It took a while to find my way around. Remembering the general area where MJ and I were hanging out, I caught a taxi to the last bar we'd been to the day before… and didn't find my bike. I walked to the next pub… and again didn't find my steel steed. Deciding to try my luck, I checked my phone.
Once again, I discovered that my phone had magically switched to airplane mode. After unlocking it and switching it back to normal mode, I scrolled through the messages and discovered that one of them was from the NYPD.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Our valiant police towed my property to the department's impound lot on Park Row. You never see them around when some punks are robbing stores or kids are selling drugs on the street. But park illegally, and they're right there!
"Keep calm, just keep calm," I repeated like a mantra. I need to control myself, otherwise I'll break down and eat someone in broad daylight, and then they'll never get off my back, and it'll be time to place bets on who'll finish me off first.
I had to bow to the police and pay a fine. Having returned my vehicle, I turned my attention to the problem of hunger, which was slowly starting to spiral out of control. My throat felt like a desert, and the pulsing of my arteries from people passing by slowly pushed other sounds to the periphery.
It seems I'll have to take a risk and go to a vampire nightclub in broad daylight. I immediately ruled out the hospital option. In my current state, I won't be able to properly pull off the blood theft without getting caught. Hypnosis with a nurse is certainly an option, but effective hypnosis requires a certain level of concentration, which I currently lack. Unfortunately, waiting for delivery isn't an option right now; I can't wait, and I wouldn't want to get caught in New York, on the street, with something like that. Although, I could go back to the girls and wait there, and they could keep an eye on me, making sure I don't do anything stupid...
But my legs were already carrying me toward Taste of the Night, Manhattan's most famous vampire club. Legs is a bit of a stretch; in fact, I rode there on my bike. It's always been a mystery to me how New York's hunters tolerated this hangout. Maybe it's just too much for them, who knows.
Approaching the entrance, I found it locked. Who would have thought, a nightclub isn't even open at noon? It's true what they say: thirst dulls. And to confirm my wise thoughts, which hadn't lingered in my mind, I kicked open the door to the vampire club.
"Would you like to help someone in need?" I asked as I walked inside.
The clatter of feet responded to my actions. As soon as I reached the bar, two big guys… females, ran into the room.
"Are you sure you're not confused, kid?" the woman who apparently had one more brain cell than her partner said, looking at me defiantly.
"Whose are you?" I asked rudely, jumping over the bar counter and finding the liquid I was looking for underneath it.
- What? - the guard didn't understand.
"Whose slaves, I ask?" I repeated irritably, taking the tube connected to the barrel of life-giving nectar and taking a hearty drag, drinking perhaps as much blood as the average adult human. That's when I relaxed a bit and my brain began to function properly. Meanwhile...
- Do you even know who you're picking on!? Do you know who owns this club!?
"That's exactly what I asked, idiot," I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose at the stupidity of those I had to talk to. "Okay, I'm tired of this."
- What are you doing!? - I instantly found myself in front of the speaker and, having established eye contact, took control of her.
"Stay put!" I ordered, then did the same to the second one. The idiot reached for her pistol, but didn't have time to draw it from its holster.
"Okay, now answer my fucking question: who owns this place?" I was genuinely curious. I had a couple of ideas, sure, but I needed to know for sure.
"Sophia von Heiniff," they answered in unison. Shit, that name means nothing to me; this Sophia might not even be a vampire. But who cares, it's unlikely this place could be run by anyone other than the Mysticos. And these pragmatic guys won't make a big deal out of a broken door lock, especially if I give them a plausible story about what happened here. In that case, they won't even scratch their heads.
"You," I pointed my finger at her left, "tip over the barrel of blood I drank," I ordered. After waiting for her to do as she was told and return to her seat, I continued, "How does your alarm work?"
"All signals are being fed into the monitoring room," they answered in unison again. Damn, this is starting to get annoying.
"Now you'll be the only one talking," I pointed my finger at the right one, "what does the operator do in the monitoring room as soon as the alarm goes off?"
