Sloshing Blood On The Floor And Wiping It Up With The Heads Of the Innocent

Philip Overby
Copyright 2002

"I love you Oliver." Billie twisted her gum as she batted her gunky black eyelashes.

Oliver stood in the doorway looking down at Billie sprawled out across the bed wearing a red and orange teddy. Her face was thick with pancake makeup and her black lipstick was spread thin. Black roses decorated her frizzy red hair and the headstand as well, spiraling up the wall and around the rectangular mirror hanging over the bed.

"You look like a vampire." Oliver took a drink from his water bottle and looked over at the television that also had been covered with the black roses. "What's on T.V.?" Oliver cleared the roses off the television and sat at the foot of the bed taking off his brown trench coat and laying it across a toppled chair.

Billie pouted and ran her fingers over Oliver's neck, tracing across his throat and down to his chest. "I thought you had a fetish for goth girls. I figured I'd do something special for you today since you got your promotion."

Oliver had been out of work for a good amount of time and had finally got a job at a local drug store as the department manager of the head, foot, arm, ear, and eye medicine. After the abortion clinic he worked at got bombed by a group of fundamentalist Baptists, he had to jump on and get whatever he could to keep he and Billie above water and to pay the rent since Billie was just a parasite.

"T.V." Oliver pointed at the television that had another documentary about Hitler on the History Channel. They were talking about Goebbels at the moment. "This is 'Henchmen of Hitler' Week."

"Hitler? You'd rather look at Hitler than me?"

"No."

Billie stared at the television. "Then why are you looking at Hitler then?"

"That's Goebbels, not Hitler. Hitler's the one with the little mustache."

"Whatever." Billie slapped Oliver on his shoulder. "Come on you always told me you wanted me to get dressed up so you could live out your fantasy. The goth girl that works in the ear department, I copied her look."

Billie stood in front of Oliver blocking the television, "Don't I sort of look like her?"

"Her breasts are bigger." Oliver nudged Billie out of the way. "And she wears a mud colored lipstick, not black."

Billie jerked the plug out of the wall and Goebbels and the Nazis vanished leaving a fizzing screen. "I'm trying to rekindle our sex life, don't you even want to try?"

Oliver tied his brown hair up in a bun on top of his head and took off his black button up shirt. "Well now that the TV's off, there's not much else to do."

Billie folded her arms and plopped down on the bed cross-legged. "I'm not in the mood now."

"You were just in the mood five seconds ago, plus now you've distracted me."

"I should have distracted you when you walked in the god damn door."

"Don't say that." Oliver pointed his finger at Billie from across the bed his sharp, hawkish features intensified. "God builds dams."

"Oh shut up. Sucking up to God isn't going to do you any good now."

Billie threw one of her pillows at Oliver. "Plus you haven't been to church in ages. For all you know they could being dancing in the aisles screaming 'God damnit, God damnit!' every Sunday morning."

"Stop it." Oliver grabbed hold of Billie's wrists. "I'll not have this blasphemy under my roof."

"And where do you get off calling me a vampire? You've got a stack full of vampire porn under the bathroom sink, as if I didn't know.

'Bloodfuckers', "Suck my Neck', and 'Drinking Dracula's Semen.' These ring any bells, Oliver? Don't give me bullshit, Oliver, I know this pushes your buttons."

Oliver let go of her wrists, smiling down on her and rubbing his hand over her lips, smearing black all over her chin. "Come to think of it, you sort of look like Lilith from 'Bloodfuckers' from this angle." Oliver leaned down, kissing Billie, running his fingers through her hair as he pressed up against her.

"From this angle, huh?" Billie returned Oliver's kissing for a minute then pushed his tongue up to the roof of her mouth and bit down through his lip, through the skin and sending her teeth out through the other side, sending blood streaming down Oliver's chin and all over his neck and chest.

"Shit!" Oliver held both of his hands to his mouth and flipped over the bed crashing into a pile of take out food and laundry. "God damnit Billie, my fucking lip!"

"Serves you right." Billie sat on the bed spitting out a small chunk of Oliver's lip. "Now I'm going to have to get dressed and drive you to the hospital. And to think I went through all this fucking trouble to impress you and you just insult me over and over." Billie rinsed with some mint mouthwash. She reached under the sink and grabbed a handful of magazines and hurled them at Oliver. "None of your little vampire whores would ever do that for you would they?"

