The Blind Vampire Hunter (22 page)

I turned at the sound of Diana walking into
the room, “So Di, did you get to talk with Chris’s doctor? If so,
what did he have to say?”

In a sad tone I heard, “Yes. First I got his
secretary, receptionist, whatever, who put his nurse on the phone.
She got the doctor on the phone. He was not surprised at the news.
When we were to see him today he was going to recommend putting her
into the hospital for additional tests, possibly leading to some
surgery.”

She continued, “He asked that I call him back
when we have a funeral home for her and his nurse would see that a
fax of a signed death certificate be sent there. Should we call
your father?”

“I was thinking the same thing, with Dad
working at a funeral home and all. He should be lots of help.”

“Will you call? I don’t think I could make
another phone call,” she asked with her voice trailing off.

“No problem.”
I hope.
I wasn’t exactly
feeling non-emotional about the loss of my sister-in-law, but I had
to keep my cool for Diana’s sake.

I called dad from the bedroom phone so Di
could hear something of the conversation, if only my half of the
conversation.

Mom answered.
Great, this is difficult
enough
. “Hi, Mom. Is Dad home?”

“No he’s at work. Is there a problem? Your
voice is sounding strange.”

I
really can’t get into this with
mom.
“Please give me his work number. I’ll let him explain
later. Right now I really need his work phone number. I really need
to talk to Dad.” I was hoping that Mom got the message how
desperately I needed to talk to Dad.

“Jack, something is wrong.”

Cutting her off, I replied, “Mom, I really
can’t get into this right now. Please give me the phone
number.”

She gave it to me.

I did not realize that I had just hung up on
my mother until right after I did it. Now she’s going to know
something is wrong. I am never so rude as to just hang up on my
mother.

I called the phone number for Universal
Funeral Home, and explained to the person who answered that I was
James Poisner’s son and needed to talk to him. I finished with “...
it’s important.”

“Unfortunately, your father is presently
driving the hearse to the carwash, but he is due back anytime now.”
As my heart sunk at having to wait until later to talk to Dad, the
gentleman said, “What do you know, the hearse is driving in as we
speak. It just drove past the front window. He will be parking it
in the back, and coming in the back door, just hold a second and
I’ll get him for you.”

It seemed like a black hole in time had
passed, then I heard what might be the phone being picked up and a
very familiar voice said, “Son, is everything alright?”

I barely croaked out, “Chris is dead.”

“What happened?”

“Heart attack.” was all I could get out.

“Are you alright? How’s Diana?”

“We’re managing.” Short answers seemed to be
the best I could handle right now.

“I’m sure you are. You just take care of your
wife, and I’ll see to the rest.... Son, have you done anything
about a death certificate?”

“Di, give me that phone number for her
doctor.”

She did, slowly and carefully. I put the ear
to the phone preparing to pass it on when I heard, “I got it....
Hold one quick minute.” I heard muffled voices, but could not hear
what was being said.

I heard Dad get back on the phone, “OK. Mr.
Roth, the man who answered the phone, will see to the death
certificate. Another fellow whom you don’t know will be coming with
me, and we will be right out with the hearse to see to Chris’s
remains. You just keep cool, see to your wife and I’ll see to
everything else. See you soon.” The phone clicked dead.

Hanging up the phone, I slid closer to Diana,
put my arm around her and, following her example, sat quietly in
our bedroom until we heard a knock at the front door.

When I answered the front door, an all
familiar voice spoke. “It’s your Dad.” His voice then raised a
little to talk over my shoulder, “Hi, Diana.” She must have come
out of the bedroom to stand at the top of the stairs. His voice
changed, so I realized he was back to talking to me, “Mind my
asking what you two were doing just before I knocked?”

“We were sitting upstairs on the bed.”

“Tell you what. Why don’t you and Diana go
back into the bedroom while Mr. Parker and I get Chris into the
hearse. It might be better if you two don’t watch us removing her.
You’ll see her again at the funeral home.”

