Free Tomorrow's Dead: The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles by Celis T. Rono Page A

students. 
    “Morning, class,” she said loudly to accommodate the hard of hearing.  She removed
     her coat and shoulder holster and tossed them on the grass.  The machete lay glistening
     on the ground.  She slipped off her wrist knives and flung them on her coat.  The
     class was divided into five groups to make it easier to hear and be seen.  “It’s a
     beautiful sunny California day!  Let’s do our 10-minute warm up.  Percy and the Judo
     Club, do your thing.”
    Poe was dressed in a black t-shirt and black Adidas jogging pants.  The scars on her
     arms and face showed clearer in the daylight.  She bent down to double-knot her Converse,
     an old tick she could never get rid of, and was startled when people began to scream
     and scramble away from the green. 
    An enormous Paul Bunyan standing at six-foot-eight pushed the crowd of students out
     of his way.  She’d never seen the muscular bearded man with fuming eyes before, and
     her nose twitched.  His red flannel shirt made Poe wonder whether the man had an axe
     behind his back.
    “How can I help you, mister?” Poe asked as he finally reached her.  Her neck ached
     already from looking up at the man.
    “All this karate bullshit and stories about you kicking vampire ass and humans bigger
     than you makes me real angry.  Well here I am.  Do your worse so I can show what a
     fraud you are.  You’re nothing but Sainvire’s bitch.”
    Poe’s nostrils flared.  Fuck me sideways , she thought, trying to curb her filth mouth at least out loud.  The big dummy disparaged
     her in front of her class, and she had no choice but to fight.  “You’re a dick, and
     I’m gonna kick your head in.  I’m nobody’s stooge, and truth be told, I don’t even
     want to get embroiled in Downtown politics.”
    A dirty fighter, Poe rained a volley of punches into Bunyan’s kidneys until the old
     calluses on her fists began boiling.  She kicked him in the groin three times.  Not
     a sound escaped from his lips.  Her eyes traveled to his and discovered his serene
     countenance.  The man was a halfdead who hadn’t quite turned into a vampire but arrived
     at some vampiric powers.
    “You’re a halfdead!” Poe cried.  “Foul.”
    “Go on.  Beat me up.  I won’t touch you.  I want to show these folks here that you’re
     no superhero.”
    Poe sighed and began slugging the man as viciously as she could, even punching him
     in the neck and kicking him without reservation on his sides.  The halfdead clutched
     at his throat but didn’t alter his quiet stance. 
    “You tired yet, girl?  Can you see she’s only a puny human?  She’s a propaganda piece
     doctored by Sainvire.  See how weak Julia Poe is,” he said in a deep voice.  That
     was when she noticed a tiny white cross on the man’s sleeve.  He was a Tunic.
    The audience cringed and yelled at Poe to give up before the halfdead unleashed his
     punishment.  The reaction angered Poe even more.
    “With Jeet Kune Do, you can do anything.  Even the dirtiest tricks,” shouted Poe and
     jumped on the halfdead’s back.  An arm wrapped around the man’s neck as if to choke,
     and the giant man laughed.
    “What?  You’re gonna choke me to death?  You want a piggy ride, vampire killer?”
    “Actually,” said Poe breathing heavily.  “I’m interested in your nose.  With her index
     finger and middle finger, she invaded his nostrils and yanked back until the flesh
     ripped up to his eyelids.  The big man finally cried out and shook Poe from his back. 
     The girl broke her fall by rolling on the grass.  Part of his face was still in her
     hand.  She tossed it to the crowd who stepped back as if the bubonic plague exploded
     from a rotten rodent.
    The halfdead was on his knees and covering his face with his hand.  He could feel
     the shell of his nose, and he cursed like an Alaskan fisherman.  He stood up and lunged
     at her but she slipped through his legs.  She kicked the