Chapter 27: Bright Lights, Big City

It was approaching 11pm, Sunday night, and Lola had been strolling along the streets of Queens for more than two hours in the stylish new clothing that Mary Thistle purchased for her. With the sun below the horizon and the air noticeably cooler, the walk was invigorating to her new vampire body. She wandered provocatively along the sidewalks of the streets at an easy pace. She noticed the people and places that she passed while turning heads along the way. Lola had no idea where she was going or exactly what she was looking for, but she did know it had to be something that would alleviate her boredom. She shortly came across a sports bar that looked suitably distracting.

Oscar’s Sports Bar was nothing fancy to look at on the outside. It was not a large sports bar, and it was situated at the corner of the intersection of a large thoroughfare and a small side street. Next to it on the side street was a laundromat. A pizza parlor was next to it on the thoroughfare. Several towering apartment complexes were visible along the thoroughfare on either side and along the smaller streets behind the thoroughfare. A large grocery store was located across the intersection from the sports bar, with a pharmacy and a fitness center fixed within the same complex. A KFC was stationed across the side street from the sports bar and a bodega was on the other side of the pizza parlor. What made the sports bar stand out for Lola was the large amount of pedestrian activity that was going on in the vicinity. Its function as a social gathering spot made it stand out in Lola’s mind as the hub for all the activity, and so she went in.

The interior of the bar was attractive without being excessively flashy. Five large TV monitors attached high on the walls were airing five different sporting events. More than a dozen patrons were watching the games on varying screens, but most were watching the baseball game on the center most monitor in the room. The outnumbered the women three to one in the bar. Lola cautiously walked inside and moved slowly along the perimeter of the room away from the bar. She glanced at the games on the monitors with indifference while panning the occupants of the bar. When she came to a small vacant table along the room’s perimeter, Lola took a seat with her back to the wall.

“What can I get you?” A waitress asked several seconds after Lola sat down.

“A gin and tonic,” Lola spoke up so that the waitress could hear.

The waitress went off to retrieve the drink requested, and Lola sat back in her chair to wait and scan the room, the TV monitors and their viewers. Lola’s entry into the sports bar did not go unnoticed. She caught the admiring glances of several men as she moved around the room, and she held on to the stare of one as she sat. After a few minutes, the waitress returned with her gin and tonic and offered her a dinner menu. Lola declined the menu and paid for the drink with the money she acquired from Mary. Lola continued to scan the room and its occupants while she ignored her drink. Her constant admirer walked over to her table a minute after she received her drink.

“You alone?” Jay Morrison asked when he stopped in front of Lola’s table.

Jay Morrison was a tall roughhewn looking man who looked to be in his early forties and long past physically fit.

“So far,” Lola playfully responded to Jay Morrison inquiry.

“Can I join you?” Jay bluntly asked.

“Please do,” Lola pleasantly returned with a smile.

Jay was pleased to hear Lola’s response, and he eagerly sat in the chair opposite her.

“The names Jay,” he announced proudly.

“Lola,” Lola called back over the raucous in the bar.

“Lola, I like it,” Jay declared loudly. “So, what are you drinking, Lola?”

“I’m not,” Lola returned dismissively. “I’m just looking at it.”

“You don’t drink?” Jay questioned slightly confused.

“Not anymore,” Lola replied without a care for his confusion. “It depresses the senses, and I prefer to keep my senses sharp now days.”

“Is that right?” Jay returned with suspicion.

“Yes, this is the new me,” Lola answered with a noticeable amount of amusement in her voice. “When I’m having a good time, I want to feel—everything.”

“So, are sports your thing, Lola?” Jay asked.

“Not particularly. I’m here for the company,” Lola casually answered. “I was bored,” she finished after a pause.

“The company?” Jay asked in suspicion.

“Yes, the company,” Lola pleasantly reiterated with a smile. “I’m enjoying the excitement.”

Jay gave the attractive woman in front of him a brief study. His suspicion was now evident on his face. He looked at Lola with a stare and a smile that suggested he thought her to be less than a lady.

“Bullshit,” Jay suddenly spouted with a laugh. “You’re a hooker.”

Lola was visibly annoyed by the assumption. For a second, her pleasant demeanor transformed into a sulky stare, and then it changed into a smirk. Lola concluded that Jay had given her license to dislike him.

“Is that right, Jay?” Lola questioned with a faint smile. “Is that written on my forehead?”

“Don’t play games with me, kitten,” Jay countered testily. “What’s your price?”

Lola briefly laughed at Jay. She was clearly amused.

