(Disclaimer: Jules is not my character but a character owned by rainingstars120. It was with her that i wrote this story and I want to thank her for writing it with me.)

Holidays with Hippies

Las Vegas: Christmas Eve

The year had gone round and wound up in the slushy month of December. Christmas Eve came up and everyone in Las Vegas had another usual day. No cheery music played on the stations, no Santa Claus clanged a loud bell in front of the casinos, and everyone walked along the streets with their heads down and their mouths shut.

Through the door of a sleazy jazz club and up the stairs, a long-legged, eye-catching black woman was slouched on her sofa in the crammed room that served as her living quarters. Junk food was scattered across the threadbare carpet, and a TV was dully crackling and projecting fuzzy channels.

The room’s occupant didn’t seem to care that her surroundings was mostly trash. She just lay back in her torn jeans and tank top, running slender dark fingers through coarse black hair, which was streaked red and brown. Her dark, but strangely green-tinted eyes stared in apathetic boredom at the television.

Anyone would think she was just a normal, hot black beauty. But as she yawned, her canines, three centimeters long, protruded like the fangs of a cat. And on the floor lay an empty coke bottle, crimson drops of blood clinging like spider web to its surface. Always a home to all cultures, Las Vegas now housed creatures of the more supernatural type. And vampires like Julianne were no exception.

Through the only smeared window in the room, Jules could see a neon sign flashing “NIKS” over and over again. Some weirdo had made a lame attempt at the Christmas spirit and spray-painted “St.” before the sign in lime green and red colors.

“Tuh hell with Christmas,” Julianne muttered.

She grabbed the remote and switched the TV channel, but got no better quality. Muttering the vampire sniffed and tried to get more comfortable on the lumpy excuse for her sofa.

She’d had a very lame day in the bar. Some drunkard had insulted her and said he wouldn’t take nothing from no bloodsucker. Dumb ass humans. And after all that work, she was stuck up here in her crap-hole “apartment” with no one to talk to and a headache into the bargain. So much for a merry Christmas Eve.

Suddenly outside the door there was a banging and crashing.

Jules sat up straight from her lethargic pose on the couch, only just as the door burst open and a man stood in the doorway with messy bleached-blond hair with blue stripes running through it. His clothes were mainly tie-die blue or green with a distinct pink and orange scarf tied around his middle.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS, JULES!” He practically shouted as he tried to gain balance after his dramatic entry.

“Oh my GOD!” Jules screamed, falling off her couch at he sight of her foster brother.

He finally gained balance which gave him a lot of credit due to the huge bird cage in his right hand, a basket in his left, bunches of clothes flopped randomly on his arms and a leash with a barking German Shepherd and Chihuahua tied to the end. Looking behind him where random stuff dropped, he squeezed through the small hallway.

“Jerry! What the hell are you doin – crap, you brought your friggin pets!” Julianne scrambled to her feet and backed up against the wall, then she scowled at Jerry, “Damnit Jerry you KNOW how I hate animals! What’d you bring ‘em ‘ere for anyway? Can’t you see this hole I got is way too small?”

Jerry gave a big grin. “It’s Christmas, Jules, give me a break.”

He’d frequently visited her before on various special occasions that no one in Jules’s neighborhood seemed to notice. His schedule, thanks to school and work, was never certain. Julianne never knew when to expect him, especially since he tended to pop out of nowhere. As a wizard, Jerry loved using his abilities to make a show and give very sudden surprises.

Jerry let his things fall to the ground excepting the cage, which he hung from a hook, displaying two parrots making a racket and flapping their wings at all the commotion. He went and opened the top of the basket and a calico cat stepped out and started rubbing on Jerry’s legs. Jerry ignored all this and tripped over the cat to give a big hug to Jules, dropping the dog leashes.

“Its SO GREAT to see you, Jules!” he said in wild excitement.

She smiled weakly, still very jumpy at all the pets around. Pushing herself gently out of his hug she said, “Whatevuh, nice to see you too Jerry. But it’s just not a good time, now, yuh see and,” she raised her voice to make herself heard over all the animal’s racket, “And can’t yuh please get all your animals outta here? For real, bro, they DON’T like it here.”

“Oh, they love it here, just as much as my dorm at school!” he said as the calico hissed at Jules. “Besides you can’t be alone for Christmas! Hey maybe we can play some Christmas songs and bake some cookies…” he started bustling around, checking everything out.

