residue of blood to get a better look at the wound. A few seconds later, and much to her surprise, she saw the wound begin to mend on its own. In little more than thirty seconds after Lola cut open her arm, there was no wound or even a visible scar to suggest that there was ever a cut on her arm.

“It worked,” Lola exclaimed with a wide smile.

“Oh my God,” Mary huffed while staring wide-eyed at Lola’s arm.

A second later, Mary wiped away much of the remaining blood before reiterating her verbal response of choice.

“Oh my God!”

“Tony was right,” Lola cheerfully proclaimed. “I heal instantly. See?”

“How did you do that?” Mary asked while moving closer to examine Lola’s arm.

“I told you,” Lola answered with a mix of amusement and insistence. “I’m a vampire.”

Mary did not know how to react. The idea that Lola was a vampire was still difficult for her to accept, but the evidence was difficult to ignore. After a moment of thought, Mary shook her head in resignation.

“Okay. Okay,” Mary began with heavy reluctance. “I believe—I believe you’re something. How did this happen?”

“I told you, and you can’t tell anyone. You promised,” Lola stated with excitement in her voice.

“Yeah, okay,” an amazed Mary agreed.

It took Mary more than a few minutes to get over her astonishment, and then she and Lola got into the car and drove out of the Nordstrom’s parking lot.

“Can you drive me back to Jerry’s?” Lola asked hopefully.

Lola knew she was gradually diminishing physically, and that sleep, and food were the only things that would restore her youth. She started examining her hands and arms to measure how much older she was growing.

“Why not come back to my place?” Mary quickly queried. “You can shower and dress into your new clothes, and I’m sure my vanity set will be more to your liking then Jerry’s.”

“I don’t know,” Lola mused. “I was warned not to spend too much time moving about during the day.”

“You’re fine,” Mary quickly assured. “And besides, all you need is something to eat and you’ll be good as new.”

Mary’s argument made sense to Lola, and it only took her a moment to relent. She did not consider that Mary might have an ulterior motive, and that was mostly because she did not care. Lola was happy to spend time with her oldest and closest friend. Mary was equally pleased to spend time with Lola, but she was also considering a whole new benefit to their association.

When they got back to the house, Lola did as Mary suggested. She showered and dressed in one of the three outfits that Mary purchased for her. She then sat at Mary’s vanity table and began making use of the lotions and makeups there.

“What’s it like being a vampire?” Mary queried from her seat on the bed.

“It’s amazing,” Lola began to gush. “I feel better now than I ever did. Everything is so much better. It’s like my senses have discovered a whole new world beneath the one I use to know. Sounds, smells, tastes are so much more vivid and sharp—sometimes too sharp—like bright light and some smells. But it’s all so amazing and extreme.”

“What do you mean by extreme?” Mary asked with a curiosity frown.

“It’s just that everything feels so much better than they did before,” Lola explained with a shrug. “It’s like living on bread and water all my life and then suddenly feasting on French cuisine.”

Mary quickly took in Lola’s analogy, and then turned her thoughts toward another subject.

“And how are things with you and Tony?” Mary inquisitively asked.

“Different—and the same,” Lola returned offhandedly. “We haven’t been fighting, but I’m sure that’ll come later.”

“So, you’re not going to stay with him?” Mary questioned with a hint of concern in her expression.

“Apparently, I don’t have a choice,” Lola grudgingly acknowledged while carefully attending to her left eyelash.

“Why? Because you’re a vampire?” An intrigued Mary quickly asked.

“I’m told that because he’s my maker, I’m connected to him,” Lola explained while switching her attention to her right eyelash.

It was clear by the change in Mary’s posture that she was intrigued by Lola’s answers, and she leaned forward to ask her next question.

“Connected how?”

“I’m not sure. I mean, he’s still—Tony,” Lola stopped applying eyelash thickener to verbalize her answer with disgust. “But there’s something different going on.”

“Different how?” Mary asked without hesitation.

