Chapter 11 #3
“I cannot step away and let you take advantage of this woman.”
He growled as the woman struggled against his hold. “You can’t order me around. Not me, the magnificent key piano player at the Black Key Lounge.”
“I’ll ask you one more time,” Sonya said, sensing a force in her that she never knew she had. “Let her go.”
“No,” he growled, turning to her. His eyes had turned all black.
Sonya blinked her eyes. Did she just see that?
“What kind of a monster are you?” she asked.
The man shook his head. “What?” His eyes had turned back to normal.
A vision of the man in a dark basement with a woman chained up appeared in her mind. “You’re keeping a girl in your basement.”
The man laughed and then his eyes flashed, turning black. “How did you find out? Who told you? It was a long time ago.”
“What happened to her?” Sonya asked.
“Dead and buried.” The man smiled.
Sonya’s blood boiled. She grabbed his wrist, forcing him to release his hold on the young woman.
“What the...?”
With fierce intent, Sonya twisted his arm, breaking it at the elbow.
“Ah! Ah! What are you doing? Let go! Let go!”
Finally free of his grasp, the young woman took a few staggering steps back.
“I asked nicely,” Sonya argued. “I asked many, many times. You refused to obey.”
“You broke my arm!” he cried. “You broke my arm.”
“That’s right,” Sonya said as she stepped closer to him, close enough to feel the heat of his breath.
She questioned her own actions, wondering what she wanted to do.
It seemed her body had a will of its own.
Without thinking, without considering her actions, she leaned into him, instinctively finding the vein she wanted and biting down on his neck.
He struggled for a moment, gurgled a complaint and was then silent.
With a hunger that she’d never felt before, she drank his blood, gulping it down and reveling in the warmth it brought to her throat. She quickly sucked until she was satisfied. She released him and the man fell to the ground.
“Oh, my God,” the young woman gasped. “I really need to cut back on the whiskey.”
“You’re not going to remember much about this evening, are you?”
The woman shook her head.
“Would you happen to know where the Black Key Lounge is?” Sonya said as she daintily wiped the corners of her mouth with the tips of her elegantly tapered fingers.
Gaping, the woman raised her arm and pointed to her right.
“Thank you,” Sonya said. “I do believe they’ll need a replacement.”
The young woman stared at Sonya for a long moment and finally stumbled drunkenly away.
Following the direction the young woman had indicated, Sonya found the lounge and restaurant. Smoky and smelly, the place was packed with patrons wining and dining.
A piano set in the center of the room awaited the pianist that would never show.
“I heard that you have a great piano player,” Sonya said to the waitress who came to her as she stood at the door.
The woman clucked her tongue and checked her watch. “Yeah, but he’s late... again.”
“I play a little bit of piano myself,” Sonya said. “Mind if I play for my supper?”
The waitress looked at her with a skeptical eye. “It’s really not for me to say. I’ll go talk to the owner.”
She left and returned moments later with a rotund bald man.
“You the lady who plays?” he barked as he eyed her up and down. “Not exactly an elegant dress, is it?”
Sonya smiled. “This isn’t my usual attire. I clean up quite well.”
“Okay.” He pointed to the piano. “Let’s see what you can do.”
Holding her head high, Sonya went to the piano and sat down. She knew some Bach, a bit of Beethoven and a few from Chopin. What would impress them most? Did the previous pianist play the classics?
Finally she opted for Bach’s Prelude No. 1 in C.
She set her fingers on the keys. It’d been so long... a lifetime ago. Could she...?
Her fingers did the work as if they had never stopped and she abandoned herself to the music. Around her she heard the gasps of delight as the simple, yet elegant music filled the air.
With little hesitation, she moved onto Mozart’s livelier Sonata in C major, then onto Chopin’s moody Nocturne in C sharp minor No. 20.
She slowly and dramatically played the last notes, then clasped her hands on her lap and waited.
The applause was delicate and polite but filled with appreciation for her fine playing.
Sonya looked at the owner who was leaning up against a pillar. He waved her over.
“Nice. Impressive. That was very pretty.”
