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The purple vampire party bus rolled along, the only vehicle in sight, on the road to Purgatory.
Countessa Mary Katherine Horony-Cummings, or just Kate, stared at the window, watching the Rockies roll by in the distance. Behind her towards the back of the bus, Petra and Ebbe watched as the two humans they’d picked up at their last stop competed with each other to show off their dance skills on the stripper pole. Otto had directed the bus to some little town called Miracles in the middle of nowhere, Montana, but whatever he was searching for, he didn’t find it. Instead Petra and Ebbe had glamoured these two and the bus had continued on its way towards Purgatory. Kate was not one to disapprove of playing with one’s food, but the humans’ enthusiasm for their task did not make up for their lack of skill, and it put Kate off her appetite. Let Petra and Ebbe play. Kate had other things to ponder.
Otto was searching for the Earp Heir, but Kate was hoping to find someone else who just might be in Purgatory. It had been over 130 years since she had last laid eyes on John Henry Holliday. She’d never given up hope that she might one day find him. Would today be that day? And what would happen between them if it was?
Kate turned her attention from the scenery out the bus window to the deck of Tarot cards in her bag. What the hell, why not. Sure, the moving bus would interfere with the reading, as she wasn’t properly grounded, but the cards might still have something to say. She laid her hand on the top of the deck, closed her eyes, and thought of the last time she’d seen John Henry, coughing up blood, dying of tuberculosis, but still roguishly handsome. Her love for him still burned brightly. Over a century of absence was not enough to quench it. And yet, her love was at war with her desire to kick him in the balls repeatedly. What kind of bastard disappears without a trace, abandoning his wife and his best friend? John Henry Holliday, that’s what kind. Stifling a half-sigh, half-growl lest the other vampires hear, she opened her eyes, shuffled the deck, and drew the first card.
The past. The Star. Loss. Theft. Abandonment. Hmm. It would appear the bus’s movement wasn’t having too negative of an effect on Kate’s ability to do a reading. The first card, at least, was pretty spot-on.
The present. The Magician. Power. Potential. The unification of the physical and spiritual worlds. Could it be? Could John Henry be waiting in the town up ahead? It would only make sense, after all. Otto was after the Earp Heir, and if John Henry would be anywhere, he would surely be teaming back up with an Earp. Dare she allow herself to hope…?
She drew the last card and could barely contain a snort of derision. The Future. The Lovers reversed. Failure and foolish designs. Any hope she might have felt beginning to stir in her breast, died. Who was she kidding? Lasting love was never in the cards, not for her. And not with that delicious piece of garbage John Henry Holliday. She held the three cards in her hands and stared at them as though by sheer force of will she could transform them into something else. But they were what they were and no amount of wishing and hoping and glaring could change what was drawn.
Suddenly the bus lurched as it hit a pothole. Kate almost dropped the deck of cards. The noises from the back sounded like some minor disaster had befallen the dancers, although whatever happened was most certainly an improvement over their efforts on the stripper pole. Wait a minute…. Of course. The bus was still moving. Kate wasn’t properly grounded. Screw this reading! Cards drawn under such conditions couldn’t be trusted at all. John Henry could still be out there, and with him, hope for a future that had been stolen from them to once again be restored. Or at least the hope to deliver those kicks.
The bus slowed to a halt as Kate gathered her deck and put it away. She looked out the window to see a giant “Welcome to Purgatory” sign depicting four happy people packed into a car, only “7 away” from whatever Purgatory held for them. Parked under the sign was a police cruiser.
“All right, everybody,” Otto called out, standing up. “It’s time! …Petra and Ebbe, put away your toys!”
Petra and Ebbe smiled hungrily at the two humans, who finally ceased their cavorting on the stripper pole to kneel and present their necks. As the two vampires fed, Kate looked around in her bag and pulled out a gold beaded mask. It was by no means a full-face covering but the lace and the beads were just enough to disguise her features. Whatever happened, she wanted to spot John Henry before he saw her. Time changes a person. However she may feel about her reading, she couldn’t ignore that the cards might contain a warning. She donned the mask and followed as Otto and Petra got off the bus and turned their glamour on the unsuspecting Sheriff and his deputy. It was time, indeed.