A Night in Spokane

This story contains physical violence, gore, and suicide or self harm

Billy Hamilton woke up, remembered where he was, and groaned before crawling out of his cardboard sanctuary. His creator Johnny is getting dressed from the huge pile of filthy clothing on the floor of the equally filthy underground room they share under the old bus station in Spokane Washington.

Cursing his pain he takes hold of his cane and painfully gets to his feet. None of the vampire stories he had read, none of the vampire movies he had watched even compared to his new reality. True, you don’t age, but you don’t change at all.

Billy has had a perfectly shaped goatee for just about a year now, but he is still in as much pain as when he was a mortal. Trying to talk to Johnny is a total waste of time, all he lives for is the fix from drinking from someone drunk, stoned or on meth.

He slowly takes off yesterday’s shirt and glowers at the bullet holes, it seems the cops are looking for him for missing a few court dates. Oh well, it doesn’t matter now. Taking clean clothing out of his laundry bag he quickly changes.

Thinking about the vampire lore, it would be nice if he could fly, if he could turn into mist, if he could do all the things that make vampires cool. There was one time he tried asking Johnny about it, the only coherent answer he got was that Johnny’s maker never taught him.

Billy slips into the maze of passages that lead to the manhole cover in the parking lot. The old vampire slowly makes his way up the ladder, cursing at the pain all his old injuries have caused him. Is this really how he wants to spend eternity?

Easily shoving the manhole cover open he is glad that at least the lore about super human strength, and being able to see in the dark is true. Making his way through downtown, Billy thinks about his last night as a mortal, the crowd at The District, the beers, the music, flirting with the cute goth girl with the black and white hair.

Walking to his motorcycle when all of a sudden, boom boom, and out go the lights. Waking up in the darkness, Johnny giggling as he feeds his blood to Billy in the filthy darkness, the pain of turning into a vampire. Billy makes his way to Riverfront Park.

There are always stupid mortals that think they are safe in the park at night, they have no idea what lurks in the darkness, tonight Billy is what lurks in the darkness. Spying a girl sitting alone talking on her phone Billy smiles, time to feed.

Slipping up behind the young lady, Billy waits for her to finish her call before coming around the bench and sitting next to her.

The girl glares at Billy, “Fuck off old man, my boyfriend is on his way.” He slowly turns his head, his neck loudly popping, “Sorry miss, I’m just taking a little rest, I’ll be gone soon enough.”

The girl doesn’t care, “Look you old fuck, you aren’t wanted here, get the fuck away from my bench.” Billy’s hand darts out, grabbing the girl by the hair, “Fuck you bitch!” He sink’s his fangs into her throat, draining the girl’s blood.

Taking the girl’s phone Billy removes her ID, credit cards, and a whopping $63 in cash. Not a bad haul, he can at least replace yesterday’s shirt and get some laundry done.

Dragging the girl by one ankle through the darkness Billy throws her corpse into The Spokane River. He makes his way to the closest water fountain to clean up. As he approaches the fountain a concerned woman asks if he is okay? Billy tells her he had a nose bleed.

The woman hands Billy some napkins from her purse and he thanks her. He wipes the blood off his face with wet napkins, as he is cleaning up, he hears a woman’s scream pierce the air.

With a ghastly grin Billy heads back to watch the people to see what they do. A few continue to do what they are doing, but the majority head towards the screaming woman. Hobbling along behind them, he listens to the fragments of conversations.

The screaming woman is pointing at the corpse floating down the river. Billy chuckles to himself as several people whip out their phones and start recording videos of the dead woman. One of the men who made it to the woman comforts her as the other one calls 911.

Taking a seat he settles in to watch the activities. The sound of sirens arriving on Spokane Falls Blvd. fills the air. he leans back and crosses his ankles. Two uniformed officers run up to the Howard Street Bridge where everyone is milling around pointing at, or making videos of the corpse.

The fire department and an ambulance shortly arrive. More police arrive and start stringing up crime scene tape while moving the crowd away from the river. The scene is getting even more chaotic.

Two detectives and the coroner take control of the scene and take pictures from multiple angles before allowing the fire department to retrieve the body. Checking his watch, he notices that it is still hours until dawn.

Thoughtfully tugging on his goatee Billy makes a decision, he quickly makes his way to the street. He hot wires an older truck that he drives to the Shadle Park Walmart. He purchases two gas cans, and a lighter. Billy fills the gas cans on his way back to the lair he shares with his addled creator.

The time for stealth is over, Billy kicks open the door to the old bus depot, limps down the stairs leaving a trail of gasoline behind him. He pours the rest of the gas can in their lair, saturating the pile of dirty clothing. Back up the stairs he finds a place to hide as he watches for Johnny to return.

When Johnny enters the manhole, Billy lights the trail of gasoline leading into the lair before heading to the opening. Shoving the cover aside, Billy dumps the entire can of gas into the hole, lights a copy of The Inlander on fire, and drops it in.

A blast of flame erupts from the hole, singeing Billy’s clothing and goatee. Laughing he watches the bus depot burn and waits for the sun to rise.