“Damnit,” Jules muttered under her breath, as it became clear Jerry was her guest.

His questions washed over her. Christmas songs? Sure. Cookies? “Whatevuh, but they’re all yours.”

She dumped all his stuff next to her bed, which she’d lend to him that night while she got stuck with the sofa. Carefully keeping at least three feet away from every pet, she headed over to her miniature fridge, (roughly the size of a moving box,) and grabbed a chilled coke bottle of blood, popping it open with a hiss.

“…Hey, man, where is you Christmas tree? Where am I gonna put your present!” he looked at her with fake horror at his last two sentences, giving a secret wink at the end.

“Don’t got one,” she said, taking a swig, “Huh, you got me a present?” she asked with a grateful smile, “Sorry, couldn’t afford you one this year.”

“Oh that’s ok. I have enough stuff.” He said with a grin as he gestured toward his pile of stuff.

“Dude, do you have any cherry soda?” he asked as he opened her fridge, glancing at her blood store.

The vampire rolled her eyes, “Man, you know I don’t drink that stuff, so why would I have it? If you want food, bettuh go out and buy your own. You could ‘a called here and told me you were comin,” she added under her breath.

“You know me.” He said with a chuckle.

“DUDE!” a voice squawked loudly across the room, making Jules jump in bewilderment.

“Shut up, Mr. Dude.” Jerry yelled over at one of the parrots in the cage.

“Mistuh what?” Jules asked.

“Mr. Dude knows his name!” Jerry said happily.

She looked from her brother to the parrots, “Dude that’s awesome,” she said dryly, voice completely apt of enthusiasm.

“Dude!”

“Oh, and Mrs. Dude too,” in answer to the loud squawk from the other parrot. Julianne rolled her eyes.

Suddenly the German shepherd lept at her in a excitement of happiness and love. Falling over as its huge paws pressed against her chest, Jules let out a high-pitched shriek, “CRAP! Get away! Shoo! Damnit!” she swore, as her drink spilled onto the floor, “Jerry git the damn 409 from that cabinet. Stuff will clean anything.”

Jerry, ignoring the fact that a huge animal was lying on top of his foster sister, got the cleaner and scrubbed the carpet with happy vigor. He stood up and smiled brightly as the dog lifted itself off Jules, who staggered for the couch immediately and put a hand to her head in frustration, “Jerry…”

“Ok, Jules, now you just need to use that lovely voice of yours to sing us a nice Christmas song and I’ll . . .”

“Aww, no, Jerry I don’t feel like singin…”

He thought for a second, ignoring Jules’s words, and then said with a thrill of anticipation, “I’ll go get a tree!” he moved toward the door.

“Yeah, great, get a six feet-tall one and try to shove it through the damned door,” Jules said sarcastically. Seeing that Jerry was serious however she leaped up, “Hey, no, there’s no way you’re leavin me here with all your frigging pets! I’LL go get the tree, while you get yourself situated here and don’t do anything stupid. You know there are some mean guys downstairs, won’t like the idea of me having an extra room mate, even if it’s only for the night!”

With that, she jammed on her brown and blue striped hat over her color-shocked hair and stomped out the door, grabbing her stained black windbreaker as she left.

“Jules, Wait!” Jerry said in disappointment. He sighed and glanced around the room. He was barely able to clear a spot for the tree by the TV. Then he commenced to start making some Christmas ornaments with tacky things from his bag. He taped a picture of a fire on the TV screen and was searching around for popcorn to string on the tree when Jules came back.

She tottered in with a potted tree about three feet tall, “Got this for three bucks,” she remarked, “Hey Jerry gimme a hand with this! God, the guys were teasin me bout it downstairs,” it was clear that despite her grumbling, Jules was in a better mood. Her green-tinted eyes were twinkling and a light spring was in her step. Apparently the trip had done her good.

Jerry took the tree from Jules’s arms in delight.

“It’s perfect!” He cried. He set it by the fire, (the TV) and began to happily place ornaments on it.

“Do you have any popcorn?” He asked as he placed a popsicle stick star on the top and sprinkled gold sparkles on it to make it look more like an ornament than a pile of sticks glued together.

“Nope,” Jules said, flopping back on the couch, smiling at Jerry’s makeshift decorating. At the agonized yowl by her head however, she shot back up and sprung back several steps. She’d nearly squashed the damn cat, “Gah, sorry, didn’t see it,” she said guiltily.