“Well, you know Tony was never—the man of my dreams,” Lola sighed. “Hell, the only reason why I slept with him was because I wasn’t allowed to have sex with anyone else while we were together.”

“As I recall, you broke that rule a couple of times,” Mary countered with a hint of humor in her tone.

“More than that, especially toward the end,” Lola confirmed with a glance and a smile toward Mary. “But the thing is, last night Tony rung my bell like it had never been rung before,” she continued with a look of astonishment. “We went at it for hours. I couldn’t get enough of him.”

“What? You’re saying you’ve got the hots for Tony now?” Mary questioned with surprise.

“No!” Lola sharply responded. “I’m still not attracted to him—physically—at least, when I’m away from him, I don’t feel any attraction,” she hesitantly explained. “But I think when we’re close, he’s arousing me sexually somehow,” she explained with a grimace of disgust and a shiver. “I’m talking seriously aroused. I was so horny last night, who I was fucking seemed inconsequential.”

“You’re kidding?” Mary giggled.

“Yeah,” Lola stressed. “And it goes beyond sex. I think I can sense his feelings and maybe even his thoughts.”

Mary mused over Lola’s observation before continuing with her thoughts on the subject.

“Well, that doesn’t sound like a bad thing—I mean, if he’s ringing your bell,” Mary pondered. “Some people would say that’s a good deal.”

“Well, I’m not sure I’m one of those people,” Lola sullenly countered while adding eyeliner.

Mary paused to second guess her next words.

“I am,” Mary softly declared.

Lola heard the subtext in Mary’s response loud and clear. She turned to give Mary a concerned look. She knew Mary was talking about becoming a vampire also. Lola had passively considered the thought since her decision to visit her friend.

“Tony wouldn’t like that,” Lola warned after a pause.

“So, we don’t tell him,” Mary countered with defiance.

“I just think we should do this another time,” Lola pushed back. “Tony is up to something, and I don’t think he’s going to like me doing things without his permission.”

“That’s just it, Lola,” Mary countered with exasperation. “Why should it be Tony’s decision. You know he doesn’t trust anyone when it comes to his secrets. I’m your best friend. We’re like sisters. Are you going to let Tony decide to cut me out because he has no use for me? You know the game, babe. It’s me and you versus the men. We do what we want, and we apologize for it later.”

Lola gave no response. She paused to consider Mary’s request. The argument against waiting on Tony’s permission made sense to her, and it was an argument that she had already considered. She knew what was really holding her back was the act itself. Lola knew that she was brazen enough to do it without Tony’s consent. The fact that she only had a peripheral knowledge of the procedure for turning someone into a vampire was the thing that made her hesitant. Attempting to turn Mary into a vampire on her own and without supervision was the fear that stopped her from making the offer.

“Babe,” Mary continued after a moment of silence. “I had a health scare—cancer. It was a couple of years ago and they got it in time. They cut it out, but you know how it goes. Once you get it, it’s just a matter of time before you get it again.”

“I only know what Tony told me in passing about turning someone,” Lola declared in a warning tone. “I wasn’t given any training on how to do it.”

“That’s fine,” Mary countered with a quick retort. “Lola, I trust you. Please, do this for me. I want to be young again. Please.”

Lola’s resistance fell away after Mary’s last plea. She knew that telling Mary that she was a vampire had stripped away much of her resistance to turning her. Lola knew that making Mary a vampire was what she wanted to do from the beginning. She could not imagine being young and on the prowl again without her dearest friend by her side.

It took Lola the lesser part of an hour to complete her portion of the transition process, but it was more than three hours later when she left the house. Concern and worry over what she had done had her anxious to see Mary awaken from the death sleep that she put her in. When Lola left Mary, she was lying still in her bed with no measurable heartbeat. Lola was forewarned that a corpse is what she should see, but that did not ease her concern. She would have gladly stayed at Mary’s bedside to wait out the process, but night was approaching, and Lola knew that Tony and Jeremiah would be calling soon. As she made her walk toward the nearest major street, Lola could only hope that Mary’s body was going through the human to vampire transformation.