- He reports to the senior guard on duty, and he makes a decision. - So, they don't have a police call set up automatically, that's great news, it turns out I have a lot more time than I thought.
"Who's supposed to be monitoring the cameras now?" the one I'd told not to talk to raised her hand in response to my question. "So, you understand the security system?" a nod in response. "Can you erase the recordings for today?" another nod. "Then do it starting at seven in the morning and turn off the cameras. Turn them back on in three hours." "Well, I need a bigger time lag, in case the Mysticos decide to find out what really happened."
After waiting for the security guard to complete the required manipulations and return to us, which took about 10 minutes at most, I continued.
"You can talk now," I allowed, after all, I didn't need any more information from them, "you spilled the keg, accidentally knocked it over, tried to hide it by deleting the recordings from the cameras, but you made a mistake and deleted the recordings for the whole day, and you accidentally broke the door lock by pushing the door hard, and one more thing, you both forget my face, and that I was even here, freeze for five minutes, and then go back to your business," I instructed them, and then left.
Ah, those guards might get into trouble, of course, but they're unlikely to be killed; the cost of the damage will be deducted from their wages, or at most, they'll be fired. Mysticos rarely commit atrocities without reason. But honestly, even if they were devoured, I couldn't care less. I only worry about the feelings and safety of those I care about. These two young ladies aren't among them.
Phew, looks like we've sorted that out.
***
After wandering around the city for the remaining time before the general meeting, I reluctantly went to Queens, because it was there, in the garage of Mary-Jane's parents, that the meeting was scheduled.
On my way there, I witnessed the Iron Lady putting out a fire, but something went wrong and one of the walls of the five-story building fell off and split into pieces in mid-air, causing the crowd of onlookers to thin out somewhat.
You know, I think it's right! The gene pool needs to be purged of such idiots, otherwise they'll go and pick more idiots like themselves, or, more likely, be used by all sorts of manipulators. Basically, every cloud has a silver lining.
Having finally arrived, I glanced at my watch and discovered I still had half an hour. And since they wouldn't forgive me if I didn't stop by while I was in close proximity to my relatives, I trudged toward the house where this body's former owner had grown up.
I used the doorbell and waited meekly for a minute before Aunt May opened the door. The house I grew up in was a typical suburban building. Neat, two-story, white. Nothing special, really, just like the ones you'd find in the outskirts of Queens.
"James! Ben, James has arrived!" my aunt, a prematurely gray-haired woman of about fifty, deafened me with her scream.
"And I'm glad to see you, Aunt May," I answered, rubbing the back of my head.
"Jimbo, you're here. Why didn't you call? The whole family could have gotten together. Helena and Cynthia, unfortunately, are at work now and can't join us. Well, come in, what are you standing there for?" a cheerful old man with a slight belly fussed. Uncle was 55, and he, too, was already gray, but by no means old.
"I didn't exactly plan this visit, Uncle Ben. I was just nearby and decided to drop in. And I won't be long, just in half an hour. Mary Jane's band is scheduled to rehearse, and I plan to be there," I explained beforehand. Uncle Ben always respected my punctuality, so there shouldn't be any long send-offs now.
"Oh, and since when have you been so interested in music!?" May asked in surprise. "I thought you swore you'd give it up back in high school, and now you're planning to attend a rehearsal of a half-broken amateur band," Auntie said, perplexed.
"Everything flows, everything changes. This year of seclusion has allowed me to rethink a lot," I said, sitting down at the table in the kitchen, where we had all decided to move.
"So, are you into music, nephew, or are you just missing your best friend?" the uncle asked.
- All together, I suppose. I even wrote a couple of songs for the girls, a couple dozen, honestly stolen.
"Wow! We might as well listen to it; it's not every day my lost nephew delights us with his creativity," Uncle Ben chuckled. The joke about the missing nephew probably came back to haunt me both for being absent from the family for a year, and maybe for old Jimmy's sexual orientation, damn him.