Oliver held a blue rag to his mouth as he sat hunched in the corner by the T.V., the rag splotched with purple from his bleeding. "You don't have to drive me to the hospital."

Billie spit out the mouthwash turning around as she pulled on some blue jeans over her lingerie. "What do you mean you don't have to got to the hospital. "I just bit through your fucking lip, Oliver. You are going to the hospital. Put your shirt on and let's go."

"No." Oliver stood up stumbling over to Billie holding one of his hands out, his fingers extended, his other still pressed to his face. Billie back away falling on the bed as Oliver's hand clenched around her throat, squeezing and then retracting several times as he snorted in Billie's face. He then slung her on the bed with a rage, his eyes mad and darting. "I think we should go back to what we were doing."

"Oliver, I got pissed. I'm really sorry. We have to get you fixed up, you're scaring me. Why aren't you pissed? Let's go."

"I'm really turned on right now. I think you should take advantage of it. We'll get stitches afterwards." Oliver hopped on Billie and pulled her blue jeans off.

"This is crazy. You have to go to the emergency room." Oliver stuffed the blue rag in his mouth to stop the bleeding inside his mouth but blood still dripped from the outside falling on Billie's chest and her teddy strings.

"Oliver, you're bleeding on me, this is gross!" "Just lay back."

Billie laid back and let Oliver take control, something he usually never did. The extent of their sex life was usually oral sex in between commercials and an occasional romp during scrambled porn on Cinemax.

This was no commercial break though, Oliver's muscles were tense and he rammed Billie up against the wall, bouncing her head several times off a lamp, a bedpost, and even almost put her head through the wall. Billie winced in pain but just held on to the back of Oliver's neck until he was through, by which he then seemed to catapult into the bathroom and slammed the door with a deafening thud. Billie held her head as her body quivered, half-pleased, half-frightened.

Oliver opened the door shortly after with a needle in his hand, lacing his lip up with black thread, shivering and the periodically yelling in pain then bursting into fits of laughter, propping himself on the sink.

"I can't move, Oliver." "Only eight."

"Eight, what?" Billie said.

"Stitches. You didn't bite that hard, I guess."

"I bit pretty hard. Did you hear me?" Billie tried to lift up her arm, but it was still jelly.

"What?"

"I can't move." Billie said again. Oliver laughed coming out of the bathroom with the thread hanging off his bottom lip, drenched with sweat in his underwear. "I've got to call Siris up and tell him about this." "Siris? Do you have to?"

"Yeah. Siris is bigger on the vampire scene than I am."

The feeling began to return to Billie's body as she sat up, her hands shaking as she looked up horrified at Oliver. "You only did this because you thought I was a vampire? It wasn't like that. I was pissed, not hungry for your blood."

Oliver winked and put on a clean black button up shirt on. "Oh, you were hungry for my blood, alright." Oliver fished his cell phone out of his coat pocket and began dialing. "Siris is going to shit himself."

"I don't like Siris, Oliver. He always brings Jesus with him. You know how I feel about Jesus being in the apartment."

"He won't bring him. Jesus went out of town anyway." The cell phone began to ring.

"Hello."

"Siris, this is Oliver. Where you at?"

"Down at the Hall of Glass. Where're you?"

"At home. Listen, Billie just did what I've been telling you about. You know like in my dreams."

"She bit your ear off? You need me to get you out of there?"

"No, man, she bit a huge gash in my lip and I got so turned on that we had sex."

"You had sex? Wow. When's the last time?"

"I don't even know that's what's great. It was unbelievable.

Billie was all shaking and shit."

"Damn." Siris said.

Billie rolled her eyes. "Get off the phone, Oliver."

"Yeah, well anyway, are you busy right now?"

"Kind of. I'm trying to pick up Angelina, that Egyptian chick I was telling you about."

"Your mother is still pushing you to go out with an Egyptian girl?"

"Yeah, well I promised after the last girl I brought home. Anyway I'll be over there after the concert. I want to see the damage."

"Concert?"

"Yeah, Vampire Bubble Bath's playing."

"Ok, I'll see you afterwards then."

"Alright." Siris said.

"Ask him if Jesus is with him." Billie tugged on Oliver's collar.

"Oh, is Jesus with you."

"Yeah, man. You know he's always with me."

