Fanfic Friday

“The Huntress at Sunset”

A continuation from last week's chapter.

Chapter Nine

Apparently Clavo was smoking again. For some reason, that surprised Alondra more than anything else that had happened that night.

Moreover, he really was alive -- if "alive" is the right word to use about a vampire.

Not that it helped. Clavo didn't seem likely to help Alondra with her problem unless she gave in to him and she had no intention of doing that again. On the other side, he did know a lot about Persephone -- and some of it might even be true.

Anyway, Alondra had no time to think any further about Clavo right then. She had another person to think about.

Speaking of which...

XXX

Alondra sat in the visitor's section of the state mental hospital, waiting for an old friend to be released from her cell and taken to the visitor's section. As she sat on the other side of a bulletproof glass window, she glanced around at the guards and the other visitors and concluded that she had nothing major to worry about. True, she wasn't exactly comforted by the way the surroundings reminded her of her visit to Esperanza but still...

Then her friend Jamie Madigan showed up and sat down on the other side of the glass window. Since the only way she could talk through her was through the telephone located near the window, Alondra picked up the receiver on her side and waited for Jamie to do the same thing with the receiver on her side.

She eventually did so but not before she first smirked in Alondra's direction.

"Alondra Verano," Jamie said as she picked up the phone. "As I live and breathe. What brings you here to see me, Huntress?"

"I'm dying, Jamie," said Alondra.

Jamie's face went blank.

"I'm sorry, Alondra, but I thought you said you were dying," said Jamie.

"Well, I am dying," said Alondra.

"What do you expect me to do about it?" asked Jamie.

"Well, you're a witch -- or at least you used to be -- and I was hoping that maybe --"

"I'd be able to cure you?" asked Jamie Madigan.

"Yes," said Alondra, her eyes pointed to the hard concrete floor.

"Well, let me think about it," said Jamie.

Jamie stared into space for a moment and said, "Yeah, I think I can cure you."

"I haven't told you what exactly I'm dying from," said Alondra, feeling a bit puzzled.

"What does it matter, Huntress?" asked Jamie. "Cast the right spell, summon the right demon and heck, I can cure anything. AIDS, cancer, bubonic plague... You name it."

"Oh, good," said Alondra. "For a minute there I thought you'd have a problem with curing me."

"Why would you think that?" asked Jamie. "Just because you testified against me in court and saw to it that I ended up in this wonderful place for the rest of my natural life? Why should I resent you for that? Just get me out here of here and I will cure you of anything you can think of."

"Er, I can't do that," said Alondra.

"Sure you can," said Jamie. "You're the Huntress. You can do anything."

"Yes, but my powers aren't unlimited," said Alondra. "I can petition the judge who sentenced you for an early release but I doubt he'd listen to me."

"Then make him listen," said Jamie.

"Er, I can't do that," said Alondra.

"Oh, right," said Jamie. "I forgot. Your unbreakable ethics code. You were always such an honest person, Huntress. I really do admire you for that. And yet here you are, begging me to use black magic to save your life."

"I'm not begging you to use black magic," said Alondra.

"Oh, yes, you are," said Jamie. "You knew what technique I'd use to cure you the minute you stepped inside this place. And yet you asked me anyway. In a way, I don't blame you. Death can be a scary thing. I was there when my mother passed and that was not an easy death. And hey, you killed my mother."

"She was going to kill you, Jamie," said Alondra.

"And you saved my life," said Jamie. "For that, I am grateful. But all this other stuff that has happened between us since.... I'm not a big fan."

"If you don't want to cure me, Jamie, just say so," said Alondra.

"Oh, I'll cure you all right," said Jamie. "And then I'll make my own way out of this hellhole. After all, they can't hold me here forever, you know. And once I'm out, I'll kill your friends. I'll kill your family. I'll kill everyone who was ever close to --"

"Okay, we're done," said Alondra, hanging up the phone.

As she turned away from the glass window, Alondra noticed that Jamie was still shouting in her direction. And when Alondra stood up and started to walk away, Jamie started pounding on the window.

Alondra could not read lips but she could guess what Jamie was saying. After all, Jamie had shouted similar words at her many times in the past. And while Alondra could not honestly say that she was surprised by Jamie's reaction, she nevertheless felt something like a black hole in her stomach when she thought about it.

Jamie was still pounding on the window when Alondra left the visitor's section. And for all she knew, Jamie was still pounding on the window when Alondra made it out to her car. And though she could no longer hear Jamie when she made it out to her car, Alondra nevertheless felt compelled to turn on the radio when she started the car. And then of course, she turned up the volume real loud and left it that way all the way home.

To be continued...