The Cure

Chapter 6 -- Hector

Recap:  Hoping to save her friend Hector, sixteen year-old Kathy is on her way back to the vampire school from which she and two other girls escaped. Hector sacrificed his blood so the girls could get away, but he was captured by Dr. Bartholomew Baneful and is being beaten, force fed nasturtiums to spice up his blood, and bled a little at a time. Kathy and Hector's friend Lionel voluntarily stayed at the school under the protection of the vampire violin teacher and ex-Mafia hit man, Giuseppe Vendetta. 

Chapter 6 -- Hector

Hector was awakened by the metallic scratching of someone fiddling with the locks outside his cell. His paper gown rustled in the dark as he struggled up to sit on the stone slab bed. Every part of his body ached.

Baneful again? It's too soon. I can still taste the nasturtiums he forced me to eat a short time ago. Without the strength to stand, he planted his feet on the stone floor and his back against the wall.

The upper lock clicked open, then more scratching, another click and some fumbling until the deadbolt slid back. A spark of hope penetrated his despair. The door creaked open and a penlight beam sought him and made him blink.

"You okay, Hector?" whispered Lionel. The African-American boy appeared as a wide blur behind his penlight.

Hector laughed hysterically. Okay? After seeing a woman on a hook bled like a pig? After days of Baneful using me as a sippy-cup? "Having a blast here," he said. "Lower the light, dude. It hurts my eyes. What took you so long to get to me?"

"Lionel had to learn to use Vendetta's lock pick."

Arvin's voice. And the stink of his cologne. Peering into the darkness, Hector made out Arvin's gangly figure behind Lionel. It was no surprise that Lionel had brought the teen vampire for backup. No student was a better scrounger than Arvin. He'd get or give almost anything for a cup of blood. "You here, too, Arvin? You guys come to bust me out?"

"Can't do that," said Arvin.

"Fuck you can't." Hector knocked his head back against the wall. "What is it? You guys chicken?"

"Calm down -- not so loud," said Lionel. "We have no way out of the school."

"Sorry." Hector fought back his tears. "Can you get me something sharp?"

"So you can off yourself like Conrad?" asked Lionel. "Give us some time --- we'll get you out."

"Time? How much?" Already broke my promise. Can't make it home to Berto any better than Papi could from Afghanistan, or Mami from heroin. "I don't know how much longer I can last."

"Edna LittleHawk is working on a plan," said Arvin. "But it's complicated. Everything's on lockdown since Kathy escaped. We only got in here because Baneful suddenly booked it out of the school after his Legion assembly. I heard him tell Ken Wurchler he'd be back in four hours."

Hector's heart skipped a beat and raced forward. "Kathy made it?"

"Yeah," said Lionel. "So did Soo and that Idaho girl. All because of you, man. I feel terrible we can't take you out of here right now."

"No worse than me, guey. At least the girls got away." He smiled through his pain. "Don't feel guilty. You can only do what you can do."

"We warmed up a mug of chicken soup that Finkelstein made for you," said Lionel. "He said not to drink it too fast."

"How's your blood holding out?" asked Arvin.

"Not now," Lionel chided. "Give him the soup."

"Yeah, dude, give it here." Hector extended his hand. "All Baneful will give me are those nasty nasturtiums. If I get out of here, I swear I'll never look at another flower." The thermal mug slid into his hand with a fleeting touch of cold fingers. "Why are you doing this, Arvin?" Without waiting for an answer, he popped up the lid and gulped lukewarm soup. He'd never eaten anything as good.

"I try to help my donors stay alive."

Hector burped. "And?" Without waiting for an answer, he took another swig of soup.

"And I hate people being abused."

"That's his better nature talking," said Lionel. "Fess up, man."

"No, I mean it. Before I was turned, I was a fucking altar-boy. You know -- " Arvin cleared his throat. "But I did get a small donation from Lionel recently," he said. "No offense to your Mayan ancestors, Hector, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to taste the blood of African kings."

"My people were kings?" The chubby boy's voice cracked.

"DNA doesn't lie," said Arvin.

"But most vampires do," said Hector. "If Kathy made it out, why hasn't Baneful killed me already?"

"He's waiting for her to come back," said Lionel.

Hector snorted. "Fat chance."

"No, she really is coming back. Finkelstein said she was doing it for you."

"Oh, shit!" Bowing his head, Hector slapped it twice. "Didn't she understand I did this so she could avoid dying here?"

"I'm sure she understood perfectly," said Arvin. "She either thinks she can save you or is willing to die with you. In the words of a great poet, she's a romantic asshole. She's putting our whole network in danger."

"Mostly herself," said Lionel.

"What network?" asked Hector. "Vampires do their own thing."

"We can have common goals," said Arvin. "That's why Finkelstein made you the soup, and Mr. Vendetta trained Lionel to use the lock pick. Some of us want to screw Baneful and his Satanists, even if means keeping you alive...I don't think I said that quite right."

"Don't sweat it. I'm grateful for the help. You picked the lock, Lionel?"

"Yeah." Lionel's tone was proud. "Mr. Vendetta taught me. He said that hands nimble enough to play the violin can learn a lot of skills. He told me it was really a lot easier to be a hit man than a violinist, but audiences are smaller and less appreciative. I mean he really does love music, but he's very practical. If I got caught here, he'd claim I stole his lock pick. I got to get it back to him soon, and the mug back to the kitchen."

"And I have a pickup to do," said Arvin. "Some lady teacher that used to work here."

"Let me finish the soup. Any chance you can get to Kathy and tell her not to come, that I don't need her?"

"No way," said Lionel. "All messages to the outside are forbidden right now. With all the media attention to the kidnapping, the vampires are worried that the FBI will find the school."

"Before you finish the soup, swallow these." Arvin shined the light on a small vial of pills.

"Tranqs?" asked Hector.

"Garlic and a probiotic. We have to make your blood taste like shit."

"I smell that way, anyway. A hole in the floor doesn't cut it."

"Your body odor doesn't mean diddly to a thirsty vampire," said Arvin. "How your blood tastes is everything. Yours was like high-test Acapulco Gold, man. I don't know why Baneful wants to crap it up with nasturtiums."

"I wish to hell he didn't."

"Sure," said Arvin. "Unfortunately, there's no accounting for taste."

End of Chapter 6

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