"Ok, see you when you get here."

"Later." Siris hung up.

Billie sat back up against the headstand, a look of partial relief on her face. "Is he with him?"

"No, like I told you we went out of town." Oliver scooped up the vampire magazines on the floor and shoved them back under the sink. "I'm not going to need these anymore."

"I'm not doing that anymore. I don't care how good the sex was. It's unethical to make you bleed to make you want me. Plus," Billie put a pillow over her lap, "it hurt."

"Look, I'm in a really good mood so don't knock me off my cloud. Just save it for later." Oliver began picking up the black roses off the bed.

"Oh, and thank you for going through so much trouble with the makeup and roses and such."

"It did take me hours to do." Billie followed up behind Oliver picking up what he missed. Her hair was now wilder than ever, her red curls sticking up on her head, all the mirrors in the bedroom and bathroom fogged up.

"So, you got promoted, right?"

"No. Ottoman in the Female Hygiene and Contraceptive Department did. Asshole. And to think, his type of products is what you used to keep the clinic in business."

"I'm sorry, Oliver. Maybe after the trials blow over and they clean up the rubble they'll think about building another clinic. You know, some people don't want to use certain forms of birth control. Why don't these Christians understand?"

"Beats the hell out of me." Oliver sat down in front of the T.V. and plugged it back in revitalizing the Third Reich as Heinrich Himmler stood at the head of some proud

Aryan recruits, his glasses frosted and his expression straight. "Hey, Himmler's on tonight, too. Now that's a German." Oliver grinned over his shoulder as Billie slumped into the mountain of lacy pillows and remnants of rose stems.

"How many henchmen did fucking Hitler have?" Billie said.

"Obviously a week's worth. Don't you think they are interesting? I mean, the Nazis were some pretty interesting people."

"Interesting? They were pure bred killers, Oliver, that's not interesting."

"Yeah well you don't see Mother Theresa or Gandhi's followers with a whole week on the History Channel, do you?" Oliver changed the channel as Press Your Luck was in progress. "Now, Whammies, those are some killers.

Those sons of bitches. Just look at them." A Whammy sped across the screen, his red body streaming down in a blur, a wicked smile on his face as he slid into a stop sign as his roller skates brakes went out. The poor lady pounded the panel as the Whammy erected himself in front of her and her score went to zero.

"You're comparing Nazis to Whammies? I'm sorry, Oliver, that's just not a very good argument." Billie said.

"I wasn't." Oliver changed the channel where the Smurfs were running away from Gargamel, as the two sat in silence staring at the screen.

"I'm not even going there."

There was a knock on the door and then a jiggle of the doorknob followed by a muffled voice. "Open up, man, it's cold out here."

There's Siris now." Oliver rushed Billie to put some clothes on. "See he didn't bring Jesus with him." Oliver tossed the remote to Billie who covered herself up with the blanket and tried hastily to clean some of the makeup off her face. Oliver opened the door to see Siris, wearing a dark brown baseball cap and a matching shirt that displayed the logo of local band he went to see, Vampire Bubble Bath, which was a black rubber ducky with fangs, floating in a bathtub full of blood, the words: "We Suck" printed below the picture.

Siris had shaved his head and since then wore a hat everyday to conceal his misshapen head.

"How was the show?" Oliver waved Siris in who stood wide-eyed with his hands in his blue jean pockets.

"Damn. She bit all the way through? That's amazing." Siris reached out and touched the thread hanging from Oliver's bottom lip then recalled it upon seeing it was not a fake. "Holy shit, Billie, you're my new favorite girl."

"Thanks." Billie turned it back to the History Channel where a new documentary about the Vichy Government was now on. "Look, honey, Hitler's gone."

"Sure he is." Oliver looked at the T.V. then nodded at Siris as he chuckled. "So how was the show?"

"If I tell you about the show will you tell me what happened?" Siris sat down on the bed next to Billie, propping his red clay caked boots up on the bed and then smiling at her.

"Yes." Oliver pulled up an ice chest on the floor to sit on.