Well, okay, my uncle is really worried about me; he doesn't have any children of his own, and he can't have any. Actually, that explains my uncle's small number of wives (few people would want a barren man, even with their shortage) and my lack of cousins, let alone cousins. But he didn't complain, because Percy and I were his substitute children.
"The girls might be against it. After all, they'll only be learning the songs, and they're still a long way from sounding good," I dismissed. Having the older generation at the rehearsal might bother them a little, but let's not tell Uncle about that now; he'll get offended. "Better come to the first concert, then you'll hear my songs in better quality," I suggested.
"Whatever you say, Jimbo. You better tell me how you are; after all, it's been a year since we last saw each other," Ben agreed simply.
"Well, a lot of things happened," I answered evasively.
"Have you finally gotten over your breakup with Flash? Are you thinking of going back to your hometown?" Aunt May pressed me.
- Um, about this, how can I say... I'm into girls now, - I closed my eyes, expecting reproaches and screams at the ultrasound level..., but for some reason nothing happened.
"Did you expect us to scold you, Jimbo?" Uncle smiled, hugging his aunt.
"Um…, basically yes," I answered, opening one eye.
"Your orientation is your business, Jimbo. Change it even seven times a week, no one has the right to tell you who to love," my uncle declared. He's a real saint, honestly, I don't think I'd want the world to go to hell because of people like him. I don't agree with everything he says, but his overall idea is sound.
"Thank you… for your understanding," I nodded.
After chatting a little more about this and that, we almost lost track of time, but Aunt May, looking at her watch in time, interrupted our pleasant conversation.
"James, it's not like we're kicking you out, but are you late for anything?" May asked probingly.
"Exactly, thanks for reminding me, Aunt May!" I jumped up immediately and hurried out of the house, putting on my glasses as I went. Despite the discomfort, I had to take them off while talking to my relatives. Giving them a heart attack by admitting that I was technically a living corpse wasn't the best idea.
***
I ran into the Watsons' garage about a minute before the appointed time. Already gathered inside were Mary Jane, Jill Stacy (Gwen's sister, a carbon copy of her older sister, but a couple of years younger and with jet-black hair), and Liz Allan, who was another nod to the film universe, being an attractive mulatto woman with a lush mane of straight dark hair.
I'm not a racist, but I wouldn't have sex with her. Consider it a personal quirk and a matter of taste, but I'm into white girls. Right now, I'm a little on edge, and I probably wouldn't mind having sex with her, but Liz Allan, well, she won't back off if you give her a reason, and that high school drama queen will drive me crazy.
I remember when Ben Brant, the only straight guy in our class, dumped her in high school, she almost slit her wrists. Brant was a real heartthrob and he'd ruined at least half the girls in our class. The only people who turned him down were the die-hard lesbians (we had some of those), and those who retained at least a shred of self-respect—that is, my sister's circle of friends.
Well, basically, they turned out to be right in the end, because Ben, after finishing school, just took off without taking any responsibility. Long story short, he screwed everyone, some of whom, especially Nellie Leeds—she got pregnant and had a baby, and he, the bastard, didn't marry her. Basically, the girl is now damaged goods, and her chances of getting married are slim to none. Because if single mothers weren't needed in the world of my first life, they're even less needed here.
Back to the present moment, Gwen wasn't in the room yet, but my sister was! What was she doing here!?
"Hello everyone, girls!" I greeted them.
"What are you doing here, Parker?" Liz teased me.
"Actually, I brought you all together here today," I replied irritably. Where does she get her bitch from? Allan would probably act completely differently if she knew I was straight. Well, at least Liz won't bother me, and that's a big plus.
"MJ, what do you mean?" the mulatto woman pounced on her.
"Jimmy wrote some new songs for us, Liz," Red said reproachfully.
"I've never heard of him writing anything other than essays," Allan noted skeptically.