“Thank you,” Sonya said. “I was hoping to play for my dinner.”
“I’ll do you one better than that, little lady. My regular pianist is a no-show... again... How would you like a permanent spot here? The crowd loves you.”
“Really?” It was more than she could have hoped for.
“I can give you twenty bucks a week, and you can keep all the tips you make.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
“Then get back there and entertain my customers. Throughout dinner we play it soft and classic. Then we liven it up a bit. Can you play something... you know... a little more jazzy... maybe a few show tunes? You know... like ‘We’re in the Money’ or maybe ‘It’s only a Paper Moon’.”
“I can sure try,” Sonya said, promising herself to learn every show tune if it got her a paying job.
She turned to go back to the piano.
“Hey, sweetheart,” the owner said. “What’s your name?”
Sonya smiled. What would he say if she told him that she was Empress Wanrong, the last empress of China and wife of PiYu, the last emperor?
Would he believe her, or would he laugh her out of his restaurant?
She looked down at the phoenix brooch on her jacket.
“Song,” she decided to name herself. “As in songbird.”
“What about your first name?”
“Songbird,” Sonya said, unable to find a more suitable name.
“Another song?” he said. “Hmm. That might be a little too confusing for my patrons. How about I call you Sonya... Sonya Song. That has a nice musical ring to it.”
“That’s fine with me.”
“I’m Charlie, by the way,” he said. “Charlie Stein.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Stein.”
He nodded. “Now go on and play, and after you’re done, I’ll treat you to a nice steak dinner where we can discuss your song list. I have a few suggestions.”
“Sure thing.”
She returned to the piano and, on that evening, won the hearts of the patrons.
It wasn’t long before she drew in crowds.
In addition to the classical pieces that accompanied the customer’s meals, she had an impressive list of show tunes that she played and sang.
She realized that she had a decent voice, pleasant in its single octave range, which carried the songs she sang decently.
She met fascinating people with whom she enjoyed quick chats about tourist attractions and fun places to visit or in-depth conversations about the war, life in America and the direction the country was going in.
And while her life was no longer one of royalty, prestige, and great wealth, she was happier than she had ever been.
Instead of the lavish lifestyle she’d once enjoyed, she now took pleasure in the small but tidy studio apartment she’d found.
Fully furnished, it had everything she needed.
And though the view from her window was far from impressive, a quick walk down the street had her on the waterfront enjoying the vastness of the Pacific.
Her growing happiness was interrupted only by the heartbreak that caught up with her every time she thought of the child that she would never know. Every day, she gulped back the pain of that reality and did her best to face the world... face it as Sonya Song.
Ready to head out after a night’s show, Charlie came up to her, his smile a mile wide. He rarely missed the opportunity to congratulate her and relay to her the kind words patrons had said of her.
“I don’t know whatever happened to old Gerry Vine, but I’m sure glad you walked in and replaced him.
The people here love you. They absolutely adore you.
You’re lovely, you’re petite, you’re elegant, and.
.. in addition to those magical fingers on the keys, you have the voice of an angel.
Gerry, well... he was decent... but he didn’t have none of that going for him.
He was just a schmuck who could tickle the ivories enough to get him by. ”
Sonya remembered that first night in town, seeing Gerry accost that young woman. Decent... it was almost comical to hear Charlie refer to him that way.
“Thank you, Charlie.” She turned to go. “See you tomorrow.”
“Be careful out there,” he warned. “I don’t know what’s happening to this town, but there’s been a number of people disappearing lately. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to my lovely songbird.”
“Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I don’t hang around those seedy parts of town.” And she walked out.
She knew all about the missing people, mostly from the dock area. They were criminals; thieves, drug dealers, muggers... and worse. Yes, she knew all about them.
Nights when the hunger grew intolerable, she’d go out and roam the streets looking for the lowlife that no one would miss.
But of late, there was too much talk. She’d tried to expand her territory, to hunt farther and farther away, but she knew the end was coming soon. Despite loving her job and everyone at the lounge and restaurant, she would have to leave Los Angeles.