“Oh she’s used to it.” Jerry said, as the cat glared at Jules and slunk away. “So what about that si-”

“Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! ARF!”

High-pitched barks interrupted Jerry. The Chihuahua seemed very upset at the entrance of the Christmas tree and kept barking at it, throwing suspicious looks and carefully approaching and running away from the harmless funky dressed branches. Jerry picked up the dog and lay him on the bed.

“Jerry why do yuh keep such a dumb dog?” Jules sighed, sitting on the arm of the sofa, arms crossed.

“Tiny! Please don’t interrupt Jerry. That tree isn’t hostile, I promise.” Tiny didn’t seem to be convinced though and kept glaring at the tree. Jules let out a breath of a chuckle.

“Hey! I have an idea!” Jerry said to Jules, obviously forgetting the previous conversation. “I could make popcorn!”

She blinked at him, “Oookay, if you’re willin to go and buy some…”

“Oh, I didn’t mean buy some!” he said as he hastily pushed some of his ornament making tools away from in front of the door where there was the most floor space.

“I mean magic!” he said as he moved a last bit of tinsel.

Jules raised her eyebrows, “Wow you’re already that-”

“DUDE!”

Jerry glared over at Mr. Dude the parrot. “Shut u-”

“SHUT UP MR. DUDE!” Mrs. Dude squawked. Jerry sighed and looked away from the parrots.

“How’d you like vampire parrots?” Jules said through gritted teeth, her fangs protruding like gleaming knives over her bottom lip.

Jerry didn’t hear her, instead he was staring at the wall in confusion, and then suddenly said, “Oh yeah, magic popcorn.” He sat down cross-legged on the floor.

Eyes turned upward in exasperation, as they usually were around her brother, Jules waited on the sofa, not really expecting much.

Jerry muttered something and a purple spotted bowl was suddenly in front of him. It had tiny little ice crystals inside it and was sending cold air over the small dingy room. Under Julianne’s bewildered stare, Jerry picked up the bowl carefully and looked in it.

“Where’s the popcorn? Hmmm.” He muttered something and suddenly . . BANG! There was a blast and Jerry landed on his back.

“GAH! What the hell??” Julianne’s hands flew up to protect her face.

Now smoke was coming rapidly from the bowl, the smell of burnt popcorn issuing from it. Jerry sat up and looked at the bowl with a thoughtful frown, while Jules cautiously peeked out from behind her arms.

“Umm, that didn’t happen last time.” Jerry coughed slightly and started waving the smoke away revealing popcorn. It didn’t look as burnt as the smell suggested but there were random bits of red and purple popped kernels.

“All right!” Jerry said, his mouth bursting into a grin.

Jules dropped her shield, and rolled her eyes before inspecting the bowel with a smirk, “Suh-weet, that’s pretty cool popcorn,” she laughed, “Wish I could eat it.”

Jerry picked one up and tasted it. “It’s . . . wow! It’s not poison. I mean it’s not great but it’s not bad.” Quickly he jumped up to get some string.

She followed him with her gaze, shaking her head at his endless energy and optimism, “Yo, Jerry. I’m glad you came for Christmas. But next time, skip the pets.”

Pretty soon the tree was decorated with popcorn, though it didn’t have a lot because the cat had eaten some when the German shepherd had knocked over the bowl, and it and Tiny fought over the rest. Paper chains where covering the walls and the parrot cage had a Christmas blanket over it, which was a great way to get the birds to shut up. The cat was fast asleep on top of Julianne’s present, which was under the tree. Jerry was happily surveying the room.

“Now all we need is music,” he said as he whipped out a harmonica from his pocket, staring over at Jules.

She sighed, nodded and walked over to a corner table. Jerking open the small drawer, she shuffled through a stack of wrinkled notebook paper, “Ah, none of my songs are Christmas ditties. Guess I’ll have to sing a classic. Any requests?”

“Um . . . The First Noel!” He said, striking the first notes on his harmonica.

“Aw, no man, how about somethin more lively? First Noel is for those Christian saps,” she sat down on the couch to think a minute, then smiled, “I got it. Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.”

“Fine! Lets rock!” he said starting the song with the harmonica and dancing around the small tree of their own.

For a full five seconds she couldn’t start the song, she was laughing too hard at Jerry’s goofy dance moves. But finally, she grabbed an empty coke bottle, held it up to her mouth like a microphone and let out her voice;

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

At the Christmas Party Hop

Mistletoe hung where you can see

Every couple tries to stop

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

Let the Christmas spirit ring

Later we'll have some pumpkin pie

And we'll do some caroling…

Jerry did a complicated little scale on his harmonica thus blasting into the next verse while he jumped over their tiny tree.

