Savage Paths: Here There Be Monsters

Some time toward the end of summer

“Look, I do not want to talk about it!” Cora and Amy came storming into the kitchen.

Looking at her sisters, it was easy to see the resemblance, but a lot had changed. Amy’s red highlights fell in perfect curls that required a dozen products and took up the bathroom for at least an hour a day. Cora’s severe bun was actually tousled with some hair out of place. That was unlike her. She usually looked pristine and unshakeable. Where Amy chose more flamboyant makeup with sparkle and exaggerated lashes and liner, Cora used more neutral colors to accentuate her already stunning features. They were usually of a height, but Amy had on heels to Cora’s sensible shoes.

“I feel like we have to talk about it,” Amy said dramatically.

“Tell you what… We can talk about what I’m doing with the incredibly hot vampire in the basement when we talk about why you come home with bruised inner thighs smelling like smoke, booze, and sex, and why Lia comes home beat to shit with a split lip or a black eye at least once a week. Because if you wanna do this now, we can. But I think you prefer to stay all the way the fuck out of my business, Amy. You didn’t want to know about the mortuary, so let’s just… not do this.”

“Okay but… that was…” Amy started and stopped

“It was not okay for you to walk in on us. It’s not my fault that neither of you wanted Mom’s old room. It’s not my fault you didn’t know about the old prohibition era basement. It is certainly not my fucking fault that you went into my closet and came downstairs and stood there in the dark like a fucking creeper watching.”

“I’m sorry…what, and I cannot stress this enough… THE ACTUAL FUCK is going on?” Lia’s typically angry reply stopped both of her sisters, “I thought we just… weren’t talking about it.”

She looked the least like her sisters these days, mostly because of the dark, rich navy blue hair she’d cut short in a pixie bob. It suited her.

“Did you know about it? Wait… what do you think we’re not talking about?” Amy’s face had flushed bright pink the second Cora mentioned her bruises, and it didn’t look like it was about to fade.

“Anything,” Lia answered hotly, “We don’t talk about anything anymore. I hardly know where either of you are when we’re not together. It’s like when we stopped sharing a room, we stopped sharing anything. It’s all work and sleep and pay for renovations, and argue with Harbatkin about how we're actually really totally responsible and trustworthy adults... which is clearly debatable at best. I don’t think that old bitch is ever going to relent, no matter what we do to the house and the car,” It spewed out of her like word vomit. Then, at the end, she added, “I figured we were all just so far in over our heads we were dealing with it in whatever ways we could, and we didn't need to have a chat about that as long as the bills got paid so we can keep surviving... But no... tell me... what are we avoiding talking about right now?”

Cora huffed a frustrated sigh.

Amy chuffed in annoyance.

Lia looked at them both, “You know… when I’m the voice of reason in this house, we’re in trouble. It doesn’t matter that we’re all… doing different things and… busy, but..." she stopped as though something had just registered in her brain, "Did you say there’s a fucking VAMPIRE in our basement!?!?”

“So you knew about the basement,” Amy asked deadpan.

“No,” Lia tossed it out offhandedly, “But I don’t think that’s the point. I mean… Cool.. we have a basement, but it has a vampire?!?”

“A naked vampire,” Amy said, and Cora just deflated into one of the small kitchen table’s matching 1970s vinyl chairs and put her hands over her burning red face.

“Is he hot?” Lia asked automatically.

“He’s a she,” Amy said.

“Oh… Oh! “ She turned to Cora, who still hadn’t looked up, “So, this is like… you coming out of the closet, except… if I’ve got this straight… you’re coming out of a secret basement hidden inside your closet,” Lia paused to think about it and added, “That’s messed up. We don’t care if you’re gay. You should have told us about the secret basement.”

“See,” hissed Amy, “Basement.”

“I just… need you to stay out of the basement okay,” Cora said from between her palms without looking up.

“Okay. Stay out of your sex dungeon, got it,” Lia smirked.

“So…” Amy added in a questioning tone.

“So what,” Cora’s control sounded ready to break as she snapped in a low, warning tone.

It all came out in a rush as one garbled sentence as Amy sat across from her younger sister, “So… are we going to talk about the hot vampire in the basement I found you wrist deep inside, because, like, we might have grown up in a weird house, but it wasn’t sex dungeon weird, and where the fuck did you find a vampire anyway?”

“To clarify,” Lia interrupted, “When we say things like ‘a vampire,’ we do not appear to be speaking at all rhetorically. And when we say ‘wrist deep in,’ we are absolutely talking about some chick you brought home to your secret sex dungeon and were getting freaky with. Right? Like… I didn’t get hit in the head too many times did I? This is what’s happening in our kitchen right now?”