“That’s a good question, Jay,” Lola responded with a smile. “How much would you say I’m worth?”

“Forty,” Jay quickly tossed out in a brusque manner. “And I’m being generous.”

“Wow, Jay, you really know how to bruise a girl’s ego,” Lola returned with a mildly amused expression. “I’m sure I can get better than that from someone else in a nice fat bar like this.”

“Okay, fifty,” Jay returned with a shrug. “But that’s as high as I go, kitten.”

Lola paused to laugh once again.

“Keep your money, Jay,” Lola responded snidely. “I think I’ll hold out for a real man.”

Jay’s face took on a look of anger that was motivated by Lola’s rebuke of his offer.

“I’m the most man in here, not that it matters to a hooker,” Jay angrily replied while leaning forward over the table. “And since when does a slut care who she fucks?”

Lola sneered at Jay. His words brought her to a new height of enmity, and she could not stop herself from momentarily showing it on her face.

“I never said I was a working girl, Jay,” Lola haughtily challenged. “You did,” she finished with disdain.

“You don’t have to say it,” Jay snidely countered. “You wouldn’t be in here alone and not drinking if you weren’t a hooker. So, what’s your price?”

“I’m not selling, Jay,” Lola casually returned. “I’m shopping.”

“Shopping for what?” Jay quickly asked in a commanding tone.

“A good time, of course, Jay,” Lola softly returned with a smile and a shrug.

“Well hell, kitten, if it’s a good time you want, then I’m your man,” Jay gleefully assured.

Lola paused to give Jay a perusal out the slits of her eyes.

“You know, Jay, I think you may be right,” Lola spoke with a look of satisfaction.

Just as she finished speaking, Lola got up from her chair and shouldered her purse.

“Okay, Jay, show me what you’ve got,” Lola smugly suggested.

Jay was quick to comply with Lola’s request. He got up from his seat and led Lola out of the sports bar and to his apartment complex a short walk away. Jay spoke very little during their walk and the things he did say were variations of bravados to his virility. Lola said nothing at all during their walk. She placidly followed Jay’s lead. After a walk that lasted several minutes, they arrived at the door of Jay’s apartment. Jay quickly opened the door and Lola walked through.

“This is it, kitten,” Jay announced as he flipped on the overhead living room light.

Lola looked around the room as Jay closed and locked the door. As she turned back toward Jay, she found him grabbing for her with both hands. Lola quickly stiffed armed him while taking a step back.

“You said you wanted to have a good time,” Jay complained as he grabbed Lola’s arm and attempted to pull her in close. “So, let’s get to it.”

“Maybe I changed my mind,” Lola returned with a smile and while taking two more steps back.

“Don’t play games,” Jay insisted as he grappled against Lola’s resistance to his advances.

“Why not?” Lola countered with an amused smile. “I like playing games.”

Jay was visibly angered by Lola’s remark about playing games. He stopped trying to pull Lola in for a kiss and fumed at her.

“Bitch, I didn’t bring you here to waste my time,” Jay roared as he reached out with his right hand and violently grabbed Lola’s left arm.

“And I didn’t come here to fuck you,” Lola growled in return while grabbing Jay by the neck.

The surprising speed and power of Lola’s assault pushed Jay off balance. An instant later, she spun Jay around until he was facing the door to the apartment. Then she shoved him hard, causing him to stumble backwards and crash into the wall.

“You bitch,” Jay roared as he came off the wall and started for Lola with his right hand balled into a fist.

Just as Jay readied his right arm for a punch, Lola reached out with her left hand and grabbed his arm at the wrist. In that same instant, she used her right hand to grab Jay by the neck. She then lifted him off the floor, did a half pirouette and threw him several feet across the room. Jay landed on a coffee table and rolled to the floor. He pushed his torso up off the floor and looked at Lola with shock and fear in his eyes.

“Are we having fun yet, Jay?” Lola asked with a smile.

Jay looked about and spotted a pair of scissors on an end table. He quickly got up on his knees and took the scissors into his right hand as though it was dagger. Before he could get to his feet, Lola grabbed the arm with the scissors with her left hand and grabbed Jay by the throat with her right. Almost immediately, Jay tried to use his free hand to pry Lola’s grip from his throat. He noticed the glee in Lola’s expression along with light reflecting off her eyes. After a few seconds of trying to dislodge Lola’s hand from his throat, Jay reached out with his left hand and grabbed Lola by the neck. An instant later, Lola responded by doubling the pressure of her grip onto Jay’s throat. Jay instantly released his hold on Lola’s neck and went back to trying to pry her grip off his throat. After a few seconds more, his efforts became desperate. Garbled sounds began to come out of his mouth, and his eyes went wide with fear.

