Tisiphone

The police cruiser rolled to a stop on the dirt patch in front of the Joiner’s trailer, and the radio inside crackled, “Officer McQueen, what is your current location?”

            Ted McQueen stared out of his window at the shape of Tommy Joiner, who had raised himself into a half-stooped position to stare in through the windshield at him, “I’m at South End Trailer Park, dispatch.”

            “Oh Christ, Ted.” the voice of Elma the dispatcher was rife with concern, “What are you doing?”

            “I heard a gunshot. I’ll check in soon.” He switched off the ignition and got slowly out of his car, his palm briefly resting on the butt of his service revolver as he met Tommy’s gaze, “Good evening, Mr. Joiner.”

Tommy snorted and spat into the dirt, his lip already curled. He was no stranger to the law; his numerous assault charges had kept the whole town on edge for the past few years. Unfortunately, no one had ever filed charges for fear of late night retribution if he wasn’t permanently convicted and jailed. The ground below him was littered with butts and beer caps, a testimony to the amount of time he had spent leaning against the flimsy metal screen. From his humble throne, Tommy could sit and ponder what future horrors he could inflict upon his wife, who Ted knew was cowering inside the shambling doublewide behind the repulsive ox of a man.

“I heard a shot. You hear it?” Ted attempted a friendly smile, but he might as well have been addressing a brick wall. There was a wide hole gaping out of the metal of the trailer, and Tommy blinked slowly as if he were struggling to comprehend what the cop’s words meant.

Realizing that Tommy was dead drunk, Ted whistled low, “That’s from a gunshot, isn’t it?”

            “Yup.”

            “Anyone hit inside the trailer?” Tommy merely shook his head. When he didn’t offer any more information, Ted cleared his throat, “Can I check on Donna?”

            “She’s fine.”

            “I’d like to see for myself. A gun shot isn’t something I can ignore.”

            Tommy shifted his weight and pulled the collar of his heavy coat higher around his neck with a shiver, despite the balmy Georgia weather. Ted was practically sweating in his uniform from the thick humidity, and he shook his head at Tommy’s chills.

            “Why’d…what do you need to see her for?” Tommy’s voice slurred heavily.

Ted ignored him and knocked on the flimsy door, “Donna! Mrs. Joiner?” After a few minutes, a battered and pale Donna Joiner stood in the partially opened door in a torn and stained bathrobe. Tommy smirked, “See? She’s fine.”

            “You alright, ma’am?” Ted couldn’t believe he was asking this question to a woman who looked like a corpse and yet he was nearly helpless to do anything if Donna Joiner didn’t ask for it. She limply nodded and despite his complete disgust, Ted knew he had to withdraw.            

            Donna was something of an enigma to the locals, as Tommy had just wandered into town with her one day, claiming that they were getting married. No one knew where the woman had sprung up from, nor did anyone understand why such a pretty little thing would want to marry the town drunk. They had gotten married just a few minutes before the city hall had closed, with only the civil servants about to wander home in the dark for witnesses. She hadn’t said a word to anyone the whole day, but she had said, “I do” and signed her name to the marriage license, so it was legal enough.

            Donna had never ventured to town since their wedding, and even though it had been six months since she’d popped up, no one had seen her since. They had heard Tommy yelling at her often enough, and the other residents of the trailer park had mentioned seeing her wandering ghost-like around their yard at night when Tommy had fallen into a deep sleep on the ground, cushioned by cigarette butts and beer bottles.

“You mind if I look around?” Ted asked carefully, noticing how Donna lifted her head for a minute to look at Tommy with terror and scurried out of his way like an old dog.

Tommy made a noise like an enraged animal that had just been hit with a tranquilizer dart and snarled, “You can’t… that’s my house… can’t without a warrant...”

Ted stared at Donna for a moment before he nodded quickly and stepped back off of the trailer’s steps, “Fair enough, Mr. Joiner. I will, however, need to look around out here and see if I can spot-“

“I don’t give a damn what you do as long as it ain’t in my house.” Tommy’s voice suddenly gained some clarity and strength as he threw his still smoking cigarette into the brush and stomped up the stairs inside, grabbing Donna by her bruised arm and hauling her in behind him, the door slamming shut with a brisk finality.

Ted sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as he watched the glowing red cherry wilt the crab grass around it. Finally he shrugged, and climbed back into his car, figuring that if Tommy didn’t want to press charges, it made no difference to him who had taken a shot at him.

Donna watched from the window until Ted’s taillights had faded away before she rounded on her slouched, gasping husband and bared a set of long teeth that she had painstakingly filed into sharp points, “You little shit! You were so close to blowing my cover, and you know it,” she laughed, and the noise echoed hideously off of the walls, “Your little stunt with the shot gun was clever, I’ll admit. You got the attention of the cops and they rushed in to help you, but you can see now that you only caused me a minor annoyance.”

Tommy moaned and the coat fell back from his neck, where a strange apparatus was spiked into his jugular. It was a needle, similar to the ones used to donate blood, which connected to a long tube with a spicket-like stopper at the other end. Donna had been slowly draining the man’s blood for the past six months, keeping just enough alive to produce more blood. No one had noticed the town drunk getting weaker and weaker and frankly no one really cared. Tommy was slime, and everyone knew it, which is what attracted Donna to him in the first place.

The vampiress let out a long breath and seized the end of the tubing, holding it to her mouth and shivering with bliss as she drank deeply from Tommy. It had taken nearly all of her strength to pilot Tommy with her mind like a puppet, and as she drank she felt the demonic revenant strength swelling within her. She let the bathrobe slide off of her, revealing the intricate tattoos that covered her from throat to foot, telling all of the indoctrinated that she belonged to the Ge-Rouge vampires.

Tommy grunted in agony, and tried to bat her away with all of the ferocious strength of a kitten. Donna laughed and pulled the hosing away from her mouth, her eyes blazing fiercely, “You don’t like this? You should not have been such a repugnant ass then. Had you not, perhaps people would miss you when I’m done with you. As it stands though, I will have to finish with you now because of your clumsiness… and no one will miss you because of your hideousness.”

            Tommy managed to gasp out, “Wha…what are you?”

            Donna brought her face closer to his and grinned, blood dripping from her lips, “I am Tisiphone, and I am your own personal Fury sent to punish you.”

            “Wha?”

            She rolled her eyes, “Oh, sorry. I assumed you were intelligent, how silly of me. Basically, I’m here and you are fucked.” she pulled the needle loose from his neck and clamped her lips around the spray that erupted. He tried to scream, but he was dead before his lungs could inflate.

            Tisiphone stood up, wiped her lips and pulled on her bathrobe demurely as she surveyed the scene, “Well…my work here is done.” she walked boldly out of the front steps into the night, leaving behind the corpse, puddles of blood and the ghostly echoes of her laughter.