“Yeah,” her sisters replied in tandem, Cora adding, “About that… I’m… serious. I need you guys to stay out of my…” She coughed and blushed an even deeper shade like she had a sudden sunburn, “My… freaky sex-dungeon vampire basement business…" and then, emphatically, "Please.”

The quiet pleading tone was not like Cora at all, and her sisters relented a little.

Lia nodded and turned on Amy, “So… I’m guessing the bruises on the insides of your thighs also came from some freaky sex dungeon?”

Amy’s eyes widened, “Ewww… no!” Then she turned to Cora and smiled sheepishly, “Sorry… I don’t mean…”

Cora held up a palm, “Let’s not.”

“So…” Lia prompted.

“It’s um… mostly from work.”

“I don’t get it,” Cora looked as confused and tousled as she’d ever been.

Lia cocked her head in curiosity.

“I… have been riding to work with Hec and… um…”

“Where does he work?” Lia asked, suddenly realizing she’d never once thought to ask.

“We work at… uh… a strip club,” it was Amy’s turn to blush.

“Oh…” said Lia.

“I still don’t get it,” Cora said, looking slightly baffled at Amy.

“So… it hurts to do all that… climbing… and spinning, and stuff?” Lia was genuinely curious.

“It’s… you put your body weight on whatever bare skin is gripping the metal, so… yeah. I bruise myself,” Amy’s answer was a bit sheepish, “I get them on the backs of my knees sometimes, too.”

“Oh,” Cora’s eyes widened, “Oh… okay. That’s… um… I… have questions.”

“No, no. If you want me to answer your questions, I get to know about the vampire in the basement first!”

“It’s a really long story,” Cora said.

Lia took the opportunity to head toward the exit of the newly-extended kitchen.

“Uh uh. Nope,” Amy said without even turning her head, “You aren’t getting away that easily. Cora has a vampire in the basement we didn’t know we had, and I got my bruises from stripping you didn’t know I was doing, but you have come home with black eyes, split lips, and bruises everywhere. If we’re talking about it, then let’s talk about it.”

“Shit,” Lia stopped and pivoted gracefully to face her sisters.

Her short, colored hair was brilliant in the gleaming, minimalist kitchen with its black and white tile and stark white walls. She wore a loose pair of dark blue sweats rolled down at the waist so they sat over her hips and exposed a taut, muscular belly. A greenish-yellow bruise the size of a baseball peeked out of the right side of her waistband. Her loose, cropped, matching t-shirt showed off more muscle tone and definition than either of her sisters.

When she clenched her fists reflexively in frustration, the muscles in her forearms and the exposed parts of her upper arms showed. She wasn’t a bodybuilder, but she worked out every day. Changes can be subtle, especially when you see them happen incrementally; they slide under the radar until you remember to look at someone. Amy and Cora were looking at Lia now.

She was always athletic, from the time they were little, but in the brilliant light of the kitchen, it wasn’t hard for them to see that their middle sister was changing. She looked more composed and adult but more closed off as well. She’d always been the loud, expressive one.

They stood at an impasse for a moment. Lia did not want to talk about her own evening activities, but her sisters were clearly expecting her to do so.

“I…” she started raising a hand as though she could explain everything, but then she just… stopped, “I really don’t want to do this right now.”

“Yeah… well,” said Amy almost sarcastically, “Cora’s a necrophiliac, and I’m a stripper, so ’fess up already. It can’t be worse than that, right? Are you a mafia enforcer now? Maybe you joined a gang or something?”

Cora choked, but didn’t manage to make a word.

“No,” Lia started hesitantly, “I just… um… fight.”

“Fight?” Amy made the calm word into a question.

“For money.”

“You… fight for money? That’s… not a lot of information.”

Cora was still sputtering.

“I… got into this… underground fighting ring,” Lia said, her voice rising in pitch toward the end of her sentence.

She put a hand on the back of her neck and leaned casually on the wall, quirking an awkward smile at her sisters.

“I’m not a necrophiliac!” Cora’s outburst had been building in the background, and both her sisters laughed, which was not the reaction she was expecting.

After the initial burst died down, Amy asked, “Are vampires alive?”

“No, but…” Cora began.

“Then I rest my case,” Amy cut her off, and she snapped her jaw shut angrily.

Lia walked over to the coffee maker and pressed the start button. Someone, probably Cora, had pre-filled the machine.

“So… I don’t think I should be the one to point this out, but I can kind of see why Mrs. Harbatkin doesn’t want to give us custody.”