Well, they definitely weren't what I, or the crowd, expected but they had to be the most original thing I've ever seen. Everyone at the show was decked out in leather, faces painted up, dyed hair, with their fake fangs in and their clear contacts. Then the three guys come out. The singer was just this old guy with a white beard with bleached blonde hair with an acoustic guitar just wearing a white scarf around his neck and some dress pants and no shirt. Then there was the bass player who wore this red veil over his face and a red shirt with the hammer and sickle on it, which kept screaming in between songs that he missed Stalin and hoped Lenin was everyone's role model. The last guy was just fucking nuts. He had a hockey mask on with what I guess was fake blood on it and wore a wedding dress that was smeared in the same stuff. He had a circle of four keyboards surrounding him where I assumed the beats were coming from and he would actually play two of them at one time then bang his head on one of the others.

They didn't play any covers except "Islands in the Stream" but they had one song that has to be on the radio. It was called 'Sloshing Blood on the Floor and Mopping it up With the Heads of the Innocent.' They weren't gothic at all but they made a lot of fans tonight." "I've heard that song. I think that girl that works in the ear department let me hear it one night." Oliver said. "So did Angelina like it?"

"Oh no. She left as soon as they came out. I couldn't get her number but I bought their CD if you want me to burn you a copy." Siris said. "Sloshing blood on the floor, huh? Isn't that what we were doing earlier, babe?" Oliver jumped on the bed in between Siris and Billie and gave her a swift kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, so what the hell happened with that? Tell me everything." Siris jerked the remote out of Billie's hand and changed it to CNN where Wolf Blitzer stood in front of the White House, his eyes straightforward and motionless. "Ah, this guy's creepy."

"I was watching the French people, thank you." Billie took the remote back and changed it to the Fashion Channel where they were having a runway show for plus size models on the French Riviera.

"I thought you were watching the History Channel?" Oliver said.

"I was, but then Hitler's ass showed up in France, too. I swear that man was vain as hell." Billie giggled when she saw one of the models being strapped into a gown that pressed her neck right up to her chin.

"Anyway, let me tell you." Oliver took the remote back from Billie who slammed her hands down on the pillow in protest. A black preacher was hollering at his congregation, sweat beading on his forehead, a chorus of all different races behind him echoing the words he emphasized. The word damnation was accompanied with a bug-eyed stomp and a rigid wag of his finger.

"Tell me about it." Siris threw up his hands and was showing interest in the preacher's carrying on. "Tell me about it, brother. Tell me about JESUS."

"Oh, Christ, her we go again." Billie got up and went into the bathroom.

"I thought you said Jesus wasn't with him."

"Jesus is always with me." Siris pulled a cross from underneath his shirt then put it back under. "He is my Lord and Savior, Billie. He could be yours, too. Just let him into your heart."

"Tell him about what happened so he can get the hell out of here."

Billie pointed her finger at Oliver at the exact time the preacher on the screen reared his head back and pointed at the congregation, giving a joyous deliverance of the word damnation several times followed by a shot of a white teenage boy in the audience, holding his hands up, his eyes closed, his head cocked back while tears ran down his cheeks.

"She's not in a good mood so let me tell you what happened so you can get the hell out of here." Oliver said as he changed the channel to a similar scene, only this time it was on Jerry Springer, a Ku Klux Klan member was dancing around the stage goading a large black man in the audience to come shut him up. The black man pointed his finger and then charged the stage, followed by a group of elderly white ladies sending a shower of high heels at KKK member. "Why do they show this?"

"I don't know." Siris shrugged and started eating some stale chips that were on the nightstand.

"Anyway, she got all dressed up for me, right, and had black lipstick on and all that to surprise me, because she thought I got the promotion, which I didn't by the way. She had black roses everywhere and was trying to set the mood but I just wanted to watch some T.V. and go to bed because I had a shitty day. She unplugged the T.V. then next thing I know I'm on top of her and we're making out. I said something like, 'You look beautiful, baby', or something to the effect and then she bit down on my lip like, viciously. Blood was everywhere."

"So what did you do?" Siris said.

"Naturally I freaked out at first but the blood flowing out of my mouth really turned me on. She wanted to take me to the hospital but I said no, and insisted that we continue what we were doing. She said something like, 'I hunger for you blood' and then we had sex, without even stopping for water or anything."

"That's heavy. She fucking said, 'I hunger for your blood'? Siris patted Oliver on the shoulder.

"Yeah, just freaked me out. I have a whole new appreciation for blood letting now. I think I might be a hemophiliac."

"You might be, but I heard that's hereditary."

"You think my dad dug vampire chicks, too?" Oliver said.

