Tomorrow's Dead: The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles Read Online Free Page A

he snarled at the two sun-immune
     vamps.  “You have no jurisdiction on this island.”
     “There’s only the two of you,” said Bette, swiping her thin hair back.  “And an old
     dog that’s dying as we speak.”  She laughed as if she’d told a joke to die for.
    Poe who had been silent narrowed her eyes.  “Don’t talk about my dog that way.  Tell
     them how sensitive I am about Penny, Maclemar.”
    The Welshman stared at Poe, who seemed the perfect model of concentration, and shrugged
     off his fear.  “She’s bloody sensitive when it comes to her dog, ladies.  Don’t make
     her angrier than she is right now.  He watched Penny, her sinewy body taut as she
     stood bravely by Poe.
    “Or else she’s going to shoot us and miss?” said Sally.  Bette joined her in laughing
     at Maclemar’s words.
    Poe spun her .45 with her index finger like Clint Eastwood in The Man with No Name
     Trilogy.  The muzzle pointed at Bette when the spinning ended.  The vampire was as
     shocked as her companion.  “Let’s find out, why don’t we?” said Poe, too calmly acting
     the cowboy.
    “You’re a fraud, Julia Poe,” Bette said and flew at Poe.  The ex-vampire executioner
     shot at the undead who suddenly hovered above.  She missed.  A raging Bette pried
     her gun from her fingers and threw it to the ground.  She lifted Poe by the back of
     her neck.  “Your shooting days are over, and we know this now.”
    Poe turned from the visage of the angry vampire.  “Could you quit talking that close? 
     Your breath kills.”
    Bette eked out her dissatisfaction and prepared to hurl Poe to the trees.  But Poe
     took her by surprise, seizing the vampire’s neck, burying her garlic-oiled wrist knife
     in her throat, and cutting open her neck like the lid of a can of beans.  Poe fell
     from the air with a thud but quickly rolled to her feet before Bette’s dead body could
     flatten her.
    “Next!” she said as Sally’s eyes became slits. 
    “You shit!  I’ll kill you for this,” Sally said as she looked at her friend’s lacerated
     neck.
    Poe walked to her pack and unearthed her crappy sword, slick with garlic oil, one
     of the few things vampires were allergic to.  “Let’s go then.”  Penny suddenly ran
     toward the vampire while Maclemar raised his pistol.
    Sally hissed at the goofy weapon and Poe’s pathetic friends and lunged at the girl. 
     Like a boomerang, Poe hurled the machete at Sally before dog or bullet could beat
     her to it.  The triangle-tipped sword slashed at the heavy vampire’s right thigh. 
     The vamp, an undead for less than a year, screamed and pulled at the weapon.  Once
     it was dislodged and dropped, Sally took to the air, wailing like a banshee.
    “Those guys aren’t L.A. vampires, are they?” asked Poe tightly.  “They were pure amateur
     league.”  She patted Penny on the head.  
    “In a sense, they are,” answered Maclemar.  “They’re ex-blood cattle who chose to
     become vampires.  They call themselves Tunics.”
    “And they don’t want me on the mainland because?”
    “Because you can show friendship between vampires and humans is possible.”  Maclemar
     hugged Poe and kissed her on the head.  “I thought you said you couldn’t hit anything
     anymore?”
    Poe grinned.  “I said I was a worthless shot, but my knife skills and Bruce Lee moves
     are still a-ok.”
     
    ***
     
    After a choppy voyage on a retooled Chameleon, Maclemar secured the lovingly maintained
     boat to the San Pedro dock.  He led Poe and Penny to the four-story parking structure
     where his carefully restored 1985 Ducati 600 TL was tucked away. 
    “What in the world, Maclemar!” complained Poe boisterously.  “How the hell are the
     three of us plus my giant backpack going to fit on your antique motorcycle?”
    Maclemar cleared his throat.  “I left Penny out of the equation, but she can sit up
     here with me.  I won’t go so fast.”
    Poe wore a black