"By the way, me too, can I have you for a minute, brother?" Percy beckoned, and I, looking like I was doomed to die, trudged toward my sister. I really wanted to watch Liz and MJ bicker, but apparently it wasn't meant to be.
- I'm listening to you, sister.
"As you understand, I'm not interested in your suddenly awakened talent for writing," the brunette began, narrowing her eyes.
"It's even strange," I said.
"I think I'll soon forget how to be surprised, with you here. Anyway, what were you thinking when you publicly showed off your powers!?" Percy scolded me.
"It's a different story. You know, you're not the one telling me how to use superpowers!" I hissed angrily.
- I'm doing this incognito, Jim! And you showed your face to the cameras.
- I was wearing glasses.
"It's fucking crazy how Jimmy changes everything! Are you going to open up to the world!? If not, then what the hell are you doing?" the girl exploded.
"I thought you'd be happy that I saved one of your super-friends," I frowned.
- I'm sure Sue wouldn't have suffered in the end... beyond measure.
- Be that as it may, what's done is done. I did something good, and you can't deny it, in short, I don't regret anything.
"I don't deny that you did the right thing, but it was reckless," my sister scolded me, as if I didn't know this without her.
"Correct, but reckless – that's just your personal credo, sister," I teased her, but noticing the anger in her eyes, I quickly changed the subject, "I think you worry about me too much, Percy."
"It's my sacred duty as an older sister to worry about your problems," the spider raised her index finger, as if she had said something smart.
"You're only two minutes older than me!" I snapped.
"Maybe so, but I still bear personal responsibility for you, as your closest female relative," she concluded without changing her pose.
"Speaking of responsibility: I'm incredibly pleased that you suddenly decided to respect my secrets, but sending Gwen after me without warning me about my nature was, at the very least, stupid, and in fact criminal!" I said firmly.
- ...I... am to blame for this before her... and I will apologize to her for this, - the girl lowered her head, - but what about you? - she raised her head again.
- Huh? What about me? - Percy didn't understand what he expected from me.
"Why did you say all these nasty things to her and make her cry?" my sister glared at me.
"Well, maybe I was a bit over the top. In my defense, I'll say I was damn hungry, and therefore a little worked up, BUT! I stand by every word I said to her then, and I'll say the same to you. The path you've chosen doesn't have a happy ending! And the worst part is, you're fully aware of it, yet you continue to march headlong to the scaffold, as if that will somehow smooth over the consequences of your choice!" I flared up.
"I'm not saying I disagree with all your conclusions, but you have to understand that things like this can't be thrown out there in one go!" Percy shut me up.
"I'll apologize to Gwen for my harshness, but not for the sentences themselves," I muttered, pouting.
"That's enough for me for today," the brunette shrugged.
"By the way, I understand you talked to Gwen after I left their apartment. Do you know if she'll come?" I asked worriedly.
"It's hard to say, you threw her off balance. I don't know if Blondie was able to pull herself together..."
"Are you talking about me?" Stacy appeared.
"Gwen! You're here!?" I said, a little too enthusiastically. I admit, I didn't immediately get my voice under control.
"Before you say anything else, I'll stop you. I came to appreciate your songs, and no decisions have been made yet," she said, squashing my hopes that she'd decided to give up her costumed heroics. "Well, not all at once, we'll slowly instill the right thoughts in her. The sledgehammer blow shook her up, now the main thing is to prevent her from going back to the start."
"Well, anyway, thanks for coming, I hope you won't regret it. And I'm sorry I was a bit harsh this morning," I said, looking down guiltily.
"Don't worry, I get it, you love it," the blonde waved her hand dismissively. "Come on, people, let's rock out in this hole!" she said, turning to everyone present.
***
As for the rehearsal itself, I think it went quite well. The girls absolutely loved the songs, and they basically spent five hours practicing them, with me tweaking them to achieve what I thought was a sound close to the original.