I did as suggested. For an unknown time, we
just sat quietly on the bed listening to the sounds of movement
downstairs. It did not miss my attention that sweet baby Elaine was
angelically sleeping through the whole thing. Finally, Dad called
up, “Would you two mind coming down now.”

As we did, Dad continued, “Mr. Parker’s out
in the hearse. Diana, dear, would you like me to drive you two over
to the funeral home?”

“No, thanks. I can drive ... if Jack knows
where it is.” Di answered.

“Sure, it’s easy. Just drive down Georgia
Avenue turn left onto University and after a couple of miles look
for the funeral home on the right side, right Dad?”

“That will get you there,” Dad answered
trying to sound upbeat.

“Oh, what about the baby?” Diana asked.
“She’s been sleeping through all this.” Diana spoke from right
behind me. I never even heard her come down the stairs.

“Got you covered. Grandma should be on her
way here right now to stay with her little bundle of joy. If you’re
sure you feel up to driving, I will take off with Mr. Parker.
My
bundle of joy should be along soon.” Before leaving, I
heard him give Diana a good-bye hug for support. He then grabbed my
shoulder, giving me a squeeze of comfort on the way out.

I was still standing by the front door beside
Diana when from a distance I heard Dad call out, “There she is,
coming down the road right now. We’re going to take off so she’s
got a place to park in front of your house.”

It was only minutes after I heard Dad get
into the hearse and drive off that I heard another car drive up and
park where the hearse had been, from the sound of it.

Soon after, we were on the road to the
funeral home. Later, we were told that our little sleepyhead
continued to sleep so long that her Nana, who sleeps better on the
floor because of a bad back, laid a blanket on the floor and went
to sleep right next to the crib. Our little one eventually woke up
to the surprise of finding her Nana asleep on the floor next to
her. That was the end of Nana’s rest.

Back at the funeral home we had a busy day
picking out a coffin for Chris, so that there could be a viewing
here in Maryland for her Maryland friends. We made arrangements to
have her transported up to Ohio for a viewing for her Ohio friends
and family. After the viewings, she would be put to rest in a spot
her mother had purchased for her so she would have her resting
right next to her mother. The whole time we were busy making plans,
I was expecting things to come to a halt with an announcement that
the mortician, in doing his job, has discovered a strange lack of
blood and two strange punch marks on the neck.

The more the planning went on, the more
anxious I got that the planning was going to be brought to a close
by the presence of homicide cops. Surprisingly, everything went
well, but not surprising considering my father was right there to
assist and advise throughout.

During the whole time those two punch marks
nagged at my conscience. Eventually, with everything going so well,
I was finding myself really temped to pull the pin on everything
and request an examination of Chris’s throat. Perhaps it was guilt
for knowingly harboring a creature of death in my own home—a
vampire who had killed a member of my family within my own home. I
probably would have pulled the pin, but the other thing that nagged
me was Eric’s comment, “You and I may be horror nerds enough to
possibly believe in the existence of vampires, but the
authorities—not likely. Next you will be talking to the men with
the long-sleeved white coats.”

I was also reminded that even Eric did not
believe that Isabella could be a vampire until he failed to see her
in those glossy shields of my old watchband. Even then, he had to
be persuaded that this was not some strange visual oddity of the
shields. No, not wanting to be visited by the Sigmund Freud’s and
fitted for a straightjacket, I kept my peace. But how was it that
Chris was being prepared by the mortician, and he was failing to
take notice of the lack of blood and the puncture marks on her
throat?

The more these oddities went undiscovered,
the more I felt it was up to me to do something myself. After all,
Isabella had to be the one who killed Chris. For whatever reason,
could Di, the baby or I be next?
What was it Eric said about her
not shitting where she lives? I guess Eric can’t always be right.
So who is she going to shit on next?

After all the funeral arrangements for both
Maryland and Ohio had been planned and everything was in the works
that could be in the works, it was time to head back home.

