Tales of the Blood Moon

The Business Trip

"What do youthink is going on there?" Danielle asks, nodding toward the womanflailing on the ground.

The trio sit intheir rental car and stare as the woman rises, brushes herself off,then sheepishly looks around to see if anyone caught her display. She spots the three people staring at her and retreats into herhouse.

"Weird," Stevesays, "but not quite as weird as you thinking The X-Files wasbetter than The Twilight Zone."

"The X-Files wason for nine seasons," Danielle explains, "while The Twilight Zonewas only on for five - do the math."

"Firefly was onfor one season," Steve counters, "and Star Trek: Enterprise wason for four. What's your point? Are you saying Enterprise wasbetter than Firefly?"

"Guys, can weplease talk about something other than these ridiculous TVshows?" Marcus pleads from the rear seat. "I'm not sure whichone of your topics is more asinine." Marcus turns and looks outthe window as the car rolls along. "Although, if I had to pick awinner, I'd have to say it was your discussion about the sexualorientation of He-Man."

"You see?"Steve asks excitedly, pointing at Marcus. "Even he knows that onewas dumb. It's obvious to any sensible person that He-Man loves theladies."

"He wasn'tagreeing with you, dumbass. He was just complaining because we don'twant to ride around in silence like he does. Also, lying to yourselfwon't make He-Man straight," Danielle scoffs as she wheels the cararound a corner.

"I never said wehad to ride in silence," Marcus protests. "I just think we cando better than wasting our time trying to figure out how cartooncharacters prefer using their genitals."

"Okay,"Danielle asks, taking her eyes from the road for a moment to lookback at Marcus, "let's talk about that stuff you gave me last week. Sure, it helped Bob to relax, but it also took him a half-hour toget it up."

"So," Marcusreplies without missing a beat, "a whole fifteen minutes fasterthan normal?"

Steve bursts intohysterical laughter, clinging onto the car door and pounding on thedashboard.

"How is thatfunny?" Danielle asks. "You know that ever since I had my sonand came back to work Bob and I haven't had a whole lot of time alonetogether and -"

"Alright,"Marcus interrupts, waving a hand at her. "I'll see what I can do. Satisfied?"

"I might be,"Danielle responds, "if I knew how much longer it was going to beuntil we got there."

"Not muchlonger," Marcus says. "Hold on a second."

Marcus reachesinto his jacket pocket and removes a small bone hanging on a chain. Closing his eyes, Marcus furrows his brow in concentration. Secondslater, the bone begins to sway, slightly at first, then it rises andhovers at a ninety degree angle.

"A few moremiles," Marcus says without opening his eyes. "I'll guide you."

Marcus, eyes stillshut, issues instructions to Danielle. Danielle does as Marcus says,turning where he tells her and speeding up or slowing down at hisrequest. Passing a house where the driveway holds several cars, andballoons reading "Happy 40th Birthday!" are tied tothe mailbox, a pizza delivery driver almost backs out of the drivewayinto their car. Danielle's reflexes allow her to avoid the other careasily, but Steve wonders about the look on the driver's face. Thekid driving that car isn't just surprised that he almost backed intoanother car. There's something, in the half-second that Steve and helocked eyes, which suggests the driver might have just seen somethinghe wished he hadn't.

Two miles later,the trio arrive at their destination. The house is a simpleone-story, like all it's neighbors. Three cars are already parked inthe driveway. Two of the cars are old and look a bit worn, while thethird is a new, shiny black sedan. Danielle parks the car on theedge of the front lawn, avoiding the driveway altogether. Marcus,Danielle and Steve exit the rental car and walk to the front door. The sounds of shouting and crying can be heard through the door.

Danielle, ringingthe doorbell, glances at Steve. "Does he know we're coming?"

"Doubtful,"Steve answers. "He was never very perceptive."

A man in his earlytwenties opens the door. The man is dressed in all black with theexception of a white collar. Danielle pushes him back into the housewith one hand, while reaching inside her jacket to pull a pistol withher other hand. Marcus and Steve follow Danielle as she pushes theyoung man down a hallway toward the sounds of maniacal laughter,barked commands and loud sobbing.

Stepping throughan open bedroom door reveals a middle-aged man and woman huddled in acorner. A young boy is tied to a bed, while an elderly priest standsnearby. A few posters of science fiction characters from popularfilms adorn the walls, while a short dresser holds a small TV, a fewaction figures, several sheets of paper and a cup full of pencils andmarkers.

Danielle pushesthe young priest onto the floor near the foot of the bed. Theelderly priest advances on Danielle, a finger pointed at her,demanding to know what the three are doing. Danielle grabs thepriest's finger, bends it backward and forces the priest to the floorbeside his younger comrade.

"We've come totake you back," Steve says to the boy on the bed, completelyignoring everyone else. "Why don't you come along without anytrouble and save all four of us a whole bunch of fuss?"

The boy, his facefilled with rage, barks at Steve, "Why don't you go fuck yourself?"

"Aw," Stevesays, "don't be that way. You help us out when we need it and, inexchange, we provide you with little boys. You know you can'tgo find your own, because it gets too messy. Things have been goingwell for a long time, so why ruin it now?"

The boy turns toglare at the bedroom window. The window begins to shake violently inits frame before finally shattering and, inexplicably, sendingthousands of tiny glass shards across the room at Danielle, Marcusand Steve. With barely a glance, Marcus extends his hand toward thewindow and the shards shoot past the three by only fractions of aninch, firmly lodging into the wall opposite them.

Marcus, clearlyexasperated, looks at Steve and says, "This is becoming a hassle. Can we just speed this whole thing along please?"

Steve nods andMarcus pulls a small, glass vial from his coat pocket. The boy howlsin protest, but only for a moment, before a bullet from Danielle'sgun is fired through his skull. A cold breeze sweeps through theroom, snatching the posters from the walls and toppling the cup ofpencils and markers, culminating in a shimmering haze locked insidethe glass vial Marcus is holding. Overcome with rage at the sight ofhis murdered son, the father charges Danielle. She catches sight ofthe attack from the corner of her eye and swings her gun toward thefather, but is not fast enough to shoot him before he grabs herwrist. With practiced ease, Danielle rolls with the attack, bringingup the heel of her palm forcefully to the bridge of her attacker'snose. Amid his wife's screams and a spray of blood from his brokennose, the man stumbles backward, dazed, into the corner. Daniellelevels her gun at the man as he sinks to the floor, cradling hisbloodied face.

"Are we donehere?" Danielle asks, glancing over her shoulder at Marcus andSteve.

"With the kiddead," Steve says, gesturing at the boy on the bed, "I don'tthink we can just walk out. We should probably do something."

"Yeah," Marcusagrees, pocketing the glass vial. "It's not right to leave it likethis."

Steve reaches intohis pants pocket to get his cellphone. "I have a guy named LeshawnJackson who should work."

"'Leshawn'?"Danielle asks. "Let me guess: he's black? How many more times doyou think we can get away with saying the black guy did it?"

"We're inGeorgia," Steve says, hitting a few buttons on his phone, "It'llalways work here."

Shrugging,Danielle sweeps her arm across the room, firing four shots in rapidsuccession before turning to walk out. She is stopped by Steve, whotakes her by the arm and points her toward the boy's dresser. AHe-Man action figure has been knocked over on top of a female actionfigure.

"See?" Steveasks her. "That's just how he rolls."

Steve and Danielleargue as they walk down the hall, while Marcus follows, shaking hishead and realizing he is in for a very long ride back to the airport.