When choosing the repertoire I gave them, I chose it based on what Mary-Jane's vocals could handle. That meant nothing super heavy; these girls are punks, not metalheads, and I took that into account. Meaning, no AC/DC, no SOAD, and nothing like that.
No, I gave them three of the best hits (in my opinion) by No Doubt, a band that never existed, and one song from their lead singer's solo album. I even thought, in my heart, about making Gwen change her last name from Stacy to Stefani, but I caught myself in time, lest she think anything bad happen.
Besides, since I'm promoting a punk rock band, I couldn't ignore the best punks in the history of my old world, namely Green Day. For the girls' first album, I selected six songs from my favorite band, which, unfortunately, never saw the light of day in this universe. But their work will eventually conquer this world, and I'll make money from it, hehe.
Besides the artists mentioned, I plagiarized three soulful songs by My Chemical Romance, and a few other little things here and there.
The entire list of songs I've blatantly plagiarized at the moment looks like this: "Don't Speak," "Settle Down," and "Hey Baby" – all No Doubt; "American Idiot," "Holiday," "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "Good Riddance," "Let Yourself Go," and "Know Your Enemy" – all Green Day; "Ghost of You," "Cancer," and "The Light Behind Your Eyes" – all My Chemical Romance; "Hollaback Girl" – Gwen Stefani; "Lovely" – Billie Eilish; "Heathens" – 21 Pilots; "If I Die Young" – The Band Perry; "Legends Never Die" – Against the Current; "Meet Me On The Battlefield" – Svrcina; "Sweet Dreams" – Eurythmics; and finally, "Counting Stars" – One Republic.
It's a matter of taste, of course, but each of these songs is captivating in its own way. And I think the world will soon see that for themselves. I must say that for a number of songs, I wasn't looking for the band's original sound, but for what I liked best about covers of these songs, like "Nightcore" and "First to Eleven."
However, during the rehearsal, one problem became apparent: while I was writing down a number of themes under inspiration, I forgot that the keyboards played a key role. As a result, they made me swear to participate, at least in the studio recording, when the time came.
A curious feature of this group is that, besides Jill, all the other girls sing quite well, although MJ is undoubtedly unrivaled. This fact, however, eliminates the need to look for backup singers if needed.
Back to the present…
***
The rehearsal had ended five minutes ago, and the girls were sharing their impressions with each other, while I went over to my sister. I had another conflict to smooth over today.
"That was something, Jimmy, how did you manage to hide such a talent from me!" Percy exclaimed as soon as I approached her.
"Well, if you spent a year within four walls, I think you'd also discover a sea of ways to kill time," I shrugged sheepishly. "Anyway, I wanted to apologize to you for causing so much trouble these last few days. And for not sparing your feelings during our conversation," I looked down, and Percy, who clearly hadn't expected this, was momentarily taken aback.
"Your apology is accepted, and I must also apologize for putting so much pressure on you these days," the girl lowered her head and fidgeted with her legs.
"I see that Mary Jane wasn't the only one who got into my head," I chuckled.
"It's good that we have such a sensitive friend. Damn, I almost forgot to give you this," she handed me a flask with a bluish liquid inside.
"What is this?" I asked, examining the flask.
"It's a cure for vampirism, just calm down, let me explain, okay," seeing that I was ready to jump up with an indignant tirade, the brown-haired girl tried to calm me down, and she wouldn't have succeeded, but I still restrained myself, waiting for what she would say.
"You better be damn convincing," I grumbled.
"I heard you and your desire to remain who you are. Moreover, I see that you've begun to resolve the issues caused by your transformation, but in case you ever change your mind and want to become human again, I'm giving you this medicine. It's up to you to decide what to do with it," she explained.
"Then thank you... I guess, but as you rightly noted, I've been working on myself a bit, and it's unlikely this remedy will have any effect on me, and even if it does, it's highly unlikely I'll like it. But thanks for the gift, maybe I'll use it for something," I said, tucking the flask into my pocket.
"So, have you made up, twins?" Mary-Jane approached us.