You will get a sentimental feeling when you hear

Voices singing, "Let's be jolly,

Deck the halls with boughs of holly"

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

Have a happy holiday

Everyone dancin' merrily

In the new old-fashioned way

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

Let the Christmas spirit ring

Later we'll have some pumpkin pie

And we'll do some caroling…

She began getting into the dancing herself, swaying sharply from side to side and thrusting her hand up into the air with “DECK the halls with boughs of holly!”

The dogs started getting into the mood and Tiny was soon skipping around, yipping and squeaking though he jumped back in fear, letting out a yelp as the funky Christmas star fell off the tree and landed on it’s tail. The cat woke up and hissed in annoyance though this wasn’t heard due to the loud ruckus from the parrots who where squawking ‘DUDE’ very loudly in response to the loud noises from Jerry and Jules.

Julianne only raised her voice, almost to shouting point.

You will get a sentimental feeling when you hear

Voices singing, "Let's be jolly,

Deck the halls with boughs of holly"

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

Have a happy holiday

Everyone dancin' merrily

In the new old-fashioned way

The last beats of the song sounded out loud and clear, “Oh yea!” Jules called out, “In a new,” her feet stomped, “Old,” stomp, “Fashioned waaaay!”

Just as the song finished, an intruding knock made the door shiver, “Yo, Jules, keep it down! The customers don’t like all this Christmas cheer!” shouted a very annoyed voice.

Scowling, Jules said, “Yeah I get it. No more singin.”

With a tired sigh she sank down on the couch, “Right Jerry, think it’s time to chill.”

“I don’t get it. Don’t like all the Christmas cheer?” he said in confusion.

“Ahh, they’re just a bunch of bozos that don’t enjoy life,” Jules scoffed, pulling out a pack of cigarettes.

“Man, you have some lame neighbors.” Jerry said, slouching down on the bed. He snapped his fingers remembering something and jumped back up again and rushed to the stove where he heated a pot of water then he went to his bag. He drew out a packet and opened it with his teeth. Hurriedly he dumped it into a coffee cup and mixed the water. “Here.” He said, handing her a cup of smoking red liquid.

Slowly she took the cup and looked in it, “What the hell is this, Jerry? Don’t think I’m tastin it just to see, I ain’t that stupid.”

“You have to have some hot chocolate to warm the heart on Christmas Eve!” he said happily as he poured some mixture into his own cup.

She sighed, “Jerry you KNOW-”

“Don’t worry. I picked up this weird blood-chocolate mixture thing for you.” He sat down and sipped his regular hot chocolate. “Good thing I remembered! It would have been awful if I had forgotten!”

Julianne did not think about the full hour her body would spend dispensing the human mixture if Jerry had indeed forgot. Instead she cautiously sipped the Hot Blood Chocolate, or whatever it was.

“Whoa!” she gasped, eyes widening as she swallowed, “Damn, that stuff is strong!” but after a minute, she sipped again, “That’s pretty good bro. How’d you get that blood-chocolate mixture? Not like you can just pick it up at the nearest drug store.”

“Oh, there was this vampire dude I met at the university. I mentioned coming over for Christmas here and he got me a few of these from his house.” He sipped his chocolate, looking thoughtfully at the wall, “I think he makes them himself. Sure is a nice dude.” He pulled his legs into a cross-legged position while he lay his back against the wall, suppressing a yawn.

“Huh, figured. Yuh have all these weird friends and me for a sistuh. Don’t come across that everyday,” Julianne remarked, also leaning back to stare up at the ceiling, letting silence envelop her. Seemed nearly all the pets had quieted down now, probably asleep and lounging all over her stuff.

Quietly she inspected her Jerry-infested quarters. Their ‘fire’ stared back at her, instead of the TV’s black, reflective screen. Popcorn now littered the carpet along with all her other trash, and the small three-foot tree stood out like a bright colorful spark against the ashy-gray color of her apartment wall. Under it lay her sloppily wrapped present, untouched, save the claw marks left by the cat.

Resisting the urge to go and see what it was, Jules rolled over and pulled the knit blanket she’d had since she was five off the back of the couch and led it slide over her cold shoulders. Setting her drink on a nearby, upturned trash can, she reached out and flicked off the lights.

