Wicked Is As Wicked Does

WICKED IS AS WICKED DOES

Sabrina saw the terrified human up against the dead-end alley wall.

She had herded him here to kill him away from curious eyes. She

swooped down from the sky, a killer eagle on the kill. Stopping a foot above the wet, black pavement, she looked her hunted eye to dead eye.

“Well, look at me defying gravity.”

The soon-to-be-dead man did not respond; the terror on his face was enough.

“Hell boy, that was funny; wicked is as wicked does.”

 She drove her teeth into the side of his neck, drinking deeply, savoring the flavor of the night. Then, at the man's precipice of dying, she saw something in his blood and pulled out.

Too late, the pale man dropped dead on the pavement that had felt many deaths, and it rippled in appreciation. Sabrina swore, a viscous scream into the sky, angry with herself for feeding too fast.

Sabrina knelt, putting her palm on the wet, black, hardness.

“You felt it, too, didn’t you?” A quiver answered her.

“I saw a young Fairy girl, kidnapped and bound in an enclosed place, “she told the quivering pavement, “But the man died before I had been able to draw the child's location from the dead man.”

In this world, everything was alive, even the IN Animates, as they laughingly called themselves. Sabrina figured the play on words was overcompensating, but she liked it

“So, pavement, any idea how I can find this Fairy child.”

A slight quiver said no.

Sabrina sat cross-legged on the wet pavement. “Let me think, be quiet.”

“I think that I need a private investigator; I doubt the police would believe me. “a quiver from the pavement. “I'm glad you agree.” She said to the road beneath her. Then she shot up into the air to find one.

Soon, she hovered just outside the window of the office of Sam Piccadilly, whose motto was “If you need a Snoop, Picc A Dilly.” She looked up, and Mr. Piccadilly himself was looking at her through the grimy window. He flung it open.

“Take me then, Vampire; I won't run.”

Sabrina read his mind. This one was broke and wanted to be killed so his family could have the insurance money. Sad.

“May I come in, Sam? I have a deal for you., a way out of your debt.”

Sam knew the Vampire family was wealthy; he moved aside, sweeping one muscular arm toward his guest chair. She sat, and the chair groaned. “Shush now; you are a bit ratty, so don’t be the couch calling the vampire black.”

Sam sat behind his desk, hat on inside, tilted over one eye, a cigar in his mouth. He blew smoke circles in the air, the very picture of a PI.

“Cute,” said Sabrina. "I sincerely hope you have other talents, or you might end up as fresh meat after all. “Sam placed the cigar in an ashtray where it continued to blow smoke rings, the ashtray squeezing it like a bellows.

“How may I help you, Lady Sabrina Vampire?”

Sabrina was not only a vampire, but she was from the billionaire family Vampire. It's easy to get rich if you live 5000 years and invest in only blue chips. Ask the chips, and they will let you know, the haughty bastards.

“Let me show you instead.” She poked a fang into her index finger, then let just a drop fall onto Sam’s tongue.

Sam fell back in his chair as he watched the score of Sabrina’s last meal’s memories flood his mind. He sat up. “

“That poor fairy child,” he said

‘Agreed, “Sabrina replied. “Now, I’m not much a girl for Fairy blood, much too light. So, I thought, why not find her, fix my mistake, and do the Fairies a solid? They are a good group to have on your side, especially during the upcoming elections. My Father, Butch Vampire, is running for governor.”

“I will vote for him, “said Sam

‘Kiss ass, aren’t you, Mr. Piccadilly’

“a respectable trait,” he said, and maybe he might believe it, but Sabrina did not care.

‘Ok Sam, you are a snoop, and a very well respected one, at least that’s the word on the street. “

The cigar blew an especially large smoke ring, and looking out the window, she saw the street rippling with laughter, almost throwing a biker from his seat.

“All kidding aside,” Sabrina said, “I know you are the best at what you do, so let's go find that Fairy brat.”

Sam rose from his desk chair, tall and muscular, with a look on his handsome face that exuded confidence, and off they went.

At the scene of the death of the criminal under Sabrina's teeth, the body was gone. He had just reanimated, got up, and walked away, wondering, “Who the hell am I?” No one stayed dead for long in the blue world, SMURF. The problem was, though, that when you came

back to life, you had complete, irreversible amnesia. A brand-new life, a gift, Sabrina thought, but nature won over nurture, and mostly, they ended up the same as before. It would do Sabrina no good to find the man again, as his blood contained no memories that could help her.

As Sabrina and Sam stood there, wondering what to do next, the pavement rippled and threw an object at Sabrina, who snagged it out of the air. She looked at what she was holding—a pack of matches that read Wu’s takeout and bakery—and tossed it to Sam.

“Okay, then, a clue,” Sam said. “I know right where this is. Let's go. It’s a long walk to the other side of town.

“The hell with walking,” Sabrina said. She grabbed Sam, cut open a vein on her wrist, and held it to Sam's mouth.

“Drink”

Sam drank, feeling the Vampire's power in the blood.

“that’s enough for the next few hours. Now you can fly. “Sabrina grabbed Sam’s hand, and they rose into the sky. They were on the other side of town in under a minute.

“Get this straight, Piccadilly. I know the girl won't die for long, but if she does, she won't be that fairy family's little girl anymore, and that will not buy me any favors. You got that,” and she gently slapped his head.

Sam bent down, putting his hand on the pavement, listening. Finally, he patted the pavement. “Many thanks, pavement Lee,” he got up. They were in Chinatown.’ Sam did not need the Vampire blood to communicate with the IN Animates. Anyone could do it.

“This way, “Sam said, authority in his voice. Nice, Sabrina thought and followed him.