She tried to lay low for a few nights, putting off feeding for as long as she could. But the hunger beckoned her and a few nights later she went out with the intention of treating herself to a good meal in the city.
The streets were quiet. A cool chill had blown in from the Pacific, and many had chosen to snuggle up inside. Her body ached for some nourishment and just when she was about to give up on finding a good catch, she spotted him.
At the corner stood a nasty man who endlessly harassed passers-by. Sometimes he struck them with his open palm, and at other times kicked them all while shouting obscenities at them. As Sonya approached him, she witnessed him throwing a man down to the ground and kicking him repeatedly.
Yes, she thought. You’re the one.
“What’s wrong with you?” she shouted at him.
“Get away, little girl,” he said, his speech slurred. “I don’t need no nagging from another broad.”
“You’re hurting everyone who passes by here,” Sonya went on. “And you’re deliberately choosing people who are smaller and weaker than yourself.”
“Like you, little girl?” he said with a smirk.
“Don’t even try it,” she warned.
He lunged toward her as she backed up. He lunged again.
Come on, you creep. Keep coming. Keep coming.
She lured him to a quiet and isolated portion of the dock.
“Not a very wise move, little lady,” he said when he realized that they were all alone in a darkened corner of the dock area. “Not a very wise move at all. I have you all to myself now.”
Sonya smiled as she ran her index finger over her bottom lip. “And I have you all to myself,” she said.
He frowned, seemingly sobering up slightly at her unexpected assessment of the situation. A moment later, he shook off his confusion and reached out to grab a hold of her arm.
“Now you’re mine,” Sonya said as she quickly pinned him to the wall and dug her sharp fangs into the soft skin of his neck.
“Naw...gra... ga...,” he gurgled as he slid down to a sitting position.
He fell silently as Sonya knelt over him and discreetly enjoyed his blood. No one would ever know.
However, when she rose the next morning, the man’s disappearance was in all the papers.
Although he lived the lowlife in the docks district, he turned out to be the son of a prominent man in town, and that man wanted answers.
He’d hired detectives and was determined to find out what had happened to his ‘little boy’.
The time had come sooner than Sonya had anticipated. She couldn’t put it off any longer.
“I hate to see you go,” Charlie had said on hearing her desire to move on. “But a talent like you... yeah, I knew I couldn’t keep you tied down to my tiny establishment for very long. I knew you would eventually move on to bigger and better things. You’re a star.”
Sonya smiled even though she had nowhere to go. There was no ‘bigger and better’ thing waiting for her.
Feeling sluggish and a little sad, she arrived at her small studio apartment to pack up her few belongings.
“I’m going to miss this tiny space,” she said to the now familiar four walls. It was cozy and safe and that was all she had needed.
With all her things shoved into a large duffle bag, she turned to go but then noticed a slip of paper on the kitchen counter. Frowning, she approached the note and picked it up.
A change of course is on the horizon. Dr. Ang of Clementine, California is seeking a tutor/governess for his brilliant daughter. The time is now.
Sonya stared at the note and wondered who’d left it there. The landlord? The concierge?
She read the note again. Tutor? It was an intriguing idea. But... could she tutor someone? Why not? She was intelligent, and it certainly seemed like an interesting change of pace.
Sonya struggled to read the scribbled signature at the bottom of the note. She could make out the capital S, but... was that an ‘i’? And... “Oh, Dear, could it be?”
The note was signed Sifu. The name was so familiar, and a sudden sense of warmth filled her... but the sense of familiarity was so far away... so long ago.
“Are you still with me?” April said, snapping her fingers.
Sonya shook off thoughts of the past and focused on the young woman before her. “Yes. Yes, I am here with you. You mentioned Sifu?”
April nodded. “That’s what she called herself, yes.”
“That is a pretty rare name.”
April shrugged. “Certainly, in these parts it is.”
“And yet, I have a very vague and distant memory of a woman called Sifu.” Sonya smiled. “In fact, she’s the one who informed me about the position here... tutoring you.”
April offered her a beautiful, beaming smile. “You would almost think that we were meant to be with one another.”