Lola relished the moment more than she expected. Jay’s closeness filled her olfactory receptors with the smell of his blood. She continued squeezing Jay’s neck while her fangs began to protrude from between her lips. For a long moment, she entertained the thought of feeding on Jay’s blood. She was an instant away from biting into his neck when the thought of Tony’s reaction popped into her mind. After a moment of thought, Lola backed her head away from Jay’s throat, she noted for the first time that he was barely conscious. When she released him from her grip, Jay flopped onto the floor and began gasping for air.

“How was that, kitten?” Lola playfully queried. “Was it good for you?”

After taking a moment to appreciate her work, Lola reached down and pulled Jay’s wallet out of his pants pocket, extracted all the money from it and tossed the wallet to the floor. She then retrieved her purse from the floor and left the apartment with Jay just beginning to push his torso up onto his elbows.

Lola left Jay’s apartment with an additional $360.00 in her purse and in high spirits. Her little tussle with Jay was amusing to her. Lola was so entertained by her little adventure with Jay that she had thoughts of doing it again with someone else, but a concern that had been nagging at her took precedence. So, she went back to the boulevard, jumped into a cab and directed the driver to convey her to Mary Thistle’s address.

Just before 1am, Lola arrived at Mary’s home. The house was dark and there was no answer to Lola’s numerous knocks and rings at the front door. Lola was now thinking that some harm may have come to Mary after she left the house during the day. That brought her around to the possibility that Mary might return at some time during the night. After a brief debate with herself, Lola decided to wait for Mary. She then went around to the rear of the house and entered through busted back door.

Lola spent the next several minutes searching the house from top to bottom. Mary was not in the house, and she could find no information about where she went to. When she gave up on her search, Lola took a seat in the living room and began thinking about what she should do next. She thought of calling some of Mary’s friends, but she did not know who most of them were now or their phone numbers. Shortly into this thinking, Lola pulled out her own cellphone and dialed out to Mary in the hope that she would answer this time. When the report from her cellphone told her that Mary’s cellphone was ringing, Lola was surprised to hear a corresponding ring coming from upstairs. She quickly raced up to Mary’s bedroom and found the cellphone on the floor.

Lola was shocked to find Mary’s cellphone in the house. She wondered what could have happen to separate Mary from her cellphone, and then she realized that Mary was not ignoring her calls. She also considered the idea that Mary could not call her because she had not memorized her new cellphone number. Both of those possibilities brought Lola to the supposition that Mary might not be far away, and that her return would likely occur during the night. With that thought in her head, Lola settled in for a wait.

It was approaching 5am when Lola decided to give up on her wait for Mary. She knew that Tony would be angry if she was not in the house when he returned, and she estimated that there was just enough time by cab to get back to Jeremiah’s before sunrise. After calling for a cab, Lola returned Mary’s cellphone to her bed-stand so that she could easily find it when and if she returned. A few minutes later, her cab was honking in front of the house.

When Lola arrived in front of Jeremiah’s house a several minutes later, the sun was just peaking over the horizon, and the Monday morning rush hour traffic had barely started. A few houses on the block were lit up with activity, but there were no pedestrians moving on the block. Everything looked as it should for an early Monday morning, but there was an audible disturbance somewhere in the vicinity that quickly captured Lola’s attention.

As soon as Lola opened the cab door, her sharp hearing locked in on a ruckus coming from inside Jeremiah’s house. It sounded to her as if two or more individuals inside the house were arguing at the top of their lungs. The commotion was not so great that it was likely to awaken the whole block, but it did sound significant enough to get the attentions of the next-door neighbors. With a worry that the noise might draw attention to the house, Lola hurried up to the front door and discovered it was locked. That was no surprise to her. She locked the door behind her when she left. Lola was counting on someone being there to let her in, and she quickly began ringing the bell for just that purpose. She gave up on that plan when the sound of cursing and fighting had reached a level that made her think it was urgent that she get inside fast. With a sharp shove with her vampire strength, Lola busted the lock and propelled the door open. She then raced through the doorway and hurried to where the arguing was coming from, the kitchen. By the time Lola got to the kitchen entrance the shouting was over. The ruckus she heard moments earlier had transitioned into a relative calm, but what she saw was so disturbing it produced a reactionary verbal inquiry from her.

“What the fuck did you do?”