"With your prayers, Redhead," I chuckled.
"You're always welcome, Mouse," she patted me on the shoulder.
"You're already giving my brother nicknames, MJ?" Percy raised an eyebrow. "He's been straight for less than a year, and you're already clinging to him?"
- No-no-no, sister, it's exactly the opposite, Mary-Jane is dynamite, and the nickname doesn't help at all, - I complained.
"So that evil red-haired beast is bullying my little brother," Persephone said, feigning disapproval, stroking my head. I took advantage of the moment to bury my face in her chest.
"To be fair, I wasn't the only one who didn't give Jimmy the green light yesterday. And you do realize he's brazenly groping you right now, right?" MJ replied, barely containing her laughter.
"What's the big deal? He's my brother, he can allow himself a few liberties," the brunette answered frivolously.
"Yes, Mary-Jane, you missed your chance, now don't interfere with our happiness," I stuck my tongue out at her.
"What a cheeky fellow!" the redhead stuck her tongue out at me in response.
- It is what it is. But seriously, what's going on with Gwen? Will she devote enough time to the group, or...
"Or you can ask me yourself," Blondie approached us.
"Um, Gwen, will you be devoting enough time to the group?" I repeated my question almost verbatim, to MJ and Percy's laughter.
"Ha-ah-ah. Yeah, Parker, I'm planning on focusing on music for a while, we'll see what happens," Stacy replied wearily. She definitely needed more sleep; she was exhausted, and it was ten o'clock at night!
Meanwhile, people began to disperse, and we also began to head for the exit.
"Jimmy, should we spend the night at your uncle's?" Percy suggested.
- Okay, I don't feel like going anywhere right now either. Will you warm up my bed, sister?
- Vulgar! - she playfully hit me on the shoulder with her fist.
***
The week flew by, and I settled the legal issues with the song rights online. Besides that, I was regularly going to the girls' rehearsals and catching Darcy during lunch break to spend time together. One of the main downsides of dating a scientist is that he has almost no free time.
I've been visiting New York so often that I'm seriously considering moving back to the Big Apple. It'll also free my sister from the Osbornes' clutches. Lately, my relationship with Percy has been improving; we see each other almost every day.
But things couldn't continue to go so positively. The universe seems to enjoy throwing crap at me. What was I talking about, on the last Sunday of July, Darcy texts me that her boss has detected some kind of atmospheric anomaly that will soon be visible in New Mexico, and so she needs to go there for a week. I was about to tell her it's no big deal, when... it dawned on me.
- WAVE!!! - I immediately dialed Darcy, and after three rings she deigned to answer.
- Jimmy, what's...
"You're not going anywhere!" I said, enunciating each word.
- What, why!? – the girl began to grumble.
"Because… it's dangerous, that's it!" I couldn't find a clear reason.
"Listen, honey, I just can't not go, otherwise I'll lose my job, understand?" she lowered her voice. Damn, what could I say to her that would make her listen to me? The only thing that came to mind was threatening to break up, but such a move, to put it mildly, doesn't fit my character.
"Darcy, I have a bad feeling about all of this, so please listen to me," I couldn't find a sensible argument.
"You're being dramatic, Jimmy," the girl didn't accept such a pathetic argument.
"You won't change your mind?" I asked gloomily.
"I can't, my career is on the line!" she responded, and I heard my teeth grinding in response. Damn this universe!
Well, if you can't stop something, you have to lead it. I'm not going to let my girlfriend go meet the God (or Goddess) of Thunder alone. I may not be able to say I love Darcy yet, but I definitely like her, and whatever the case, as long as she's my girlfriend, she's under my unconditional protection.
"I'm going with you!" I told her confidently.
- But…
"Not up for discussion!" I snapped.
"Okay, I'll talk to Dr. Selvig, I don't think she'll mind," Darcy gave in.
"See you soon," I cut off the call.
I have so much to do now before I leave. Damn, what perfect timing!
- Oh, my life is a tin can!