Sam loved Chinatown, all the many colors and languages, and the people—so many people, mostly happy. The shops were filled with objects from around the world, placed where the passerby, whether human, fairy, or beast, could see. The objects constantly

called out, “Buy me, Buy me.”

Sabrina and Sam weaved their way in and out of the crooked paths between the vendors.

Finally, they stopped before Wu’s takeout and bakery, next to Mr. Lees Gun and Archery shop.

Sam looked at Sabrina.” I don’t know what to expect here. Maybe nothing or maybe everything.”

“Lead on, Sam, let’s find out.” They went through the door, chimes heralding their arrival

“Mr. Lee?” Sam asked the girl at the counter, a very young fairy, probably too young to be legal here, but she motioned them to go behind some orange drapery. Sam and Sabrina went through the drapes. Inside was a very large and tall male fairy, his wings beating

slowly on his back.

“Mister Lee?”

“Who wants to know.”

“I'm Sam, and this is Sabrina.” He said, waving his arm toward her. We are investigating the disappearance of a teenage Fairy Girl who we believe was kidnapped to be held for ransom,

but the kidnapper has died. Without revealing the location, he died. So, we are on the clock. Save her, or she dies. You won't like her, then.”

Mr. Lee wrote something on fortune cookie paper and handed the note to Sabrina. It was an address and a name. Stan Lee, Stan Lee studios, 7 Gale Street.

“The parent’s address,” said Mr. Lee

 Suddenly, Sabrina did not feel like making any more jokes. The kid Fairy’s time was running out.

Sabrina grabbed Sam's hand, “Move, now !!”

They flew west toward the setting sun and came down at the edge of Fairy town. Sabrina practically dragged Sam to make him keep up. Granted, it was vampire speed, ten times that of humans or fairies.

“Here it is, 7 Gale Street.” She and Sam opened the front gate, Sam admiring the white picket fence, a rarity in these lean days. She knocked on the door, hearing a flutter and footsteps inside.

The door opened, and a hairy man and a gorgeous Fairy stood there. At least the man stood; the fairy hovered, wings beating, about a foot above the floor.

“I don’t like how the floor talks to me, so I avoid contact. “The beautiful fairy said. “Are you the two chasing around, trying to find our daughter?”

Sabrina and Sam looked at each other. "Word gets around fast," Sam said

“Yes, it does,” said the hairy man.” Now, get in here! If that sounded like an order, it's because it was. Sit down,” the hairy man said, and then he stuck out his hand, remembering his manners. “Stan Lee, “he said. “My wife, Catherine Ohara.” Fairies typically kept their names in a marriage; if that’s what this was, a marriage. The beautiful fairy woman blushed because that’s what beautiful Fairy women do sometimes. No one knows why.

“You are looking for our daughter, right? Why?”

Sabrina answered.” I drained a random man this morning because he looked evil, and I was hungry. As his life slipped away, I saw a Fairy child locked in a room. If this man was behind it, then I may have inadvertently made her situation worse because I was not able to see the location before the man died.”

A grunt was the hairy Stan Lee's response. “I see. Potentially a terminal event for our daughter,” He spoke plainly. Full of power, that voice was, and Sabrina felt the couch quiver.

“Tell them, Stan, tell them what we’ve done.”

Stan Lee hung his head then, a man who looked beyond defeated, only a bullet away from another useless suicide. Your memories are gone; you begin again. Bound to repeat your fate.

He looked up at Sabrina and Sam, his judges at the moment.

 “It was a discipline problem. She was out of control. So, we thought, I mainly thought, and Catherine went along with it, that if we could shock her and get her to realize how good she had it, things could return to normal. I knew this small-time criminal who owed me a favor, and I asked him to kidnap her, hold her somewhere Amanda did not know, that he could frighten her enough that she would beg to come home. We had a 3-day time frame, and then he would let her escape. But we never saw her today. Nor did we see Mr. Baxter, the criminal. We were worried; This was supposed to be her release day, and both have disappeared. Now I know why.”

Sabrina and Sam remained silent for a long time, letting the shame and guilt work deeper into Stan Lee and Catherine O’Hara’s bones.

Sabrina broke the silence first. “Do you know where he, Mr. Baxter, was living?”

Stan brightened, “Yes, I do; I have his card.”

“His card,” blurted out Sam, and if this were a movie, it would have been a spit-take.

“I had his number on my phone, so I never thought of it again,” Stan said defensively.

“Get it now,” Sabrina said. Stan did, and she looked at the printing. The address was one street over.

“She’s around the corner. Let's go.” Sabrina was out the door, and the rest were close behind. Sabrina quickly knocked down the front door, and they all piled into the house.

Sabrina sensed a life there, fading fast but still with a heartbeat. She went to the basement and smashed the wooden panels of a large box in the center of the basement. There, in a pool of blood, her wrist slashed by her own teeth, was Amanda. Amanda had thought she would never be let out. She was a thread from death. Sabrina looked at her.

She thought, ‘You might have been a brat, but you were still a Fairy child.’ Sabrina looked at Stan and Catherine.

“There is only one way to save her and keep her personality and memories intact. You know that don’t you, Stan?”

Stan knew, so he motioned for Sabrina to do it. Faster than the rest of the group knew, the deed was done. Sabrina slashed open her wrist arteries and put her wrist to Amanda’s mouth, and Amanda drank deeply and kept on drinking. Sabrina looked at the parents,

Stan and Catherine were sobbing now.

“Amanda will be like me, Vampire,” said Sabrina.

She bent her head to Amanda's ear, whispering,” Wicked is as wicked does child. Always has and always will”