Darkness settled, sending her into an invisible cushion of comfort. Her eyelids fluttered, and she dozed off to sleep as Jerry’s snores broke regularly through the silence. That night, together they shared the dreams of hundreds of others in the more festive cities of the world who were awaiting the exciting morning of Christmas…

“MERRY CHR-”

Julianne’s eyes snapped open with a jerk.

“DUDE!”

“Mrs. Dude shut up!” Voices broke through the morning like a crack.

“CHRISTMAS!” Jerry finished as he stood next to Jules’s couch, brimming over with anticipation.

“What the hell?” Jules moaned, yanking the blanket over her head.

“What do you think?” Jerry asked, gesturing at the room.

Curious and annoyed at the same time, Julianne peeked out from under the blanket, then gasped and sat up straight, “Holy…”

The room looked remarkably different. There was no more popcorn and all of Jules trash was is a sack in the corner, The star was back on the Christmas tree and Jerry’s stuff was neatly laid out on the bed. All the surfaces had been scrubbed and the walls were hung with pretty scraps of cloth that seemed to color up the room.

“Whoa,” Jules stared. There were a lot of advantages to having a brother like Jerry, especially concerning his magic.

Grinning she stood up, “Merry Christmas to yuh too, bro!” she laughed, flinging an arm around him, “Here, bought it last night when I got the tree. Not much but…” she rummaged in her jacket pocket and took out a long, cheap gold chain from which hung a large hand-carved peace sign. Hanging it around his neck, she stepped back to get a good look at him, “Looking good,” she said in a mock sexy voice.

“Wow! Awesome, man!” he looked at it and then struck a pose, flinging his hair in his face and raising a eyebrow in a ‘cool’ position.

“Pfft!” Jules snorted, “That goofy grin of yours suits yuh bettuh.”

“Hey! Here’s yours!” he said, jumping out of his position and handing her the wrapped present, brushing cat hairs off it. It was decorated with little disco colored snowmen who where using their little stick hands to give peace signs.

“Gee thanks,” she said, taking the present and unwrapping it. Out fell a brand new, blue jean jacket, just her size. But that wasn’t the best part. Jerry had had the creativity and thought to paint peace signs and four-petal flowers, (in bright cheery colors,) all over the fabric. Julianne fingered the gift a moment, honestly touched, “Hey man,” she said softly, “This is awesome. Nevuh had a bettuh present.”

“Oh great! Umm . . . don’t look over here for a second.” He said with his back turned toward her. There was a loud wheezing sound and in a second the cat had thrown up a hairball.

“Oops, sorry about. Bad girl! Uh . .yeah, sorry!” Jerry said, switching between his cat and Jules.

“Ew, gross, Jerry!” Jules sighed, “Look, you’d bettuh go now. I had a great Christmas, but it ain’t gonna look good, you up here with all your damn animals all day.”

“Alright.” He said a little sadly, putting all his stuff in his bag, taking the temporary fire, cleaning up the mess, and stuffing the cat in the basket.

“Man, thanks again for the jacket,” Jules said, shrugging it on and checking her reflection in the TV screen, which didn’t really show much. For the next few minutes, she helped her foster brother pack.

“Man that was fun!” he said as he picked up the dog leashes and the parrot cage.

“Sure was,” she agreed, handing him his sack of ornament tools.

“Well Ta! See ya soon!” He knocked over some stuff but he managed in getting through the door. The parrot woke up and squawked ‘DUDE’ and then the door closed. There was sounds of him squeezing through the hall and then there was another squawked ‘DUDE’ before silence fell over the tiny room.

With a sigh of relief, mixed with sadness, Jules looked around at the various signs of Jerry’s visit that he’d left: the Christmas tree, the smell of dog, cat and bird, along with those colorful cloth decorations he’d pasted everywhere. She decided she’d leave it all up for a few days, because it seemed she’d forget yesterday’s blast if she took it all down.

Realizing she hadn’t smoked a single cigarette in the last 24 hours, she immediately went for her pack and struck a match. After a long, drawn-out inhale, followed by a cloud of smoke, she walked over to the couch and fell into it. Despite the fact that the whole country was celebrating, she had work today. Still, she didn’t want to go downstairs just yet.

So….she switched on the television. Except for the cheery decorations that now brightened her room, it was just like yesterday. But this time she was in a hell of a lot better mood.

THE END