"It's a possibility. Just think about your mom."

"No. Let's not think about my mom." Oliver held his hand up as Billie flushed the toilet and then the sink came on. "So what do you think? Pretty awesome, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm just thinking one thing." Siris said, taking of his hat rubbing the top of his shaven head. "Do you think we could negotiate for her to bite me, maybe?"

"Have a threesome or something? That might be cool."

"I rather her bite my neck though, you know, something more traditional." Siris looked in the mirror hanging above the bed and thumped a vein in the side of his neck.

"I'll see if she goes for it." Oliver sat up.

Billie came out of the bathroom in her teddy again, her makeup reapplied, her eyes glazed over as she exchanged looks in between Siris and Oliver. "I overheard the both of you, and I agree. Who's first?"

Siris threw his shirt off and ran over across the room to Billie who ran her finger down his chest. "Take that little cross off first, then I'll please you."

"So long, Jesus." Siris hurled the cross across the room.

"You really agree to this, Billie? I mean, you're usually pretty uptight when I mention threesomes." Oliver began unbuttoning his shirt.

"You never mentioned guys before and you never said Siris had such a tight body. I like short, dark, and handsome types." Billie pulled Siris closer, panting near his lips.

"I think this might damage our relationship," Oliver pulled off his clothes and stood in his underwear. "I mean I might not be able to look at you the same way again," Oliver paused, "Siris." Oliver and Siris shared a brief laugh as Billie smiled and took Siris around the neck.

"We'll be right back. I have to get him warmed up." Billie kissed Oliver then pulled Siris into the bathroom, leaving Oliver standing in his underwear. Oliver went back over to the bed and sat down, picking up the remote. He saw the final thought from Jerry Springer then a psychic commercial came on. The screen swam with the zodiac and a diminutive woman with long gray braids and a black silk blouse addressed Oliver.

"Are you seeking that special someone? Are you looking for a new career? Mistress Tia can help. Just call 1800-MISSTIA, and I can see you future. First minute is free."

Oliver picked up the phone and began calling the number as he heard some moving around and giggling in the bathroom. "Is this Mistress Tia?"

A nasal male voice chimed in. "No sir, this is Ronnie, I am one of Mistress Tia's staff psychics. What is your name, sir?"

"Oliver Snow." "What is your birth date?

"January 19, 1971."

"I see. Well I do see a change in your relationship. It seems your current girlfriend may be cheating on you."

Oliver heard giggling get louder in the bathroom. "Yeah I know, tell me something I don't know."

Oliver hung up as a piercing scream came from the bathroom followed by a crash and the falling of glass.

"Shit, shit, ah, damnit you crazy bitch!" Siris came tumbling out of the bathroom his face covered in blood with pieces of glass sticking out.

"Now get the fuck out, both of you. I swear Oliver, you come back you want to treat me like a girlfriend and not some slut you think you can pass around to whoever. Especially fucking Siris!"

"What the hell happened?" Oliver picked up a towel and handed it to Siris who fell over on the floor. "She slammed my fucking head into the mirror in there, man. She's crazy. She fucking batty." Siris said muffled underneath the towel.

"Yeah, and I'm going to do something much worse if both of you don't get out of here right now." Billie was already dressed again and was packing some of Oliver's clothes into an overnight bag. "You can come back when you decide I'm a human being and not some fucking night stalker, Oliver."

"I'm sorry. Don't kick me out. You don't have to bite me if you don't what to. I'll bite myself. See?" Oliver began gnawing on his arm.

"Just get out and take Bella Lugosi here with you." Billie pulled Siris up by his arm and shoved him towards the door sending him falling over the bed and hitting the floor again.

"Fine, but I'm taking the T.V. And I'll be back. Someone has to pay the rent." Oliver unplugged the T.V. and disconnected the cable line in the back.

"Come on Siris." Oliver set the T.V. down on the bed and picked up the vampire porn under the sink and tucked it into his underwear then putting on the rest of his clothes. "I'm going to need these, too."

"Good, now you two can go suck each other off." Billie slammed the door behind Siris and Oliver startling them both and causing Oliver to drop the T.V.

"Oh well. Let's get you fixed up and then go to your place. You have cable right?"

"Satellite." Siris smiled underneath the towel draped on his head as the two walked off, bloody as hell and with blue balls to match.

END