While riding home, my mind was racing. Why
did Isabella kill Chris? Could the rest of the family be next? If
not the whole family, then who? Something had to be done, and there
seemed to be only one person who could do it. Jack Poisner, the
blind vampire hunter; Jack Poisner, the blind vampire killer.

Diana interrupted my mind bending exercise
with, “Isabella doesn’t know what happened. I guess I’ll have to
tell her.”

“NO. I mean, I was just thinking that tonight
you and the baby might feel better of spending the night at Eric’s
and Patty’s, at least for the night. You’re not going to want to
spend the night in the house...”

Diana interrupted, “You’re right, but don’t
you think someone should tell Isabella what has happened? Oh no,
it’s too late. By the time we get home, she’ll have already gone to
work.”
I’m sure she already knows.

Oh, shit! The baby and Nana. Shit, shit,
shit, when that damn vampire woke up, could she have continued her
rampage through the family?! Baby... No, wait. If she wanted to
kill the whole family, she could have already. Nooo, she must have
been after Chris only.

I answered Di’s question with, “I’ll stay in
the house through the night and talk to Isabella when she arrives
home from work in the morning.”

“But hon’, you two don’t exactly get
along.”

“Don’t worry. You have enough on your plate
right now.”
I will stay home and tell Isabella that I know what
she did.
I continued my conversation with, “I will stay home,
and when she returns from work, I will tell Isabella what has
happened. I will also explain that you are staying next door for a
while,” I lied.

It was hours later, and I was still very
awake. I didn’t know how Diana might be sleeping through the night,
but I knew I could not sleep, but not for the same reason. Diana
may or may not have slept with a mind racing with thoughts of her
sister, and the finish line being the final rest for her sister in
Ohio. On the other hand, I could not sleep because my mind was busy
preparing to confront Elizabeth Báthory, Blood Countess and
Vampire.

Early on, I tried listening to my talking
book, ironically yet another vampire tale, but I just could not
keep my distracted mind on the story. I eventually gave up on
listening to the vampire tale. It was just not talking to me. After
all, why listen to a vampire tale when you’re living a real life
vampire tale. I spent most of the night with the stereo on, but not
even Meat Loaf, Madonna, or the Beatles could keep my mind off the
early-morning confrontation to come.

Eventually, it got to be time for the
early-morning news, so I turned off the stereo and turned on the
TV. I was coming to the realization that I was paying less
attention to the news than I had been to my talking book. After
all, it was getting close to the time when Isabella would be coming
through the front door. It was getting close to the time for our
final confrontation! My pulse was racing with fear at the thought
of this impending confrontation with a real vampire, and not just
any vampire, but the legendary Elizabeth Báthory, herself. I was
assuming that Eric was right about her my boarder’s linage.

You had better get your nervous fear under
control, or you’re going to give that Vampire the upper hand, like
she doesn’t already have it. Get it under control, or it could ruin
your plans to protect your family. I feel as if I’m about to go
into the dentist’s office for a root canal.

Then it happened. I heard a key working the
front door lock. It was time. The battle lines were about to be
drawn.
Sounds as though she’s having trouble with the lock
again. I really have to look into fixing that lock soon, if I live
long enough.
I could be a gentleman and go open the door for
her, but for some reason, I just was not feeling very gallant right
now.

As the door opened, I heard footsteps
entering the house, and the room temperature dropped. I heard a
voice from hell that said, “You are the only one home? Something is
wrong?”

Like you don’t know.
I thought, but
what I said was, “Diana and the baby are staying at a friend’s.” I
made a point of not saying what friend.

“Why?” the voice from hell asked.

You know perfectly well why, you
bloodthirsty killer.
I answered with, “We had a death in the
family. We found Chris dead in her bed this morning.” I was
fighting hard to keep my cool and to use my best matter-of-fact
business voice.

“Oh, what happened to her? Does anyone know?
Who found her?” She was trying to sound sincere, but coming from
that hellish mouth, it was not working. She really did not have to
sound sincere, as this battlefield only contained two combatants,
and this blind vampire hunter knew the truth.